Arctic Cat Inc. (ACAT) reported a narrower in fourth-quarter net loss to $5.1 million, or $0.38 per share, from $6.2 million or $0.49 per share in the year ago quarter.
Net sales grew to $113.2 million from last year's $98.5 million in the year ago quarter.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report a loss of $0.40 per share on revenues of $121.20 million for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
"Our business performed well in the quarter, with sales increasing across all product lines. We continued to pursue our strategy to enter new growth segments and launch innovative new products, including two all-new Wildcat™ sport side-by-sides. As a result, we again had double-digit sales gains in our ATV and side-by-side segments in the 2013 fourth quarter," said Claude Jordan, Arctic Cat's chairman and chief executive officer.
For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014, Arctic Cat anticipates sales in the range of $754 million to $768 million, an increase of approximately 12 percent to 14 percent versus fiscal 2013. The company estimates that fiscal 2014 earnings per share will be in the range of $3.17 to $3.27, an increase of 10 percent to 13 percent compared to fiscal 2013.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $3.27 per share on revenues of $723.57 million for fiscal 2014.
Separately, Arctic Cat announced that its board approved the reinstatement of a quarterly cash dividend to shareholders. The board has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of 10 cents per share of common stock. The dividend is payable on or about June 14, 2013, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 31, 2013. Arctic Cat currently has approximately 13.2 million common shares outstanding.
Arctic Cat's board of directors also authorized a share repurchase program of up to $30 million of the company's common stock.
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