Engineered solution provider Robbins & Myers Inc.'s (RBN) shares opened up 13.95% Monday morning on the NYSE after the company reported a third quarter profit, beating estimates. The company also provided fourth quarter earnings forecast, which is expected to be above current Street expectation and raised the fiscal 2008 earnings outlook.
Third quarter net income doubled to $26.50 million or $0.76 per share from $13.25 million or $0.39 per share in the same quarter a year ago, beating First Call/Thomson Financial analysts' expectation of $0.58.
Fourth quarter earnings per share included $0.14 resulting from the previously announced expiration of certain contingency obligations related to the sale of two product lines in March 2006. Excluding this, earnings per share increased 59% to $0.62 from the previous-year quarter primarily due to higher sales, operating improvements and a lower tax rate.
Sales for the quarter were $200.95 million, up 17% from $171.43 million in the prior-year quarter, exceeding Street expectation of $190.15 million. By segment, sales from the Fluid Management division increased 12%, Process Solution division rose 22%, and Romaco division increased 20% from the same quarter a year ago.
Orders increased 10%, while interest expenses plunged 82% from the year-earlier quarter.
For the nine-month period, net income increased 79% to $56.77 million or $1.64 per share from $31.79 million or $0.93 per share in the prior-year period. Sales for the period were $559.41 million, up 15% from $488.36 million in the year-ago period.
Looking forward to the fourth quarter, the company expects earnings in the range of $0.62 to $0.67 per share, above the current Street's projection of $0.60.
The company also increased fiscal 2008 earnings per share outlook to a range of $2.26 to $2.31 from the previous range of $1.93 to $2.03, which too is above current Street estimate of $2.05.
RBN is currently trading at $48.39, up $7.31 or 17.79%, on a volume of 0.73 million shares.
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