Tuesday, Waste Services, Inc. (WSII) reported a lower profit for the first quarter, weighed down by foreign currency impact, fuel surcharge, and lower volume. The company also provided its guidance for fiscal 2009, indicated to come in above current analysts' estimate.
The Ontario, Canada-based company reported net income of $4.01 million or $0.09 per share for the first quarter, down from $12.71 million or $0.28 per share a year ago.
Income from continuing operations dropped to $4.01 million or $0.09 per share from $5.33 million or $0.12 per share in the first quarter of 2008.
Excluding gain from sale of non-operating assets, change in fair value of warrants, and other non-cash charges, adjusted income from continuing operations was $1.43 million or $0.031 per share, up from $1.24 million or $0.027 per share a year ago.
On average, five analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.03 per share for the quarter.
Revenue for the first quarter decreased to $95.79 million from $116.61 million in the previous year quarter. Revenue for the quarter was negatively affected by foreign currency impact, fuel surcharge, volume, and loss of contracts while positively affected by price.
Foreign currency negatively impacted the company's first-quarter revenue by $10.87 million while volume had a negative impact of $5.44 million. Loss of contracts negatively affected revenue by $4.79 million and fuel surcharge eroded the quarterly revenue by $3.55 million.
Looking forward, the company expects adjusted earnings for fiscal 2009 to be in the range of $0.38 to $0.40 per share. On average, six analysts polled by Thomson Reuters currently estimate earnings of $0.33 per share for the fiscal year.
WSII closed Tuesday's regular trading at $4.65, up $0.27 or 6.16%, on a volume of 57,282 shares on the Nasdaq.
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