Actuant Sees Q1, FY Profit Below View; Stock Down

(RTTNews) - Actuant Corp. (ATU) said that it expects first quarter adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $0.20 to $0.25. It anticipates first quarter sales between $295 million and $305 million and expects to see normal seasonality, with strongest quarters in the back half of fiscal year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $0.26 per share and revenues of $295.83 million for the first-quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

For fiscal year 2019, the company anticipates sales growth of between 3% and 5%, resulting in expected annual sales of $1.21 billion to $1.24 billion. Full year adjusted earnings per share is projected to be between $1.09 and $1.20, which includes an expected tax rate increase to 20% from 10% in 2018. Wall Street currently is looking for fiscal year 2019 earnings of $1.27 per share on annual revenues of $1.21 billion.

In Wednesday pre-market trade, ATU is trading at $27.50, down $2.25 or 7.56%.