AGCO Swings To Q4 Loss; Sales Down

(RTTNews) - AGCO Corporation (AGCO), a manufacturer of agricultural machinery, Thursday reported net loss of $255.7 million or $3.42 per share for the fourth quarter, compared with profit of $339 million or $4.53 per share in the same quarter a year ago.

Excluding one-time items, the company posted earnings of $146.8 million or $1.97 per share, that beat the analysts' average estimate of $1.83 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Loos from operations was $268.8 million compared with income of $393.1 million. Adjusted income from operations decreased to $285.3 million from $405.3 million last year.

Sales for the quarter declined to $2.887 billion from $3.801 billion in the previous year. The consensus estimate was for $3.17 billion.

For the full year, AGCO expects net sales to be about $9.6 billion, reflecting lower sales volumes, relatively flat pricing as well as unfavorable foreign currency translation. The company sees EPS to be in the range of $4.00 - $4.50 for the year.

Analysts expect the company to report earnings of $4.2 per share on revenue of $9.62 billion for the year.