Cooper Profit Meets Estimate, Sales Misses; Lifts FY Guidance

(RTTNews) - Cooper Cos Inc (COO) Thursday reported a marginal decline in third-quarter profit, hurt by lower operating margin that offset a 5 percent climb in sales. Adjusted earnings topped Wall Street estimates, but sales fell short of expectations.

Cooper provided strong earnings guidance for the current quarter, but sales expectations appear soft; it lifted its outlook for the full year 2014.

Cooper shares were down 3 percent in after-hours trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

The recent quarter benefited from growth at its key unit CooperVision, which makes soft contact lens.

Cooper, based in Pleasanton, California, posted third-quarter net earnings of $88 million or $1.80 per share compared with $89 million or $1.79 per share last year.

Excluding items, adjusted earnings for the quarter were $1.90 per share compared with $1.74 per share a year ago.

On average, 11 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $1.90 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenues for the quarter rose to $432.5 million from $412 million in the prior year, but missed analysts' expectations of $443.7 million.

Revenue at CooperVision climbed 6 percent from last year, and was up 1 percent at CooperSurgical unit.

Operating margin fell 10 basis points to 23 percent, hurt by acquisition costs.

For the fourth quarter, Cooper projects adjusted earnings of $2 to $2.10 per share and revenues of $477 million to $490 million. Analysts expect earnings of $1.82 per share on revenues of $494.2 million.

For the full year, Cooper now expects adjusted earnings of $7.34 to $7.44 per share on revenues of $1.73 billion to $1.74 billion, from prior guidance of $6.80 to $7.00 per share earnings and $1.69 billion to $1.73 billion revenues.

Analysts expect earnings of $6.84 per share on revenues of $1.75 billion.

In August, Cooper closed its $1.2 billion acquisition of Sauflon Pharmaceuticals, a European manufacturer of soft contact lenses and solutions.

Cooper stock closed Thursday at $160.95, down $0.34 or 0.21%, on a volume of 754k shares. In after hours, the stock dropped $5.05 or 3.14% at $155.36.