Crane Q4 Profit Up 9%, Beats View; Sees 2014 Earnings In Line

(RTTNews) - Industrial products maker Crane Co. (CR) Monday reported a 9 percent increase in profit for the fourth quarter on higher revenues that offset an increase in acquisition-related transaction costs. Adjusted earnings per share for the quarter beat analysts' expectations. Looking ahead, the company forecast higher earnings for fiscal 2014, in line with Street estimates.

Segment wise, aerospace & electronics sales for the fourth quarter rose 6 percent from the year-ago period to $186.74 million and merchandising systems sales surged 30 percent to $122.65 million. Meanwhile, engineered materials sales grew 12 percent to $52.37 million and fluid handling sales rose 2 percent to $319.70 million.

Crane's net income for the fourth quarter was $49.71 million or $0.84 per share, up from $45.64 million or $0.79 per share in the same period last year.

The latest quarter's results included after-tax transaction-related costs of $11.9 million or $0.20 per share, related to the recent acquisition of MEI Conlux Holdings.

The prior-year quarter's results included after-tax charges of $3.9 million or $0.07 per share associated with transaction-related costs related to the MEI acquisition, and repositioning charges of $3.9 million or $0.07 per share.

Excluding special items, adjusted earnings for the quarter were $61.57 million or $1.04 per share, compared to $53.41 million or $0.92 per share in the previous-year quarter. The latest quarter's results include $0.02 per share related to the operating results of MEI.

On average, three analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $1.01 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net sales for the quarter grew 8 percent to $681.45 million from $629.79 million in the year-ago period. The increase in sales resulted from a core sales increase of $28.2 million and sales from the MEI acquisition of $25.2 million, partly offset by unfavorable foreign exchange of $1.7 million.

The company's adjusted operating margin for the quarter expanded 100 basis points to 14.4 percent.

Crane's total backlog at the end of the quarter was $761.73 million, up from $748.90 million in the same period last year.

For fiscal 2013. Crane's net income was $219.50 million or $3.73 per share, up from $216.99 million or $3.72 per share in the prior year. Excluding special items, adjusted earnings were $245.66 million or $4.18 per share, compared to $215.96 million or $3.70 per share in the previous year.

Net sales for the year edged up 0.6 percent to $2.60 billion from $2.58 billion last year.

Analysts expected the company to report earnings of $4.16 per share for the year on revenues of $2.65 billion the year.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2014, Crane forecast reported earnings in a range of $4.28 to $4.48 per share, adjusted earnings of $4.55 to $4.75 per share and sales of $3.0 billion, driven by core sales increase of 1 percent to 3 percent. Street expects the company to earn $4.58 per share for the year.

Crane declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share for the first quarter of 2014. The dividend is payable on March 10, 2014 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on February 28, 2014.

CR closed Monday's trading at $64.78, down 40.68 or 1.04 percent on a volume of 378,598 shares.