Insteel Industries Q1 Profit Rises On Higher Revenues - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Insteel Industries Inc. (IIIN) reported net earnings for the first quarter of $4.2 million or $0.22 per share, up from $2.7 million or $0.15 per share in the same period last year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.18 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Insteel's first-quarter results were favorably impacted by higher spreads between selling prices and raw material costs as well as the increase in shipments, partially offset by higher conversion costs relative to the prior year quarter.

Net sales for the quarter grew 27 percent to $110.6 million from $87.2 million in the same period a year ago due to the August 2014 acquisition of the prestressed concrete strand or PC strand business of American Spring Wire Corporation together with higher sales at Insteel's other facilities.

H.O. Woltz III, Insteel's president and CEO said, "Looking ahead, we are encouraged by the continued improvement in the leading indicators for our nonresidential construction end-markets. Customer sentiment for 2015 remains positive and the recovery appears to be gaining momentum, which should favorably impact our shipment and production volumes."

Woltz added, "In addition, we have intensified our process improvement initiatives across all our operations and expect to realize significant improvements in our conversion costs over the remainder of the year."