L.B. Foster Q1 Profit Down

(RTTNews) - L.B. Foster Company (FSTR), a manufacturer, fabricator, and distributor of products and services for rail, construction, energy and utility markets, reported that its first quarter 2014 income from continuing operations was $3.6 million or $0.35 per share down from $5.0 million or $0.48 per share last year. First quarter 2014 income from continuing operations was unfavorably affected by lower sales across all business segments as well as lower Tubular gross profit margins. These unfavorable items were partially offset by improved gross profit margins in the Construction and Rail segments.

First quarter net sales of $111.4 million declined by $17.9 million or 13.8% compared to the prior year quarter due to a 25.6% decrease in Construction segment sales, a 9.7% reduction in Rail segment sales and a 5.2% decline in Tubular segment sales. All three business segments were impacted by customer delays as many struggled with weather issues.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.53 per share and revenues of $123.90 million for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

The company expects 2014 sales to be in the range of $620 million to $630 million. Pretax income is expected to range between $43 million and $47 million and it anticipates earnings per share to be between $2.80 and $3.00. Street currently is looking for fiscal year 2014 earnings of $3.02 per share on annual revenues of $629.05 million.

As previously mentioned, the company is planning to increase capital spending in 2014 to a range of $18.0 million to $22.0 million. This is a substantial increase over the normal rate of annual spending as a result of several growth programs that are launching simultaneously. This does not represent a new level of ongoing annual spending.