Stanley Black & Decker Backs 2013 Outlook, Guides 2014 In Line

(RTTNews) - Tool maker Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (SWK) has Thursday reaffirmed its earnings guidance for fiscal 2113, and provided initial earnings forecast for the full-year 2014, in line with Street view.

"We made significant progress driving organic growth during 2013 and expect momentum to continue during 2014. The investments we made this year will help us achieve overall organic growth of approximately 4% in 2014 driven by year over year gains within the majority of our businesses despite a persistent low growth macro environment," Chairman and CEO John Lundgren said in a statement.

The New Britain, Connecticut-based S&P 500 company reaffirmed its fiscal 2013 adjusted earnings guidance in a range of $4.90 to $5.00 per share. The company also continues to expect organic growth of about 3 percent.

On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expects the company to report earnings of $4.95 per share on annual revenues of $10.97 billion for fiscal 2013. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Further, the company still projects free cash flow before charges of about $800 million for fiscal 2013.

The company added that benefits from the recent cost reductions and operational actions to improve Security margins will result in strong earnings per share growth while funding continued growth investments and facing significant currency and tax headwinds.

Looking ahead for fiscal 2014, the company anticipates adjusted earnings in the range of $5.30 to $5.50 per share on projected organic growth of about 4 percent.

Street is currently looking for full-year 2014 earnings of $5.42 per share on annual revenues of $11.50 billion.

Free cash flow for fiscal 2014 is projected at about $675 million, including $250 million cash outlays in 2014 for payments related to M&A activity and general restructuring, primarily for severance.

"Solid execution in 2014 enabled by the overall strength and diversity of our portfolio, combined with our underlying strategic framework, position us well to deliver on our long-term financial objectives," Lundgren added.

For the long term, the company said in mid-October that it sees conditions in 2014 that support its long-term 4 to 6 percent organic growth expectations and 2014 adjusted earnings per share growth in a range of 7 to 9 percent.

In Thursday's regular trading session, SWK is currently trading at $80.27, up $0.92 or 1.16 percent on a volume of 0.39 million shares.