Wolverine World Wide Q3 Profit Rises, Tops Estimate; Lifts FY Adj. EPS View

(RTTNews) - Wolverine World Wide Inc. (WWW) reported that its third-quarter net earnings attributable to the company increased to $54.4 million from $32.7 million in the same quarter last year. Reported earnings per share were $1.08 compared to $0.66 in the prior year.

The company said that the latest-quarter included a full 12 weeks contribution from the Company's October 2012 acquisition of the Sperry Top-Sider, Saucony, Stride Rite, and Keds brands.

Excluding acquisition-related transaction and integration expenses in both years, earnings per share in the latest-quarter were $1.16, a 61.1% increase compared to $0.72 per share in the prior year's third quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $1.02 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenues for the quarter jumped to $716.7 million from $353.1 million in the prior year quarter. Twelve analysts had consensus revenue estimate of $712.94 million for the quarter.

The company raised its full-year adjusted earnings per share guidance to a range of $2.73 to $2.83 per share, representing growth in the range of 19.2% to 23.6%, compared to prior year adjusted earnings per share of $2.29, and even stronger growth of 30.0% to 34.8% after further adjusting the prior year for $0.19 per share of non-recurring tax benefit. Previously, the company expected full-year adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $2.60 - $2.75 per share.

The company adjusted its full-year revenue guidance to a range of $2.71 billion to $2.73 billion, representing growth in the range of 6.4% to 7.1% compared to prior year pro forma revenue of $2.548 billion. Earlier, the company had expected revenues for the year to be in the range of $2.7 billion to $2.775 billion.

Analysts expect the company to report earnings of $2.80 per share and revenues of $2.73 billion for fiscal 2013.