A. O. Smith Q2 Earnings Rise Above View; Lifts Annual Outlook

(RTTNews) - A. O. Smith Corp. (AOS) manufacturer of commercial and domestic electrical appliances, on Thursday reported higher earnings for the second quarter that beat the average estimates. However, revenues especially as North American sales were hurt by lower boiler volumes and pricing.

The company also raised its earnings and revenue guidance for the full year.

Quarterly earnings rose 24 percent to $157 million from $126.2 million for the same period of the previous year. Earnings per share increased 28 percent to $1.04 from $0.81 last year. Earnings were particularly helped by lower steel costs and higher demand for its North America commercial and residential water heater products.

Adjusted earnings increased 19 percent to $152.5 million from $128.5 million of the previous year. Adjusted earnings per share increased 23 percent to $1.01 from $0.82 last year.

Eleven analysts polled by Thomson-Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.91 per share for the quarter. Consensus estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Revenues fell by one percent to $960.8 million from $965.9 million of last year. The Street estimate for revenue was $965.73 million for the quarter.

In addition, the company declared a dividend of $0.30 per share payable on August 15 to shareholders of record on July 31.

Looking forward to the full year, the company has raised its outlook. It now expects adjusted EPS to be in the range of $3.45 to $3.60 per share compared with $3.30 to $3.50 per share provided earlier. The Street estimate for EPS is $3.50 per share.

Revenue is now expected to be in the range of $3.75 to $3.83 billion compared to $3.6 to $3.83 billion previously. The street estimate for revenue is $3.78 billion.

On Wednesday, shares of A. O. Smith closed at $75.07 on the New York Stock Exchange.