Applied Industrial Turns To Profit In Q3; Lifts FY Profit View

(RTTNews) - Applied Industrial Technologies (AIT) reported that its net income for the third-quarter ended March 31, 2017 was $29.5 million, or $0.75 per share, compared with a net loss of $44.7 million, or $1.14 per share, in the third quarter of fiscal 2016.

Net sales for the quarter were $679.3 million, an increase of 7.3% compared with $633.2 million in the same quarter a year ago. The overall sales increase for the quarter reflects a 0.4% increase from acquisition-related volume and favorable foreign currency translation of 0.1%. Excluding these factors, organic growth was up 6.8%, which includes a 0.8% benefit from a higher number of selling days in the quarter.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.63 per share and revenues of $638.13 million for the third-quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

The company expects fourth quarter sales to increase 6.0% to 8.0% over the prior year quarter and earnings per share for its final quarter to be in the range of $0.68 to $0.78 per share. This results in full-year EPS guidance of $2.74 to $2.84 per share, higher than its previous guidance range of $2.50 to $2.60 per share.

Analysts expect the company to report earnings of $0.68 per share for the fourth-quarter, and $2.61 per share for fiscal year.

The company's Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.29 per common share, payable on May 31, 2017, to shareholders of record on May 15, 2017.