Circor Int'l Q1 Profit Rises - Update

(RTTNews) - Industrial machinery maker Circor International Inc. (CIR), Tuesday reported an increase in profit for the first quarter, driven largely by revenue growth and margin expansion. Both earnings and revenues for the quarter came in ahead of Wall Street expectations. Shares are currently trading up about 9 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.

Burlington, Massachusetts-based Circor's first-quarter net income rose to $14.6 million or $0.82 per share from $7.9 million or $0.45 per share a year ago.

Adjusted earnings increased to $0.78 per share from $0.52 per share last year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.70 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Circor's revenues grew to $211.2 million from $205.4 million in the prior year quarter. Four analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $208.06 million for the quarter.

Revenue from its energy segment rose 3 percent to $162.6 million, while aerospace and defense segment revenue inched up 1 percent to $48.6 million.

Adjusted operating margin for the first quarter improved to 9.4 percent from 7.1 percent last year.

Commenting on the results, Chief Executive Scott Buckhout said, "Margins improved across most of our businesses. We had strong sales growth in our upstream markets, particularly in our large international projects business and our instrumentation and sampling business."

Looking forward to the second quarter, the company expects adjusted earnings of $0.88 to $0.94 per share on revenues of $220 million to $230 million. Analysts currently expect earnings of $0.93 per share and revenues of $228.99 million for the second-quarter.

CIR is currently trading at $79.52, up $6.44 or 8.82%, on a volume of 177 thousand shares.