AZZ reports 3Q; shares down after guidance

 

Shares of electrical equipment maker AZZ Inc. declined 13 percent on Wednesday after the Fort Worth-based company reported earnings for the quarter and gave guidance for 2014. The company’s fiscal third-quarter revenues were $197.8 million compared to $149.7 million for the same quarter last year, an increase of 32.1 percent. Net income for the third quarter was $18.4 million, or $0.72 per diluted share, compared to net income of $15.4 million, or $0.60 per diluted share, in last year’s third fiscal quarter. Company management also lowered its full-year earnings guidance to $2.30 to $2.40 per share, down from a range of $2.45 to $2.65 per share previously.

Tom Ferguson, president and CEO of AZZ inc., commented, “While we are not satisfied with our third quarter fiscal 2014 performance, we continue to see progress in our assimilation efforts at WSI and NLI, and believe that fiscal 2015 offers numerous opportunities for growth in these businesses. We continued to face headwinds in many of our served markets and some customers continued to delay deliveries on major project orders.” For the nine-month period, the company reported revenues of $570.7 million compared to $430.2 million for the comparable period last year, an increase of 32.7 percent. Net income for the nine months was $49.4 million, or $1.92 per diluted share, compared to $47.2 million, or $1.85 per diluted share in the comparable period of last year. AZZ (NYSE: AZZ) is a global provider of electrical products and services and a provider of galvanizing services.