A.O. Smith Q1 Profit Increases, Expects FY16 EPS In Line With View

(RTTNews) - A.O. Smith Corp. (AOS) Wednesday announced an increase in first quarter net income to $73.5 million from $58.4 million in the prior year. Earnings per share increased to $0.83 from $0.65 last year.

On average, 16 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.76 per share. Analysts estimates usually exclude special items.

Net sales for the quarter increased three percent to $636.9 million from $618.5 million in the previous year. Wall Street was expecting $645.60 million.

Ajita Rajendra, chairman and chief executive officer said, "We achieved earnings growth of 26 percent in the first quarter despite lower U.S. residential water heater volumes than a year ago. Lower volumes were primarily due to a pre-buy in the first quarter of 2015 ahead of an April 2015 price increase."

Looking ahead to 2016, A.O. Smith expects earnings per share to be between $3.47 and $3.55. The company expects to achieve strong annual sales growth. Analysts expects $3.50 per share on revenue of $2.72 billion.

The company expects Lochinvar branded product portfolio in U.S. to grow at 10 percent annually and China sales to increase 15 percent in local currency.