A.O. Smith Q3 Results Miss View; Lowers FY18 Outlook - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - A. O. Smith Corp. (AOS) on Tuesday reported an increase in profit for the third quarter from the year-ago period on slightly higher sales. However, both revenue and earnings per share missed analysts' expectations.

The company's third-quarter net earnings rose to $104.6 million or $0.61 per share from $93.7 million or $0.54 per share last year.

Net sales for the quarter rose 1 percent to $754.1 million from $749.9 million during the same period last year.

On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.63 per share for the quarter on revenues of $806.01 million. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

"We experienced softer water heater sales in the U.S. and China than expected. We believe a decline in water heater industry volumes in the U.S. and weaker housing growth in China drove the softness in the quarter," said President and Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Wheeler.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2018, A.O. Smith now forecasts total company sales growth of about seven percent compared with 2017, and modestly reduced its adjusted earnings per share outlook range.

The company now expects full-year adjusted earnings per share to be between $2.57 and $2.60 per share. The Street expects earnings of $2.61 per share for the year.

The company said it does not expect sales of water heaters in the U.S. will be as strong as it previously forecast. Based on its shipments in September, the company expects residential water heater industry volumes will be down approximately 100,000 units in the second half of the year compared with last year, but increase by 250,000 to 300,000 units for the total year.

Based on year-to-date shipments and a difficult fourth-quarter comparison, the company expects 2018 commercial water heater industry volumes will decline by about 5 percent compared with last year.