Apogee Enterprises Shares Rise As Q4 Results Beat View

(RTTNews) - Shares of Apogee Enterprises Inc (APOG) gained more than 7 percent in extended trades Wednesday after the glass-products designer's results for the fourth quarter beat analysts' expectations.

Apogee reported a 73 percent increase in profit for the fourth quarter from last year, helped by double-digit revenue growth in three of its four segments. Looking ahead, the company forecast earnings for fiscal 2016 in line with analysts' estimates.

Joseph Puishys, Apogee chief executive officer said, "Apogee's growth engine continued in the fourth quarter as we again grew revenues in the double digits and income more than 50 percent. Performance across the company was strong, with double-digit earnings and revenue growth in three of four segments."

Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Apogee Enterprises develops glass solutions for enclosing commercial buildings and framing art.

Apogee's net earnings for the fourth quarter were $13.89 million or $0.47 per share, up from $8.04 million or $0.27 per share in the year-ago period.

On average, five analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.43 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net sales for the quarter grew 15 percent to $246.70 million from $214.42 million in the prior-year quarter. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $242.38 million for the quarter.

The company noted that its sales performance was strong, with double-digit earnings and revenue growth in three of four segments.

Architectural glass revenues for the quarter rose 23 percent from the prior-year period to $92.3 million, while architectural services revenues were flat with last year at $63.5 million. Architectural framing systems grew 22 percent to $77.0 million and large-scale optical technologies revenue rose 18 percent to $22.7 million.

Apogee's backlog at the end of the quarter was $490.8 million, up 49 percent from the year-ago period. According to the company, about 80 percent of the backlog is expected to be delivered in fiscal 2016, while the remaining 20 percent is expected to be delivered in fiscal 2017.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2016, Apogee forecast earnings of $2.05 to $2.20 per share on revenue growth of 10 percent to 15 percent. Analysts expect the company to report earnings of $2.14 per share for the year on revenue growth of 12.3 percent to $1.04 billion.

Puishys added, "We expect fiscal 2016 will continue our trend of double-digit top-line growth and very strong bottom-line growth."

APOG closed Wednesday's regular trading at $45.64, up $1.03 or 2.31 percent on a volume of 220,118 shares. In after-hours, the stock further gained $3.36 or 7.36 percent to $49.00.