Apogee Profit Misses Estimates; Lifts FY Earnings Outlook - Update

(RTTNews) - Apogee Enterprises Inc. (APOG) Wednesday reported a higher second-quarter profit, on growth at its architectural glass segment, largely offset by a project-timing induced slump at its services and framing systems businesses. However, earnings for the quarter came in short of Wall Street estimates.

For fiscal year 2014, the window-systems maker for commercial and security buildings, lifted its earnings outlook by three cents and reiterated its revenue expectations.

CEO Joseph Puishys said the company is seeing strong bidding activity for future architectural work and was optimistic on new projects, even as the U.S. commercial construction market is set for modest growth.

Apogee, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, posted quarterly net income of $6 million or $0.21 per share, compared with $5 million or $0.18 per share last year.

On average, three analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.23 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Sales for the quarter climbed to $178.3 million from $176 million a year ago, but missed analysts' expectations of $187 million.

Architectural Glass sales grew 11 percent year-over-year and the segment's margin improved to 1.1 percent from a negative 3.2 percent.

Architectural Services sales slid 10 percent, and Framing Systems was down 5 percent.

Backlog at the end of the quarter was up 1 percent at $304 million.

For 2014, Apogee lifted its earnings outlook by three cents, with the range now set between $0.93 and $1.00 per share. The company had previously forecast earnings in the range of $0.90 to $1.00 per share. Revenue is still estimated to grow in the high single digits. Analysts expect earnings of $0.96 per share on sales growth of 9.3 percent.

Shares of Apogee closed Wednesday at $29.50, up $0.14 or 0.47%, on a volume of 324 thousand shares. In after hours, the stock dropped $1.52 or 5.15%.