National Instruments Q3 Profit Down, But Tops View

(RTTNews) - Test and measurement equipment maker National Instruments Corp. (NATI), Thursday reported a lower profit for the third quarter, as sales remained relatively flat while expenses and costs increased. Nevertheless, earnings for the quarter came in ahead of Wall Street's estimates, as did revenues.

Austin, Texas-based National Instruments' third-quarter profit dropped to $15.76 million or $0.13 per share from $24.34 million or $0.20 per share last year. Adjusted earnings for the quarter dropped to $0.19 per share from $0.26 per share last year.

On average, six analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a profit of $0.11 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Sales for the quarter inched down to $289.14 million from $289.97 million last year. Analysts estimated revenues of $285.43 million for the quarter.

For the past few quarters, National Instruments have been reporting weak earnings hurt by lower demand for its products as expenses continue to increase. National Instruments makes automated test equipments and virtual instrumentation software.

Total operating expenses for the third quarter increased 4 percent year-over-year to $193.4 million.

Looking forward to the fourth quarter, the company expect earnings in the range of $0.19 to $0.31 per share, adjusted earnings of $0.25 to $0.37 per share and revenues of $291 million to $321 million. Analysts currently estimate earnings of $0.23 per share on revenues of $307.29 million for the quarter.

NATI closed Thursday's regular trade at $29.05, down $0.25 or 0.85%, on the Nasdaq. The stock further dropped to $0.01 or 0.04% in the after-hours trade.