Oshkosh Q4 Profit Rises - Update

(RTTNews) - Oshkosh Corp. (OSK), a supplier of heavy-duty trucks to the US military, Friday reported a surge in profit for the fourth quarter, driven largely by strong sales of access equipments and cement mixers with lower operating costs, which offset continued soft sales of tactical vehicles to the DoD.

The Oshkosh, Wisconsin-based company's fourth-quarter profit rose to $77.8 million or $0.93 per share from $35.7 million or $0.40 per share last year.

Adjusted earnings for the quarter rose to $0.96 per share from $0.49 per share a year ago. On average, sixteen analysts polled by Thomson-Reuters estimated earnings of $0.82 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Oshkosh's sales dropped 3.4 percent $1.67 billion from $1.73 billion a year ago. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $1.61 billion for the quarter.

Defense segment sales, as expected, plunged 43.9 percent to $288.1 million on lower sales to the U.S. Department of Defense. Access equipment sales rose 19.5 percent to $932.7 million, helped by continued recovery in the global access equipment market, while commercial unit sales advanced 16.4 percent to 243.7 million, helped by 21 percent increase in concrete mixer shipments.

Operating costs dropped to $176.4 million from $191.7 million last year.

Moving ahead, the company expects fiscal year 2015 adjusted earnings of $4.00 to $4.25 per share on sales of $6.5 billion to $6.6 billion. Analysts currently estimate earnings of $3.49 per share on revenues of $6.73 billion for the year.

Oshkosh expects a further reduction in DoD spending for its tactical wheeled vehicle programs in 2015.

OSK is currently trading at $45.42, up $0.50 or 1.11%, on the NYSE.