Rockwell Automation Q1 Adj. EPS Tops View; Cuts FY15 Adj. EPS Outlook

(RTTNews) - Rockwell Automation Inc. (ROK) said that its first quarter net income was $214.2 million or $1.56 per share, up from $198.1 million or $1.41 per share in the prior year quarter.

Adjusted earnings per share were $1.64, up 12% from $1.47 in the comparable quarter last year. On average, 19 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $1.49 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Sales for the latest first quarter were $1.57 billion, down 1.1 percent from $1.59 billion in the year-ago period, while 18 analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $1.56 billion. Organic sales grew 2.1 percent.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2015, the company said it now expects adjusted earnings of $6.50 to $6.80 per share and reported sales of about $6.6 billion, which includes a currency headwind of about 4.5 points and an organic sales growth range of 2.5 to 5.5 percent.

Earlier, the company expected adjusted earnings of $6.55 to $6.95 per share and organic sales growth of 2.5 percent to 6.5 percent.

Wall Street now expects fiscal year 2015 earnings of $6.64 per share and sales of $6.73 billion.