Worthington Industries Q1 Results Meet Estimates, Outlook Positive

(RTTNews) - Diversified metal manufacturer Worthington Industries, Inc. (WOR) reported Wednesday a profit for the first quarter that increased from last year, reflecting sales growth and gains from acquisitions. Both adjusted earnings per share and quarterly revenues met analysts' expectations. The company also noted that its outlook continues to be positive.

The company on July 31 acquired an additional 10 percent interest in its laser welded blanks joint venture, TWB, increasing its ownership to 55% and becoming the controlling partner.

"We had a very good quarter with solid results from our Steel Processing and Pressure Cylinders businesses and several of our joint ventures. We saw strength in volumes from the automotive, agriculture, heavy truck and commercial construction markets in Steel Processing. The oil and gas business in Cylinders had a very good quarter and the transformation's operational improvements are also providing a lift to this business," Chairman and CEO John McConnell said in a statement.

The Columbus, Ohio-based metal processing company reported net earnings of $54.6 million or $0.76 per share for the first quarter, higher than $34.0 million or $0.49 per share in the prior-year quarter.

Results for the latest quarter included a net gain of $0.18 per share after the impact of restructuring and impairment charges. It includes gains related to the additional 10 percent acquisition of interest in the TWB joint venture. Excluding the gain, Adjusted earnings per share for the latest quarter would have been $0.58.

On average, eight analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.58 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net sales for the quarter increased 4 percent to $692.29 million from $666.04 million in the same quarter last year. Seven Wall Street analysts has a consensus revenue estimate of $692.92 million for the quarter.

The increase in net sales reflected volume growth driven by recent acquisitions, partially offset by lower average selling prices, primarily in steel processing, which were affected by a shift in product mix.

Steel processing net sales for the quarter grew 5 percent to $402.4 million over the prior-year quarter, and pressure cylinders' net sales of $216.9 million were up 12 percent from the year-ago quarter. Meanwhile, engineered cobs net sales was down 25 percent to $48.5 million from last year.

"Engineered Cabs has stabilized while still experiencing softer volumes from key customers." McConnell added, "We also had excellent contributions from our joint ventures with WAVE, ClarkDietrich and TWB leading the way this quarter," McConnell stated.

The company's board also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, payable on December 27 to shareholders of record December 13, 2013.

Looking ahead, McConnell said, "Our outlook continues to be positive. We are encouraged by the improvements we are seeing in the commercial construction and the agriculture markets and the continued strength in automotive."

The company added that the strategy for acquisitions and its focus on innovation has well-positioned it for long-term growth. It will continue to explore new opportunities and drive improvement and optimization in all of businesses.

WOR closed Wednesday's regular trading session at $33.92, down $0.56 or 1.62% on a volume of 0.42 million shares.