Worthington Industries Q4 Adj Profit Misses View, But Sales Top

(RTTNews) - Diversified metal manufacturer Worthington Industries, Inc. (WOR) reported Wednesday a profit for the fourth quarter that remained relatively flat with last year. The company's sales grew on higher overall volumes, aided by acquisitions. and gains from acquisitions. Adjusted earnings per share missed analysts' expectations, while quarterly sales missed their estimates.

"The fourth quarter results showed improvement over the prior year period with Steel Processing leading the way. Our transformation efforts continue to help that business deliver strong results as it nears the peak volumes we saw prior to the downturn," Chairman and CEO John McConnell said in a statement.

The Columbus, Ohio-based metal processing company reported net earnings of $33.16 million or $0.47 per share for the fourth quarter, compared to $33.52 million or $0.46 per share in the prior-year quarter.

Results for the latest quarter primarily include impairment and restructuring charges of $0.21 per share, and a net $0.07 per share gain related to a legal dispute settlement and insurance proceeds. Excluding the charges and gain, adjusted earnings per share for the latest quarter would have been $0.61.

On average, eight analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.67 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net sales for the quarter increased 27 percent to $891.01 million from $704.06 million in the same quarter last year, and topped seven Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate of $841.22 million.

Steel processing net sales for the quarter surged 48 percent to $563.52 million over the prior-year quarter, and pressure cylinders' net sales of $264.18 million were up 5 percent from the year-ago quarter. Meanwhile, engineered cobs net sales was down to $52.71 million from last year's $55.08 million.

Steel processing volumes increased to 949 tons from 703 tons last year, while pressure cylinders volumes edged down to 22,908 units from last year's 23,363 units.

On Wednesday, the company's board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.18 per share, payable on September 29 to shareholders of record September 12, 2014. The board also authorized the repurchase of an additional 10.0 million shares, in addition to the 1.7 million shares remaining under the 2011 authorization.

Looking ahead, McConnell said, ""We anticipate continued year-over-year growth in fiscal 2015 as we pursue our strategy and our commitment to delivering consistent earnings growth. Automotive should remain strong and we are seeing some signs of positive growth in the construction markets."

The company added that it also expects good results from key Pressure Cylinders markets in retail, industrial, alternative fuels and energy products.

Further, the company noted that it will continue to drive improvements throughout its businesses and pursue acquisitions which enhance existing businesses, providing new products and higher growth markets.

In Thursday's regular trading session, WOR is currently trading at $43.79, up $0.56 or 1.30% on a volume of 37,052 shares.