Titan Machinery Q3 Profit Falls, Cuts Full-year Outlook Yet Again - Update

(RTTNews) - Titan Machinery Inc. (TITN), an operator of agricultural and construction equipment stores, Wednesday reported a fall in the third-quarter profit, as revenues declined reflecting mainly a decrease in agriculture equipment revenue. The company cut its earnings and revenue outlook for the fiscal year ending January 31, 2015 once again.

While reporting its second-quarter results in September, the company had lowered its full-year outlook.

For the quarter ended October 31, net income attributable to stockholders more than halved to $2.42 million or $0.11 per share from $5.73 million or $0.27 per share in the previous year.

Excluding foreign currency losses of $0.5 million, adjusted net income attributable to stockholders was $2.93 million or $0.14 per share.

On average, seven analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report profit per share of $0.20 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenues for the quarter declined to $493.14 million from $587.96 million in the same quarter last year. Analysts expected revenue of $521.60 million for the quarter. Equipment sales were $343.5 million, down from $441.8 million a year earlier.

Agriculture equipment revenue fell 24.6 percent, while Construction revenue edged up 0.2 percent. International revenue climbed 32.5 from the preceding year.

The company's gross profit margin was 17.2 percent, compared to 15.9 percent a year ago, reflecting stability in the parts and service business.

For the fiscal year, the company expects adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $0.10 to $0.30, significantly down from the earlier outlook of $0.30 to $0.60 per share.

The firm sees fiscal year loss per share to be in the range of $0.02 to $0.23, compared to the previous range of $0.00 to $0.30 income per share.

Revenues are now anticipated to be in the range of $1.85 billion to $2.0 billion, compared to previous guidance range of $1.9 billion to $2.1 billion.

Analysts expect the company to report fiscal year earnings per share of $0.40, on revenue of $2.05 billion.

TITN closed Tuesday's regular trading at $12.08, up 0.83 percent.