Jabil Profit Misses Estimate; Outlook Weak

(RTTNews) - Contract electronics manufacturer Jabil Circuit Inc. (JBL) said Tuesday after the markets closed that its first quarter profit rose 11% from last year, helped mainly by lower income tax expenses even as revenue fell marginally.

However, the company's quarterly earnings per share, excluding items, came in below analysts' expectations, but its quarterly revenue beat analysts' forecast. At the same time, the company forecast second quarter revenue and earnings way below analysts' current consensus estimates.

Separately, Jabil said that it has agreed to sell its aftermarket services business to iQor Holdings, Inc. for $725 million. The deal is expected to close in Jabil's third fiscal quarter of 2014.

"This divesture should provide us the financial flexibility to potentially add more engineering intensive capabilities, which should allow us to expand and diversify our core manufacturing business. We expect to continue to pursue opportunities similar to our recent Nypro acquisition," said Jabil CEO Mark Mondello.

Jabil shares are currently losing 13.79% in after hors trading after closing the day's regular trading session at $19.72, up 4 cents. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $16.39 to $24.32. For the first quarter ended November 30, 2013, the St. Petersburg, Florida-based company reported net income of $117.9 million or $0.57 per share, compared to $105.8 million or $0.51 per share for the year-ago quarter.

Excluding amortization of intangibles, stock-based compensation and related charges and restructuring and related charges, core earnings for the first quarter were $105.4 million or $0.51 per share, compared to $127.8 million or $0.61 per share in the prior year quarter.

On average, 12 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.54 per share for the first quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net revenue for the first quarter fell 0.6% to $4.61 billion from $4.64 billion in the same quarter last year. Ten analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $4.46 billion for the first quarter.

Looking forward to the second quarter, the company forecasts net revenue of $3.5 billion to $3.7 billion, a net loss of $0.20 to $0.06 per share and core earnings of $0.05 to $0.15 per share.

Analysts currently expect the company to earn $0.52 per share on revenue of $4.28 billion for the second quarter.

The company also said that its Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $200 million of common stock over the next 12 months.