Kirby Cuts Q4, FY14 Earnings Outlook

(RTTNews) - Kirby Corp. (KEX) on Wednesday lowered its fourth quarter earnings outlook to a range of $1.10 to $1.20 per share from its prior outlook of $1.30 to $1.40 per share.

The company also lowered its full year earnings guidance to a range of $4.84 to $4.94 per share from its previous guidance of $5.04 to $5.14 per share.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters currently expect the company to earn $1.35 per share for the fourth quarter and $5.11 per share for the full year 2014.

David Grzebinski, Kirby's President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "Our fourth quarter performance to date has been disappointing relative to our earlier expectations. The majority of the change in our earnings guidance is a result of changes in our land-based diesel engine services market. Our production ramp up in that market has not gone as well as expected and demand across our product and service portfolio is being impacted by the sharp decline in crude oil prices which have led to customer cancellations and requests to delay delivery of projects. Customers have recently begun to reduce their capital spending plans in light of the decline in oil prices and we expect this to continue into 2015."