Meritor Q1 Profit Tops Estimate; Revenue Falls Short

(RTTNews) - Auto parts maker Meritor, Inc. (MTOR) reported net income for the first quarter of $29 million or $0.29 per share, compared to $11 million or $0.11 per share for the year-ago quarter.

Income from continuing operations for the first quarter was $32 million or $0.32 per share, compared to $12 million or $0.12 per share in the prior year quarter.

Excluding items, adjusted income from continuing operations for the first quarter was $35 million or $0.35 per share, compared to $13 million or $0.13 per share in the first quarter of the prior year.

Sales for the first quarter fell 2% to $879 million from $900 million a year earlier, hurt by lower commercial truck production and unfavorable exchange rates in Europe and South America, as well as lower revenue from Meritor's defense business.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.27 per share on revenue of $906.81 million for the first quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Looking forward, Meritor lowered its fiscal 2015 revenue outlook to about $3.7 billion from its prior outlook of about $3.8 billion, but said it still expects fiscal 2015 adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations to be in the range of $1.20 to $1.30. Analysts currently expect the company to earn $1.35 per share on revenue of $3.83 billion for the fiscal year 2015.