Toro Q3 Profit Rises - Update

(RTTNews) - Turf maintenance equipment maker Toro Co. (TTC), Thursday reported an increase in profit for the third quarter, as revenues registered a double-digit growth and margins improved. Both earnings and revenues for the quarter came in ahead of Wall Street estimates.

Bloomington, Minnesota-based Toro's third-quarter profit rose to $50.0 million or $0.87 per share from $40.1 million or $0.68 per share last year. On average, five analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.83 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Toro's sales for the third quarter grew 11.3 percent to $567.5 million from $509.92 million, driven by strong retail demand for both professional and residential products. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $558.10 million for the quarter.

Professional segment sales for the quarter rose 11.9 percent to $384.7 million, while residential segment sales increased 13 percent to $175.7 million from last year.

Gross margin for the third quarter improved to 35.6 percent from 34.9 percent last year, primarily due to favorable product mix and realized pricing, somewhat offset by higher commodity costs.

Looking forward to the full year 2014, the company now expect earnings of about $2.94 to $2.96 per share and revenue growth to be about 6 percent. Analysts currently expect earnings of $2.96 per share for the year.

Earlier, the company expected full-year earnings of about $2.90 to $2.95 per share on revenue growth of about 5 to 6 percent.

TTC is currently trading at $62.34, up $1.09 or 1.78%, on the NYSE.