Joy Global 1st-quarter loss tops $40 million
Orders down 21% as mining customers cut spending amid commodity slump
Milwaukee-based Joy Global Inc. on Thursday reported a fiscal first-quarter loss of $40.2 million, after reporting a $30.5 million profit in the same period a year ago.
On a per-share basis, the mining equipment manufacturer said it lost 41 cents. Losses, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were 23 cents per share.
The results for the quarter ended Jan. 29 fell short of Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of 10 cents per share.
Joy posted revenue of $526.3 million in the period, down 25% from a year ago but exceeding analysts’ forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $494.9 million.
The company expects full-year earnings in the range of 10 cents to 50 cents per share, with revenue in the range of $2.4 billion to $2.6 billion.
Joy said it had $550 million in order bookings in the quarter, down 21% from a year ago, as its mining customers continued to cut spending amid a slump in commodity prices.
“While market conditions took another step down this quarter, our results were in line with the company’s expectations heading into the quarter. Our customers are taking unprecedented actions on their equipment fleets to conserve cash as commodity prices have weakened. This has adversely impacted our incoming order rate, particularly in the U.S. coal and copper markets,” President and CEO Ted Doheny said in a statement.
Joy Global shares have risen nearly 6% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has declined nearly 3%. The stock has dropped 69% in the last 12 months.
“We will continue to control those factors which we can. With the increased challenges in some of our end markets, we are further leveraging our footprint optimization and other operational excellence strategies across the business and are now targeting over $100 million in cost reductions for the year,” Doheny said.
Doheny