Kennametal 4Q profit ahead of Wall Street expectations; revenue jumps 40 percent

Kennametal 4Q profit beats analyst expectations

LATROBE, Pa. — Kennametal Inc., which provides vehicle, aerospace and machinery makers with advanced materials and engineered products, posted a fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, reversing a year-ago loss.

While its adjusted earnings for the quarter beat Wall Street forecasts, Kennametal’s guidance for revenue for the year fell short of analysts’s estimates.

Its shares fell 95 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $27.17 in midday trading.

The company reported net income of $40.6 million, or 49 cents per share, for the quarter that ended June 30. A year earlier it had lost almost $33 million, or 45 cents per share.

Revenue grew almost 40 percent to $538.6 million from $386 million a year earlier.

The company said it would have earned 61 cents per share if not for restructuring charges, compared with a year-ago adjusted loss of 13 cents per share.

By that measure, it earnings beat the estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, who were expecting almost 57 cents per share. The analysts expected revenue of $538.8 million.

For the full year, it earned $46.4 million, or 57 cents per share, after losing $119.7 million, or $1.64 per share, in the fiscal year that ended in June 2009. Revenue fell 5.8 percent to $1.88 billion.

Kennametal said its higher profit margin was driven by higher revenue, increased use of its existing capacity, and savings from cost-cutting programs.

The company said it expects to earn $1.85 to $2.15 per share in the upcoming fiscal year. It said total revenue should increase 11 percent to 14 percent, which works out to $2.09 billion to $2.14 billion.

Analysts expected a profit of $2.12 per share on higher revenue of $2.23 billion.