Quanex 3Q profit drops, misses Street target

Quanex Building Products Corp. said Thursday its profit plunged 77 percent in the third quarter, as the company was hurt by the weak housing market.

For the quarter ended July 31, Quanex earned $8.8 million, or 24 cents per share, compared with $38.6 million, or 98 cents per share, a year earlier. Stripping out results from businesses that have been, or are in the process of being sold, the company earned $21.7 million, or 54 cents per share in the prior-year period.

Excluding a charge for inventory accounting, the company said it earned 32 cents per share from continuing operations in the most recent quarter.

Analysts, who typically exclude one-time items from their figures, expected the company to earn 37 cents per share, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.

Sales fell 11 percent to $240.3 million from $269.5 million a year earlier, but topped analysts' forecast of $238.1 million.

The company took an after-tax inventory accounting charge of $3.3 million, or 8 cents per share, compared to 54 cents per share a year ago.

Shares of Quanex fell 34 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $15.96 in morning trading.