Diversified manufacturer Valmont Industries Inc. posted a 23 percent rise in fourth-quarter profit late Tuesday, beating Wall Street estimates as it credited strong demand for electric transmission line construction.
Shares of the Omaha, Neb.-based company soared 16 percent in afternoon trading.
Net income rose to $28.5 million, or $1.09 per share, for the quarter ended Dec. 27, compared with $23.1 million, or 88 cents per share, for the year-earlier period.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected earnings to be $1.04 per share on revenue of $454.2 million.
Revenue of $493.1 million was up 28 percent from $384.9 million.
Mogens C. Bay, chairman and CEO, said the largest percentage gains in sales were in the company's utility support structures business, "where market conditions remain very strong."
He attributed the rise in sales in the engineered support structures business due to the impact of acquisitions, higher prices in response to rising steel costs and organic growth.
Analyst Brent Thielman of D.A. Davidson and Co. said in a note to investors Wednesday that segment margins in Valmont Industries' engineered support structures were lower due to a shift in product mix, higher steel costs and startup costs at a new pole plant facility.
Fourth-quarter results included a miscellaneous expense of $4.9 million, Thielman said. The expense cut earnings per share by 10 cents, he said.
Net income for 2008 was $132.4 million, or $5.04 per share, up nearly 40 percent from $94.7 million, or $3.63 per share.
Analysts expected earnings per share to be $5.02 per share.
Revenue for the year was $1.91 billion, up 27 percent from $1.5 billion in 2007.
Shares rose $6.30 to $44.75 in afternoon trading.
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