Milwaukee-based Joy Global Inc. last week reported fiscal first quarter net earnings of $48.8 million, or 48 cents per share, down from $142.1 million, or $1.34 per share, in the first quarter of 2013.
Revenue for the quarter was $839.3 million, down from $1.1 billion in the same period a year ago.
The company reported original equipment sales were down 49 percent year-over-year. Foreign exchange also impacted net sales.
“While comparison with the first quarter of fiscal 2013 is difficult, I am pleased with our team’s execution against plan in what is expected to be our slowest quarter of the fiscal year,” said Ted Doheny, president and chief executive officer. “During the quarter we continued to move forward on our cost reduction programs, which will help mitigate the impact from lower volumes during the year. In addition, our continued execution of operational excellence and One Joy Global initiatives will position us well when market demand increases and provides us with the ability to generate improved leverage on future growth opportunities.”
Commodity oversupply and a depressed pricing environment have caused mining spending to slow, Doheny said. The company expects its service business to pick up as miners run out of time to delay rebuilds and service on equipment.
“As we look at the full year for 2014, we still expect revenues to be between $3.6 billion and $3.8 billion with earnings per fully diluted share, excluding restructuring and unusual items, to be in the range of $3.10 to $3.50,” he said. “This compares to guidance at the beginning of the quarter of $3.00 to $3.50. With one quarter of the fiscal year behind us, we are increasing the bottom end of our earnings range by $0.10. We continue to project cash from continuing operations for the fiscal year of approximately 15 percent of sales which will position the company to continue to execute on its share repurchase program and pursue other shareholder enhancing opportunities. As is typical for our company, we expect our cash generation will be greater in the second half of the fiscal year.”
