Colfax reports decent Q3 2018 results
Colfax Corp. (NYSE: CFX) released Q3 2018 results yesterday!
Adjusted net income came in at $ 0.54 per share, surpassing analysts expectations and better than the $ 0.42 one year ago.
Third quarter 2018 net sales were $875 million, 4% higher than the comparable period of 2017.
Excluding acquisitions and foreign currency translation effects Fabrication Technology segment sales grew 10%, and Air & Gas Handling segment sales decreased 12%.
Surpringly for the current macro picture Colfax is rather optmistic about Q4 and year end performance:
Colfax revised its adjusted earnings per share outlook for the year from $2.15-$2.30 to $2.20-$2.30 and expects to end the year with adjusted earnings per share growth of 26% or more as CEO Trerotola explained on the conference call:
“We expect a strong performance in the fourth quarter, led by continued Fabrication Technology business growth and sequential margin improvement, expanded Air & Gas Handling margins, and further benefits from our restructuring actions.”
The stock market in contrast is not so positive. The stock price slides slightly 0.8% today in an overall negative market after already having lost 30% year to date.
For investors this stock should be a „hold“.
It will be seen whether Colfax Corp. can improve its mediocre business performance of the last several years as a basically classic industrial company which the stock price always reflected.
The balance sheet and the cash flow generation are still solid but investors need to watch whether the Colfax Business System is still working especially when it comes to growth by meaningfull acquisitions.