Earnings Recap: Stanley B&D, Kennametal, Timken And More

See the latest sales and profit numbers for Stanley Black & Decker, Timken, Kennametal, Timken, Praxair, Essendant, National Oilwell Varco and Columbus McKinnon. Most of them posted year-over-year sales declines overall, or at least in their industrial products segment.

We're in the midst of another quarterly earnings reporting period, with most of them reporting their 2016 third quarter fiscal performance. Here's a roundup of some well-known industrial manufacturers that reported over the past couple of days.

Stanley Black & Decker

Tool maker Stanley Black & Decker reported its Q3 fiscals on Thursday, led by a 2 percent year-over-year increase in total sales. The company posted sales of $2.9 billion on the strength of 2 percent volume growth and 1 percent increase in price offset a negative 1 percent impact from currency headwinds. Stanley B&D had a Q3 profit of $248.9 million, up from $228.7 a year earlier.

By segment:

  • Tools & Storage sales increased 3 percent year-over-year, led by increases of 4 percent in volume and 1 percent in price. Organic sales grew 4 percent in North America and 11 percent in Europe.
  • Security sales increased 2 percent, with organic sales up 1 percent in both North America and Europe.
  • Industrial sales decreased 4 percent, led by a 3 percent decline in volumes and a 1 percent decline in price. Engineered Fastening organic sales sunk 6 percent, which the company said was primarily due to weaker electronics volumes attributable to a major customer, along with pressured industrial volumes. Excluding that customer, organic sales were slightly positive.

"Not surprisingly, based on market conditions, our Industrial segment continued to face challenges during the quarter within its channels but maintained its sharp focus on cost management to register a healthy operating margin rate," said Stanley Black & Decker president and CEO James Loree.

Stanley B&D announced a $1.95 billion acquisition of Newell Tools on Oct. 12. Newell will become part of the Tools & Storage business.

Kennametal

Kennametal reported its 2017 first quarter results Thursday, led by a 14 percent decline in year-over-year sales. Sales were $477 million, down from $555 million a year earlier. Most of the decline — 9 percent — was due to a divestiture, while currency headwinds had a negative 2 percent impact. Organic sales were down 3 percent.

The company took a net loss of $21.2 million in Q1, compared to a net loss of $5.7 million a year earlier. The company's Industrial segment sales of $269 million were nearly identical to last year's $270 million. Industrial organic sales grew by 3 percent.

Timken

Bearings maker Timken reported its third quarter fiscals on Thursday, led by a year-over-year sales decline of 7 percent. Q3 sales of $657 million were down from $707 million a year earlier. The company posted a profit of $20.6 million, down from $63.4 million.

Timken's Mobile Industries segment had Q3 sales of $353 million, down 11 percent year-over-year. Process Industries segment sales of $304 million were down 2 percent.

Timken completed its $66 million acquisition of couplings-maker Lovejoy during the quarter. Its selling, general & administrative costs of $109.5 million were down from $120.7 million a year earlier. The company also announced plans to close its Pulaski, TN bearings plant and cease manufacturing operations in South Africa.

Praxair

Industrial gases supplier Praxair reported its Q3 fiscals Thursday, led by a 1.1 percent increase in year-over-year sales. The company posted sales of $2.71 billion. North American Q3 sales were down 2 percent year-over-year. The company said volume growth from new on-site projects, mostly in South America, Asia and Europe, was offset by lower volumes in North and South America due to weaker manufacturing activity in the U.S. and Brazil.

Praxair had a Q3 profit of $339 million, compared to $401 million a year earlier. Operating profit of $497 million was down 16 percent.

Essendant

Workplace essentials wholesaler Essendant — formely known as United Stationers — has reported Q3 sales of $1.4 billion, up 1.1 percent year-over-year. The increase was primarily in its office products category, while industrial sales of $139.8 million fell 4.7 percent.

The company posted a profit of $36.7 million, up from $27.7 million a year earlier.

"Our recent results are below our expectations for the business. However, we are moving forward aggressively to implement the first phase of a comprehensive multi-year transformation program," said Essendant president and CEO Robert B. Aiken Jr. "This action builds on the organizational changes we made earlier in the year to improve our focus on key customer channels and is designed to deliver improved profitability by winning back lost revenue in our JanSan distributor channel, aligning pricing with cost to serve, enhancing our merchandising efforts through better sourcing and assortment, driving productivity and reducing costs, and diversifying our industrial channel."

National Oilwell Varco

Houston, TX-based National Oilwell Varco (NOV) reported Q3 sales of $1.7 billion, a whopping 50 percent decrease year-over-year. The company took a net loss of $1.4 billion, compared to a $155 million profit a year earlier. NOV's rig systems segment had Q3 sales of $470 million, down 69 percent year-over-year. Rig aftermarket segement sales of $322 million were down 44 percent

“We are encouraged by the early signs of a recovery in the North American marketplace," said NOV president and CEO Clay Williams. "Our short cycle businesses within our Wellbore Technologies Segment account for over 80 percent of total segment revenue. Within North America these posted sequential revenue growth of approximately 15 percent. Even though international, offshore and capital equipment markets remain challenging, we believe declining global production and improving commodity prices are setting the stage for a broader recovery in 2017."

NOV's year-to-date sales of $5.6 billion were down 53.8 percent from the same period in 2015, while a year-to-date net loss of $1.7 billion compares with a $754 million profit.

Columbus McKinnon

Material Handling products maker Columbus McKinnon reported its 2017 Q2 fiscal results on Friday, led by 4.0 percent sales growth year-over-year, with revenue of $151.9 million up from $146.0 million a year earlier. The company had a profit of $6.8 million this past quarter after taking a net loss of $400,000 a year ago. Columbus McKinnon's adjusted operating profit of $12.6 million was down from $15.0 million a year earlier, which the company attributed to lower sales in the global hoist and rigging business.

More in Earnings