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Last Update: 01-May-13 07:49 ET
General Cable shares little changed pre-market following beat on earnings
General Cable (BGC $34.48 +0.00) reported first quarter earnings of $0.23 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ consensus of $0.25, while revenues rose 7.0% year/year to $1.53 billion versus the $1.58 billion consensus. The company issued guidance for the second quarter with EPS of $0.50-0.60, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.78 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. The company also sees second quarter revenues of $1.7-1.75 billion versus the. $1.75 billion Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. While the current operating environment remains challenging in certain markets and product lines around the world, intermediate and long-term demand growth drivers in the Company's key end markets in North America and ROW remain intact. Equally encouraging are the prospects for recent acquisitions in 2013, which have continued to improve since the beginning of the year and are expected to carry this momentum into the construction season and into the second half of the year. However, copper and aluminum spot prices have declined ~11% and 5%, respectively, from the Company's previous forward-looking metal price assumptions. Principally due to this near-term headwind, the co now expects adjusted operating income to be in the range of $285 to $315 mln (down from $300-340 mln) for 2013 on 1.375 to 1.45 billion metal pounds sold. "Global unit volume has been revised downward primarily due to the Company's start-up specialty cable business in Brazil which is coming on line more slowly than we anticipated and general demand weakness in Sub-Saharan Africa. We are actively moving forward under our new regional leadership in Latin America to accelerate the transfer of technology, innovation and best practices as we ramp up production and begin to capture opportunities. The Brazilian market represents a meaningful opportunity over the next several years as the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016 along with government-sponsored construction and infrastructure investment programs are expected to drive demand for the Company's products. Overall, excluding acquisitions, year over year global unit volume growth is expected to be in the low single digits for 2013."
