Mohawk Industries Inc. boosted its third quarter adjusted earnings by 3.6 percent from a year ago as the Calhoun, Ga.-based carpet maker continued to boost sales and improve productivity.
The world’s biggest carpet maker said Thursday it earned $270 million, or $3.61 per share, on revenues of $2.45 billion. Adjusted for acquisition, restructuring and other one-time expenses, net earnings totaled a record $281 million, or $3.75 per share, which exceeded last year’s comparable earnings of $270 million, or $3.62 per share.
The company said revenues in the quarter were up 7 percent in the third quarter to $2.45 billion.
The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $3.74 per share.
“Our businesses outside the U.S. had stronger revenue growth, as the economies of those countries expanded,” Mohawk CEO Jeff Lorberbaum said. “In the period, we overcame rising material costs, disruptions from hurricanes and reduced patent revenue. Our price and mix improved as we enhanced our product offering and implemented pricing actions to recover inflation.”
Lorberbaum said productivity improvements made during the quarter produced gains of $49 million, while the company incurred $8 million of start-up costs.
“Our North American manufacturing plants are operating at record levels for volume, quality and cost,” he said.
In the current quarter ending Dec. 31, Mohawk expects its per-share earnings to range from $3.25 to $3.34. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had forecast adjusted earnings per share of $3.30.
“In the fourth quarter, we anticipate that the business will improve as we benefit from innovative new products, increased volume and the performance of our recent acquisitions,” Lorberbaum said. “We expect higher sales with the relief of some of our capacity constraints, enabling us to expand our market position.”
Before the announcement of the third quarter results, Mohawk shares fell by 17 cents to close Thursday at $262.98.
Nonetheless, Mohawk shares have still climbed nearly 32 percent since the beginning of the year, more than twice the overall gains in the stock market.