Astec IndustriesAstec Industries, Inc. boosted its first quarter earnings by 59 percent over a year ago, beating analysts expectations for the company’s first quarter performance.
The Chattanooga-based asphalt and crushing equipment maker said today it earned $15.1 million, or 65 cents per share, on net sales of $288.7 million. In the same period a year earlier, Astec earned $9.5 million, or 41 cents per share, on sales of $238.7 million.
Earnings were 8 cents per share better than the average of what analysts have forecast for the three-month period, and revenues for the company were nearly $30.8 million ahead of projections.
Domestic sales for Astec increased by 20 percent to $211 million for the first quarter of 2015 while international sales increased an even stronger 23 percent to $77.7 million despite the increased value of the U.S. dollar this year.
Astec’s backlog decreased 6 percent from $309.6 million at March 31, 2014 to $291.2 million at March 31, 2015 due to a drop in international sales due to the dollar strength and mining slowdown around the globe.