Kennametal loses money in 1Q but sales trending up

Kennametal loses money in first quarter of fiscal 2010 but sales are trending up

• On 10:51 am EDT, Thursday October 29, 2009

LATROBE, Pa. (AP) -- Kennametal Inc., which provides vehicle, aerospace and machinery makers with advanced materials and engineered products, said Thursday that it lost money in its fiscal first quarter as sales dropped by more than a third.

But sales improved from the previous quarter and results topped Wall Street's expectations.

"In addition to the positive impact of higher sequential sales, our results benefited from increased permanent savings from our restructuring programs," CEO Carlos Cardoso said.

For the three months ended Sept. 30, Kennametal lost $9.8 million, or 12 cents per share, compared with a profit in the year-earlier period of 35.5 million, or 47 cents per share.

Excluding one-time items, the company lost 4 cents per share, far better than the 15 cents per share loss analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected.

Sales in the first fiscal quarter of 2010 fell 36 percent to $409.4 million from $643.4 million, better than the $408.7 million analysts expected and 6 percent higher than the previous quarter's sales.

Kennametal also issued initial fiscal 2010 guidance that exceeded analyst expectations.

Shares in morning trading rose $1.67, or 7.3 percent, to $24.42. In the past 12 months the stock has ranged from $12.82 to $25.71.