Pactiv 3Q profit rises 64 pct

Pactiv 3rd-quarter profit rises 64 percent even as sales slip

• On 4:59 pm EDT, Wednesday October 21, 2009

LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) -- Pactiv Corp., which makes Hefty garbage bags and packaging materials, said Wednesday that its third-quarter profit rose 64 percent to $87 million even as sales declined 9 percent.

The company raised its full-year earnings outlook.

The net income attributable to common shareholders for the three months ended Sept. 30 was equivalent to 65 cents a share, compared with a profit of $53 million, or 40 cents a share, a year earlier.

Revenue in the quarter fell to $839 million from $925 million.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, who generally exclude one-time items from their estimates, were expecting third-quarter earnings of 51 cents a share on revenue of $857.5 million.

The company said it expects fourth-quarter earnings per share in a range of 48 cents to 52 cents. The full-year earnings per share outlook has been raised to a range of $2.44 to $2.48 from $2.37 to $2.45, and includes non-cash pension income of $37 million pretax, $23 million after tax, or 17 cents per share.

Full-year sales are expected to decline in a range of 6 percent to 7 percent.

Analysts were expecting full-year earnings of $2.44 a share on revenue of $3.37 billion.