ESCO (ESE) Q4 Earnings: What To Expect

Engineered products manufacturer ESCO (NYSE:ESE) will be reporting earnings this Thursday after the bell. Here’s what you need to know.

ESCO beat analysts’ revenue expectations by 15.1% last quarter, reporting revenues of $352.7 million, up 18.1% year on year. It was a very strong quarter for the company, with a solid beat of analysts’ revenue estimates and full-year EPS guidance exceeding analysts’ expectations.

Is ESCO a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free for active Edge members.

This quarter, analysts are expecting ESCO’s revenue to grow 17.1% year on year to $289.3 million, improving from the 13.2% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $1.32 per share.

Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. ESCO has missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates five times over the last two years.

Looking at ESCO’s peers in the industrial machinery segment, some have already reported their Q4 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Applied Industrial delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 8.4%, missing analysts’ expectations by 0.7%, and GE Aerospace reported revenues up 17.6%, topping estimates by 13.9%. Applied Industrial traded down 9% following the results while GE Aerospace was also down 7.7%.

Read our full analysis of Applied Industrial’s results here and GE Aerospace’s results here.

There has been positive sentiment among investors in the industrial machinery segment, with share prices up 8.5% on average over the last month. ESCO is up 18.5% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $255 (compared to the current share price of $238.72).

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