biz.yahoo.com
Thursday February 4, 9:21 pm Eastern Time
Timberland posts record Q4 profits, stock rallies
NEW YORK, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Bootmaker Timberland Co. (NYSE:TBL - news)
said Thursday its fourth quarter earnings surged 18 percent to a record
$21 million, boosted by a 10 percent increase in sales and triggering a
13 percent gain in its share price.
Timberland said the result meant a profit of $1.80 a diluted share and
came on sales of $262 million. A year earlier, the company earned $18
million, or $1.48 a diluted share, on sales of $239 million.
The profit was better than the $1.66 a share expected by Wall Street
analysts surveyed by First Call Corp., and Timberland's shares were up
$6.96 a share at $58.25 on the New York Stock Exchange.
The results prompted one analyst, Marcia Aaron at BT Alex.Brown to
upgrade her rating on Timberland to ''buy'' from ''market perform.''
Aaron noted that at the end of the quarter, Timberland's inventories
were down, it had fewer receivables as a percentage of sales, and it had
$150 million in cash, equivalent to $13 a share.
For the year, Timberland earned $59.2 million, or $5.03 a diluted share,
on sales of $862 million. In 1997, the company earned $47.3 million, or
$4.03 a share, on sales of $796 million. |
