(By Balachander) Joy Global Inc. (NYSE: JOY) reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, though the provider of mining equipments issued a downbeat forecast for 2013 expecting lower volumes.
Earnings from continuing operations increased to $212 million or $1.99 per share for the fourth quarter from $195 million or $1.83 per share in the comparable period of last year.
Net sales jumped 19 percent to $1.6 billion.
Wall Street analysts, on average, expected JOY to earn $1.91 per share on sales of $1.42 billion.
Bookings fell 5 percent in the fourth quarter as order fell in the company's legacy business.
At the end of the fourth quarter, backlog was $2.6 billion, down from $2.8 billion at the end of the previous quarter.
Looking ahead for the full year 2013, the company expects earnings per share in the range of $5.90 to $6.50 on revenue between $4.9 billion and $ 5.2 billion. Analysts expect earnings of $6.73 per share on revenue of $5.21 billion.
"With the expectation that current market conditions will continue and result in lower volumes in 2013, we have begun the process of taking out costs and structurally lowering our cost base," the company said.
JOY shares, which have been trading in the 52-week range of $47.69 to $96.00, closed at $57.87 on Tuesday.