(By Balaseshan) Amphenol Corp. (NYSE: APH) reported a 23.3% jump in quarterly earnings on higher revenue. Results exceeded Street's expectations, yet the provider of electronic and fiber optic connectors guided first quarter below consensus.
Earnings attributable to Amphenol were $140.36 million or $0.86 per share for the fourth quarter, compared with $113.86 million or $0.69 per share in the year-ago quarter. Before one-time charges, earnings per share (EPS) rose to $0.94 from $0.73.
Revenue grew 20.8% to $1.146 billion. Currency translation had the effect of decreasing sales by about $6 million in the latest quarter.
Analysts, on average, polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.90 per share on revenue of $1.11 billion for the fourth quarter.
"On a year-over-year basis, we experienced growth in all markets with particular strength in the mobile devices, wireless infrastructure, commercial aerospace and broadband markets. Our strong growth is once again confirmation of the significant benefits of diversity, especially given the still high levels of uncertainty in many of the world's economies," said Adam Norwitt, Chief Executive of Amphenol.
The company's board of directors has authorized a new two year open market stock repurchase plan for up to 10 million shares of its common stock effective January 21, 2013.
Looking ahead into the first quarter, Amphenol guides EPS excluding one-time items of 84 cents to 87 cents and revenue of $1.055 billion to $1.080 billion. Analysts expect EPS of 88 cents a share on revenue of $1.09 billion. The company said the overall economic environment continues to be characterized by a high level of market uncertainty.
For the full year 2013, the company expects adjusted EPS of $3.72 to $3.84 and revenue of $4.555 billion to $4.655 billion. Street analysts predict EPS of $3.78 on revenue of $4.59 billion.
APH is trading up 0.03% at $68.28 on Thursday. The stock has been trading between $50.89 and $69.23 for the past 52 weeks.