Manitowoc (MTW) To Report Q4 Earnings: What's In Store?

The Manitowoc Company (NYSE:MTW) is scheduled to report fourth-quarter 2019 results after the market close on Feb 6.

Q4 Estimates

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter earnings is pegged at 28 cents, suggesting an improvement of 75% from the prior-year quarter. Moreover, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for total sales of $493.5 million, indicating a decline of 4% from the year-ago reported figure.

A Sneak Peak at Q3

Manitowoc’s third-quarter 2019 adjusted earnings per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a margin of 64%. The bottom line also improved 170% on a year-over-year basis.

Notably, Manitowoc beat estimates in the trailing four quarters by 216.1%, on average.

Share Price Performance

Manitowoc’s shares have declined 12.7% over the past year, compared with the industry’s decline of 2.5%.

Factors at Play in Q4

Manitowoc’s backlog as of third quarter-end was $467 million, down 33% year over year. Orders in the third quarter were down 23% year over year. This trend is likely to have continued in the fourth quarter because of cautious customer spending as trade disputes and other macro-economic factors continued to create uncertainty in global markets.

Further, fluctuating foreign exchange rates has been keeping Manitowoc’s margins under pressure, particularly on European-produced cranes that it sells in the United States. The Middle East market also remained challenging thanks to geopolitical uncertainties and market competitions. Incremental input costs are likely to have hurt the fourth-quarter margins, primarily due to tariffs on steel imports.

Manitowoc has been aligning production levels with current demand. This along with continued introduction of new products, productivity initiatives and cost controls are likely to have helped negate the above-mentioned headwinds in the to-be-reported quarter. Notably, Manitowoc has been executing its strategy to cover cost inflation through pricing actions.

Moreover, Manitowoc’s aftermarket business continues to perform well. Growth has been primarily stemming from higher-margin parts and services and this, in turn, is likely to get reflected in the fourth-quarter performance.

What Our Model Indicates

Our proven model predicts an earnings beat for Manitowoc this time around. According to the Zacks model, the combination of a positive Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of a positive earnings surprise.

You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Earnings ESP: The Earnings ESP for Manitowoc is +32.14%.

Zacks Rank: Manitowoc currently carries a Zacks Rank of 1.

Stocks Poised to Beat Earnings Estimates

Here are a few Industrial Products stocks which you may consider as our model shows that these too have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat in their upcoming releases.

Tennant Company (NYSE:TNC) has an Earnings ESP of +4.20% and a Zacks Rank of 2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Valmont Industries, Inc. (NYSE:VMI) has a Zacks Rank #2 and an Earnings ESP of +2.93%.

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) , a Zacks #3 Ranked stock, has an Earnings ESP of +1.01%.

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