Wabtec sets 3Q earnings record

Wilmerding, Pa.-based Wabtec Corp. Tuesday reported record third-quarter earnings of $46.6 million, or 96 cents per diluted share, 33% higher than the comparable quarter in 2010. Sales also set a record at $499 million, also up 33% from a year ago, which Wabtec attributed to strong growth in its Freight Group. Per-share earnings beat Wall Street consensus analyst estimates of 87 cents per share.

Wabtec’s backlog at the end of the third quarter was $1.5 billion, 38% higher than at the beginning of the year.

Albert J. Neupaver, Wabtec’s president and chief executive officer, said: “Wabtec continued to perform at a high level in the third quarter and we expect to finish the year strongly. We are executing our growth strategies well, benefiting from favorable market conditions in the freight rail sector, and beginning to see a ramp-up in positive train control activities. We remain optimistic about our outlook for the balance of the year, and believe we are well positioned over the longer term to take advantage of growth opportunities in our core markets around the world.”

Neupaver’s optimism was backed by Steve Barger, an analystwith KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., who noted, “On the back of this strongperformance, [Wabtec] increased its 2011 guidance to $3.65-$3.70 from$3.45-$3.55, and increased the top-line expectations to 25% growth (from theprevious guidance of 20%). We estimate this implies 4Q11 results of $0.90-$0.95and revenue of around $450 million.”