The Toro Co. posted net earnings of $53.3 million, or $0.94 per share, on a net sales increase of 7.4 percent to $609.6 million for its fiscal third quarter ended July 31. In the same period a year ago, the company delivered net earnings of $50 million, or $0.87 per share on net sales of $567.5 million.
“Favorable summer growing conditions, particularly in our domestic markets, coupled with the success of new product introductions drove increased retail sales for the quarter,” said Michael Hoffman, Toro chairman and CEO. “We are pleased to deliver record third quarter results as we benefit from the growth provided by the recent acquisition of the BOSS line of snow and ice management products as well as ongoing demand for our Toro- and Exmark-branded landscape contractor equipment. We also saw strong growth in our specialty construction business and consistent performance in our residential segment, driven by solid worldwide demand for zero-turn riding mowers and domestic demand for walk power mowers.”
For the first nine months of the fiscal year, Toro reported a net sales increase of 8.6 percent to $1.91 billion, compared to $1.76 billion a year ago.
Hoffman said he expects a solid fiscal fourth quarter. “We will manage the impacts of unfavorable foreign currency rate conditions, which are expected to continue, as well as the extended drought-like conditions in certain regions of the country,” Hoffman said. “We are seeing solid fourth quarter demand for residential and professional snow and ice management products on the heels of a strong snow season in North America in fiscal 2014.”
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.