Toro Reports Record Fiscal First Quarter Sales and Earnings
Toro Co. posted net earnings of $45 million or $0.41 per share on a net sales increase of 6.1 percent to $515.8 million for its fiscal first quarter ended Feb. 3. For the same period a year ago, Toro reported net earnings of $39.3 million or $0.35 per share, on net sales of $486.4 million. Toro said the record first quarter results were driven by performance across its professional businesses.
“The company is off to a solid start for the year with record results for the first quarter,” said Richard Olson, Toro president and CEO. “Growth in the professional segment was a key driver with new product offerings in multiple areas. The landscape contractor businesses experienced strong demand for the new lines of professional zero-turn mowers. Also contributing to the momentum were strong sales in our golf, Boss snow and ice management and specialty construction businesses.
“We continue to focus on delivering new products with customer-valued innovation. The new Titan HD and Exmark Radius mowers have been well-received by landscape professionals and acreage owners. Demand remains strong for the new Boss EXT extendable plows and the lighter HTX plows for half-ton trucks as well as V-Box spreaders. In our micro-irrigation business, we are pleased by the success of our Aqua-Traxx tape products with flow control. Finally, at the recent Golf Industry and Sports Turf Manager Shows, excitement continues for the GTX utility vehicle line that combines tremendous versatility with uncompromising ride quality.”
Toro continues to expect revenue growth for fiscal 2017 to be about 3 to 4 percent, and now expects net earnings per share of about $2.25 to $2.30 for the year. For the second quarter, Toro expects net earnings of about $1 per share.
Professional segment net sales for the first quarter were $371.8 million, a 9.7-percent hike compared to $338.8 million last year. Earnings for the segment were $68.2 million, up 10.7 percent from $61.6 million in the year-ago period.
Residential segment net sales for the fiscal first quarter were $140.4 million, down 2.7 percent from $144.3 million a year ago, although retail demand for snowthrowers was positive in North America.
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.