Applied Industrial Technologies Inc. (AIT) recently revealed its financial results for the second quarter. Concurrently, it revised both its full-year adjusted 2024 earnings guidance and annual sales growth forecast.
Specifically, for fiscal year 2024, Applied Industrial Technologies projects an adjusted earnings range from $9.35 to $9.70 per share. This forecast comes with a projected sales growth between 1-3 percent, slightly less than the original prediction of 1-4 percent.
In an average estimate from three analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, the company is expected to report earnings per share at $9.48. This is accompanied by a predicted revenue growth of 2.3 percent, which equates to $4.52 billion for the year. However, these estimates usually exclude unique items.
As for the second quarter results, Applied Industrial Technologies reported a net income of $91.23 million or $2.32 per share, marking an increase from the prior-year quarter's earnings of $80.46 million or $2.05 per share. When adjusted for unique items, the quarter's earnings per share rose to $2.24.
Overall, net sales for the quarter went up by 1.6 percent to $1.08 billion, compared to $1.06 billion from the same quarter in the previous year. After excluding the impacts of acquisitions and foreign currency translation, organic sales showed a slight decrease of 0.1 percent.
Analysts had predicted earnings of $2.11 per share for the quarter on revenues of $1.06 billion.
In addition to these financial revisions, the company also announced a decision made by its Board of Directors. The Board has approved a 6 percent increase in the quarterly cash dividend, making it $0.37 per common share. This dividend increase is scheduled for payment on February 29, 2024, to shareholders who are on record as of February 15, 2024.
