Lincoln Electric (LECO) Q3 Earnings Report Preview: What To Look For

Welding equipment manufacturer Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) will be reporting results tomorrow before market open. Here’s what you need to know.

Lincoln Electric met analysts’ revenue expectations last quarter, reporting revenues of $1.02 billion, down 3.7% year on year. It was a slower quarter for the company, with a miss of analysts’ organic revenue and EBITDA estimates.

Is Lincoln Electric a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free.

This quarter, analysts are expecting Lincoln Electric’s revenue to decline 4.7% year on year to $984.5 million, a reversal from the 10.5% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $2.05 per share.

Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. Lincoln Electric has missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates three times over the last two years.

Looking at Lincoln Electric’s peers in the industrial machinery segment, some have already reported their Q3 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Snap-on posted flat year-on-year revenue, beating analysts’ expectations by 7.8%, and Stanley Black & Decker reported a revenue decline of 5.1%, falling short of estimates by 1.4%. Snap-on traded up 9.4% following the results.

Read our full analysis of Snap-on’s results here and Stanley Black & Decker’s results here.

Investors in the industrial machinery segment have had steady hands going into earnings, with share prices flat over the last month. Lincoln Electric is up 3.9% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $214.44 (compared to the current share price of $197.05).

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