Dover trims full-year profit forecast on higher inventory cost, lower demand
(Reuters) - Industrial equipment manufacturer Dover cut annual profit forecast on Tuesday, as it expects higher costs associated with inventory storage and lower demand from the biopharma and automotive industries to dampen earnings.
Exchange rate fluctuations and increasing competition from international and domestic peers continue to hurt Dover, as nearly half of its revenue is derived from outside the U.S.
"The higher carrying costs of channel inventory driven by higher interest rates will continue to weigh on near-term volumes in several end-markets," CEO Richard Tobin said.
Dover now expects its 2023 adjusted profit to be in the range of $8.75 to $8.85 per share, based on an about flat full-year revenue growth. It had earlier forecast $8.85 to $9.00 per share for the year.
"We are shifting to a more conservative outlook for the remainder of the year to reflect the changes in certain market conditions we observed in the third quarter," Tobin added.
The company's total revenue of $2.15 billion for the third quarter missed analysts' average estimate of $2.22 billion, according to LSEG data.
Illinois-based Dover's net income for the quarter ended Sept. 30 rose to $290 million, or $2.06 per share, compared with $286 million, or $2.00 per share, a year earlier.
(Reporting by Abhinav Parmar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
