Dow Jones Newswires | Idex Corp.’s first-quarter earnings soared
62 percent, beating analysts’ estimates, as the company’s sales rose
and margins surged.

The maker of industrial pumps and meters also upped its full-year
earnings outlook to $1.75 to $1.80 a share from $1.63 to $1.73 as it
forecast current-quarter earnings of 45 cents to 47 cents a share.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected 43 cents, on average.

Still, shares were down 1.4 percent to $33.67.

Idex had seen recent results hurt by a demand drop, though the company said in February that it was seeing signs of stabilization in its end markets as the economy recovered.

Meanwhile, the latest quarter’s rebound “reflect the return to growth in most of our end markets,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Lawrence Kingsley. “The order trends within the fluid-and-metering and health-and-science technologies segments were particularly strong while our remaining markets performed as expected.”

Sales at the company’s fluid and metering technologies business, its biggest by revenue, rose 10 percent.

Idex reported a profit of $36.6 million, or 45 cents a share, up from $22.6 million, or 28 cents, a year earlier. Excluding restructuring charges, earnings rose to 46 cents from 30 cents. The company in February projected 40 cents to 42 cents, slightly above analysts’ then-expectations.

Revenue jumped 8.9 percent to $355.6 million, and analysts had most recently forecast $341 million.

Gross margin rose to 41.5 percent from 37.7 percent amid the sales gains.