Deluxe Corp., the Shoreview maker of printed business forms, beat Wall Street's first-quarter expectations by 4 cents a share Thursday, earning $45.9 million, or 89 cents a share.
Adjusted earnings of 91 cents a share beat analysts' estimate of 87 cents a share, and revenue of $387.6 million exceeded analysts' expectation of $379.9 million. Earnings rose 4.1 percent and revenue was up 2.5 percent.
"All our segments performed well, and checks and forms performed better than our expectations," CEO Lee Schram said in a statement. "Importantly, marketing solutions and other services revenue grew 22 percent over last year. Our strong first quarter positions us well to grow revenue in 2013 for a fourth consecutive year."
Despite the gains, Deluxe is feeling the impact of reduced use of paper checks for financial transactions. Revenue declined in two business segments, financial services and direct checks, partly because of "the continued decline in check usage," the company said.
Deluxe shares rose 1 cent Thursday to close at $39.01.
Steve Alexander • 612-673-4553
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