Solid growth in Asia and the Americas boosted Tennant Co.'s second-quarter profit and beat Wall Street expectations, sending shares up more than 13% on Wednesday.
The Golden Valley-based maker of street- and floor-cleaning machines saw sales rise nearly 3% to $299.7 million for the quarter ended June 30 despite softness in Europe. Profits jumped 16% to $14.8 million, or 81 cents a share.
Excluding acquisition costs and other one-time items, adjusted earnings amounted to $1.13 a share, far above the 78 cents a share Wall Street analysts expected.
"We are pleased with our strong performance in the second quarter, which exceeded our internal expectations," Tennant Chief Executive Chris Killingstad said in a statement.
Killingstad said Tennant continues to make progress despite "mixed economic and global market conditions" that included softness in Europe and negative impact of currency exchange in its U.S. dollar-based results.
He said it is boosting its capital spending, which will total $35 million to $40 million for the year. "We are making additional investments ... in the back half of 2019, which is reflected in our updated 2019 outlook," he said.
Executives raised their outlook, saying they now expect full-year profit to range $1.80 to $2 a share and sales to be in a range of $1.15 billion to $1.17 billion.
Investors welcomed the news. Tennant's stock jumped 13.3% Wednesday to close at $76.11.
Dee DePass • 612-673-7725
