Tennant Co. said Wednesday its third-quarter earnings rose 21 percent, slightly exceeding analysts' expectations, but it lowered its outlook for the rest of the year.

The company's shares fell 5.5 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Golden Valley-based industrial cleaning equipment firm said its profit was $10.6 million, or 56 cents per share. Analysts had forecast per-share profit of 55 cents.

Revenue rose 6 percent to $188.5 million, a bit better than the consensus estimate of $186.8 million.

"Sales rose due to continued high demand for new products and strong sales of industrial equipment," CEO Chris Killingstad said in a statement.

Tennant's gross margin slipped to 43.4 percent from 43.5 percent a year ago due to changes in product mix.

And the company narrowed its full-year guidance to adjusted earnings in a range of $2.25 to $2.40 per share on revenue ranging from $750 million to $760 million. It had previously guided investors to expect per-share earnings in a range of $2.20 to $2.50.

Tennant said its full-year projections were based on its expectation of "modest economic improvement in North America, continued uncertainty in Europe and steady growth in emerging markets," and its belief that negative foreign currency translations would hurt its sales by 1 percent or less.

Steve Alexander • 612-673-4553