Snow may be tiresome for many, but it means profits for Toro

Heavy snow in Minnesota and other parts of the country helped boost Toro Co.'s quarterly sales by 10 percent.

The Bloomington-based company said Thursday that its $603 million in sales for the first quarter ended Feb. 1 were partly achieved by smart shipping strategies that moved snow throwers to regions where retail demand was higher.

The company also said it hopes the snow will have an effect through the spring. It predicts that landscapers and small contractors that picked up additional revenue from plowing snow will have more money for spring expenditures.

The maker of snow and lawn maintenance equipment said its net income for the quarter was up 16 percent to $59.5 million, or 55 cents a share.

Toro CEO Rick Olson also said Toro's $700 million acquisition of Charles Machine Works announced last week "should prove to be one of the most transformative advances in our history due to its dramatic long-term expansion of our underground construction business."

Olson reaffirmed that the company expects to close on the Charles Machine Works acquisition in the third quarter, at which time it will update guidance for the remainder of the year.

Toro closed at $68.57 per share, up nearly 7 percent on Thursday; shares have traded between $52.97 and $68.35 over the last 52 weeks.