Toro’s Second-Quarter Results Beat Expectations

Source: www.TurfMagazine.com

Robust lawn mower sales boosted results for the Toro Co., helping it to beat Wall Street’s expectations for the second quarter.

The Bloomington manufacturer of lawn mowers, snowblowers, plows and construction equipment saw sales increases in both professional and residential divisions.

In a conference call with analysts Thursday morning, CEO Michael Hoffman credited the solid results to good spring weather and a line of new products that included new zero-turn riding mowers, an all-wheel-drive walk power-mower, a new golf fairway mower that is a hybrid and new fertilizer-spraying equipment offerings.

Hoffman also said Toro was able to increase the variety of products sold in retail stores during the quarter. Separately, the company benefited from its recently acquired Boss line of snowplows and ice management systems. The Boss addition is expected to boost Toro results in the fourth quarter and help out full-year results, Hoffman said.

For the quarter, total earnings rose 8 percent to $93.8 million, or $1.64 for the quarter, which was 2 cents better than analysts forecast. Revenue rose nearly 11 percent to $826.2 million.

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