Industrial gas company Praxair Inc. has lowered its earnings forecast for the year after posting its third quarter results on Oct. 27.
For the period ending Sept. 30, the Danbury company reported a profit of $339 million or $1.18 per share, down from $401 million or $1.40 per share a year earlier. Sales increased 1.1 percent to $2.72 billion. Operating profit for the quarter was $497 million, 16 percent below the prior-year quarter.
For 2016, Praxair said it expects adjusted per-share earnings in the range of $5.44 to $5.51, compared with its previous guidance for earnings of $5.45 to $5.60 per share. For the fourth quarter, Praxair expects per-share earnings in the range of $1.36 to $1.43.
“As anticipated, the third quarter continued to experience mixed results in end-market trends with strong demand in more resilient food, beverage and healthcare markets, but persistent weakness from industrial sectors like manufacturing and upstream energy,” said Praxair Chairman and CEO Steve Angel. “In light of these trends, we took additional cost actions in the third quarter to properly align our organization and to accelerate planned acquisition synergies.”
