Credit Suisse's Latest Comments On Manitowoc Co

April 17, 2015

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In a report published Friday, Credit Suisse analysts maintained an Outperform rating on Manitowoc Company Inc (NYSE: MTW), while reducing the price target from $25 to $24.

Manitowoc pre-announced disappointing 1Q15 figures. The company now expects a pre-tax loss from continuing operations of $9.5M versus consensus estimate of a profit of about $38.9M. The company’s negative pre-announcement was related to disappointing Foodservice results.

KitchenCare issues witnessed in 4Q14 continued into 1Q15, albeit to a lesser degree. An improvement can be expected in the second half of this year.

“Results were also hurt by a few customers with company specific issues and tougher comps versus last year tied to new product rollouts. On the positive, Cranes surprised on the upside,” the analysts wrote.

In the report Credit Suisse noted, “MTW noted pockets of improvement across towers and crawlers offset by weakness in boom trucks and rough terrain cranes. While MTW is seeing headwinds from energy, US non-res is helping to offset along with the Middle East. Also, the delivery of the VPC crane is slightly ahead of schedule.”

The EPS estimates for FY15, FY16 and FY17 have been reduced from $1.32 to $0.98, from $1.51 to $1.45, and from $1.73 to $1.70, respectively, reflecting continued pressure on crane pricing.

The company has guided to Foodservice revenues of approximately flat y/y, versus its previous projection of “mid single digit growth”). “MTW also noted it remains on track with the separation of its Cranes and Foodservice businesses (expected Q1’16),” the report added.