Shares of Anixter International Inc. rose Tuesday after the distributor of communications and electronic products posted better-than-expected results for its third quarter even though its profit and sales declined.
The company earned $22.1 million, or 61 cents per share, down from a profit of $59.7 million, or $1.53 per share, in the same period a year earlier.
Revenue fell 20 percent to $1.27 billion from $1.59 billion, hurt by changes in foreign exchange rates and lower copper prices.
Analysts, on average, were expecting a profit of 56 cents per share on sales of $1.23 billion, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.
Shares rose $1.99, or 4.9 percent, to close at $42.38, not far from the stock's 52-week high of $43.80 in the past 52 weeks. Average share volume tripled during the trading session.
Looking ahead, the company noted that there will be fewer shipping days in the fourth quarter due to the holidays, and said it expects certain customers will extend normal holiday factory shutdowns to keep inventory levels on par with demand. The company said that given current sales trends, it expects fourth-quarter sales to drop sequentially, but to potentially recover in the first half of 2010.
