Wedbush: Exide Posted Large 3Q12 Miss

According to a research report published today by Wedbush, Exide Technologies XIDE recently reported a large 3Q12 miss. Wedbush broke it down in the report: “3Q12 Rev/GAAP-EPS was $784.1m/$0.84 vs. our estimates of $877.9m/$0.24. GAAP-EPS included a $76.7m tax benefit from the release of a valuation allowance in France, partially offset by a $13.4m tax settlement in Spain. Excluding tax items and $2.1m in restructuring, we estimate adjusted EPS at $0.09. 3Q12 EBITDA was $47.9m, well below our estimate of $70.4m and the $77.2m in 3Q11. Pass-through pricing for lead was 5.6%, only slightly below the 7.5% in our forecast, and the primary driver of the revenue shortfall was weak unit/mix, down (6.2%) vs. our forecast of 2.7% growth.” Wedbush maintains its Outperform rating and $5 PT on Exide, which closed Friday at $3.03.