CLARCOR Inc. Beats on Top and Bottom Lines (CLC)

CLARCOR Inc. CLC reports earnings of $0.55 versus consensus of $0.50. CLARCOR Inc. reports revenues of $262.8 million versus consensus of $261.29 million. Norm Johnson, CLARCOR's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, "Our 2010 operating results continue to be strong. Third quarter sales increased $32.5 million, or 14%, from the same period last year and drove the improvement from last year's third quarter operating profit and operating margin. Third quarter operating margin improved to 15.9% in 2010 from 13.9% in the third quarter of 2009. Our third quarter operating margin is at its highest level since the fourth quarter of 2008. This strong operating performance continued the momentum from the first two quarters of 2010 and demonstrates our continued sales recovery from the recession and the benefits of the various cost initiatives we put in place last year and our restructuring efforts at our HVAC filter operations.” He added, "We remain cautious due to global economic uncertainty. However, based upon the strength of our performance in the third quarter, we are increasing the floor of our 2010 guidance for diluted earnings per share to $1.80 from the previous guidance of $1.70. Accordingly, our updated 2010 diluted earnings per share guidance is $1.80 to $1.85. We expect our full year consolidated sales growth from 2009 to be in the range of 10.5% to 11.0% and our 2010 full year operating margin to be between 13.8% and 14.3%. We anticipate a full year average tax rate from 32.5% to 33.5%, 2010 cash flow from operating activities (excluding changes in short-term investments) from $105.0 million to $110.0 million and 2010 capital expenditures from $25.0 million to $30.0 million." Shares of CLC are higher in the after-hours by 1.49%.