Earnings Preview for Pall Corp.

Pall Corp. PLL is set to report third-quarter fiscal 2011 results Wednesday, June 8, after the markets close. The question for investors is whether the company's momentum will continue and operating margins can expand. Analysts are looking for the industrial goods maker to report that earnings grew 18.3% from a year ago to $0.71 per share. Sixty days ago, that consensus earnings estimate was the same. The revenue forecast for the quarter calls for $667.5 million, an increase of 8.4% from the same period of last year. The Company Pall Corp. manufactures and markets filtration and purification products and integrated systems solutions worldwide. Its Industrial segment makes filtration products for general industrial applications, including water purification, as well as for use in the aerospace and microelectronics industries. Products of the Life Sciences segment help develop and manufacture drugs and are used for processes such as removing white cells from blood. Most of the company's sales come from outside the United States. In the three months that ended in April, Pall saw its mobile water treatment system deployed in earthquake damaged communities in New Zealand, was awarded a contract from the U.S. Army related to its Chinook helicopter fleet, and it elected a new chairman of the board. Looking Ahead Analysts so far expect to see sequential and year-over-year growth of both per-share earnings and revenues in the second quarter, as well as full-year earnings up 25.6% and revenues up 10.7%. Note that the consensus forecast has underestimated Pall's per-share earnings in the past four quarters. Pall topped estimates by 20% in the second quarter. Performance The dividend yield is 1.3%, the return on equity (a measure of management performance) is 19.8% and the long-term earnings per share growth forecast is 11.3%. Short interest is less than 1% of the float. Analysts have a mean price target of $61.38 per share on the stock. The share price has pulled back about 9% from a 52-week high of $59.50 back in April, slipping below the 50-day moving average. But the stock is up nearly 60% from a year ago and has outperformed its industry average and the broader markets over that period.