ABB - ABB reverses upward to erase decline after missing Q3 EPS estimate

ABB ( NYSE: ABB ) edged higher on Thursday to erase a premarket slide after the industrial automation company missed earnings estimates. The stock rose 0.6% by 10:40 a.m. ET, after falling as much as 1.1% before the start of regular trading in U.S. markets.

The company’s Q3 EPS of $0.19 was $0.03 lower than the Wall Street consensus estimate, while a 5.4% gain in revenue to $7.4 billion was $20 million less than the average estimate.

The strength of the U.S. dollar after the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates pressured the company’s results. The effects of taxes also dampened net income, but ABB reported strong order growth of 4% that pushed its book-to-bill ratio above 1 for the seventh straight quarter. Its backlog grew 35% to $19.4 billion.

Operating EBITA of $1.23 billion was higher than estimated, but results from peer companies prepared investors to expect the stronger result.

ABB management forecast that Q4 revenue growth will rise by a low double-digit percentage from a year earlier.

Seeking Alpha columnist Yves Sukhu rates ABB ( ABB ) as a Buy on its low valuation .

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