Lagging Asian truck market cuts into Woodward earnings

FORT COLLINS — Woodward Inc. officials on Tuesday cited weakness in the natural-gas truck market in Asia, foreign currency exchange rates and overall economic pressure in China as the main reasons for a 41 percent slide in first-quarter earnings compared with last fiscal year.

The Fort Collins-based company (Nasdaq: WWD) reported its earnings for the first quarter of its 2016 fiscal year, a period ending Dec. 31, after markets closed Tuesday afternoon.

Net income for the quarter came in at $26 million, or 40 cents per diluted share, down from $44 million, or 66 cents per diluted share a year earlier. Revenue slipped 9 percent to $445 million.

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Woodward makes components and control-system solutions geared toward energy efficiency for the aerospace and industrial industries.

A 5 percent increase in sales in Woodward’s aerospace segment, thanks to growth in defense sales and the commercial aftermarket, helped somewhat offset a 24 percent decline in industrial segment revenue, company officials said in the earnings report.

Woodward officials said company guidance for fiscal year 2016 remains unchanged, with sales still expected to increase by 1 percent to 2 percent for the full year.

Woodward shares rose a penny to $44.95 in Tuesday trading.

“We delivered a solid first quarter from an operational perspective, as both segments performed in line with our expectations despite the challenging macro-economic backdrop,” Woodward CEO Thomas Gendron said in the report.