Dover fourth-quarter profit tops analysts estimates

Dover Corp., the New York-based maker of refrigeration equipment and cases used by supermarkets, reported fourth-quarter profit that topped analysts' estimates as the company cut jobs to lower costs.

Dover is moving its headquarters to Downers Grove later this year. The company plans to maintain an office in New York.

Net income declined to $99 million, or 53 cents a share, from $120.7 million, or 65 cents, a year earlier, Dover said today in a statement. Excluding a loss from discontinued operations, Dover had profit of 55 cents a share. Analysts, on average, projected profit of 49 cents.

Chief Executive Officer Robert Livingston closed 25 facilities and cut about 6,000 jobs in the first nine months of 2009 to adjust for declining demand as the global recession sapped sales.

"We believe that Dover is well-positioned to grow earnings at an above-average rate versus peers in the early stages of this recovery," Nigel Coe, a New York-based analyst with Deutsche Bank AG, wrote in a Jan. 21 note.

Fourth-quarter sales dropped 13 percent to $1.51 billion. Full-year sales in 2009 fell 24 percent to $5.78 billion, the first decline since 2002.

Dover today forecast 2010 profit from continuing operations of $2.35 to $2.65 a share. Analysts, on average, estimate $2.38. Dover also said 2010 sales would grow 7 percent to 9 percent.

The company is seeing a "continued modest recovery" in end-markets served by its electronics, energy and product identification units, Livingston said today in the statement.

Dover rose $1.43, or 3.4 percent, to $43.95 at 9:32 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares gained 33 percent in the 12 months before today.

On the conference call today, Livingston said Dover made four acquisitions during the quarter to expand product offerings. Dover's products include tools and parts used in oil and natural-gas production and processing.