Earnings Preview: Joy Global

Joy Global (JOYG) is expected to report earnings Thursday with a conference call scheduled for 11:00 a.m. ET.

Guidance

Analysts are looking for Joy Global to post a Q1 EPS of 65c on revenue of $639.3M. The consensus range is 57c to 96c for EPS and revenue range of $609.49M to $670M, according to First Call. In December, Joy Global gave guidance for FY08. The company sees FY08 EPS of $3.10 to $3.35 vs. consensus of $3.30, and FY08 revenue of $2.8B to $3.0B vs. consensus of $2.88B. This assumes no acquisitions are made in 2008.

The company also added that it would not give quarterly guidance any longer, and would only provide annual guidance, which it viewed as more "effective." On March 3, Joy Global announced that James H. Woodward, Jr. has resigned as Executive VP and CFO of the company, the board appointed Jim Tate, as acting CFO until a successor is found. Investors will be listening on the call for any update on the status of a permanent CFO replacement.

Analyst Views

On February 29, Lehman Brothers rated Joy Global an Overweight, saying it's end markets have grown stronger since Q4 results and that supply chain issues with impacted 2H07 have been resolved and should not reoccur near-term, giving confidence in Q1 results. Earlier, on February 4, Keybanc upgraded Joy Global to Buy from Hold, citing expectations for increased global demand and higher coal prices.