S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Dover Corp (NYSE:DOV) reported its results for the fourth quarter. Dover operates a portfolio of manufacturing companies providing innovative components and equipment, specialty systems, and support services for a variety of applications to global customers.

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Dover Earnings Cheat Sheet for the Fourth Quarter

Results: Net income for the diversified machinery company rose to $278.3 million ($1.49 per share) vs. $198.3 million ($1.04 per share) in the same quarter a year earlier. This marks a rise of 40.3% from the year earlier quarter.

Revenue: Rose 15.4% to $2 billion from the year earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: DOV reported adjusted net income of $1.07 per share. By that measure, the company beat the mean estimate of $1.03 per share. Analysts were expecting revenue of $2.03 billion.

Quoting Management: Commenting on the fourth quarter results, Dover’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Robert A. Livingston, said, “Capped off by a solid fourth quarter, Dover delivered a record setting 2011 in terms of revenue, earnings, EPS and bookings. Organic revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 6% was driven by broad-based strength in energy, handsets, fluids, and industrial end-markets. Our segment margin was 16.5%, where solid performances in our Energy, Communication Technologies and Engineered Systems segments partially offset weakness in Printing & Identification and acquisition-related costs. The majority of our businesses continued to book well as we ended the year with a seasonally normal book-to-bill of 1.00.”

Key Stats:

The company has now topped analyst estimates for the last four quarters. It beat the mark by 8 cents in the third quarter, by 6 cents in the second quarter, and by 2 cents in the first quarter.

The increase in profit last quarter comes after net income fell in the previous quarter. In the third quarter, net income declined 23% to $172.3 million.

Looking Forward: Over the past ninety days, the average estimate for the first quarter of the next fiscal year has fallen from $1.04 per share to $1.01, indicating that analysts are growing pessisimistic about the company’s performance next quarter. For the fiscal year, the average estimate has moved down from $4.52 a share to $4.45 over the last thirty days.

Competitors to Watch: Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW), Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR), Spectrum Control, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPEC), Actuant Corporation (NYSE:ATU), SPX Corporation (NYSE:SPW), Gardner Denver, Inc. (NYSE:GDI), 3M Company (NYSE:MMM), IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX), The LGL Group, Inc. (AMEX:LGL), and AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME).

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(Company fundamentals provided by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

To contact the reporter on this story: Derek Hoffman at staff.writers@wallstcheatsheet.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Damien Hoffman at editors@wallstcheatsheet.com

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