Diversified industrial manufacturer Eaton Corporation, Cleveland, OH, reported sales were up 7% in the third quarter 2007, and profit up 6% over the same period a year ago.
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Sales in the quarter were $3.3 billion.
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Sales growth consisted of 1% from organic growth, 3% from acquisitions and 3% from exchange rates.
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Alexander M. Cutler, Eaton CEO, said: We outgrew our end markets by 5% this quarter, which was offset in large part by a 4% reduction in our end markets, resulting in 1% organic growth.”
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“& hellip; Due to the economic uncertainties triggered by the late summer turmoil in global credit markets, we believe that our overall markets in the fourth quarter will not improve as we had earlier anticipated. While the non-residential electrical, power quality, aerospace, and Brazilian vehicle and agricultural equipment markets remain strong, the NAFTA heavy-duty truck market is not rebounding as we had expected and the greater weakness in U.S. housing starts is negatively impacting our residential electrical, hydraulics construction equipment, and NAFTA automotive businesses.
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Third quarter sales for the Electrical segment were $1.22 billion, up 13% over 2006. End markets for this segment grew about 8%. Eaton expects the non-residential electrical and power quality markets to remain strong, while the decline in the U. S. residential electrical market will be more prolonged.
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In the Fluid Power segment, third quarter sales were $1.14 billion, 14% above the third quarter 2006. Excluding the impact of acquisitions, the Fluid Power segment grew 7% during the quarter. Fluid Power markets in the third quarter grew 1% compared to the same period in 2006, with global hydraulics shipments down an estimated 1%, commercial aerospace markets up 8%, defense aerospace markets up 1%, and European automotive production up 3%.
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The global hydraulics markets decline was driven by the decline in construction equipment related to the slowdown in home construction in the U.S. and several other countries, Cutler said.
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The Truck segment posted sales of $541 million in the third quarter, down 16% compared to 2006. In the third quarter, NAFTA heavy-duty truck production was down 55% compared to 2006, NAFTA medium-duty truck production was down 38%, European truck production was down 4%, Brazilian vehicle production was up 23%, and Brazilian agricultural equipment production was up 65%.
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The Automotive segment posted third quarter sales of $397 million, up 10% over the third quarter 2006. Automotive production in both North America and Europe was up 3% compared to the third quarter 2006.