Kaydon Corp 3Q Profit Surges on Gain

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) - Kaydon Corp., a maker of bearings, velocity control and sealing products used by the aerospace and defense industries, on Monday reported its third-quarter profit surged more than threefold, driven by a large gain from the sale of its power and data transmission products business. Kaydon reported net income of $37.2 million, or $1.12 per share, versus a prior-year profit of $9.5 million ,or 32 cents per share. Revenue rose 18 percent to $85.9 million from $73 million. The quarter's results include a pretax gain of $41 million from the sale of Kaydon's power and data transmission products group in July, which bolstered earnings by 73 cents per share. Stripping out the asset sale gain, Kaydon reported income from continuing operations of $11.6 million, or 38 cents per share. Wall Street forecast earnings of 39 cents per share, the average view of seven analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, on sales of $93.5 million. Backlog rose 41 percent to $127.2 million over the year-ago period's backlog of continuing operations of $90 million. Kaydon said it expects favorable order and backlog trends in the third quarter to continue into the fourth quarter.