H&E Profits Follow Dips in Both Crane Sales and Oil & Gas

October 29, 2015 – Lower third-quarter earnings for H&E Equipment Services Inc. were attributed to a drop in new crane sales and the oil industry’s continued struggles. Earnings dropped to $14.8 million, or 42 cents per share from a year ago, when the Baton Rouge, La.-based company recorded a Q3 profit of $15.3 million or 43 cents per share.

 

“Our rental business was again strong during the third quarter, with revenues increasing 9.1% from a year ago,” said John Engquist, CEO. “We also achieved positive rental-rate growth and maintained industry-leading utilization levels. Demand in our industrial markets remains solid and we expect this momentum will continue into 2016, driven primarily by the vast number of significant capital projects planned along the Gulf Coast. In terms of our oil patch exposure, activity in our markets has stabilized and no significant fleet transfers were required during the quarter.”

 

The weakness in new equipment sales and the oil industry is expected to continue in the fourth quarter, and the company is lowering its 2015 revenue estimate to a range of $1.028 billion to $1.037 billion as a result, according to Engquist.

 

“While our business continues to perform well overall, we continue to have limited visibility into our distribution business. We do not expect the normal ramp-up in crane sales during the fourth quarter as we have experienced in previous years,” he said.