WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Praxair Inc. (PX) reported that its first-quarter net income increased to $419 million or $1.38 per share, from $398 million or $1.29 per share in the same quarter last year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $1.36 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Sales in the first quarter were $2.840 billion, an increase of 5% compared to $2.702 billion in the previous year. Twelve analysts had consensus revenue estimate of $2.84 billion for the quarter.
Praxair said that its board has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.55 per share, unchanged from the previous quarter. The dividend is payable on June 15, 2012 to shareholders of record on June 7, 2012.
For the second quarter of 2012, Praxair expects earnings per share in the range of $1.40 to $1.45. Analysts expect the company to report earnings of $1.45 per share for the second-quarter.
For the full year of 2012, Praxair now expects sales in the range of $11.6 to $11.9 billion. The company now expects earnings per share to be in the range of $5.75 to $5.90. Previously, the company expected earnings per share to be in the range of $5.70 to $5.90. Sales were expected to be in the area of $11.7 billion to $12 billion for fiscal 2012.
Analysts expect the company to report earnings of $5.83 per share on revenues of $11.90 billion for fiscal 2012.
Full-year capital expenditures are expected to be in the range of $2.1 to 2.4 billion and the effective tax rate is forecasted to remain at about 28%.
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