ITT stock pops on dividend news
- December
- 16
ITT Corp. of Harrison said that it expects 2009 profits of $3.60 to $4 a share, below this year’s profit range, and said that next year’s revenue would fall from 2 to 6 percent. The stock jumped 8.88 percent on news that executives would recommend a higher dividend.
ITT said that management would recommend an 85-cent a share dividend to the board for fiscal 2009, up 22 percent from this year’s dividend. It reaffirmed its earlier 2008 earnings estimate of $3.97 to $4.03 a share, up 22 percent from 2007.
ITT shares closed yesterday at $46.11, up $3.76. It’s down 30.8 percent for the year.
The company’s 2009 profit estimate included expected restructuring costs, and the revenue estimate included the expected negative impact of foreign currency exchange. Organic revenue, or sales that are generated internally as opposed to generation through acquisitions, would range from a decline of 2 percent to an increase of 1 percent, ITT said.
The board of directors approved the extension of ITT’s $1 billion share repurchase program indefinitely. The program was due to expire in November 2009. ITT has repurchased $431 million in stock since the program was announced two years ago.
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