Top Performer for Fri: Bucyrus (BUCY)

Bucyrus International, Inc. (BUCY - Snapshot Report) shares are jumping to end the week after announcing a strong third-quarter report that included a sharp earnings surprise.

The mining equipment manufacturer made the Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers List today with a gain of more than 13%. Volume is also flexing with nearly 8 million shares changing hands, compared to the daily average of 1.9 million.

BUCY is one of the world's leading manufacturers of large-scale excavation equipment used in surface mining. Its machines are used throughout the world by customers mining copper, coal, oil sands, iron ore and other minerals.

The company is part of the machinery-construction/mining industry. Other names from this space on today's Zacks #1 Rank List include heavy hitters like Caterpillar, Inc. (CAT - Analyst Report), Ingersoll-Rand plc (IR - Analyst Report) and Joy Global, Inc. (JOYG - Analyst Report).

Third Quarter

Bucyrus reported third-quarter earnings per share of $1.21 late yesterday, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 86 cents by nearly 41%. This marked its third straight quarter of better-than-expected profit, having amassed an average surprise of more than 25% in the period.

The result also easily improved on the year-ago result of 85 cents.

Meanwhile, sales improved to $675.8 million from $646 million.

In regards to original equipment sales, BUCY reported a decrease in surface mining due to a decline in electric mining shovel sales, but an increase in underground mining as all product lines contributed.

For aftermarket parts and service sales, surface mining advanced due to the Chilean market with an assist from the Canadian and Chinese markets, while underground mining also advanced thanks to increased longwall replacement projects here in the U.S. along with better sales in the Czech Republic market.

In a conference call, the company raised its revenue outlook for 2009 to between $2.6 billion and $2.63 billion, versus the prior estimate of $2.5 billion.

Earnings Estimates

Now that Bucyrus has announced a strong quarterly report, the 14 analysts that cover each this year and next are likely to revise their estimates higher. Luckily, quarterly expectations had been marching upward even before this report.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for this year is at $3.52 per share, up nearly 3% from $3.42 over the past 2 months and up 1.1% from $3.48 in the past 30 days.

For next year, the Zacks Consensus Estimate is at $2.29 per share. That marks an advance of 9.6% in 2 months and 5% in 30 days.