Briggs & Stratton Corp.

Briggs & Stratton Corp. (BGG - Snapshot Report) has just announced an earnings surprise on Oct 16. The company is also expanding through acquisition in Australia and New Zealand.

Company Description

Briggs & Stratton is one of the world's largest producers of air cooled gasoline engines for outdoor power equipment. The company designs, manufactures, markets and services these products for original equipment manufacturers worldwide. These engines are primarily aluminum alloy gasoline engines.

Beat The Street

On Oct 16 Briggs & Stratton announced first quarter of fiscal 2009 results. While the net result was a loss of 4 cents per share, analysts were expecting a loss of 23 cents. The company also guided full-year earnings to between 81 cents and $1.01 for 2009.

Engine sales were $259 million, a 24% year-over-year increase. Power products saw a spike of 36% year-over-year to $256 million.

Briggs & Stratton warned of possible risk involving consumer spending on lawn care and pressure washing products, but also saw a spike in generator sales during the hurricane season.

Strong Growth Projections

Analysts are expecting the company to earn 84 cents per share in 2009, up drastically from the 1 cent loss in 2008. The consensus estimate of $1.00 per share in 2010 would be a 20% increase.

Projected revenue growth for Briggs & Stratton is 25% year-over-year for the first quarter.

Acquisision Down Under

Briggs & Stratton announced the acquisition of Victa Lawncare Ltd on June 30. The Australian manufacturer with similar power lawn and garden products at Briggs & Stratton was purchased for $24.8 million in cash.

Victa posted net sales of $57 million in the 12 months preceding June 30.

The Chart

Shares of BGG have broken out of a long-term down trend. The stock seems to be establishing a level of support near $13 per share. Take a look at the chart below.

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