Eaton boosts sales by 10 percent

Eaton Corporation announced net income per share of 91 cents for the first quarter of 2010, compared to a net loss per share of 30 cents in the first quarter of 2009.

Sales in the quarter were $3.1 billion, 10 percent above the same period in 2009. Net income was $155 million compared to a loss of $50 million in 2009.

Alexander M. Cutler, Eaton chairman and chief executive officer, said, "The expanding world economy drove growth in most of our markets and our newly-reset cost structure allowed us to realize attractive incremental margins. The sales growth in the first quarter of 10 percent consisted of 5 percent organic growth and 5 percent growth due to higher foreign exchange rates. Our end markets grew 4 percent in the first quarter compared to the first quarter of 2009."

Hydraulics segment sales were $490 million, an increase of 14 percent compared to the first quarter of 2009. Global hydraulics markets increased 1 percent in the quarter compared to the first quarter of 2009, but grew 7 percent over the fourth quarter of 2009. Bookings in the quarter grew 88 percent over the first quarter of 2009.

Operating profits in the first quarter were $54 million, compared to $7 million in the first quarter of 2009 excluding acquisition integration charges.

"The hydraulics markets in the first quarter rebounded from the depressed levels of a year ago," said Cutler. "For all of 2010, we now believe hydraulics markets are likely to grow by 16 percent, a slight improvement over our last estimate.

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