CLEVELAND (Jan. 26)—Eaton Corp.'s earnings and sales shot upward for both the fourth quarter and the year in 2003 as the company reported growing momentum in many of its markets.
Net income for the fourth period rose 70 percent to $114 million from $67 million in the last quarter of 2002 on sales of $2.08 billion, a 17-percent increase from revenues in the period last year. Full year net income jumped 37 percent to $386 million from $281 million, the firm said, on a sales boost of 12 percent to $8.06 billion for 2003.
In light of the strong results, Eaton split its stock 2-for-1, increased its quarterly dividend by 12.5 percent to 54 cents a share on a pre-split basis, contributed $75 million to its pension plans in the U.S. and initiated a plan to repurchase 2.1 million shares on a pre-split to offset share issued during 2003 via stock options.
The global diversified industrial product manufacturer anticipates growth of about 4 percent in 2004 and "as in 2003, we expect to outgrow our end markets by 2 to 3 percent," according to Chairman and CEO Alexander M. Cutler.