Manitowoc: Even Weaker Than Anticipated

You’ll have to crane your neck to find even a hint of good news in Manitowoc’s (MTW) update yesterday.

Manitowoc said its sales would fall ever so slightly to $1 billion during the third quarter, when analysts were predicting a slight increase. Manitowoc also said its third-quarter Ebitda would fall to $90 million from $112.4 million.

BMO Capital Markets’ says the data is even worse than they expected:

After our non-deal roadshow with management in mid-September, we believed the company would likely have a softer 3Q than anticipated and lowered our estimates and price target at that time. However, the pre-announced 3Q14 results and lowered guidance are even weaker than we had anticipated, prompting us to further reduce our estimates and our price target. We are also now lowering our rating to Underperform from Market Perform as we believe the weakness in Crane will persist at least into 4Q14 and likely into 1H15. Additionally, while we expected some pressure on Foodservice margins owing to the hiccup in the consolidation of manufacturing plants, the revenue outlook is softer than we expected. Although Manitowoc shares have already declined significantly over the past few months we believe Street estimates will have to come down and we expect some further multiple contraction. We see no catalyst over the next 3-6 months to drive either multiple or forecasts higher.

Shares of Manitowoc have plunged 10% to $19.29 at 1:39 p.m.–and pulled down the shares of its competitors as well. Machinery manufacturer Terex (TEX) has fallen 3.6% to $28, while cooking-equipment maker Middleby (MIDD) has dropped 5% to $82.51.