Eaton (NYSE: ETN) reported Q1 EPS of $0.96, $0.08 better than the analyst estimate of $0.88. Revenue for the quarter came in at $4.8 billion versus the consensus estimate of $4.7 billion.

GUIDANCE:

Eaton sees FY2017 EPS of $4.45-$4.75, versus the consensus of $4.46.

Eaton sees Q2 2017 EPS of $1.05-$1.15, versus the consensus of $1.14.

Craig Arnold, Eaton chairman and chief executive officer, said, “Our first quarter net income and operating earnings per share were above the high end of our guidance range. Coming into the quarter, we had expected sales would be down 3 percent, split evenly between a decline in organic sales and negative currency translation. Our organic sales instead grew 2 percent and currency translation was slightly less negative than we had forecast, resulting in 1 percent revenue growth. This is the first quarter of revenue growth since the fourth quarter of 2014, evidence that a number of our markets are starting to turn up.

“Segment margins in the first quarter were 14.4 percent,” said Arnold. “Excluding restructuring costs of $17 million incurred in the segments in the quarter, segment margins were 14.8 percent.

“Operating cash flow in the first quarter was $463 million, a new first quarter record,” said Arnold. “The cash flow was inclusive of $100 million we put into our U.S. qualified pension plan in the quarter. We continued to return substantial cash to our shareholders, raising our quarterly dividend by 5 percent in February and repurchasing $255 million of our shares in the quarter.

“Order growth showed an improvement in most segments compared to the fourth quarter of 2016,” said Arnold. “Most notably, Hydraulics orders grew 22 percent versus growth of 8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016, and Electrical Systems and Services orders were flat compared to a decline of 7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016.

“In light of our strong first quarter, we are raising our earnings guidance for the year by $0.15 per share, an increase of 3 percent to the prior midpoint of our guidance,” said Arnold. “For the whole of 2017, we now expect net income and operating earnings per share to be between $4.45 and $4.75, representing a 9 percent increase at the midpoint of our guidance over 2016. We anticipate net income and operating earnings per share for the second quarter of 2017 to be between $1.05 and $1.15.”

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Eaton (ETN) click here.