Crane Co. (NYSE: CR) reported Q4 EPS of $1.58, $0.01 better than the analyst estimate of $1.57. Revenue for the quarter came in at $838 million versus the consensus estimate of $824.22 million.

"We finished 2019 strong, with solid operational performance across our businesses, and we took several other actions to further strengthen Crane for continued profitable growth," said Max Mitchell, Crane Co. President and Chief Executive Officer.\"In addition to solid progress on numerous growth and productivity initiatives last year, we delivered a record $325 million of free cash flow. We also repurchased $80 million of shares during the fourth quarter, and today, we raised our dividend by 10%, further reflecting confidence in our long-term outlook."

"At the end of 2019, we commenced additional proactive repositioning actions in our Fluid Handling business, including additional facility closures to better geographically align our manufacturing footprint with customer needs. These actions are expected to generate $10 million of annual savings by 2022, and are incremental to the previously disclosed 2017 repositioning actions.

"We were also active last quarter on inorganic growth opportunities. As previously announced, we signed a definitive agreement in December 2019 to acquire CIRCOR's I&S business for $172 million on a cash-free and debt-free basis, and in December 2019, we acquired Cummins Allison for $160 million on a cash-free and debt-free basis. I&S is a good bolt-on to our process valve business adding a broad range of mission-critical fluid control instrumentation and sampling solutions for severe service applications in chemical, refining, oil & gas, and industrial markets. Cummins Allison is a nice addition to our Crane Payment Innovations (CPI) business, adding higher-speed and back-office banknote and coin counting, sorting and validation solutions aligned with CPI's end markets in retail, gaming and financial services. Both acquisitions are expected to meet Crane's strict financial return criteria for acquisitions, and together are expected to be accretive to adjusted EPS by approximately $0.15 this year, growing to approximately $0.25 by 2022. Even after these actions, Crane retains substantial financial capacity for further capital deployment throughout 2020 and beyond."

\"Today, we are also introducing 2020 EPS guidance, excluding Special items, of $6.20-$6.50. At Fluid Handling, we expect continued margin expansion despite a low-growth end market environment. We expect Payment & Merchandising Technologies to deliver positive organic growth in 2020 with underlying margin expansion despite previously discussed headwinds from temporarily lower demand at Crane Currency from the U.S. Government; Cummins Allison should also contribute to sales and adjusted operating profit growth, although it will be initially dilutive to segment margins. Momentum continues across nearly all solutions and end markets at Aerospace & Electronics, but guidance does include a decline in total 2020 sales and margins reflecting the temporary 737-MAX production pause and revised rate assumptions that Boeing announced in late December."

Mr. Mitchell concluded: "Overall, I am proud of our operational performance, and excited about our prospects as we continue to deliver on growth investments and new product development, positioning Crane for years of profitable growth. Based on our current medium-term outlook, including both the completion of the U.S. Government\'s currency destocking and resumption of 737-MAX production during 2020, I believe that Crane is on-track to achieve our previously disclosed 2021 adjusted EPS target of $7.50-$8.00."

GUIDANCE:

Crane Co. sees Q1 2020 EPS of $6.20-$6.50, versus the consensus of $6.45.

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