Johnson Controls 3Q Results: Postgame Scorecard

Johnson Controls' (NYSE:JCI) net income rose in the third quarter.

Earnings and Revenue Both EPS and revenues failed to meet Wall Street expectations as The company posted EPS of 61 cents a share and revenues of $10.58 billion. Analysts were expecting EPS of 67 cents a share and revenues of $10.82 billion. The company's reported EPS came in below the low estimate of 20 analysts of a profit of 64 cents.

The company's net income for the quarter was $417 million. This is 16.8% higher than the year-ago quarter. Revenue climbed 2.1% from $10.36 billion in the same period last year.

Company Fundamental Trends Last quarter marked at least the fourth in a row of rising net income. Profits rose 2.8% in the second quarter, 9.3% in the first quarter and 19.8% four quarters ago from the year earlier. The company's revenue has grown during at least each of the past four quarters on a year-over-year basis.

History Against Expectations The company missed estimates last quarter after meeting expectations the quarter before. It reported net income of 53 cents.

Official Comment: "While we saw a significant improvement in profitability in the third quarter, sluggish demand in some of our key markets along with a much weaker Euro resulted in lower top line growth than we expected," said Stephen A. Roell, Johnson Controls chairman and chief executive officer. "Despite challenging markets, Building Efficiency segment income improved by 28 percent over last year as the business continues to gain market share. General weak demand in the automotive aftermarket was a negative for battery shipments in the quarter. At the same time, the prices for the spent battery cores we use in recycling lead hit an all-time high in the quarter, negatively impacting profitability. We do not expect this unusual combination of soft demand and higher input costs to continue past the fourth fiscal quarter. Automotive Experience benefitted from the higher auto production levels in North America, but the downturn in Europe slowed progress in our efforts to reduce operational inefficiencies."

Estimates provided by Zacks Investment Research and company fundamentals from Xignite Financials.