Dover 4th-Quarter Profit Increases

The company said earnings increased to $185.4 million, or 94 cents per share, compared with $118.5 million, or 58 cents per share, a year earlier.

Income from continuing operations rose to $168.9 million, or 86 cents per share, from $154.6 million, or 75 cents per share.

Revenue grew 11 percent to $1.86 billion from $1.67 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial predicted profit of 82 cents per share on sales of $1.82 billion.

Prior-year results were weighed down by a $36 million, or 18 cents per share, loss from discontinued operations. The current quarter's results included a gain of $16.5 million, or 8 cents per share, from discontinued operations.

For the year, net income increased 18 percent to $661.1 million, or $3.26 per share, from $561.8 million, or $2.73 per share.

Income from continuing operations climbed 10 percent to $653.3 million, or $3.22 per share, from $592.5 million, or $2.88 per share.

Annual sales rose to $7.2 billion, up 14 percent from $6.3 billion in the previous year.