Navios Maritime 1Q profit falls, misses views

Shares slid $1.15, or 8.6 percent, to $12.25 in morning trading.

The company earned $14.2 million, or 13 cents per share, compared with a year-ago profit of $14.8 million, or 13 cents per share.

Navios Maritime had about 110.7 million shares outstanding in the 2008 first quarter, compared with about 82.9 million in the same period in 2007.

Revenue more than tripled to $338.3 million, from $101.1 million a year earlier. The company attributed surging sales to higher vessel rates and increased fleet utilization.

Analysts expected profit of 25 cents per share on revenue of $113.3 million, according to a poll by Thomson Financial.

Navios Maritime said time charter, voyage and port terminal expenses surged to $293.7 million, from $60.4 million a year earlier. Depreciation and amortization expense more than doubled to $13.6 million.