Pike Electric shares dive on weak guidance

The stock plummeted $2.99, or 16 percent, to $16.01. Shares have ranged from $12.75 to $21.16 over the past year.

The Mount Airy, N.C.-based company on Thursday said it expects earnings for the year ending June 2009 to range between 55 cents and 65 cents per share because of high diesel costs and expectations that its core distribution business will not pick up until 2009.

On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters forecast earnings of 75 cents a share.

KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Tahira Afzal, who has a "Hold" rating on the shares, lowered her fiscal 2009 earnings-per-share estimate to 63 cents from 78 cents.

Robert W. Baird & analyst Andrea Wirth, who has a "Neutral" rating on the shares, lowered her 2009 earnings-per-share estimate to 64 cents from 77 cents.

"Market conditions remain challenging as the core power line business fell 9 percent from the prior year," she wrote in a note to clients. "The primary drag on results is weak demand for underground transmission work, which is highly tied to new residential construction.

"Guidance for fiscal 2009 fell meaningfully below expectations and management now believes that a reacceleration in power line maintenance spending at the utilities will not occur until the beginning of calendar 2009," she added.