Eaton sees hope for U.S. electrical

Eaton Corp., Cleveland, reported third quarter sales of $4.12 billion, 15 percent above the third quarter 2010. In discussing the company’s results with analysts, Eaton Chairman and CEO Sandy Cutler pointed to the U.S. electrical segment as a bright spot, with sales up 11 percent, operating profit up 11 percent and record all-time quarterly revenues.

“Let’s remember that’s at a time when the non-residential market is clearly not back to the heights that we saw during the last peak,” Cutler said. “Bookings [were] up an outstanding 21 percent. Really, really delighted with the strength there. Our backlog up 15 percent to all-time records at this point. And we are convinced the non-residential markets have bottomed and are starting to show a modest growth, particularly in the non-commercial segments. But even in portions of commercial segments, we think there is the beginning of some good news there. Then adjusting for the mark-to-market commodity hedge cost of about $11 million, the operating margins would have been on the order of 15.8 percent. So really, a very strong quarter, we think, setting this business up for both the fourth quarter and for 2012.”