BATON ROUGE (AP) — Baton Rouge-based H&E Equipment Services Inc.'s third-quarter profit rose to $15.3 million, or 43 cents per share, compared to $14 million, or 40 cents per share a year ago.
H&E rents and sells construction equipment. Despite the improvement, the company fell short of Wall Street's expectations.
H&E's revenue also fell short of stock analysts' projections. H&E reported revenue increased 1.7 percent to $275 million.
H&E said its results were affected by a much higher effective income tax rate – 43.6 percent compared to 33.5 percent a year ago – and a double-digit drop in new equipment sales. New equipment sales fell to $80.8 million, down 10.5 percent from the $90.2 million recorded in the third quarter of 2013.
The Advocate’s Ted Griggs reports new equipment was the only business segment where revenue declined.
