Philips Beats Earnings Expectations

One of the companies beating expectations so far this week was Dutch technology giant Phillips N.V. which released earnings Monday.

Earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization (EBITA) were 17 percent ahead of consensus at 504 million euros ($604.8 million). Sales also beat the consensus by 5.7 percent at 5.8 billion euros ($6.96 billion). The technology manufacturer operates the three major divisions of health care, consumer lifestyle, and lighting, and all of them performed ahead of expectations and posted strong earnings and sales gains.

For Goldman Sachs analyst Simon Schafer who has a buy rating on the stock, improvements in the cost savings program were also noteworthy, “Importantly, the cost savings program, set to deliver 400 million euros($480 million) in 2012 appears to be on track; we estimate incremental savings to 52 million euros ($62.4 million).”

Nonetheless, the company’s stock could not withstand the downward slide in European equities and lost 0.18 percent Tuesday, though outperforming the Amsterdam stock market.