Praxair profit drops 8 percent, beats Street

Danbury industrial gas supplier Praxair Inc. posted an 8 percent drop in third-quarter profit as demand sank, although results beat Wall Street's expectations, Reuters reports.

The company supplies gases that are used in sectors most affected by the recession, areas such as construction and technology. That sharply cut both profit and revenue earnings earlier this year, though results have begun to improve, Reuters reports.

"Business conditions stabilized globally during the quarter," said Chief Executive Steve Angel, who noted the physical volume of chemicals sold rose sequentially in all markets.

However, cost cuts -- the cost of sales dropped 26 percent -- helped offset the drop in volumes from year-earlier levels, Angel said.

A reliance on cost cuts has made many investors nervous and keen to see improvement from actual sales growth.

For the quarter, the company posted earnings of $325 million, or $1.04 per share, compared with $355 million, or $1.11, in the year-ago period.

Excluding tax benefits, Praxair posted profit of $1.02 per share.

By that measure, analysts expected earnings of $1.00 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S estimates.

Revenue fell 20 percent to $2.288 billion, narrowly missing the $2.299 billion analysts had expected.

In addition, Praxair declared a regular quarterly dividend of 40 cents per share, to be paid Dec. 15 to shareholders of record on Dec. 7.