Mettler-Toledo Shares Hit New High

NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of Mettler-Toledo International Inc. set a new 52-week high Friday after the scientific tools maker topped Wall Street's expectations for fourth-quarter profit.

The Switzerland-based company also raised its earnings target for 2007, as surging industrial economies in emerging markets are offsetting a slowdown in the U.S.

Mettler-Toledo, which makes instruments used to inspect products and develop drugs, on Thursday reported fourth-quarter adjusted income of $1.35 per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had expected income of $1.20 per share.

Mettler-Toledo also raised its 2007 earnings-per-share forecast to $4.20 from $4.10.

Chief Executive Robert F. Spoerry said sales growth was broad-based. Sales improved in each of Mettler-Toledo's product segments: Industrial instruments, laboratory instruments and food retailing equipment.

JPMorgan analyst Tycho W. Peterson said the results were "impressive" because of the breadth of growth. Emerging markets like China, India and Russia accounted for as much as 20 percent of sales, Peterson said in a client note.

"Robust demand from Asia and Eastern Europe should more than offset any slowdown in the U.S.," Merrill Lynch analyst Jonathan Groberg wrote in a research report.

Shares of Mettler-Toledo rose $6.18, or 7.3 percent, to $90.78 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange, after trading as high as $93.79 earlier in the day. The stock's previous 52-week high was $85.54.