Eaton's Jan. 26 release of Q4 financials gave Alexander "Sandy" Cutler, chairman and CEO, a chance to review the year. The company bought nine companies last year (total revenues of $320 million) and obtained 27% of its sales from emerging markets.
Sales were $16 billion, up 17%. Q4 sales were $4.0 billion, up 10% over Q4/2010.
Sales in December came in $200 million lower than expected, leading the company to underperform its expectations on earnings-per-share. Cutler said, "About 75% of the revenue shortfall was in our Electrical sector," with the U.S., Europe, and Asia-Pacific contributing roughly equally.
"The shortfall in the U.S.," Cutler continued, "was principally due to customer-requested delays of major project shipments."
Eaton's Electrical America's segment, the biggest of six segments into which the company breaks sales down, came in at $4.2 billion for the year, up 14.1%.
Cutler appeared on CNBC on Jan. 26 to discuss the company's earnings.
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