Kennametal Swings to Quarterly Loss

Kennametal(KMT Quote), producer of industrial tools and specialty metals, swung to a loss in the third-quarter, hurt by weakness in Europe markets.

Despite the news, shares of the company were up 6% to $22.29 in morning trading.

The company posted a quarterly loss of $137.9 million, or $1.90 a share, compared with a profit of $23.2 million, or 30 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

Excluding charges, Kennametal earned 1 cent a share, which matched revised guidance. The company issued a profit warning last week due to a larger-than-expected downturn in global markets.

Revenue fell 36% to $441 million from $690 million last year.

Kennametal also announced today a regular quarterly cash dividend of 12 cents a share. The dividend is payable May 21 to shareowners of record as of the close of business on May 6, 2009.