UPDATE 2-Ryder profit hit by economy, suspends EPS outlook
* Q1 EPS 12 cents vs Q1 '08 96 cents
* Excluding charges EPS 25 cents, vs consensus 23 cents
* Suspends earnings outlook, citing economic uncertainty
* Shares down 1 pct in premarket trade (Adds share activity, other details)
CHICAGO, April 22 (Reuters) - Ryder System Inc (R.N) reported a sharply lower quarterly net profit on Wednesday and suspended earnings forecasts as the recession caused full-service lease customers to cut the number of trucks they use and the number of miles they drive.
The Miami-based company reported first-quarter net income of $6.8 million, or 12 cents a share, down from $56.1 million or 96 cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding restructuring and other charges, the company said it earned 25 cents per share. Analysts on average had expected 23 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.
Revenue fell to $1.203 billion from $1.54 billion. Analysts had expected $1.206 billion.
The company said that used-vehicle sales and its short-term lease business continued to suffer during the quarter. Ryder sells the vehicles it leases on the open market. Its short-term lease business does well in a thriving economy, but does not perform as well in a downturn.
Ryder said it now anticipates those business lines to deteriorate more than it had originally expected.
The company cited the uncertain economic environment as the reason for temporarily suspending earnings forecasts.
"The current economic environment has worsened and is significantly less predictable," Chief Executive Greg Swienton said in a statement. "In light of this, we have temporarily suspended providing EPS forecasts."
"Despite these factors... we expect full-year free cash flow to remain strong and significantly improve versus our prior forecast," he added.
The company cut its capital expenditures in the quarter to $224.7 million from $332.4 million.
In premarket trade Ryder shares were down more than 1 percent at $24.00 from their Tuesday official closing price of $24.29. (Reporting by Nick Carey; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Dave Zimmerman)
