Update: Roper Industries Down on Earnings Warning

Updated from 9:11 a.m. EDT

Wall Street woke up Friday to yet another earnings warning, and reacted just as it usually does -- it sold.

Shares in Roper Industries (ROP Quote - Cramer on ROP - Stock Picks), maker of a broad range of industrial products, closed down 22% after the company said it expects third-quarter earnings to both fall from a year ago and be well short of the consensus among Wall Street analysts.

Shares closed at 25 5/8, down 7 1/8, after hitting a 52-week low of 25 1/8.

The announcement followed a day on which at least three other companies -- SCM Microsystems (SCMM Quote - Cramer on SCMM - Stock Picks), Unisys (UIS Quote - Cramer on UIS - Stock Picks) and Goodyear (GT Quote - Cramer on GT - Stock Picks) -- told investors their earnings would be lower than expected.

In a statement, Roper said it expects third-quarter earnings to be in the range of 35 cents to 37 cents, as compared with 41 cents for last year's third quarter. This represents a 27%-to-31% decline from the 51-cent Wall Street analyst consensus, according to First Call/Thomson Financial, a research firm that tracks such statistics.

In addition, the company expects sales in the range of $124 million to $128 million for its fiscal third quarter ending July 31, as compared with $104 million for the third quarter of fiscal 1999.

The company blamed the expected earnings shortfall on a sharp decline in digital imaging sales due to a recent shift in government projects in Japan, unrecovered costs within the high-resolution digital imaging business and continuing weakness in the centrifugal-pump business.

Additionally, the company's third-quarter results will reflect a slower-than-expected recovery in its oil and gas businesses.

Derrick Key, president and CEO of Bogart, Ga.-based Roper, described the anticipated earnings as very disappointing. "We believe, in general, that these problems are of a short-term nature and should not affect our long-term growth," he said in a prepared statement.

At the same time, the company indicated its year-end figures will similarly disappoint. It expects earnings for the full-year ending Oct. 31 to range from $1.58 to $1.63 per share, 12% to 15% lower than the $1.86 per-share consensus among analysts, according to First Call/Thomson Financial. Sales for the full year are expected to be in the range of $495 million to $505 million.