Caesarstone Soars to Record as Outlook Beats Estimates

Caesarstone Sdot-Yam Ltd., the Israeli producer of quartz-based countertops, climbed to a record high after posting better-than-expected fourth-quarter sales and forecasting 2013 revenue that surpasses estimates.

Caesarstone jumped 9.1 percent to $20.71 in New York, the highest since the company’s shares began trading on March 22. The rally led gains in the Bloomberg Israel-US Equity Index of the biggest Israeli companies traded in the U.S. The gauge rose 0.6 percent to 87.73, the highest closing level in a month.

The company, based in Sdot Yam, Israel, posted revenue of $76.2 million during the last three months of 2012, above the $73.2 million mean of three analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Caesarstone said sales in 2013 could reach $330 million to $340 million, beating analysts’ projections for $327 million in revenue.

“The company, as a global leader in the rapidly expanding quartz countertop market, is well positioned to benefit from the category’s increased penetration over the next several years,” Michael Rehaut, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York, wrote in a note e-mailed today. “The stock is trading at a compelling relative valuation and does not fully reflect our outlook for solid earning-per-share growth over the next two to three years.”

Caesarstone has surged 88 percent since the stock’s debut in New York, while the Israel-US gauge lost 0.8 percent during the same period. The U.S. is the company’s fastest growing market with sales in the region expanding 45 percent in 2012, Chief Executive Officer Yosef Shiran said today on a conference call.

To contact the reporter on this story: Victoria Stilwell in New York at vstilwell1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Emma O’Brien at eobrien6@bloomberg.net