Applied Industrial Technologies Inc.'s (AIT) fiscal first-quarter profit fell 50% as sales continued to slide for the distributor of bearings, automotive power-transmission supplies and safety products.

Shares rose 1.9% to $20.75 in premarket action as results topped analysts' expectations.

Applied Industrial also said it expects sales volumes to continue close to their current rate through at least this quarter as it reiterated its outlook for the year.

Although the company's first-quarter sales were well below last year's, they are up from the prior quarter, Applied Industrial noted. "We feel this shows a stabilization in what had been a steadily declining pace," added Chairman and Chief Executive David Pugh. "While a portion of this might be attributed to federal stimulus spending, we are hopeful we have found a bottom to the recession."

Applied Industrial, which distributes about 3 million different products in North America, relies heavily on orders from customers in the housing and automotive markets, hit especially hard during the recession. In August, the company said it hadn't yet seen an upturn in sales trends and would continue to manage conservatively.

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, Applied Industrial reported earnings of $11.2 million, or 26 cents a share, down from $22.5 million, or 52 cents, a year earlier. Revenue fell 20% to $437.7 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected earnings of 24 cents on $421 million in sales.

Gross margin fell to 26.4% from 26.9% as the company cut prices.

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