Kaydon Corp (KDN.N), which makes specialty ball bearings for wind turbines, posted a lower fourth-quarter profit, mainly hurt by a drop in friction control revenue, sending its shares down as much as 6 percent.

The adverse effects of macroeconomic difficulties affected core industrial businesses, with only the semiconductor business achieving growth in the fourth quarter of 2009, the company said in a statement.

Kaydon, whose end markets include alternative energy, industrial, aerospace, medical and electronic equipment, said the industrial market stabilized at the lower levels, with non-wind sales increasing sequentially.

For the fourth quarter, the company reported net income of $11.4 million, or 34 cents a share, compared with $13.8 million, or 40 cents a share, a year ago.

Revenue fell 18 percent to $108.9 million. Friction control products sales were down 15 percent at $72.9 million.

Analysts on average were expecting the company to earn 33 cents a share, before special items, on revenue of $112.5 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

For the quarter, backlog dropped 13 percent sequentially to $218.5 million, while it fell 30 percent compared with the prior-year period.

Shares of the company were trading down 4 percent at $33.44 in late morning trade Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange. They touched a low of $32.91 earlier in the session.

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