NEW YORK, NY (March 16, 1999)…Dover Corporation (NYSE-DOV) told securities analysts at a meeting today that First Quarter earnings are likely to exceed $.30 per share but will be below most Wall Street estimates. The company also re-confirmed its expectation that full year earnings are likely to grow by about 15% and noted that good progress is being made in re-deploying the more than $800 million of after-tax proceeds from the January 5 sale of its Elevator business.

Thomas L. Reece, Dover’s President and CEO, said that softness continues in its Technologies segment, particularly circuit board assembly and test operations. Unfavorable comparisons are also expected in the Resources segment (primarily due to much lower earnings from its petroleum equipment companies) and in the Diversified segment (primarily related to anticipated lower shipments at A-C Compressor and Belvac and a $2.5 million special charge at Tranter). Higher earnings in the Industries segment and reduced interest expense will partially offset these declines.

Dover expects to repurchase about 7 million of its common shares in the first quarter and to complete acquisitions involving a total investment of approximately $145 million. Mr. Reece said, "In the four months since we announced our contract to sell Elevator, we will have made almost $500 million of new investments for our stockholders that I believe will provide good long-term returns. While current earnings are less than robust, we are beginning to hear encouraging things for our Technologies segment and expect to be doing much better in the second half of this year."