Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now be conducting the question and answer session. (Operator’s instructions) Our first question is coming from Jeff Zekauskas with J.P. Morgan, please state your question.
Jeff Zekauskas - J.P. Morgan
Hi, good morning. Just a few quick questions. You bought back 3.88 million shares in the quarter. So, does that mean that you’re average share account to use for calculating earnings in the fourth quarter should be around, I don’t know, 113.4.
Robert J. Wells
I’m sorry, you broke up there, Jeff. 115.4, did you say?
Jeff Zekauskas - J.P. Morgan
113.4?
Robert J. Wells
That’s – yeah, it’s 113-114, that’s a good number.
Jeff Zekauskas - J.P. Morgan
Okay. Second, did your average prices sequentially improve or decrease or stay the same?
Robert J. Wells
It stayed the same, Jeff.
Jeff Zekauskas - J.P. Morgan
Okay. Now, lastly, what you’ve done is you’ve said that your sales in the fourth quarter should be down about 10%. And I’m puzzled as to why you think that, especially with sequential flat prices. In that last year your sales were down 8% in the fourth quarter and they were up 3% in the third quarter. So if what you do is you just do some average sales calculations, that is you take last years sales growth number and this year’s sales growth number what you find is that, they average down about 5% for the first three quarters, but your number for the fourth quarter would be down nine. So what is the exceptional event which is happening in the fourth quarter that will lead your sales to be down so much?
Robert J. Wells
Yeah. I think when you look at the –
Jeff Zekauskas - J.P. Morgan
One more question, sorry.
Christopher M. Connor
That’s fine. It’s appropriate question. I’m sure it’s on the minds of lots of our listeners today on the sales guidance. Now, as we go into this fourth quarter, we have less year-over-year less on pricing than we’ve had in any other quarter this year. As you recall the last really big announcement in pricing we took was at the start of the third quarter of calendar year ’08. And as we’ve often talked with the street it takes us a good 12-18 months to get that pricing in. That’s effort is essentially behind us. So we don’t have that list going forward. And I think as we comment in, we continue to see stress in our end markets. We’re not seeing the lift in new residential construction. That’s slowed down dramatically year-over-year. Commercial construction markets are collapsing around us. And I think that we’re giving the guidance that we think we’re going to be able to deliver.
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