NEW YORK -- Dover reported third-quarter revenue of $1.5 billion, down 24% year-over-year but up 8% sequentially.

For the period ended Sept. 30, earnings from continuing operations fell 44% to $107.5 million compared to the prior-year period. Earnings were up 38% from the June quarter.

Dover's Electronic Technologies unit was shored up by seasonal improvements in the electronics assembly market. Revenue for the segment was down 24% from last year to $275 million, but up 12% sequentially. The unit's first-quarter loss of $12 million has swung to a third-quarter profit of $38 million, and an operating margin of 13.9%. The book-to-bill for the quarter was 1.03.

"While the improvements we have seen in the traditional electronic assembly market may not be more than seasonal at this time, we are hopeful that this could be the beginning of a new investment cycle in the industry. However, we remain cautious," chief financial officer Brad Cerepak said on a conference call with analysts.

Dover is the parent company of DEK, Everett-Charles, OK International, Ovation, and several other leading electronics manufacturing brands.

Company-wide, operating margins were up sequentially across all segments, at an aggregate 14.3%. Quarterly free cash flow was $222 million. The revenue decrease from last year was driven by a decline in core business revenue of 24%.

Dover resident and chief executive officer Robert Livingston said, "The signs of stability we observed during the second quarter carried through to the third quarter across the majority of our businesses. Further, order trends continue to be stable, with some businesses, particularly our refrigeration business in Engineered Systems, beginning to see the effects of a normal seasonal slowdown.

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