Babcock & Wilcox Profit Rises On Lower Expenses; Cuts FY Revenue Outlook

(RTTNews) - Babcock & Wilcox Co. (BWC), a clean energy technology company, Tuesday reported a higher third-quarter profit, helped by lower expenses. Revenue meanwhile fell from a year ago and missed Wall Street estimates, due mainly to a decline in the Nuclear Energy segment business.

Looking ahead to 2014, the company tightened its earnings guidance and slashed revenue expectations.

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Babcock & Wilcox reported third-quarter net income of $60.4 million or $0.54 per share, compared with $51.4 million or $0.43 per share last year.

Excluding items, adjusted earnings for the quarter were $63.6 million or $0.57 per share, compared with $54.7 million or $0.46 per share in the prior year.

On average, 9 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.55 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenue for the quarter was lower at $775 million, compared with $807.6 million a year ago. Analysts expected revenues of $851.45 million.

Among segments, Nuclear Energy revenue was lower by $22.5 million compared with a year ago, due to the completion of several nuclear services and equipment contracts that were ongoing in the prior year.

Revenue in the Power Generation segment were flat compared with last year and Nuclear Operations segment revenue decreased by $2.4 million.

Meanwhile, operating expenses for the quarter decreased to $711 million from $738 million last year. The prior-year results also included other expenses of $28 million.

For fiscal year 2013, the company now expects adjusted earnings of $2.30 to $2.40 per share, from prior range of $2.25 to $2.45 per share. It also expects revenue of about $3.3 billion, while earlier expectation was for $3.4 billion to $3.5 billion.

Analysts expect earnings of $2.33 per share on revenue of $3.43 billion for the year.

Babcock stock closed Tuesday at $31.49, down $0.15 or 0.47%, on the NYSE.