Babcock & Wilcox Q4 Net Profit Rises; Boosts Buyback Authorization

(RTTNews) - Babcock & Wilcox Co. (BWC) reported net income for the fourth quarter of $165.6 million or $1.48 per share, compared to $39.1 million or $0.33 per share for the year-ago quarter.

Excluding items, adjusted net income for the fourth quarter was $58.4 million or $0.52 per share, compared to $66.9 million or $0.56 per share in the prior year quarter.

Revenues for the fourth quarter fell 7.2% year-over-year to $802.8 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.57 per share on revenue of $834.81 million for the fourth quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Looking forward to 2014, the company forecasts revenues of $2.90 billion to $3.10 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $2.00 to $2.20. Analysts currently expect the company to earn $2.39 per share on revenue of $3.37 billion for the full year 2014.

Babcock & Wilcox said its Board has increased the company's share repurchase authorization by $250 million to $750 million. Based upon share repurchases through the end of calendar year 2013, the company has about $496 million remaining under the expanded authorization.