22 Jul 04. Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT – News) on Thursday reported a 59 percent jump in second-quarter profit, as gains at its logistics and industrial businesses offset lower sales of its Bell helicopters and Cessna business jets.
The company, which credited the effect of favorable exchange rates and cost savings for part of the rise, also increased its full year earnings and cash flow targets.
Net income rose to $100 m, or 71 cents a share, (2003: $63m, or 46 cents a share). Revenue rose slightly to $2.55bn (2003: $2.53bn).Excluding the cost of restructuring and other special items, the Providence, Rhode Island company said earnings would have been $122m, or 87 cents a share, (2003: $103m, or 76 cents).That easily beat the estimates of Wall Street analysts, whose average forecast was for earnings of 74 cents a share, excluding some items, according to Reuters Estimates. The average revenue estimate was $2.50bn.
On July 22nd United Defense Industries Inc. (NYSE:UDI – News) reported a higher second-quarter net profit on strong demand for military equipment such as Bradley Fighting Vehicles.
The company also raised its profit forecast for the full year, citing higher volumes, improved margins and the impact of its stock repurchase plan. United Defense reported net earnings of $40.8m, or 77 cents per share, (20034: $36.1m, or 68 cents). Revenue rose to $576.3m (2003: $553.5m.The strongest areas of growth in new orders were upgrades, systems and technical support for the Bradley vehicles, launcher and development work for naval guns and ship repair, and maintenance funding, the company said. In a conference call with analysts, executives said they expected 2004 sales to be somewhat higher than their previous projection of $2.1bn. The company also increased its forecast for full-year earnings to between $2.75 and $2.80 per diluted share. It predicted third-quarter earnings per share would be less than last year’s third quarter, however, after the company stopped recording its share of earnings from a Turkish joint venture. In the third quarter of 2003, the company posted a net profit of $37.4m, or 71 cents a share.
On July 22nd Armor Holdings Inc. (NYSE:AH – News) said that net earnings nearly quadrupled in the second quarter, fueled by soaring demand for its armor to shield military Humvee vehicles.
The performance prompted the Jacksonville, Florida-based company to raise its outlook for the full year.
Armor reported net earnings of $17.8m, or 57 per share, (2003: $4.6m, or 17 cents per share). Excluding charges on stock awards, net earnings were 76 cents a share. On that basis, results beat analysts’ forecast of 70 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.
Revenue during the second quarter surged to $223.7m, up 174 percent from $81.7ma year earlier. But sales fell short of analysts’ expectations of $225.4m.Gross profit margin declined to 29.7 percent of sales from 29.9 percent a year ago, due to a lower margin product mix in the its aerospace and defense group, the company said. For the third quarter, the company raised its earnings outlook to a range of 75 cents to 80 cents a share. For the full year, it raised the outlook to a range of $2.05 to $2.15 per share, which includes 27 cents to 28 cents of integration and other charges. The full year forecast is up from an earlier outlook of $1.95 to $2.05 per share. Analysts, on average, had expected earnings of 44 cents a year for the third quarter and $2.03 cents a share for the full year.
On July 22nd Flir Systems Inc. (NasdaqNM:FLIR – News) on Thursday reported higher quarterly profit on The Portland, Oregon-based company said second-quarter net income rose to $17.9mi, or 50 cents a share, (2003: $9.7m, or 27 cents). Revenue increased 59 percent to $119.3mi from $75.2mi. “Looks pretty impressive,” said McAdams Wright Ragen Inc. analyst Alan Davis. “The products they have developed over the last couple of years seems to be gai