Curtiss-Wright (CW) Beats On Q3 Earnings, Lifts '18 EPS View

Curtiss-Wright Corporation (NYSE:CW) reported third-quarter 2018 adjusted earnings of $1.70 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.58 by 7.6%.

Excluding one-time items, the company reported GAAP earnings of $1.68 per share, which came in 17% higher than $1.43 registered in the year-ago quarter.

The year-over-year upside in bottom line was driven by higher operating income, lower interest expenses and a lower tax rate as well as a slightly lower share count.

Operational Performance

In the quarter under review, the company’s revenues of $595.4 million increased 5% year over year. The top-line figure, however, missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $626.9 million by 5%.

Curtiss-Wright’s total backlog at the end of third-quarter 2018 was $2 billion compared with backlog of $2.2 billion in the previous quarter.

Gross profit increased 7% to $222.5 million. Operating income of $97 million improved 5% from $92.4 million a year ago.

Segmental Performance

Commercial/Industrial: Revenues at this segment remained flat year over year at $295 million. Higher sales of sensors and controls products were offset by lower revenues resulting from FAA directives.

While operating income fell 4% to $51.7 million, operating margin contracted 70 basis points (bps) to 16.6%. The margin downside was on account of unfavorable mix and lower profitability for sensors and controls products,

Defense: Revenues at this segment declined 3% year over year to $138.4 million due to lower sales of embedded computing equipment on helicopter and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms.

Operating income were flat at $33.6 million, while operating margin expanded 60 bps to 24.3%. The upside was primarily backed by favorable foreign currency translation.

Power: Revenues at this segment rose 23% year over year to $161.8 million on account of strong naval defense market sales that were driven by higher CVN-80 aircraft carrier revenues, solid DRG service center revenues along with higher revenues from the China Direct AP1000 program.

Adjusted operating income increased 66% to $29.5 million, while operating margin expanded 470 bps to 18.2%. Both the upsides can be attributed to higher sales and improved profitability on the China Direct AP1000 program.

Financial Update

Curtiss-Wright ended the third quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $245.9 million, down from $475.1 million as of Dec 31, 2017. Long-term debt summed $812.7 million compared with $814 million as of Dec 31, 2017.

Operating cash inflow from continuing operations totaled $72.3 million at the end of the third quarter compared with $101.4 million in the year-ago quarter.

Adjusted free cash flow at the end of the third quarter was $61.9 million compared with the year-ago quarter’s $89.8 million. During the quarter under review, the company repurchased 0.25 million shares worth $33 million.

Guidance

Curtiss-Wright updated its financial guidance for 2018. It expects to generate adjusted earnings per share in the range of $6.10-$6.25, higher than $6.00-$6.15 anticipated earlier. However, the company lowered its sales guidance to the band of $2,430-$2,470 million from $2,445-$2,485 million projected previously.

Free cash flow is anticipated in the range of $260-$280 million, up from $250-$270 million guided earlier. Adjusted free cash flow is expected in the range of $310-$330 million compared with prior guidance of $300-$320 million.

Zacks Rank

Curtiss-Wright currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Recent Defense Releases

FLIR Systems’ (NASDAQ:FLIR) third-quarter 2018 adjusted earnings of 57 cents per share came in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Its revenues declined 6.4% year over year to $434.9 million.

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) delivered third-quarter 2018 earnings of $6.54 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4.35 by 50.4%. The company recorded total revenues of $8.09 billion, marginally surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $8 billion by 1%.

Textron (NYSE:TXT) reported third-quarter 2018 adjusted earnings from continuing operations of 61 cents per share, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 76 cents by 19.7%. The bottom line also decreased 6.2% from 65 cents registered in the year-ago quarter.

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