Booz Allen Hamilton broke out early Friday on its mixed Q3 report. Defense contractors continued rolling out results early Thursday. Northrop Grumman delivered a deep earnings miss, despite a strong quarter for free cash flow. GD stock had surged Wednesday after General Dynamics narrowly missed consensus earnings target. Textron also powered higher on its results. L3Harris faded on its late report Thursday.
Booz Allen Hamilton
Defense contractor and consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton reported a 39% earnings increase to $1.41 per share as revenue growth slowed for the second quarter in a row, climbing 12.9% to $2.57 billion. FactSet analysts had plotted earnings of $1.14 per share on $2.54 billion in sales.
Management raised the company's full-year adjusted earnings outlook to range between $5.25 and $5.40 per share, up from $4.95 to $5.10. FactSet targets 2024 earnings of $5.05 per share.
BAH stock rallied 13% early Friday, breaking out above a 131.28 buy point in an eight-week flat base. Shares extended above the buy zone on the move.
Northrop And L3Harris
Northrop delivered a loss, with adjusted EPS of -$1.45, vs, the FactSet target of a $5.80 profit. It was the company's first earnings decline in four quarters. The Falls Church, Va.-based outfit reported revenue up 6% to $10.6 billion, above the $10.43 billion consensus.
Management set its full-year 2024 revenue guidance to between $40.8 billion and $41.2 billion. The FactSet consensus is $41.1 billion. Northrop also took a $1.17 billion charge-off during the quarter, due to funding expectations relating to its B-21 development program with the Defense Department.
Free cash flow came in at $1.627 billion, which a statement from Chair, CEO and President Kathy Warden said was "At the high end of our guidance range." And the company reaffirmed its cash flow target of "greater than 15% (compounded annual growth rate) through 2026."
Northrop shares dropped 6.3% Thursday. The move pushed NOC stock below 10-week support, within a 15-month consolidation.
L3Harris reported Q4 adjusted earnings grew 2% to $3.35 per share after four straight quarters of declines. Total revenue jumped 17% to $5.34 billion.
Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of $3.31 per share on $5.28 billion in sales.
L3Harris' Space & Airborne Systems business unit saw 5.8% sales growth to $1.8 billion for the quarter and communication systems revenue jumped 14.2% to $1.36 billion. Aerojet Rocketdyne delivered $597 million in Q4 sales for the company following L3Harris' $4.7 billion acquisition of the rocket engine maker last year.
Full-year adjusted earnings slid 4.2% to $12.36 per share, edging out predictions of $12.35 per share. Fiscal 2023 revenue spiked 13.8% to $19.42 billion, coming in ahead of views of $19.36 billion.
L3Harris guided 2024 adjusted earnings between $12.40-$12.80 per share on $20.7-$21.3 billion in sales. The outlook missed expectations of $13.05 earnings per share on $21.43 billion in revenue.
LHX stock slipped 3% Thursday after ticking higher in regular trade. Shares closed Thursday just below their 21-day exponential moving average.
General Dynamics
General Dynamics delivered 1.7% earnings growth to $3.64 per share, ending a two-quarter streak of declining earnings. Revenue increased 7.5% to $11.67 billion.
FactSet analysts expected earnings of $3.68 per share on about 5% revenue growth to $11.39 billion.
Sales in the company's marine systems unit leapt nearly 15% while its aerospace revenue increased 12%. Combat system sales rose 8.5%.
General Dynamic's backlog climbed 2.7% over the year to $93.63 billion at the end of Q4.
Full-year earnings worked out to $12.02 per share, down 1.4% from last year. Fiscal year revenue increased 7.3% to a record $42.27 billion. Analysts expected 2023 earnings of $12.11 per share on $42.04 billion in sales.
For fiscal 2024, FactSet anticipates full-year earnings of $15.01 per share on $46.17 billion in sales.
GD stock rose slightly Thursday and surged 4.7% Wednesday.
The Wednesday move pushed General Dynamics above its 50-day moving average and above a buy zone for a saucer-with-handle base following a Nov. 3 breakout. Shares hit a record high of 261.39 on Jan. 5. GD is down 0.6% this year through Wednesday.
Textron
Textron reported a 30% jump in adjusted earnings to $1.60 per share. GAAP earnings slid 5.6% to $1.01 per share. Total revenue rose 7% to $3.98 billion.
Analysts saw Textron earnings increasing to $1.53 per share, but revenue fell short of forecasts of $3.97 billion.
Textron Aviation revenue eased to $1.52 billion from $1.58 billion last year. Sales for the company's Bell unit leapt more than 31% to $1.07 billion.
Textron reported earnings gains of 30% or more the past two quarters, while sales increased 9% during that period.
The company guided 2024 adjusted earnings between $6.20 and $6.40 per share on about 6.6% revenue growth to $14.6 billion. FactSet expects full-year earnings of $5.97 per share and revenue of $14.69 billion.
Textron leapt 7.8% Wednesday, closing just above a buy zone for a flat base.
Shares previously passed the 81.39 buy point on Jan. 2 before fading.
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