Technical, professional, and construction services provider Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (JEC) announced late Monday that profit for the fourth quarter surged 36% from last year, helped by strong revenue growth. Earnings per share for the quarter came in line with analysts' expectations, while quarterly revenues topped consensus estimate. The company's backlog rose 22.9 %. The company also provided initial earnings guidance for fiscal 2009, which were currently in line with consensus estimate.
The Pasadena, California-based company posted net earnings of $114.38 million or $0.92 per share for the fourth quarter, higher than $83.69 million or $0.68 per share in the prior-year quarter.
On average, thirteen analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial expected the company to earn $0.92 per share for the quarter.
Total revenues for the quarter climbed to $3.20 billion from $2.28 billion in the same quarter last year and topped ten Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate of $3.06 billion.
On a segmental basis, Technical professional services revenues for the fourth quarter surged to $1.55 billion from $1.22 billion in the prior-year quarter, while revenues for Field Services totaled $1.65 billion, sharply higher than $1.06 billion in the same quarter of the prior year.
Operating profit for the quarter was $178.78 million, sharply up from $129.39 million in the year-ago quarter, while selling, general and administrative expenses jumped to $281.50 million from $203.07 million in the comparable quarter a year ago.
Direct costs of contracts for the quarter totaled $2.74 billion, compared to $1.95 billion in the same quarter last year. Capital expenditure totaled $27.76 million, compared to $16.55 million in the comparable quarter a year ago.
The company ended the fourth quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $604.42 million, compared to $613.35 million at the end of the prior-year quarter.
The company's backlog at September 30, 2008 totaled $16.70 billion, including a technical professional services component of $8.09 billion. This compares to total backlog of $13.59 billion, including technical professional services backlog of $6.19 billion at the end of the year-ago quarter. This represents an increase of 22.9% year-over-year.
Commenting on the results, Jacobs president and chief executive officer, Craig Martin said, "In spite of significant challenges created by the recent hurricanes in the Gulf Coast, our team produced excellent results in the fourth quarter and for the year. Our one disappointment this quarter came from a breakdown in our relationship with a customer on a project in the Canadian oil sands."
For fiscal 2008, Jacobs Engineering said net earnings climbed to $420.74 million or $3.38 per share from $287.13 million or $2.35 per share in the prior-year period. Analysts expected the company to report earnings of $3.36 per share for the full-year 2008.
Total revenues for the full-year 2008 surged to $11.25 billion from $8.47 billion in the same period last year. The Street was looking for full-year 2008 revenues of 11.11 billion.
Looking ahead to fiscal 2009, Jacobs Engineering provided its initial earnings guidance in a range of $3.55 to $4.05 per share. Analysts expect the company to earn $3.99 per share for the full-year 2009.
The company noted that its outlook for 2009 is good and should track inline with its long-term goals.
"Our sales in the fourth quarter remained strong. Our business is solid and prospect quality remains high. As we look ahead, FY09 looks like another good year," Martin added.
JEC, which has been trading in the range of $28.25 to $103.29 in the past 52-week period, has retraced over 65% of its value from its highs during the period, reported on Jan. 3, 2008.
The stock closed Monday's regular trading session at $35.91, down $0.52 or 1.43% on a volume of 2.01 million shares, marginally lower than the three month average volume of 2.20 million shares.
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