Monday, Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (JEC), a provider of technical and construction services, reported a decline in fourth quarter earnings, which came in below analysts' estimates as revenues declined amid sluggish economic conditions and low business confidence. The company also provided earnings guidance for fiscal 2010, below Wall Street's consensus forecast.
The Pasadena, California headquartered company reported net earnings for the fourth quarter of $79.3 million, down form $114.4 million a year earlier. Earnings per share declined to $0.63 from $0.92 per share a year earlier, and came in below the $0.68 per share projected by twenty analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. Analysts estimates typically exclude special items.
Quarterly revenues were $2.6 billion, down from $3.2 billion a year earlier. Street analysts expected the company to report revenues of $2.64 billion for the quarter.
Backlog totaled $15.2 billion at October 2, 2009, and included a technical professional services component of $8.2 billion. This compares to total backlog and technical professional services backlog of $16.7 billion and $8.1 billion, respectively, at September 26, 2008.
Jacob said during the quarter ended October 2, 2009, about $320 million was removed from backlog as a result of project cancellations, primarily from one project in the upstream oil and gas market.
For fiscal 2009, the company reported net earnings of $399.9 million, or $3.21 per share, down from $420.7 million or $3.38 per share in the previous year. Revenues rose to $11.5 billion from $11.3 billion last year. Street analysts expected the company to earn $3.25 per share on revenues of $11.55 billion for 2009.
Commenting on the results for the year, Jacobs President and chief executive officer Craig Martin said, "We continue to see our markets driven by a difficult economic environment and low business confidence."
Looking ahead, for fiscal 2010, the company said it expects earnings per share to be in a range of $2.00 to $2.60. Analysts currently expect the company to earn $2.83 per share for 2010.
JEC rose $1.54 or 3.50% and closed Monday's regular trading at $45.49.
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