FMC Technologies Inc. (FTI), a provider of technology solutions for the energy industry, reported Monday a decline in profit for the second quarter, mainly reflecting lower revenues from its Energy Production Systems. Quarterly earnings per share, however, topped the market projections, while top line missed their view. Further, the Houston, Texas-based company maintained its fiscal 2010 earnings forecast.
Second-quarter net income attributable to the company dropped to $96.2 million or $0.78 per share from $106 million or $0.84 per share a year ago.
On average, 24 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.71 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimate typically excludes one-time items.
Revenue for the three months decreased to $1.01 billion from $1.10 billion in the comparable period, and missed fifteen Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate of $1.06 billion.
In its preceding first quarter, FMC reported net income attributable to the company of $99 million or $0.80 per share, and revenues of $1.05 billion.
Second-quarter revenues from Energy Production Systems fell to $822.9 million from prior year's $933.9 million. The results included subsea systems revenue of $675 million. Meanwhile, Energy Processing Systems' revenue grew 11% to $192.4 million from $174.1 million a year ago, driven by higher volume.
Operating profit in Energy Production Systems fell 7% in the quarter due to lower volume which was partially offset by higher operating margin, while Energy Processing Systems' profit grew 17% on higher volume and operating margin in the fluid control business.
In the quarter, total company backlog was $2.85 billion and included $2.3 billion in subsea systems, compared to last year's total backlog of $3.07 billion. Sequentially, backlog increased 6%. It was the second consecutive quarterly backlog increase and was mainly driven by $946 million in subsea systems orders, which brought the year-to-date total for subsea orders to $1.8 billion, surpassing the total for 2009.
Among others in the industry, Cameron International Corp. (CAM) is slated to release second-quarter results on August 4, with analysts expecting earnings of $0.54 per share on revenues of $1.47 billion.
Oilfield services provider Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) is slated to report second-quarter results on August 3. Wall Street looks for earnings of $0.43 per share on revenues of $3.48 billion.
Further, FMC maintained its guidance for 2010 earnings from continuing operations in a range of $2.70 to $2.90 per share. Twenty-six analysts' mean estimate is $2.85 per share, within a range of $2.26 and $3.16 per share. While announcing the first quarter results, the company had lifted its fiscal outlook from previous view of $2.45 per share to $2.65 per share. In its fiscal 2009, the company had reported net income attributable to the company of $361.8 million or $2.88 per share.
Peter Kinnear, chairman and chief executive officer commented, "Our strong order intake this quarter builds on our first quarter results and confirms the subsea market opportunities that we have been forecasting since late 2009. Although we face some market uncertainty due to the situation in the Gulf of Mexico, our strong first half results allow us to maintain our estimate for 2010."
FTI, which have traded between $39.90 and $76.54 in the past one year, closed Friday's regular trading session at $63.74, up $1.27, on a volume of 1.34 million shares.
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