Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc (NYSE: HII) leaped Thursday on quarterly earnings that caused eyes to pop.
The company, based out of Newport News, Virginia, reported fourth quarter 2017 revenues of $2.0 billion, up 3.9% from the fourth quarter of 2016. Operating income in the quarter was $227 million and operating margin was 11.4%, compared to $268 million and 13.9%, respectively, in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Diluted earnings per share in the quarter was $1.41, compared to $4.20 in the same period of 2016. Diluted earnings per share in fourth quarter 2017 included a one-time expense related to the early extinguishment of debt, the tax expense for the revaluation of net deferred tax assets resulting from the enactment of the Tax Act and the tax expense associated with a $214 million acceleration of discretionary pension contributions in 2018. Excluding these items, adjusted diluted earnings per share in the quarter was $3.11.
New contract awards for 2017 were approximately $8.1 billion, bringing total backlog to $21.4 billion as of Dec. 31, 2017.
Major contract awards in 2017 included Bougainville (LHA 8) construction, the refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) of the aircraft carrier USS George Washington(CVN 73), a contract to begin integrated product and process development for the U.S. Navy’s new Columbia-class submarines, USS Boise(SSN 764) overhaul, LPD 29 (unnamed) advanced procurement, special selected restricted availability on USS Chosin (CG 65), and Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125) Flight III upgrades.
The shares approached noon Thursday screaming higher by $6.97, or 2.9%, to $248.37.
