Aerojet Rocketdyne (AJRD) Q1 Earnings Lag, Sales Rise Y/Y

BA LMT HXL

Shares of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. slipped 0.7% to reach $56.02 on May 9, following the company's first-quarter 2023 results.

The company reported first-quarter adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 43 cents, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 44 cents by 2.3%.

Operational Performance

Aerojet Rocketdyne’s total sales of $566.3 million rose 10.8% from $511.1 million in the prior-year period. The top line, however, missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.8%.

This year-over-year increase can be attributed to an improvement in Aerospace and Defense segment sales.

The company’s backlog for the first quarter totaled $6.8 billion, which was in line with the backlog recorded at the end of 2022. Of this amount, funded backlog amounted to $3 billion.

Total operating costs and expenses totaled $533 million, up 13.8% from the year-ago quarter’s level. Operating income of $33.3 million declined 22% from the prior-year period’s $42.7 million.

Segmental Performance

Aerospace & Defense: Revenues at this segment rose 10.8% to $565.7 million from $510.5 million a year ago.

Real Estate: This segment generated revenues of $0.6 million, which was in line with the year-ago quarter’s level.

Financial Update

Aerojet Rocketdyne exited the first quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $272.5 million, down from $322.1 million as of Dec 31, 2022.

Long-term debt amounted to $284.9 million compared with $288.4 million as of Dec 31, 2022.

Operating cash outflow from continuing operations totaled $32.8 million as of Mar 31, 2023, compared with $75 million a year ago.

Free cash outflow came in at $34.4 million compared with $77.2 million in the prior-year quarter.

Zacks Rank

Aerojet Rocketdyne currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Recent Defense Releases

The Boeing Company (BA - Free Report) incurred an adjusted loss of $1.27 per share in the first quarter of 2023, wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 98 cents. However, the bottom line improved from the year-ago quarter’s reported loss of $2.75 per share.

Boeing’s revenues amounted to $17.92 billion, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $17.36 billion by 3.3%. The top line also improved 28% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure of $13.99 billion.

Hexcel Corporation (HXL - Free Report) reported first-quarter 2023 adjusted earnings of 50 cents per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 39 cents by 28.2%. The bottom line also improved massively from the year-ago quarter’s level of 22 cents, highlighting solid growth of 127.3%.

The company registered GAAP earnings of 50 cents per share compared with the prior-year quarter’s 21 cents.

Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT - Free Report) reported first-quarter 2023 adjusted earnings of $6.43 per share, which outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $6.07 by 5.9%. However, the bottom line was on par with the year-ago quarter's level.

Net sales amounted to $15.13 billion in the reported quarter, which outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $14.87 billion by 1.9%. The top line also rose 1.1% from $14.96 billion recorded in the year-ago quarter.

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