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What's in the Cards for FLIR Systems (FLIR) Q4 Earnings?

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FLIR Systems Inc. is set to report fourth-quarter and full year 2018 financial results on Feb 13, before the market opens. In the trailing four quarters, the company came up with average positive earnings surprise of 6.86%.

Let's take a closer look at the factors influencing FLIR Systems’ quarterly results.

Factors to Consider

Last year, FLIR Systems sold its Canadian security products subsidiary, Lorex, Inc., and the SMB Visible-Spectrum security business. As a result of this divestiture, the company's Commercial business segment took a hit. The divestment may still continue to hurt the top line of its Commercial business segment, which in turn may weigh on the company’s overall quarterly revenues. In line with this, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter revenues is pegged at $467 million, reflecting an annual decline of 5.7%.

FLIR Systems consistently banks on acquisitions and strategic investments to boost its core and non-core businesses. To this end, in mid-September, the company acquired Acyclica — a leading developer of software for automotive roadway and intersection data generation and analysis. Such earnings accretive investments are expected to continue to boost FLIR Systems' bottom-line results in the to-be-reported quarter. Considering such developments, the consensus mark for the company’s fourth-quarter earnings pegged at 60 cents per share represents year-over- year increase of 3.45%.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively show that FLIR Systems is likely to beat on earnings this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both — a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) — for this to happen. This is not the case here, as you see below.

Earnings ESP: FLIR Systems has an Earnings ESP of -0.84%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: FLIR Systems currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Note that we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Strong Sell) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.

FLIR Systems, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

FLIR Systems, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise | FLIR Systems, Inc. Quote

Recent Defense Release

Textron (TXT - Free Report) reported fourth-quarter 2018 adjusted earnings from continuing operations of $1.15 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 98 cents by 17.3%. The bottom line also surged 55.4% from 74 cents in the year-ago quarter.

Hexcel Corporation (HXL - Free Report) reported fourth-quarter 2018 adjusted earnings of 82 cents per share, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 80 cents by 2.5%. Further, the bottom line improved 17.1% from the prior-year quarter’s 70 cents.

An Upcoming Defense Release

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII - Free Report) is expected to report fourth-quarter 2018 results on Feb 14. The company has an Earnings ESP of +3.71% and a Zacks Rank #3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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