Exelis Q1 Profit Rises 17%, But Misses View; Backs Full-Year Outlook

(RTTNews) - Exelis (XLS) Friday reported higher earnings for the first-quarter of 2014, reflecting lower restructuring and asset impairment charges for the period. In addition, the firm backed its full-year guidance for 2014. The company's net earnings rose 17 percent to $52 million, or $0.27 per share from $44 million or $0.23 per share in the first quarter of 2013. On an adjusted basis, excluding costs related to the pending spin-off of the current Exelis Mission Systems business into an independent company called Vectrus, earnings were $0.29 per share.

On average, 7 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings per share of $0.32 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items. For the quarter, the company incurred much lower restructuring and asset impairment charges of $5 million compared with $49 million in the year-ago period. However, first-quarter revenues were down 12 percent to $1billion from $1.18 billion in the prior-year period. Analysts estimated revenues of $1.11 billion for the quarter. For the full-year 2014, the firm continues to expect adjusted earnings per share in the range of $1.52 - $1.59 on sales of nearly $4.6 billion. Analysts project earnings of $1.54 per share on revenues of $4.60 billion.The company also confirmed its full-year free cash flow outlook of about $250 million and an adjusted operating margin of nearly 11 percent.