Foster Wheller Shares Popped: What You Need to Know

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of global engineering firm Foster Wheeler (NAS: FWLT) were flying high today, gaining as much as 11% on heavy volume.

So what: Simply put, Foster Wheeler trounced analysts' estimates. Second-quarter profit per share, excluding one-time items, clocked in at $0.53 against Wall Street estimates of $0.36. Revenue of $1.18 billion was up 18% from last year, well above the $1.11 billion that analysts were looking for. Margins fattened up and revenue jumped for the company's global power group, even as the global engineering and construction segment fell versus last year.

Now what: Management cited tough competition in its businesses, but maintained its expectations for the global engineering and construction group while raising its outlook for the global power group. Though the big stock gains from early in the day throttled back, investors that are currently paying over 19 times expected 2011 earnings for the stock obviously have high hopes for continued recovery after the global recession.

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