Orbital Sciences Crushes Earnings Estimates

Updated

Orbital Sciences (NYS: ORB) filed its 10-K on Feb. 29. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q4), Orbital Sciences missed estimates on revenues and crushed expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue contracted and GAAP earnings per share contracted significantly.

Gross margins improved, operating margins shrank, net margins shrank.

Revenue details
Orbital Sciences notched revenue of $335.5 million. The seven analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ expected sales of $358.4 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 3.1% lower than the prior-year quarter's $346.1 million.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
Non-GAAP EPS came in at $0.27. The six earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $0.20 per share on the same basis. GAAP EPS of $0.29 for Q4 were 19% lower than the prior-year quarter's $0.36 per share.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 24.6%, 280 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 6.6%, 40 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 5.2%, 90 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $345.9 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.23.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $1.49 billion. The average EPS estimate is $1.02.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 341 members out of 354 rating the stock outperform, and 13 members rating it underperform. Among 101 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 99 give Orbital Sciences a green thumbs-up, and two give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Orbital Sciences is buy, with an average price target of $24.00.

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At the time thisarticle was published Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Orbital Sciences. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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