How The Wheels Came Off Fluor's Bus

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Fluor (NYS: FLR) reported earnings on Nov. 1. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
 For the quarter ended Sep. 30 (Q3), Fluor met expectations on revenues and whiffed on earnings per share.

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


Gross margins were steady, operating margins were steady, net margins dropped.

Revenue details
 Fluor reported revenue of $7.14 billion. The 17 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ expected revenue of $7.14 billion on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 18% higher than the prior-year quarter's $6.04 billion.

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

EPS details
 EPS came in at $0.86. The 18 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $0.96 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.86 for Q3 were 10% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.78 per share.

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 4.3%, about the same as the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 3.7%, about the same as the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 2.0%, 20 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
 Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $7.27 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.96.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $27.82 billion. The average EPS estimate is $3.76.

Investor sentiment
 The stock has a five-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 1,262 members out of 1,296 rating the stock outperform, and 34 members rating it underperform. Among 270 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 264 give Fluor a green thumbs-up, and six give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Fluor is outperform, with an average price target of $71.33.

The article How The Wheels Came Off Fluor's Bus originally appeared on Fool.com.

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. The Motley Fool owns shares of Fluor. 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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