Jacobs Falls After Earnings

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Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. fell more than 8 percent on Tuesday after the technical services consultant reported a worse-than-expected fiscal second quarter and cut its guidance.

After the markets closed on Monday, the Pasadena company reported net income of $83.5 million (63 cents a share), compared with $104 million (80 cents) in the same period a year. Revenue rose 14 percent to $3.2 billion. At the end of the quarter, the company’s backlog stood at $18.4 billion, nearly 10 percent higher than a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, adjusted earnings were 82 cents. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report adjusted earnings of 89 cents a share on revenue of $3.32 billion.

Unadjusted results included a 24-cent loss related to its $1.1 billion acquisition of Australian professional services firm Sinclair Knight Merz in December, “certain issues” at its European projects and the impact of holidays and unusual weather events. Those were offset by a 5 cent-a-share gain related to the sale of its VCM technology assets.

Jacobs, which expects to take restructuring charges for its European operations in the second half of the year, now expects full-year earnings to range between $3.15 and $3.55 per share, down from an earlier $3.35 to $3.90. The Wall Street consensus has been for $3.66 a share.

“While second quarter results included several unusual items, the underlying fundamentals of the business remain sound as demonstrated by our record backlog,” Chief Executive Craig Martin said in a statement. “Importantly, there are significant opportunities to accelerate savings from the integration of SKM and to reduce structural costs, especially in Europe.”

Shares closed down $5.13, or 8.3 percent, to $56.07 on the New York Stock Exchange.

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