UPDATE: Huntington Ingalls Beats Q4 Views

reported stronger-than-expected results for the fourth quarter. The Newport News, Virginia-based company reported a quarterly profit of $52 million, or $1.05 per share, versus $91 million, or $1.82 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding certain items, the company's earnings climbed to $2.19 per share from $1.66 per share. Its revenue declined to $1.93 billion from $1.94 billion. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $1.98 per share on revenue of $1.89 billion. Revenue from its Ingalls shipbuilding segment dropped 17.2% to $608 million, while revenue from its Newport News shipbuilding segment gained 4.8% to $1.26 billion. Total operating income slipped to $144 million from $174 million, while operating margin narrowed to 7.5% from 9.0%. At the end of the quarter, Huntington Ingalls' total backlog was $21.4 billion. Mike Petters, HII's president and CEO said, "Strong execution at Ingalls and Newport News helped us achieve solid operational performance and improved financial results, which mitigated the impact of pressure at Universal Pegasus due to the drop in oil prices. We delivered improved margin performance and strong cash flow for the year and are on track to achieve our 2015 segment operating margin goal." Huntington Ingalls shares gained 2.31% to close at $128.41 yesterday.