FMC Finally Falls Short, By $0.01

Jefferies & Co. has published a research report on FMC Technologies

that reported an $0.01 shortfall this past quarter after a few quarters of consistently exceeding expectations. In the report, Jefferies writes "Revenue slipped 5.2% sequentially to $960.0 million, 2.0% below our estimate. Energy Production Revenue of $770.1 million was 2.4% shy of our estimates, while Energy Processing Systems beat our forecast by 1.4%. Lower subsea volume at the start of the quarter and the timing of new project execution weighed on subsea revenue. Sub-sea revenue was $619 million and fell 8.3% from the prior quarter. Higher costs below operating income hurt EPS by $0.02-0.03 while a lower than expected tax rate added roughly $0.015-$0.020 to EPS." Jefferies maintains its Buy rating and $75 price target. FMC Technologies closed yesterday at $73.27.