Orbital ATK Up After Analysts Defend Stock Following Mixed Earnings

Shares of

plunged on Tuesday following the company's fourth quarter results. Orbital ATK said that it earned $1.45 per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $1.137 billion. Wall Street analysts expecting the company to earn $1.30 per share on revenue of $1.15 billion. The company also provided concerning guidance and expects to earn $5.25 to $5.50 per share for the full fiscal year on revenue of $4.575 billion to $4.65 billion. Both of these figures fell short of the $5.53 per share and $4.72 billion Wall Street analysts were already estimating. Orbital ATK opened for trading on Tuesday at $83.50 and hit an intra-day low of $74.31 but regained some of its losses and closed at $77.91. The stock's rally continued during Wednesday's trading session after analysts at both Stifel and Cowen defended the stock and suggested that investors buy the name on weakness. Shares of Orbital were trading higher by more than 4 percent mid-Wednesday afternoon at $81.33.