Fluor Corporation Drops 3% After Earnings

Fluor Corporation FLR is down more than three percent in after hours trading after the company announced its third-quarter results. Fluor reported a Q3 EPS of $1.05 versus the Street estimate of $1.03. Earnings per share were up 22 percent from the year-ago period. However, revenue arrived at $6.68 billion versus the Street estimate of $7.23 billion. Sales were down six percent year-over-year. Fluor also announced that it has narrowed its FY2014 EPS guidance from the $3.85 to $4.20 range to a closer estimate of $3.90 to $4.10. Wall Street expects the company to report a full-year 2014 EPS of $4.08. "I'm pleased with what we have accomplished this year despite headwinds in our government and mining and metals businesses," Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Seaton said in a company release. "Our success to date in capturing key petrochemical projects in North America is a testament to our strong market position. We are also excited about our prospects for large LNG projects, as well as major upstream and downstream programs, particularly in what we view as the early stages of a substantial multi-year oil and gas investment cycle." Fluor has had a rocky year, losing more than four percent of its value in April. The stock recovered and was out of the hole by the end of May, but it took a few more dives during the summer months. It has been growing fairly steadily this fall, however, and is now up more than 24 percent year-to-date. Earlier today Canaccord Genuity downgraded Fluor from Buy to Hold while reiterating its $80 Price Target. D.A. Davidson downgraded the stock as well in September, dropping Fluor from Buy to Neutral. D.A. Davidson also reiterated its $75 PT. Meanwhile, Stifel raised its PT from $74 to $90 on October 9. Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report. Louis Bedigian is the Senior Tech Analyst and Features Writer of Benzinga. You can reach him at louis(at)benzingapro(dot)com. Follow him @LouisBedigianBZ