BATON ROUGE (AP) — The Shaw Group posted a loss Thursday for its first quarter as the Japanese yen strengthened against the U.S. dollar, eroding the engineering and construction company’s returns on its stake in nuclear power plant builder Westinghouse.
Excluding the Westinghouse results, however, Shaw’s adjusted profit beat analyst estimates.
For the three months ended Nov. 30, the company lost $39.9 million, or 48 cents per share, compared with profit in the year-earlier period of $2.2 million, or 3 cents per share. The company’s fiscal year ends in August.
The Shaw Group holds a 20 percent stake in Westinghouse Electric Co., the majority of which is owned by Japan’s Toshiba Corp.
Shaw said the Westinghouse business “continues to reflect significant non-cash foreign exchange translation losses” resulting from the yen’s rise against the dollar.
Excluding results from Westinghouse, Shaw said it would have earned $62.8 million, or 75 cents per share, in the quarter — well above analyst estimates of 66 cents per share, according to a Thomson Reuters poll. Such expectations exclude Westinghouse operating segment results.
Shares soared $3.59, or 16.2 percent, to $25.74 per share in afternoon trading.
Revenue rose to $1.9 billion from $1.71 billion, close to the $1.91 billion analysts expected. New awards for the quarter totaled $1.1 billion, driven primarily by a large combined cycle, natural gas-fired power plant contract.
Chief Executive J.M. Bernhard Jr. said the results exceeded his plans for the quarter, adding that “Shaw’s operating segments are performing well.”
