Raytheon posted a 17 percent jump in the first-quarter profit April 26 and the defense contractor boosted its full-year outlook with sales for missile, intelligence and information systems on the rise.
The big jump in comparable net income was partially due to the charges that the company was saddled with during the same period last year, but it still beat Wall Street expectations handily when those one-time items are removed.
Its outlook also topped the predictions of most analysts that follow the company.
Raytheon earned $448 million, or $1.32 per share, compared with $384 million, or $1.06 per share, a year ago.
Removing certain items, earnings rose to $1.46 per share from $1.37 per share.
Analysts expected only $1.16 per share, according to a poll by FactSet.
However, for the three months ended April 1, revenue fell 2 percent to $5.94 billion, missing the Wall Street consensus forecast of $6.46 billion.
Quarterly bookings at the Waltham, Mass. company climbed to $5.16 billion from $5.1 billion, while backlog increased to $34.3 billion from $33.71 billion.
Raytheon now expects full-year adjusted earnings of $5.55 to $5.70 per share, up from $5.45 to $5.60 per share. It reaffirmed its guidance for revenue between $24.5 billion and $25 billion.
Analysts forecast 2012 earnings of $5.07 per share on revenue of $24.54 billion. AP
