Foster Wheeler shares fall on 3Q results

NEW YORK - Shares of Foster Wheeler Ltd. tumbled Wednesday after the engineering and construction company reported third-quarter results just below Wall Street expectations.

Foster Wheeler shares dropped $3.83, or 12.1 percent, to end at $27.77 amid a broader market slide. The stock has ranged from $19.35 to $85.65 over the past year.

During the third quarter, Foster Wheeler earned $127.9 million, or 88 cents per share, compared with $129.1 million, or 89 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

The recent quarter's results included a provision of $1.7 million related to asbestos claims. The prior-year period included an insurance recovery of $8.6 million.

Excluding those items, the company said it posted a third-quarter adjusted profit of $129.6 million, or 89 cents per share, compared with $120.5 million, or 83 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Operating revenue rose 32 percent to $1.72 billion from $1.3 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a profit of 91 cents per share on $1.68 billion in revenue.

Chris Hussey, an analyst for Goldman Sachs, said the results represented a mixed quarter for Foster Wheeler.

Hussey said that while the company's report of $1.39 billion in new awards was slightly below his expectations, it's encouraging that its has already announced four projects that will be included in fourth-quarter bookings.

"The outlook remains cautiously optimistic as the new award pipeline remains strong but we believe there could be delays, particularly in Foster Wheeler's power segment," Hussey wrote in a note to investors.

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