McDermott Undone by Power Segment

McDermott International posts a 37% drop in first-quarter profit, hurt by its power generation segment.

Author:: Jeanine Poggi
Publish date:: May 11, 2009 5:32 PM EDT

Engineering and construction company

McDermott International

posted a 37% drop in first-quarter profit, hurt by its power generation segment.

During the quarter, income fell to $77.7 million, or 33 cents a share, compared with $123.2 million, or 54 cents, last year. Analysts expected earnings of 31 cents.

Revenue rose 3% to $1.49 billion from $1.45 billion last year, due to a higher level of activity in the Offshore Oil & Gas Construction and Government Operations segments, which partially offset lower revenues in the Power Generation Systems segment.

"The Company's backlog is near record levels at $10 billion; we see the end to the problematic pipeline projects later this year, and our financial position remains solid," CEO John A. Fees said in a statement.

Dan Fitzpatrick said on "3 Stocks I Saw on TV" that

McDermott is in an uptrend with few screaming ups or downs.

Last week, rival

Global Industries

(GLBL)

also saw a decline in quarterly profit, citing continued difficulty in the industry.