Today's Winners and Losers: ArvinMeritor

The auto-parts maker's shares jump 17% after a positive earnings report.

Author:: TSC Staff
Publish date:: Jan 24, 2006 1:03 PM EST

ArvinMeritor

(ARM)

was among the

NYSE's

winners Tuesday, with shares soaring 17% after the auto-parts maker's posted first-quarter earnings above analysts' forecasts and offered a bright outlook.

ArvinMeritor's net income for the December quarter rose 88% to $34 million, or 49 cents a share, from $18 million, or 26 cents a share, a year earlier, aided by gains from asset sales. Excluding certain items, earnings from continuing operations totaled $11 million, or 16 cents a share. Analysts expected earnings of 15 cents a share on this basis; the company's forecast called for EPS of 13 cents to 17 cents. ArvinMeritor's sales totaled $2.08 billion, in line with Wall Street's projection, and up slightly from $2.07 billion a year earlier.

For the second quarter, ArvinMeritor expects earnings from continuing operations of 35 cents to 40 cents a share, before items, and sales of $2.2 billion. Analysts, on average, project earnings of 32 cents a share and sales of $2.2 billion. For the full fiscal year, the company still anticipates earnings of $1.50 to $1.70 a share, but the company raised its free cash flow forecast to a range of $120 million to $170 million. Shares were up $2.35 to $16.06.

Waters

(WAT) - Get Report

shares jumped 11% after the company's fourth-quarter earnings and sales easily topped Wall Street's estimate. Waters, a maker of analytical instruments, posted fourth-quarter net earnings of $78.2 million, or 71 cents a share, up from $71.5 million, or 58 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding certain items, earnings totaled 73 cents a share, beating Thomson First Call's average analyst estimate of 64 cents. Waters' sales rose 3% to $332.3 million from $324.2 million. Analysts predicted sales of $326.8 million. Waters said it had solid growth in its chromatography business and strength in its Asian business. Shares recently were trading up $4.23 to $41.99.

Adtran

(ADTN) - Get Report

shares tumbled 12% after the telecom equipment company's sales missed analysts' estimates. Earnings more than doubled to $32.2 million, or 41 cents a share, from $14.6 million, or 19 cents a share, a year earlier. The profit topped analysts' projection by 2 cents. Sales increased to $140.6 million from $104.6 million a year earlier, but the results failed to meet Wall Street expectations for sales of $143.8 million. Shares fell $3.70 to $27.73.

Shares of

BJ Services

(BJS)

were lower even after the oil services company's first-quarter results beat estimates.For the quarter ended Dec. 31, BJ's earnings rose to $159.7 million, or 48 cents a share, from $95 million, or 29 cents a share, a year earlier. The profit beat analysts' mean estimate by a penny. BJ's revenue rose to $956.2 million from $737.8 million a year earlier, above Wall Street's target of $931 million. Shares were down $1.11, or 2.6%, to $41.64. The shares hit a 52-week high Monday of $42.85.

Jacobs Engineering

(JEC) - Get Report

posted better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results, sending shares about 8% higher. The construction services provider reported net earnings of $43 million, or 72 cents a share, up from $28.9 million, or 50 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding stock-option expenses, earnings for the December quarter were 76 cents a share, above analysts' mean estimate of 66 cents. Revenue rose to $1.68 billion from $1.28 billion a year earlier. Wall Street expected revenue of $1.5 billion. Jacobs' backlog totaled $9 billion at Dec. 31, up from $8 billion a year earlier, and the company predicted 20% earnings growth for fiscal 2006. Shares rose $6.08 to $77.75.

The NYSE's volume leaders Tuesday included

Lucent

(LU)

, up 1 cent to $2.51;

General Electric

(GE) - Get Report

, down 31 cents to $32.98;

EMC

(EMC)

, up 30 cents to $13.56;

Pfizer

(PFE) - Get Report