Quarterly Report Pushes Tutor Perini Shares Higher

The stock price of Sylmar’s Tutor Perini Corp. (TPC) soared more than 10 percent Wednesday despite third-quarter earnings that missed analyst forecasts. For the quarter ended Sept. 30, the civil and building construction company reported net income of $28.8 million (57 cents a share) compared to $19.7 million (40 cents) for the same period a year ago. Despite a 46 percent increase in net income, Tutor’s earnings per share fell short of analysts’ expectations of 62 cents, according to Thomson Financial Network. Revenue for the quarter slipped slightly to $1.33 billion from $1.34 billion a year ago. That also fell short of the $1.38 billion analysts anticipated. Tutor said it had its best quarter of operating cash flow since the fourth quarter of 2011, generating $89.6 million. It also cut down its amount of unapproved change orders by $36.7 million. Due to refinancing costs that it expects will impact its full-year earnings per share, the company narrowed its full-year guidance for revenue to between $5.1 billion and $5.2 billion, and earnings per share to between $1.90 a share and $2 a share. Earlier in the year, Tutor amended two credit facilities and issued convertible notes which incur costs and expenses. The jump in Tutor’s share price is noteworthy because prices fell 6.5 percent Oct. 6, the day after activist investor Carson Block announced he was short selling Tutor stock due to what he said were problems with inconsistent cash flow and other issues. Prices have fallen about 10 percent since then till Wednesday’s earnings report. Shares closed Wednesday at $20.60, up $1.95, or 10.5 percent, on the New York Stock Exchange.