Shares of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. AJRD dipped 1.2% to reach $46.80 on Jul 27, reflecting investor skepticism following the company's second-quarter 2021 results.

The company reported second-quarter earnings per share (EPS) of 59 cents, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 44 cents by 34.1%. The bottom line also improved 28.3% year over year from 46 cents reported in the year-ago quarter.

Operational Performance

The company’s quarterly sales of $556.9 million improved 8.7% from the year-ago quarter’s $512.4 million. The top line also exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.9%. This year-over-year increase in net sales was primarily led by a rise in Aerospace and Defense segment sales.

Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. Quote

Aerojet Rocketdyne’s backlog at the end of second-quarter 2021 totaled $6.7 billion, higher than $5.3 billion witnessed at the end of the first quarter of 2021. Of this, funded backlog amounted to $3 billion.

Total operating expenses increased 8.8% to $446.1 million in the second quarter. Operating income of $74.3 million rose 7.7% from the prior-year period’s $69 million.

Segmental Performance

Aerospace & Defense: Revenues at this segment improved 8.6% year over year to $556 million from the previous year’s $511.9 million.

Real Estate: The segment generated revenues of $0.9 million compared with the year-ago quarter’s reported revenues of $0.5 million.

Financial Update

Aerojet Rocketdyne exited the second quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $571.3 million, down from $1,149.5 million as of Dec 31, 2020.

Long-term debt amounted to $310.4 million, down from $324.4 million as of Dec 31, 2020.

Operating cashflow from continuing operations was $20.2 million as of Jun 30, 2021, compared with cash flow of $127.6 million in the year-ago period.

Free cash flow at the end of the reported quarter was $7.9 million compared with the prior year’s $111.4 million.

Zacks Rank

Aerojet Rocketdyne currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Recent Defense Releases

Raytheon Technologies’ RTX second-quarter 2021 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.23 outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 92 cents by 33.7%.

Lockheed Martin LMT reported second-quarter 2021 adjusted earnings of $7.13 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $6.51 by 9.5%.

Hexcel Corporation HXL reported second-quarter 2021 adjusted earnings of 8 cents per share, which exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a penny.

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