What: Shares of helicopter company Bristow Group Inc (BRS) dropped as much as 17% in trading today after the company reported earnings.
So what: Gross revenue fell 6% to $446.9 million and the company swung from a profit of $26.1 million a year ago to a loss of $42.3 million, or $1.21 per share. On an adjusted basis, which pulls out one-time items, the company made a profit of $0.04 per share but even that fell short of the $0.38 Wall Street expected.
On top of that, management said full-year earnings would be $1.80 to $2.40 per share, down from a previous guidance of $3.10 to $3.75 per share.
Now what: Management is trying to save cash by deferring capital investments of $100 million next year and obtaining a two-year, $200 million term loan. These moves are aimed at offsetting a strong dollar and weak end market conditions for the company.
What's good for investors is that the company expects to be profitable on an adjusted basis this year despite the weak conditions. Near-term losses are driven by writedowns of goodwill and other non-cash moves that will clean up the balance sheet long-term. With that said, I'd like to see fundamental revenue and earnings improvement before jumping in, because the weakness in energy markets could lead to a long contraction in demand for Bristow Group.
