What happened
Construction firm Tutor Perini (TPC +1.87%) reported its fiscal Q1 2020 earnings numbers Wednesday night, and as soon as trading resumed Thursday morning, the stock took off. As of 11:50 a.m. EDT today, shares of the construction company were up 28%, and rightly so.
Tutor Perini's numbers Wednesday night were fabulous, with sales of $1.3 billion coming in 30% ahead of expectations, and profits of $0.34 per diluted share more than five times what analysts had predicted -- the very definition of an earnings beat.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
In the midst of a likely recession, Tutor Perini just reported its strongest first-quarter revenue growth in the past eight years, the company said, and the highest first-quarter EPS in the past 10 years. Q1 revenue grew 30% year over year. Profit growth, meanwhile, was off the charts. A year ago, Tutor Perini was losing money ($0.01 per share). Now it's making money hand over fist.
Now what
And it could continue to do so. In giving guidance for the rest of this year, Tutor Perini noted that its backlog (indicative of future revenue) remains "healthy at $10.6 billion, with several large civil projects bidding later this year" that could grow that number.
Accordingly, management thinks it might earn anywhere from $1.80 to $2.10 per share this year. This virtually guarantees the company will hit the $1.81 earnings target that Wall Street has set for it, and potentially blow that right out of the water, just like it did in Q1.
