Billerica, Mass.-based American Science & Engineering (ASEI +0.00%) trounced expectations for quarterly earnings in an early Tuesday report.
As the company revealed, fiscal Q2 2014 earnings of $0.60 per share exceeded analysts' expected $0.49 profit by 22%. Revenues of $43.8 million were down 5% year over year, yet still beat Wall Street's anticipated revenue of $41.7 million handily.
Prospects look bright for AS&E to continue reporting good news as the fiscal year progresses. Management noted that new orders taken in in the quarter were $45.8 million, more than enough to replace revenues collected in the quarter, and enough to raise backlog to $175 million.
Commenting on the results, AS&E CEO Chuck Dougherty in the company press release pronounced himself "encouraged" by the company's "strong operating income margin, free cash flow, and healthy EPS." By this time last year, AS&E had generated $13.3 million in free cash flow from its business. So far this year, the tally is more than twice as high -- $27.4 million.
