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MasTec (MTZ) Tops Q4 Earnings, Revenues; Offers '17 View

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MasTec, Inc. (MTZ - Free Report) reported fourth-quarter 2016 adjusted earnings per share of 68 cents (excluding one-time items barring non-cash stock compensation expense), a substantial year-over-year improvement of 278%. Further, earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 50 cents by a comfortable margin of 18% and came ahead of management's guidance of 54 cents per share.

Including one-time items, MasTec reported earnings of 66 cents per share compared with a loss of 96 cents reported in the prior-year quarter.

Operational Update

MasTec’s net sales improved 31% year over year to $1.34 billion in the quarter, coming ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.32 billion, as well as management’s guidance of $1.3 billion. The better-than-expected performance came on the back of increase in revenues across all segments, particularly led by the Oil and Gas segment which recorded a surge of 62% year over year to $570 million.

MasTec, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

 

MasTec, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | MasTec, Inc. Quote

The Electrical Transmission segment followed with a 40.5% rise to $100.2 million in revenues. The Communication segment witnessed 14% growth in revenues to $595.6 million; while revenues in the Power Generation and Industrial segment increased 2.3% to $81.1 million.

Cost of sales in the quarter advanced 22% year over year to $1,120 million. Gross profit soared a whopping 99% to $221 million from $111 million in the prior-year quarter. Gross margin expanded 570 basis points to 16.5% in the quarter.

General and administrative expenses increased 12.9% to $66.4 million. MasTec reported operating profit of $155 million in the quarter, a 196% jump from $52.4 million in the year-earlier quarter. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were $154 million, compared with $82 million in the year-ago quarter.

Financial Details

MasTec reported cash and cash equivalents of $38.8 million at the end of 2016, up from $5 million as of Dec 31, 2015. The company generated cash flow from operations of $205.6 million in 2016 as against $367.4 million in 2015. Long-term debt was $961.4 million as of Dec 31, 2016, compared with $933 million as of Dec 31, 2015.

Guidance

For full-year 2017, MasTec guided adjusted earnings per share guidance to approximate $2.35, a 24% increase over 2016. Revenues are now projected to grow 7% to $5.5 billion. Additionally, the company estimates its adjusted EBITDA to increase 15% to $550 million.

Additionally, first-quarter 2017, MasTec guided revenues to be roughly $1.05 billion. The company anticipates adjusted EBITDA of around $125 million and adjusted earnings per share of 51 cents.

Share Price Performance

In the last one year, MasTec has outperformed the Zacks classified Machinery-Construction/Mining sub-industry with respect to price performance. The stock gained around 154.7%, while the industry rose 43.9% over the same time frame.



Zacks Rank & Key Picks

MasTec currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Some better-ranked stocks in the sector include Boise Cascade Co. (BCC - Free Report) , Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (LPX - Free Report) and LSI Industries Inc. (LYTS - Free Report) . All of the three stocks boast a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Boise Cascade has an earnings ESP of 436.26% for the trailing four quarters. Louisiana-Pacific has an average earnings surprise of 66.28% for the last four quarters, while LSI Industries has an average earnings surprise of 27.28% for the past four quarters.

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