Babcock & Wilcox Co (BWC): Who’s Getting a Lift as Power Plants Clean Boilers?

Driven by its power segment, Babcock & Wilcox Co (NYSE:BWC)’s 2013 first quarter revenues rose by $39.5 million or 5.2% year over year to $805.4 million. GAAP earnings-per-share for the first quarter of 2013 was at $0.41, down from $0.50 a year earlier. Adjusted earnings-per-share slipped 8% to $0.46 from $0.50 in the year-ago quarter.

URS Corp (NYSE:URS) saw its revenues up 18.7% year over year in the 2013 first quarter to $2.8 billion from $2.36 billion. Operating income was at $152.6 million for the first quarter of 2013, lower than the $151.4 million posted a year ago. Net income in the most recent quarter amounted to $71.9 million, down from $79.7 million. The company had a diluted earnings-per-share of $0.96 in the first quarter of 2013, compared with $1.07 a year earlier.

Who’s got more to crow about?

ttm: trailing twelve-month; mrq: most recent quarter

Competency-wise, URS Corp (NYSE:URS) and B&W are well positioned to achieve improvements in their bottom lines with the looming new carbon emission rules for power plants. Investors beating a path on Babcock & Wilcox Co (NYSE:BWC) now looks more likely though. The company, based on the above metrics culled from Yahoo Finance, can crow about its healthier balance sheet and better profitability. As a final thought, the $2.09 billion debt for URS seems like a ballast that could impair a higher lift off as the U.S. implements new greenhouse gas standards.

The article Who’s Getting a Lift as Power Plants Clean Boilers? originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Arturo Cuevas.

Arturo Cuevas has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Arturo is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network — entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.

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