Bloomfield aero- and industrial-parts maker Kaman Corp. increased its fourth-quarter profits by 67%, and nearly quadrupled its yearly earnings, buoyed by record sales of its joint programmable fuzes and specialty bearings products.
In an earnings call Tuesday morning, Kaman CEO Neil Keating called 2019 a “transformational year” for Kaman, in which the company sold its distribution business for $700 million to Greenwich investor Littlejohn & Co., and embarked on a $330 million acquisition of California manufacturer Bal Seal Engineering Inc. Kaman completed that sale on Jan. 3.
Kaman posted $39.5 million in profits for the last three months of 2019, or $1.41 per diluted share, a 67% increase over the same period in 2018, when the manufacturer reported about $23.6 million in profits, or 84 Cents per diluted share.
The firm’s 2019 profits grew to nearly $210 million, or $7.47 per diluted share, vs. about $54 million, or $1.92 per diluted share, in the year-ago period.
Kaman’s aerospace segment also showed growth in 2019’s fourth-quarter and for the entire year. Aerospace sales reached about $238 million in the fourth-quarter, a 7.6 percent increase over the same period in 2018, when the segment made about $221 million in sales. Sales in the segment grew by about 3.5% for the year, to about $762 million in 2019, compared to 2018’s $736 million.
However, Keating said Tuesday he anticipates aerospace headwinds in 2020 largely due to the grounding of Boeing’s 737 Max.
“Currently we project the grounding of the Boeing 737 max will have an approximately $12 million impact on our topline results in 2020,” Keating said.
Kaman is also keeping an eye on the ongoing coronavirus health emergency, Keating said, but the issue hasn’t affected the firm’s operations as of yet.
Kaman CFO Robert Starr said despite expected aerospace headwinds, he projects topline growth of 5% in 2020. The company is projecting sales from continuing operations in 2020 to range from $860 million to $880 million.
