The Weir Group (LON:WEIR) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

The Weir Group (LON:WEIR) announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The company reported GBX 54.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, Digital Look Earnings reports. The Weir Group had a return on equity of 13.45% and a net margin of 9.97%.

Here are the key takeaways from The Weir Group’s conference call:

• Orders increased 8% year over year on a constant-currency basis, with Q2 acceleration, a 1.12 book-to-bill ratio, and approximately £150 million added to the order book. Management said this provides strong momentum for the second half and supports full-year guidance.
• First-half operating margin was 18.8%, pressured by product mix and production-transfer delays, but management expects those headwinds to reverse and margins to exceed 20% for the full year as the £90 million Performance Excellence savings program is completed.
• Free operating cash conversion fell to 41% and net debt to EBITDA rose to 2.2 times, reflecting higher inventory, delayed customer collections, production transfers, and acquisition-related interest costs. Weir expects working capital to unwind and leverage to move back toward its target range by year-end.
• Weir reported continued market-share gains and strong technology traction, including more than 90% success in competitive pump trials, 10 orders for its new Optimil vertical stirred mills, and Micromine annual recurring revenue growth expected above 25%.
• Andrew Neilson will become CEO next week, succeeding John, who leaves after a decade focused on transforming Weir into a mining technology company spanning engineered hardware and software.

The Weir Group Stock Performance

The Weir Group stock opened at GBX 2,682 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.55, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 91.54. The firm has a market cap of £6.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.07. The Weir Group has a 1-year low of GBX 2,254 and a 1-year high of GBX 3,580. The firm has a 50-day moving average of GBX 2,445.73 and a 200-day moving average of GBX 2,820.32.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a GBX 3,555 target price on shares of The Weir Group in a report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 3,230 price target on shares of The Weir Group in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on The Weir Group from GBX 3,500 to GBX 3,800 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Citigroup increased their price objective on The Weir Group from GBX 3,150 to GBX 3,200 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Panmure Gordon upgraded shares of The Weir Group to a “buy” rating and set a GBX 3,490 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, The Weir Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of GBX 3,375.

Insider Transactions at The Weir Group

In other The Weir Group news, insider Penelope Anne Freer purchased 900 shares of The Weir Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were bought at an average price of GBX 2,729 per share, for a total transaction of £24,561. 0.73% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About The Weir Group

The Weir Group PLC produces and sells highly engineered original equipment worldwide. It operates in two segments, Minerals and ESCO. The Minerals segment offers engineering, manufacturing, and service processing technology for the use in abrasive high-wear mining applications; and differentiated technology for the use in infrastructure and general industrial markets. The ESCO segment provides ground engaging tools for large mining machines. This segment also offers cloud-based Artificial Intelligence solutions to the mining industry; manufactures and distributes highly engineered wear parts; and offers aftermarket services to the mining industry.