Brookfield Business Partners (NYSE:BBU) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.13 EPS

Brookfield Business Partners (NYSE:BBU) issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday. The business services provider reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.13, Zacks reports. Brookfield Business Partners had a negative net margin of 3.02% and a negative return on equity of 5.59%.

Here are the key takeaways from Brookfield Business Partners’ conference call:

• Brookfield generated more than $2 billion of proceeds from capital recycling, repaid roughly $1 billion of corporate borrowings, invested $700 million in four acquisitions, and repurchased about $235 million of stock as part of a $250 million buyback program.
• Management is on track to complete a conversion to a single newly listed corporation, which they expect will improve trading liquidity and roughly double index-driven demand for the shares pending final regulatory approval.
• Operational value creation is driving performance at core assets—Clarios has grown underlying EBITDA ~40% (~$700M) since acquisition with a multi?year growth path, and Nielsen has realized about $800M of cost savings and materially improved margins.
• Reported full?year Adjusted EBITDA was $2.4 billion (down from $2.6B) but on a comparable basis Adjusted EBITDA rose to $2.1B from $2.0B, and the company finished the year with approximately $2.6 billion of pro forma corporate liquidity and strong access to financing.
• Headwinds persist in parts of the portfolio—European activity remains soft, infrastructure segment EBITDA declined due to disposals, dealer software modernization costs will pressure results through 2026, and Scientific Games received a credit?rating downgrade despite management’s view that growth will help delever.

Brookfield Business Partners Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE BBU traded up $0.16 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $35.00. 10,545 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 27,632. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $35.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.49. Brookfield Business Partners has a 12 month low of $18.63 and a 12 month high of $37.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.46 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.84.

Brookfield Business Partners Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 28th were issued a $0.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 28th. This represents a $0.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Brookfield Business Partners’s payout ratio is -13.89%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brookfield Business Partners

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BBU. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Brookfield Business Partners by 636.4% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 36,027 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $934,000 after purchasing an additional 31,135 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Brookfield Business Partners by 30,100.0% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,208 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,204 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Brookfield Business Partners by 0.6% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 130,620 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,285,000 after purchasing an additional 726 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in shares of Brookfield Business Partners by 14.4% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 553,148 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,140,000 after buying an additional 69,657 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Brookfield Business Partners from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. National Bankshares upped their target price on shares of Brookfield Business Partners from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Scotiabank set a $39.00 price target on shares of Brookfield Business Partners and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Brookfield Business Partners in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.00.

Brookfield Business Partners Company Profile

Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (NYSE: BBU) is a publicly traded partnership sponsored by Brookfield Asset Management. The company focuses on acquiring and operating high-quality businesses across a range of industrial and service-oriented sectors. Through a partnership structure, Brookfield Business Partners seeks to provide investors with returns generated from stable, cash-flowing enterprises that benefit from Brookfield Asset Management’s global scale and operational expertise.

The company’s investment strategy centers on businesses within the industrial services, manufacturing, transportation, and business services segments.