BWXT reported strong quarter with increase in government operations

Earnings rose at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., in the third quarter, which the company attributed on Monday to contract wins and higher production in naval nuclear components and microreactors.

Net earnings for the third quarter ended Sept. 30 were $69.6 million, or $0.76 a share, up 15% from $60.4 million, or $0.66 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Quarterly revenue was $672 million, up 14% year-over-year from $590 million.

“The combination of recent key contract wins enabled by focused business development efforts, and quarterly and year-to-date double-digit revenue and earnings growth highlight our strategic and operational strengths,” Rex Geveden, CEO of BWXT, said in the company’s earnings press release Monday. “The nuclear industry is enjoying unprecedented customer and market interest with tangible investments in nuclear solutions by end-users across our key defense, commercial power, and medical markets.”

On Nov. 1, PanTeXas Deterrence, a BWX Technologies (BWXT)-led joint venture, fully transitioned onto its contract to manage and operate at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas. With options the deal is worth $30 billion over 20 years.

Also on Monday’s call, Geveden mentioned two contracts that BWXT received this quarter, including an NNSA award to study options for a U.S. uranium enrichment capability in September, and a DOE award in October, which also included five other companies, to provide high-assay low-enriched uranium deconversion services for civilian reactors.  

Geveden said on the call that “government operations had a strong quarter” due to “naval propulsion and technical services.” Geveden also called BWXT the “market leader in advanced nuclear fuels.”

Quarterly segment operating income for the government operations segment, which handles government contracting for NNSA and other DOE sites, was $101.6 million, up from $85.6 million a year ago. Segment revenue was $560 million, up from $478 million in the year-ago period.

BWXT has a virtual monopoly on the naval-nuclear reactors used in U.S. naval warships and submarines, including the Virginia-class submarines that will be sold to Australia as part of the trilateral AUKUS deal among Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. 

“We’ll start to see interesting growth from [AUKUS] in the next two years,” Geveden said in the call.

BWXT also announced Monday that it agreed to acquire a specialty materials and manufacturing business from L3Harris Technologies Aerojet Rocketdyne segment for $100 million. The transaction is expected to close this year.

The Aerojet Ordnance Tennessee, Inc. unit is the sole provider of depleted uranium to the U.S. government, and also provides tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum, rhenium, titanium, nickel, aluminum, copper, metal-matrix composites, metal polymer composites, reactive materials, and custom alloys used in defense, commercial, and space applications.

An Exchange Monitor affiliate publication Defense Daily contributed to this article.