Earnings rose at Leidos, Reston, Va., in the second quarter, which the government services contractor attributed to a healthy business portfolio.
Operating income for the second quarter ended July 2 was $269 million with earnings per share of $1.18, up from $249 million or $1.06 per share in the year-ago quarter, according to the Tuesday press release.
Quarterly revenue was $3.4 billion up from $2.9 billion a year ago.
“While we remain vigilant with the recent uptick in COVID-19 cases, Leidos is stronger than ever, with new quarterly record levels of revenue and backlog consistent with our industry-leading organic growth,” Leidos CEO Roger Krone said in the press release.
“A few weeks ago, we kicked off the million-dollar ‘Move the Needle Sweepstakes’ to encourage our employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and hasten our coming back together,” Krone said in the subsequent earnings call with Wall Street analysts.
“A lot has changed in the past weeks,” Krone said. “The highly contagious delta variant and the infection trends are disturbing.” Leidos will continue to follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines and most locations will require masks, “regardless of vaccination status,” Krone said.
“When the president goes on national TV and talks about a mask mandate [at federal workplaces], we all stand up and listen,” Krone said.
Frank Kendall, a former top acquisition official at the Pentagon, recently resigned from the Leidos board of directors after being nominated by President Joe Biden as the next secretary of the Air Force, Krone said, adding his thanks to Kendall for his service both to the company and the nation.
When asked by a financial analyst, Krone said Leidos management does expect some type of interim continuing resolution will be put into place by Congress this year. Such continuing resolutions have largely been the norm over the past 20 years, so it is not a big deal, so long as things don’t drag on beyond the first quarter of calendar year 2022, he added.
Leidos is the lead partner in the potential 10-year, $4-billion Hanford Mission Integration Solutions contract, which could run into December 2029 if all options are exercised.
