Despite lower year-over-year earnings, Perma-Fix Environmental Services this week reported higher third-quarter revenue, and the Atlanta-based company’s services segment drove profits that bested analyst expectations.
The nuclear waste services and treatment company reported third-quarter net earnings of $1.4 million, or $0.12 per share, compared with $1.8 million, or $0.15 per share for the same period last year.
The company’s third-quarter revenue increased 33.9% to $30.2 million from $22.5 million for the same period last year.
“This is accomplished despite significant reductions in waste receipts associated with generators shut down in the past six months,” said CEO Mark Duff in an earnings call Thursday morning.
Duff urged caution despite the good quarter.
“The recent surges in COVID are presenting additional headwinds and require us to become more cautious in 2021 due to the slowdown of waste generation activities and procurement announcements throughout the industry,” Duff said. “We’ll remain conservative in spending and investments to ensure stability until the pandemic begins to subside.”
The Georgia-based company’s services branch saw an 85.5% increase in revenue for the third quarter of 2020 to $23.1 million from $12.4 million for the same period last year. Due to lower waste volumes, revenue was down in the treatment branch at $7.1 million, compared with $10.1 million for the same period last year.
Third-quarter operating income company wide was $1.3 million compared with $2 million in the same period last year.
Perma-Fix operates three radioactive waste treatment facilities, in Florida, Tennessee, and Washington, and provides other environmental services, such as remediation and decommissioning of nuclear facilities.
The company is also cleaning up a University of Washington hospital research facility in Seattle where the site of a cesium-137 spill by International Isotopes when the company was removing radioactive medical instruments.
