Elbit CEO: The level of uncertainty in the defense markets has fallen in this quarter. There is an increase in defense budgets in some of the important markets for Elbit.
The share price of Israeli defense electronics company Elbit Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: ESLT; TASE: ESLT) was up 6% on Nasdaq end of November, even though the company's earnings per share fell short of analysts' expectations in its third quarter results. The share price rose to $121.87. giving a market cap of $5.15 billion.
Revenue in the third quarter of 2020 was $1.134.2 billion, up from $1.101.2 billion in the corresponding quarter of 2019. Non-GAAP net profit was $72.7 million, up from $58.7 million in the third quarter of 2019. Non-GAAP earnings per share was $1.64, up from $1.33 in the third quarter of 2019 but below the analysts' consensus of $1.82. GAAP net profit was $17 million, compared with $72.1 million in the third quarter of 2019. GAAP earnings per share in the third quarter of 2020 was $0.38, compared with $1.63 for the third quarter of 2019.
Elbit's backlog of orders as of September 30, 2020 totaled $10.858 billion, as compared with $9.796 billion as of September 30, 2019. 65% of the backlog is attributable to orders from outside Israel and 46% of the backlog is scheduled to be performed during the last quarter of 2020 and during 2021.
Although Elbit's share price has fallen 30% over the past year (before today's rise) CEO and president Bezhalel Machlis is confident about the future. He said, "I am satisfied with the results, we presented growth in revenue and the backlog of orders and profitability. The level of uncertainty in the defense markets has fallen in this quarter. There is an increase in defense budgets in some of the important markets for Elbit including the UK, Germany, Sweden, Australia, and in the US there is stability and even slight growth."