Raytheon beats 4Q earnings expectations, tops revenue forecasts

Shares of Raytheon Co. fell Thursday after the defense contractor's 2015 profit forecast was short of Wall Street estimates.

Raytheon said it expects to earn between $6.20 and $6.35 per share from continuing operations, and it forecast $22.3 billion to $22.8 billion in revenue. That means it believes revenue will fall as much as 2 percent.

FactSet says analysts were projecting net income of $6.88 per share and $22.59 billion in revenue on average.

Raytheon shares lost $4.34, or 4.2 percent, to $100.23 in midday trading.

The company reported net income from continuing operations of $582 million, or $1.86 per share. The Waltham, Massachusetts-based company said its revenue rose to $6.14 billion.

Zacks Investment Research says analysts expected earnings of $1.78 per share and $6.06 billion in revenue.

For the full year Raytheon said it earned $2.24 billion, or $6.97 per share, from continuing operations and revenue declined about 4 percent to $22.83 billion.

The company's stock is down 3 percent since the beginning of 2015, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has dropped almost 3 percent. The shares have risen 17 percent in the last 12 months.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on RTN at http://www.zacks.com/ap/RTN

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Keywords: Raytheon, Earnings Report