Feb 17 (Reuters) – Defense contractor Leidos Holdings reported fourth-quarter revenue below Wall Street estimates as the six-week U.S. government shutdown last year hit the company’s orders.
The shutdown, the longest in the country’s history, ended in November after severely disrupting government operations and affecting contractors like Leidos, which provides IT, weapons and other services to federal agencies.
Shares of Leidos, which also supplies air traffic control systems to the Federal Aviation Administration, fell 1.6% in premarket trading.
Last month, defense supplier L3Harris Technologies also noted an impact from the shutdown, primarily to its space systems business.
Leidos’ fourth-quarter revenue was $4.21 billion, down 3.6% from last year and below analyst estimates of $4.31 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Results were also hurt by a 9.3% drop in sales in its civil and healthcare segment, which provides electronic medical records systems to both the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs hospitals.
However, on an adjusted basis, the Reston, Virginia-based company’s fourth-quarter earnings per share of $2.76 beat expectations of $2.61, helped by a 160 basis point expansion in its adjusted core profit margin and increased cost controls.
Leidos forecasts 2026 adjusted earnings of between $12.05 and $12.45 per share, the midpoint of which is 4 cents lower than analyst estimates of $12.29.
(Reporting by Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)