Comtech Telecommunications shares soar on order backlog

Comtech Telecommunications Corp.’s stock rallied Thursday after the company reported a strong order backlog and raised its fiscal 2018 forecast for earnings per share after the close of trading on Wednesday.

Shares of the maker of communications equipment soared 23.7 percent to close Thursday at $30.03.

The Melville company reported net income of $15.8 million, or 66 cents per diluted share, on net sales of $133.7 million for the three months ended Jan. 31. That compared to $6.6 million, or 28 cents per diluted share, on net sales of $139 million in the year-earlier period.

The increase was fueled by a net tax benefit of $14 million or 59 cents per diluted share, related to deferred tax assets that were recalculated after the Trump administration’s tax reform bill.

Comtech shares have soared about 125 percent in the past 12 months.

“I could not be more pleased with our better than expected second quarter results and the major multiyear contract awards that we have received to-date,” Fred Kornberg, president and chief executive, said in a statement.

Backlog was $567.3 million, which the company said was near a “record high.”

The company raised the range of its fiscal 2018 diluted earnings per share to $1.08 to $1.23, as compared to a prior range of 44 cents to 46 cents.

Major contracts included: a $134.0 million award for enhanced 911 services to a wireless carrier and a $123.6 million contract for support services for a U.S. Army mobile satellite communications program.

By Ken Schachter

kenneth.schachter@newsday.comkschach

Ken Schachter covers corporate news, including technology and aerospace, and other business topics for Newsday. He has also worked at The Miami Herald and The Jerusalem Post.