Raytheon Co., one of the country's biggest defense contractors, said first-quarter profits fell slightly, mostly employee pension expenses.
Raytheon maintained its forecast for the year and its revenue rose.
The company earned $445 million, or $1.16 per share, compared with $452 million, or $1.12 per share a year earlier. The reason net income fell but per-share income rose is because the company bought back stock, shrinking the number of outstanding shares.
Revenue rose to $6.05 billion from $5.88 billion a year ago. The segment posting the biggest decline was the company's intelligence and information systems segment, in which sales fell 7%. Sales jumped 15% in its technical services segment on continued growth it its domestic and foreign training systems for the U.S. Army.
For all of 2010, the company expects earnings from continuing operations of $4.75 per share to $4.90 per share, compared with $4.89 in 2009. Raytheon expects sales $25.9 billion to $26.4 billion, compared with $24.9 billion last year. Analysts predict a profit of $4.98 per share on sales of $26.25 billion.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.