Shares of Tutor Perini Corp. rose nearly 11 percent Wednesday following the release of the Sylmar-based construction firm’s fourth-quarter earnings, which beat Wall Street expectations. Tutor Perini reported adjusted net income of $80.9 million and per-share earnings of $1.60 for the quarter ended Dec. 31. However, $1.05 of those per-share earnings resulted from the federal tax law change, giving the company 55 cents of diluted earnings. Analysts on average had predicted fourth-quarter earnings equal to 47 cents a share, according to Thomson Financial. For all of 2017, it reported a net income of $148 million, or $2.92 a share, up from $95.8 million or $1.92 per share in 2016. The better-than-expected earnings prompted Keybanc Capital Markets to upgrade Tutor Perini stock to a price target of $28 a share. The company attributed the increase to new awards and adjustments to contracts for civil projects. It expects to book additional public contracts in 2018. In February, Tutor Perini won a $1.41 billion bid to develop the Newark Airport Terminal One Design-Build project in New Jersey. “Our large current backlog and volume of prospective opportunities together with our expectation for improved profitability in the Specialty Contractors segment provides us with confidence for even better operating results in 2018,” said Chief Executive Ronald Tutor in a statement. Tutor Peroni is currently working on several high-profile public projects in California, including the Metro Purple Line Extension to Culver City and the first segment of the California High Speed Rail project in the Central Valley. Tutor Perini (TPC.N) rose $2.30, or 10.5 percent, Wednesday to close at $24.15 on the New York Stock Exchange on a day the Standard & Poor’s Stock Index declined 1.1 percent.
