US military shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls posted third-quarter profit above Wall Street expectations on Thursday, amid robust demand for aircraft carriers and submarines, sending its shares up 6.9 per cent in premarket trading.
The company also raised the lower end of its full-year revenue forecast to $9 billion for its shipbuilding segment and $3 billion for its mission technologies unit.
It had previously projected a revenue range of $8.9 billion to $9.1 billion for shipbuilding and $2.9 billion to $3.1 billion for mission technologies.
Huntington, a prime contractor for the US Navy's nuclear-powered Columbia-class submarines, has seen booming demand in the face of escalating geopolitical tensions.
The company could also see a boost from US President Donald Trump's attempt to revitalize American shipbuilding in a bid to deter China.
"We have continued to see early signs that targeted investments are helping to strengthen our workforce and build a more robust maritime supply chain in support of higher shipbuilding throughput," CEO Chris Kastner said.
Huntington's third-quarter profit came in at 3.82 per share, above analysts' average estimate of $3.36, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Its sales and services revenue was $3.19 billion in the quarter, up 16.1 per cent but below expectations of $2.96 billion.
(Reporting by Utkarsh Shetti and Abhinav Parmar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)