Foster Wheeler spins its wheels

Foster Wheeler (FWLT) slumped in premarket trading after the big engineering firm missed Wall Street’s fourth-quarter profit estimate by a wide margin. The Bermuda-based company made $78 million, or 54 cents a share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31, up from the year-ago $63 million, or 44 cents a share. Excluding certain items, though, earnings fell to 56 cents a share from 60 cents a year earlier. Analysts were looking for a 76-cent profit.

The company said fourth-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization - a widely tracked measure of cash flow - fell below the levels of the first three quarters of the year as business slowed at its Global Engineering & Construction unit. Foster Wheeler said the unit took an $8.3 million hit on an Italian court ruling and a $5 million reserve on a disagreement with a client. Global Engineering & Construction also “experienced fewer profit-enhancing opportunities such as bonuses and incentives during the quarter as compared to the early part of the year due to portfolio mix and contract timing.” Investors want to see more profit-enhancing opportunities, which is why Foster Wheeler stock - which has more than tripled over the past year as investors pile into the shares of companies plying the global infrastructure trade - was down 8 percent early Tuesday.