L.B. Foster Company FSTR recorded fourth-quarter 2024 loss of 2 cents per share, narrower than a loss of 4 cents per share a year ago. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was earnings of 29 cents per share.

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The company logged revenues of $128.2 million for the quarter, down around 5% year over year. It missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $133.2 million. Sales fell on lower volumes in the Steel Products business unit, including the impact from the discontinued bridge grid deck product line. 

New orders were roughly $107.2 million in the reported quarter, up around 2% year over year, driven by strong orders in the protective pipe coatings business.

L.B. Foster Company Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

L.B. Foster Company price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | L.B. Foster Company Quote

FSTR’s Segment Highlights

Sales from the Rail, Technologies, and Services segment rose 14% year over year in the reported quarter to $79.2 million. The upside was driven by increased sales volumes in the Rail Products business unit.

Infrastructure Solutions segment sales were $49 million, down roughly 25% year over year. The decline was due to lower sales in steel products, impacted by soft end-market conditions.

FSTR’s FY24 Results

Earnings (as reported) for full-year 2024 were $3.89 per share, up from 13 cents a year ago.  Sales fell around 2% year over year to roughly $530.8 million. The decline in sales was mainly due to divestitures and product line exits.

L.B. Foster’s Financials

L.B. Foster ended 2024 with cash and cash equivalents of around $2.5 million, down around 4% year over year . Long-term debt was roughly $46.8 million, down roughly 15% from the prior year.

Cash flow from operations was $24.3 million for the fourth quarter.

FSTR’s Outlook

FSTR sees adjusted EBITDA in the range of $42-$48 million for 2025. It expects 2025 net sales in the band of $540-$580 million.

Free cash flow is projected in the range of between $20 million and $30 million for the year. Capital expenditures are expected to account for roughly 2% of sales.

FSTR’s board has authorized a new $40 million share repurchase program. The new authorization replaces the earlier $15 million share buyback authorization, which expired at the end of February 2025. 

FSTR Stock’s Price Performance

L.B. Foster’s shares are down 16% year to date compared with the Zacks Steel Producers industry’s 12.2% rise.

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FSTR’s Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks

FSTR currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Better-ranked stocks in the Basic Materials space are Denison Mines Corp. DNN, Gold Royalty Corp. GROY and Orla Mining Ltd. ORLA, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Denison Mines is expected to release fourth-quarter results on March 6. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for DNN’s fourth-quarter is pegged at a loss of a penny per share. DNN has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of roughly 75%, on average.

Gold Royalty is slated to release fourth-quarter results on March 19. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for GROY’s fourth-quarter is pegged at a loss of a penny per share. GROY beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last four quarters, with the average earnings surprise being 125%.

Orla Mining is slated to report fourth-quarter results on March 18. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter earnings is pegged at 7 cents. ORLA beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the last four quarters while missing once and meeting on the other occasion, with the average earnings surprise being 97.9%.

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