Yahoo Finance KBR to Develop Commercial-Scale Li2S Units, Aids Technology
KBR, Inc. KBR has inked a joint development deal with ISU Chemical Co. Ltd. to develop and design commercial-scale lithium sulfide (Li2S) plants.
Per the agreement, KBR will be the exclusive licensor of this technology. Li2S is used in the production of all-solid-state batteries. These units will be used to manufacture next-generation battery materials.
Doug Kelly, KBR’s president, Technology segment, said, "This technology will play a valuable role in helping the industry transition towards more efficient utilization of renewable energy."
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Shares of the company grew 6.7% in the past year compared with the industry’s 2.7% rally. Earnings estimates for 2023 increased by a cent in the past seven days, reflecting a 5.9% year-over-year increase. The trend is likely to continue, given the solid backlog level (including award options).
KBR’s solid backlog and option level of $19.8 billion (as of Dec 31, 2022) accentuate its strength. In 2022, KBR received $8.2 billion of bookings and options in highly strategic areas with a 1.2x trailing 12-month book-to-bill. In the future, KBR expects broad-based growth across both segments.
Solid Technology Business Prospects
KBR has been a leader in process technology development, commercialization and plant design for more than 50 years. For about four decades, KBR's process knowledge for recovery and purification of inorganic materials has delivered designing evaporation and crystallization technologies.
The determination to lower emissions, achieve product diversification and energy efficiency and develop more sustainable technologies and solutions has been driving KBR’s performance.
The demand for the company’s technologies across ammonia for food production, olefins for non-single-use plastics, refining for product diversification and greener solutions to meet tighter environmental standards has been going strong. A strategic shift to IP-enabled maintenance is also gaining traction and KBR’s advisory portfolio continues to see increasing activity, particularly in the energy transition.
Sustainable Technology Solutions segment accounted for $4.01 billion of the total backlog.
Zacks Rank & Key Picks
Currently, KBR carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the Zacks Construction sector are:
Altair Engineering Inc. ALTR currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). ALTR has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 135.8%, on average.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ALTR’s 2023 sales and EPS indicates growth of 7.8% and 11.2%, respectively, from the previous year’s reported levels.
CRH plc’s CRH long-term earnings growth rate is anticipated to be 10.2%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CRH’s 2023 sales and EPS indicates growth of 4.5% and 9.2%, respectively, from the previous year’s reported figures.
CRH currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
AECOM ACM currently carries a Zacks Rank #2. ACM has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 5.2%, on average.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ACM’s fiscal 2023 sales and EPS indicates growth of 3.9% and 5.8%, respectively, from the previous year’s reported levels.
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