By Staff Report Thursday, January 23rd, 2014

Shares of defense and industrial conglomerate Teledyne Technologies sank 1.6 percent in midday trading on Thursday despite higher sales and profits from the Thousand Oaks-based firm.

Teledyne said fourth-quarter profits were $54.9 million, or $1.44 per diluted share, an increase of 25.1 percent. Sales jumped 5.1 percent to $596.6 million.

During the fourth quarter, Teledyne announced a major deal with Boeing, in which the Thousand Oaks firm will supply aircraft information management systems to the aerospace manufacturer. Teledyne also acquired C.D. Limited, a supplier of subsea inertial navigation systems and motion sensors. The deals capped a marked effort by Teledyne to pivot away from the unpredictable defense sector toward faster-growing commercial applications.

Teledyne Chairman, President and CEO Robert Mehrabian said fourth-quarter growth was driven by the firm’s industrial businesses. “In the fourth quarter, our instrumentation segment had record quarterly sales, with organic growth in each product category, and for the full year, instrumentation sales exceeded $1 billion,” he said in an earnings statement. “In the marine instrumentation domain, we acquired CDL, further enhancing our product portfolio in the offshore oil and gas market. Our commercial aerospace business also performed extremely well all year, developing new products and gaining share in this growing market.”

Fourth-quarter sales in its instrumentation segment jumped 13.2 percent to $275.8 million. Its digital imaging segment’s revenue flatlined at $103 million, but operating profit in the sector jumped 33.3 percent to $5.4 million.

Sales from the company’s aerospace and defense electronics segment sank 1.6 percent to $149.4 million, and higher expenses in the sector drove operating profit down 11.4 percent to $15.6 million. The revenue decrease also reflected lower sales from electronic manufacturing services products and from microwave and interconnect systems, the company said. Avionics products and electronic relays partially offset the drop with a $6.5 million increase in sales.

Sales from its engineered systems segment slipped 1.2 percent to $68.5 million, but operating profit was $7.2 million, an increase of 9.1 percent.

Teledyne’s full-year sales were up 9.9 percent to $2.3 billion, driving profits 14.3 percent higher to $185 million.

The company said that based on its current outlook, it is expecting first-quarter earnings to come in at between $1.08 and $1.14 per diluted share. Full-year 2014 profits will likely be between $5.06 and $5.12 per diluted share, the company said.

Teledyne shares slipped 1.6 percent to $94.66 in midday trading following the earnings announcement.