[Satellite TODAY Insider 04-24-12] Orbital Sciences (Orbital) has posted increases in revenues and profits for the first three months of this year. These were two of the highlights of its latest set of results. The company posted revenues of $338 million, an increase of more than $20 million compared to the same stage last year. Equally, net profits were $12.99 million, a small increase compared to the same stage last year.

             Prospects for the company appear to be on the up, and the company has made a good start to the year. Chris Quilty, Senior Vice President at Raymond James, said in a research note, “Following a frustrating series of delays, Orbital’s Antares rocket program appears to be on track for a Q3 demo flight, followed by a Q4 COTS mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Certification of the Wallops launch facility (the primary factor behind recent launch delays) should be complete in six to eight weeks. If both launches are successful, Orbital will commence cargo flights to the ISS in early 2013 under its $1.9 billion NASA CRS contract.

            Quilty also believes the company is unlikely to be harmed by any NASA or DoD budget cuts. He says, “Congressional markups of the FY13 NASA and DoD budgets are still underway, but the early indications would seem to suggest that Orbital will sidestep any serious program cuts. Longer-term, we believe Orbital could benefit from greater austerity, as customers are forced to abandon traditional procurement practices in favor of nimble, lower-cost solutions provided by the likes of Orbital.”

            The company was boosted recently by a key contract award from the U.S. Air Force. It was announced earlier this month that he U.S. Air Force had exercised an option order for a Minotaur I space launch vehicle to support the ORS-3 ‘Enabler” mission for the Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) Office of the Department of Defense. This most recent Minotaur I space launch vehicle ordered by the Air Force will be launched from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) facility at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops Island, Virginia in 2013.

            The stock, which currently trades at just under $13 is likely to see some good progress this year. Quilty adds, “Shares of Orbital have underperformed every major index over the past several months, and the stock is now trading at only 4.3x our 2012 EBITDA estimate of $146 million — below the stock’s historic range of 5x to 11x. We believe a successful Antares launch during Q3, combined with an improving book-to-bill, and greater budget visibility can enable the stock’s multiple to expand to 6.4x our 2012 forecast, thus suggesting upside to $16 by year’s end.”