Orbital Sciences Boosts Profits In Second Quarter

Buoyed by strong growth in the satellites and related space systems segment as well as the launch vehicles segment, Orbital Sciences Corp. saw second quarter revenues increase to $273.3 million in the 2007 second quarter, up 39 percent from the same period a year ago, the company announced July 18.

Orbital posted a profit of $13.8 million in the 2007 second quarter, which closed June 30. In the 2006 second quarter, the company earned $9.9 million on revenues of $197 million.

Satellites and related space systems reported revenues of $160 million in the most recent quarter, an increase of 48 percent. Orbital credited the gains to work on NASA’s Orion program and growth in communications satellites revenues.

The launch vehicles segment reported a revenue gain of 27 percent to $102.2 million due to higher target vehicles revenues and growth in the interceptor and space launch vehicles product lines.
“These operating results, combined with strong new business bookings achieved in the second quarter, continue to signal an optimistic outlook for Orbital this year,” David W. Thompson, the company’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. Orbital raised its revenue guidance for 2007 to between $975 million and $1 billion, up from previous estimates of $900 million to $925 million.

In unrelated announcements during the earnings call, Orbital said that due to a technical anomaly, the planned September launch of the Horizons-2 satellite owned jointly by Intelsat and JSat Corp. would be delayed until December. Orbital is the prime contractor for Horizons-2.

Orbital also announced having begun development of a new medium-class rocket, dubbed Taurus 2, designed to replace Boeing’s Delta 2, which is scheduled to be phased out in 2010.