Fluor Sinks Most on Record as CEO Steps Down After Surprise Loss

(Bloomberg) -- Fluor Corp. sank the most in almost two decades as Chief Executive Officer David Seaton resigned following a surprising first-quarter loss.

Profit and investor confidence in the engineering and construction company has been battered in recent years as Fluor absorbed a series of write-downs on projects ranging from refineries to power plants and offshore oil platforms.

The first-quarter loss “raises execution concerns,” said Sonia Baldeira, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence in a Thursday note. “The departure of CEO David Seaton, combined with a 1Q loss and missed estimates, heaps negative sentiment onto Fluor.”

The company posted an adjusted first-quarter loss of 14 cents a share while analysts had predicted a gain of 52 cents. Revenue fell 13 percent from a year earlier to $4.19 billion, according to a company statement. That was below analysts’ estimate of $4.81 billion.

Shares fell 24 percent to $29.60 at 11:24 a.m. in New York. Earlier, the shares plunged as much as 28 percent, the biggest decline since at least December 2000. Through Wednesday, the shares had risen 22 percent this year, rebounding from a 38 percent drop last year and outpacing a 17 percent increase in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

Seaton also stepped down as chairman. Carlos M. Hernandez, who was in charge of law, risk and compliance, will serve as interim CEO and Alan Boeckmann, a former Fluor CEO and chairman, was named executive chairman.

To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Black in Dallas at tblack@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Case at bcase4@bloomberg.net, Susan Warren, Tony Robinson

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