Computer Sciences Gains on Profit Forecast: Washington Mover

Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC), the manager of networks for NASA and the U.S. Navy, surged to the highest price in more than a year after boosting its forecast for fiscal 2013 profit.

Earnings from continuing operations will reach $2.50 to $2.70 a share in the current fiscal year, which ends in March, Falls Church, Virginia-based Computer Sciences said today in a statement. That compared with the $2.52 average estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg and with the company’s earlier forecast of $2.30 to $2.50.

Computer Sciences has been firing workers and seeking ways to manage its contracts more efficiently to improve cash flow. Profit margins in all three of the company’s divisions - managed services sector, business solutions and services, and North American public sector - rose in the fiscal third quarter from a year earlier.

Third-quarter profit from continuing operations was 90 cents a share, topping the 65-cent average estimate. Sales in the quarter reached $3.78 billion, compared with the $3.73 billion estimate.

Computer Sciences rose 9.2 percent to $45.75 in New York, the highest closing price since May 2011. The shares had climbed 4.6 percent this year through yesterday, compared with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index’s 4.9 percent gain.

To contact the reporter on this story: Crayton Harrison in New York at tharrison5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net