Teledyne Technologies saw growth in nearly all markets during the first quarter of 2021, helping the company beat expectations and deliver positive results on its first earnings report of the year.

Teledyne, a Thousand Oaks-based industrial and scientific conglomerate, reported an adjusted earnings per share of $3.02 for the first quarter of 2021, beating Zacks’ Consensus Estimate’s projection of $2.59.

Revenue rose 2.6% in the first quarter compared to a year earlier, to $805.6 million, while net income saw a bump of about 3%, up to $84.7 million. Non-adjusted earnings per share for Teledyne were at $2.23, up from $2.17 the year prior.

As a result of a successful first quarter, Teledyne said it is increasing its adjusted earnings per share outlook for the year from $11.25-$11.45 to $12-$12.20.

Teledyne had a record first quarter cash flow from operations at $124.9 million, compared to $76.4 million the year prior.

Teledyne released its earnings before the markets opened on April 28. Shares rose nearly 2% after the release, trading above $450.

“We began 2021 with the best first quarter sales, earnings, operating margin and cash flow in the company’s history,” Robert Mehrabian, president and CEO of Teledyne, said during the company’s earnings call. “Furthermore, we achieved these GAAP results despite incurring $39 million, or 79 cents per share, of expenses related to the pending acquisition of Flir.”

Teledyne is in the process of acquiring Flir Systems, an Oregon-based thermal-imaging and sensor company with one of its primary business units in Goleta. Mehrabian said he expects the deal to close on May 14.

“Assuming closing occurs as planned, we expect to update our outlook in the July earnings release, and include Flir,” he said.

If the acquisition goes as planned, Teledyne would be adding Flir to an already solid digital imaging portfolio. In the first quarter of 2021, digital imaging sales were up 6.7%, to $263.3 million. Operating income from digital imaging was $59.4 million for the first quarter of 2021, up 16.9% in one year. 

“I think our primary area is digital imaging,” Mehrabian said. “For me to say digital imaging is going to grow organically 10% year over year, I don’t know if I’ve ever done something like that, so I feel pretty bullish to predict that.”

Instrumentation saw a slight sales increase of 0.5% in the first quarter of 2021, to $286.5 million, while operating income rose 18.7% to $52 million.

The Engineered Systems segment grew 8.5% in the first quarter to reach sales of $104.7 million while operating income rose 30.7%, to $14.7 million.

“I’m very pleased with the breadth of our financial performance across Teledyne,” Mehrabian said. “The recovery in our short-cycle commercial business is unfolding nicely, and our government businesses are also growing, and performing well in both cases, strongest within our digital imaging segments.”
The Aerospace and Defense Electronics segment was the only market to see a decrease for Teledyne in the first quarter. The segment was down 3.3% to $151.2 million.

According to a company news release, the drop could be attributed to “continued weakness in the commercial aerospace industry.”