Austal Ltd's stock plummeted 27.42% during intraday trading, marking one of its worst single-day declines in recent history.
The sharp decline follows the company's announcement after the previous trading session that it has downgraded its fiscal year 2026 earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) outlook to A$110 million from the A$135 million forecast issued in October. This revised guidance also falls short of the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of A$118.6 million.
The company attributed the outlook reduction to the premature recognition of incentives related to the U.S. T-ATS program, which resulted in an overstatement of approximately $17 million in its prior financial forecast.