Babcock & Wilcox should continue to benefit for years from strong global demand for new coal-fired power plants and the need to upgrade existing plants, top executives of B&W's corporate parent said Tuesday.

B&W's strong financial performance in the first quarter of the year helped McDermott International's earnings come in at the high end of the Houston company's previously announced estimates.

McDermott reported earning $123.2 million, or 54 cents a share, on revenue of $1.45 billion. Earnings were down about 22 percent from the $158.1 million reported a year ago largely because of bad weather that slowed down company projects in the Caspian region and elsewhere. McDermott is an engineering and construction company that services primarily the global energy industry.

The better-than-expected earnings, released Monday after the stock market closed, helped propel the company's stock up $3.93, or 7.3 percent, to $57.88 on Tuesday.

The Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group Inc. campus in Barberton remains one of Summit County's largest private employers with about 1,460 people working here and more than 3,000 in Ohio; B&W's corporate headquarters was relocated last year from Barberton to Lynchburg, Va., as part of a restructuring.

''Power generation systems (primarily Babcock & Wilcox) reported an outstanding quarter at over $76 million (in income),'' Michael S. Taff, senior vice president and chief financial officer, told industry analysts in a conference call. The company reported improved profitability on its coal-fired boiler business and a high level of parts and service work, he said.

''Power generation has clearly started the year off well,'' Taff said.

The market remains active for new McDermott projects, said Bruce Wilkinson, the chairman and chief executive officer, who is retiring as CEO by the end of the year.

The power generation segment has bids on a number of power-plant scrubbers, new and replacement boilers and biomass and waste energy proposals, Wilkinson said.

B&W should benefit if Washington legislates the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, which is a significant coal-plant gas, Wilkinson said. Limits on power plant carbon dioxide emissions should provide new boiler and pollution control business for B&W as well as retrofit projects for existing plants, he said.

''With these opportunities ahead we are aggressively pursuing our R&D efforts,'' Wilkinson said.