Joseph P. O'Connell
Analyst · Sidoti & Company
Thank you, Everett. Good morning, everyone. I'm very pleased to report on Astro-Med's third quarter financial results for the fiscal year 2014. As you've heard from Everett and also possibly read in yesterday's press release, the company had another strong quarter in revenue growth and improved margins. Net sales in the quarter were $18,179,000, representing a 13.3% increase over the prior year's third quarter sales, and a 5.7% higher than this year's second quarter sales revenue. We experienced double-digit growth from both the company's domestic customers at $13,198,000, being up 11.3% over the prior year, as well as from international customers at $4,981,000 over the previous year's third quarter sales by some 19.2%. Relative to the business segment, the company's QuickLabel Systems product group of color and monochrome printer systems reported sales of $12,509,000, achieving a new record in quarterly revenue and exceeded the prior year's sales volume by 17.1%. Our Test & Measurement product group of ruggedized products and data acquisition systems had sales in the quarter of $5,670,000, a 5.8% increase from the prior -- previous year. Profiling the third quarter sales by products has the company's consumables lines at $9,419,000 in sales, a 19% increase from the previous year, whereas, as hardware sales reached $7,762,000 in the quarter, a 7.2% growth rate from last year. Our service parts and repairs contributed another $998,000 in the quarterly sales, up some 13.1% over the previous year. The third quarter sales generated $7,362,000 in gross profit dollars, representing a 13.6% improvement from the prior year and earned a margin of 40.5% in the quarter. That's against the prior year's 40.4% margin and our second quarter margin of 40.3%. As you heard the secondary expenses of Selling, R&D and General & Administration were $6,180,000 in the quarter, consuming some $0.34 of the third quarter sales dollar, an increase over the prior year's operating expenses. The increased spending being traceable to selling and marketing initiatives, including personnel, trade shows and promotion, as well as increased R&D spending. The company earned $1,184,000 in operating income in the quarter, slightly behind the previous year's operating income of $1,202,000. Astro-Med earned an operating margin of 6.5%. That's an improvement over the second quarter's margin of 5.2%, however, still lower than the prior year's operating margin of 7.5%. With respect to the segment operating profits in the quarter, QuickLabel Systems earned $1,493,000 in segment operating profit with a margin of 11.9%, while the T&M segment earned $912,000 in segment operating profit with a corresponding margin of 16.1% on sales. The federal state foreign tax provision in the quarter was $347,000, representing an effective tax rate of 24%. The lower rate being traceable to a one-time tax benefit of $187,000 related to the true-up of our tax obligation from filing our prior year's tax return. Net income in the third quarter was $1,108,000 or $0.14 per diluted share. This result was lower than the prior year's net income of $1,307,000 or $0.18 per diluted share. However, net income in the third quarter from continuing operations was $745,000 or $0.10 per diluted share, slightly below the prior year's third quarter net income from continuing operations of $749,000, but still at $0.10 per diluted share. Net income from our discontinued operation was $363,000 in the quarter or $0.04 per diluted share against the previous year's net income from the discontinued operation of $558,000 or $0.08 per diluted share. Prior to the review of the balance sheet accounts at the end of the fiscal third quarter, I'll provide a quick recap of Astro-Med's 9-month results. Our net sales for the 9-month period was $50,858,000, with 9 months ended November 2, 2013. This volume represents a growth rate of 12.9% over the prior year. Sales in our domestic channels were $35,965,000, an 8.6% improvement over the last year, whereas international shipments especially strong at $14,893,000 rose 24.9% from the prior year. Favorable foreign exchange contributed 1% to this year's international sales growth. The double-digit sales growth was shared by both the business segments, with QuickLabel Systems sales of $36,101,000. That's an increase of 13.3% from last year, whereas the Test & Measurement segment sales were $14,757,000, an increase of 11.9% from -- over the prior year. Non-GAAP gross profit dollars for the 9 months of fiscal 2014 were $20,062,000. The non-GAAP represents the exclusion of the one-time costs that related to the product replacement. The $20,062,000 gross profit dollars reflects an increase of 14.4% over the prior year's gross profit dollars and a margin of 39.4% versus last year's 38.9%. The company earned non-GAAP net income of $1,591,000 for the 9 months, representing $0.22 per diluted share. In the previous year, Astro-Med earned $2,829,000 in non-GAAP net income or $0.38 per diluted share. Now for a quick review of the balance sheet. Our assets at the end of the third quarter were $77,768,000. Our equity balance was $64,555,000, representing a book value of $8.60, slightly down from the year-end. Our cash and marketable securities position was $32,628,000, representing a slight decrease from the year-end balance. Accounts receivable at $12,743,000 represents some 53 days sales outstanding, up a couple of days from the year-end balance. Inventory levels were $15,037,000, representing some 99 days on hand, again, slightly up from the year-end 82 days on hand. Our capital expenditures for the first 9 months were $910,000. Most of those dollars traceable to information technology, machinery and equipment and some building improvements. Our dividends for the first 9 months were $1,569,000, representing a $0.07 per share per quarter. Our employee population at the end of the third quarter was 330 folks, representing a decrease of 11 people from the year-end. And our sales per employee for the trailing 12 months is $217,000, against last year's corresponding $216,000, on a sales per employee. That concludes the review of the financials for the third quarter and for the 9 months ended. Everett?