Jason Bonfigt
Analyst · Justin Clare with ROTH Capital Partners
Thanks, Eric. Third quarter consolidated sales were $54.6 million, up from $46.1 million in the prior year quarter despite pandemic-related operational challenges. These challenges were manifested both in significant supply chain disruptions, where multiple suppliers were either behind schedule or could not meet quality specifications, together with labor availability as the pandemic impacted both employees and their families in the states where we operate. Despite these challenges, we continue to meet our customer commitments. The quarter-over-quarter increase in revenue was driven by improved plant utilization in our Heavy Fabrications segment, which benefited from increased tower demand, where we produced for 3 wind turbine OEMs in the quarter. Our TTM consolidated sales was $207.4 million exiting the third quarter, which now includes approximately $63 million of non-wind revenue. Since launching our revenue diversification initiative, we made significant progress into non-wind markets, and continue to focus building that book of business. Compared to the prior year quarter, gross margins declined 190 basis points to 6.8% in the third quarter. The supply chain and staffing disruptions, which drives labor inefficiencies because we are working out of optimal process, impacted gross profit by approximately $600,000 to $700,000. Several customer projects delays into future periods, which we announced in early August, also weighed on margins during the quarter. The year-over-year change in gearing performance drove 270 basis point decline in gross margin. Operating expenses as a percent of sales was approximately 8% and below our long-term target of 10%, primarily due to improved plant utilization, effective cost management and higher material content on the product mix sold. We are prudently managing operating expenses as evidenced by flat expenses year-over-year on an 18% revenue increase. Within OpEx, increased self-insured medical expenses were offset by lower incentive compensation expenses. And interest expense declined to $500,000 from $600,000 in the prior year quarter due to lower debt levels. Notwithstanding the pandemic headwinds, we generated $1.3 million of adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter, a decrease of $600,000 versus the prior year period. On a TTM basis, we've generated $9.5 million of EBITDA, a $5.8 million improvement when compared with the performance in the previous 12-month period. Over that period of time, adjusted EBITDA margins improved 220 basis points to 4.6%. Moving on to our Heavy Fabrications segment. Third quarter sales were $43.4 million, a 28% increase on a year-over-year basis, primarily due to increased demand as the industry ramped up activity levels to support higher expected U.S. wind turbine installations. Third quarter orders were $31.4 million compared to $65.6 million in the prior year quarter. As a reminder, prior year order levels were abnormally high as turbine OEMs were securing capacity well in advance of historical lead times due to expectations of surging wind tower installations in 2020. Our backlog provides visibility to our remaining 2020 production, and we are in discussions with our customers regarding 2021 production. Subsequent to quarter end, we have booked $13 million of tower orders for multiple OEMs for 2021 production. And as of this call, we have approximately 35% of our 2021 optimal tower production capacity sold. We sold 312 sections in the quarter, our fourth consecutive quarter in which we have sold more than 300 sections. To support this level of demand, our tower plants operated near peak utilization during third quarter compared to approximately 75% in the prior year quarter. Average selling prices per unit were higher in the quarter, primarily driven by a stronger commercial environment when the orders were placed in the prior year, together with the benefit associated with the production of larger, more complex tower designs. Segment-adjusted EBITDA increased 63% year-over-year to $3 million, given the increased plant utilization and higher ASPs. Although we met our revenue target and customer commitments during the quarter, adjusted EBITDA margins declined sequentially by 280 basis points. The complexity of multiple design changeovers, supply chain and labor disruptions weighed on margins throughout the quarter, and they also continue into the fourth quarter. Notwithstanding the aforementioned challenges, segment performance was dramatically improved on a TTM basis, with adjusted EBITDA increasing from $3 million to $14 million this year. Shifting to our Gearing segment. Gearing segment orders declined from $5.9 million in the prior year quarter to $3.2 million. Order activity remains below prior year levels and is constrained by lower capital spending by our customers since the onset of the pandemic, together with lower oil and gas activity as reflected by a sharp year-over-year decline in the North American rig count. Importantly, we are beginning to see some green shoots in the oil and gas market with the North American rig count now having increased for 8 consecutive weeks. Despite this optimism for a future oil and gas market recovery, we remain focused on executing our strategy of diversifying our customers and products. We are beginning to see increased levels of quoting in many of our end markets, and we'll continue to focus our commercial efforts in other markets even when oil and gas markets recover. Our backlog was $15 million as of 9/30, flat on a year-over-year basis. Third quarter segment sales declined to $7.1 million from $8 million in the prior year due to lower demand from oil and gas and mining customers. As a result of the operating leverage profile of the business, reduction in sales resulted in a $500,000 EBITDA loss during the quarter. We have and will continue to take actions to preserve margins and cash, including rightsizing labor and deferring capital purchases while we are in this challenging environment. Industrial Solutions recorded $4.9 million of new orders in Q3, down slightly compared to the prior year period. TTM segment orders are approximately $19.5 million, up roughly 21% over the prior year period due to our customer regaining share, higher aftermarket activities and our progress expanding share within our primary customer. Segment backlog has grown 38% year-over-year, ending at $10.3 million, offering solid visibility to revenue over the next several quarters. Third quarter segment sales decreased to $4.1 million from $4.3 million in the prior year, mostly driven by supply chain delays on just-in-time deliveries and customer-driven project delays to Q4. Segment-adjusted EBITDA was $200,000. The operating leverage associated with increased volume and effective cost management has resulted in TTM EBITDA of $1 million, a significant increase over the comparable TTM period. At September 30, 2020, operating working capital was $13.5 million or 6.2% of sales and nearly $7 million sequential improvement, primarily due to increases in inventory turns to 8x and timing of receipts. DSO continues to trend favorable at 40 days. We are continuing to manage AR aggressively and new credit responsibly. And as a result, we have not experienced significant write-offs following the onset of the downturn. Deposits in AP were modestly lower, resulting in a cash conversion cycle of roughly 23 days. Total cash and availability under our credit facility remains above historical levels with nearly $22 million of liquidity at quarter end. We had approximately $8 million drawn under our credit facility and had $2.5 million of cash on our balance sheet. We generated $7 million of free cash flow during the quarter, positioning us to reduce debt by approximately $5 million. With low ongoing CapEx requirements, our capital allocation strategy continues to focus on repayment of debt, which should position us well to make future investments as our non-wind end markets recover. Subsequent to quarter end, we executed an amendment to our loan and security agreement. This amendment extended our line of credit maturity date to July of 2023, and more importantly, lowered our borrowing cost to -- by approximately 300 basis points. Reduction in borrowing cost reflects a strength in credit profile, a result of our improved operating performance over the last 18 months. As we highlighted on previous calls this year, we received approximately $9 million of proceeds under the Paycheck Protection Program. We believe we met all the requirements set forth by the treasury to apply for the loans and did so in good faith, and ultimately, ensuring continued employment for our employees during the period of widespread economic uncertainty, which continues today. For reference, these loans can be forgiven by the small business administration if borrowers can demonstrate that they use the funds on eligible expenses, such as payroll, rent, mortgage interest and utility obligations over a 24-week period. We utilize 100% of loan proceeds on these eligible expenses, and we are planning to submit our forgiveness application to our lender and the SBA in Q4. The U.S. treasury previously announced that all borrowers that received PPP loans in excess of $2 million will be audited. However, the timeline for that audit is unclear at this time. To the extent the PPP loans are not forgiven, the company is required to repay the loans over a 2-year period at a 1% interest rate. Our net leverage declined to the lowest level seen in several years, ending the quarter at 0.9x trailing 12-month EBITDA after netting out the PPP loans. We believe we are positioned well to manage through the COVID-19 challenges, given our low leverage profile and strong liquidity position. We received proceeds of $300,000 during the quarter under our now-expired ATM program. This $10 million ATM was largely unused during the 3-year period. And at this point, we do not have plans to reintroduce this program in the future. As we look at Q4, we are continuing to see similar challenges like we did in Q3 in our production facilities, starting from the spread of COVID in the communities we operate in and ongoing supply chain disruptions, both of which will weigh on margins in the quarter. We expect revenue to be approximately $43 million to $46 million and EBITDA to be approximately $0.5 million to $1 million. And lastly, we anticipate providing full year 2021 guidance on our Q4 conference call. That concludes my remarks. I'll turn the call back over to Eric for an overview of conditions within our end markets, in addition to some concluding remarks.