Earnings Labs

Commercial Vehicle Group, Inc. (CVGI)

Q1 2015 Earnings Call· Wed, May 6, 2015

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Quarter One 2015 Commercial Vehicle Group Earnings Conference Call. My name is Amla and I will be your operator for today. At this time, all participants are on listen-only mode. We will conduct a question-and-answer session towards the end of the conference. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this call is being recorded for replay purposes. And I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Terry Hammett, Head of Investor Relations. Please proceed.

Terry Hammett

Analyst

Thank you, Amla, and welcome everyone to our conference call. Rich Lavin, CEO, will provide a companywide update; and Pat Miller, President of Global Truck and Bus will provide an update on his business segments; Tim Trenary, our CFO, will comment on first quarter 2015 results. We will also provide commentary on our long term strategy, CVG 2020 and answer questions. I would like to remind you that this conference call is being webcast. It may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to expectations for future periods regarding market trends, cost saving initiatives, new product initiatives among others. Actual results may differ from anticipated results because of certain risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties may include but are not limited to economic conditions in the markets in which CVG operates, fluctuations in the production volumes of vehicles for which CVG is a supplier, financial, covenant compliance and liquidity, risks associated with conducting business in foreign countries and currencies and other risks detailed in our SEC filings. I would now like to turn the call over to Rich.

Rich Lavin

Analyst

Thank you, Terry. Good morning everybody and welcome to our call. We're pleased this morning to report that our first quarter 2015 revenues improved by $22.2 million or by 11% over the prior year period. Operating income was $11.2 million in the first quarter, a significant increase over the $5.4 million of operating income in the first quarter of 2014. After adjusting for special items in each period, operating income pull through of the incremental year-over-year sales well within the range we expect and was 23%. Our earnings per share for the first quarter were $0.12 as compared to a loss of $0.02 in the first quarter 2014. These results illustrate our ability to improve near term earnings and margins even as we continue to invest in our long term strategy CVG 2020. North American medium and heavy-duty truck build rates remained strong in the first quarter this year. Class 8 truck production was over 79,000 units in the quarter. We believe solid fundamentals including pricing, equipment utilization and used truck values coupled with continued economic growth in the United States support strong truck demand for the full year. Accordingly, we are increasing our 2015 Class 8 truck production forecast to a range of 300,000 to 320,000 units. Pat Miller will provide more color on this momentarily. Our Global Construction and Agriculture sales increased 3% period-over-period before giving effect of the impact of foreign currency exchange on our business. There is every indication that the strength of the U.S. dollar vis-à-vis most other global currencies will continue in the near term. We therefore expect foreign currency exchange to adversely affect our sales and earnings throughout 2015. Generally, global market conditions in heavy construction equipment have been disappointing. This is especially true in China, where excavator sales a key element of…

Pat Miller

Analyst

Thanks, Rich. I would like to start with some thoughts on the North American truck build rate. The build rates in our sales remained strong in Q1 and most indications are that high build rates will continue through the end of the year. As Rich mentioned earlier, we are estimating the Class 8 North American truck production for 2015 will be in the 300,000 to 320,000 unit range while others estimate a build rate approaching 340,000 units. So 2015 could be another strong build year for North American Trucks. There were some market indicators showing degradation such as the OEM truck orders dropping below expectations in March and the backlog lead time shrinking. In the past, these may have been indications of weakening market forces. The market commentary is, this is mostly due to the order slots being filled up for this year and we agree with that assessment. Bottom-line is we are managing our business with a more conservative view of Class 8 North American production levels in 2015. I’ve been asked about our ability to produce at levels commensurate with historical highs. Please note that CVG has adequate manufacturing capacity to meet high demands, even if production demand increases to levels seen in 2006. Main potential risk to 2015, production levels in North America are weather related supply chain interruptions and interruptions due to other suppliers to the OEMs, not associated with CVG. We continue to monitor these risks as well as our global footprint as it relates to current and future production levels. As I’m sure you can appreciate, CVG continually works to develop a pipeline of ongoing business. Given the lifecycle of truck platforms we bid on, business wins in our pipeline may take a number of years to be reflected in our operating results and…

Tim Trenary

Analyst

Thanks, Pat. Consolidated first quarter 2015 revenues were $220.3 million, compared to $198.1 million in the prior year period, an increase of 11%. This improvement in sales was achieved notwithstanding foreign currency exchange rate or FX headwind. FX translation adversely impacted our top line in the first quarter by $5 million. Before giving effect to this FX burden on our top line, first quarter sales growth as compared to prior year was 14%. Setting aside the burden of FX translation and our consolidated revenue in the first quarter, substantially all of the top line growth was in our Global Truck and Bus segment, which continues to benefit from the robust trucks into North America. Operating income in the first quarter was $11.2 million, compared to operating income of $5.4 million in the prior year period. Pull-through of operating income on year-over-year incremental sales was 26% in the first quarter. This pull-through is an excess of what we generally expect and was achieved notwithstanding the adverse impact on our consolidated results of FX translation and FX transaction costs in certain of our foreign affiliates. On the other hand, and as I’ll more fully describe in a moment, year-over-year pull-through benefited somewhat from special items, excluding the impact from special items, adjusted operating income pull-through in the first quarter of 23% and, therefore, well within the range we expect. Our profit improvement continues to benefit from SG&A cost disciplines. SG&A in the first quarter of 2015 was $17.5 million, compared to $18.5 million in the prior year period even as we invest in value accretive activities in CVG 2020. FX translation accounts for approximately $0.3 million, about $1 million decrease in SG&A year-over-year. Net income was $3.6 million in the first quarter or $0.12 per diluted share, compared to a net loss…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] And your first question comes from Mike Shlisky from Global Hunter Securities. Please go ahead. You are live in the call. Mike Shlisky, please go ahead. You are live in the call.

Michael Shlisky

Analyst

Good morning, guys. Sorry about that.

Rich Lavin

Analyst

Good morning.

Pat Miller

Analyst

Hi, Mike.

Michael Shlisky

Analyst

Hey. Just wanted to touch first briefly on something I noticed at [indiscernible] back in March. I got the sense that some of the OEMs out there are shifting or some customers are shifting to more comfort and luxury within the cabin as they try to entice more drivers to join their fleets, I guess, given the tight market out there to find people to actually operate trucks. So I was kind of wondering if have seen any kind of increase in your ASP or any shift up in the types of seats – I guess the kind of seats are being ordered for your trucks in the last few months and in the next few months.

Pat Miller

Analyst

Well, this is Pat Miller. So I will take a stab at that. I don’t actually have a quantifiable number that I can give you today on that dynamic. We have certainly seen anecdotally feedback from the fleet owners and fleet maintenance directors. That speaks specifically to what you are saying. They look at the cost of bringing new drivers in and the turnover and training cost and it’s a very easy method to attempt. So I have seen some specific examples that benefited us, but I don’t know that I can really quantify that for you. So we’ve heard the same thing that you’ve heard and we’ve heard that directly from some of the sources.

Michael Shlisky

Analyst

Perhaps a little more broadly then, there is some kind of noise in your truck and bus numbers given that you do sell outside the U.S., throughout this peak, are you seeing any increase in content per vehicle over the last few months. It appears though your growth rates have outpaced the market by a little bit. So, I just want to see how that’s going for you?

Tim Trenary

Analyst

Well, I think I have mentioned some of the new programs that we’ve added to our portfolio during my part of the discussion, part of that helps us of course when in the growth rates. As far as content per vehicle, I think a lot of that tends to be driven by the sleeper day cab mix, which has been a beneficial for us in the first part of the year. So well, we’re seeing a – if you think about it when we’ve got all of the sleeper and bunks and larger flooring, larger headliners, interior panels in a sleeper truck, they also tend to get better higher featured C components. And so, sleeper day cab mix for us is a big driver of contemporary vehicle.

Michael Shlisky

Analyst

Got it. And then I wanted to also touch on, I think you had mentioned, you had some new programs in Asia, I think it’s a carrier Japan and China if not mistaken, its anyway to get a little more color as to what types of products those are or perhaps if you can, the kinds of components you’re providing there, is it in very low margins seed, high margin products. Seen, I call you from get us – seen those contracts over the next few quarters I would appreciate

Rich Lavin

Analyst

Yeah. This is Rich Lavin. The wins were largely in the construction industry as spread across a couple of Asia-Pacific multi-national OEMs and these were largely seed sales. As I mentioned, they are comparatively small deals, but strategically they were very important wins for us because they enable us to strengthen our relationship with those OEMs. So, relatively minor sales, but strategically very important for us going forward.

Michael Shlisky

Analyst

Okay. And then probably one more from me if you wouldn’t mind. just want to get your thoughts on 2016 for the truck markets. If we’re running our build slots in 2015 do you feel good about how things might look for next year just based on extra demand from this year alone. And are the truck OEMs asking you to make any kind of investments or changes for next year’s trucks that are going to be important?

Rich Lavin

Analyst

Okay. I have to be honest we’ve not really done any sort of formal forecasting for 2016 at this stage in the year. We are waiting to see how the year plays out and if the OEMs will build all the planned orders. The build slots are filling up as has been mentioned by several other groups. We concur with that we can see the numbers. I think to tailing issue for us would be when the order season starts back up in the fall that will help us determine what 2016 is going to look like, as well as if there is any supply disruption. So, we’ve mentioned some things about supply disruptions on some of the critical type sub-systems that we don’t supply. But those in the past have been limiting factors as whether the OEMs can achieve levels that they would like to achieve in the timeframe they would like to achieve them. So, if they are able to achieve their build, don’t get as much carry over into 2016. And we haven’t really put any numbers to 2016 yet. So, we’re working hard on making 2015 a good year.

Michael Shlisky

Analyst

So then is it safe to say that if your forecast is right and there is even more demand in 2016 because there is carry over production is that how it’s going to play out possibly?

Rich Lavin

Analyst

Good I suppose.

Michael Shlisky

Analyst

Okay, great. Well guys I will it there. Thank you so much for all your color. Appreciate it.

Rich Lavin

Analyst

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Okay. Thank you. So you have no more questions at this time. [Operator Instructions]

Rich Lavin

Analyst

From the CVG and this is Rich Lavin again. I’d just like to thank everybody once again for calling in. And we look forward to sharing our second quarter results and developments in our business with you in a couple of months. Thanks very much.

Operator

Operator

Okay. Thank you for your participation in today’s conference. This concludes the presentation. You may now disconnect and have a great day.