Glenn Tynan
Analyst · Bank of America. Your line is now open
Thank you, Dave and good morning, everyone. I will begin with a review of our third quarter end market sales. Overall, we experienced the 2% increase in sales to our defense markets and a 7% decline in sales to our commercial markets. Starting with the defense markets, aerospace defense sales were down 5% due primarily to timing of orders for embedded computing products on several fighter jet and ISR program. In ground defense, our results reflect higher sales of ammunition handling systems to our international customers. In naval defense, we experienced solid growth 4% due to the ramp in the development on the Ohio-class replacement submarine program; partially offset by lower revenues on the CVN-79 aircraft carrier program as production is nears completion. Moving on to the commercial market, commercial aerospace were sales were flat compared to the prior year as higher sales of actuation systems were mainly offset by lower sales of surface treatment services. In power generation sales were up 3% where higher revenues on the AP1000 program were partially offset by reduced demand in the nuclear aftermarket business. And finally in general industrial, our performance primarily reflects lower sales for severe- service industrial principally to the oil and gas market. These sales did not recover in the third quarter as anticipated based on lower orders, a stronger US dollar and the continued impact of distribution channel destocking. We expect these headwinds to continue into the fourth quarter. Next, I'll discuss the key drivers of our strong third quarter operating income and margin performance. Overall, Curtiss-Wright operating income increased 20% which led to a strong 300 basis point operating margin improvement to 15.1%. And we achieve sequential improvement in operating margins for the third consecutive quarter. Shifting to our segments, I'll begin with the commercial industrial where operating margin improved 40 basis points compared with the prior year. Operating income was negatively impacted by lower sales in our industrial valves, surface treatment businesses. However, operating margin was favorably impacted by improved profitability on our industrial vehicle product despite lower sales. This was driven by our ongoing margin improvement initiatives including the initial benefits of our facility consolidations. Next to the Defense segment which produce stronger than expected operating income and margin for the quarter. The solid performance was driven by favorable mix as well as several one time events benefiting the current quarter results. These included the sales of a small product line and software IP contributing about $2 million to operating income in the current quarter. In addition, the $2 million in restructuring cost that we originally planned for the third quarter has shifted to the fourth quarter. Next in the Power segment, operating income and margin were up modestly compared with the prior year. Improved profitability on the AP1000 program was partially offset by reduced sales and profitability in our nuclear aftermarket business which continues to be impacted by the deferred spending in the industry. And finally non segment expenses decreased 65% as the prior year included a one time pension settlement charge for approximately $7 million. Moving on to our full year 2016 financial outlook beginning with our sales guidance by end market. I'll start with the defense market. Guidance for our aerospace and ground defense markets remain unchanged. However, we have increased our full year naval defense guidance to a new range of 6% to 8%. This increase is based on an improved outlook for Virginia Class submarine revenues and higher sales for our embedded computing products. As a result, we expect overall defense market sales to grow between 1% and 3%. Moving on to the commercial markets, our guidance in the commercial aerospace market remains unchanged. In the power generation market we have lowered our outlook based on reduced demand in the nuclear aftermarket business. As a result, we now expect this end market to be down 1% to 3% for the full year. Next to the general industrial market, as third quarter energy related sales weaken more than expected, and the oil and gas market remains challenged, we have lowered our general industrial guidance to be down 10% to 12%. As a result of the reduction to our power generation and general industrial market sales, we have lowered overall commercial market sales guidance to be down 4% to 6%. And lastly despite the end market adjustments, overall Curtiss-Wright 2016 sales guidance remains unchanged at down 1% to 3%. Continuing with our 2016 financial guidance by segment. In our Commercial Industrial segment, we have reduced our sales guidance by $10 million to reflect the changes within our end markets just discussed. This includes $20 million decrease in the general industrial market primarily within the industrial valves and surface treatment businesses, partially offset by $10 million improvement in naval defense. Despite the revisions, our segment sales guidance remains unchanged for a year-over-year decline of 3% to 5%. However, we reduced our segment operating income guidance by $7 million. This reduction is based on the lower sales outlook, unfavorable overhead absorption and mix as the sales reduction is primarily related to our higher margin products. As a result, we have reduced our operating margin guidance to this segment by 50 basis points to 14.1%, 14.3%. Turning to the Defense segment, we have increased our guidance for operating income by $4 million and operating margin to a range of 20.3% to 20.5% reflecting an 80 basis points improvement over our previous guidance. This improvement is principally driven by a better sales mix as well as the previously discussed one time events that benefited third quarter results. Further, the consolidation activity originally planned for the third quarter has shifted to the fourth quarter; therefore we will begin to realize the bulk of the related savings in 2017. In the Power segment, our sales growth guidance remains unchanged. As an improved outlook in the naval defense market is expected to be offset by continued order delays in the nuclear aftermarket business. However, based on improved performance on the AP1000 program and ongoing cost containment actions, we increased our operating income guidance by $2 million. As a result, operating margin is now expected to range from 13.6% to 13.8% reflecting a 40 basis points improvement over our previous guidance, an increase of 310 to 330 basis points compared to pro forma 2015 results. As a result of these revisions, overall Curtiss-Wright operating income guidance remains unchanged. But we are increasing our operating margin guidance to 14.3% to 14.5%, an expansion of 100 to 120 basis points year-over-year and a 10 basis points improvement compared to the prior guidance. In summary, despite all of the aforementioned changes to our guidance, we continue to expect full year diluted earning per share of $4 to $4.15 which represents growth of 7% to 11% over pro forma 2015 results. Next to our free cash flow, where I will cover our performance to the end of the third quarter and review our guidance for the year. Year-to-date, we've generated approximately $240 million in free cash flow, one of the strongest starts in our history and more than doubled the same period in 2015. Our third quarter and year-to-date performance were primarily driven by increased cash earnings, higher advanced payments related to the 2015 China Direct AP1000 order, and significant reductions in our working capital. As we discussed at our recent Investor Day, we expect our working capital as a percent of sales to decline 240 basis points in 2016, down to 23% by year end. We remain on track to meet this year's goal and we continue to march towards top quartile performance. Meanwhile, third quarter capital expenditures of $10 million were slightly higher than the prior year and we anticipate it ramp in the fourth quarter driven by our plan facility consolidation. Also we are lowering our full year depreciation and amortization guidance by $10 million to a new range of $90 million to $100 million. Based on our continued commitment to stringent capital expenditure management. Overall, we are reiterating our full year free cash flow guidance of $300 million to $320 million, up 10% to 18% compared with 2015 and expect the free cash flow conversion to range from 166% to 170%. Now I'd like to turn the call back over to Dave to conclude our prepared remarks. Dave?