Glenn Tynan
Analyst · SunTrust. Your line is now open
Thank you, Dave, and good morning everyone. I will begin with a review of our second quarter end market sales. Overall, we experienced a 19% increase in sales to our defense markets, while sales to our commercial markets increased 3% year-over-year. Starting with the defense markets, our results reflect strong organic growth of 9% with gains across all three markets partly due to timing of sales originally expected in the second half of this year. In aerospace defense, our results reflect solid demand for flight test equipment and actuation systems most notably on fighter jets including F-35 program. In ground defense, we benefited from higher sales of embedded computing products on various international programs. And finally, in naval defense, our results reflect increased aircraft carrier revenues most notably on the CVN-80 program as well as the solid contribution from our DRG acquisition. Moving to the commercial markets, beginning with commercial aerospace, core OEM sales of products and services were up a little over 10% in the quarter but were largely offset by reduced revenues from FAA directives that are winding down. In Power generation, our results reflect lower revenues on the domestic AP1000 program which was substantially completed in the second half of last year as well as a decline in the nuclear aftermarket sales as expected following seasonally strong outages in the second quarter of 2017. While we are expecting a sharp increase in the second half of 2018 on the China direct AP1000 program, revenues in the second quarter were essentially flat year-over-year. And finally, in the general industrial market, strong sales growth of 14%, 11% of which was organic reflects increased demand across a number of energy and industrial applications. Next, I'll discuss the key drivers of our second quarter 2018 operating performance. Please note that I will refer to the adjusted results as noted on the slide which exclude the first year purchase accounting cost for DRG in 2018 and TTC in 2017. Starting with the commercial and industrial segment, operating income increased 19% and operating margin was up 160 basis points to 16.6%. This performance reflects favorable absorption on solid sales growth of 7% as well as the savings generated from our prior and current year restructuring initiatives. In the defense segment, adjusted operating income increased 47%, while adjusted operating margin increased 560 basis points to 26.4%. This performance reflects favorable absorption on strong sales growth of 16% the benefit from our ongoing margin improvement initiatives and favorable contract adjustments in the naval defense business. Also note that the prior year adjusted operating income for the defense segment excludes approximately $5 million of first year purchase accounting costs associated with the acquisition of TTC. In the Power segment, adjusted operating income increased 10%, while adjusted operating margin increased 30 basis points to 16.2%. This performance includes favorable absorption on solid sales growth in our naval business and increased profitability on the China direct AP1000 order despite flat sales. However these benefits were partially offset by lower revenues and underabsorption in our nuclear aftermarket business and domestic AP1000 program. Also note that the current year adjusted operating income for the Power segment excludes approximately $7 million of first year purchase accounting costs associated with the acquisition of DRG. So in summary, overall Curtiss-Wright's second quarter adjusted operating income increased 28% driving a strong 260 basis point improvement in adjusted operating margin to 17.6%. Next to our 2018 end market sales guidance where we've made several changes highlighted in blue on the slide to reflect a $30 million net increase in total Curtiss-Wright sales. As a result, we now expect overall Curtiss-Wright sales to grow between 8% and 9%. Starting in the defense markets, we've seen strong order growth stemming in part from the fiscal year 2018 defense budget which drove more than $150 million in new orders in the second quarter. As a result, we now expect aerospace defense sales to grow between 11% and 13% driven by an increased demand for flight test instrumentation and better computing products, supporting fighter jets and ISR programs. In addition, we now expect naval defense sales to grow between 20% and 22% led by recent order activity. The combined impact of all of the aforementioned defense market changes is now expected to drive overall defense market sales growth of 13% to 15%. Moving to the commercial markets, Power generation sales are now projected to grow between 2% and 4%. We continue to make good progress on the production of our reactor coolant pumps for the China Direct AP1000 program. We are currently performing ahead of schedule and continue to increase the profitability on the contract. Under percentage of completion or POC accounting changes in profitability can impact the revenue and margin profile of a program. Lower cost estimates can result in deferral of revenue recognition but also result in increased profitability. We are deferring $20 million from our projected China direct AP1000 revenue out of 2018 which will help to lessen this sharp decline that we originally expected to see in 2020. We have also increased the full-year 2018 operating income with this guidance in the Power segment partially due to this change in the China direct AP1000 program. So to recap, we remain ahead of schedule and are optimistic regarding our long-term execution of this program. We will revisit the China direct AP1000 forecast in early 2019 as we finalize our 2019 guidance. Moving on general industrial sales are now projected to grow between 8% and 10% due to widespread increased demand for industrial controls, valves, and vehicle products as well as surface treatment services. Overall commercial market sales growth remains unchanged at 3% to 5%. The updated 2018 sales order flow chart is available at the end of this presentation and will be available on our website. Moving to our 2018 financial outlook, starting with sales, based on the aforementioned increases in end market sales, we raised Commercial/Industrial, and Defense segment sales by $20 million and $10 million respectively while the Power segment sales remain unchanged. Regarding our 2018 profitability, we increased our reported operating income guidance by $13 million and reported operating margin by 40 basis points reflecting higher sales as well as operational improvement in all three segments. We also introduced adjusted full-year 2018 guidance which reflects an additional $14 million increase to operating income and 60 basis point improvement to operating margin reflecting the exclusion of DRG's first year purchase accounting costs. As a result of all of these guidance updates, total Curtiss-Wright's adjusted operating income is now expected to grow 11% to 14%, while overall adjusted operating margin guidance of 15.2% to 15.4% reflects a 50 to 70 basis point increase compared to 2017 adjusted results. Continuing with our outlook by segment, starting with the Commercial/Industrial segment, we now expect sales to be up 4% to 6% primarily due to the improved outlook in the general industrial market. We have increased operating income guidance in this segment by $6 million to reflect the higher sales, while operating margin guidance increased 30 basis points to a new range of 15.1% to 15.2%. As a result, segment operating income is now expected to grow 9% to 12% generating 60 to 70 basis points in margin expansion compared with the prior year results. In the defense segment based primarily on the strong year-to-date performance, we now expect this segment sales to be up 4% to 5%. We increased operating income guidance in this segment by $3 million to reflect the sales increase, while adjusted operating margin guidance increased 20 basis points to a new range of 21.5% to 21.7%, a 10 to 30 basis point improvement compared with the prior year adjusted results. In the Power segment, our top-line guidance remains unchanged. However we increased our operating income guidance in this segment by $4 million partially due to the higher profitability on the China direct AP1000 program and partially due to lower long-term intangible amortization estimates related to the DRG acquisition. Our adjusted guidance for this segment also reflects the aforementioned $40 million adjustment. As a result, adjusted operating income is expected to grow 22% to 26%, while adjusted operating margin is expected to increase 40 to 60 basis points to a new range of 15.1% to 15.3%. Continuing with our 2018 financial outlook, in addition to the aforementioned increases in operating income, we reduced interest expense guidance by $1 million due to lower expected debt levels and increased other income by $1 million based on the run rate of our full-year pension income. We also lowered our share count slightly to reflect the additional second quarter share repurchase activity. In total, these changes resulted in an adjusted full-year 2018 diluted EPS guidance range of $6 to $6.15. This consists of a $0.28 increase in our core reported diluted EPS driven by strong operational performance as well as a $0.25 adjustment for the first year purchase accounting costs associated with the DRG acquisition. This new adjusted EPS guidance range represents strong growth of 21% to 24% over 2017 adjusted results. For your EPS modeling purposes, we expect the remaining purchase accounting cost to impact the third quarter and still expect the fourth quarter to be our strongest both on a reported and adjusted basis. Next the free cash flow, we continue to generate strong free cash flow driven by our continued focus on efficient working capital management. Although not shown on the slide, second quarter free cash flow was $87 million generating a free cash flow conversion of 116%. Based on the strong operational performance and our improved outlook, we raised our full-year 2018 free cash flow guidance by $10 million. 2018 adjusted free cash flow which excludes the $50 million voluntary pension contribution made early this year, is now expected to range from $300 million to $320 million with an adjusted free cash flow conversion rate of approximately 115%. I also wanted to take this opportunity to mention that we have begun repatriating approximately $190 million in cash from our core foreign subsidiaries of which $150 million has been received as of June 30th. The remainder is expected to be collected by the end of 2018. We previously announced our plans to utilize the first $50 million of that repatriated cash to fund additional share repurchases via second 10b5-1 program which is underway. As a result, we are currently deploying two $50 million 10b5-1 programs in addition to our available opportunistic share repurchase program. While we have yet to disclose the uses for the remaining repatriated cash, I will reiterate that Curtiss-Wright remains committed to a disciplined and balanced capital allocation strategy. Now I would like to turn the call back over to Dave to conclude our prepared remarks. Dave?