Earnings Labs

The Eastern Company (EML)

Q3 2020 Earnings Call· Tue, Nov 10, 2020

$22.25

+0.41%

Key Takeaways · AI generated
AI summary not yet generated for this transcript. Generation in progress for older transcripts; check back soon, or browse the full transcript below.

Same-Day

-5.89%

1 Week

-5.72%

1 Month

+1.48%

vs S&P

-1.98%

Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to The Eastern Company Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2020 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] At this time, it is my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Chris Moulton, Head of Corporate Development. Sir, the floor is yours.

Christopher Moulton

Analyst

Thank you. Good morning, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. Speaking today will be Eastern's President and CEO, Gus Vlak; and our CFO, John Sullivan. After that, we'll open the call for questions. Please note that some of the information you will hear during our discussion today will consist of forward-looking statements about the company's future financial performance and business prospects, including, without limitation, statements regarding revenue, gross margin, operating expenses, other income and expense, taxes and business outlook. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or trends to differ significantly from those projected in these forward-looking statements. These risks include but are not limited to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures being taken to limit the spread of COVID-19. For more information regarding these risks and uncertainties, please refer to risk factors discussed in our Form 10-Q filed yesterday. In addition, during today's call, we will discuss non-GAAP financial measures that we believe are useful as supplemental measures of Eastern's performance. These non-GAAP measures should be considered in addition to and not as a substitute for or in isolation from GAAP results. With that, I'll turn the call over to Gus for opening remarks.

August Vlak

Analyst

Thanks, Chris, and good morning to those of you who have joined us on the phone and those participating via the Web. We released Eastern's third quarter results and a full Form 10-Q yesterday afternoon, and we'll discuss the quarter this morning. First, I would like to take a moment to thank our teams around the world once again for their hard work, incredible resilience and dedication during what continues to be a very uncertain time. The extraordinary people in our factories, warehouses and offices continue to demonstrate tremendous commitment to the health and safety of their coworkers. They are doing this by steadfastly maintaining the safety protocols at work and in their communities. Moreover, the agility of our teams and their ability to navigate, collaborate and manage successfully through the dramatic shifts in our end markets during this period was a true differentiator for us. During the third quarter, we took advantage of a strong recovery in many markets, following a deep contraction in the second quarter, and importantly, the quarter demonstrated the positive impact that acquisitions have had on our performance. This past quarter saw an acceleration of a recovery that began at the end of the second quarter. The bounce was especially strong with certain of our Class 8 truck, light truck and recreational vehicle customers as well as our plastic packaging customers. In the Class 8 truck market, our sales rallied as a result of the dual impact of increasing demand and the launch of new mirror programs. According to FTR, an industry research organization, new Class 8 truck preliminary orders exceeded 30,000 in September. That's the highest monthly total since October of 2019. September bookings for heavy-duty trucks were also 55% higher than in August. Class 8 truck net orders for the last 12 months…

John Sullivan

Analyst

Thank you, Gus. My remarks this morning will focus on results for the third quarter of 2020. For the third quarter 2020, net sales increased 8% to $65.8 million from $60.7 million in the third quarter of 2019. Excluding Big 3 Precision, sales in the third quarter would have declined by $5 million or 9% to $51 million compared to $56 million in the third quarter of 2019. The decline in sales in the third quarter of 2020 was primarily due to the divestiture of Canadian Commercial Vehicles Corporation, which we closed in the second quarter of 2020; and a continuation of softness across many markets we serve. Helping to partially offset this weakness, we experienced robust sales of military products, which were up 14%; off-highway products, which were up by 18%; and truck and recreational vehicle mirror products, which are up by 18% and 14%, respectively. Net sales of existing products increased 3% in the third quarter while price increases and new products increased net sales by 5%. New product sales include numerous mirror assemblies, compression latches, finger pull assemblies, mount plate latches, canopy lock assemblies, handle assemblies and crossbar lock assemblies. Turning to segment results. Sales in the Industrial Hardware segment increased by 20% to $47.1 million in the third quarter from $39.4 million in the third quarter of 2019. Again, excluding Big 3 Precision, sales in the third quarter of 2020 decreased 7%. The decrease in sales was primarily due to the divestiture of Canadian Commercial Vehicles Corporation, which we closed in the second quarter of 2020; and the continued softness in many of our markets. Sales in the Security Products segment were $14.2 million in the third quarter, comparable to sales in the third quarter of 2019. Sale of existing products decreased 3.1% while price increases…

Christopher Moulton

Analyst

Thanks, John. Operator, I'd like to open the line for questions.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] There appear to be no questions over the phone at this time.

Christopher Moulton

Analyst

Okay. We do have one question via webcast. Do you feel in 2021 that all divisions can be profitable?

August Vlak

Analyst

I'll take that. Thanks, Chris. We in -- as you can see from our reporting, the profitability in our Metal Products business was under pressure this year because of the decline in mining activity and the -- in part due to lower economic activity and in part due to the natural gas prices. We don't believe that those 2 factors will continue to impact our business to the same degree. And we also believe that we are building momentum in our efforts to diversify that business into the industrial -- more diversified industrial customer base. So as a result, we think that business will continue to -- will return to its performance that we saw in the prior years.

Christopher Moulton

Analyst

Okay. All right. I'm not seeing anything else via the webcast. So with that, I'll turn the call over to Gus for closing remarks.

August Vlak

Analyst

So thanks, Chris. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have remained focused on our key priorities, which we shared with you earlier this year. These include: one, ensuring the health and safety of our employees; two, maintaining business continuity, financial strength and stability; and three, doing our part to help mitigate the impact of this virus. Our #1 priority has been and continues to be the health and safety of our employees. We remain vigilant in our measures to protect them in our factories and our offices. And these include, among others, mandatory mask policy, measuring employees' temperatures and enforcement of social distancing. We are encouraged by the acceleration in demand for our products and services across many of our businesses as well as the impact of our new product launches. I would just like to reiterate that we are more confident than ever in our strategy to deliver long-term shareholder value. Our businesses are incredibly resilient and able to take advantage of rebounding economic activity. Look, it has been an eventful year so far. Going into 2020, we did expect some volatility and uncertainty. However, no one could have anticipated the ups and downs and twists and turns that this year would take, and there are still 2 months to go. Still, it looks like we will end the year stronger and well positioned for 2021. As always, please feel free to reach out to us with any questions that you may have. Thank you.

Christopher Moulton

Analyst

Thanks, Gus. With that, I'll hand the call back to the operator.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference. We thank you again for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and have a great day.