Bill George
Analyst · DA Davidson. Please proceed
Thanks, Brian. As Brian said, we once again achieved record positive results. Revenue in the third quarter was $714 million, an increase of $7 million compared to the same quarter last year. This increase is due to the current year acquisitions of TAS and Starr, both of which contributed to our expanding modular construction offering. This increase was offset by a decrease in same-store revenue of 6%. Our mechanical segment was up slightly on a same-store basis. So the decrease resulted from lower volume in our electrical services segment due to a combination of very high revenue comparisons in the prior year combined with deferred starts and other delays this year. Last year we experienced very high revenues in electrical as we were mobilized on certain exceptionally large jobs from the second half of 2019 until the middle of this year. As a result of these factors, we will continue to face tough revenue comparisons in electrical through the first half of next year. And combined with the air pockets and delays that we are currently experiencing, we expect continuing same-store revenue headwinds during the second quarter of next year, especially in our two largest Texas markets. Gross profit was $147 million for the third quarter of 2020, a 3% increase compared to last year. Gross profit as a percentage of revenue rose to 20.6% in the third quarter of 2020 compared to 20.2% for the third quarter of 2019. SG&A expense was $91 million for the third quarter of 2020 compared to $90 million for the third quarter of 2019. SG&A as a percentage of revenue remained steady at 12.7% for both quarters. On a same-store basis, SG&A declined $4 million. This decrease is primarily due to cost control measures such as reduction in travel-related expenses. During the third quarter of 2020, we had an increase in tax planning and consulting fees of approximately $2 million which partially offset other declines. Our quarter-to-date effective rate was 14.2% for tax and benefited from R&D credits and energy-efficient commercial building deductions that were previously reserved. During the third quarter, we finalized settlements with the IRS from their examination of our amended federal tax returns for 2014 and 2015. We currently estimate our effective tax rate for the full year 2020 will be between 22% and 25%, which reflects these settlements. Starting in 2021, we expect our effective tax rate will be between 25% and 30% and if you eliminate the benefits of the settlement, our quarterly tax rate this quarter would have been slightly over 28%. Although 2014 and 2015 are now settled, we have open processes ongoing for the 2016, 2017, and 2018 tax years. And while future benefits are possible, we believe any benefits that arise from those years will most likely be recognizable in 2022 or beyond. Net income for the third quarter of 2020 was $50 million or $1.36 per share as compared to $36 million or $0.98 per share in 2019. Earnings per share for the current quarter included $0.17 related to the tax benefit that I previously discussed and that benefited net of related tax consulting fees of $2.8 million that were incurred during the quarter. Even if you completely exclude the tax benefit, we had a 21% increase in earnings per share. For the third quarter, EBITDA was $72 million, an increase of 8% compared to the $66 million of EBITDA that we reported in the third quarter of last year. Our trailing 12-month EBITDA is a record $246 million. Coming up an extraordinary cash flow in the last quarter, our free cash flow continues to be strong and was $48 million in the current quarter. On a year-to-date basis, our free cash flow was $199 million compared to $79 million in 2019. Our nine months' cash flow includes roughly $20 million of benefit that is a direct result of the federal stimulus bill, which allowed us to defer certain payroll tax payments in the second and third quarter. Our best estimate is that the discrete tax provisions will benefit fourth quarter cash flow by approximately $10 million. This estimated $30 million of full-year 2020 cash flow benefit from these tax provisions will be repaid to the federal government in two equal installments in the fourth quarters of 2021 and 2022. The phenomenal cash flow this year has resulted in two important balance sheet accomplishments; first, we were able to reduce our leverage to less than 1 turn of trailing 12-month EBITDA about a year sooner than we had anticipated. Second, during the second quarter of 2020, we funded our second largest acquisition ever. However, we were able to fund that acquisition entirely from free cash flow during the quarter, and we still managed to reduce our debt levels. Our trailing 12-month free cash flow is $233 million. Since the beginning of this year, we have purchased 448,000 of our shares at an average price of $41.90. Since we began our repurchase program in 2007, we have bought back over nine million shares at an average price of $18.89. Now to Brian [ph] for financial.