Adrian Downes
Analyst · Stephens. Please go ahead
Thank you, Brian, and good morning, everyone. Before moving into the highlights of the quarter, I'd like to remind everyone that quarterly financial information is available in the press release and supplemental slides on our website. Greenbrier's Q2 performance was robust in our Manufacturing and Leasing segments as highlighted by Lorie and Brian in their remarks. After covering some of the highlights in the quarter, I'll provide an update to our fiscal 2024 guidance. Notable highlights for the second quarter include diverse new railcar orders of 5,900 units valued at nearly $690 million, the second highest over the past two years. Deliveries of 5,600 units include 300 units from our unconsolidated joint venture in Brazil. Consolidated revenue of $863 million grew sequentially due to a change in product mix, increasing manufacturing volumes and growth in our Leasing and Management Services segment. Aggregate gross margin percent was 14.2%, resulting primarily from product mix, growth in the lease fleet and higher lease rates. Selling and administrative expense of approximately $64 million increased sequentially primarily due to higher employee-related costs. Earnings from unconsolidated affiliates of $4 million more than doubled from the first quarter primarily due to higher earnings from our Brazilian joint venture, which are expected to moderate. Net earnings attributable to Greenbrier of $33 million generated diluted EPS of $1.03 per share. And finally, EBITDA for the quarter was $95 million or 11% of revenue. As we look to liquidity, Greenbrier generated positive operating cash flow of over $99 million in the quarter, resulting from strong earnings and a positive net change to working capital. Additionally, Greenbrier's Q2 liquidity remained solid at $581 million, consisting of $252 million of cash and available borrowings of $329 million. Other notable financing items in the quarter include the retirement of the remaining $48 million of our 2017 senior convertible notes with cash. As mentioned in our first quarter remarks, we are providing a breakout between recourse and non-recourse task in the footnote section of our 10-Q under notes payable and revolving notes. Greenbrier's debt composition is now composed of more non-recourse debts than recourse. This emphasizes our commitment towards reducing and retiring our recourse task as cash flows improve and underscores our prudence with how we manage our capital structure and balance sheet. As Lorie mentioned, Greenbrier's Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share. Based on yesterday's closing price, our annual dividend represents a yield of approximately 2.3%. Including activity from the second quarter, Greenbrier has returned nearly $510 million of capital to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases since reinstating our dividend program back in 2014 and these are actions that our Board and management team remain committed to. We believe this is a great way to create long-term shareholder value, and we will periodically evaluate increases to our quarterly dividend and look to repurchase shares opportunistically. Finally, shifting focus to our guidance and business outlook. Based on current trends and production schedules, we are raising the bottom end of our 2024 revenue and delivery guidance, updating our capital expenditure forecast and reaffirming our gross margin outlook. We are raising the bottom end of our deliveries to 23,500, which includes approximately 1,400 units from Greenbrier-Maxion in Brazil. We are increasing the lower end of revenues to $3.5 billion. Selling and administrative expense is expected to be approximately $230 million to $235 million. Capital expenditures have also been updated, forecasted expenditures in our Manufacturing segment are expected to be around $140 million, which includes spend related to in-sourcing activities followed by $15 million in our Maintenance Services segment. Gross investment of approximately $350 million in Leasing and Management Services is unchanged and includes current year capital expenditures as well as transfers of railcars into the lease fleet that are manufactured and subsequently held on the balance sheet in 2023. Proceeds of equipment sales have been adjusted to approximately $75 million. And aggregate gross margin percent for the full-year is expected to be in the low to mid-teens. Overall, I am pleased with the performance in the second quarter and throughout the first half of the year, which has put Greenbrier on solid footing for a strong finish to the year. As we head into the second half, we are supported by a robust backlog, ample liquidity and a strong balance sheet. We are confident our outlook for fiscal 2024 is positive with earnings expected to grow. And now this will be my final earnings call at Greenbrier, I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you. I am privileged to have spent 11 years at Greenbrier, both as a Chief Financial Officer, and prior to that, Chief Accounting Officer. As Lorie mentioned, a lot has been accomplished over this time period and Greenbrier has a great leadership team reinforced by a strong balance sheet and improving results. I would like to thank our Board of Directors, shareholders and Lorie, for the opportunities and support during this time. This has been a great place to work. And although I will be leaving this role, I will still be involved as a strategic adviser to help with the transition process and other projects. Thank you. And with that, we will open up for questions.