Joe Kelley
Analyst · Jefferies
Thank you, Jugal and welcome to everyone joining us on the call today. During my comments, I will cover second quarter 2018 financial highlights, review profitability by segment, provide brief comments on the balance sheet, cash flow and modeling assumptions and finally, cover the earnings outlook for 2018. Following my remarks, we will open the line for questions. I am pleased to report strong second quarter 2018 financial results, which represent the sixth consecutive quarter with year-over-year growth in both value-added sales and adjusted operating profit. Second quarter 2018 value-added sales, which excludes the impact of pass-through precious metals was $189.9 million, an all-time record for any quarter and up 8% versus the prior year second quarter and up 5% sequentially. The increase was driven by new product sales, improved product mix and favorable end market demand. New product sales in the second quarter of 2018 were $30.7 million or 16% of value-added sales in the quarter. Our largest end-market consumer electronics increased 6% year-over-year despite an inventory correction and the display portion of this market, which began in the first quarter and continued in the second quarter. We have now delivered year-over-year growth for nine consecutive quarters in this end-market. Defense sales were also robust, reflecting overall demand increases and new program wins. Our focus on commercial performance initiatives related to new product introductions and improved product mix combined with increased end market demand continue to drive above market growth. Gross profit margin was $61.8 million in the second quarter, an increase of 13% from $54.8 million in the prior year second quarter. Expressed as a percent of value added sales, gross margin expanded a 140 basis points to 32.5% driven by performance improvements and leveraging the sales growth. Selling, general and administrative expense totaled $38.5 million, up $600,000 over the prior year second quarter of $37.9 million, due primarily to strategic investments to drive our long-term strategy. As a percentage of value added sales, SG&A expense decreased to 20% in the second quarter of 2018 down from 22% in the prior year period. Operating profit totaled $15.2 million in the second quarter of 2018, up 26% compared to the prior year second quarter adjusted operating profit of $12.1 million. As a percentage of value added sales, operating profit margin in the second quarter of 2018 was 8%, the highest quarterly profit margin percentage since 2015. Performance improvements related to commercial and operational initiatives combined with sales volume growth led to the year-over-year increase. Net income for the second quarter of 2018 totaled $11.1 million or $0.54 per diluted share, up 29% from an adjusted $0.42 per share recorded in the second quarter of 2017. We have now delivered $0.50 a share or more for four consecutive quarters. Looking at income taxes, we recorded $2.9 million of tax expense in the second quarter of 2018, an effective tax rate of 20.9% higher than our full year guidance, due to timing of some items. Our guidance on the full year effective tax rate continues to be in the range of 16% to 18%. Now, let me review 2018 second quarter performance by business segment. Starting with performance alloys and composites. Value added sales were a record $110.1 million, up 19% versus the second quarter of 2017 and up 10% sequentially. Value added sales in this segment have now exceeded $100 million for three consecutive quarters. The increase in value added sales is due to new product introductions, commercial execution and improved end market demand. The defense market was particularly strong with order being released which were previously bottleneck in 2017. Operating profit in the second quarter of 2018 totaled $12.3 million, the highest level ever for this segment. Expressed as a percentage of value added sales operating profit was 11% in the quarter. PACs year-to-date operating profits of $22.2 million exceed the amount of adjusted operating profit generated for all of 2017. The PAC recovery plan launched in 2016 is clearly working. Our performance on the commercial and operational improvement initiatives has delivered profit improvements ahead of schedule. We remain focused on these recovery plan initiatives and others to drive sustain double-digit profitability in this segment. Looking at the advanced materials business segment. Value added sales in the second quarter 2018 were $57.3 million compared to second quarter of 2017 value added sales of $62 million. Value added sales declined 8% due primarily to softer demand in the display portion of the consumer electronics end market, continued phase out of the 4G applications and timing related to the customer requalification process associated with the move of the Heraeus high performance target materials business to a new state of the art target manufacturing facility in Alzenau, Germany. We have completed the move and our ramping up production at the new facility in the third quarter. Operating profit for the second quarter 2018 totaled $5.6 million compared to adjusted operating profit of $9 million in the prior year quarter. The decrease in segment operating profit was due to softer demand unfavorable product mix and relocation and integration expenses related to the Germany facility move. Turning finally now to the Precision Coatings segment, second quarter value-added sales were $23.4 million, up 4% compared to $22.6 million in the second quarter of 2017. Sales of optical products were up 13% year-over-year driven by new program wins in defense and strength in the projector display portion of the consumer electronics end market. The growth in optical products more than offset the decrease and large area coating products sold into the Medical end-market. Operating profit for the Precision Coatings segment totaled $2.2 million in the second quarter of 2018 compared to $2.3 million in the second quarter of 2017. As a percentage of value added sales operating profit margin was approximately 10% in both periods. Moving now to the balance sheet and cash flow. The company ended the second quarter of 2018 with the net cash position of $39.5 million compared to a net debt position of $8.1 million at the end of the second quarter of 2017. Operating cash flow year-to-date improved $29 million in 2018 compared to the prior year due to stronger earnings and improved working capital efficiency. We continue to maintain a very strong balance sheet and have significant available liquidity to support capital allocation priorities mentioned on previous calls, including organic growth opportunities, further inorganic growth opportunity opportunities, further inorganic growth opportunities and consistently return capital to shareholders. In the second quarter of 2018, we announced an increase to our quarterly dividend of approximately 5%, representing the sixth consecutive year of increasing the shareholder dividend. For financially modeling purposes in 2018, capital spending should run approximately $30 million to $35 million, mine development investments should be $5 million to $10 million, annual depreciation and amortization should run approximately $35 million to $40 million. And finally, now earnings outlook for 2018. We have now delivered sixth consecutive quarters of year-over-year top-line and profit growth driven by commercial and operational performance improvements, including new product sales growth, favorable product mix, manufacturing efficiencies and an improved cost structure. Based on our current order activity, performance improvement initiatives and our view of end market demand for the remainder of 2018, we are raising our full year 2018 earnings guidance range to $2 to $2.15 per share. The midpoint of this range represents a 21% improvement over 2017 adjusted earnings. From a quarterly guidance perspective, we expect third quarter 2018 earnings to be comparable to second quarter 2018 earnings. This concludes our prepared remarks, we will now open the line for questions.