Earnings Labs

Optical Cable Corporation (OCC)

Q3 2014 Earnings Call· Wed, Sep 10, 2014

$9.39

-11.42%

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

+2.40%

1 Week

+4.33%

1 Month

+11.78%

vs S&P

+16.54%

Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning. My name is Lori, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Optical Cable Corporation Third Quarter 2014 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Mr. Palash, you may begin your conference.

Aaron Palash

Analyst

Thank you. Good morning, and thank you, all, for participating in Optical Cable Corporation's Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2014 Conference Call. By this time, everyone should have a copy of the earnings press release. If you don't, please visit www.occfiber.com for a copy. On the call with us today is Neil Wilkin, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of OCC. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that this call may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. The actual future results of Optical Cable Corporation may differ materially due to a number of factors, including, but not limited to, those factors referenced in the forward-looking statements section of this morning's press release. These cautionary statements apply to the content of the Internet webcast on www.occfiber.com, as well as today's call. Now I'll turn the call over to Neil Wilkin. Neil, please begin.

Neil Wilkin

Analyst

Thank you, Aaron, and good morning, everyone. Joining me today on the call is Tracy Smith, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. We will begin the call today with a few opening remarks. Tracy will then review the third quarter results for the 3-month and 9-month periods ended July 31, 2014, in more detail. After Tracy's remarks, we will answer as many of your questions as we can. As is our normal practice, we will take questions from analysts and institutional investors during the Q&A session. We also offer other shareholders the opportunity to submit questions in advance of our earnings call. As you know, instructions regarding these submissions are included in our press release announcing the date and time of our earnings call. During the third quarter of fiscal 2014, we continued to see the benefit of our ongoing sales initiatives, increasing net sales 7.2% over the third quarter of fiscal year 2013. We are pleased with these results and believe they reflect the strength of our business. At the same time, we continue to develop and launch new products that we believe will positively impact OCC's future revenues. These new product initiatives reflect the continued successful execution of our long-term strategy, and these initiatives also build on OCC's position as a market leader. Additionally, we continue our ongoing efforts to streamline operations and improve efficiencies at OCC, efforts that we expect will continue to contribute to improved financial results in future periods. These efforts include reorganization initiatives that have resulted in the elimination of a number of positions at the end of the third quarter and during the first half of fiscal year 2014. We estimate that our prospective expense savings from the elimination of all of these positions will be approximately $1 million per year.…

Tracy Smith

Analyst

Thanks, Neil. Consolidated net sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2014 increased 7.2% to $21 million compared to net sales of $19.6 million for the same period last year. The increase in net sales during the third quarter of fiscal 2014 was attributable to increased sales of the company's fiber optic cable product. Consolidated net sales for the first 9 months of fiscal 2014 increased 3% to $57.7 million compared to net sales of $56 million for the same period last year. We experienced the year-over-year increase in net sales during the first 9 months of fiscal 2014 in our commercial market. However, this increase was offset by a decrease in our specialty market. Subsequent to the end of the third quarter, we have seen an increase in our sales order backlog and forward load, particularly for our fiber optic cable products. Generally, our consolidated sales order backlog and forward load varies throughout the year between approximately 3 to 4 weeks of net sales or approximately $5 million to $6 million. At the end of August, our sales order backlog and forward load was $9.2 million or approximately 6 to 7 weeks of net sales on a trailing 12-month basis. As a result of our elevated sales order backlog and forward load, at this time, we believe it is likely we will see a positive impact on net sales during the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2014. Gross profit increased 19.7% to $7.3 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2014 compared to $6.1 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2013. Gross profit margin or gross profit as a percentage of net sales was 34.9% in the third quarter of fiscal 2014 compared to 31.3% in the third quarter of fiscal 2013. Gross profit was $19.4 million in…

Neil Wilkin

Analyst

Thank you, Tracy. And now if you have any questions, we are happy to answer them. Operator, if you could please indicate the instructions for our participants to call in any questions they may have, I would appreciate it. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] There are no questions at this time.

Neil Wilkin

Analyst

Aaron, are there any questions that have been submitted by individual investors in advance of today's call?

Aaron Palash

Analyst

Neil, at this time, we do not have any questions submitted by individual shareholders.

Neil Wilkin

Analyst

Okay. Well, I would like to thank everyone for listening to our third quarter conference call today. As always, we appreciate your time and your interest in Optical Cable Corporation. Thank you very much.

Operator

Operator

Thank you for participating in the Optical Cable Corporation Third Quarter 2014 Earnings Conference Call. You may now disconnect.