Pat Fogarty
Analyst · KeyBanc Capital Markets
Thanks, Matt, and good morning. Our first quarter results reflect significant improvement compared to both the fourth quarter and the first quarter of last year. We saw increased customer demand in each of our business units and across all 3 business segments, which led to near record consolidated sales for the quarter. We achieved record sales for the quarter in both Supply Technologies and Assembly Components driven by strong end market demand and improved product pricing, which helped offset escalating raw material and freight costs impacting each business. While ongoing end market volatility will likely continue throughout the year given the current global supply chain environment, we believe each business segment is positioned to achieve record revenues this year. The first quarter was a good start to achieving our revenue goals for the year. In the first quarter, consolidated net sales were $418 million, up 13% sequentially compared to the fourth quarter of last year and up 16% year-over-year. Higher sales levels were driven by increasing customer demand across all 3 segments and in most end markets. Improved product pricing and the increased production of the strong bookings built up in our industrial equipment business. Our gross margins in the first quarter were 12.8% compared to 6.5% last quarter and 14.5% a year ago. The improvement from last quarter reflects the profit flow-through from higher sales and improved customer pricing in the current period. On an adjusted basis, our gross margins improved over 300 basis points compared to the fourth quarter of last year. SG&A expenses were $46 million compared to $40 million a year ago, with the increase due to higher selling expenses from the higher sales levels, an increase in personnel costs, and increased professional fees incurred during the first quarter. Interest expense totaled $7.8 million compared to $7.4 million a year ago, with the increase driven by higher average borrowings year-over-year. The income tax benefit of $3.4 million in the quarter on pretax income of $2.9 million includes a discrete tax benefit of approximately $4 million related to federal tax credits which we expect to realize in cash. Excluding the credits, our effective income tax rate in the quarter would have been approximately 24%, which is within our expected range of 20% to 25% for the full year. GAAP EPS for the quarter was $0.50 per diluted share. Adjusted EPS, which excludes onetime items related primarily to restructuring was $0.73 per share during the quarter, which was significantly higher than an adjusted loss of $1.08 last quarter and adjusted income of $0.53 last year. During the quarter, we used operating cash flow of $10 million to fund higher working capital levels, primarily due to higher accounts receivable balance driven by the sales growth during the quarter. We expect operating cash flows in the second quarter to begin to trend toward breakeven with positive free cash flows in the second half of the year. EBITDA, as defined by our credit agreement, improved year-over-year and totaled $27.6 million in the first quarter. We continue to focus on increasing operating and free cash flows and expect a $20 million reduction in our net debt balances by year-end from first quarter levels, with continued improvement in our net debt leverage as our EBITDA improves. CapEx in the quarter was $7 million and consisted of investments to support plant consolidation and cost saving activities and for new business awarded in our Assembly Components segment. Our liquidity at the end of the first quarter was $225 million, which consisted of $62 million of cash on hand and $163 million of unused borrowing capacity under our various banking arrangements, which includes $45 million of suppressed availability. We expect our liquidity to continue to exceed $200 million throughout the year and our net debt leverage to improve to 4.5x to 5x by yearend. Turning now to our segment results, in Supply Technologies, net sales were a record $169 million during the quarter, up 7% compared to $158 million a year ago. Average daily sales in our supply chain business were up 5% year-over-year. During the quarter, we saw significant year-over-year sales growth in most key end markets, with the biggest increases in semiconductor, civilian aerospace, industrial and agricultural equipment and heavy-duty truck. In addition, our fastener manufacturing business continues to perform well and achieved organic sales growth of 15% over fourth quarter sales. Operating income in this segment totaled approximately $12 million in the current and prior year quarter. Higher product and ocean freight costs continued to impact our margins. We continue to focus on price action strategies across the business and are having success recovering a high percentage of the increased costs with many customers in this segment. In our Assembly Components segment, sales for the quarter were a record $159 million compared to $126 million a year ago, an increase of 26% year-over-year. Sales in the current quarter were higher due to increased volumes from new business launch last year and increased customer pricing, which included the pass-through of higher aluminum and rubber compound prices. Segment operating income was $2 million in the first quarter compared to a loss of $18 million last quarter and income of $6 million a year ago. On an adjusted basis, operating income was up $17 million sequentially compared to the fourth quarter of last year. This significant improvement quarter-over-quarter was driven by the profit flow-through from higher sales, customer price increases and the benefits of restructuring actions taken over the last several quarters. In this segment, raw material inflation, higher labor costs, supply chain constraints and customer demand volatility continued to result in higher operating costs. During the first quarter, we finalized price negotiations with several customers to help mitigate these cost increases. The result of these negotiations allowed this segment to deliver improved operating income for the quarter. We will continue to take actions to improve profitability, including moving certain production to lower-cost facilities, consolidating manufacturing plants, and automating production where possible, in addition to strategic price actions with customers. In our Engineered Products segment, first quarter sales were $91 million, up 20% compared to $76 million a year ago. In our capital equipment business, sales were up 16% compared to a year ago as customer demand for our equipment is robust with double-digit year-over-year growth in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Bookings of $70 million in the first quarter were an all-time record for this business and were up 96% sequentially and 76% year-over-year. Backlog as of March 31 was $147 million, an increase of 22% compared to the end of last year. In our Forged and Machine Products business, sales in the quarter were at their highest level since the first quarter of 2020 as several key end markets continue the recovery, including oil and gas, rail and commercial and military aerospace. During the quarter, operating income in this segment was $2 million compared to a loss of $1 million a year ago. The profitability improvement year-over-year was driven by the profit flow-through from the higher sales levels, product pricing initiatives, the benefits of cost reduction actions, which included the consolidation of our crop forge operations, and significant operational improvements in our factory in Arkansas. And finally, corporate expenses totaled $7.9 million during the quarter compared to $5 million a year ago. The higher expenses in the current year were driven by higher personnel costs and incremental professional fees in the current period. And finally, with respect to our 2022 guidance, we continue to expect revenues to be at record levels for the full year, with revenue growth of approximately 15%, driven by strong customer demand in each segment. We also continue to expect significant improvement in profitability for the full year 2022 and expect positive adjusted net income in each of the remaining quarters of the year. Now I’ll turn the call back over to Matt.