Ronald M. DeFeo
Analyst · Morgan Stanley
Yes. Thank you, Kevin. And moving onto Page 7 of the presentation of the net sales bridge for the quarter. Our revenue overall was up primarily, as mentioned, from AWP and MHPS, as noted on that slide. Our Cranes segment revenue was down about 3%, but experienced about 28% sequential improvement over the first half quarter, which was, as you know, weak. Regarding AWP, it's interesting to note that this represents an all-time record quarter for net sales. On Page 8, we review the revenue performance for the company by geography. In general, and I think this is a common theme, the traditional -- or developed markets of Europe and North America grew, while the balance of the world saw some softness. North America represented 44% of our business, while Europe was 29% and the rest of the world was 27%. While on this slide, I'm going to discuss some more details on our each -- on each segment relative to our geographic performance, although that data is not included on the slide. For somewhat competitive reasons, I'm not going to give you specific percentages, but general percentages, on how our individual businesses performed by geography. For AWP, the second quarter performance was led by North America, where net sales rose more than 25% versus the prior-year period. Europe also grew more than 15%. However, on a year-to-date basis, European growth is actually outpacing North American growth, reflecting the improving trend in Europe. But still, of course, Europe is way below the past prior peak. Offsetting this is a challenging environment in Latin America, which declined over 30% in the quarter. Although this business is quite small, we are encouraged by the progress we're making in China. Orders and backlog for the segment overall continue to be quite solid. Customers are performing well for AWP and we expect continued strength, particularly in North America and Europe. Turning to the geographic performance of Construction. North America was basically flat with year ago, but Europe grew over 15%. And for this segment, Europe represents over 40% of our business. Our North American Concrete business is strong, but we are experiencing some weakness in our Compact business in North America. Overall, orders and backlog are about as expected. Cranes' performance continued to be strong in Europe. In fact, Europe represented all of our growth, with revenue up well over 50% compared with the prior-year period for the second consecutive quarter. Conversely, North America was down 15% for the second consecutive quarter and Australia continues to decline. Overall, bookings were about in line with backlog. So for 3 consecutive quarters, we've had a positive book-to-bill ratio for this segment. First half orders were about 12% above last year, supporting our expectation for a stronger second half. The Material Handling & Port Solutions business was mixed, with basically flat net sales from the Material Handling business and about 50% growth from the Port business. We're encouraged by the stabilization of the Material Handling business compared with the prior-year period and deliveries related to the large port equipment project continue, particularly in Europe. The backlog remains flat on a year-over-year basis and is about as expected. Materials Processing net sales were positive in North America and Europe, growing double digits in both regions, but somewhat offset by a meaningful decline in Australia and Latin America. So overall, for the company consolidated, developed markets are strengthening, while developing markets remain challenging. I do expect the developing markets will improve, if not later this year, probably in 2015. On Page 9, operating profit improved in the quarter, up about $13 million compared with the year-ago adjusted levels. Our AWP business continue to deliver good margins at 15.8%. While volume was strong, the mix of business, planned investments and new product development and manufacturing footprint have continued to put modest pressure on the incremental margins in the short term. Construction improved in the quarter to report a profit of $4 million. The decrease in operating profit for the Cranes segment is primarily volume-related, with a modest decrease versus last year. MHPS performance improved as a result of the higher sales and volume and the restructuring actions of 2013, but we continue to expect MHPS to be profitable during the remaining quarters of the year. In fact, pretty similar to last year, the operating margin should improve meaningfully in the back half of the year. MP's performance was roughly in line with the prior year. Now turning to Page 10 and our 2014 outlook. Given we're at the mid-point of the year, we thought it would be helpful to update our current view on guidance. And as you see, we've lowered the upper end of sales -- of the sales range as a result of a more tepid recovery in many markets. The lower sales level has had a modest impact on margins with our range lowered 25 basis points at both the high and low end. Essentially, lower volume will somewhat, but not completely, be offset by the effects of cost reduction activities and a better product mix. Other small changes we expect include $5 million less in interest and other expense, as well as adjusting the tax rate down to 30% to 33% from the prior 33% to 35%. We think we're getting the benefit from losses not benefited and actually expect our long-term tax range to be coming down over time. Other considerations, such as a slightly lower share count of $116 million, will -- lead us to reiterate the range of EPS $2.50 to $2.80. On Page 11, we try to provide some commentary as additional perspective to the outlook change. Those changes are noted in bold. AWP is now anticipated to grow net sales for the full year to slightly a higher percentage, while moderating our growth expectations for both MHPS and MP. In terms of the operating margins, we're looking at slightly lower margins in both our Cranes and MHPS segments as we believe underperformance in the first quarter for Cranes and customer delays in MHPS will make it too difficult to achieve the overall range previously given despite both segments anticipating a stronger back half of 2014. So to conclude, on Page 12, AWP is expected to continue to perform well, both in terms of sales and margin opportunities. We remain positive about Construction, MHPS and MP segments responding to improving market conditions. We are encouraged by the recent order trends in Cranes, but we'd really like to see that momentum continue. We expect some acceleration of EPS in the back half of the year as happened in 2013. So consequently, we are reiterating our EPS guidance of $2.50 to $2.80 a share. Fundamentally, we're positive about the improvements going on in the company. Our operating environment remains somewhat challenged, depending upon where you are in the world. Our organization is functioning generally well, continuing to invest in new products and new sales initiatives. We do have some margin challenges around the company, but we're confidently addressing them. So I'd now like to open it up to your questions. So, operator, please open the lines and let's begin the questions.