Dana Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
October 27, 2023

There are 10 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to Dana Incorporated's Third Quarter 2023 Financial Webcast and Conference Call. My name is Chris, and I'll be your conference facilitator. Please be advised that our meeting today, both the speakers' remarks and the Q and A session will be recorded for replay purposes. For those participants who would like to access the call from the webcast, please reference the URL on our website and sign in as a guest. There will be a question and answer period after the speakers' remarks.

Operator

We will take questions from the telephone only. To ensure that everyone has an opportunity to participate in today's Q and A, We ask that callers limit themselves to one question at a time. At this time, I'd like to begin the presentation by turning the call over to Dana's Senior Director of Investor Relations and Strategic Planning, Craig Barber. Please go ahead, Mr. Barber.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Chris, and good morning, everyone on the call. Thanks for joining us for our Q3 2023 earnings call. You'll find this morning's press release and presentation are now posted on our investor website. This call is being recorded and the supporting materials of the property of Deane Incorporated I want to remind you that today's presentation includes forward looking statements about our expectations for DNIS future Actual results could differ from those suggested by our comments today. Additional information about the factors that could affect future results are summarized in our Safe Harbor statements found in our public filings, including our appointed guests.

Speaker 1

On the call this morning are Jim Kamciscus, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Timothy Krause, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. My pleasure to turn the call over to Jim.

Speaker 2

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today. First, please turn with me to Page 4, I'll discuss our highlights for the Q3 of 2023. Starting on the left side, we are pleased to report that Dana achieved robust third quarter sales growth $2,700,000,000 a $134,000,000 increase over the same period last year, driven by continued strong customer demand. The roll on of our new business backlog across all our end markets, including EV programs and our ongoing cost recovery efforts. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $242,000,000 up $50,000,000 or 150 basis points over the Q3 of last year, driven by our strong operational execution and improved efficiency.

Speaker 2

This is a tremendous accomplishment given the uncertainty the light vehicle market faced in the quarter. Free cash flow was a use of $5,000,000 for the quarter, which is reflective of the higher seasonal working capital requirements to support our aggressive launch scheduled this year. Lastly, our results, adjusted earnings per share for the year were $0.30 an improvement of $0.06 per share. Dana continues to execute well across our operations despite the impact of the UAW strike on our light vehicle North America business late in the quarter. The structural profitability improvements of the business are very much the product of the entire Dana team progressively overcoming the 2020 to 2022 Onrush COVID related costs that we had endured over the past few years.

Speaker 2

As you've witnessed throughout the 1st 3 quarters of the year, We have systematically implemented the core tenant of our enterprise strategy that is what we refer to as leverage the core. What this means is that we have driven standardization and transformational change across the entire organization. While achieving countless improvements Across the business, we are especially realizing exceptional operational efficiency and customer satisfaction, while simultaneously launching a company record Number of new programs throughout the year. Moving to the right side of the slide, I will provide you an update on the current operating environment As well as the impact of the UAW strike, which is affecting some of our key North America light vehicle programs. Next, I will discuss the end market trends for our wide ranging business around the world.

Speaker 2

Finally, I will provide an update on a few of the key high profile launches that are now underway or have been completed. Please turn with me to Page 5 where I will walk you through an update on our operating environment. As we shared with you last quarter, we are seeing the overall operating environment improving as we go through the second half of 2023. Beginning with supply chain and currency impacts on the left side of the slide, steel prices are moderating compared with 2022, And we expect commodities to be a profit tailwind for the rest of the year. Commodity recoveries are leveling out as a result of lower input prices Requiring fewer recoveries.

Speaker 2

This dynamic should continue to be a tailwind for the margin this year. As you can imagine, we've had many questions about The resiliency of the broader supply base, and we continue to closely monitor the health of our downstream suppliers. Needless to say, The longer the UAW strike continues, the greater financial stress there will be across the Tier 2 through Tier 4 supply base. We are very focused on ensuring that not only are we working collaboratively through these challenging times, but that production restarts are in place and actionable once the Detroit 3 customer facilities are back online and manufacturing vehicles again. Finally, for this section, foreign currencies as translated to the U.

Speaker 2

S. Dollar, particularly the euro, have become a slight headwind as the relative strength of the dollar has strengthened. Moving to the center of the slide, cost inflation is moderating and pricing actions continue to mute the impact of inflation. As we stated last quarter, we do not expect to completely offset inflation as we close the year, but we are moving in a positive direction. We have also seen sequential improvement in customer production volatility prior to the strike late in the quarter.

Speaker 2

In the Q3 and for the remainder of the year, we continued Moving to the right of the page, like everyone in the industry, our North America light vehicle business has been impacted by the UAW strike. For Dana, we have been largely affected by 2 of our key customers. And as of today, less than 10% of our Dana's menu plants Have been significantly affected. The Dana team has done an outstanding job rapidly responding to the uncertainty of this borrower does situation by idling and flexing operations as needed to mitigate the cost impact. As a result of the strike, we saw $65,000,000 lower sales in the 3rd quarter.

Speaker 2

With the expansion strike earlier this month, we expect to see 185,000,000 dollars in the lower sales in the month of October. While the UAW labor disputes remain volatile, we expect benefits from Operational improvements and commodity costs as we close out the year. Let's turn to Page 6, where I'll talk about the global end market trends we are As we have already stated this morning, Light vehicle production in North America is being impacted by the UAW strike, which has affected some of Dana's largest and most prominent light truck programs, including Ford Super Duty, Ranger and Bronco as well as the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator. Prior to the labor disruption, production volatility levels had stabilized And inventory levels of key programs had shown some improvement, but remained below historical levels. Demand in Europe is slightly higher Due to the strong backlog of orders and restocking of inventories, while Asia production is expected to be flat.

Speaker 2

Moving to the center of the slide, in the commercial vehicle segment, We expect the overall North America Class 8 medium duty truck market to finish the year on a high note with the full year production expected to be around 7% for the year compared with 2022. In Europe, the heavy truck production outlook remains strong with production up 15%. Meanwhile, there has been a significant downturn in South America truck and bus market at around 30% due to the overall economic slowdown. The truck and bus market in India will be up slightly. For the off highway market, on the far right of the slide, We anticipate infrastructure spending to support continued strong demand for construction equipment.

Speaker 2

Global agriculture equipment production is weakening A bit due to the farming commodity price increase or price decreasing, while demand for mining machinery remained stable as has been the case for most of the year. By region, North America is expected to remain stronger for the construction and agricultural equipment, while Europe shows some weakness throughout The end of the year, Asia will be slower with China demand offsetting any growth expected in India. Overall, as we finish out the year, we see continued strong demand in our heavy vehicle markets providing balance to the overall business. Please turn to Slide 7, where I'll provide an update on some of Dana's key launch programs. When we began the year, I outlined Dana's extremely aggressive launch cadence for 2023, which has required significant capital investment and includes over 120 programs spanning both traditional and EV across all markets globally, including some very large and complex programs.

Speaker 2

We anticipate next year to be a more normalized cadence with several key launches across all segments. Today, I'm pleased to report that more than 70% of these programs are successfully completed and industrialized, including the Ford Super Duty and Ranger, as well as the Jeep Wrangler program. Once the UAW strike concludes, we anticipate these programs to be back up And Ryan Quickley as he remains some of the most sought after vehicles in the market. While I won't walk you through each one on the slide, will draw your attention to a few notable programs that are on track to launch in the next several months, including the conquest business of the Fence 700 Series Tractor, Compact Construction Equipment with John Deere and the Jeep Gladiator and Toyota Tacoma pickup trucks. All these launches spanning across all markets and regions are significant, but it's important to note that we have successfully completed or near completing Four of our largest programs, the Ford Super Duty, the Global Ranger, the Jeep Wrangler and the Toyota Tacoma.

Speaker 2

Together these account for more than $2,000,000,000 in sales per year. Thank you for your time today. Now I'd like to turn it over to Tim, who will walk you through the financials.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Jim. Good morning. Please turn to Slide 9 for a look at Dana's Q3 2023 results. Sales were $2,670,000,000 $134,000,000 increase over last year, primarily driven by strong demand across all our segments, recoveries of cost inflation And favorable currency translation, partially offset by lower demand due to the UAW strike. Adjusted EBITDA was $242,000,000 for a margin of 9.1 percent, an increase of $50,000,000 150 basis points over last year's Q3.

Speaker 3

Our profit improvement was driven by lower net manufacturing costs, beneficial mix and better operating efficiencies resulting from strong operational execution. Net income attributable to Dana was $19,000,000 compared with a loss of $88,000,000 last year. The net loss last year was due to a non cash goodwill impairment charge. Diluted adjusted earnings per share was $0.30 A $0.06 improvement over the Q3 of last year. Lastly, free cash flow was a use of $5,000,000 down $82,000,000 from last year, driven primarily by higher working capital requirements to support our program launch cadence and higher capital spending.

Speaker 3

Please turn with me now to Slide 10 For a closer look at the drivers of sales and profit change for the Q3 of 2023, beginning on the left, Traditional organic sales growth of $20,000,000 was driven by higher demand and improved pricing, partially offset by the impact of the UAW strike on our light vehicle business. Adjusted EBITDA on higher sales was $35,000,000 which improved margins by 130 basis points. Cost inflation was partially offset by customer recoveries in the quarter, resulting in net inflation headwinds of about $14,000,000 Improved operational execution, beneficial mix and fewer inefficiencies driven by less volatile customer production patterns was the primary driver of profit improvement in the quarter. EV organic sales was $81,000,000 higher than last year and adjusted EBITDA was $12,000,000 higher, Improving overall margins by 20 basis points. Margin contribution on the higher EV sales and the deferral of engineering investment drove higher EV organic Foreign currency translation increased sales by about $42,000,000 as the dollar weakened in value against several foreign currencies, but primarily the euro.

Speaker 3

However, due to regional mix and profit was up only $2,000,000 for a slight negative margin impact of 10 basis points. Finally, Due to falling commodity prices, commodity cost recoveries in the Q3 was $9,000,000 lower than last year, but due to those same lower prices, There was a net profit benefit of $1,000,000 This resulted in a 10 basis points margin benefit. Next, I'll turn to Slide 11 for details of free cash flow for the Q3. Free cash flow was a use of $5,000,000 in the 3rd quarter. Higher profit this quarter was offset by increased working capital requirements that were $115,000,000 higher than last year.

Speaker 3

This was primarily driven by higher inventory requirements to support increased sales and support the large number of program launches. Capital spending was $23,000,000 higher than last year to support our backlog of new business. Please turn with me now to Slide 12 for an update of our guidance for 2023. We have modified our guidance to account for the uncertainty surrounding the duration and scope of the UAW strike. As our base case scenario, we are assuming that the strike remains at its current scale and is resolved by the end of October.

Speaker 3

Under this assumption, we are maintaining our prior sales and profit ranges. The strike order stretched to the end of the year, we anticipate it would lower sales by $500,000,000 And adjusted EBITDA by $90,000,000 Allow me to walk you through this chart. Looking at the sales guidance range in the middle of the page, Beginning at the upper end of the range on the right side of the scale, you will see that we expect sales to be $10,700,000,000 assuming the strike ends at the end of October. This is in line with our prior outlook as higher sales in our off highway markets are expected to offset the strike impact in light vehicle. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be about $850,000,000 in our base case scenario as cost saving actions and lower incentive compensation offset the Strike impact on profit.

Speaker 3

Profit margin is expected to be approximately 7.5% to 8% within the range of our prior guidance. Free cash flow is expected to be a use of approximately $20,000,000 in the base case scenario. Higher inventory and lower sales due to the strike are causing an increase in working capital. We do expect this dynamic to reduce We're reverse once the strike is concluded and we are able to utilize the inventory that is both on the plant floor or in transit. We also expect further cash flow impacts from additional supplier relief and restructuring actions.

Speaker 3

Diluted adjusted EPS remains unchanged at approximately $0.80 per share in our base case scenario. The resilience of our business to whether these external disruptions is a testament to the enterprise strategy And the ability of the team to perform in these difficult times. Thank you. I'll now turn the call back over to Chris for your questions.

Operator

Thank you. Our first question is from Noah Kaye with Oppenheimer. Your line is open.

Speaker 4

Hey, thanks for Taking the questions and appreciate the range of scenarios provided. I actually want to pick up on one of Tim's last comments. Can you speak to what you're doing To support the health of your suppliers, amid all going on for the last several weeks, How that has impacted cash conversion expectations for 4Q And what you would call out in terms of potentially that improving as we get into 2024?

Speaker 3

Sure. The impacts on suppliers are both related to the specific UAW actions as well as Actions that have happened previously. We have one particular supplier that's been of particular concern and we've been providing Significant support to that supplier. So we expect to continue to have some of that into the 4th quarter. And then we will obviously do what we need to make sure that as we go through the restart, we're able to Support the supply base and make sure we can deliver for our customers.

Speaker 4

And just, I didn't catch it. You can possibly quantify that or dimension the impact that it's having on cash flow?

Speaker 3

So the impact is in Q4, we don't expect it to be Significant, but it's difficult to mention at this point as we don't know what the restart is going to be.

Speaker 4

Okay. So the free cash flow conventions Headwinds are largely around the inventory build that you've been having. When Based off of the news flow that we've seen, it sounds like 4 workers for Super Duty And other programs that are important to you are being asked to return. And so that may be a fairly near term event. Can you just talk about your capacity to ramp back up at some of these programs, your state of revenues and What you expect will happen as those programs start back up again?

Speaker 2

Hey, good morning, Noah. Thanks for joining. Thanks for Further questions, this is Jim. I think the best way maybe to think about it is it's

Operator

the

Speaker 2

audience is it's almost like the COVID shutdown time I mean any sophisticated manufacturing company had a playbook to kind of wind it down and also had one to wind it up. As part of it, it's kind of the whole chain. Part of it's the whole supply base and what we're doing there, ensuring, make sure that supply base has the raw material, has the labor availability, so on and so forth. Internal operations are very much within our control and making sure there that we have inventory in place, we have soft safe launch Quality programs in place because you may have some new operators or operators that have to move around to different jobs or whatever the case may be. But from a standpoint from our line of sight, our ability to come up will be should not be a difficulty.

Speaker 2

We've ran this play before. So I hope that answers your question. But as soon as they're ready, we're just hopeful. It's still we all understand that it's still a tentative agreement. So Hopefully, we're moving and we're producing product back to where we were a few weeks

Speaker 4

That's helpful. Thanks, Jim. Last question from me. There's some mixed message out of the light vehicle industry around the Pace of EV Investments, but of course, the majority of your programs to date have been in CV and off highway. Can you speak to the pace of EV Investments and RFP activity that you're seeing currently in those markets And your expectations for future awards activity related to electrification?

Speaker 2

Yes. Again, thanks for the question. The way I think about it is, it almost starts with when we have, I would say, a very equal balance in terms of Depending on if you put it on a revenue level of electrification wins across all of the end markets that we participate, maybe we could dimension it differently or better the future, but really good balance across all the end markets. So the way we've designed the company, most important part, when we put Complete in house electrodynamic capability across the company, it was not with one end market I. E.

Speaker 2

Like vehicle centric or it wasn't like one Geographical market like North America centric, it was to basically be able to scale our products, our processes and our human capital across all of the respective end markets. So, what am I getting at here? Yes, but we can see that there may be some push out in Geographical markets or maybe some push out in some end markets like vehicle, commercial vehicle, whatever, but that isn't how we've designed the company. We scale our products as Basically high torque truck related products, truck and large vehicle products. So, as the volume comes on, we're able to flex with that And only go up the curve on our spending as that comes.

Speaker 2

So not too worried about that. That's just how it works. Our light vehicle products work over in our commercial vehicle, commercial Products work over and off highway is what I'm basically getting at. So in the punch line relative to new wins and so on and so forth, not here To announce anything, we've sprinkled the infield as I like to say throughout the course of the year, beginning of next year in February, we'll give you that standard Backlog update and some new updates for you.

Speaker 4

Okay. Looking forward to it. Thank you. Thank you.

Operator

The next question is from Colin Langan with Wells Fargo. Your line is open.

Speaker 5

Great. Thanks for taking my questions. I appreciate the guidance. But any color on the low end? Can you clarify whether that's with Forward strike ending or is that just assuming what was happening a couple of days ago continue to the end of the year?

Speaker 5

And any color on sort of the Sales drag, if it's just GM and Solana, how much like per week or something that we should be kind of estimating?

Speaker 3

Sure. Hey, Collin. Thanks for the question. So our low end assumes that The forward would be out through the end of the year, based on what they were currently down before the announcement of the tentative agreement. So it's the fully down scenario.

Speaker 3

And if you want to think about it, right, the way to kind of dimension it, I think we're not going to give Specifics, but about half of that change is probably forward, the balances is everything else.

Speaker 6

And any color on

Speaker 5

like a weekly pace of the balance at this point? I mean, Ford's over. So is it going to be

Speaker 3

I think you can probably you can work through it, right? If you think about the low and the high end, it's about $500,000,000 half of its board, you can sort of Figure out how you dimension it.

Speaker 5

Okay. All right.

Speaker 3

Thanks. And of course, it always some of it depends on the restart too in terms of board. How quickly they come up and which points come up and

Speaker 5

when? Yes, that makes sense. If I look at the guidance and I look at the high end And I think about what's implied in Q4, it does imply and I feel like I'm nitpicking because it's look like pretty good guidance given all the strike issues. But if I go quarter over quarter, sales actually still at the high end look pretty flat, but EBIT Falls off a bit, almost $80,000,000 or so at the high end. What would drive that?

Speaker 5

Is there seasonal issues? Is that just sort of abnormal Sort of drag from the strike, why the big margin drop into Q4 if

Speaker 3

So our Q4 margins are generally lower. I mean, we just have a lot of down production days in the Q4 when you think about Between the Christmas shutdown and Thanksgiving here in the States just makes the absorption on the fixed costs a little bit harder when you think about it. So it's definitely seasonality as you kind of go through that.

Speaker 5

Got it. If I could just squeeze one more in. I think in your last presentation, you indicated sort of a 50,000,000 Full year inflation drag and a $20,000,000 EV investment drag, are those still the right numbers? Have they changed at all?

Speaker 3

Yes. Inflation on a net basis has moderated a little bit, But nothing significant. We're seeing a little bit lower overall EV investment. You're starting you saw that sort of in the quarter. We call out some of its deferral, but we are as we start to ramp these programs, we're getting much More efficient and better as we time and bring on resources, getting them up to speed and getting them really productive Sure.

Speaker 3

So there's some efficiency built into that as well.

Speaker 5

Great. All right. Thanks for taking my question. Sure.

Operator

The next question is from Dan Levy with Barclays. Your line is open.

Speaker 7

Hi, good morning. Thank you. Just wanted to follow-up on Colin's Line of questions. But maybe just slightly different approach. Just if I'm looking at You're saying the upper end of your guide is equal to the midpoint of your prior guide, but that has Within that $250,000,000 of revenue impact at a 20% Decremental, so it's $50,000,000 EBITDA, but you're still holding the guide.

Speaker 7

So specifically, what is better at least at the upper end of your guide It is offsetting the UAW headwinds that you've incurred so far. Is it, are you saying inflation is sort of a neutral, Somewhat moderated. Is it EV that's holding in better?

Speaker 3

So it's a couple of things. Number 1, we continue to deliver And get the operational efficiencies back into the business. You saw that in Q2 and Accelerated into Q3. So when you think about both from an operating and cost performance perspective, we're seeing that flow through the business. We're also continuing to see good work from a commercial recovery perspective around margin improvement And then the work that the teams continue to do on managed spend.

Speaker 3

So all of those really core things that drive increased Conversion, we're seeing come through the business. And then like you said, while inflation Is net neutral or maybe a little better? We're also but generally that's the big driver as So why we're not seeing or able to cover some of the downside from the strike.

Speaker 7

Right. Thank you. And then just As far as and I recognize you'll give a guide on 24 on the 4Q call, but just conceptually as we're looking into Next year, is it fair to say that there's more runway on flowing through these business efficiencies, maybe some Inflation unwind starting to are those fair tailwinds to consider into 2024?

Speaker 3

Yes. I mean, obviously, we'll give guidance. We'll update guidance in February and we're watching all of Those factors pretty closely. Obviously, as we get through the restart and we get a better Feel for how the customers are going to run and what the outlook for production is going to be. I think it will be we'll have a clear picture of what some of the impacts will be for 2024.

Speaker 7

Okay. Thank you. As a follow-up, just wanted to ask Jim about the strategy on EVs, the question that Came up earlier. 2 thirds of your last backlog update was EV. So presumably, there is A fair amount of spend that you have on these programs.

Speaker 7

And I recognize you'll give us an update on where the backlog is. But to what extent do you have the ability to moderate your spend on eZUR? Is it that If you have programs that are in place, this is spend that's occurring regardless, even if there's risk that the programs may not Materialise. So maybe you could give us a sense of we're hearing from automakers that are pulling back on spend. How are you thinking about your spend In light of this pullback?

Speaker 2

Yes, that's a really good question, but a very broad question. So I hope I can get to a good Point here, so it's clear. But the first thing I'd start with, any supplier where the tail on the dog, but tail on the dog in a good way from From the standpoint, if they push out their spend, that means they're pushing out their programs, it pushes out their timing, which pushes out our spend. So that's kind of the first kind of high level Way I would think about it, the second thing I would tell you is just that and it's hard to articulate and maybe even illustrate for you. But when we think about the way we set our company up, let's take motors or inverters, we set them up Not to be a program specific product, they are very much so and obviously they have some exclusivity and specific I'd like to invite the customer, but the core of our products that actually goes for the mechanicals as well is all of those are scalable up the curve.

Speaker 2

So if we implement We install the capacity, human capacity, equipment capacity. It's essentially all flexible and modular and we're able to kind of pull that in. So Long story short, as volumes on programs are pulled in, let's say for the sake of discussion slower, we just have to spend a little bit lesser depending on the volume pull through and So on and so forth. But we still will need the products. I mean, none of us on this call are at all in denial that electrification is still coming at a very fast rate.

Speaker 2

Whatever it was last year, 1% of the North American market, this year, 7% of the North American market, etcetera, we all know the stats. So there is going to be plenty of pull through market, Maybe not as fast in North America as Europe or maybe not as fast in Europe as in China, but the markets are going to be there. Our products are global products. We'll be able to scale up as the customer pull throughs come through and as the end markets come through.

Speaker 7

Great. Thank you.

Operator

The next question is from Joe Spak with UBS. Your line is open.

Speaker 8

Thanks, everyone. Good morning. Maybe to sort of follow-up on a couple of themes already here. And I guess, Jim, I'll just follow on your most recent comments. Understand we'll have to wait to hear about the backlog, but and that you can sort of push investment to better Time what your customers are doing.

Speaker 8

You did note that in the quarter, you did some of that and I think that sort of helped some of that EV profitability. So How should we think about this in relation to your existing target to hit a breakeven in 2025? Because If the volume is lower, but you're also sort of pulling back, does that still net out to be able to hit that target or does that change the trajectory of it at all?

Speaker 3

Hey, Joe, it's Tim. Yes, obviously, we're it's pretty dynamic. So we're we continue to As Jim mentioned, a lot of the investments fungible. So we're making it and where we can push it around or defer it or become more efficient with it, So in terms of 2025, I think based on our where we're at today and the current run rate of programs, That's probably still where we see the EV business in 2025. Obviously, It is pretty dynamic.

Speaker 3

So we'll give an update on that in February as we continue to see the market To develop and what new business is able to be secured between now and then.

Speaker 4

Okay.

Speaker 8

And then just going back to the performance in the quarter and some of the Early thinking for 24. Like, obviously, sort of you noted, like there is there does appear to be good sort of Underlying execution in this quarter and I think that could once we get past the strike issues could give some confidence for people into next year. But Candidly, the business is really hard to forecast. Like even if we look at Slide 14, the second walks like, if you look at Segments like LVD and commercial vehicle that you see the like the flow through on traditional organics greater than the sales change. So can you just Give a little bit more texture as to sort of what's going on beneath the surface in those segments like maybe what are true Volume incremental, decremental margins and then what else is what is the hard work that you've done that's been causing that Conversion to be greater and what's sustainable into 2024?

Speaker 3

Yes. I mean, obviously, They're all pretty different. But if you look at light vehicle and you adjust for the strike in the quarter, The improvement is still pretty dramatic even still. That's really being driven First of all, 'twenty two was obviously a pretty difficult comparison

Speaker 7

even in

Speaker 3

the Q3. We continue to see pretty volatile demand. That improvement is really allowing a lot of the important improvements on the plant floor to be able To show through, that's going to continue. Obviously, as you get into 2024, the comparison to 2023 isn't the same It isn't going to be as dramatic, but certainly we'll continue to see those improvements. So I don't think you can Assume that the improvement operationally is going to be sequentially greater or continue.

Speaker 3

But The fact is that when the customer starts to run better, all the things we've done Across the business to really drive commoditization and efficiency and really a lot of the waste is really starting to show through. So Do I think there's some more of that in 'twenty four? Sure. I think we'll continue to be able to do that. I'm sure we'll meet a lot of other challenges in 'twenty four as In 'twenty four as well, so we'll have to see how it all nets out.

Speaker 3

But that's a big driver really across all the I mean, if you think about commercial, I'll use that one, right? Sales are down, but that's a tale of sort of 2 markets, right? Brazil is down Quite considerably and what you're seeing is sort of the sales offset that you have in North America And a lot of really strong efforts from a commercial perspective to really improve margins in that business. So It's a mixed bag when you look at the different segments and I agree it's sometimes hard to Sort of parse out, but each has its own story and I think the teams are doing a great job to really drive the improvements that need to be whether it's Plant floor or commercial or managed spend in auto.

Operator

Well, I appreciate

Speaker 8

that. Maybe just to sort of like 0 in on LVD then, like if we if traditional ag gag was up $15,000,000 sales, if we just Broad strokes assume a 20% incremental margin flow through on that and that was just what somewhat like almost $20,000,000 plus like not from volume. So how much of that is recoveries versus some of the work You've done on your own to sort of help get you there?

Speaker 3

The biggest single chunk of that is really operational, To be very honest, right? Okay. It is, right? I mean, the strike was the last 2 weeks in the quarter. So there's a lot of Very strong operational improvements.

Speaker 3

And the customer prior to the strike ran extremely well in some of our largest Programs and we were able to see the flow through of all the work that's been done to get the plants to run where they need to run.

Speaker 8

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

The next question is from James Picariello with BNP Paribas. Your line is open.

Speaker 6

Hi. Good morning, everyone. Just on Off Highway, the Q3 took a step down, but I think you could point to a handful of years and say that Seasonally, that's what everyone's consistent for the Q3. Just curious what you're seeing there in terms of Ag, Construction Mining. And should we expect, I mean, is there going to be a seasonal pickup in the Q4?

Speaker 6

Just kind of an overview on the key puts and takes on Off Highway? Thanks.

Speaker 3

Yes. So I don't think you can we're not seeing a real uptick From a Q4 perspective in there, right? We've done a really nice job. We did a really nice job of going and getting a lot of And we've done a really nice job of trying to keep as much of that margin as we can. We know that, We're going to have to give some of this back.

Speaker 3

We started to see a little bit of that in the Q3. That probably continues a bit more into the 4th. I mean, the end markets all Remain good and strong and we're continuing to deliver into them. But I think some

Speaker 2

of that's

Speaker 3

being Some of the pricing we had gotten and now that we don't, we're seeing some of the pullback in inflation, we're going to have to get a little bit of that back and that's going to pressure Both the top line and a bit of the margin as we run into the Q4.

Speaker 6

Got it. And then just on the commodities front, As we think about next year, looking at current spot pricing, what would be kind of the setup, the positioning Commodities, would that be an additional or could that be an additional tailwind for you into next year?

Speaker 2

Yes, I mean, I'm not

Speaker 3

going to comment on next year. We're obviously working through that now and we'll have to make a we'll make some decisions about where we think commodities And how that will flow through, I don't expect it to be material one way or the other, But I don't think we're ready to give an indication of what we think the commodity impact is going to be yet for next year.

Speaker 5

All right. Thanks guys. Yes.

Operator

The last question is from Winnie Dong with Deutsche Bank. Your line is open.

Speaker 9

Hi, thank you so much. The EV topic has been touched upon Several times already. But I was just wondering how much of the EV backlog is actually for light vehicles? And are you hearing any of your customers talking about a slowdown potentially because we've been Hearing that from sort of like the broader market. And then can you also maybe dimension for us what you're seeing in terms of the other end markets given the Diversification factor.

Speaker 2

Good morning. Just an overview, I'd say, and maybe Tim, you have Few words to add as well. It's up to you. I would just say this, the overall slowdown on the programs in terms of the timing and volumes and so on and so forth, Largely speaking, they're in they're where we thought they would be at this point, maybe a little bit of pullback and push out, but nothing too dramatic. You got to remember, again, it's we're not a light I know you know that alone, we're in bus market.

Speaker 2

Obviously, there's a lot of large pull for 0 admissions in school bus markets and a bunch of other, so Not a big pullback. As it relates to the other markets, if it's going to be slower and let's now use light vehicle as an example and call it the truck business, if they're not manufacturing Electric trucks, they're going to be manufacturing internal combustion engine trucks and that's good for our business as well. So we just we're very I said it from the very beginning when we talked about our enterprise strategy in 'sixteen and then in 'eighteen as well. We set up the company to be energy source In 2016 and then in 2018 as well, we set up the company to be energy source agnostic. We're ready, but no matter what it is, and we just were able to Flex on the fly to whichever that may be.

Speaker 2

Tim, so I don't know if you

Speaker 3

had anything to add. Yes, just on your specific question On LV and the backlog, it's pretty minor in terms of what's actually in the backlog for light vehicle EV, Mostly because our EV as we've mentioned is really the last of our segments, Our major segments to electrify, commercial vehicle was the first. So, the programs we have run, they tend to have A longer run rate in development and so they tend to fall outside of the current LV backlog or the current 3 year backlog.

Speaker 9

Okay. Thank you. That's really helpful. And then maybe ask another way just Because we are thinking about sort of like 2024. From a modeling standpoint, Do you think like Q3 or like year to date Q3 is a better way to sort of as a good base to start thinking about 2024, If there's any sort of seasonality factors we need to consider?

Speaker 9

Thanks.

Speaker 3

Yes. I mean, there is obviously seasonality. We talk little bit about how Q4 tends to be a little lower. So, our second and third quarters tend to be our best quarters historically. I think that continues.

Speaker 3

But as I mentioned earlier, we'll give an update on 24 In February, and we can have a discussion about it then, but I don't have anything specific on modeling for 2024 at this point.

Speaker 9

Okay. Thank you so much.

Speaker 2

Okay. Well, with that, this is Jim. Just a quick couple of closing comments. First, As always, Dewey, thank you very much for your time and attention. We appreciate it very, very much.

Speaker 2

2nd, the tail of the tape is, from my view anyway, is Steady sequential financial progress really across all of our business units. There's a little bit of seasonality as it relates to off highway as more PM based and Q3 can be a little bit slower and some things can happen there in Q3. But again, great numbers and great progress across all the business units for sure, Rolling up to where we're at today, outstanding launch performance, it could be easily underestimated because there's not everybody's in the day to day business like New Guayam and others are. What does it take to launch 120 programs across 1 company when it go from you got to win the program, you got to finance the program, you got to launch the program, you got to ensure great quality. That's remarkable and there's no impact.

Speaker 2

You can see it and the scoreboard doesn't lie. No splash in the financials of any massive premium freight, massive labor, massive this, massive that, Instead, nothing but improvement there. So I really want to thank the entire Dana team as well as our customers as we work through these challenges together. Major launches, yes. But just think about the UAW impact this, it's like COVID all over again and it's sort of seamless.

Speaker 2

I mean, obviously, it's going to have some impact on everyone's financials as it relates to Q4 numbers, but as it relates to running the business and ensuring that the end consumer gets great products, We're in great shape together. So thank you very much again for your time and attention. We look forward to talking to you next year.

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

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Earnings Conference Call
Dana Q3 2023
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