Carpenter Technology Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
April 27, 2023

Key Takeaways

  • Company saw continued strong demand across all end-use markets, driving a sequential backlog increase of 10% and 70% year-over-year, marking the ninth consecutive quarter of growth, with aerospace and defense backlog up 17% sequentially and 93% YoY.
  • Improved productivity and safe onboarding of new employees at manufacturing facilities resulted in higher throughput, enabling the SAO segment to deliver $49 million in operating income and the PEP segment to generate $10.2 million.
  • Q3 net sales reached $690.1 million (excluding surcharge $491.5 million), up 33% year-over-year and 17% sequentially, leading to a gross profit of $93.5 million and earnings per share of $0.38.
  • The company implemented another 7%–12% price increase on transactional business to offset inflationary costs and continues to secure pricing gains across both contractual and spot sales.
  • For Q4, management expects total operating income of $54 million–$60 million (SAO $65 million–$70 million; PEP $10 million–$11 million), aiming to return to pre-pandemic (FY2019) run-rate earnings and generate positive free cash flow.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Carpenter Technology Q3 2023
00:00 / 00:00

There are 8 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Carter Technology Earnings Conference Call for the fiscal 2023 Q3 ended March 31, 2023. This call is also being broadcast over the Internet along the presentation slides. Please note for those of you listening by phone, you may experience a time delay and slight movement. Speakers on the call today are Tony Tang, President and Chief Executive Officer and Tim Lane, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Statements made by management during this earnings presentation that are forward looking statements are based on current expectations.

Operator

Risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward looking statements can be found in Carpenter Technology's Most recent SEC filings, including the company's report on Form 10 ks for the year ended June 30, 2022, Forms 10Q for the quarters ended September 30, 2022 and December 31, 2022, and the exhibits attached to those filings. Please also note that in the following discussion, unless otherwise noted, When management discusses sales or revenue that reference excludes surcharge, when referring to operating margins That is based on adjusted operating income excluding special items and sales excluding surcharge. I will now turn the call over to Tony.

Speaker 1

Thank you, John, and good morning

Speaker 2

to everyone on the call today.

Speaker 1

I'll begin on Slide 4 and review our safety performance. Through the Q3 of fiscal year 2023, Our total case incident rate was 1.4. We saw improved performance in the 3rd quarter, lowering the year to date rate. As we have discussed in recent quarters, the year over year rate increase is largely due to the increased employees undertaking new tasks, Either as new hires or transfers into new roles. We continue to invest in additional training For any employee new to a job or task with frequent monitoring and follow-up, Although a 1.4 injury rate would rank us as one of the safest metal manufacturing companies, our goal continues to be A 0 injury workplace.

Speaker 1

Now let's turn to Slide 5 and a review of the 3rd quarter. The 3rd quarter performance was driven by higher productivity at our operating facilities and increasing demand in each of our end use markets. Most notably, we see the aerospace and defense end use market ramp accelerating. With a strong demand environment, Our backlog increased 10% sequentially and 70% year over year. This marks the 9th consecutive quarter of backlog growth.

Speaker 1

And with the strong demand environment across our end use markets, we continue to realize price gains, which expands our operating margin. In fact, this week, we announced another price increase of 7% to 12% on our transactional business. We continue to improve the productivity of our labor force across our facilities by safely onboarding new employees across all of our production centers And investing in the training required to accelerate learning. We are starting to realize the benefits of these productivity efforts And the performance of our business segments. For the quarter, the SAO segment delivered operating income of 49,000,000 Exceeding our expectations.

Speaker 1

With the improvements in productivity, we were able to ship additional material to our customers, Particularly in the Aerospace and Defense and Medical end use markets. The Pet segment turned in another strong performance With $10,200,000 in operating income for the recent quarter. In particular, we saw strong demand for titanium products for the aerospace and defense And Medical in these markets. Finally, our liquidity remains healthy as we finished the quarter with $212,000,000 in total liquidity. Now let's move to Slide 6 and the end use market update.

Speaker 1

All of our end use markets were up year over year and sequentially, Except the medical end use market, which was essentially flat sequentially. Our near term and long term outlook for each of our end use markets Remains positive and our record backlog levels support this outlook. Our aerospace and defense end use market Accounting for 49% of sales continues to ramp and was up 21% sequentially and 59% year over year. Customers across our aerospace submarkets continue to urgently request material and seek higher delivery levels. Global aerospace traffic continues to grow, pushing the supply chain to ramp production for new planes to meet the growing demand.

Speaker 1

As a result of the continued increases in demand, lead times across the industry have extended and our backlog continues to rise. Notably, our aerospace and defense end use market backlog is up 17% sequentially and 93% year over year. Our record backlog levels reflect price increases and customer urgency to secure material. The medical end use market accounting for 13% of sales was essentially flat sequentially and up 35% year over year. The higher year over year results were driven primarily by ongoing growth in elective surgery.

Speaker 1

And to meet growing demand for elective surgery, Customers are increasing their manufacturing activity. The overall outlook continues to be positive As medical procedures are expected to rise throughout calendar year 2023. We are seeing evidence of this replenishment in the supply chain As our medical and use market backlog is up 9% sequentially and 80% year over year. The transportation end use market accounting for 7% of sales was up 25% sequentially and up 5% compared to last year. With strong demand and low inventory of both light duty and heavy duty vehicles, build rates are expected to increase throughout calendar year 2023.

Speaker 1

The energy end use market accounting for 6% of sales was up 27% sequentially And up 24% compared to last year. Demand for energy continues to outpace supply, driving growth in capital investment And demand for our material solutions. In many cases, the materials we are supplying into the energy in which market are now reaching margins Similar to our Aerospace and Defense business due to the unique solutions and overall demand environment. The industrial and consumer end use market accounting for 19% of sales was up 22% sequentially And up 17% year over year. We remain focused on high margin, high growth business like a material solutions Used in semiconductor fabrication.

Speaker 1

Now, I will turn it over to Tim for the financial summary.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Tony. Good morning, everyone. I'll start on Slide 8, the income statement summary. Net sales in the Q3 were $690,100,000 and sales excluding surcharge totaled 491,500,000 Sales excluding surcharge increased 33% from the same period a year ago on 15% higher volume. Sequentially, Sales were up 17% on 13% higher volume.

Speaker 3

The higher volumes are driven by our improving productivity and throughput across our operations. I would also note that the sales growth outpaced the volume growth both sequentially and year over year driven by an improving product mix And increased base prices. Gross profit was $93,500,000 in the current quarter compared to $39,500,000 in the same quarter of And $70,000,000 in the Q2 of fiscal year 2023. Gross profit is up 137% compared to the same quarter last And up 34% sequentially. The improvement in gross profit is primarily driven by higher sales An improvement product mix and increased selling prices partially offset by inflationary cost increases.

Speaker 3

SG and A expenses were $54,200,000 in the 3rd quarter, up about $16,000,000 from the same period a year ago And roughly $7,000,000 higher sequentially. When adjusting for the special item in last year's Q3, SG and A Expenses were up roughly $11,000,000 year over year. The increase in SG and A expenses largely reflects higher variable compensation accruals, Higher travel costs and the timing of certain other expenses. The SG and A line includes corporate costs, Which totaled $19,600,000 in the recent Q3. As we look ahead to the upcoming Q4 of fiscal year 2023, We expect corporate costs to be about $21,000,000 Operating income was $39,300,000 in the current quarter.

Speaker 3

When excluding the impact of special items in the prior year quarter, adjusted operating loss was $1,600,000 And in our recent Q2, operating income was $22,600,000 Again, the improvement in profitability is being driven by the Increasing productivity, driving volume gains along with mix and price benefits. Although not shown on the slide, interest expense was $14,500,000 in the current quarter compared to $13,000,000 in our recent second quarter. The increase is due to the rising interest rates on our outstanding revolver borrowings. We currently expect interest expense to be about $15,000,000 our upcoming Q4. Our effective tax rate for the Q3 was 22.5%.

Speaker 3

We continue to expect that the full year 2023 effective tax rate will be approximately 22% to 24%. Earnings per share for the current quarter was $0.38 per share. The results demonstrate our continued momentum supported by improving productivity And a strong demand environment. Now turning to Slide 9 and our SAO segment results. Net sales for the Q3 were $603,400,000 or $411,500,000 excluding surcharge.

Speaker 3

Compared to the same period last year, net sales excluding surcharge increased 37% on 13% higher volumes. Sequentially, net sales excluding surcharge increased 19% on 14% higher volume. The year over year improvement in net sales was driven by higher shipment volumes due to productivity gains, the impacts of higher prices And in improving product mix across our key end use markets as Tony reviewed on the market slide. Sequentially, we continue to drive momentum in net sales as the operating efficiencies drove higher volumes combined with a stronger mix of products. Moving to operating results, SAO reported operating income of $49,000,000 in our recent 3rd quarter, A significant improvement versus both the same quarter last year and our recent Q2.

Speaker 3

The improving operating income results reflect continued progress Towards returning to our fiscal year 2019 run rates. On a year over year basis, the SAO adjusted operating income improvement $41,400,000 is largely due to higher sales driven from increased production activity and throughput, Which has also improved our cost performance. This was coupled with an improving product mix and price increases on both transactional and contract business. On a sequential basis, operating income improved $18,700,000 which is ahead of the expectations we set last quarter. This was driven by increased volumes as we continue to ramp our operations to meet the strong demand, partially offset by higher variable compensation accruals in the current Looking ahead, the SAO team remains focused on accelerating activity levels and production flow in a safe manner To meet the needs of our customers for the foreseeable future.

Speaker 3

Based on current expectations, We anticipate SAO will generate operating income in the range of $65,000,000 to $70,000,000 in the upcoming Q4 of fiscal year 2023. This is significant as it would mark a return to pre pandemic operating income levels. Now turning to Slide 10 and our PEP segment results. Net sales in the Q3 of fiscal year 2023 were $115,100,000 We're $103,800,000 excluding surcharge. Net sales excluding surcharge increased 20% from the same quarter last year And 6% sequentially.

Speaker 3

The year over year growth in net sales reflects increased demand primarily in our Dynamet Titanium and Additive businesses. In our Dynamet Titanium business, net sales increased in both the Aerospace and Defense and Medical end use markets From the same quarter a year ago. We've also seen a significant improvement in year over year sales in our additive business Driven primarily by aerospace and defense market applications. The sequential increase in net sales primarily reflects increases in both Dynamet Titanium sales and additive sales to the aerospace and defense end use market. In the current quarter, PEP reported operating income of $10,200,000 This compares to adjusted operating income of $4,400,000 In the same quarter a year ago and operating income of $9,300,000 in the Q2 of fiscal year 2023.

Speaker 3

The operating income improvement year over year is largely driven by higher sales in our Dynamet and additive businesses. We currently anticipate that the PeP segment will deliver operating income in the range of $10,000,000 to $11,000,000 For the upcoming Q4 of fiscal year 2023. Now turning to Slide 11 and a review of adjusted free cash flow. In the current quarter, we generated $5,000,000 of cash from operating activities or $91,000,000 sequential improvement. The increase is largely attributable to the higher earnings combined with an inventory reduction of $13,000,000 compared to an inventory build in the prior quarter.

Speaker 3

We anticipate that we will reduce inventories from the current levels in the upcoming Q4. The reduction will be driven by increased shipments And a more balanced flow of materials across the operations. In terms of other working capital, the current quarter $69,000,000 use of cash It's largely due to increased accounts receivable driven by higher sales as the quarter progressed. In the Q3 of fiscal year 2023, we spent $21,000,000 on capital expenditures. We expect fiscal year 2023 capital expenditures to be in the range of $80,000,000 to $85,000,000 which is down slightly from the previous guidance of $85,000,000 to $90,000,000 due to timing of our capital projects.

Speaker 3

Lastly, as I continue to highlight, we continue to fund a constant dividend to our shareholders, Which is included in our adjusted free cash flow and an important part of our overall shareholder return. With those details in mind, we reported adjusted free cash flow of negative $26,000,000 in the Q3 of fiscal year 2023. Looking ahead to the Q4, we expect to generate positive adjusted free cash flow. Our liquidity remains healthy And we ended the current quarter with total liquidity of $212,000,000 including $22,000,000 of cash and $190,000,000 of available borrowings under our credit Earlier this month, we executed an agreement with our banking group to amend and extend our credit facility. Under the agreement, we increased our credit facility size from $300,000,000 to $350,000,000 and extended the maturity to April 2028.

Speaker 3

You should note that the incremental $50,000,000 is not reflected in this slide as the increase was effective post quarter end. With that, I will turn the call back to Tony.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Tim. Now to recap our Q3 of fiscal year 2023. Demand continues to increase with positive near term and long term outlooks in each of our end use markets. Notably, the aerospace submarkets continue to accelerate their recovery. As a result, our backlog continues to grow And we expect it to remain strong for the foreseeable future.

Speaker 1

To meet the demand, we are continuing to increase production rates at all of our manufacturing facilities. To do this, we are focused on safely onboarding and training new employees across work centers to improve productivity By increasing volumes, improving mix, increasing prices and improving productivity, we will continue to see margin expansion. Notably, we expect margins to continue to improve in the SAO segment. We will continue to offset inflationary pressures Through our raw materials surcharge mechanism and our ability to increase prices on both our contractual and transactional business. As evident, we just announced our latest round of transactional price increases of 7% to 12% this week.

Speaker 1

It is important to note that inventory levels decreased during the quarter and we expect inventory to further decrease through the remainder of the fiscal year. And most importantly, looking ahead, we are positioned to achieve our goal of delivering operating income at the fiscal year 2019 run rate range In the Q4 of fiscal year 2023. Let's turn to the next slide and take a closer look at our full fiscal year 2023 outlook. On our last earnings call, I reviewed the path to achieving the fiscal year 2019 operating income run rate By the Q4 of this fiscal year, as you can see in the chart on the right, we have finished the 3rd quarter ahead of our expectation. Our recent Q3 performance was primarily driven by the increased productivity across our manufacturing facility, Resulting in a 17% sales increase sequentially, ahead of the 12% to 13% we previously guided to.

Speaker 1

With that momentum, we remain on track to achieve our Q4 fiscal year 2023 operating income goal. Demand remains strong across all of our English markets as evidenced by growing backlog and extending lead times. We remain focused on safely training and developing workforce to continue to drive production rates. Earlier, Jim communicated the SAO and PEPS segment 4th quarter operating income outlook. Those combined with estimated corporate costs results in a total company operating income range of $54,000,000 to $60,000,000 For the Q4.

Speaker 1

And looking ahead, we expect to continue to see strong performance in the Q1 of fiscal year 2024. It is an exciting time for Carpenter Technology as we are in the midst of a demand upturn in our key in niche markets. We are well positioned to return to pre pandemic earning levels in this fiscal year and we have a path to significantly increase earnings Over the coming years. We have scheduled an Investor Day event on May 16, And we will go into more detail on our portfolio of material solutions, our unique assets and capabilities And our financial outlook for the next several years. We look forward to sharing our vision with you.

Speaker 1

For more information about the event, Please visit our Investor Relations website. Thank you for your time. And now, I will turn it over to the operator to take your questions.

Speaker 4

Thank you. We'll now begin the question and answer session. This time, we'll pause momentarily to assemble the roster. First question will be from Josh Sullivan of The Benchmark Company. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Hey, good morning.

Speaker 2

Good morning, Josh.

Speaker 6

Good morning. How do we think of system wide SAO capacity Relative to 2019, you've implemented the carpenter operating model during COVID, Athens has more qualifications. Yes. How much more can you sweat the assets given you got aerospace demand coupled with strength across other segments now?

Speaker 2

I can give you at a high level, Josh, you mentioned a couple of them. 1, our productivity is higher or projected to be higher than what it was in FY 2019. In FY 2019, Athens effectively was at 0% utilization. So now you have them coming on. And we changed the mix of our products as well, where we've cut off the tail on some of the products and focused more On higher margin products such as aerospace and defense.

Speaker 2

So those three combined, you should see a significant or meaningful, I should say increase in our capacity versus FY 2019.

Speaker 6

Okay. And then just with regards to the new hire component there, you give us some color maybe on what does the learning curve look like recently, retention rates, any particular skill sets that still need some focus?

Speaker 2

Well, the big difference this year and I think most companies are experiencing this is that the workforce or the new employees That we bring in have less manufacturing experience than they did maybe 4, 5, 6 years ago. So the learning curve is steeper for us. We're making great progress. You could see it in the numbers for the Q3 here. That was a big step up.

Speaker 2

So you're seeing that we're being successful in that area. There's still some areas that we need to hire a couple more people, Reading At our Diamond facility, we want to bring on more capacity, so there'll be more hiring there as well. But we're in a good place right now And looking forward to take it to the next level in the Q4 as

Speaker 3

well. Got

Speaker 5

it. And then maybe just one

Speaker 6

last one on PEP. What does the aerospace fastener cycle look like? Are you having big build rates ahead of these build rate jumps at the OEMs or customers building inventory to avoid disruptions?

Speaker 4

There's a

Speaker 6

more hand to mouth.

Speaker 2

Yes, nobody's building inventory right now, right. But Dynamet from a supply demand standpoint It's just like SAO. It is Dynamet sixty-forty Medical Aerospace and both of those markets Are extremely tight. So thank you, Dynamet, just like you think about SAO from a supply demand standpoint.

Speaker 6

Got it.

Speaker 4

Thank you for the time.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Speaker 4

Thank you. Next question will be from Michael Ashok, KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Speaker 7

Hey, good morning. I wanted to start out asking how still 1Q, How are you expecting that to fare versus 3 months ago? And maybe what platforms are driving the growth for you sequentially, Just given some of the seasonal downtime that you typically experience in that quarter, are you seeing stronger mix contributions? Or is that more of In ongoing volume ramp despite the seasonality.

Speaker 2

Yes, thanks for the question. Let me maybe take a little bit of time on that because Certainly, since you asked the question, you know how impactful that would be. So as you said, I mean, given productivity improvements, continuing strong demand, We don't expect the same level of seasonality in our fiscal Q4 Going to our fiscal Q1 that we've seen in previous years. So we don't see that same type of seasonality. Now, as you know, over the past 8 to 10 years, That dip in the Q1 versus the 4th has probably averaged around 30% and it's been as high as 60%.

Speaker 2

So that's a Significant. So for us to tell you that we're not going to see that is a real meaningful comment, I think, in the last Earnings call, in fact, I said we'd see another meaningful increase in the Q4 or another step up. Now We'll give you some more color for the Q1 as we get to the next earnings call, but I think it's safe to say that even if the Q1 is sequentially flat To the Q4, that would be major positive earnings growth inflection versus the past fiscal year 1st quarters. Now, you talked about the normal seasonality. We usually do our planned maintenance, preventive maintenance Outages during that time.

Speaker 2

And as you know, we'd love to run the equipment 20 fourseven right now and the demand But we need to continue to be good operators and we needed to perform that essential preventive maintenance. And We're going through those schedules as we speak to try to understand how we can minimize that type of preventive maintenance. But even with all that factored in, you've got at least essentially flat Q1 to 4th. And as I said earlier, that would be extremely that would be an extremely major positive earnings growth

Speaker 7

And then I wanted to ask on the price increase on the transactional business. What percent of your business does that apply to today? And I know you wouldn't be repricing your backlog, but if you look at orders that are out maybe Over a year, does it apply to that business as well?

Speaker 2

Yes, it's a good question. At any point in time, we're roughly 40% to 50% of our business is under some type of longer term contract, whether that be an LTA For 1 year pricing agreements, and presently when we're 52 to 60 week lead times, The price increases that we just noted would be on that business. Now remember, we've Communicated several price increases over the last year that is hitting now. But this specific one would be on that transactional business then That's coming to us approximately 52 weeks from now, 1 year.

Speaker 7

Got it. That makes sense. And then on your Aerospace business, do you have visibility into the breakout what is MRO versus OEM Business that you're supplying into?

Speaker 2

Yes. It's we're on all platforms. And I get that question a lot, just like I get, is it Wide body or single aisle, is it Boeing or Airbus? I mean, at this point right now, it doesn't matter. We're sold out.

Speaker 2

We can't make enough and I don't see that changing anytime in the near future.

Speaker 7

Great. And then lastly for me, did you provide jet engine sales for the quarter either sequentially or year over year?

Speaker 2

I can do that for you. I didn't do that in my prepared remarks. Aerospace engine sales were up about 50% year over year. They were roughly flat sequentially, but really that sequential is primarily a matter of mix of product being run as our total aerospace sales were up 59% year over year and 21% sequentially. And I can also note just as a point of reference, our Aerospace Engine backlog was up 24% sequentially and the Aero engine bookings in the quarter were at record levels.

Speaker 2

So Full speed ahead on Aerospace Engines.

Speaker 7

Great. Thank you.

Speaker 5

Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Speaker 4

At this time, Our next question will be from Gautam Khanna of Cowen. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Hi, good morning. Hello, Gautam. Tony, I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the December quarter just based on your backlog visibility. Is that are you guys going to maybe work through holidays or what have you so that we actually do better than Normal seasonality in that quarter as well?

Speaker 2

Yes. So you're talking about our 2nd quarter fiscal, right?

Speaker 4

Yes, correct.

Speaker 1

Yes. Well,

Speaker 2

yes, I think we're in a period now, not think, I know we're in a period now, but we're trying to minimize Our downtime, we're getting trying to get smarter in the way we do preventive maintenance. And because Throughout FY 'twenty four, the next year, we're going to be able to sell everything we make. And that's going to be extended through the next 3 or 4 years. So yes, Gautam, as I said, you look at the Q1, At least flat and you'll continue to see improvement over the next quarters of FY 2024. It's a little early for me to tell you exactly what those would be, but I don't anticipate any significant sequential pullback as we Work through FY 2024.

Speaker 5

Okay. And you commented on some of the non spot Business having better pricing, when do we start to see that flow through Your results, is it already flowing through? Is it going to pick up as we move through the second half of this calendar year on On your long term agreements.

Speaker 2

Oh, long term agreements. Yes. So we've seen that today, that price It's coming through. We still have a couple there's still a couple major contracts that will expire this calendar year. So there'll be more negotiation there.

Speaker 2

I wish 100% of that price would hit the bottom line. As you know, there has been Some input cost inflation as well. Now our pricing is offsetting that, But we don't get 100% of the pricing hit the bottom line. So I guess high level to your question, we've seen that over the last several quarters And we'll continue to see some price improvement over the next year.

Speaker 5

And just one last one on the backlog. When we look back historically, Carpenter's backlog Represents, I don't know, 30% to 40% of 1 year forward sales. Today, it's a very elevated level. And I'm just curious, is it do the customers want the backlog as quickly as you can ship it? Is there Like what is the constraint on maybe applying that similar ratio, call it 40% of forward sales and backlog Today, is it just production constraints?

Speaker 5

Is it or is it the customers want it later on? I'm just curious like What prevents you guys from doing even better?

Speaker 2

Yes. For right now, it's just ramping up the operations. We're not at 100% yet and that's primarily driven by onboarding new employees, just like as you well know other Companies in this industry have stated the same thing we have. So that's the main gating factor right now. I could sell significantly more material right now If my production rates were higher, obviously, they were higher in the Q3.

Speaker 2

They're going to have to take another step up in the Q4 and into FY 'twenty four and that's The plans, but there's really nobody placing orders now that if I went to them and said, I can increase deliveries to you by 25%, 30% that they would say no, they would take it.

Speaker 5

Okay.

Speaker 2

Thanks a lot. That wouldn't be to build inventory, right? That would be they would take that material right now.

Speaker 5

Interesting. Thank you. You're welcome.

Speaker 4

Thank you. This concludes our question and answer I'll now turn the call back over to Mr. John Hulich for closing remarks.

Operator

Thank you, operator. Thank you, everyone, for joining us today for our fiscal 2023 Q3 conference call. Have a great rest of your

Powered by Quartr