Allison Transmission Q2 2023 Earnings Report

Allison Transmission EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $1.92
• Consensus EPS: $1.61
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$0.31
• One Year Ago EPS: $1.26

Allison Transmission Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $783.00 million
• Expected Revenue: $735.95 million
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$47.05 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: +17.90%

Allison Transmission Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q2 2023
• Date: 7/27/2023
• Time: After Market Closes
• Conference Call Date: Thursday, July 27, 2023
• Conference Call Time: 5:00PM ET

Allison Transmission (NYSE:ALSN), Inc. designs and manufactures fully automatic transmissions and propulsion solutions for commercial and military vehicles. Its products are used in applications including trucks, buses, motorhomes, refuse and construction vehicles, and other medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.

The company also develops electrified propulsion technologies, including hybrid-electric systems and electric axles, as well as transmission controls, parts, service, and support offerings. Its products are marketed to original equipment manufacturers, fleet operators, and distributors worldwide, with customers across North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and other international markets.

Founded in 1915 by James A. Allison and headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, Allison Transmission has a long history in vehicle propulsion and drivetrain technology. The company operates through a global network of manufacturing, sales, and service locations and is led by Chief Executive Officer David S. Graziosi.

Allison Transmission Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Net sales rose 18% year-over-year to a record $783 million in Q2, prompting management to raise full-year 2023 revenue guidance to approximately $3 billion.
• Gross margin improved by 190 basis points year-over-year and adjusted EPS jumped 52% to $1.92, reflecting strong pricing power and operational leverage.
• Free cash flow surged to $122 million versus $34 million a year ago, enabling a $97 million share repurchase (over 2% of outstanding shares) and a $0.23 per-share dividend.
• Defense segment targets $100 million of incremental annual revenue through expanded U.S. and international programs, including Abrams tank transmissions, Turkey’s Fortena, South Korea’s K9, and new U.S. Army contracts for the M10 Booker and XM30.
• Product innovation advanced with the rollout of the zero-emission eGen Flex hybrid system in U.S. transit partnerships (e.g., INDIGO) and the launch of the Frac Tran hydraulic fracturing transmission in China.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good afternoon. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Allison Transmission second quarter 2023 earnings conference call. My name is Daryl. I will be your conference call operator today. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After prepared remarks, Allison Transmission executive will conduct a question-and-answer session. Conference call participants will be given instructions at that time. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference call over to Jackie Bolles, Executive Director of Treasury and Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Jackie.

[Jackie Bolles, Executive Director and Treasury of Investor Relations at Allison Transmission]

Thank you, Daryl. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for our second quarter 2023 earnings conference call. With me this afternoon are David Graziosi, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Fred Bohley, our Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer. As a reminder, this conference call, webcast, and this afternoon's presentation are available on the investor relations section of allisontransmission.com. A replay of this call will be available through August 10th. As noted on slide two of the presentation, many of our remarks today contain forward-looking statements based on current expectations. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, including those set forth in our second quarter 2023 earnings press release and our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31st, 2022, as well as other general economic factors.

[Jackie Bolles, Executive Director and Treasury of Investor Relations at Allison Transmission]

Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions or estimates prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those that we express today. In addition, as noted on slide 3 of the presentation, some of our remarks today contain non-GAAP financial measures as defined by the SEC. You can find reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP measures attached as an appendix to the presentation and to our second quarter 2023 earnings press release. Today's call is set to end at 5:45 P.M. Eastern Time. In order to maximize participation opportunities on the call, we'll take just one question from each analyst. Please turn to slide 4 of the presentation for the call agenda. During today's call, David Graziosi will review highlights from our second quarter 2023 results and provide an operational update.

[Jackie Bolles, Executive Director and Treasury of Investor Relations at Allison Transmission]

Fred Bohley will then review our second quarter financial performance and review updates to our full year 2023 guidance prior to commencing the Q&A. I'll turn the call over to David Graziosi.

[David Graziosi, Chairman and CEO at Allison Transmission]

Thank you, Jackie. Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us. Our second quarter results continue the trend from the first quarter to prove 2023 to be an exciting year for the business, as Allison remains positioned for success with growth opportunities and strong demand across our largest end market. Net sales increased 18% year-over-year to a quarterly record of $783 million, leading to all-time high first half revenue of over $1.5 billion. Given these results and the current end market conditions, we are pleased to raise our full year 2023 guidance with a revenue expectation of $3 billion at the midpoint. Although our operating environment remains challenged, Allison continues to realize year-over-year price while working to mitigate the cost pressures in our business.

[David Graziosi, Chairman and CEO at Allison Transmission]

During the second quarter, we increased our gross margin 190 basis points year-over-year, along with EPS growth of 52% year-over-year to $1.92. Allison's strong operating performance allows us to fund and invest in our business for long-term growth while maintaining our capital allocation priorities and returning capital to shareholders through our quarterly dividend and share repurchase program. During the second quarter, we paid a dividend of $0.23 per share and repurchased over 2% of our shares outstanding. On our last earnings conference call, we outlined opportunities within our defense end market, which we expect to lead to $100 million of incremental annual revenue in the coming years. Global defense budgets continue to rise.

[David Graziosi, Chairman and CEO at Allison Transmission]

Allison is poised to capture growth in this cycle through our long-standing partnership with the United States Department of Defense, while diversifying our revenue sources by increasing our international sales. We expect an increase in international sales due to continued demand for our current products, particularly the X1100 cross-drive transmission, as over 400 Abrams main battle tanks are expected to be delivered overseas by the U.S. Department of Defense in the next 3 years. Allison also expects to realize growth internationally through our relationships with global defense OEMs. Late this summer, Allison will deliver the first X1100 transmission to Turkey for their Firtina self-propelled howitzer program. Further international growth is anticipated from South Korea's Hanwha Aerospace, with sales of their K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzer, also equipped with an X1100 variant, to countries such as Egypt, Australia, Norway, and Poland.

[David Graziosi, Chairman and CEO at Allison Transmission]

Additionally, development of new products, such as our 3040 MX medium-weight cross-drive transmission, will drive international growth in the near future as the demand for medium-weight armored combat vehicles increases with shifts in geopolitical dynamics. As we have previously mentioned, the 3040 MX has already been selected for India's Future Infantry Combat Vehicle, as well as Poland's Borsuk Infantry Fighting Vehicle, with further opportunities in other European infantry fighting vehicle programs. Domestically, Allison is involved in several programs with the U.S. Department of Defense, including tracked platforms such as the U.S. Army's Mobile Protected Firepower, MPF, and the M88A3 Armored Recovery Vehicle. During the quarter, the MPF was renamed the M10 Booker Light Tank, with the U.S. Army funding a second production contract for the program. Allison will supply our 3040 MX as the propulsion solution of choice for the program.

[David Graziosi, Chairman and CEO at Allison Transmission]

For the M88A3, equipped with our X1100-5B, Allison has worked closely with the U.S. Army as and is expecting government testing to begin on the program late this year. In addition to the $100 million of incremental annual revenue opportunity in the medium term, with our new eGen Force electric hybrid propulsion system for tracked combat vehicles, we are looking forward to even longer-term growth opportunities in our defense end market as monetization programs become a priority. As we have previously mentioned, the Allison eGen Force was selected by American Rheinmetall as the propulsion system for their Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle, or OMFV, program offering. In late June, the U.S. Army redesignated the OMFV program, the XM30 Mechanized Infantry Combat Vehicle, and downselected from five OEMs to two.

[David Graziosi, Chairman and CEO at Allison Transmission]

We are pleased that American Rheinmetall was selected to continue into the detailed design and prototype build and testing phases, and look forward to future announcements as the U.S. Army plans to start testing in 2026, with estimated start of production in 2029 for the XM30. Allison remains committed to investing and pursuing growth in our defense end market, leveraging our asset-light business model and long-standing relationship with defense OEMs as a competitive advantage. We are enthusiastic for the upcoming programs and opportunities from the U.S. Department of Defense, as well as international OEMs and end users in both wheeled and tracked applications. Our team is focused and aligned to realize $100 million of incremental annual revenue in the coming years, and we look forward to providing updates in the near future.

[David Graziosi, Chairman and CEO at Allison Transmission]

Moving on, I would like to highlight a few other announcements Allison made during the second quarter. In June, we released our 2022 environmental, social, and governance report. Allison and its peers are navigating an evolving commercial vehicle industry in preparation for upcoming changes to emission standards. One of the ways we are driving the next generation of propulsion solutions is through our eGen family of fully electric and electric hybrid propulsion solutions. In previous quarters, we have announced numerous awards and partnerships with transit authorities across the United States that will utilize the eGen Flex zero-emission-capable electric hybrid system. We recently announced that the Indianapolis Public Transportation Corporation, or IndyGo, is applying its recent grant from the Federal Transit Administration towards expanding its fleet of Allison eGen Flex-equipped buses.

[David Graziosi, Chairman and CEO at Allison Transmission]

This partnership is representative of our efforts to expand the market share of the eGen Flex with transit agencies across the country, advancing clean transportation and enabling a greener future with fewer emissions. Also, during the quarter, we announced that our new hydraulic fracturing transmission, the FracTran, has been released in China. The FracTran represents an opportunity of $100 million of incremental annual revenue in our global off-highway end market. Expansion into energy markets in China signifies the strong demand we are experiencing outside of North America, and reiterates our efforts in designing a clean sheet transmission specific to the needs of service operators and producers. In conclusion, Allison's second quarter results illustrate the current success of our business and operating performance, as well as our future opportunities for growth.

[David Graziosi, Chairman and CEO at Allison Transmission]

We remain diligent in our investments in order to achieve our growth initiatives while returning capital to shareholders and delivering on our brand promise to improve the way the world works. Thank you, and I'll now turn the call over to Fred.

[Fred Bohley, SVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Allison Transmission]

Thank you, Dave. Following Dave's second quarter 2023 comments, I'll discuss the Q2 2023 performance summary, key income statement line items, and cash flow. I'll then provide updates to the full year 2023 guidance. Please turn to slide 5 of the presentation for the Q2 2023 performance summary. Second quarter net sales increased 18% from the same period in 2022 to a record of $783 million. The increase in year-over-year results was led by a $57 million increase in net sales in the North America On-Highway end market, principally driven by strength in customer demand for medium-duty and Class 8 vocational trucks, and price increases on certain products. A $43 million increase in the service parts, support equipment, and other end market, principally driven by higher demand for global service parts and support equipment and price increases.

[Fred Bohley, SVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Allison Transmission]

Year-over-year results were also improved by an $18 million increase in net sales in the Outside North America On-Highway end market, principally driven by strength in customer demand in Europe and Asia, the continued execution of our growth initiatives, and price increases. Gross profit for the quarter was $381 million, a 23% increase from the $311 million for the same period in 2022. The increase was principally driven by price increases on certain products and increased net sales, partially offset by higher manufacturing expense. Net income for the quarter was $175 million compared to $122 million for the same period in 2022. The increase was principally driven by higher gross profit, partially offset by increased selling, general, and administrative expense.

[Fred Bohley, SVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Allison Transmission]

Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $288 million compared to $227 million for the same period in 2022. The increase was principally driven by higher gross profit, partially offset by increased selling, general, and administrative expenses. Diluted earnings per share increased 52% from the same period in 2022. Second quarter EPS of $1.92 was driven by higher net income and lower total shares outstanding. A detailed overview of our net sales by end market can be found on slide 6 of the presentation. Please turn to slide 7 of the presentation for the Q2 2023 financial performance summary. Selling, general, and administrative expenses increased $14 million from the same period in 2022, principally driven by increased commercial activity spending, incentive compensation expense, and product warranty expense.

[Fred Bohley, SVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Allison Transmission]

Engineering, research, and development expenses for the quarter were essentially flat with the same period in 2022. Please turn to slide 8 of the presentation for the Q2 2023 cash flow performance summary. Adjusted Free Cash Flow for the quarter was $122 million, compared to $34 million for the same period in 2022. The increase was principally driven by higher gross profit, lower operating working capital requirements, and lower capital expenditures, partially offset by higher cash income taxes. During the second quarter, we returned capital to shareholders through our quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share and repurchasing $97 million of our common stock. For the quarter, this represented over 2% of our outstanding shares, with nearly 61% of our outstanding shares repurchased since Allison's IPO in 2012.

[Fred Bohley, SVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Allison Transmission]

We ended the quarter with a net leverage ratio of 2.1x, $351 million of cash, and $645 million of available revolving credit facility commitments. We continue to maintain a flexible, long-dated, and covenant-light debt structure, with the earliest maturity due in 2026. Of our $2.5 billion of outstanding debt, $622 million is subject to variable interest rates, of which $500 million is hedged, resulting in 95% of our debt being fixed through the third quarter of 2025. Please turn to slide 9 of the presentation for the update to our 2023 guidance. Given first half of 2023 results and current end market conditions, we are raising our full year 2023 guidance for net sales, earnings, and cash flow.

[Fred Bohley, SVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Allison Transmission]

Allison expects net sales to be in the range of $2.96 billion-$3.04 billion. At the midpoint, this represents over 8% year-over-year growth based on the continued strength and demand in our end markets, price increases on certain products, and the continued execution of our growth initiatives, leading to another anticipated record net sales year.

[Fred Bohley, SVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Allison Transmission]

In addition to Allison's 2023 net sales guidance, we anticipate net income in the range of $575 million-$625 million, Adjusted EBITDA in the range of $1.05 billion-$1.11 billion, net cash provided by operating activities in the range of $675 million-$725 million, capital expenditures in the range of $125 million-$135 million, and Adjusted Free Cash Flow in the range of $550 million-$590 million. This concludes our prepared remarks. Daryl, please open the call for questions.

[Operator]

Thank you. We will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment, please, while we poll for your questions. Our first questions come from the line of Rob Wertheimer with Melius Research. Please proceed with your question.

[Rob Wertheimer, Founding Partner and Machinery Analyst at Melius Research]

Howdy. So that was a litany of good news, and unfortunately, I'm gonna ask you about potential good news that's not even in your list. Regulators in Europe have moved to make hydrogen combustion an acceptable sort of zero emission emission strategy, and I think the U.S. is maybe moving in that direction, too. I assume that's positive because I assume a hydrogen combustion and medium-duty truck would use the same transmissions as not. I, I wonder if you can just comment generally on if you see hydrogen combustion as making progress in the regulatory world, and if it's neutral, or negative, or positive for fully automated emissions in trucks versus diesel versions? Thanks.

[David Graziosi, Chairman and CEO at Allison Transmission]

Rob, good afternoon. Dave, thank you for the question. I'd say the short answer there is we believe it's a positive. We certainly, you know, hear many of the things that you and other, others are hearing about hydrogen. I think it, it's been long a subject of discussion, just given the existing.

[David Graziosi, Chairman and CEO at Allison Transmission]

Investments in conventional assets that can be deployed, as you well know, for hydrogen in many ways. I think from an overall industry perspective as well as, frankly, I think the a number of different alternatives being available, it's one of many, as you know. We're certainly a supporter of an all-of-the-above strategy. I think the development in Europe, my guess is, or our guess is it'll, you'll see more of that elsewhere to your question, because it's, as you could tell, given a number of developments around missions in the U.S., there continues to be a fair number of constraints that everybody is trying to work through.

[David Graziosi, Chairman and CEO at Allison Transmission]

As, as you know, with our strategy, really getting the right solutions at the right time, you know, time appears to be getting stretched out a bit, just given the, the realities of a number of the constraints, whether they be infrastructure, the maturity of technology, et cetera. We're, we're certainly staying close to those particular topics and, you know, look forward to further developments on the regulatory side.

[Jackie Bolles, Executive Director and Treasury of Investor Relations at Allison Transmission]

Oh.

[Rob Wertheimer, Founding Partner and Machinery Analyst at Melius Research]

I think that was not me. No.

[Jackie Bolles, Executive Director and Treasury of Investor Relations at Allison Transmission]

That was our conference room, actually. I'm sorry about that.

[Fred Bohley, SVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Allison Transmission]

Rob, Rob, this is Fred. Just, just a little, a little quick follow-up on that. I, I know that from your question, you're aware of it, just for the broader audience. You know, the, you know, hydrogen combustion engine will use a conventional transmission. Back to your question, certainly.

[Rob Wertheimer, Founding Partner and Machinery Analyst at Melius Research]

Yeah

[Fred Bohley, SVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Allison Transmission]

That the, the path that's, that's broadly adopted, you know, you'll be able to use obviously, the assets of an internal combustion engine, but also, you know, conventional transmissions. Certainly, that's obviously favorable for us.

[Rob Wertheimer, Founding Partner and Machinery Analyst at Melius Research]

Perfect. You said one question, so I'll stop there and get back in line. Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next questions come from the line of Ian Zaffino with Oppenheimer. Please proceed with your question.

[Ian Zaffino, Managing Director and Analyst at Oppenheimer]

Hi, great. Thank you very much. You know, question would be, I guess, on all the defense success. Maybe help us understand what's differentiating yourselves, where you're going with all this business?

[David Graziosi, Chairman and CEO at Allison Transmission]

Hey, Ian, good day. Good afternoon, it's Dave. I, I guess, in terms of success, you know, you start out with the advantage of our technology when you think about fully automatic solutions as they've evolved over the years on the wheeled side, you know, we, we certainly have a very significant position with the U.S. military, with fully automatic transmissions for their, their wheeled fleet. On the tactical side, I think as you, you continue to think about the issues on the commercial side with labor and the challenges of frankly, manual transmissions, the training, the wear and tear, you know, the fully automatic product, as you well know, has a significant amount of advantages over, advantages over availability, uptime, and performance.

[David Graziosi, Chairman and CEO at Allison Transmission]

The same could be said on the track side in terms of, you know, the developments. Our technology, and in the Abrams is a, you know, 40-plus year platform at this point, many advances over time. The, the differentiation there beyond the capability to deliver a, a highly reliable solution, does come down to the, you know, as well, incumbency and the installed base there, when you think about what's been accumulated from an experience standpoint. Also the assets that are deployed for that-- those particular cross-drive solutions, it can be a very capital-intensive process and one that requires a fairly high level of technical skill, both on the engineering side as well as manufacturing.

[David Graziosi, Chairman and CEO at Allison Transmission]

When you think about that type of product, which is typically by on-highway measure, relatively low volumes, it does have a number of challenges when you think about sustaining a low level of very complex production over a period of time. That goes whether we are fabricating or our supplier partners, but it's fairly complex to actually launch propulsion solutions into that particular market. I would also add that the other differentiator for us is our team, which, you know, we have a global organization that we are able to cross-functionally leverage, whether that be technical sales, marketing, service channel, et cetera. Our reach is really critical when you think about deploying systems and, and the need to be able to service those on a global basis in a timely fashion.

[Ian Zaffino, Managing Director and Analyst at Oppenheimer]

Okay, thank you very much.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Tim Thein with Citi. Please proceed with your questions.

[Tim Thein, Analyst at Citi]

Great. Thank you, and good afternoon. Dave or, Fred, the question is, is really on North America On-Highway segment. Just curious as to, you know, if you look at the forecasts from some or I guess, the one independent consultancy out there, they, they're calling, especially in the Class 8 market, I'm sorry, the Class 8 straight truck market, a pretty significant step down in the fourth quarter. I'm just curious, and this would extend to a lesser extent, the medium-duty as well. I'm just curious, is that the message, is, is that the messaging you're getting from your OEM customers?

[Tim Thein, Analyst at Citi]

Then B, I'm curious, is your guidance that you just laid out today, does that assume that it kind of follows that pattern of what ACT is assuming in terms of that sequential step down in the fourth quarter? Or is it, you know, is it something different? Because it seems to be the messaging from certain of your OEM customers seems to be more of that, you know, not that fall-off. Basically, the spirit of the question is what your guidance assumes. Is it that fall-off or not? Thank you.

[David Graziosi, Chairman and CEO at Allison Transmission]

Tim, it's good afternoon. You know, I would just, you mentioned the, the forecaster. I would tell you as, as we things, see things developing right now and the feedback that we have from our OEM partners, we're really not expecting that kind of result, frankly, in Q4. I would say, you know, as, you know, the phrase goes, "Trees don't grow to the sky." I think one thing that becomes clear as we get further into comping over last year, I would certainly expect, you know, we're getting to more of a normalized run rate. As you know, some many supply constraints have been resolved or are certainly improving. I wouldn't say they're all, they're all resolved, but it's better than it was a year ago.

[David Graziosi, Chairman and CEO at Allison Transmission]

It's better than it was six months ago. I think some of that ultimately is playing into the mindset of everybody adjusting to this, this new reality, which continues to be more variable, but it's improving. I would say the underlying fundamentals as we see impacting Class eight straight and medium-duty, medium-duty, as you know, has been very under-supplied. OEMs are still catching up with that level of pent-up demand. Vehicles are aging. As you know, lease rental is a big part of the medium-duty market. Those fleets are getting pretty long in the tooth that they're gonna need to be replaced. We see certainly medium-duty continuing to be pretty strong.

[David Graziosi, Chairman and CEO at Allison Transmission]

I would say vocational, the underlying support there in terms of vocational drivers, such as infrastructure spending, the number of trucks, again, that have not been produced, continues to be a relatively strong market. Overall, we see favorable demand dynamics in this continuing into the second half. Clearly, some level of normalization are relative to our 2022 performance, into the second half, should be anticipated at this point. I think our, frankly, our bigger concerns of any are the entire industry being able to, to produce at, at higher levels. As I said, the constraints have not been all resolved, you would assume, given the carryover into this year with very strong demand, you know, some of that is expected to move into 2024 as well.

[David Graziosi, Chairman and CEO at Allison Transmission]

Having said that, backlogs, as you well know, have been burned down a bit, so I think some of that will get further focus and, and frankly, clarity as order books are opened by a number of the OEMs yet this year, certainly by the end of this quarter. That's the next thing for us to be focused on. In the meantime, you know, we're prepared to supply to whatever demand is required.

[Tim Thein, Analyst at Citi]

Yeah. Very good. Thank you, Dave.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Larry De Maria with William Blair. Please proceed with your question.

[Larry De Maria, Group Head of Global Industrial Infrastructure at William Blair]

Hey, thanks. Good afternoon, everybody. I wanna talk about the big 31% increase in service parts. I see it's nice growth, and you've, you know, had a strong year overall, even on some, not even necessarily easy comps. Can you, I don't know, maybe deconstruct your price volume and talk about the sustainability of service parts growth? What's going on specifically? Is it catch up from supply chain challenges? Is it mostly price? Can you just kind of deconstruct what's going on there for us and the sustainability, please?

[Fred Bohley, SVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Allison Transmission]

Sure, Larry. This is Fred. There's, you know, when you break it down, there's certainly, you know, an element of everything you mentioned. You know, we're, you know, the North American service business, you know, very strong, you know, for the quarter, you know, on a year-over-year basis, you know, driving about half of the uplift. You know, outside North Americas, you know, up, support equipment sold to our OEMs with the higher volumes up, you know, our business, coming out of Walker Die Casting is up.

[Fred Bohley, SVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Allison Transmission]

Then, you know, relative to pricing, I mean, you know, in the quarter, you know, we, we had significant price, you know, in total, you know, $45 million in price, you know, over 600 basis points. And that's also providing a lift in the parts category as well. You know, we are, you know, getting price across, you know, all of our end markets.

[Larry De Maria, Group Head of Global Industrial Infrastructure at William Blair]

Okay, that's helpful. Thank you very much.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Tami Zakaria with JP Morgan. Please proceed with your question.

[Tami Zakaria, Executive Director at JPMorgan]

Hi, thank you so much. I was hoping to ask two questions. My first question is, I think you mentioned pricing was $45 million, so more than 6%. What was the cost headwind? Like, I'm trying to get a sense of the price cost. Then what's your pricing outlook for the back half?

[Fred Bohley, SVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Allison Transmission]

Sure, Tami. This is, this is Fred. Yes, yeah, $45 million in, in price on a year-over-year basis, you know, over 600 basis points in the quarter. That was off of, you know, 800 basis points of price in Q1. As you're aware, you know, we did multiple, inter-year pricing last year. The, the comps from a price in total do get, more difficult as you move into Q3 and Q4. Initially, when we provided guide back in February, we were expecting to get about 400 basis points of price on a year-over-year basis. At this point, we should be closer to 500 basis points of, of price. In the quarter, you know, material costs, benefited from, you know, commodity prices coming off.

[Fred Bohley, SVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Allison Transmission]

you know, our total material cost on a year-over-year basis was basically neutral. you know, we did incur, you know, about $17 million of additional manufacturing costs. Obviously, some of that associated with getting more volume out the door, you know, based on, you know, our initial guide, you know, increase in guide in Q1, and then again, increase in guide in Q2. We are accruing, you know, higher incentive comp expenses as well, which is driving some of that manufacturing expense up.

[Tami Zakaria, Executive Director at JPMorgan]

Got it. Thank you. If I may ask one more question. As you look at your gross margin, they've been pretty strong this year. If I-- if we look to next year, let's say, on highway volumes are, let's say, flattish, do you expect to hold gross margins in a flattish environment? How should we think about gross margin, let's say, in a flat, volume year?

[Fred Bohley, SVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Allison Transmission]

Yeah, Tammy, this is Fred again. I mean, I'd start with, as you mentioned, I mean, you know, gross margin, certainly, you know, strong, you know, strong in the quarter. You know, the, the, the incremental drop-throughs on the revenues, you know, is very strong. It's just thinking of the quarter. I mean, you know, revenue up 18%, you know, EBITDA margins up 260 basis points, net income up 43%, EPS up 52%. Definitely a, a very strong performing quarter. As we think, what is, you know, 2024 gonna look like? Obviously, we're not, you know, providing guide for 2024, but as we look out, you know, there, you know, one, the cost of everything is, you know, it has been inflating.

[Fred Bohley, SVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Allison Transmission]

If you think about the cost of vehicles going up, the cost of labor going up, the cost to get your vehicle repaired going up, maintenance parts going up. What that really has generated is a situation where, you know, we deliver products that make the vehicles run more efficiently. You know, ultimately, you know, you can get from point A to B quicker, you don't have the maintenance downtime, you can size smaller fleets and fewer drivers. You know, the cost increases has really driven for us, a significant improvement in our value proposition, which is obviously already very strong. You know, as costs continue to go up, we definitely have to manage them from a price cost standpoint, but it positions us, you know, with more...

[Fred Bohley, SVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Allison Transmission]

Delivering a greater value proposition to both increase, further increase market share as, as well as get price. You know, as we're thinking about, you know, where we sit right now, you know, we're still, you know, we're going out having conversations with our customers on 2024 pricing. We're really trying to understand what, you know, the expectations are for cost, but, you know, we're well positioned to continue to get price. Then, you know, as the supply chain begins to normalize, you know, we're gonna get after the operating inefficiencies that are out there, whether that be expe- expedited freight or, or, you know, our plant, our plant productivity measures, where, you know, you don't always have every part you need to produce a product.

[Fred Bohley, SVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Allison Transmission]

And at times you're running, you know, on overtime, which really is, you know, unnecessary if you had all parts. You know, there's definitely cost opportunities to get out, but we do expect that, you know, labor is gonna continue to be challenged, and that's going to, that's gonna drive some cost pressures, you know, across the business and industry.

[Tami Zakaria, Executive Director at JPMorgan]

Got it. That's very helpful color. Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Jerry Revich with Goldman Sachs. Please proceed with your question.

[Jerry Revich, Senior investment leader, Head of US Machinery, Infrastructure, and Sustainable Tech Franchise at Goldman Sachs]

Yes. Hi, good evening, everyone. I'm wondering if you, if you could talk about your views on the opportunities for natural gas and landfill gas-powered engines, in particular, in terms of what that would mean for an automatic attachment rates? Can you comment specifically, whether you're going to be spec'd on the new upcoming 15-liter natural gas engines that are set to come out over the next 18-24 months? Thanks.

[David Graziosi, Chairman and CEO at Allison Transmission]

Hey, Jerry, it's Dave. Good evening. You know, relative to natural gas, and Fred mentioned this earlier on the question about hydrogen. Nat gas has some, some interesting attributes in terms of power density. One of the things that it, it requires is ways that you can actually increase the power at the, at the lower end in terms of RPM performance. What that, what that requires is an Allison Transmission. A fully automatic overcomes that lag if you have this sense of hesitation when you would try to accelerate, that's, that's the advantage of a fully automatic, right? To your point on natural gas, you know, we certainly view ourselves in an, in an advantaged position relative to transmission solutions to pair with, with natural gas.

[David Graziosi, Chairman and CEO at Allison Transmission]

You know, your comment or question around engine releases, you know, that situation continues to evolve for a number of reasons. You know, we'll, we'll allow the, the OEMs and the engine providers to, to ultimately get there in terms of their, their maps and their product introduction timing. Suffice to say, I think we're, we're certainly the preferred solution from a transmission perspective with natural gas engines.

[Jerry Revich, Senior investment leader, Head of US Machinery, Infrastructure, and Sustainable Tech Franchise at Goldman Sachs]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Rob Wertheimer with Melius Research. Please proceed with your question.

[Rob Wertheimer, Founding Partner and Machinery Analyst at Melius Research]

Hey, guys. Thanks for the follow-up. Just a quick one, just for, for grounding. What has changed in margin structure from the kind of pre-COVID levels? I'll call it peak, but I'm not sure it was a, a very high peak in your end markets. Is there anything that structurally downshifted for you in margin, or is that something you hope to win back over time as price and volume catch up?

[Fred Bohley, SVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Allison Transmission]

Yeah, Rob, I mean, probably the only thing that's changed, you know, structurally would be, the acquisition of Walker Die Casting and the portion of that business that's being, you know, is represented in outside sales and parts. You know, That's a lower margin business than, than, you know, the balance of our, you know, our parts business. Really, beyond that, you know, I think, you know, we've had a, a high-class problem in that, you know, you have roughly 50% margins. In order to, to maintain those margins, for every $1 of cost you get, you gotta get $2 in price. Clearly, we're, you know, you know, price cost positive, you know, and, and, you know, we're making more, you know, on everything that goes out the door.

[Fred Bohley, SVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Allison Transmission]

When you think about, you know, gross margin or gross profit per unit, you know, we're, we're making more, even though you've seen, you know, margins, gross, you know, the gross margins down 200 basis points from peak. You know, we're certainly, as I talked earlier, with, you know, the pricing opportunities out there, is certainly something we're focused on. You know, for us, the real focus is always, you know, EBITDA really as a proxy for cash and how much cash can we generate. The good news is we, you know, we are generating more cash on what's going out the door now, relative to what was pre-COVID.

[Rob Wertheimer, Founding Partner and Machinery Analyst at Melius Research]

Okay. Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. We have reached the end of our question-and-answer session. I would now like to hand the call back over to David Graziosi for closing comments.

[David Graziosi, Chairman and CEO at Allison Transmission]

Thank you, Daryl. Thank you for your continued interest in Allison and for participating on today's call. Enjoy your evening.

[Operator]

Thank you. This does conclude today's teleconference. We appreciate your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Enjoy the rest of your day.

Participants

Executives

• Jackie Bolles, Executive Director and Treasury of Investor Relations
• David Graziosi, Chairman and CEO
• Fred Bohley, SVP, CFO, and Treasurer

Analysts

• Rob Wertheimer, Founding Partner and Machinery Analyst at Melius Research
• Ian Zaffino, Managing Director and Analyst at Oppenheimer
• Tim Thein, Analyst at Citi
• Larry De Maria, Group Head of Global Industrial Infrastructure at William Blair
• Tami Zakaria, Executive Director at JPMorgan
• Jerry Revich, Senior investment leader, Head of US Machinery, Infrastructure, and Sustainable Tech Franchise at Goldman Sachs