Freightcar America Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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August 13, 2024

Key Takeaways

  • Revenue grew 66% year over year to $147.4 million in Q2, delivering a record adjusted EBITDA of $12.1 million and prompting full-year guidance raises (revenue to $560–600 million, deliveries to 4,300–4,700 cars, adjusted EBITDA to $35–39 million).
  • Net orders totaled 2,916 railcars valued at $285 million—the highest since Q4 2014—with a backlog of 3,833 units worth about $382 million.
  • Secured a multi-year tank car conversion contract to convert over 1,000 DOT-111 cars to DOT-117R models from 2026–27, expanding the company’s product portfolio.
  • Castanas facility shipped over 1,000 units for the third straight quarter, underscoring the plant’s capacity to produce 4,000–6,000 railcars annually.
  • Generated $31.9 million in operating cash flow in H1, ending Q2 with $39.4 million in cash, no revolver borrowings, and plans to further strengthen the balance sheet this year.
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Earnings Conference Call
Freightcar America Q2 2024
00:00 / 00:00

There are 6 speakers on the call.

Operator

Welcome to FreightCar America's Second Quarter 20 24 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen only mode. For those of you participating on the conference call, there will be an opportunity for your questions at the end of today's prepared comments. Please note this conference is being recorded. An audio replay of the conference call will be available on the company's website within a few hours after this call.

Operator

I would now like to turn the call over to Chris O'Dea with RiverFront Investor Relations.

Speaker 1

Thank you and welcome. Joining me

Speaker 2

today are Nick Randall, President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Reardon, Chief Financial Officer and Nat Thanh, Chief Commercial Officer. I'd like to remind everyone that statements made during the conference call relating to the company's expected future performance, future business prospects or future events or plans may include forward looking statements as defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Participants are directed to FreightCar America's Form 10 ks for a description of certain business risks, some of which may be outside of control of the company and may cause actual results to materially differ from those expressed in the forward looking statements. We expressly disclaim any duty to provide updates to our forward looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. During today's call, there will also be a discussion of some items that do not conform to U.

Speaker 2

S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or GAAP. Reconciliations of these non GAAP measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in earnings release issued yesterday afternoon. Earnings release for the Q2 of 2024 is posted on the company's website atfreightcaramerica.com along with 8 ks which was filed yesterday after market. With that, let me now turn the call over to Nick for a few opening remarks.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Chris. Good morning, everyone, and thank you all for joining us today. As you may recall, over the past 5 years, we have undergone substantial transformative initiatives to diversify our product offering and deepen our existing customer relationships, all while strategically repositioning our operations on a significantly reduced cost base. For the first half of the fiscal year, we are showcasing Just That as we reap the benefits from our comprehensive transformation. We are delivering world class operations and commercial excellence as we meet the needs of our customers' requirements.

Speaker 3

Additionally, we are further developing our presence as a premier manufacturer of railcars with a proven runway for growth as we continue to execute on our strong momentum. In terms of our Q2 results, revenues grew 66% over the prior year on deliveries of 11.59 railcars. We achieved a record adjusted EBITDA of $12,100,000 at our new facility. As a reminder, this comes off the heels of a strong Q1 in which we achieved a record 99% growth in revenue and 192% growth in adjusted EBITDA. Through the first half of the year, we have captured historically high levels of orders and inquiries as well as made advancements in expanding our market share in line with our ongoing commitments to driving profitable growth.

Speaker 3

Industry data confirms that we are growing our market presence in the railcar segments that we operate in, including covered hoppers, which represents the largest product segment of car types in this space. We have also made significant progress in broadening our product offerings with a major multi year tank car conversion order, which is a vital component of our next phase of growth. Finally, we recently celebrated the milestone of shipping our 10,000 railcar out of our Castanhas facility, a remarkable milestone that highlights our vision to be the premier manufacturer in the industry. As we have discussed before, rail equipment demand remains healthy with stable industry dynamics providing confidence in our ability to capture consistent inquiries and orders within our target market. This spans across our diversified portfolio production lines that provide us with the ability to execute in any market environment.

Speaker 3

In terms of order activity for the quarter, we received net orders of 2,916 units valued at $285,000,000 the highest we have seen since the Q4 of 2014. With replacement rates projected to be close to 40,000 cars for the full year, a stable industry demand outlook gives us continued confidence in our business model and our ability to further grow our pipeline. I would like to now expand on an exciting update that I mentioned earlier regarding our product offerings. With our long legacy in the railcar conversion space and expanded manufacturing capabilities, we were able secure a significant multi year tank car conversion order. This expands our portfolio of offerings even further and establishes off putting within the tank car space.

Speaker 3

This multiyear contract is a significant stepping stone for us and aligns with our strategic vision to further elevate our market presence, meet our customers' needs and further optimize our production capacity for large scale projects. The Q2 also marks the 3rd consecutive quarter of shipping over 1,000 units from our Castanhas facility. This demonstrates that the strategy and effectiveness of our operations are in full effect and provides confidence in our ability to realize our capacity thresholds to produce between 4000 6000 railcars per year. Looking ahead, we remain committed to sustaining this momentum by capturing quality orders with a sharp focus maintaining our commercial discipline. This means delivering the best value proposition tailored to individual customer needs, providing exceptional attention and service, while striking the right balance of backlog, quality of earnings and order quantity.

Speaker 3

I would like to conclude my comments by touching on our outlook for the remainder of the year 2024. With this quarter's impressive performance and strong order momentum, we are confident in our market position through the back half of the year and are raising our guidance accordingly. We are raising our forecasted revenue to between 5 $60,000,000 $600,000,000 up approximately 62% year over year at the midpoint of the range. This expectation is based on expected deliveries which we are also raising to between 4,300 to 4,700 railcars an increase of approximately 48.9 percent at the midpoint of the range. We are also raising our forecasted adjusted EBITDA guidance to between 35 $1,000,000 $39,000,000 for the full year.

Speaker 3

This representing the year over year increase of 84.1% at the midpoint. Finally, we continue to expect positive operating cash flow for the 3rd consecutive year. As we move forward, our focus remains on enhancing our robust product portfolio, gaining market share both with new and existing customers and then continuing to leverage our proven manufacturing With the solid foundation we have built and confidence in our ability to scale and seize new opportunities in the market, Our unwavering commitment to innovation, quality and customer satisfaction will guide us as we create value through continued growth. With that, I will next turn the call over to Matt to discuss the market and then to Mike for more detail on our financial results.

Speaker 4

Thank you, Nick, and good morning, everyone. We continue to see improved rail service metrics contributing to an overall healthy industry environment in the Q2. As Nick mentioned earlier, we are aligned with the industry's forecast of railcar deliveries to be in the range of 40,000 to 42,000 railcars in 2024. Overall, we see a continuation of demand closely tied to replacements and in the range of 40000 railcars annually for the foreseeable future. For the Q2 2024, we closed net orders for 2,916 railcars valued at approximately $285,000,000

Speaker 2

The first half

Speaker 4

of the year has shown robust activity as we experienced the highest level of orders since our transformation in Mexico along with substantial growth in both our backlog and shipments. As expected for many freight segments, customers are still taking longer to fully analyze the timing of their new railcar purchases, but overall we are seeing consistent inquiries as a result of our flexible commercialization strategy. With the strong momentum in the first half of the year, our production line is essentially sold out and we are positioned well to close out the remainder of the fiscal year within our expected range. Additionally, our portfolio remains a healthy mix of car types ensuring we meet diverse customer needs. We ended the 2nd quarter with a backlog of 3,833 railcars valued at approximately $382,000,000 representing the 2nd highest level we have seen since 2016.

Speaker 4

Within our North American addressable market of existing car types, we have realized market share gains during the quarter for orders across gondolas, flat cars and open top hoppers. These car types serve a diversified customer base, are regularly in demand and critical to industrial and agricultural market segments of our economy. Our improved market share is a testament to our team executing the commercial strategy focused on delivering value in every step of the process. In addition to maintaining strong momentum within our existing car types, as part of our plans to grow our product portfolio, we have recently secured a significant multi year deal to convert over 1,000 existing DOT-one hundred and eleven tank cars to the federally mandated DOT-117R tank cars over a 2 year period. Railcar conversions have been core to our business over our storied history, including the delivery of over 15,000 conversions in rebodied railcars.

Speaker 4

This new agreement showcases competencies while also expanding our capability as a reliable partner within the tank car market segment. Our Castanos facility is equipped to handle large sale conversion projects efficiently and our historical presence and expertise in railcar modifications were among the primary factors that helped us secure this win. By entering into the tank car space, we are not only expanding our adjustable market and customer base, but demonstrating our ability to deliver tank car upgrades engineered for optimal safety and performance. I am pleased by our demonstrated capabilities to operate at higher capacity levels and meet customer demands. Our facility was purpose built to maintain the agility needed to meet customer requirements and we are executing on these priorities while our sales team focuses on growing our pipeline to meet our expanded capacity for various car types.

Speaker 4

I'll now turn the call over to Mike for comments related to our financial performance. Mike?

Speaker 5

Thanks, Matt, and good morning, everyone. I'll begin with an overview of the 2nd quarter's financial results. We are extremely pleased with our Q2 results as we delivered year over year revenue growth, record quarterly profitability and record orders at our Mexico facility. Consolidated revenues for the Q2 of 2024 totaled $147,400,000 with deliveries of 11.59 railcars compared to $88,600,000 on deliveries of 760 railcars in the Q2 of 2023. Gross profit in the Q2 of 2024 was $18,400,000 with a gross margin of 12.5% compared to gross profit of $13,000,000 and gross margin of 14.6% in the Q2 of last year.

Speaker 5

Lower gross margin performance as compared to the prior year was primarily driven by the Q2 of 2024 delivering all new cars versus the prior year comparable period including deliveries of car conversions. Additionally, we saw a sequential improvement of 5.50 basis points from the Q1 of 2024 as we saw a favorable mix in car types delivered, coupled with our 4th production line running at full capacity for the entire quarter. We expect our freight car gross margin will remain at industry leading levels for the full year as we continue to realize the operational efficiencies of our facility running at full capacity. SG and A for the Q2 of 2024 totaled $8,500,000 up from 5 point $9,000,000 in the Q2 of 2023, primarily due to the Q2 of last year having a favorable mark to market adjustment on certain stock based compensation awards. Excluding stock based compensation, SG and A as a percentage of revenue decreased 150 basis points from the prior year as we continue to maintain disciplined SG and A spend.

Speaker 5

As a result of the business model we designed, this creates significant operating leverage to our bottom line as our production output reaches full capacity. In the Q2 of 2024, we achieved adjusted EBITDA of $12,100,000 compared to $8,000,000 in the Q2 of 2023, primarily driven by increased railcar deliveries between the comparable periods. For the Q2 of 2024, our adjusted net income was $6,300,000.05 per diluted share compared to adjusted net income of $2,100,000 or $0.02 per share in the Q2 of last year. Adjusted net income accounts for the impact of certain non cash items and non recurring items such as the change in fair market value of our warrant liability and a favorable non recurring cash item during the Q2 of this year associated with the litigation settlement related to our former lease fleet. Capital expenditures for the Q2 of 2024 were approximately $1,300,000 and our full year forecast of capital spend remains unchanged at $5,000,000 to $7,000,000 Finally, I'm pleased to report the progress on one of our primary strategic objectives, strengthening our cash flow generation capabilities, which we have made remarkable progress on during the quarter.

Speaker 5

We currently hold $39,400,000 in cash, no outstanding borrowings on our revolving credit facility and generate robust operating cash flow. The working capital headwinds we incurred in the Q4 of last year fully resolved themselves in the Q1 resulting in the normalization of our working capital and the generation of $31,900,000 in operating cash flow during the first half of twenty twenty four. With our balance sheet in a healthy position and the continued execution on commercial and operational excellence initiatives, our business is poised to efficiently service the debt we incurred to support our transformation and ultimately positions us favorably for continued growth and value creation for our shareholders. With that financial overview, I'd like to now open the line for Q and A.

Operator

Thank you. At this time, we'll be conducting a question and answer session. Thank you. And our first question comes from the line of Marc Reichman with Noble Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 1

Yes. I was curious, when will your inventory numbers begin to reflect the tank car conversion order that's reflected in the backlog? Or maybe ask another way, when will the revenue get recognized from the order?

Speaker 4

From the inventory perspective, Mike, I'll let you address that. But on the timing of the order is really tied to our customers' demand. They're looking for delivery of the cars to be completed by the 2029 timeframe, which is the mandated, the federally mandated timeframe, we look to start that program up substantially in 2026. Mike, you want to say that, please?

Speaker 5

Yes. So 2026, and as we noted, it's a 2 year program. So you'd be modeling that 26 and 27. So you won't see any inventory build in the near term. You won't really see anything of that nature until very early 2026.

Speaker 1

And then could you just elaborate on the path towards producing new tank cars? I mean, do you think you would be ready by 2028?

Speaker 3

Well, let me answer that in 2 steps. 1 is the market for excuse me, market for tank cars is around about 8,000 units a year. We have design approval for covers about half of that, so about 4,000 of the 8,000 is addressable market. So we are approved to take or receive orders at any time a customer wishes to place them, there's a period of work to be done to configure the plant for it. That can be aligned with when customers want to place them.

Speaker 3

But we would expect that typically do the conversion work in 2026 and then in parallel be prepared to take on new tank cars after that period.

Speaker 1

Okay. And then my final question is, Michael, are you able to provide any details on plans to recapitalize the balance sheet?

Speaker 5

Yes. So I'll say that that is still one of our primary strategic objectives for this year is to complete that this year, which will be very beneficial to our free cash flow generation going forward. And everything we've done through the 1st two quarters is setting us up nicely for that.

Speaker 1

Thank you very much.

Speaker 4

You're welcome. Thanks, Mark.

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