Earnings Labs

AstroNova, Inc. (ALOT)

Q2 2023 Earnings Call· Wed, Sep 7, 2022

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to AstroNova's Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Scott Solomon of the company's Investor Relations firm, Sharon Merrill Associates. Please go ahead, sir.

Scott Solomon

Management

Thank you, Kyle. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us. Hosting this morning's call are Greg Woods, AstroNova's President and CEO; and David Smith, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Greg will discuss the company's operating highlights, David will take you through the financials at a high level. Greg will make some concluding comments, and then management will be happy to take your questions. By now, you should have received a copy of the earnings release that was issued today. If you don't have a copy, please go to the Investor page of the AstroNova website, www.astronovainc.com. Please note that statements made during today's call that are not statements of historical fact are considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions that could involve risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, actual results could differ materially, except as required by law. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of today, September 7, 2022. AstroNova undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements. For further information regarding the forward-looking statements and the factors that may cause differences, please see the risk factors in AstroNova's annual report on Form 10-K and the other filings the company makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission. On today's call, management will be referring to non-GAAP financial measures. AstroNova believes that the inclusion of these financial measures helps investors gain a meaningful understanding of the changes in the company's core operating results. We can also help investors who wish to make comparisons between AstroNova and other companies on both GAAP and a non-GAAP basis. A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures is available in today's earnings release. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Greg.

Gregory Woods

Management

Thank you, Scott. Good morning, everyone. Strong secular trends, including increasing air travel and the growth of digital print for packaging continued to drive demand for our products and services in the second quarter. We delivered solid orders growth with bookings up year-over-year and sequentially. For the first half of fiscal 2023, total bookings reached $67.3 million, just shy of AstroNova's previous first half high set back in fiscal 2020. Revenue also grew nicely in the quarter, so less than expected as certain areas of our business continued to be affected by supply chain disruptions, higher component costs and increased freight expenses. We have taken several actions, including selective implementation of price increases to moderate the impact of those challenges. Reflecting our demand drivers, we generated 8% top line growth in the second quarter, while bookings increased 14% year-over-year and 7% from the first quarter of fiscal 2023. These increases were primarily driven by our Test & Measurement segment, with the continued production ramp-up of Boeing aircraft, especially the 737 MAX, an increase in military-related orders and a considerably higher demand for our repair and parts services associated with the rebound in commercial air travel. Our Q2 service and other revenue was up about $1.2 million or 36% year-over-year to $4.5 million, a quarterly record for the company, demonstrating the importance of recurring revenue in this segment. Turning to our Product Identification segment. Q2 revenue was essentially flat year-over-year but up almost 8% from Q1 of this year. While we are pleased to see the accelerated pace of orders late in the quarter, the volume did exceed our manufacturing and shipping capacity resulting in extended lead times, especially for some of our PI products and supplies. Over the past several weeks, we have improved our production rates, and we expect…

David Smith

Management

Thanks, Greg, and good morning, everybody. I'll give you some comments on our financial performance through the first half of fiscal 2023. Please note that our earnings release includes GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation tables primarily reflecting the CARES Act benefits that contributed to our results in fiscal year 2022. I'll be discussing our first half results, excluding the CARES Act benefits we had in last year's second quarter. We believe this lens provides a more appropriate perspective on our operating results. But the GAAP results and the comparisons as well to -- of the GAAP to non-GAAP and the reconciliations are detailed in the press release and the related tables that are included with it. At the midpoint of the year, our revenue was up about 7.4% to $63.3 million, driven by growth in the T&M segment. T&M revenue was up 47% through the first half of fiscal 2023 to $18.2 million, primarily attributable to the ramp of the 737 MAX on the return of commercial air travel as the pandemic continues to recede. As Greg suggested, our aerospace repair overhaul and parts product lines were particularly robust. This part of the business also has relatively higher margins than the average. Product ID revenue came in at $45.3 million through the first 6 months of this fiscal year, down about 3% from the prior year due to the issues Greg discussed. Moving to revenue by type. Hardware was up almost 16% to $17.9 million through the first 6 months of the year. Service and other revenue declined 26% to $8.2 million, while revenue from supplies was $37.1 million, essentially unchanged from the prior year period. Combined segment operating profit came in at 7.1% or 11.3% of revenue compared to $7 million or 11.8% of revenue in the first half of…

Gregory Woods

Management

Thanks, David. Let me close with 3 key takeaways from today's call: First, underlying demand is robust with favorable secular trends creating tailwinds for growth. Second, we are confident in our long-term strategy as we continue to build on our track record of value-generated M&A and new product development. And third, we have added an important strategic component with Astro Machine, which gives us expertise in automation and material handling, expands our color label printer offerings, adds to our domestic manufacturing base and creates meaningful cross-selling opportunities with other areas of our PI business. With that, Dave and I will be happy to take your questions. Operator?

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions]

Scott Solomon

Management

It looks like we have no questions in the queue. So we'll turn the call back to Mr. Woods for any closing comments.

Gregory Woods

Management

All right then. Well, thank, everyone, for being with us here this morning and enjoy the remaining weeks of the summer and look forward to catching up with you at Q3 or at one of the fall packaging labeling shows, most notably the FACHPACK end of September and the PACK EXPO end of October. So long for now.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. With that, this concludes today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.