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LKQ Corporation (LKQ)

Q3 2015 Earnings Call· Thu, Oct 29, 2015

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Greetings and welcome to the LKQ Corporation Third Quarter 2015 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Joe Boutross, Investor Relations for LKQ Corporation. Thank you, Mr. Boutross. You may begin.

Joseph P. Boutross - Director, Investor Relations

Management

Thank you, Devon. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to LKQ's third quarter 2015 earnings conference call. With us today are Rob Wagman and Nick Zarcone. Please refer to the LKQ website at lkqcorp.com for our earnings release issued this morning as well as the accompanying slide presentation for the call. Now let me quickly cover the Safe Harbor. Some of the statements that we make today may be considered forward-looking. These include statements regarding our expectations, beliefs, hopes, intentions or strategies. Actual events or results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. For more information, please refer to the risk factors discussed in our Form 10-K for 2014 and subsequent reports filed with the SEC. During this call, we will present both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures is included in today's earnings press release as well as the slide presentation. And, with that, I'm happy to turn the call over to Rob Wagman. Robert L. Wagman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thank you, Joe. Good morning and thank you for joining us on the call today. We are pleased with the results we reported this morning. And before I provide an update on our operations, let me briefly highlight a few key financial metrics from the quarter. Turning to slide three, Q3 revenue reached $1.83 billion, an increase of 6.4% as compared to $1.72 billion in the third quarter of 2014. Net income for the third quarter of 2015 was $101.3 million, an increase of 10.7% as compared to $91.5 million for the same period of 2014. Diluted earnings per share of $0.33 for the third quarter ended September 30, 2015,…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. We will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. Our first question comes from the line of Nate Brochmann with William Blair. Please proceed with your question. Nate J. Brochmann - William Blair & Co. LLC: Good morning, everyone, and congrats on a good, solid quarter. Robert L. Wagman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thanks, Nate. Good morning. Nate J. Brochmann - William Blair & Co. LLC: So a couple things. I wanted to talk about a little bit in terms – over in Europe in terms of like ECP. You just mentioned, obviously, some good macro trends in terms of miles driven going on over there and, obviously, we have more parts injections. But, as you slow, obviously, that increase in branch count, we mature that, which we're getting close to, could you talk about the big drivers over the next several years like kind of in terms at least the footprint you have today beyond any additional acquisitions in terms of what are the opportunities, breaking it down in terms of just market share gains versus new product injections, et cetera? Robert L. Wagman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Sure. Certainly, Nate, we're at the tail end. This year – so the end of Q4, we'll be over 200 locations. And we've always said the right number is 225. So we're certainly at the tail end. Obviously, the new park introductions are going to be huge for us. We plan on bringing reman parts into the marketplace, recycled parts as well. So there's a lot of opportunity to bring the products we have here in the U.S. over to the UK. So we do think the overall market conditions are good. On top of some of the tailwinds you mentioned, the strong surge…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of James Albertine with Stifel. Please proceed with your question. Jamie Albertine - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.: Thank you and good morning, everyone. Robert L. Wagman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Hi, Jim. Dominick P. Zarcone - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Good morning. Jamie Albertine - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.: I wanted to ask as well on the European segment, just to the considerations for the fourth quarter as it relates to margins. You obviously had a great result in the third quarter but help us understand. You're balancing, I think, some easier compares year-over-year. If I recall, there's some pull forward costs related to a competitor bankruptcy last year and some other expansion. You've got a new UK facility, though, that's starting to come online as well this year. So how do we sort of balance that and how do we think about kind of the year-over-year trends looking forward into the fourth quarter? Dominick P. Zarcone - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: You're right, Jamie. There was a bit of a pressure on margins over Europe in Q4 of last year. We think most of that is behind us. Again, we showed solid improvement during Q3. We do anticipate that the margins in Q4 should be a little bit better than last year. But it is a seasonal business, much more than here in the U.S. So it's important to keep that in mind. So we do anticipate that the margins will creep down in Q4 relative to where they are right now. Jamie Albertine - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.: So if I'm hearing, we should just moderate the rate of change that we saw in the third quarter…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Craig Kennison with Robert W. Baird. Please proceed with your question. Craig R. Kennison - Robert W. Baird & Co., Inc. (Broker): Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions as well. Nick, the free cash flow upside this year has been the talk of investors, I guess, early this morning. What are the key factors behind that and how sustainable is it given it's driven by some working capital benefits? Dominick P. Zarcone - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Thanks, Craig. There's no doubt that we have benefited on the working capital side. Again, the $491 million of free cash or operating cash flow, if you will, for the first nine months reflects strong earnings, basically $432 million, but then a net decrease in working capital. I don't believe that we're going to be able to run the business for the next several years continuing to reduce the amount of working capital. Again, some of that has to do with the fact that Q4 of last year at year-end – again, we really bulked up the inventory in anticipation that there could be some issues at the ports during the first quarter and second quarter. And so our inventory balances are actually coming down from the end of last year. Again, we had some increase in payables as well, which helped matters. So we took the guidance for the year up just reflecting the fact that we're well ahead of where we anticipated we would be. But, again, I think, for modeling purposes, folks should assume that, on an ongoing basis, we're going to need to increase working capital pretty much in line with our revenue growth. Craig R. Kennison - Robert W. Baird & Co., Inc. (Broker):…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Tony Cristello with BB&T Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question. Anthony F. Cristello - BB&T Capital Markets: Hi, Good morning. Robert L. Wagman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Morning, Tony. Dominick P. Zarcone - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Morning. Anthony F. Cristello - BB&T Capital Markets: The first question I have – and it looks like all of your businesses outside of sort of the metals exposed are doing well. But when you look at the comment, I think, you talked about 2016 introduction of alternative parts in the Sator business. Can you maybe give a little bit more understanding of the process that's involved there, sort of, the ramp time and what you see as the opportunity as you introduce those newer alternative parts? Robert L. Wagman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Sure, Tony. Obviously, we have 17 carriers in the UK that we're going to use them as our launching pad as we get to the continent. Many of those right also in the continent, so from the UK, so we have those relationships already built. In terms of the product, it's the same vendors we're using in the UK, so that won't be difficult. It's really just getting – our first process was to flip from three step to two step. And now that we're virtually done with that, now we can control that last mile of distribution. So it's really going to be working with the insurance companies on the continent to show them our results that we've had in the UK. In terms of the market opportunity, the OEs have about a 93% market share on the continent, so lots of opportunity. We've been very successful in…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Ben Bienvenu with Stephens. Please proceed with your question.

Benjamin Bienvenu - Stephens, Inc.

Management

Thanks. Good morning. Robert L. Wagman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Good morning, Ben.

Benjamin Bienvenu - Stephens, Inc.

Management

Just touching on the specialty industry. Following the Coast acquisition, are there any other sizable competitors there or anyone of any meaningful competitive threat? And then, when you think about the product offerings that you offer today, are there any offerings that you would like to bring onboard or that you could potentially bring onboard through bolt-on acquisitions? Robert L. Wagman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yeah, Ben. There are sizable competitors in the marketplace still. Remember, we operate in the entire SEMA market which is well over $34 billion. We're only operating in the $5.6 billion part of that segment. So lots of competitors out there still and a lots of opportunities to keep growing the business. And that pipeline in our industry – that acquisition pipeline is very active actually, that side of the business.

Benjamin Bienvenu - Stephens, Inc.

Management

Okay. Great. And then just touching on the ECP same-store sales, branch growth. Obviously, strong new car sales, I suspect, are creating a little bit of a near-term headwind, obviously a long-term tailwind. Is that mid to high single-digit growth expectation you laid out for the full year on the last call still a reasonable expectation? Robert L. Wagman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: I think it is. I think with just some of the macro trends, they're benefiting from miles driven increasing. The new car park, as we just mentioned, as I said earlier, once that car ages three years, gets out of the warranty side of the business, we expect our business to be very strong there, so, on that side. The collision is still doing very well. I think our paint business is dragging down the organic. It was never going to grow at the size of the parts business. So that's kind of bringing in the number a little bit. But I do feel pretty confident that strong single-digits, low double-digits are going to be achievable with the macro trends we're facing.

Benjamin Bienvenu - Stephens, Inc.

Management

Okay. Great. I'll hop back in the queue. Thanks. Robert L. Wagman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thanks, Ben.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Bill Armstrong with C.L. King & Associates. Please proceed with your question. William R. Armstrong - C.L. King & Associates, Inc.: Good morning, gentlemen. So kind of related to that last one. In Europe, your organic growth was 7.2%, which is below the trend we've seen elsewhere. ECP is still is pretty strong, about 10%. Anything to call out in the Netherlands in terms of the organic growth rate? Robert L. Wagman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yeah. Two things on the Netherlands, Bill, that are probably worth noting. We had a really strong Q2. It was a very mild spring on the continent. And we believe a lot of that repair work may have been pushed from Q3 into Q2. And the other thing that we're doing is obviously with the heavy acquisitions we're doing from three-step to two-step, there's a lot of revenue moving as we acquire new businesses we're cannibalizing from other locations. So it may be shifting from an older location that was comping to a newer location that we didn't get the benefit of the organic growth. So we do think that's going to start to level out again and will be back to where we think we should be, which is mid single-digits of organic growth. William R. Armstrong - C.L. King & Associates, Inc.: Got it. And then a question maybe for Nick. You had a $3 million other income item on your P&L. What was that? Dominick P. Zarcone - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Most of it related to FX items. William R. Armstrong - C.L. King & Associates, Inc.: So kind of non-cash then or the hedges or what? Dominick P. Zarcone - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Yeah. Mostly non-cash items, Bill. Again, nothing material. William R. Armstrong - C.L. King & Associates, Inc.: Okay. So not – and also, I guess, sort of non-recurring then? I mean is that something we should be looking for in the quarters ahead? Dominick P. Zarcone - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: No. I mean, the FX goes along with where the currencies are swinging and the like. So we would never kind of plan on that being a recurring item. William R. Armstrong - C.L. King & Associates, Inc.: Understood. Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Bret Jordan with Jefferies. Please proceed with your question.

Bret Jordan - Jefferies LLC

Management

Hey. Good morning, guys. Robert L. Wagman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Hi, Bret.

Bret Jordan - Jefferies LLC

Management

Just housekeeping. Could you give us what you have for the alternative parts penetration year-over-year in North America and then the UK number? Robert L. Wagman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: In the U.S., we get quarterly updates, but it's really moving. But it's in that 36% to 37% range. And in the UK, we're closer to 9% plus. The last figure we got from Solaire (53:21) at the time. Up from 7%, we got in the business, Bret, in 2012.

Bret Jordan - Jefferies LLC

Management

Okay. And then, in Specialty, as you're looking around the M&A environment, I guess, you wouldn't be buying a manufacturer. Would you buy a to-consumer brand like a Summit or a JEGS or a QuadraTec or is that too much sort of a catalog retail presence? You need more of a distribution model. Robert L. Wagman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: We do play in that performance side of the business, Bret. That is one of the segments we are in. We certainly would look at anything that we could obviously lever. They do have – both of those companies have a strong e-commerce presence, which is attractive to us. But at this point, we're just looking at all of the opportunities. And since they are in that segment, we certainly would be interested in that business.

Bret Jordan - Jefferies LLC

Management

Okay. And then, one last question. On ECP, the 6.2% comp, do you have a feeling for what the underlying market growth was there? I mean, that would seem to be a share gain comp, but do you know what the number that you're selling against was? Robert L. Wagman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: The 6.2% comp?

Bret Jordan - Jefferies LLC

Management

Yeah. I think you said the 12 month and older ECP stores were up 6.2%. What was the market up do you think? Robert L. Wagman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: We've been told the market is growing circa GDP, so 2%ish.

Bret Jordan - Jefferies LLC

Management

Okay. Thank you. Robert L. Wagman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thanks, Bret.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Jason Rodgers with Great Lakes Review. Please proceed with your question.

Jason A. Rodgers - Great Lakes Review

Management

Hello, guys. Robert L. Wagman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Hi, Jason. Dominick P. Zarcone - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Good morning.

Jason A. Rodgers - Great Lakes Review

Management

Just looking at FX and scrap, assuming that rates and prices remain at current levels, what do you expect the EPS impact will be in the fourth quarter? Dominick P. Zarcone - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Again, if FX rates stay where they are today, again, probably a little bit less than $0.005, on the scrap side, figure $0.02 relative to last year. I mean we continue to chunk down. And the scrap prices really didn't start to come in meaningfully until early Q1 of this year. So we won't get the real benefit.

Jason A. Rodgers - Great Lakes Review

Management

And then, how about the tax rate for the fourth quarter? Dominick P. Zarcone - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: You should assume for the year that we'll be at the 34.75%. That's our best estimate at this point in time.

Jason A. Rodgers - Great Lakes Review

Management

Okay. And then, finally, if you wouldn't mind providing an update on the State Farm aftermarket chrome bumpers, as well as your JV in Australia. Robert L. Wagman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Sure. Jason, on State Farm, the bumpers, the ones that they are writing in the aftermarket were up 16.6% year-over-year, so really impressive growth. We now have 467 certified parts available just in the bumper line, so very pleased with that. We talk to State Farm all the time, nothing more than that. On Australia, we keep moving forward with the partnership there. And it's a slow, steady race, but growing our top-line very nicely and expect to do a little bit more here in the coming quarters in terms of potential acquisitions and more product entry.

Jason A. Rodgers - Great Lakes Review

Management

Thank you very much. Robert L. Wagman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thanks, Jason.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Christopher Van Horn with FRB (sic) [FBR] (56:47) Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question. Christopher Van Horn - FBR Capital Markets & Co.: Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my call. Just a quick question on Sator and I apologize if you went over this. But could you just update it now that you've kind of completed these four acquisitions, update us on the competitive landscape over there and where you guys are kind of positioned? And have you quantified kind of the addressable market for that business after these acquisitions? Robert L. Wagman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yeah. It's a competitive marketplace. We're now in a position to really control that last mile of distribution. So we do still have some wholesale customers as well. So we're kind of playing in both of the markets. The car park is growing there. And it presents a great opportunity. We think that our small entry into France – we have three locations in France – provides another opportunity to keep growing the business. So we think it's a great opportunity to really grow the business in all segments of the markets we operate, the Benelux, as well as the France markets as well. Christopher Van Horn - FBR Capital Markets & Co.: And these last four really puts you at a competitive advantage over some of the other guys over there, right? Robert L. Wagman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: We certainly believe that now that we're pretty much where we need to be in terms of the three-step to two-step, we're in a great position because our inventory is strong. We can leverage not only our existing inventory in the Netherlands, but we have backup…

Operator

Operator

There are no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the floor back over to management for closing comments. Robert L. Wagman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thanks, Devon. Thank you, everyone, for your time this morning. And we look forward to speaking with you in February when we report our fourth quarter and full year 2015 results. Have a great day.

Operator

Operator

This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.