Earnings Labs

Ormat Technologies, Inc. (ORA)

Q2 2016 Earnings Call· Wed, Aug 3, 2016

$111.85

-1.11%

Key Takeaways · AI generated
AI summary not yet generated for this transcript. Generation in progress for older transcripts; check back soon, or browse the full transcript below.

Same-Day

-1.74%

1 Week

-1.18%

1 Month

+1.32%

vs S&P

+0.31%

Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to the Ormat Technologies' Second Quarter 2016 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions] After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Jeff Stanlis with Hayden IR. Please go ahead.

Jeff Stanlis

Analyst

Thank you, operator. Hosting the call today are Isaac Angel, Chief Executive Officer; and Doron Blachar, Chief Financial Officer; and Smadar Lavi, Vice President of Corporate Finance and Investor Relations. Before beginning, I would like to remind you that the information provided during this call may contain forward-looking statements relating to current expectations, estimates, forecasts, and projections about future events that are forward looking as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements generally relate to the company’s plans, objectives, and expectations for future operation and are based on management’s current estimates, projections, future results, or trends. Actual future results may differ materially from those projected as a result of certain risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, please see the Risk Factors as described in Ormat Technologies' Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC. In addition, during the call, we will present certain non-GAAP financial measures such as EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA. Reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures and management’s reason for presenting such information is set forth in the press release that was issued last night, as well as the slides posted on our website. Because these measures are not calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP, they should not be considered in isolation from the financial statement prepared in accordance with GAAP. Before I turn the call over to management, I would like to remind everyone that a slide presentation accompanying this call may be accessed on the company’s website, at ormat.com, under the Events & Presentations link that is found on the Investor Relations' tab. With all that said, I would now like to turn the call over to Isaac Angel. Isaac, the call is yours.

Isaac Angel

Analyst

Thank you very much Jeff and good morning everyone. Thank you for joining us today for the presentation of our second quarter 2016 results and our outlook for the remainder the year. Starting with slide four, we delivered another good quarter in the second quarter, with double-digit topline growth as well as increasing profitability. Our focus on improving our operational and manufacturing efficiency continues to be the main driver for margin expansion and improved results. Our growth continues to be broad-based as both our product segment and electricity segment improved year-over-year. Our electricity segment delivered over 14% increase, reaching $104 million due to higher electricity generation and new expansions coming online. Our product segment grew approximately 13% to $56 million, benefiting from several large contracts signed in the previous years. Overall, total revenue grew 14% to approximately $160 million. In addition, we again achieved high gross margin levels in both segments of our business, supporting nearly 7% increase in net income and approximately 20% increase in adjusted EBITDA. We have been focused on efficiency and operational excellence in every aspect of our business and those efforts are reflected in our results. I will elaborate on the progress we made on our plans for the future after Doron reviews the financial results. Doron?

Doron Blachar

Analyst

Thank you, Isaac and good morning everyone. Let me start by providing an overview of our financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2016. Starting with slide six, for the second quarter of 2016, total revenue increased 13.8% to $159.9 million compared to $140.5 million in the second quarter of 2015. On slide seven, revenue in the electricity segment increased 14.4% to $104 million in the second quarter of 2016, up from $90.9 million in the second quarter of last year. On slide eight, revenues in the product segment were $55.9 million, an increase of 12.7% compared to $49.6 million in the second quarter of last year. Moving to slide nine, gross margin in second quarter of 2016 increased to 41.2% from 36.1% in the second quarter 2015. Our electricity segment gross margin increased to 40.2%, due largely to new expansions coming online, the transition to a new fixed-rate PPA for our Heber 1 power plant, higher efficiency in our operating power plants, as well as lower cost to operate our new expansion. Our product segment generated 43% gross margin, another very strong quarter for this segment of our business. This was mainly due to improvements in efficiencies, mainly our manufacturing facility. With shorten lead-times and improved procurement processes, which reduced our raw material cost. In addition, the reduction in commodity prices further reduced the cost of raw materials as well as subcontracting cost. As we indicated during our last quarter conference call, we expect our gross margins in this product segment during 2016 to be higher than normal. Turning to slide 10, operating income for the second quarter of 2016 increased to $51.9 million compared to $38.6 million in the second quarter of last year, representing 34.3% increase. Operating income attributable to our electricity segment was $32.8…

Isaac Angel

Analyst

Thank you, Doron. Starting with slide 16 for an update on operations. Ormat delivered double-digits top and bottom-line growth during the second quarter, clearly demonstrating that we're making solid progress against our multi-year strategic plan. Moving to slide 17, the key area of focus for Ormat's new management for past few years is to drive efficiency where we could to improve margins and overall profitability. We continue to make improvement in all aspects of our value chain. On the product side, we are focused on reducing manufacturing lead-time, improving procurement to lower our material cost, and improving management control. In the electricity segment, in addition to the improvements mentioned above, we're also focused on optimizing the operations of our power plant. We're evaluating each project, adjusting the output to match the resource, targeting expansions and upgrades where we can and centralizing operations to reduce costs. The process translates into a significant and sustainable improvement in gross margin and adjusted EBITDA margin. Turning to slide 18, another goal was to expand our electricity generation, both organically and inorganically, and we continue to make notable progress against these objectives. Electricity generation during the quarter was 1.3 million megawatt hours, an increase of 10% -- 10.8% compared to the last year. This increase was due to the commencement of the second phase of Don Campbell which come online in September 2015 as well as Plant 4 of the Olkaria III complex in Kenya, which come online in January this year. Generation was also positively affected by the high performance in the McGinness Hills complex. Note that while the revenues in the electricity segment increased approximately $13 million year-over-year. The cost of revenue in this segment actually decreased slightly. In addition as we indicated in our last quarterly call, we're working to monetize the…

Operator

Operator

Thank you, sir. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Paul Coster with JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Paul Coster

Analyst

Yes, thanks for taking the questions and congratulations on a good quarter. A few quick ones. First off, Menengai, what's caused that to pushed out and should we just assume it’s a non-starter at this point or is it really a 2019 deliverable now?

Isaac Angel

Analyst

Paul, I don't know if you recall the structure of the deal in Menengai, but the structure is such that we are buying the resource -- the steam from the local company and the project consists three providers and about 110 megawatts of steam supply to be converted to electricity. At this stage, we're not sure that the resource can support overall -- the whole amount of steam, therefore, we took the Menengai thing and put it on a lower probability. We're not still closing it, but we're waiting for clarifications from the local supplier that the amount of steam will be at least 110 megawatts and that's why and we took it out from the immediate supply.

Paul Coster

Analyst

Got it. Can you give us a quick update on your energy storage initiatives and when you think they might become a material consideration as well -- Alevo I'm thinking here?

Isaac Angel

Analyst

Yes, the Alevo project is proceeding as planned and will be operational by the end of year. And we're working on initiative -- on additional initiatives as we speak. I'm very optimistic and I think and I expect that we'll come up with additional project or activities of this field very soon.

Paul Coster

Analyst

Finally, the relationship with Toshiba has been placed now for quite a while, what is the result of it so far? And how is it going to translate into shareholder value do you think?

Isaac Angel

Analyst

We only have one project that we win together in 2013 and as we speak, we're told, we are working on a second one. So far even though it's been slow -- it's quite slow than expected, I'm pleased with the results. We have a very good connection with the Japanese and Toshiba. And I still believe very much that this partnership will create, at the end of the day, a large shareholder value for us and for them.

Paul Coster

Analyst

Okay. Thank you.

Isaac Angel

Analyst

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Dan Mannes with Avondale Partners. Please go ahead.

Daniel Mannes

Analyst · Avondale Partners. Please go ahead.

Thanks. Good morning, everyone and a nice quarter.

Isaac Angel

Analyst · Avondale Partners. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Dan.

Daniel Mannes

Analyst · Avondale Partners. Please go ahead.

Sure. A couple follow-up questions here. As it relates to the Tungsten and Dixie, it looks like you took down your output assumptions for these plants. Is this just since you're kind of earlier stage on those, you're still assessing the resource or is there may be a little bit of a change here?

Isaac Angel

Analyst · Avondale Partners. Please go ahead.

Not really Dan. What we decided to do, we have more than expected projects in the pipeline and so we're trying to minimize the risk and not to fit them all as this company did two years ago. And we're going again on steps on -- or smaller steps. At the end of the day, we believe both projects can provide much higher outputs than the first stages. It's simply risk management from our side. If you noticed, we didn't change the total number that we will be delivering by the end of 2018. It will simply consist small projects in order to make it. If I recall right, and correct me if I'm wrong, thereon Tungsten has the second phase towards the end of 2018.

Daniel Mannes

Analyst · Avondale Partners. Please go ahead.

Okay, great.

Doron Blachar

Analyst · Avondale Partners. Please go ahead.

Well, on Tungsten basically I would say that -- as Isaac said, we decided to go on phase approach like we did with Campbell and like we did with McGinness and Olkaria and we believe that the resource is stronger than what we initially thought. However, what we decided is to go to a third phase of approximately 24 megawatts and following this phase and assuming everything will be supported -- support our current estimations, we will have a second phase that will probably live beyond 2018. So, it will probably come in later stages, but as all of you know it's based on the resource as well.

Daniel Mannes

Analyst · Avondale Partners. Please go ahead.

Understood. And on a related comment, as it relates to about Dixie, Tungsten, and also Menengai, I looked at your CapEx expectations for the year and it looks like you took down a pretty good amount particularly on development expenses versus what you expected even only a quarter ago. Is that primarily Menengai is that -- or is there something else impacting your CapEx expectations?

Isaac Angel

Analyst · Avondale Partners. Please go ahead.

Its -- I suppose it's probably -- is primarily Menengai which has been delayed and not beyond that.

Daniel Mannes

Analyst · Avondale Partners. Please go ahead.

Okay. The other thing I wanted to ask about with both Dixie and Tungsten and any other U.S. development, can you talk a little bit more about the current PPA environment, both from a corporate perspective as well as the utility perspective right now?

Isaac Angel

Analyst · Avondale Partners. Please go ahead.

Dan you know as we're very, very conservative company and if we wouldn't have -- if we are not optimistic on the chances to sign the right PPAs, we wouldn't develop those projects. But unfortunately at this stage, I cannot elaborate on the PPAs as we're in different stages of both negotiation and approval.

Daniel Mannes

Analyst · Avondale Partners. Please go ahead.

Understood. And then my final question on the product side, I think we're now at six to eight quarters where you've been well under the high 30, if not the 40% margin range. You keep telling us they are going to normalize. I believe you that you think they will normalize, but at what point, do we just assume word any normal?

Isaac Angel

Analyst · Avondale Partners. Please go ahead.

I'm very optimistic that it will be normalized.

Daniel Mannes

Analyst · Avondale Partners. Please go ahead.

Is that optimistic or pessimistic, Isaac?

Isaac Angel

Analyst · Avondale Partners. Please go ahead.

I'm kidding. But the thing is you know as we explained two years ago, we're constantly working on efficiency and the question is what's coming first? So, even though, we told that we will not be able to achieve the number that we achieved this quarter and also optimistic about the next one and still those efficiencies are catching up -- catching up and bringing more and more bottom-line, which I'm very pleased of course. At the end of the day, with different mix of deliveries, specifically in 2018, there will be a bit of the decrease in the gross margin specifically in the product side.

Daniel Mannes

Analyst · Avondale Partners. Please go ahead.

Got it. That's helpful. Thanks so much guys.

Isaac Angel

Analyst · Avondale Partners. Please go ahead.

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Gerry Sweeney with Roth Capitals. Please go ahead.

Gerard Sweeney

Analyst · Roth Capitals. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon. Thank you for taking my call.

Doron Blachar

Analyst · Roth Capitals. Please go ahead.

Thank you.

Isaac Angel

Analyst · Roth Capitals. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Gerry. Good morning.

Gerard Sweeney

Analyst · Roth Capitals. Please go ahead.

Just a quick question, actually most might have been answered, but on your electricity side, obviously margins are very good in the quarter, you discussed better PPA at Heber, operating efficiency, new plants driving those margins. Are there any other sort of temporary benefits that you saw in the quarter, maybe less maintenance work, higher output, et cetera that may have been driving this 40% gross margin or is this sort of -- Dan just eluded to on the product side the new normal on a go-forward base?

Isaac Angel

Analyst · Roth Capitals. Please go ahead.

On the contrary to what they said on the product side, we are -- we intent to keep our profitability stable on the electricity side. As we make a lot of efficiencies from the operational side of the project. We are, as you mentioned, replacing contracts which are related to gas and natural gas and oil and we will continue to do so in the future. We're unmanning power plants or building them unmanned, the new ones which is immediately affecting the bottom-line. On the electricity side, there is nothing unusual which -- that happened this quarter that will give me -- that will give me any clue that will be different also in the upcoming quarters. At the end of the day, there is a limit to which number we can hit, but we still have a long way to go with the efficiencies in our existing assets and with the profitability of upcoming assets.

Gerard Sweeney

Analyst · Roth Capitals. Please go ahead.

Got it. That’s very helpful. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Isaac Angel

Analyst · Roth Capitals. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] We have a follow-up from Dan Mannes with Avondale Partners.

Daniel Mannes

Analyst

Thanks for indulging me. On the power price side, I was wondering if there's been any hedging activity either as it relates to kind of the open gas position or as it relates to -- I guess the oil position at Puna, any changes particular given the volatility we’ve seen in both oil and gas prices lately?

Doron Blachar

Analyst

We, Dan has basically hedged as we mentioned last quarter, we did some hedges at the beginning of the year for 2015. The hedges are hedging basically the PPA so on the net basis; we’re maintaining our overall numbers although accounting-wise, they are not defined as accounting hedges, so they appear in different line items of the revenue. So, the volatility has some impacts of ups and downs, but on total numbers, since we're hedging a specific PPA that shouldn’t impact us. I would say that they are relatively higher gas prices today compared to previous -- to beginning of the year in the previous year. If they will be maintained that will help us obviously next year when we work on our budget.

Daniel Mannes

Analyst

What about any opportunities for longer term? I mean I think you've locked in a final agreement for [Indiscernible] in 2017, but anything you can do for instance to renegotiate with -- for instance with go on Puna, just maybe take some volatility outgoing for a long-term basis?

Isaac Angel

Analyst

Dan, you will appreciate that we will not start negotiations with TECO on the conference call. But on the other hand, as you recall, we were challenging Puna since the tropical storm two years ago and I'm very optimistic today that we're beyond those challenges and the power plant is performing more than well and increasing outputs almost to its maximum, which so far indicates that we did well in the last year and a half to modify change and so on. Now, the challenge remains with North Brawley that we are dealing for last few years and I'm also optimistic, Dan, over there also we'll be able to increase -- to modify and increase and so on.

Daniel Mannes

Analyst

Great. That's helpful. Thanks.

Isaac Angel

Analyst

Thank you very much Dan.

Operator

Operator

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Isaac Angel for any closing remarks.

Isaac Angel

Analyst

Thank you very much operator. And as usual I'm optimistic and I'm looking forward to the upcoming quarters and years and we believe that we're -- all the employees of Ormat are behind this and we're taking this company to new places. And thank you very much for your ongoing support.

Operator

Operator

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.