Operator
Operator
Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Woodward, Inc. Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2016 Earnings Call. At this time, I would like to inform you that this call is being recorded for rebroadcast and that all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, you will be invited to participate in a question-and-answer session. Joining us today from the company are Tom Gendron, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Mr. Bob Weber, Vice Chairman, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer; and Mr. Don Guzzardo, Director of Investor Relations and Treasury. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Guzzardo. Don Guzzardo - Director-Investor Relations & Treasury: Thank you, operator. We would like to welcome all of you to Woodward's third quarter of fiscal 2016 earnings call. During today's call, Tom will comment on our markets and related strategies, and then Bob will discuss our financial results. At the end of our presentation, we will take questions. For those who have not seen today's earnings release, you can find it on our website at woodward.com. We have again included some presentation materials to go along with today's call that are also accessible on our website. An audio replay of this call will be available by phone, or on our website, through August 3, 2016. The phone number for the audio replay is on the press release announcing this call and will be repeated by the operator at the end of the call. Before we begin, I would like to refer to and highlight our cautionary statement as shown on slide three. As always, elements of this presentation are forward-looking or based on our outlook and assumptions for the global economy, our markets and our businesses more specifically. Those elements can and do frequently change. Please consider our comments in light of the risks and uncertainties surrounding those elements. We also direct your attention to the reconciliations of certain non-U.S. GAAP measures included in today's slide presentation and our earnings release and related schedules. Management uses these non-U.S. GAAP measures in monitoring and evaluating the ongoing performance of Woodward and each business segment. Now turning to our results, net sales for the third quarter of 2016 were $508 million, an increase of 3% compared to $495 million in the third quarter of 2015. Earnings per share were $0.81 for the third quarter of 2016 compared to $0.66 in the third quarter of 2015. EBIT for the third quarter of 2016 was $69 million compared to $63 million in the prior year third quarter. Strong performance in our Aerospace segment was partially offset by ongoing weakness in our Industrial segment. Free cash flow excluding the after-tax proceeds from the formation of the joint venture with GE was $31 million for the first nine months of fiscal 2016 compared to an outflow of $19 million for the first nine months of fiscal 2015. Capital expenditures for the first nine months of 2016 were $129 million compared to $191 million in the prior year period. Now, I will turn the call over to Tom to comment further on our results, strategies, and markets. Thomas A. Gendron - Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Thank you, Don, and good afternoon to those joining us today. We delivered solid sales and operating earnings this quarter despite continuing economic headwinds. We saw strong performance in our Aerospace segment, particularly in defense, with Commercial remaining solid. Our Aerospace growth will continue to accelerate as new aircraft platforms continue to launch. In Industrial, our results were weaker than expected as a result of the persistent global macroeconomic challenges and uncertain environment that has caused end users to delay new capital investments. With that said, we did see sequential sales and operating profit improvement in the third quarter and we'll continue to believe that many of our industrial end markets are at or near the bottom of the cycle. We expect continued improvement in the fiscal fourth quarter. Moving to our market segments, starting with Aerospace. Commercial Aerospace markets are strong and industry order backlogs remain in very healthy levels. Returning from the Farnborough Airshow last week, it was impressive to see the new and refreshed aircraft showcased and flying at the show. This included the neo, the MAX, the 787-9, the A350, the E2, the C-Series, and the Joint Strike Fighter. All of these aircraft are moving into production and together represent significant market share gains for us. The A320neo powered by the Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan engine has entered into service and the first deliveries of the A320neo powered by the LEAP engine are expected to occur this month. The 737 MAX certification testing is ahead of schedule and is expected to be launched early next year. Both programs have significantly expanded content for Woodward and represent a significant increase in our overall market share. Commercial aftermarket continues to be driven by strong passenger traffic. For Woodward, we anticipate accelerating growth related to initial provisioning as new narrowbody programs launch. As expected the commercial rotorcraft and business jet markets remain soft largely related to continued economic weakness specifically in the oil and gas industry. Defense sales, both OEM and aftermarket continue to accelerate as a result of the heightened level of global instability and favorable budget conditions. Increased demand for smart weapons that use our actuation systems continues to be a growth driver. With no anticipated change in the geopolitical environment, we expect defense to remain strong for the foreseeable future. Turning now to Industrial, the positive long term market trends we have discussed in the past remain as relevant as ever, namely expanded use of natural gas, increase in global emissions regulations, and a rising middle class. These trends were main drivers of future growth. In the near term, however, our industrial businesses continue to suffer from the impact of depressed natural gas truck market, principally in China, and reduced overall demand due to global economic weakness and lower oil prices. Within transportation, while the Chinese government continues to increase its incentives to use natural gas versus diesel, the natural gas truck market remains highly depressed due to uncertainty around the regulatory environment. Power generation and related markets continue to show pockets of strength driven largely by aftermarket activity in both gas and steam turbines as the existing equipment continues to be used and kept in service along the periods. Investment in new equipment, however, remains soft. Within oil and gas, conditions have not improved and sales into related markets continue to decline. Initial indications for 2017 point to a slight recovery. While we believe we are at or approaching the bottom of the trough in many of our end markets, we have and will continue to take action to address the reduced industrial demand environment to pursuing aftermarket and other near-term related sales opportunities and adjusting our cost structure. As we go forward, we'll benefit from the structural and discretionary cost reduction actions taken across our businesses. We will continue to identify and implement further opportunities to drive growth and improve operating earnings leverage. In summary, as we look ahead to the remainder of fiscal 2016, we expect the positive momentum in Aerospace to build and the Industrial segment to show improvement. As new aerospace programs launch and industrial markets stabilize, we'll transition to a strong cash-generation cycle following years of heavy investment in new platforms and capacity. We remain highly confident in our long-term outlook for both businesses. We have industry-leading technologies serving top global customers, with strong recurring revenue streams focused on attractive end markets. Now let me turn to Bob to discuss the financials in more detail. Robert F. Weber - Vice Chairman, Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer: Thank you, Tom. As has been the case in recent quarters, our third quarter reflected strengthening in the Aerospace segment and persistent macro weakness in Industrial is impacting our results. Importantly though, the strategic actions we took earlier in the year have begun to favorably impact our operating results. We generated a 9% increase in EBIT on a 3% increase in sales, resulting in the highest operating leverage we have had in almost two years. These favorable trends should accelerate in the fourth quarter and beyond. In Aerospace, sales increased 7% this quarter fueled by strong OEM and aftermarket and defense sales and continued healthy large commercial and regional OEM jet sales. This was partially offset by ongoing weakness in business jet and rotorcraft sales. While we experienced typical commercial aftermarket variability this quarter, the aftermarket remains robust and sales were up 9% year-to-date. Aerospace segment earnings for the quarter were $58 million or 18.7% of sales, compared to $46 million or 16.1% in the same period last year. This reflects 25% earnings growth on a 7% sales increase. The improvement was driven largely by the higher sales volume and aftermarket mix. Our Industrial segment sales were down $7 million in the quarter or 4% compared to the same quarter fiscal 2015. This reflects the significant improvement from the year-over-year second quarter decline of 11% and the first quarter decline of 24%. As Tom mentioned, sales were negatively impacted by further deterioration in natural gas truck engines in China and continued weakness in reciprocating engine power generation and other large capital projects. This was partially offset by strength in wind converters and aftermarket sales. There was no meaningful foreign currency impact. Third quarter Industrial segment earnings were $22 million or 11.0% of sales compared to $31 million or 14.8% of sales in the prior year period. Segment earnings were negatively impacted by lower sales volume and product mix, along with cost associated with bringing our Fort Collins facility online. While our fiscal third quarter did not meet our expectations related to our Industrial segment, we continue to expect marked improvement in the fourth quarter. At the Woodward level, gross margin percentage for the third quarter of 2016 was 27.0% compared to 29.0% for the prior year period, reflecting industrial headwinds and facility costs. Research and development for the third quarter of 2016 decreased to 5.9% of sales from 6.8% of sales in the prior year quarter. Selling, general and administrative expenses for the third quarter of 2016 were 7.2% of sales, compared to 7.9% of sales in the prior year quarter. Overall, we are on track to realize the anticipated savings from the strategic actions we took in the first quarter. The effective tax rate for the third quarter of 2016 was 19.5% compared to 24% for the third quarter of 2015. We now expect our full year tax rate to be approximately 23%. The tax rate for the quarter and the full year is being favorably impacted by the effect of the new stock compensation accounting treatment and reinstatement of the research and experimentation credit earlier this year. Net earnings for the third quarter of 2016 were $51 million or $0.81 per share compared to $44 million or $0.66 per share in the third quarter 2015. Strong Aerospace performance and a lower tax rate in the quarter offset continued weakness in our Industrial segment. Looking at cash flows, operating cash flow was $362 million for the first nine months of fiscal 2016. Excluding the impact of the proceeds from the formation of the joint venture with GE, net of taxes paid to-date, operating cash flow was $160 million for the first nine months of fiscal 2016, compared to $171 million for the first nine months of fiscal 2015. Free cash flow, excluding the net joint venture formation proceeds was $31 million for the first nine months of fiscal 2016, compared to an outflow of $19 million for the first nine months of fiscal 2015. Capital expenditures are continuing to decline from prior levels, with $129 million spent in the first nine months of 2016, compared to $191 million for the same period in the prior year. As we approach the end of the fiscal year, we may see some capital expenditures move into our next fiscal year. We still anticipate free cash flow to be approximately $100 million for the full year, excluding the net proceeds related to the joint venture formation. Year-to-date, we have executed $125 million in share buybacks and our anticipated full year share count is in line with our previous guidance. Lastly, turning to our fiscal 2016 outlook. As we discussed during the second quarter call in April, we expected a second half weighted year. As it turns out some of our industrial sales and earnings have shifted into the fourth quarter and beyond. However, most of the growth drivers we discussed previously remained the same. Furthermore stronger than anticipated performance in Aerospace has offset continued pressure we're experiencing in industrial. Looking at the fourth quarter specifically, the strategic actions we took in the first quarter are expected to produce additional cost savings in the fourth quarter. On a segment basis, in Aerospace, we expect continued strength in defense market and commercial sales momentum to build as the narrowbody programs began to launch. In Industrial, increased heavy frame gas turbine OEM sales continued aftermarket strength and strong orders from our wind turban customers are expected to generate significant fourth quarter improvement. Turning to the full year, we now expect Woodward total sales to be approximately $2 billion. We project Aerospace segment sales will be in the upper end of our previous guidance. Industrial segment sales will be lower than our prior expectations and subject considerable uncertainty as we close out the year. Additionally, we now anticipate segment earnings as a percent of sales to Aerospace to be stronger than our previous guidance and industrial to be down from our prior expectations. With regard to earnings per share, we expect the negative impact of the larger than anticipated decline in industrial segment sales will be offset by the lower tax rate and stronger Aerospace performance. Therefore, we are maintaining our fiscal year 2016 earnings per share guidance of $2.75 to $2.95. This concludes our comments on the business and results from the third quarter of fiscal 2016. Operator, we are now ready to open the call to questions.