Ducommun Inc /De/ Q2 FY2021 Earnings Call

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Ducommun Second Quarter Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following management's prepared remarks, we'll hold a question-and-answer session. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded today, August 12, 2021. I would now like to turn the conference over to your Investor Relations Advisor, Chris Witty.

Thank you and welcome to Ducommun's 2021 Second Quarter Conference Call. With me today are Steve Oswald - Chairman, President, and CEO; and Chris Wampler, Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Controller, and Treasurer. I'm going to discuss certain limitations to any forward-looking statements regarding future events, projections or performance that we may make during the prepared remarks, or the Q&A session that follows. Certain statements today that are not historical facts, including any statements as to future market conditions, results of operations and financial projections are forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are therefore perspective. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from the future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurances that such expectations will prove to have been correct. In addition, estimates of future operating results are based on the company's current business, which is subject to change, particular risks facing Ducommun include among others, the cyclicality of our end-use markets, the impact of COVID-19 on our operations, our customers, the level of U.S. government defense spending, timing of orders from our customers, legal, and regulatory risks management changes, the cost of expansion and acquisitions, competition, and disasters natural or otherwise. These risks and others are described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC and our forward-looking statements are subject to those risks. Statements made during this call are only as of the time made and we do not intend to update any statements made in this presentation, except if and as required by regulatory authorities. This call includes non-GAAP financial measures, please refer to our filings with the SEC for a reconciliation of the GAAP to non-GAAP measures referenced on this call, we filed our 2021 second-quarter Form 10-Q with the SEC today. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Steve Oswald for a review of the operating results.

Well, thank you, Chris. And thanks everyone for joining us today for our second quarter conference call. Today, as usual, I'll give an update on the current situation of the company, after which Chris Wampler will review our financials in detail. The company remains focused first and foremost on the health and safety of our employees; the team has done an excellent job with safety protocols put in place since March 2020. We continued to work with the authorities on best practices throughout our many operations. The total number of cases is roughly 214 since the beginning of the pandemic and within the company, we had 14 cases in Q2 2021. As mentioned in the press release, Ducommun's second-quarter results were very strong, with the company delivering year-over-year revenue growth of 9%, all organic, for the first time since Q1 2020. The Company's defense business continues to be a major success with momentum growing again year-over-year and was the main contributor to the quarter. The challenges in the commercial aerospace market were overcome again by the team that we have. We have seen some good signs, for example, with growth at Spirit Aerosystems in Q2. We're optimistic that we'll start seeing meaningful OEM build rate increases starting in 2022. In addition to revenue growth, we posted growth in gross margins of 23%, which is the highest level reached in 10 years for the company, along with adjusted EBITDA margins of 14.6%, which is an increase of 80 basis points year-over-year. The team also posted an adjusted operating income margin of 9%, which is excellent progress; the quality of earnings was the highest as well with the company reaching GAAP diluted EPS of $0.69 a share versus $0.43 a share for Q2 2020 and adjusted diluted EPS of $0.74 a share versus $0.48 in 2020. These numbers reflect the return to revenue growth we anticipated along with strong operating management. This is all a great story for our investors. This quarter marked a beginning of return to revenue growth for the full year of 2021, with the commercial aerospace market starting to recover in the quarters ahead. The company's second-quarter revenue was higher with Ducommun's defense business leading the way being up 20% versus the prior year. Our defense business revenues continued to show excellent progress on shipments and a robust business development approach. The majority of the gains in Q2 included the radar systems for Northrop Grumman, Raytheon TOW program, F-18, Apache helicopter, UAVs General Atomics, Phalanx, and other missile programs. Our approach to the market is innovative products and processes that provide significant value to the customer, along with striving for the highest level of service. The numbers show that we continue to be rewarded for this strategy. I also want to mention, as I have in the past, the Raytheon Missile Defense business and the progress in signing - since signing the strategic supplier agreement with them in July of 2019. We've been hard at work for three years, on new programs offloading and share shifts. I'm happy to report that 2021 will be a record year overall for this legacy Raytheon business, going from less than $90 million in 2020 to $115 million in 2021, an increase of more than 25%. What a great story. The defense results also show great opportunities when we leverage our structural product lines with defense OEMs. As previously mentioned, we have wins now in the TOW missile, which was a share shift from another supplier, and other new programs such as the Standard Missile to dorsal fin assembly, both for Raytheon Missile and Defense. Along with our acquisitions, this part of the business will be north of $110 million in revenue for 2021, where it was under $80 million in 2019. Another defense structural highlight in Q2 was that Nobles Worldwide had secured a significant contract to supply integrated ammunition handling systems for the Stryker MCWS increase lethality program recently awarded to Oshkosh Defense. The total program over six years could be worth up to $943 million to Oshkosh and their partners. I am also overall optimistic about defense opportunities for Ducommun going forward. There are concerns regarding the recent budget discussions in Washington and the change in administration. This contributes to our value offering and still a modest revenue base. A good amount of runway is still ahead of us here at Ducommun. In regard to defense backlog, it remains strong in Q2 with a backlog of $501 million. The commercial aerospace backlog also began to show some signs of recovery, increasing sequentially from $266 million at the end of Q1 to $276 million at the end of Q2. This is certainly a good sign. The total backlog was $814 million for the company, and this is a very good number based on the environment. Now, I want to take a few minutes to discuss my thoughts on the commercial aerospace business. We were notified in May with a press release approval in July that Ducommun has been recognized as an Airbus detailed parts partner and awarded a long-term five-year contract. The commitment from the current industry leader allows us to provide a titanium-wear package for key products in the A320 and A330 programs. We were and are thrilled and honored to be awarded for the first time the D2P partner designation, which is a major accomplishment in Airbus representing preferred supplier status along with a long-term five-year contract. This is a significant step forward for Ducommun and its industry-leading titanium structural component business. To me, this is the highest level of endorsement and, as I mentioned in the press release, a major milestone in the 172-year history of our company. This contract extends through 2026 and will provide many years of great value to Ducommun and its shareholders. The company's cost actions are also continuing to pay dividends. We certainly see that even before the pandemic, the company was working on initiatives to offset the 737 MAX; the effectiveness of our operational leadership and actions show the gross profit margins year-over-year and a solid operating income percentage along with diluted EPS. I also want to mention our efforts on pricing. This is also having a positive impact on the company's financials. In regard to the outlook, our significant backlog in defense with the many growth programs mentioned earlier will provide good revenue in 2021. We estimate that revenue will be led by defense, but over the quarters ahead, we'll see more commercial aerospace volume returned to Ducommun. We're also very well positioned with a high narrow-body to wide-body ratio for our business and have the capacity and strong operating team to deliver on the forecasted rate increases. With overall revenue growth this year anticipated, Ducommun's total revenue is expected to grow in the low to mid-single digits versus 2020. Future growth will be accomplished by leveraging our newly built-out defense business, strong positions in commercial aerospace, especially on narrow-body revenues with Airbus, being a big part of our future as well as our three acquisitions, which continue to deliver. We also remain active in the market for M&A for new companies that fit our model, and we believe this will only be an accelerator to higher results. Now, let me provide some additional color on our markets, products, and programs, beginning with our military and space sector we posted second-quarter revenue of $113 million, once again representing strong organic growth versus 2020, up 20%. We drove revenue on some key defense platforms. As mentioned earlier, we saw increased demand for radar systems, TOW missile, F-18 Apache helicopter, UAVs, Phalanx, and other missile programs. The second-quarter military space revenue represented more than 70% of Ducommun's revenue for the period. We also continued to be very well positioned for further growth across defense platforms over the next several quarters in all sectors, especially at Raytheon. Again, we ended the second quarter with a strong backlog of $501 million, which represents 62% of Ducommun's total backlog. Within our commercial aerospace operations, second-quarter revenue declined year-over-year to $37.6 million as expected driven by bill rate declines on a number of commercial aerospace platforms impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the decline in revenue is not as sharp as in prior quarters. We also have effective adjusted cost and management despite the downturn, and it’s well positioned once rates stabilize and increase over the long term. Ducommun expects some meaningful improvement in this market in the second half of 2021 and, as mentioned earlier, has a very bright future. The backlog within our commercial aerospace is roughly $276 million at the end of the second quarter, a slight increase sequentially compared to Q1. We stand ready with the team, processes, and capital in place to support the expected bill rate increases in the next few years, and we are excited to get started. With that, I'll have Chris review our financial results in detail.

Thank you, Steve, and good afternoon everyone. As a reminder, please see the company's 10-Q and Q2 earnings release for further description of information mentioned on today's call. As Steve mentioned, Ducommun's second quarter marked our first quarter of top line year-over-year growth since the pandemic began early in 2020. This growth, all driven organically, combined with our strong margin performance in the second quarter, helped deliver outstanding overall performance. We anticipate the favorable year-over-year comparisons on revenue to continue throughout the remainder of 2021. We see this as we expect measured improvement in the commercial aerospace market, while military demand remained strong. Turning to our second-quarter results, let me review some of the highlights. Revenue for the second quarter of 2021 was $160.2 million versus $147.3 million in the second quarter of 2020. The 8.7% increase year-over-year primarily reflects $18.5 million of higher revenue within the military and space sector, partially offset by $2.1 million of lower revenue across our commercial aerospace platforms. Ducommun's overall backlog at the end of the second quarter was approximately $814 million, slightly higher than at the end of Q1, reflecting program timing, slowly improving commercial demand, and an uptick in industrial orders. As a reminder, we define backlog as potential revenue based on customer purchase orders and long-term agreements with firm fixed prices and expected delivery dates of 24 months or less. We posted total gross profit of $36.8 million for the quarter versus $32.7 million in the prior year period. Gross margin rose 80 basis points to 23.0% from 22.2% in the 2020 second quarter, with the increase primarily reflecting favorable manufacturing volume along with a strong product mix and cost control efforts. The 23% gross margin was our highest quarterly gross margin performance in more than a decade. For the past few years, we've talked about our margin expansion journey that we're on, the second-quarter margin highlights that progress. SG&A was $23.7 million in the second quarter versus $22 million last year, with the increase reflecting higher compensation and benefit costs. Ducommun reported operating income for the second quarter of $13.1 million or 8.2% of revenue compared to $10 million or 6.8% of revenue in the prior year period. The year-over-year increase was due to higher revenue, partially offset by increased SG&A expenses. Excluding restructuring charges and climate-related expenses, adjusted operating income for the second quarter of 2021 was $13.8 million or 8.6% of revenue compared to $10.7 million or 7.3% of revenue in the comparable period last year. Interest expense was $2.9 million in the second quarter of 2020 versus $3.7 million in the prior-year period, driven mainly by lower interest rates along with the impact of a decrease in total debt outstanding. The company reported net income for the second quarter of $8.4 million or $0.69 per diluted share compared to net income of $5.1 million or $0.43 per diluted share for the second quarter of 2020. Excluding one-time expenses in both periods, adjusted diluted EPS for the second quarter of 2021 was $0.74 versus $0.48 in 2020. Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter was $23.4 million or 14.6% of revenue compared to $20.3 million or 13.8% of revenue for the comparable period in 2020, reflecting the items I just discussed. Now let me turn to our segment results. Our Electronic Systems segment posted revenue of $102.8 million in the second quarter of 2021 versus $92 million in the prior year period. These results reflect an $11.6 million increase in the sales of the company's military and space customers along with a $2.8 million increase in higher revenue across commercial aerospace platforms, partially offset by lower industrial sales. Electronic Systems operating income for the second quarter was $14.4 million, or 14% of revenue, versus $10.4 million or 11.4% of revenue in the prior year period. The higher margin reflects a favorable product mix and higher volumes. Our Structural Systems segment posted revenue of $57.4 million in the second quarter of 2021 versus $55.4 million last year. The year-over-year increase reflects $6.9 million of higher revenue within the company's military and space markets, partially offset by $4.9 million of lower sales across our commercial aerospace applications. Structural Systems operating income for the quarter was $5.6 million or 9.7% of revenue compared to $6.2 million or 11.2% of revenue last year. The year-over-year operating margin decrease was largely due to unfavorable product mix. Excluding one-time charges in both periods, second quarter adjusted operating margin was 10.9% in 2021 compared to 12.4% last year. SG&A expense for the second quarter of 2021 was $6.9 million or 4.3% of revenue versus $6.6 million or 4.5% of revenue in 2020. Turning to liquidity and capital resources, we have available liquidity of $97 million and generated $6 million of cash from operations this quarter, compared with $9 million in the prior-year period. We generated $3 million of free cash flow for the quarter compared to $8 million in the second quarter of 2020. We expect to return to historical cash flow and free cash flow generation levels as we move through the remainder of 2021. Our leverage ratio was 3.3 at the end of the second quarter. In terms of purchases of property and equipment, we spent $3 million during the second quarter, reflecting a lower investment requirement in the current economic environment. For 2021 in total, we anticipate spending between $16 million to $18 million to support ongoing product development and sustaining capital. In conclusion, echoing Steve's comments, we're certainly pleased with our second-quarter results and look forward to continued strong performance in the second half of the year and beyond. Through our operational focus and the strength of our defense business, along with the favorable impacts of the trends for commercial aerospace, and domestic air travel demand in the 737 MAX production, we look forward to delivering continued top-line growth and strong underlying performance heading into and through 2022. I'll now turn it back over to Steve for his closing remarks.

Okay. Thank you, Chris. And well, look, we're certainly proud of the results this quarter, just positions us better for commercial aerospace rates going meaningfully higher in 2022. We met our commitments and our strength in the company through this difficult period is really due to our effective strategy, our dedicated people, and our operational leadership. I'd also like to take this time to welcome our newest board member to Ducommun, Sheila Kramer, who currently serves as Vice President and Chief Human Resource Officer at Donaldson Company Incorporated. Sheila will bring important expertise to the company as we work through the pandemic and drive the long-term growth of the company. In closing, I'd like to again take this time to tell our team, our employees, that I'm very proud of them and all their efforts with the many challenges since the pandemic started back in March 2020. Our team members show up at the operation every day, and although stressful, continue to get the job done for our customers, our nation, and one another. So with that, I will turn it over for questions. Thank you for listening.

Our first question comes from Mike Crawford with B. Riley Securities. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Of your near-quarter of a billion in Structural Systems sales, what percent of that is titanium?

I’m sorry, Mike, say that again. We just came across together. Can you say that again, please?

Yes, around what percent of your Structural Systems sales were titanium?

I don’t think, Mike, we’d typically disclose that percentage, but I would say that everything those key components, those key programs that Steve alluded to with Airbus, those are the core of what we have along with whatever is growing back here through the rest of the commercial recovery.

It's a meaningful number.

And what about, first of all, at one point, I think you were particularly excited about that proprietary process and technology and I think that's probably a very small portion of your overall titanium sales, but where do you see that growing to in the coming five years?

Yes. So first, it's composite, not titanium, just to let you know. But we are very excited. Certainly because of the pandemic and the slowdown in build rates, that part of the business is coming back, probably in roughly a year. We're gaining momentum again. This product is for the Leap engine we are working on for the Airbus A320, so good things are ahead there. We will have more to say about it in the future, but just as a note, we are excited about our prospects. VersaCore has slowed down a bit because of all the challenges related to build rates.

Okay, great. And then, is there anything in the forthcoming government fiscal year budget that you are particularly looking out for that would help or not Ducommun?

Yes. I would just say, look, I know there was an extra $25 billion put in by the committees. I know that things are being worked through. We're missile people, electronic people, and we make interconnects. We do a lot of things, and we're very, very comfortable that as we go forward in time, what we see the defense budget leading into in certain ways is going to benefit us. So, again, to my remarks earlier, we feel very good about where we're going to be the next few years.

Great, thank you very much.

Thanks, Mike.

Thanks, Mike.

Our next question comes from Michael Ciarmoli with Truist Securities. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Good evening, everyone. Great results. Thank you for taking my question. Steve, could you or Chris provide a bit more detail on the Airbus deal? Specifically, I'd like to know how your content per platform or annual revenues are currently tracking. From previous presentations, I remember the A320 was estimated to generate close to $20 million. Can you give any guidance on whether it's a double revenue deal or provide additional context about your current situation?

Absolutely. It might be challenging to provide specific expectations due to customer disclosure requirements from Airbus, but I can say that this pertains to the A320, which is significant for us, while the A330 is not as central. As you know, the A320 is crucial. We've mentioned previously that we anticipate a significant increase. I want to highlight that this is the first time we've been recognized as a partner with Airbus. We entered this relationship around 2016-2017, and it has been a long journey since we weren't really part of it before then. The expectations at Airbus are incredibly high, and meeting their operational demands and value propositions is important. As mentioned in my press release, this is a significant development. We're focusing on the A320, and we hope it continues to develop now that we are partners.

Can you give any more detail as to how you won the selection? Was it Airbus looking for more suppliers, or did you, did you displace or take a more material amount of share from the previous vendor, or any details on how this came about?

Look, at the beginning, I think this titanium business, which I’m on record saying outside of an OEM, where we're really the world's leader here on this (inaudible). They saw something in Ducommun they like and gave us a shot. It took us four or five years to kind of operationally value-add it, I would say, as far as where the business came from that probably came from other partners who maybe aren't there anymore. And they also have internal operations for titanium. So I think it's a mix.

Okay, understood. And then, could you clarify that for me, please?

No, it's about the best I can do, Michael, on that.

Okay, yes, perfect. What about, can you give us any sense as to where you are on production rates, maybe the MAX? Obviously, the 787 is the blemish out there. You talked about seeing more work from Spirit presumably on the MAX there. But are you kind of in sync with where everyone else is? Are you tracking and thinking about this 31 per month in early 2022?

Yes. Well, let me first say the headline is we're hungry, okay. I mean we got the process, we got the capital, we got the right people in place now running all of our operations. Yes, we are definitely leaning into everything I think you pointed at the right way. I mean, we're obviously supporting the customer, but we're excited. Hopefully, the 31 is going to come; that’s going to be a big deal for us, as you know. And obviously, what we're hearing out of Airbus is to get to 70 a month would be an absolute home run for Ducommun. So we're ready to go. That's all I would say.

Okay, understood. My final question is about the M&A environment and capital deployment. I know you've mentioned successes with Noble, but can you share any updates on the current pipeline and how you’re approaching deal flow?

Yes, thank you for mentioning the Noble situation. Winning that back in October 2019 was significant for us, and we see a bright future ahead. We're focusing on engineered products to enhance our mix and explore growth opportunities, which is encouraging. All three of our areas are performing well. The current environment is competitive, as you may have heard from others. There is considerable capital available, but we have our dedicated team in place, including those we brought on last year, and we are actively pursuing opportunities. We are enthusiastic about acquisitions, believe we can integrate them effectively, and think our track record has been beneficial for our shareholders and our financial performance. We look forward to more opportunities coming our way soon, Mike.

Got it. Thanks a lot. I'll jump back in the queue here.

Yes, thanks.

I'm not showing any additional questions at this time. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Oswald for any final comments.

Great. Well, again thank you and thank you everybody for joining us today. Both our analysts and most importantly our shareholders and our team. We're obviously pleased with the return to growth, as I talked about. I think it was in my Q2 remarks in 2020 that we were going to return to growth this year, and this is our first quarter doing it. You can argue with organic growth, I mean 9% is more than, even though it was off of a lower base in Q2 2020, it's still a great number. We're thrilled with gross margins at 23%, and I think we're doing a lot of the right things. So again, we always appreciate your support and your commitment, and we look forward to speaking to you again soon. Thank you.

Thank you.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.