Vishay Precision Group, Inc. Q4 FY2023 Earnings Call

Thank you, Chach, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to VPG's 2023 fourth quarter earnings conference call. Our Q4 and full-year press release and accompanying slides have been posted on our website vpgsensors.com. An audio recording of today's call will be available on the Internet for a limited time and can also be accessed on our website. Today's remarks are governed by the safe harbor provisions of the 1995 Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Our actual results may vary from forward-looking statements. For a discussion of the risks associated with VPG's operations, we encourage you to refer to our SEC filings, especially the Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, and our other recent SEC filings. On the call today are Ziv Shoshani, CEO and President; and Bill Clancy, CFO. And now I'll turn the call to Ziv for some prepared remarks. Please refer to Slide 3 of the quarterly presentation.

Thank you, Steve. We delivered a solid quarter and the second best year ever for VPG despite a challenging macro environment mainly in the second half of the year. Beginning with our 2023 performance as shown in more detail in the accompanying slides. For the full-year, we achieved revenue of $355 million and adjusted diluted net EPS of $2.17, and we improved our adjusted gross margin to 42.4%. We generated $60.4 million in adjusted EBITDA and EBITDA margin of 17.0% and a record $30.8 million of adjusted free cash flow. We deployed our cash to repurchase stock and to pay down our revolving debt in order to provide value to our stockholders. We completed infrastructure expansion projects in India and Japan and have accelerated our business development activities to capture new opportunities for our precision sensing and measurement solutions. Moving to Slide 4. Turning to the fourth quarter of 2023. We achieved revenue of $89.5 million, which was above the high-end of our guidance, and 4.3% higher than the third quarter. We delivered adjusted diluted EPS of $0.61. Order trends were mixed sequentially as growth in our Sensors and Weighing Solutions segments was offset by lower measurement systems bookings due to the timing of customers’ projects. We generated record-level adjusted free cash flow of $13.5 million, adjusted EBITDA of $16.5 million and achieved an adjusted EBITDA margin of 18.5%. We deployed capital to pay down bank debt as well as to repurchase shares. We continue to execute on our long-term organic growth initiatives in terms of new product development and expanding our engagement with customers in larger markets. We are also continuing our cost reduction efforts to move production to lower-cost locations, investing in automation and reducing material costs. I will now review our performance by business segment for the fourth quarter. Moving to Slide 5. Beginning with our Sensor segment. Fourth quarter revenue of $34.3 million grew 5.3% sequentially, but was 5.7% lower than a year-ago. The sequential growth was driven by higher sales of precision resistors in the Test and Measurement as sales related to semiconductor tests and production applications improved from the third quarter. Revenue trends for the rest of our markets, including consumer advanced sensors were stable. We continued our strategic initiatives to secure design wins in new emerging markets in data centers and fiber optics equipment, as well as robotics and industrial automation systems. In terms of operating results for sensors, gross margin of 40.2% improved sequentially from 35.9%, primarily due to higher volume and improved manufacturing efficiencies. Book-to-bill for sensors was 0.85, which was modestly up from the third quarter as orders grew 7.8% sequentially. This reflected stronger demand in Test and Measurement and higher customer project-related orders in Avionics, Military and Space or AMS. Moving to Slide 6. Turning to our Weighing Solutions segment. Fourth quarter sales of $30.4 million increased 5.1% from $29.0 million in the third quarter, but were 8.0% lower than a year-ago. Sequentially the increase was driven by higher OEM sales for precision agriculture and construction applications and higher sales in general industrial, which offset lower sales in the transportation market. Weighing Solutions adjusted gross margin of 35.6% in the fourth quarter declined from 38.7% in the third quarter, primarily due to a reduction in inventory and unfavorable product mix, partially offset by higher volume. Book-to-Bill for Weighing Solutions of 0.91 in the fourth quarter improved modestly from the third quarter. Orders of $27.7 million grew 7.2% due to higher bookings for industrial weighing and transportation applications. Moving to Slide 7. Turning to our Measurement Systems segment. Revenue in the fourth quarter of $24.8 million increased 2.0% sequentially, but was 7.5% lower year-over-year. The sequential growth reflected higher DTS sales for AMS applications, which offset lower sales for our steel-related businesses. Adjusted gross margin in the fourth quarter for Measurement Systems was 56.1%, which compared to 54.5% in the third quarter of 2023. The higher adjusted gross profit margin in the fourth quarter of 2023 reflected the higher volume and favorable product mix. Book-to-bill for Measurement Systems of 0.73 declined from 0.98 in the third quarter, which had included record orders for DTS in the AMS market. The decline in book-to-bill reflects the timing of customers’ projects. In the fourth quarter, steel-related orders grew sequentially, while orders in AMS were down from a record level. We see positive trends for DTS with our AMS customers. Despite the muted near-term outlook for the steel market, we are pursuing VPG specific opportunities with new products such as our development of the KELK solution for aluminum manufacturing. In addition, we are addressing opportunities in the Indian market, which is currently small, but is expected to grow double-digit over the next several years. We have added local sales and service support capabilities to meet this growing potential. Moving to Slide 8. As I indicated, we were pleased with our cash generation both for the fourth quarter and for 2023, which included record adjusted free cash flow. We continue to deploy cash as part of our capital allocation strategy, which prioritized internal investment, M&A, stock repurchase and paying down our revolving credit facility. In terms of internal investments, we completed growth-focused operational capability and automation projects in 2023. For example, we have increased the automation in our India facility to support higher volume businesses. In addition, we are continuing to consolidate production to this location. As such, we expect capital spending to return in 2024 to more historical levels of approximately 4% of revenue. Regarding M&A, we continue to look for attractive high-quality businesses that meet our stringent requirements for strategic fit, financial returns and value creation. We are currently seeing a more favorable M&A environment. Before turning the call to Bill for additional comments, I would like to thank our employees and our customers around the world for their continued commitment and dedication. I will now turn it over to Bill Clancy.

Thank you, Steve. Referring to Slide 9 and the reconciliation tables of the slide deck, our fourth quarter 2023 revenues were at $89.5 million. Adjusted gross margin of 43% in the fourth quarter compared to 42.1% in the third quarter of 2023. Our operating margin was 13.4% for the fourth quarter of 2023. Our fourth quarter adjusted operating margin was 13.6%, excluding $130,000 of restructuring costs. Selling, general and administrative expense for the fourth quarter of 2023 was $26.4 million or 29.4% of revenues compared to $26.6 million or 30.9% of revenues for the third quarter of 2023. The GAAP tax rate for the full-year of 2023 was 32.3%, primarily reflecting the geographic mix of income. We are assuming an operational tax rate of approximately 27% for the full-year of 2024. The adjusted net earnings for the fourth quarter of 2023 were $8.2 million or $0.61 per diluted share compared to $6.4 million or $0.47 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2023. Adjusted EBITDA was $16.5 million or 18.5% of revenues, which is 20.3% higher than the $13.7 million or 16% of revenue in the third quarter of 2023. CapEx in the fourth quarter was $5.3 million. Total CapEx for 2023 was $15.2 million or 4.3% of revenues. For 2024, we are budgeting $14 million to $16 million for capital expenditures. We generated adjusted free cash flow of $13.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to $6 million for the third quarter of 2023. We define adjusted free cash flow as cash from operating activities, less capital expenditures, plus the sale of fixed assets. As Ziv indicated, in the fourth quarter, we repurchased $4.7 million of our stock for 153,000 shares. For the full-year of 2023, we repurchased $5.9 million of common stock or 188,000 shares. In addition, during the fourth quarter, we paid down $22 million of our revolving bank debt. For the full-year, we reduced our outstanding revolving bank debt by $29 million, which we estimate will result in net interest savings of approximately $1 million in 2024, assuming no additional borrowing. Moving to Slide 10. We entered the fourth quarter with $84 million of cash and cash equivalents and total outstanding long-term debt of $31.9 million, which reflects the paydown of the revolver and the stock repurchases during the quarter. We believe that we have a strong balance sheet and ample liquidity to support our business requirements and to fund additional M&A opportunities. Regarding the outlook. For the first fiscal quarter of 2024 at constant fourth fiscal quarter of 2023 exchange rates, we expect net revenue to be in the range of $80 million to $90 million. In summary, we achieved fourth quarter sales above the high-end of our guidance. We generated record-level cash flow, which we are deploying to pay down our revolving bank debt and to repurchase shares. We are excited about the potential in emerging markets and applications and consumer, industrial automation, medical, and material development with our high-value precision measurement and sensing products for our customers. With that, let's open the lines for questions. Thank you.

Hi. Thanks for taking my question. So first, it's great to see the profitability and cash flow improvements, $13.5 million free cash flow, 82% free cash flow conversion. Can you just speak to how sustainable that might be moving forward now that you are obviously starting to see the benefits of the investments you made in optimizing your operating expenses?

Good morning, Griffin. I think that given our sales guidance and the level of investments CapEx that we are planning to invest in for 2024, I would say that Q4 performance is quite sustainable. Naturally, cash generation will also depend on accounts receivable and payable fluctuations. But all in all, the Q4 performance is sustainable given the level of revenue as we move into 2024.

Okay. Yes. Great. Thanks for that. And then shifting gears in terms of order flow, like you said, it's sort of a mixed bag. Measurement Systems seems a bit soft while there could be some green shoots in sensors and weighing solutions. Can you just talk more about what you're seeing generally with distributor inventory levels and potential need for and timing of restocking events? And then more generally just your high level thoughts on 2024 potential inflection points and maybe your positioning for a return to growth in the back half of the year?

Yes. Absolutely. Orders for Q4 have declined 2.2% sequentially, but grew 2.2% from the prior year. As we indicated, there is a mixed signal. On the Test and Measurement side, we see an upside of 6.3%. Steel, industrial weighing, and general industrial also show upside, given the improved business environment resulting from inventory flows in the pipeline in the last four quarters. We also see some other end markets, which are not improving yet. Overall, we believe that near-term order trends have reached the bottom in most of our end markets. We expect order trends to modestly improve in the first half of the year and strengthen in the second half of 2024. Based on customer feedback and the improvement in order intake in Q4 of 2023 in the sensors and Weighing Solutions segment, we believe that the order intake has bottomed out in some of our key markets. However, in the first half of 2024, we expect to see modest growth in Avionics, Military and Space, semiconductor testing, and consumer, while orders for industrial OEM applications such as precision agriculture, construction, transportation, and a portion of the steel market are expected to continue to be flat.

Great. Yes. That's great context. Thanks for the detail there. And just last one for me and then I'll turn it over to you. You mentioned you're seeing a more favorable M&A environment, obviously, that's a top capital allocation priority for you. Just curious, last call you mentioned you were in some early dialogues with a few companies, nothing really bearing fruit. But just curious if any of those discussions have advanced or if that list of companies you're talking to has grown in the last quarter?

As I indicated in our last call, we have been in dialogue with a few companies. Some of the projects have been moving forward, while others are still in discussions. This is a period of uncertainty, therefore, some companies are still contemplating the process. But all in all, the level of M&A potential is increasing and we are very positive about that. So far, I have nothing tangible to report, but this activity is a very high priority for the company.

Good morning, guys, and thanks for taking the questions. Ziv, I'd like to start with the commentary on the Measurement Systems business and the deferral of some project activity. Is that entirely surrounding the KELK side of that business or is there something more that we should be cognizant of?

Good morning, John. So Measurement Systems book-to-bill for the quarter was 0.73, which declined from 0.98 in the third quarter. Please bear in mind that the decline also includes a record number of orders for DTS in the Avionics, Military, and Space business in the prior quarter. The decline in the book-to-bill reflects the timing of customers' projects. In Q4, steel-related orders grew sequentially while orders in Avionics, Military, and Space were down from the record level. We expect business environment improvements for the Avionics, Military, and Space sector going forward based on our business development funnel and the projects that are expected to get finalized in the coming quarters.

Okay. So KELK was up a little bit sequentially. DTS was down a lot because they had a big order flow in Q3, and that should stabilize in the first half. Is that what we're looking at there?

Yes, and is expected to modestly improve and improve much more in the second half of the year.

Excellent. I'm curious what's driving the higher tax rate these days? It seems to be ticking up a lot.

Yes, John. The higher tax rate is predominantly due to our geographic mix of income. Depending upon where our income is being generated, right now it's coming from regions with higher tax rates than we've seen in the past. Additionally, this tax rate this year had some one-time costs for tax positions. But as we mentioned, we're going to participate at an operational rate of 27% in 2024.

Okay. And by my reckoning, this was the most aggressive share repurchase quarter I think since the company went public. Can you just kind of walk through the decision process there and why you're so aggressive on repurchasing stock?

Well, John, as you recall, we've always listed internal growth, M&A, and stock buyback as top priorities for capital allocation. We will continue to incorporate all those elements in our capital allocation strategy, and we have been very active in the market today.

Okay. And one last question on revenue growth. Ziv, you mentioned a couple of potential items and went through the segment presentations, data centers and new product development. If we were to look at near-term revenue catalyst opportunities, especially new ones, which are the most viable near-term revenue opportunities for the company?

If we look at 2024, we are focusing on two key verticals. One is the macro economy improvement, given that we have seen inventory being depleted in the past quarters. A part of this running improvement would be the Test and Measurement for semiconductor equipment for the sensor segment, and general industrial is also expected to improve. The second key focus is our business development activity in respect to new applications and new products we have developed. For instance, we have started to enter the aluminum-based systems market. In addition, we are at the final design stage for humanoid applications, which we expect will gain more volume over time. Lastly, we have developed a new cost-competitive product in the Weighing Solution sector, and we believe it's also going to gain momentum. So there are two verticals for potential revenue upside: one is macroeconomic change, and the other is our business development activities.

Perfect. And with that, actually, I'll get back into the queue and let somebody ask some questions. Thank you, Ziv.

Before concluding, I want to note that VPG will be presenting at the Sidoti Small-Cap Conference on March 13 and 14th. We will be posting details regarding our webcast of our presentation on our website. So please check that for details. And with that, thank you all for joining our call. We look forward to updating you next quarter.

Thank you, everyone. This concludes today's call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.