JLG Industries Inc. recently announced consolidated revenues of $494 million and earnings per share of $.52 for its fiscal second quarter ended Jan. 29.
Compared to the prior year period, revenue in the second fiscal quarter increased 40% led by a 43% increase in the U.S. and 31% internationally. The company reported net income of $27.4 million compared with net income of $7.5 million, or $0.17 per share, in the prior year.
Operating income was $49.7 million, or 10.1% of revenues, versus $17.6 million, or 5%, for the comparable period a year ago. The year-on-year improvement in the operating margin represents an incremental margin of 23% on the change in sales.
"Our revenues reached a new record for the quarter and, more importantly, our earnings improved dramatically compared to last year," stated Bill Lasky, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer for JLG.
"The continued strength in demand for our products is reflected in our order board, which reached $1 billion at the end of the quarter, a 20% sequential increase from $849 million last quarter and over three times the $290 million level of last year. Our previous pricing actions and cost reduction activity have substantially caught up with the increases in commodities, especially steel, experienced last year. We continue to monitor pressure on product costs and work to offset the impact, but remain prepared to increase pricing further if conditions warrant.
"The sale of the New Philadelphia plant, when netted against the announced reopening of our Bedford, Pa., and Orrville, Ohio, facilities, and combined with the capacity investments we are making for the Caterpillar alliance and additional JLG products, will enable us to support significantly higher volume in essentially the same manufacturing footprint beginning in the fourth quarter of this fiscal year."
Year to date results
For the first half of fiscal 2006, consolidated revenues were $972 million, a 47% increase from the prior year period. Net income was $55.3 million, or $1.05 per share, versus a loss of $1.2 million, or $.03 per share last year. Last year's results were negatively impacted by a lag in the recovery of increased cost of commodities, especially steel.
Cash and cash equivalents totaled $183 million at Jan. 29, down $48 million sequentially due primarily to the purchase of the Caterpillar telehandler assets.
Outlook
"The continuing strong demand for our products reinforces our belief that 2006 will be another good year for JLG," said Jim Woodward, executive vice president and chief financial officer. "Supply chain performance improvement and our own manufacturing capacity expansion will position us to better meet customer demand and optimize capacity utilization. We now expect to spend approximately $40 million in fiscal 2006 on capital additions including capacity expansion and the Caterpillar alliance.
“Despite the impact of the $48 million sales volume reduction in our second half associated with the sale of the Gradall excavator product line, we project our full year revenue growth will be at the upper end of our previously announced range 20 to 25% over fiscal 2005. Excluding the one-time pre-tax gain on the excavator transaction of approximately $13.1 million, we now expect earnings per share to be in a range from $2.35 to $2.45, up from our previous guidance of $2.15 to $2.25."
Conference call
Management's complete analysis of the company's quarterly results were provided during a conference call on Thursday, Feb. 23. A replay of the call is available on the company’s website, www.jlg.com.
