Apogee (APOG) Q3 Earnings & Sales Miss Estimates, Shares Drop

Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG) reported earnings per share of 80 cents in third-quarter fiscal 2019 (ended Dec 1, 2018) which declined 11% year-over-year and missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 83 cents. The company’s shares dipped around 13% to close at $26.73 yesterday, after the company slashed its fiscal 2019 outlook owing to lower volumes due to project timing delays in the Architectural Framing Systems.

Apogee reported total revenues of around $358 million which inched up 0.3% year over year. However, revenues missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $369 million.

Operational Update

Cost of sales in the reported quarter was up 3% year over year to $273.6 million. Gross profit declined 8% year over year to $84.1 million. Gross margin contracted 220 basis points (bps) to 23.5%. Selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses dropped 8% year over year to $52.7 million. Adjusted operating income declined 15% year over year to $32 million. Operating margin shrunk 160 bps to 9%.

Segment Performance

In the fiscal third quarter, the Architectural Framing Systems segment’s revenues went down 7% year over year to $181 million. The segment’s adjusted operating income in the quarter came in at $13.6 million compared with $21.4 million witnessed in the prior-year quarter.

The Architectural Glass Systems segment’s revenues went up 2% year over year to $98.5 million. The segment’s operating income tanked 35% to $5.9 million from $9.1 million reported in the year-earlier quarter.

Revenues in the Architectural Services segment surged 48% year over year to $72.8 million. The segment reported an operating profit of $8.7 million, significantly up from $2.5 million recorded in the year-ago quarter, driven by higher volumes and strong project execution.

The Large-Scale Optical Technologies segment’s revenues declined 10% year over year to $23.4 million. Operating income in the reported quarter came in at $6.6 million compared to $6.7 million in the year-ago quarter.

Backlog

The Architectural Framing Systems segment’s backlog declined to $407.9 million in the fiscal third quarter compared with $428.4 million a year ago. The Architectural Services’ segment backlog came in at $419 million — an improvement from $405 million in the prior-year quarter.

Financial Position

Apogee had cash and cash equivalents of $41.4 million at the end of the fiscal third quarter compared with $12.8 million as of the end of the prior-year quarter. The company generated cash flow from operations of $71 million during the nine-month period ended Dec 1, 2018 compared with $66 million reported in the comparable period last fiscal. Long-term debt was $233 million as of Dec 1, 2018, compared with $216 million as of Mar 3, 2018.

Fiscal 2019 Guidance Cut

For fiscal 2019, Apogee reduced its outlook. The company expects revenue growth to be between 6% and 7% for the fiscal compared to the prior guidance of 8-10%, with lower projected revenues in the Architectural Glass and Architectural Framing Systems segments.

Apogee anticipates that the Architectural Glass segment will benefit from strong order flow which should support top-line growth for the next several quarters. Furthermore, the company witnessed lower revenues and profits in Architectural Framing Systems in the third-quarter fiscal 2019, reflecting reduced volumes due to project timing delays. Apogee expects this near-term impact will carry over into fourth-quarter fiscal 2019. However, the company will benefit from strong bidding activity in the Architectural Framing Systems segment.

The company also revised its operating margin guidance to 8.4% from the previous 8.3-8.8%. It projects earnings per share for the fiscal at $3.13 compared to the earlier guidance of $3.13-$3.33. The guidance excludes the after-tax impact of amortization of short-lived acquired intangibles associated with the acquired backlog of Sotawall and EFCO of $3.8 million (or 13 cents per share).

Share Price Performance

Shares of Apogee have lost around 37% over the past year against the industry’s decline of 26%.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Apogee carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Better-ranked stocks in the same sector include DMC Global Inc. (NASDAQ:BOOM) , CECO Environmental Corp. (NASDAQ:CECE) and W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) . All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 (Strong Buy) Rank stocks here.

DMC Global has a long-term earnings growth rate of 20%. The stock has surged 60% in a year’s time.

CECO has a long-term earnings growth rate of 15%. The company’s shares have gained around 37% during the past year.

Grainger has a long-term earnings growth rate of 12.4%. Its shares have been up 17% in the past year.

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