Dril-Quip (DRQ) Q3 Earnings Miss, Revenues Beat Estimates

Dril-Quip, Inc. (NYSE:DRQ) reported third-quarter 2019 adjusted loss per share of 7 cents against the Zacks Consensus Estimate of earnings of 12 cents, due to higher cost of sales. However, the company reported a loss of 20 cents in the year-ago quarter. The year-over-year improvement was aided by relative stabilization of commodity prices and customer inventory drawdowns related to increased activities.

It registered total revenues of $108.2 million in the quarter compared with $93.3 million in the year-ago period. Also, the figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $105 million due to its realigned sales organization that positively impacted the results.

Third-Quarter Performance

Dril-Quip reported product bookings of $92 million in the quarter, aided by relative stabilization of commodity prices, customer inventory drawdown and realigned sales organization. The reported figure was near the higher end of its guided range of $75-$95 million. Notably, this marked the company’s fourth consecutive quarter of product bookings at around $90 million.

Operating income of $222,000 significantly improved from a loss of $14.1 million in the prior-year quarter.

Costs and Expenses

On the cost front, cost of sales jumped to $76 million in the reported quarter from $71.1 million in the year-ago period. Selling, general and administrative expenses marginally rose to around $28 million from the year-ago quarter. Engineering and product development costs declined to $3.8 million in the quarter from the year-ago level of $5.4 million. Total cost and expenses during the quarter totaled more than $108 million compared with $107.3 million in the year-ago period. The increase was primarily driven by higher cost of sales. However, the company’s cost-saving initiatives, which commenced last year, enabled it to achieve $14 million of additional annualized cost savings in third-quarter 2019.

Share Buyback

In the third quarter, the company repurchased 75,737 shares under the stock buyback program (approved on Feb 26, 2019) at an average price of around $44.45 per share, totaling $3.4 million. So far this year, it bought back 125,888 shares and returned $5.4 million to its shareholders.

Free Cash Flow

Dril-Quip’s free cash flow in the July-to-September period was negative $8.1 million versus positive $2.1 million in the year-ago quarter.

Backlog

At the end of third-quarter 2019, the company had $251 million in backlog, down from $322 million as of Sep 30, 2019.

Balance Sheet

As of Sep 30, 2019, its cash balance was $413.1 million. Also, the balance sheet of the company is free from debt load, which indicates sound financial position. In fact, it expects no headwinds to dent long-term growth plan.

Guidance

For fourth-quarter 2019, the company expects orders in the range of $75-$95 million. For full-year 2019, it expects revenues within $405-$415 million. Also, the company expects to record positive free cash flow for the current year.

Dril-Quip expects 2019 capital expenditure in the range of $10-$15 million.

Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider

Currently, Dril-Quip has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked players in the energy space are Matrix Service Company (NASDAQ:MTRX) , Pembina Pipeline Corp. (NYSE:PBA) and Exterran Corporation (NYSE:EXTN) . While Matrix Service sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Pembina and Exterran hold a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Matrix Service’s 2019 earnings per share are expected to rise 58.4% year over year.

Pembina’s 2019 earnings per share are expected to rise 21.5% year over year.

Exterran’s top line for the current year is expected to rise around 5% year over year.

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