During the quarter under review, the company delivered net sales of $477.8 million, which nominally beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $477 million. Moreover, the top line grew 3.8% from the year-ago quarter’s figure of $460.3 million.
Gentex Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Gentex Corporation Quote
Q3 Highlights
The company recorded gross margin of 37.7% in the quarter under review, up from the year-ago quarter’s 37.6% on favorable product mix, partially offsetting tariff woes.
In the quarter, auto-dimming mirror shipments in the North America market rose 11% to 3.5 million units. In the International market, the same grew 4% to 7.3 million units. Total shipments rose 6% year over year to 10.8 million units.
Operating expenses rose 15% to $52.2 million in third-quarter 2019 from $45.6 million in third-quarter 2018. Higher engineering and R&D expenses along with increased SG&A costs drove total costs. Engineering and R&D expenses rose 9.2% to $29.4 million in third-quarter 2019 from 26.9 million in third-quarter 2018. SG&A expenses rose 21.9% to $22.8 million from $18.7 million in the year ago quarter.
Share Repurchase & Cash Position
During the quarter under review, the company repurchased approximately 3.6 million shares of its common stock at $27.07 per share. As of Sep 30, 2019, Gentex had around 22.5 million shares remaining for repurchase. The company intends to continue to repurchase additional shares of its common stock to support the capital-allocation strategy.
Gentex had cash and cash equivalents of $260.1 million as of Sep 30, 2019, compared with $217 million as of Dec 31, 2018.
Outlook Trimmed
Amid the forecast of lower light-vehicle production in North America, Europe, China and other key markets, the company trimmed its outlook for 2019. The UAW-General Motors strike is also likely to weigh on the company’s upcoming results, leading to a revenue decline.
The company revised its guidance downward for 2019. It now expects revenues of $1.84-$1.87 billion versus $1.87-$1.90 billion mentioned earlier. Gross margin is anticipated to be 36.6-37.0% for the current year compared with previously mentioned 36.5%-37.5%. Operating expenses are now projected at $198-$200 million compared with $195-$200 million stated earlier. Capex forecast remained unchanged for 2019.
Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
Gentex currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
A few better-ranked stocks in the Auto-Tires-Trucks sector are BRP Inc (NASDAQ:) , Sonic Automotive, Inc (NYSE:) , and Lithia Motors, Inc (NYSE:) , currently sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
BRP has an expected earnings growth rate of 18.4% for 2019. The company’s shares have gained 65 % year to date.
Sonic Automotive has an estimated earnings growth rate of 32.7% for 2019. Its shares have gained 111.7% year to date.
Lithia Motors has an estimated earnings growth rate of 13.2% for 2019. Its shares have gained 70.8% year to date.
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