Valmont (VMI) Appoints Kaniewski As New COO And President

Valmont Industries Inc. (NYSE:VMI) has announced the promotion of Stephen G. Kaniewski to the position of Chief Operating Officer and President of the company, effective Oct 1, 2016.

Valmont’s board of directors has authorized the promotion, making Kaniewski responsible for the daily operations of the company. He will report to Mogens Bay, the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Prior to this, Kaniewski was the group president of Valmont’s Utility Support Structures segment for over a year. He led his team to effectively change the operating model used at that time. Before becoming President, he served as the segment’s Senior Vice-President and Managing Director. He originally joined Valmont in 2010 as Vice President-Information Technology and has also served as the Vice President-Global Operations for the Irrigation Segment.

Apart from his role at Valmont, Kaniewski, an alma mater of Santa Clara University, is the Chairman of the Board of the AIM Institute in Omaha, a non-profit organization that promotes vibrant communities with the help of technology. His leadership skills and wide experience were highly recognized and deemed “pivotal in driving” the company’s continued accomplishments by Bay.

Valmont’s shares closed around 2.2% higher at $132.83 on Sep 2.

The company’s earnings per share for the second quarter of 2016 surged 55% year over year to $1.85, on the back of restructuring and cost-saving initiatives implemented earlier. Sales in the quarter dropped 6% year on year to $640.2 million due to currency headwinds as well as lower sales in irrigation equipment and international utility. While earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate, sales missed the same.

Valmont does not expect considerable short-term improvement in its end markets and anticipates consistent downward pressure in the irrigation market. With steel being a major input cost, the company expects earnings per share to be in the range of $6.31–$6.49 for 2016, which takes into account some margin pressure in the second half, especially in the Engineered Support Structures Segment. It assumes stable steel prices for the balance of the year. The company is investing in new products, opening new markets and pursuing acquisitions to augment future profitable growth in its infrastructure and agricultural markets.

Valmont currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked companies in the steel space include ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT) , sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) as well as Ternium S.A. (NYSE:TX) and Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB) , both carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

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