DCO - Ducommun Incorporated Reports Third Quarter 2023 Results

All-Time Record Quarterly Revenue and Adjusted Operating Income; Growth in both Commercial Aerospace and Defense; Strong Margin Expansion Driving Adjusted EBITDA to 14.9%

SANTA ANA, Calif., Nov. 08, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ducommun Incorporated (NYSE: DCO) (“Ducommun” or the “Company”) today reported results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2023.

Third Quarter 2023 Recap

• Net revenue was $196.3 million, a new all-time quarterly record for the Company
• Net income of $3.2 million, or $0.22 per diluted share
• Adjusted net income of $10.3 million, or $0.70 per diluted share
• Adjusted EBITDA of $29.3 million, or 14.9% of revenue, an all-time high for Ducommun

“Q3 was an outstanding quarter for Ducommun, the best in many years as we grew our topline both year-over-year and sequentially, led by continued strength in Commercial Aerospace and a return to growth of our defense business while also delivering strong margin expansion in gross and Adjusted EBITDA margins,” said Stephen G. Oswald, chairman, president and chief executive officer. “We achieved a new quarterly revenue record of $196.3 million up 5% over Q3 2022, the previous high being in 2012, with the ramp up in wide-body aircraft demand driving Commercial Aerospace revenues up 14% year-over-year. The Company's gross margins expanded 200 bps year-over-year as well from 20.7% to 22.7% for the quarter as we continue improving operating performance which includes the meaningful on-going restructuring activities announced in 2022.

“In December 2022, we laid out our Vision 2027 Plan to investors and in the first three quarters of 2023, I am happy and encouraged to see the significant progress already towards those targets for both revenue growth and margin expansion. There are also many positive catalysts happening currently within the Company that will significantly drive shareholder value in the quarters and years ahead. In summary, Ducommun is well positioned to execute our stated strategy over the next four years with significant runway ahead.”

Third Quarter Results

Net revenue for the third quarter of 2023 was $196.3 million compared to $186.6 million for the third quarter of 2022. The year-over-year increase of 5.2% was primarily due to the following:

• $9.6 million higher revenue in the Company’s commercial aerospace end-use markets due to higher build rates on twin-aisle commercial aircraft platforms as well as the A220 platform, commercial rotary-wing aircraft platforms, and other commercial aerospace business; and
• $2.4 million higher revenue in the Company’s military and space end-use markets due to higher build rates on military rotary-wing aircraft platforms and other military and space platforms, partially offset by lower build rates on military fixed-wing aircraft platforms and various missile platforms.

Net income for the third quarter of 2023 was $3.2 million, or $0.22 per diluted share, compared to $8.5 million, or $0.69 per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2022. This reflects higher selling, general and administrative (“SG&A”) expenses of $7.4 million, higher restructuring charges of $3.2 million, and higher interest expense of $2.4 million, partially offset by higher gross profit of $6.0 million. The higher SG&A expenses were primarily due to BLR Aerospace L.L.C. (“BLR”) SG&A expenses of $3.6 million (49% of the total increase in SG&A expenses) which did not exist in the prior year period as the acquisition of BLR was completed during Q2 2023, and higher stock-based compensation expense of $2.9 million.

Gross profit for the third quarter of 2023 was $44.6 million, or 22.7% of revenue, compared to gross profit of $38.6 million, or 20.7% of revenue, for the third quarter of 2022. The increase in gross profit as a percentage of net revenue year-over-year was primarily due to favorable product mix, pricing actions, and favorable manufacturing volume, partially offset by unfavorable other manufacturing costs.

Operating income for the third quarter of 2023 was $8.6 million, or 4.4% of revenue, compared to $13.2 million, or 7.1% of revenue, in the comparable period last year. The year-over-year decrease of $4.6 million was primarily due to higher SG&A expenses and higher restructuring charges, both of which were noted above, partially offset by higher gross profit. Adjusted operating income for the third quarter of 2023 was $17.5 million, or 8.9% of revenue, compared to $17.2 million, or 9.2% of revenue, in the comparable period last year. The year-over-year increase was primarily due to favorable product mix, pricing actions, and favorable manufacturing volume, partially offset by higher SG&A expenses, mainly due to the addition of the BLR acquisition.

Interest expense for the third quarter of 2023 was $5.4 million compared to $3.0 million in the comparable period of 2022. The year-over-year increase was primarily due to higher interest rates.

Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of 2023 was $29.3 million, or 14.9% of revenue, compared to $26.0 million, or 13.9% of revenue, for the comparable period in 2022.

During the third quarter of 2023, the net cash provided by operations was $14.3 million compared to a net cash used in operations of $5.5 million during the third quarter of 2022. The higher net cash provided by operations during the third quarter of 2023 was primarily due to higher contract liabilities (resulting from driving more progress payments from its customers) and higher accrued and other liabilities, partially offset by higher inventories and lower net income.

Business Segment Information

Electronic Systems

Electronic Systems segment net revenue for the quarter ended September 30, 2023 was $110.7 million, compared to $113.4 million for the third quarter of 2022. The year-over-year decrease was primarily due to the following:

• $3.2 million lower revenue within the Company’s military and space end-use markets due to lower build rates on military fixed-wing aircraft platforms, partially offset by higher build rates on other military and space platforms; partially offset by
• $2.8 million higher revenue in the Company’s commercial aerospace end-use markets due to higher build rates on other commercial aerospace platforms.

Electronic Systems segment operating income for the quarter ended September 30, 2023 was $12.7 million, or 11.5% of revenue, compared to $13.9 million, or 12.2% of revenue, for the comparable quarter in 2022. The year-over-year decrease of $1.2 million was primarily due to higher restructuring charges and unfavorable other manufacturing costs, partially offset by favorable product mix and favorable manufacturing volume.

Electronic Systems segment adjusted operating income for the quarter ended September 30, 2023 was $14.9 million, or 13.4% of revenue, compared to $14.6 million, or 12.9% of revenue, for the comparable quarter in 2022. The year-over-year increase of $0.3 million was primarily due to favorable product mix, pricing actions, and favorable manufacturing volume.

Structural Systems

Structural Systems segment net revenue for the quarter ended September 30, 2023 was $85.5 million, compared to $73.2 million for the third quarter of 2022. The year-over-year increase was primarily due to the following:

• $6.7 million higher revenue within the Company’s commercial aerospace end-use markets due to higher build rates on large aircraft platforms; and
• $5.6 million higher revenue within the Company’s military and space end-use markets due to higher build rates on military rotary-wing platforms and other military and space platforms, partially offset by lower build rates various missile platforms.

Structural Systems segment operating income for the quarter ended September 30, 2023 was $6.7 million, or 7.9% of revenue, compared to $6.7 million, or 9.1% of revenue, for the comparable quarter in 2022. The year-over-year increase of $0.1 million was primarily due to favorable product mix and favorable manufacturing volume, partially offset by higher restructuring charges, higher inventory purchase accounting adjustments, and unfavorable other manufacturing costs.

Structural Systems segment adjusted operating income for the quarter ended September 30, 2023 was $13.5 million, or 15.7% of revenue, compared to $9.8 million, or 13.3% of revenue, for the comparable quarter in 2022. The year-over-year increase of $3.7 million was primarily due to favorable product mix, pricing actions, and favorable manufacturing volume.

Corporate General and Administrative (“CG&A”) Expenses

CG&A expenses for the third quarter of 2023 were $10.8 million, or 5.5% of total Company revenue, compared to $7.4 million, or 3.9% of total Company revenue, for the comparable quarter in the prior year. The year-over-year increase in CG&A expenses was primarily due to higher stock-based compensation expense of $2.8 million.

Conference Call

A teleconference hosted by Stephen G. Oswald, the Company’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, and Suman B. Mookerji, the Company’s senior vice president, chief financial officer will be held today, November 8, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. PT (1:00 p.m. ET) to review these financial results. To access the conference call, please pre-register using the following registration link:

https://register.vevent.com/register/BIebbd705905a44130870c88a8bdf92a4a

Registrants will receive a confirmation with dial-in details. Mr. Oswald and Mr. Mookerji will be speaking on behalf of the Company and anticipate the call (including Q&A) to last approximately 45 minutes. A live webcast of the event can be accessed using the link above. A replay of the webcast will be available on the Ducommun website at Ducommun.com .

Additional information regarding Ducommun's results can be found in the Q3 2023 Earnings Presentation available at Ducommun.com .

About Ducommun Incorporated

Ducommun Incorporated delivers value-added innovative manufacturing solutions to customers in the aerospace, defense and industrial markets. Founded in 1849, the Company specializes in two core areas - Electronic Systems and Structural Systems - to produce complex products and components for commercial aircraft platforms, mission-critical military and space programs, and sophisticated industrial applications. For more information, visit Ducommun.com .

Forward Looking Statements

This press release and any attachments include “forward-looking statements,” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including, in particular, any statements about the Company's expectations relating to the results of its restructuring initiative and continued improvement of its operating performance, the continuing commercial aerospace recovery, and the execution of its strategy and driving shareholder value in the years ahead. The Company generally uses the words “may,” “will,” “could,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “plan,” “intend,” “continue” and similar expressions in this press release and any attachments to identify forward-looking statements. The Company bases these forward-looking statements on its current views with respect to future events and financial performance. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including, among other things: whether the anticipated pre-tax restructuring charges will be sufficient to address all anticipated restructuring costs, including related to employee separation, facilities consolidation, inventory write-down and other asset impairments; whether the expected cost savings from the restructuring will ultimately be obtained in the amount and during the period anticipated; whether the restructuring in the affected areas will be sufficient to build a more cost efficient, focused, higher margin enterprise with higher returns for the Company's shareholders; the strength of the real estate market, the duration of any lease entered into as part of any sale-leaseback transaction, the amount of commissions owed to brokers, and applicable tax rates; the impact of the Company’s debt service obligations and restrictive debt covenants; the Company’s end-use markets are cyclical; the Company depends upon a selected base of industries and customers; a significant portion of the Company’s business depends upon U.S. Government defense spending; the Company is subject to extensive regulation and audit by the Defense Contract Audit Agency; contracts with some of the Company’s customers contain provisions which give the its customers a variety of rights that are unfavorable to the Company; further consolidation in the aerospace industry could adversely affect the Company’s business and financial results; the Company’s ability to successfully make acquisitions, including its ability to successfully integrate, operate or realize the projected benefits of such businesses; the Company relies on its suppliers to meet the quality and delivery expectations of its customers; the Company uses estimates when bidding on fixed-price contracts which estimates could change and result in adverse effects on its financial results; the impact of existing and future laws and regulations; the impact of existing and future accounting standards and tax rules and regulations; environmental liabilities could adversely affect the Company’s financial results; cyber security attacks, internal system or service failures may adversely impact the Company’s business and operations; the ultimate geographic spread, duration and severity of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, and the effectiveness of actions taken, or actions that may be taken, by governmental authorities to contain the outbreak or treat its impact, and other risks and uncertainties, including those detailed from time to time in the Company’s periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not put undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. You should understand that many important factors, including those discussed herein, could cause the Company’s results to differ materially from those expressed or suggested in any forward-looking statement. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements to reflect new information or events or circumstances that occur after the date of this news release, November 8, 2023 , or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events or otherwise. Readers are advised to review the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (which are available from the SEC’s EDGAR database at www.sec.gov ).

Note Regarding Non-GAAP Financial Information

This release contains non-GAAP financial measures, including Adjusted EBITDA (which excludes interest expense, income tax expense, depreciation, amortization, stock-based compensation expense, restructuring charges, Guaymas fire related expenses, other fire related expenses, insurance recoveries related to loss on operating assets, insurance recoveries related to business interruption, inventory purchase accounting adjustments, loss on extinguishment of debt, and other debt refinancing costs), non-GAAP operating income and as a percentage of net revenues, non-GAAP earnings, non-GAAP earnings per share, and backlog. In addition, certain other prior period amounts have been reclassified to conform to current year’s presentation.

The Company believes the presentation of these non-GAAP measures provide important supplemental information to management and investors regarding financial and business trends relating to its financial condition and results of operations. The Company’s management uses these non-GAAP financial measures along with the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures in evaluating the Company’s actual and forecasted operating performance, capital resources and cash flow. The non-GAAP financial information presented herein should be considered supplemental to, and not as a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. The Company discloses different non-GAAP financial measures in order to provide greater transparency and to help the Company’s investors to more meaningfully evaluate and compare Ducommun’s results to its previously reported results. The non-GAAP financial measures that the Company uses may not be comparable to similarly titled financial measures used by other companies.

The Company defines backlog as potential revenue and is based on customer placed purchase orders and long-term agreements (“LTAs”) with firm fixed price and expected delivery dates of 24 months or less. The majority of the LTAs do not meet the definition of a contract under ASC 606 and thus, the backlog amount disclosed herein is greater than the remaining performance obligations disclosed under ASC 606. Backlog is subject to delivery delays or program cancellations, which are beyond the Company’s control. Backlog is affected by timing differences in the placement of customer orders and tends to be concentrated in several programs to a greater extent than the Company’s net revenues. As a result of these factors, trends in the Company’s overall level of backlog may not be indicative of trends in the Company’s future net revenues.

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DUCOMMUN INCORPORATED AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
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DUCOMMUN INCORPORATED AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME
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DUCOMMUN INCORPORATED AND SUBSIDIARIES
BUSINESS SEGMENT PERFORMANCE
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(1)   Includes costs not allocated to either the Electronic Systems or Structural Systems operating segments.

(2)   The three and nine months ended September 30, 2023 included less than $0.1 million and $0.1 million, respectively, of stock-based compensation expense recorded as cost of sales. The three and nine months ended October 1, 2022 both included zero stock-based compensation expense recorded as cost of sales.

(3)   The three and nine months ended September 30, 2023 included $0.1 million and $0.2 million, respectively, of stock-based compensation expense recorded as cost of sales. The three and nine months ended October 1, 2022 both included zero stock-based compensation expense recorded as cost of sales.

(4)   The three and nine months ended September 30, 2023 included $1.4 million and $2.7 million, respectively, and the three and nine months ended October 1, 2022 included $0.3 million and $0.8 million, respectively, of stock-based compensation expense for awards with both performance and market conditions that will be settled in cash.

DUCOMMUN INCORPORATED AND SUBSIDIARIES
GAAP TO NON-GAAP OPERATING INCOME RECONCILIATION
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DUCOMMUN INCORPORATED AND SUBSIDIARIES
GAAP TO NON-GAAP EARNINGS AND EARNINGS PER SHARE RECONCILIATION
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(1) Includes effective tax rate of 20.0% for both 2023 and 2022 adjustments.

DUCOMMUN INCORPORATED AND SUBSIDIARIES
NON-GAAP BACKLOG* BY REPORTING SEGMENT
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* The Company defines backlog as potential revenue and is based on customer placed purchase orders and long-term agreements (“LTAs”) with firm fixed price and expected delivery dates of 24 months or less. Backlog as of September 30, 2023 was $958.5 million compared to $960.8 million as of December 31, 2022. Under ASC 606, the Company defines performance obligations as customer placed purchase orders with firm fixed price and firm delivery dates. The remaining performance obligations disclosed under ASC 606 as of September 30, 2023 were $947.9 million compared to $853.0 million as of December 31, 2022.