Wabash Posts Strong Second-Quarter Results, Highlights E-Commerce, Home Delivery
Trailer maker Wabash National Corp. reported second-quarter revenue hit an all-time high as net income jumped 39%.
Net income for the period ended June 30 was $32 million, or 54 cents per diluted share. That compared with $23 million, or 36 cents, in the 2017 period.
Wabash achieved record quarterly net sales of $613 million, a 41% increase compared with $436 million a year earlier. The most recent quarter’s gain is 13% higher than the previous record from the fourth quarter of 2015.
“This new record is directly attributable to the addition of the Supreme business and our Final Mile Products segment,” Wabash CEO Brent Yeagy said in a statement. “Needless to say, we continue to believe our Final Mile Products business will help drive future growth for Wabash National. Overall, all three of our reporting segments continue to experience strong demand in most end markets, and we expect a stronger second half of 2018.”
Wabash acquired truck-body builder Supreme Industries Inc. in the third quarter of 2017.
“Trailer and truck-body demand and orders have remained strong for the past several months, continuing the trend from the first quarter and supporting our belief in the growing secular demand in e-commerce and home delivery,” Yeagy said.
At the same time, Wabash’s gross profit margin slipped to 13.9% from 15.5% in the 2017 quarter — primarily due to increased material costs, higher labor costs attributable to attracting and retaining a skilled workforce and supplier constraints for key materials leading to production inefficiencies, according to the Lafayette, Ind.-based company.
“We continue to take steps to reduce the margin impact of U.S. tariff policy, raw material inflation, supply base disruptions and a very tight labor market on our business in 2018,” he added.
Backlog increased $1.2 billion, or 51% higher compared with the prior year.
The company updated its full-year 2018 guidance for new trailer shipments to 60,000 to 62,000 trailers and earnings to $2.06 to $2.12 per diluted share.
