• Quarterly revenue of $515 million; slightly below expectations on slower customer pickups
• Operating income of $30 million with operating margin of 5.7%
• Quarterly diluted earnings per share of $0.39
• Total backlog of $1.8B, new order bookings continued during Q1
• 2024 EPS outlook maintained at $2.00 to $2.50 as Q1 shipment delays to flow into subsequent quarters

LAFAYETTE, Ind., April 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wabash (NYSE: WNC), the innovation leader of connected solutions for the transportation, logistics and distribution industries, today reported results for the quarter ended March 31, 2024.

The Company's net sales for the first quarter of 2024 were $515.3 million, reflecting a 17.0% decrease compared to the same quarter of the previous year. The Company achieved consolidated gross profit of $76 million, equivalent to 14.8% of sales. Operating income amounted to $29.6 million, representing 5.7% of sales for the quarter. These results were somewhat lower than prior expectations, primarily due to slower-than-anticipated customer pickups of finished goods, which is necessary for revenue recognition. First quarter diluted earnings per share was $0.39.

As of March 31, 2024, total Company backlog stood at approximately $1.8 billion, a decrease of 5% compared to the fourth quarter of 2023 as new order activity nearly kept pace with shipments during the first quarter of 2024. Backlog expected to be shipped within the following 12-months amounted to approximately $1.5 billion as of March 31, 2024.

"During the first quarter, customer pickups of equipment lagged somewhat behind the pace of our production," said Brent Yeagy, president and chief executive officer. "It's typical for customer pickup rates to vary between quarters, especially in slower years for the industry. We anticipate that the delays experienced in the first quarter will be recovered in subsequent quarters, particularly the second quarter."

For the full-year ending December 31, 2024, the Company maintained its revenue outlook of approximately $2.2 billion to $2.4 billion with a midpoint of $2.3 billion and also maintained its EPS guidance range of $2.00 to $2.50 with a midpoint of $2.25.

“2024 is a pivotal year for our strategic advancement. Despite a down year for dry vans, we view this as an unprecedented opportunity to continue investing in our business," explained Yeagy. "We are strengthening our competitive position by leveraging our dealer network to create national scale and integrating digital solutions to better enable access to parts, trailers and services across this network. With the ongoing development of our Wabash Marketplace digital platform, we anticipate streamlining the supply chain experience and offering best in class access to parts, services as well as Trailers as a Service (TAAS)^SM."

Business Segment Highlights

The table below is a summary of select segment operating and financial results prior to the elimination of intersegment sales for the first quarter of 2024 and 2023. A complete disclosure of the results by individual segment is included in the tables following this release.

During the first quarter, Transportation Solutions achieved net sales of $470.4 million, a decrease of 18.6% compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Operating income for the quarter amounted to $44.3 million, representing 9.4% of sales.

Parts & Services' net sales for the first quarter reached $49.2 million, an increase of 4.4% compared to the prior year quarter as the segment continued to make strides along its path of strategic growth. Operating income for the quarter amounted to $10.5 million, or 21.4% of sales.

Non-GAAP Measures

In addition to disclosing financial results calculated in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), the financial information included in this release contains non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA, free cash flow, adjusted operating income and margin, adjusted net income attributable to common stockholders, adjusted diluted earnings per share, adjusted segment EBITDA, and adjusted segment EBITDA margin. These non-GAAP measures should not be considered a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures and results calculated in accordance with GAAP, including net income, and reconciliations to GAAP financial statements should be carefully evaluated.

Adjusted EBITDA includes noncontrolling interest & excludes loss from unconsolidated entity and is defined as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, stock-based compensation, impairment and other, net, and other non-operating income and expense (including any loss on debt extinguishment charges). Management believes providing adjusted EBITDA is useful for investors to understand the Company’s performance and results of operations period to period with the exclusion of the items identified above. Management believes the presentation of adjusted EBITDA, when combined with the GAAP presentations of operating income and net income, is beneficial to an investor’s understanding of the Company’s operating performance. A reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to net income, the most comparable GAAP financial measure, is included in the tables following this release.

Free cash flow is defined as net cash provided by (used in) operating activities minus cash payments for capital expenditures minus expenditures for revenue generating assets. Management believes providing free cash flow is useful for investors to understand the Company’s performance and results of cash generation period to period with the exclusion of the item identified above. Management believes the presentation of free cash flow, when combined with the GAAP presentations of cash provided by operating activities, is beneficial to an investor’s understanding of the Company’s operating performance. A reconciliation of free cash flow to cash used in operating activities, the most comparable GAAP financial measure, is included in the tables following this release.

Adjusted operating income and margin, non-GAAP financial measures, exclude certain costs, expenses, other charges, gains or income that are included in the determination of operating income under U.S. GAAP, but that management would not consider important in evaluating the quality of the Company’s operating results as they are not indicative of the Company’s core operating results or may obscure trends useful in evaluating the Company’s continuing activities. Accordingly, the Company presents adjusted operating income and margin excluding these special items to help investors evaluate our operating performance and trends in our business consistent with how management evaluates such performance and trends. Further, the Company presents adjusted operating income and margin to provide investors with a better understanding of the Company’s view of our results as compared to prior periods. Adjusted operating income margin is calculated by dividing adjusted operating income by total net sales. A reconciliation of adjusted operating income to operating income, the most comparable GAAP financial measure, is included in the tables following this release.

Adjusted net income attributable to common stockholders and adjusted diluted earnings per share reflect no adjustments for any period presented. Management believes providing adjusted measures and excluding certain items facilitates comparisons to the Company’s prior year periods and, when combined with the GAAP presentation of net income and diluted net income per share, is beneficial to an investor’s understanding of the Company’s performance. A reconciliation of adjusted net income attributable to common stockholders and adjusted diluted earnings per share to net income attributable to common stockholders and diluted earnings per share, the most comparable GAAP financial measures, are included in the tables following this release.

Adjusted segment EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure, includes noncontrolling interest & excludes loss from unconsolidated entity and is calculated by adding back segment depreciation and amortization expense to segment operating income, and excludes certain costs, expenses, other charges, gains or income that are included in the determination of operating income under GAAP, but that management would not consider important in evaluating the quality of the Company’s segment operating results as they are not indicative of each segment's core operating results or may obscure trends useful in evaluating the segment's continuing activities. Adjusted segment EBITDA Margin is calculated by dividing Adjusted segment EBITDA by segment total net sales. A reconciliation of adjusted segment EBITDA to income from operations, the most comparable GAAP financial measure, is included in the tables following this release.

Information reconciling any forward-looking Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Operating Income, Adjusted Operating Income Margin, Free Cash Flow, Adjusted EBITDA Margin, and Adjusted EPS to GAAP financial measures is unavailable to us without unreasonable effort. We cannot provide reconciliations of the above noted forward looking non-GAAP measures to GAAP financial measures because certain items required for such reconciliations are outside of our control and/or cannot be reasonably predicted. Preparation of such reconciliations would require a forward-looking balance sheet, statement of income and statement of cash flows, prepared in accordance with GAAP, and such forward-looking financial statements are unavailable to us without unreasonable effort.

First Quarter 2024 Conference Call

Wabash will discuss its results during its quarterly investor conference call on Wednesday, April 24, 2024, beginning at 12:00 p.m. EDT. The call and an accompanying slide presentation will be accessible on the "Investors" section of the Company’s website at www.onewabash.com. The conference call will also be accessible by dialing (888) 672-2415, conference ID 4733976. A replay of the call will be available on the site shortly after the conclusion of the presentation.

About

Wabash (NYSE: WNC) is the visionary leader of connected solutions for the transportation, logistics and distribution industries that is Changing How the World Reaches You^®. Headquartered in Lafayette, Indiana, the company enables customers to thrive by providing insight into tomorrow and delivering pragmatic solutions today to move everything from first to final mile. Wabash designs, manufactures, and services a diverse range of products, including: dry freight and refrigerated trailers, flatbed trailers, tank trailers, dry and refrigerated truck bodies, structural composite panels and products, trailer aerodynamic solutions, and specialty food grade processing equipment. Learn more at www.onewabash.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements convey the Company’s current expectations or forecasts of future events. All statements contained in this press release other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, all statements regarding the Company’s outlook for trailer and truck body shipments, backlog, expectations regarding demand levels for trailers, truck bodies, non-trailer equipment and our other diversified product offerings, pricing, profitability and earnings, cash flow and liquidity, opportunity to capture higher margin sales, new product innovations, our growth and diversification strategies, our expectations for improved financial performance during the course of the year and our expectations with regards to capital allocation. These and the Company’s other forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those implied by the forward-looking statements. Without limitation, these risks and uncertainties include the highly cyclical nature of our business, uncertain economic conditions including the possibility that customer demand may not meet our expectations, our backlog may not reflect future sales of our products, increased competition, reliance on certain customers and corporate partnerships, risks of customer pick-up delays, shortages and costs of raw materials including the impact of tariffs or other international trade developments, risks in implementing and sustaining improvements in the Company’s manufacturing operations and cost containment, dependence on industry trends and timing, supplier constraints, labor costs and availability, customer acceptance of and reactions to pricing changes, costs of indebtedness, and our ability to execute on our long-term strategic plan. Readers should review and consider the various disclosures made by the Company in this press release and in the Company’s reports to its stockholders and periodic reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q.

¹ Adjusted operating income (loss), a non-GAAP financial measure, excludes certain costs, expenses, other charges, gains or income that are included in the determination of operating income (loss) under U.S. GAAP, but that management would not consider important in evaluating the quality of the Company’s operating results as they are not indicative of the Company’s core operating results or may obscure trends useful in evaluating the Company’s continuing activities. Accordingly, the Company presents adjusted operating income (loss) excluding these special items to help investors evaluate our operating performance and trends in our business consistent with how management evaluates such performance and trends. Further, the Company presents adjusted operating income (loss) to provide investors with a better understanding of the Company’s view of our results as compared to prior periods.

¹ Adjusted operating income (loss), a non-GAAP financial measure, excludes certain costs, expenses, other charges, gains or income that are included in the determination of operating income (loss) under U.S. GAAP, but that management would not consider important in evaluating the quality of the Company’s operating results as they are not indicative of the Company’s core operating results or may obscure trends useful in evaluating the Company’s continuing activities. Accordingly, the Company presents adjusted operating income (loss) excluding these special items to help investors evaluate our operating performance and trends in our business consistent with how management evaluates such performance and trends. Further, the Company presents adjusted operating income (loss) to provide investors with a better understanding of the Company’s view of our results as compared to prior periods.

¹ Adjusted EBITDA includes noncontrolling interest & excludes loss from unconsolidated entity and is defined as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, stock-based compensation, impairment and other, net, and other non-operating income and expense (including any loss on debt extinguishment charges). Management believes providing adjusted EBITDA is useful for investors to understand the Company’s performance and results of operations period to period with the exclusion of the items identified above. Management believes the presentation of adjusted EBITDA, when combined with the GAAP presentations of operating income and net income, is beneficial to an investor’s understanding of the Company’s operating performance.

² Adjusted net income attributable to common stockholders and adjusted diluted earnings per share reflect no adjustments for any period presented.

¹ Free cash flow is defined as net cash (used in) provided by operating activities minus cash payments for capital expenditures minus expenditures for revenue generating assets. Management believes providing free cash flow is useful for investors to understand the Company’s performance and results of cash generation period to period with the exclusion of the item identified above. Management believes the presentation of free cash flow, when combined with the GAAP presentations of cash (used in) provided by operating activities, is beneficial to an investor’s understanding of the Company’s operating performance.

¹ Adjusted segment EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure, includes noncontrolling interest & excludes loss from unconsolidated entity and is calculated by adding back segment depreciation and amortization expense to segment operating income, and excludes certain costs, expenses, other charges, gains or income that are included in the determination of operating income under GAAP, but that management would not consider important in evaluating the quality of the Company’s segment operating results as they are not indicative of each segment's core operating results or may obscure trends useful in evaluating the segment's continuing activities. Adjusted segment EBITDA margin is calculated by dividing Adjusted segment EBITDA by segment total net sales.

Media Contact:
Dana Stelsel
Director, Communications
(765) 771-5766
dana.stelsel@onewabash.com

Investor Relations:
Ryan Reed
VP, Corporate Development, IR and FP&A
(765) 490-5664
ryan.reed@onewabash.com