Insteel Industries Reports Second Quarter 2024 Results

Insteel Industries Inc. (NYSE: IIIN) (“Insteel” or the “Company”), the largest manufacturer of steel wire reinforcing products for concrete construction applications in the United States, today announced financial results for its second quarter of fiscal 2024 ended March 30, 2024.

Second Quarter 2024 Highlights

• Net earnings of $6.9 million, or $0.35 per diluted share
• Net sales of $127.4 million
• Gross profit of $15.7 million, or 12.3% of net sales
• Operating cash flow of $1.4 million
• Net cash balance of $83.9 million and no debt outstanding as of March 30, 2024
• Improving demand environment and easing macroeconomic headwinds

Second Quarter 2024 Results

Net earnings for the second quarter of fiscal 2024 increased to $6.9 million, or $0.35 per diluted share, from $5.1 million, or $0.26 per share, in the same period a year ago. Insteel’s results for the second quarter benefited from widening spreads between selling prices and raw material costs relative to the prior year quarter.

Net sales decreased 19.9% to $127.4 million from $159.1 million in the prior year quarter, driven by 17.3% decrease in average selling prices and a 3.2% decrease in shipments. Average selling prices continue to remain below the previous year’s levels due to a highly competitive pricing environment that has persisted for over a year, along with the growing impact of low-priced PC strand imports. On a sequential basis, average selling prices increased 2.7% from the first quarter, following price increases implemented during the current quarter to recover a rise in raw material costs. Shipments for the current quarter were unfavorably impacted by competitive pressure, weakness in the commercial construction market, and adverse weather conditions that reduced construction activity. Sequentially, shipments increased 1.9% from the first quarter due to the expected seasonal demand upturn.

Gross profit increased to $15.7 million from $13.3 million in the prior year quarter, and gross margin widened to 12.3% from 8.3% due to higher spreads between selling prices and raw material costs, which were partially offset by lower shipments. The widening spreads were driven by selling price increases in the current quarter and the consumption of lower cost inventory.

Operating activities generated $1.4 million of cash during the quarter compared with $46.6 million in the prior year quarter primarily due to the relative changes in net working capital. Net working capital used $10.5 million of cash in the current year quarter, driven by an increase in receivables, while providing $39.7 million of cash in the prior year quarter.

Six Month 2024 Results

Net earnings for the first six months of fiscal 2024 were $8.1 million, or $0.41 per share, compared with $16.2 million, or $0.83 per share, for the same period a year ago.

Net sales decreased to $249.1 million from $326.0 million for the prior year period, driven by a 22.4% decrease in average selling prices and a 1.6% decrease in shipments. Gross profit decreased to $22.0 million from $31.0 million in the same period a year ago, and gross margin narrowed to 8.8% from 9.5% due primarily to lower spreads.

Capital Allocation and Liquidity

Capital expenditures for the first six months of fiscal 2024 decreased to $14.2 million from $15.4 million in the comparable prior year period. Capital outlays for fiscal 2024 are expected to total up to approximately $30.0 million, primarily focused on expenditures to modernize our facilities and information systems, advance the growth of the engineered structural mesh business and to support cost and productivity improvement initiatives in addition to recurring maintenance needs.

Insteel ended the quarter debt-free with $83.9 million of cash and no borrowings outstanding on its $100.0 million revolving credit facility.

Outlook

“We are encouraged by the improving business conditions we see as inventories appear to have corrected and seasonal forces begin to work in our favor, causing us to ramp up operating hours at most of our plants to maintain acceptable lead times. While our second quarter results benefited from the stabilization of selling prices and the consumption of lower cost inventory, shipment growth is required for the Company to demonstrate substantially improved financial performance. We are well prepared to meet higher levels of demand following the substantial capital investments we have made in recent years to broaden our product line and reduce the cash cost of production,” commented H.O. Woltz III, Insteel’s President and CEO.

Mr. Woltz further commented, “Looking ahead to the second half of the fiscal year, we anticipate growing momentum across our business driven by the seasonal upturn in construction activity, continued recovery in demand from our customers, and an improving macroeconomic outlook. We also remain optimistic about the expected growth in infrastructure construction, which will be driven in part by the spending associated with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.”

Conference Call

Insteel will hold a conference call at 10:00 a.m. ET today to discuss its second quarter financial results. A live webcast of this call can be accessed on Insteel’s website at https://investor.insteel.com and will be archived for replay.

About Insteel

Insteel is the nation’s largest manufacturer of steel wire reinforcing products for concrete construction applications. Insteel manufactures and markets prestressed concrete strand and welded wire reinforcement, including engineered structural mesh (“ESM”), concrete pipe reinforcement and standard welded wire reinforcement. Insteel’s products are sold primarily to manufacturers of concrete products and concrete contractors for use, primarily, in nonresidential construction applications. Headquartered in Mount Airy, North Carolina, Insteel operates ten manufacturing facilities located in the United States.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this news release, the words “believes,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “estimates,” “appears,” “plans,” “intends,” “may,” “should,” “could” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Although we believe that our plans, intentions and expectations reflected in or suggested by such forward-looking statements are reasonable, they are subject to several risks and uncertainties, and we can provide no assurances that such plans, intentions or expectations will be implemented or achieved. Many of these risks and uncertainties are discussed in detail in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2023 and may be updated from time to time in our other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”).

All forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. All forward-looking statements speak only to the respective dates on which such statements are made, and we do not undertake any obligation to publicly release the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect any future events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events, except as may be required by law.

It is not possible to anticipate and list all risks and uncertainties that may affect our future operations or financial performance; however, they include, but are not limited to, the following: general economic and competitive conditions in the markets in which we operate; changes in the spending levels for nonresidential and residential construction and the impact on demand for our products; changes in the amount and duration of transportation funding provided by federal, state and local governments and the impact on spending for infrastructure construction and demand for our products; the cyclical nature of the steel and building material industries; credit market conditions and the relative availability of financing for us, our customers and the construction industry as a whole; the impact of rising interest rates on the cost of financing for our customers; fluctuations in the cost and availability of our primary raw material, hot-rolled steel wire rod, from domestic and foreign suppliers; competitive pricing pressures and our ability to raise selling prices in order to recover increases in raw material or operating costs; changes in United States or foreign trade policy affecting imports or exports of steel wire rod or our products; unanticipated changes in customer demand, order patterns and inventory levels; the impact of fluctuations in demand and capacity utilization levels on our unit manufacturing costs; our ability to further develop the market for ESM and expand our shipments of ESM; legal, environmental, economic or regulatory developments that significantly impact our business or operating costs; unanticipated plant outages, equipment failures or labor difficulties; and the “Risk Factors” discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2023, and in other filings made by us with the SEC.

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