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Wabtec (WAB) Q2 Earnings & Revenues Beat, 2024 EPS View Up

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Wabtec Corporation (WAB - Free Report) reported second-quarter 2024 earnings (excluding 32 cents from non-recurring items) of $1.96 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.85. The bottom line improved 39% year over year due to higher sales.

Revenues of $2.64 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.62 billion. The top line grew 9.85% year over year due to higher sales of the Freight and Transit segments.

Total operating expenses in the reported quarter increased by $33 million to $444 million. The operating ratio (operating expenses as a percentage of revenues) improved to 16.8% from the year-ago quarter figure of 17.1%. A lower value of the metric is preferable.

The adjusted operating margin increased 1.6 points to 12.7%. The operating margin benefited from higher sales.

During the June quarter, WAB generated cash from operations of $235 million compared with $115 million a year ago. The improvement was due to higher net income and improved working capital.

Wabtec exited the quarter with cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash of $595 million and a total debt of $4 billion. In the second quarter of 2024, WAB’s total available liquidity was $2.09 billion. The company repurchased shares worth $200 million in the June quarter, apart from paying dividends worth $35 million.

Segmental Highlights

Freight net sales of $1.92 billion exceeded our expectations of $1.86 billion. Results were boosted by the strong performance of Equipment and Components. Freight operating margin increased to 24.1% from 20.3% in the second quarter of 2023.

In the Transit segment, net sales grew 2% year over year to $724 million due to strong aftermarket sales. The actual segmental sales figure was lower than our projection of $725 million. The segmental adjusted operating margin decreased to 12.7% from 11.1% in the second quarter of 2023.

2024 Guidance

Wabtec tweaked its 2024 adjusted EPS guidance to the range of $7.20-$7.50. The midpoint of the guided range, i.e., $7.35, is above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $7.26.  The earlier guidance was in the $7.00-$7.40 range.

Wabtec’s revenue guidance remains unchanged in the $10.25 billion-$10.55 billion band. The midpoint of the guided range, i.e., $10.4 billion, is just above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $10.36 billion. For the full year 2024, Management expects operating cash flow conversion of greater than 90 percent.

Currently, Wabtec carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Q2 Performances of Some Other Transportation Companies

Delta Air Lines’ (DAL - Free Report) second-quarter 2024 earnings (excluding 35 cents from non-recurring items) of $2.36 per share missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.37 and decreased 12% year over year.

Revenues of $16.7billion surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $16.3 billion and increased 7% on a year-over-year basis. Passenger revenues, accounting for 83% of the total revenues, improved 5% year over year.

United Airlines (UAL - Free Report) reported second-quarter 2024 earnings (excluding 18 cents from non-recurring items) of $4.14 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.97 per share. However, the bottom line decreased 17.69% year over year.

Operating revenues of $15 billion missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $15.13 billion. However, the top line increased 5.7% year over year due to upbeat air travel demand. Cargo revenues rose by 14.4% year over year to $414 million. Revenues from other sources jumped 9.6% year over year to $892 million.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services’ (JBHT - Free Report) second-quarter 2024 earnings per share of $1.32 missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.51 and declined 27.1% year over year.

Total operating revenues of $2.93 billion lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.04 billion and fell 6.5% year over year. Total operating revenues, excluding fuel surcharge revenues, decreased approximately 6% year over year.

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