Chart Industries CEO “extremely positive” on China
During a midday conference call, Chart Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq: GTLS) executives said strategic alliances will help the company’s bottom line, but warned a merger of two customers will cause some “sales softness” during the latter half of 2007, CEO Samuel Thomas said. The firm, which manufactures equipment used in industrial gas production, storage and use, has an “extremely positive outlook” for China, he said.
“We’re constrained only by our capacity to grow [in China],” Thomas said.
Thomas announced that the Garfield Heights, Ohio-based company entered into a strategic alliance – which Thomas characterized as a “preferred supplier cooperation agreement” - with Energy World Corporation Limited, an Australian gas exploration company. He said Energy World intends to build several plants in Southeast Asia, which will involve Chart Industries.
“This reinforces a long-term relationship and positions us to obtain future liquefied natural gas projects over the next several years,” Thomas said.
The merger between The BOC Group Plc, a British industrial gas firm, and Linde AG, a German gas and engineering company, impacted Chart Industries number of orders received, he said.
Before the opening bell, Chart Industries reported earnings below analyst expectations but beat revenue estimates for the second quarter ended June 30. The industrial equipment manufacturer’s second-quarter net sales were $167.6 million, above Wall Street estimates of $155.8 million and more than the $129.4 million recorded in the year-ago period. Chart Industries’ quarterly net income was $8.4 million, or $0.32 a share, compared with $5.3 million, or $0.50 a share, a year ago.
“I would like to remind listeners that our earnings per share for the second quarter of 2006 as reported in our financial statements is not comparable to the second quarter of 2007 because of the changes in our capital structure related to the July 2006 IPO and the June 2007 secondary offering,” CFO Michael Biehl said.
Chart Industries offered 12.6 million shares of common stock in June 2007 to finance general corporate purposes, including debt reduction. The firm’s shares began trading publicly last summer, when the company offered 12.5 million shares priced at $15 apiece.
In a morning press release, Chart Industries reaffirmed its 2007 sales outlook in the range of $620 million to $650 million. However, the company cut its earnings guidance to a range of $1.26 to $1.38 per share, from a previous range of $1.54 to $1.66 per share. The earnings range includes $7.1 million of non-cash stock-based compensation expense and $0.8 million of costs related to the secondary offering.
At the end of June, the company’s backlog was $415.3 million, up 50% form $276.9 million during the same period of 2006. Chart Industries’ selling and general expenses increased to $28.8 million, from $17.7 million a year earlier, during the quarter.
Second-quarter sales in each of the firm’s three segments – energy and chemicals, distribution and storage, and biomedical – were up on a year-over-year basis. Energy and chemical sales were up 37%, distribution and storage 30%, and biomedical 13%.
Chart Industries’ second-quarter gross profit increased to $51.3 million, or 31% of sales, versus $36.1 million, or 28% of sales, a year earlier.
“Increase in our gross profit was primarily attributable to higher sales volume, particularly in our energy and chemical and distribution and storage segments,” Biehl said.
In midday trading, shares are down $0.30, or 1.15%, at $25.85. Over the last 52 weeks, shares have ranged between $11.16 and $31.37.
