Kadant Inc. (NYSE: KAI) reported its financial results for the third quarter ended October 1, 2022.

Third Quarter Financial Highlights

• Revenue increased 12% to $225 million.
• Bookings decreased 14% to $211 million.
• Net income increased 34% to $27 million.
• GAAP diluted EPS increased 34% to $2.35.
• Adjusted diluted EPS increased 21% to a record $2.38.
• Adjusted EBITDA increased 17% to a record $48 million and represented 21.3% of revenue.
• Operating cash flow decreased 34% to $25 million.
• Backlog was $350 million.

Note: Percent changes above are based on comparison to the prior year period. Adjusted diluted EPS, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, and changes in organic revenue are non-GAAP financial measures that exclude certain items as detailed later in this press release under the heading “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”

Management Commentary
“We delivered strong revenue and earnings performance in the third quarter despite the challenging macroeconomic environment,” said Jeffrey L. Powell, president and chief executive officer of Kadant Inc. “Organic revenue growth was 19 percent in the third quarter with excellent contributions across all operating segments. Solid execution led to a fourth consecutive quarterly record for adjusted EBITDA and record adjusted earnings per share.

“Throughout the quarter we successfully navigated increasingly complex market conditions fueled by inflationary pressures, the strengthening U.S. dollar, lingering global supply chain constraints, and China’s zero-COVID policy. Our operations teams around the globe continued to do an excellent job proactively managing these challenges.”

Third Quarter 2022 compared to 2021
Revenue increased 12 percent to $224.5 million compared to $199.8 million in 2021. Organic revenue increased 19 percent, which excludes a seven percent decrease from the unfavorable effect of foreign currency translation. Gross margin was 42.5 percent compared to 41.9 percent in 2021. Gross margin in 2021 included a negative 110 basis point impact from the amortization of acquired profit in inventory.

GAAP diluted earnings per share (EPS) increased 34 percent to $2.35 compared to $1.75 in 2021. Adjusted diluted EPS increased 21 percent to a record $2.38 compared to $1.97 in 2021. Adjusted diluted EPS excludes $0.02 of acquisition costs and $0.01 of restructuring costs in 2022. Adjusted diluted EPS excludes $0.22 of acquisition-related costs in 2021. Net income increased 34 percent to $27.5 million compared to $20.5 million in 2021. Adjusted EBITDA increased 17 percent to a record $47.8 million and represented a record 21.3 percent of revenue compared to $40.9 million and 20.5 percent of revenue in the prior year quarter. Operating cash flow decreased 34 percent to $24.9 million compared to $37.9 million in 2021 due to an increase in working capital.

Bookings decreased 14 percent to $210.9 million compared to $244.7 million in 2021. Organic bookings decreased ten percent, which excludes a five percent decrease from the unfavorable effect of foreign currency translation and a one percent increase from an acquisition.

Summary and Outlook
“As we look ahead to the remainder of 2022, we are well positioned to finish the year strong,” Mr. Powell continued. “We have a significant amount of capital projects to deliver in the upcoming quarter, and our backlog remains at a near-record level. However, we expect macroeconomic headwinds to strengthen and order activity to continue to moderate through the remainder of the year.

“We are narrowing our revenue and adjusted diluted EPS guidance and we now expect revenue of $890 to $896 million in 2022, revised from our previous guidance of $890 to $905 million. Our GAAP diluted EPS guidance is now $10.02 to $10.19 revised from our previous guidance of $10.05 to $10.25. This guidance includes a $1.30 gain on the sale of a facility, $0.06 of acquisition-related costs, and $0.02 of impairment and restructuring costs. Excluding these items, we expect adjusted diluted EPS of $8.80 to $8.97, revised from our previous guidance of $8.80 to $9.00. For the fourth quarter of 2022, we expect GAAP diluted EPS of $1.90 to $2.07 on revenue of $217 to $223 million.”

Conference Call
Kadant will hold a webcast with a slide presentation for investors on Wednesday, November 2, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. eastern time to discuss its third quarter performance, as well as future expectations. To listen to the call live and view the webcast, go to the “Investors” section of the Company’s website at www.kadant.com. Participants interested in joining the call’s live question and answer session are required to register by clicking here or selecting the Q&A link on our website to receive a dial-in number and unique PIN. It is recommended that you join the call 10 minutes prior to the start of the event. A replay of the webcast presentation will be available on our website through December 2, 2022.

Prior to the call, our earnings release and the slides used in the webcast presentation will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and will be available at www.sec.gov. After the webcast, Kadant will post its updated general investor presentation incorporating the third quarter results on its website at www.kadant.com under the “Investors” section.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
In addition to the financial measures prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), we use certain non-GAAP financial measures, including increases or decreases in revenue excluding the effect of acquisitions and foreign currency translation (organic revenue), adjusted operating income, adjusted net income, adjusted diluted EPS, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, and free cash flow.

We use organic revenue to understand our trends and to forecast and evaluate our financial performance and compare revenue to prior periods. Organic revenue excludes revenue from acquisitions for the four quarterly reporting periods following the date of the acquisition and the effect of foreign currency translation. Revenue in the third quarter of 2022 included $0.2 million from an acquisition and a $14.1 million unfavorable foreign currency translation effect. Revenue in the first nine months of 2022 included $40.1 million from acquisitions and a $27.0 million unfavorable foreign currency translation effect. Our other non-GAAP financial measures exclude impairment and restructuring costs, acquisition costs, amortization expense related to acquired profit in inventory and backlog, and certain gains or losses, as indicated. Collectively, these items are excluded as they are not indicative of our core operating results and are not comparable to other periods, which have differing levels of incremental costs, expenditures or income, or none at all. Additionally, we use free cash flow in order to provide insight on our ability to generate cash for acquisitions and debt repayments, as well as for other investing and financing activities.

We believe these non-GAAP financial measures, when taken together with the corresponding GAAP financial measures, provide meaningful supplemental information regarding our performance by excluding certain items that may not be indicative of our core business, operating results, or future outlook. We believe that the inclusion of such measures helps investors gain an understanding of our underlying operating performance and future prospects, consistent with how management measures and forecasts our performance, especially when comparing such results to previous periods or forecasts and to the performance of our competitors. Such measures are also used by us in our financial and operating decision-making and for compensation purposes. We also believe this information is responsive to investors’ requests and gives them an additional measure of our performance.

The non-GAAP financial measures included in this press release are not meant to be considered superior to or a substitute for the results of operations prepared in accordance with GAAP. In addition, the non-GAAP financial measures included in this press release have limitations associated with their use as compared to the most directly comparable GAAP measures, in that they may be different from, and therefore not comparable to, similar measures used by other companies.

Third Quarter

Adjusted operating income, adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted EBITDA margin exclude:

• Pre-tax expense related to amortization of acquired profit in inventory and backlog of $2.8 million in 2021.
• Pre-tax acquisition costs of $0.4 million in 2022 and $0.7 million in 2021.
• Pre-tax restructuring costs of $0.1 million in 2022.

Adjusted net income and adjusted diluted EPS exclude:

• After-tax expense related to amortization of acquired profit in inventory and backlog of $2.0 million ($2.8 million net of tax of $0.8 million) in 2021.
• After-tax acquisition costs of $0.3 million ($0.4 million net of tax of $0.1 million) in 2022 and $0.6 million ($0.7 million net of tax of $0.1 million) in 2021.
• After-tax restructuring costs of $0.1 million in 2022.

Free cash flow is calculated as operating cash flow less:

• Capital expenditures of $6.4 million in 2022 and $3.4 million in 2021.

First Nine Months

Adjusted operating income, adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted EBITDA margin exclude:

• Pre-tax gain on the sale of a facility of $20.2 million in 2022.
• Pre-tax acquisition costs of $0.5 million in 2022 and $2.6 million in 2021.
• Pre-tax indemnification asset reversal of $0.6 million in 2022.
• Pre-tax impairment and restructuring costs of $0.3 million in 2022.
• Pre-tax expense related to amortization of acquired profit in inventory and backlog of $0.5 in 2022 and $2.9 million in 2021.

Adjusted net income and adjusted diluted EPS exclude:

• After-tax gain on the sale of a facility of $15.1 million ($20.2 million net of tax of $5.1 million) in 2022.
• After-tax acquisition costs of $0.3 million ($0.5 million net of tax of $0.2 million) in 2022 and $2.3 million ($2.6 million net of tax of $0.3 million) in 2021.
• After-tax impairment and restructuring costs of $0.2 million ($0.3 million net of tax of $0.1 million) in 2022.
• After-tax expense related to amortization of acquired profit in inventory and backlog of $0.4 million ($0.5 million net of tax of $0.1 million) in 2022 and $2.0 ($2.9 million net of tax of $0.9 million) in 2021.

Free cash flow is calculated as operating cash flow less:

• Capital expenditures of $16.2 million in 2022 and $7.7 million in 2021.

Reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are set forth in this press release.

About Kadant
Kadant Inc. is a global supplier of technologies and engineered systems that drive Sustainable Industrial Processing. The Company’s products and services play an integral role in enhancing efficiency, optimizing energy utilization, and maximizing productivity in process industries. Kadant is based in Westford, Massachusetts, with approximately 3,000 employees in 20 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.kadant.com.