Timothy T. Tevens, President, CEO and Director of Columbus McKinnon Corporation (CMCO), Interviews with The Wall Street Transcript
67 WALL STREET, New York - May 24, 2013 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its Industrial Equipment, Aerospace and Defense Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This special feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs, Equity Analysts and Money Managers. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.
Topics covered: Commercial Aviation and Energy Expenditures - Industrial Restructuring - Emerging Markets Penetration - Heightened M&A Activity - Defense Budget Uncertainty - Capital Equipment Technology Investing
Companies include: Columbus Mckinnon Corp. (CMCO)
In the following excerpt from the Industrial Equipment, Aerospace and Defense Report, an expert analyst discusses the outlook for the sector for investors:
TWST: What were the highlights from your most recent quarterly earnings announcement?
Mr. Tevens: We had great profitability. I've lived through three recessions with Columbus McKinnon - in 1991, 2001 and 2009 - and the one thing that I've learned at Columbus McKinnon is we certainly do suffer on the top line when we go through an industrial downturn, but I think, at the end of the day, the recovery really helps us. What we reported in this last quarter was some really healthy operating leverage margins - incremental margins on top of the normal business - of 41.1%. I think we have averaged around 40% for the year, so that means for every incremental sales dollar over and above the prior year, we make $0.40 of operating income. It's very healthy margins.
What we have done during every downturn that I have been affiliated with the company is, we took advantage of the downturn to restructure and remove some fixed costs from our operating system. We did that this last downturn as well, and we actually have grown a little stronger operating margin as a result. I would say the other piece of the quarter is we continued to be an incredible free-cash-flow generator. We had about $112 million of cash at the end of the third quarter. I think we generated around $30 million so far through three quarters.
I think that one of the key investment theses of this company is that we have been a positive free-cash-flow generator, even in the worst of the downturns and recessions. We have a tendency to manage the cash well, manage our working capital well and generate free cash flow even in pretty dark and bleak times. We do have $112 million of capital that we think about regularly, cash that we could put to work in terms of growth opportunities, to invest not only back into our business to grow organically, especially in these emerging markets, but also equally as important in acquisitions. When I started with the company in 1991, we were under $100 million in revenue - $70 million, $80 million - and we grew through acquisitions. We do look for synergistic acquisitions, and we added on to the ...
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