Earnings: Kemet Q4 results exceed expectations; stock gains

Kemet Corp. (NYSE: KEM), a leading manufacturer of electronic components, Thursday said its fourth-quarter profit and sales increased and surpassed the estimates. The company’s stock gained sharply following the report.

The Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based company reported adjusted earnings of $1.05 per share for the quarter, compared to $0.44 per share in the same period of 2018. Unadjusted profit rose to $93.4 million or $1.58 per share from $2.3 million or $0.04 per share last year. Analysts were looking for a slower increase.

At $355.8 million, net sales were higher by 12% compared to the fourth quarter of 2018. The top-line also came in above Wall Street’s prediction. There was a 7.8 percentage-point increase in gross margin to 35.5%.

William Lowe, chief executive officer of Kemet, said, “As we look ahead, we see tremendous opportunity to build on our positive momentum, drive long-term growth, and enhance shareholder value.”

The improvement in the results can be attributed to the structural changes made to the operations over the past few years, such as the segmentation of the market for Ceramics products and vertical integration of the Tantalum product line.

The improvement in the results can be attributed to the structural changes made to the operations over the past few years

In addition, the acquisition of TOKIN generated positive synergies and helped Kemet diversify its products and markets further.

Looking ahead, the management expects first-quarter revenues to be in the range of $338 million to $348 million, representing a 3.2- 6.2% annual increase. The forecast for adjusted gross margin is 33.5- 35%. The global effective tax rate is estimated to be between 25% and 28% in the June quarter. For fiscal 2020, Kemet expects cash taxes in the range of $15 million to $20 million.

Also see: Kemet Corp Q3 2019 Earnings Conference Call Transcript

Separately, the company said its board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.05 per share. The dividend will be paid on June 10, 2019 to shareholders of record at the close of business on May 30, 2019.

Shares of Kemet gained during the pre-market trading hours Thursday, after closing the previous session lower. The stock dropped 7% since last year and lost 6% so far this year.

Listen to publicly listed companies’ earnings conference calls along with the edited closed caption text