The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. announced Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014 it has received new orders amounting to 10,300 railcar units during its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended Aug. 31, 2014.
Following the quarter's end, Greenbrier received additional orders of 4,700 railcars, totaling 15,000 orders since the end of the third quarter to date. Lake Oswego, Ore.-based Greenbrier placed the value of the orders at $1.37 billion.
In a note to clients Wednesday, Keybanc Capital Markets Inc., analyst Stephen Barger noted the range of car types being ordered was a diverse one. "Orders announced comprise a broad range of railcar types including tank cars, small cube covered hopper cars for sand and cement service, medium cube covered hopper cars for grain service, automotive carrying cars, and a recent award for 3,100 double-stack intermodal units," Barger said.
"In addition, GBX received a recent deck cargo barge order, which brings total marine backlog to $112 million and extends marine backlog to 2016. We think this order activity is likely representative of strong order activity across multiple car types in the industry," Barger said.
Greenbrier Chairman and CEO William A. Furman said, “These new orders demonstrate that our strategy to diversify our product mix, add efficient capacity in lower-cost facilities, and drive considerably more volume through our leasing and asset management model is paying off.”
“Our comprehensive new railcar product portfolio of virtually all railcar types includes innovative new products such as our Multi-Max™ automotive-carrying railcars, large-cube covered hopper cars for transport of plastic pellets and other commodities, pressurized tank cars, and our next generation Tank Car of the Future,” Furman said. “Our flexible manufacturing footprint and capital programs will allow us to double our tank car manufacturing capacity to more than 7,000 tank cars per year, while preserving the capability to nimbly produce other railcar types.
“Our leasing business continues to emphasize the syndication of increased volumes of leased railcars to investors who have access to low-cost capital and who value Greenbrier’s full range of products and services over the life of the railcar,” Furman added. “At the same time, we have reduced our longer-term ownership in leased railcars, liberating nearly $100 million in capital and improving our ROIC.”