The Greenbrier Cos., Inc. on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014 announced "record results for [the] fourth quarter and fiscal year," adding it had received orders of "an additional 11,400 units" after its fiscal fourth quarter ended on Aug. 31, 2014.
Fourth-quarter net earnings of $33.7 million, or $1.03 per diluted share (excluding a non-case gain), meeting Wall Street consensus. Revenue of $618.1 million was also a record, Lake Oswego, Ore.-based Greenbrier said.
For the full fiscal year 2014, Greenbrier reported record net, excluding gain on contribution to newly formed joint venture GBW Railcar Services, of $99.3 million, or $3.07 per diluted share, on revenue of $2.2 billion.
Greenbrier Cos. noted it had a record backlog of 31,500 cars, with an estimated value of $3.33 billion, at the close of the quarter Aug. 31. That compared with 26,400 units with an estimated value of $2.75 billion as of May 31, 2014, the end of the company's fiscal third quarter.
Orders for 10,400 new railcars valued at $1.06 billion were received during the quarter, the company said, adding, "After quarter end, Greenbrier received orders for an additional 11,400 units valued at nearly $1 billion."
In a note to clients early Thursday, KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc. analyst Steve Barger noted, "Management stated that less than 40% of the current backlog consists of tank cars."
Said Greenbrier Cos. Chairman and CEO William A. Furman, "We leveraged our integrated business model to achieve our best annual performance yet and are well positioned to continue to grow in 2015 and beyond. We are obtaining the highest level of new orders in Greenbrier's history. They are broad-based across many railcar types including tank cars, grain and sand covered hoppers, automotive, intermodal, boxcars, gondolas, and plastic pellet cars, among others. We also achieved record production levels and deliveries, all while improving operating efficiencies and enhancing our footprint in our manufacturing facilities.