American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:DCH) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.38 EPS

American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:DCH) issued its earnings results on Friday. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.38, Zacks reports. The business had revenue of $2.38 billion during the quarter. American Axle & Manufacturing had a positive return on equity of 10.00% and a negative net margin of 0.34%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 68.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

Here are the key takeaways from American Axle & Manufacturing’s conference call:

• The acquisition of Dowlais was integrated into Q1 results and contributed $983 million of sales (Feb–Mar) and about $122 million of adjusted EBITDA, with customers responding positively to the combined scale and capabilities.
• Q1 adjusted results showed momentum — sales of $2.38 billion, adjusted EBITDA of $308.5 million (13% margin) and adjusted EPS of $0.34.
• Synergy capture is progressing ahead of plan with a $35 million run-rate realized to date (including $5 million in Q1) and targets of >$100M by year-end, $180M by end of year two and $300M by end of year three.
• Cash and leverage remain a near-term constraint — Q1 adjusted free cash flow was a use of $40.8 million, net debt is ~$4.1 billion with net leverage ~2.7x, and interest expense rose to $77.5 million (?7% avg), so share returns are contingent on further de?leveraging.
• Geopolitical and energy risks (notably the Iran conflict) could pressure costs — management cited a potential near-term $5–10 million impact from higher fuel/energy costs despite most commodity cost exposure being largely pass?through to customers.

American Axle & Manufacturing Trading Up 14.6%

Shares of NYSE:DCH opened at $6.63 on Friday. American Axle & Manufacturing has a fifty-two week low of $3.94 and a fifty-two week high of $9.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a current ratio of 2.95, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.31.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on DCH. BWS Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $17.00 target price on shares of American Axle & Manufacturing in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Weiss Ratings assumed coverage on American Axle & Manufacturing in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. They issued a “sell (d)” rating on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded American Axle & Manufacturing from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded American Axle & Manufacturing from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on American Axle & Manufacturing from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.00.

About American Axle & Manufacturing

American Axle & Manufacturing is a U.S.-based designer, engineer and manufacturer of driveline and drivetrain systems and components for the automotive and light- and heavy-vehicle markets. The company produces a range of mechanical and electromechanical products including axles, driveshafts, differential systems, halfshafts, transmission components, and related sealing and suspension parts. Its product portfolio serves passenger cars, light trucks, commercial vehicles and off-highway applications.

Beyond component manufacturing, the company provides integrated engineering services such as product development, testing and system integration to help vehicle manufacturers meet performance, weight and fuel-economy targets.