Financial Snapshots: A Quick Look at Some 1Q 2021 Earnings Reports

Generac

Waukesha, WI

Anyone who has tracked Generac’s stock price knows all about the breathtaking increases it has enjoyed over the last two years. Generac’s 1Q 2021 financial report show that the company’s revenues continue to grow.

According to the press release, “Net sales increased +70% to $807.4 million during the first quarter of 2021, an all-time record, as compared to $475.9 million in the prior year first quarter. The combination of contributions from the Energy Systems, Mean Green and Enbala acquisitions and the favorable impact from foreign currency had an approximate +3% impact on revenue growth during the quarter. Residential product sales more than doubled to $542.1 million as compared to $257.6 million in the prior year, representing a +110% increase.”

Said York Ragen, chief financial officer, in the press release, “Home standby generator sales continue to experience robust year-over-year growth, which more than doubled during the first quarter as we made further progress increasing production levels for these products. Portable generators also experienced dramatic growth versus the prior year due to the much higher power outage activity, highlighted by the impact from the major event in Texas. In addition to this strength, shipments of PWRcell energy storage systems also grew at a significant rate as compared to the prior year, as the solar plus storage market in the U.S. continues to expand and as we build out our capabilities selling into the clean energy space.”

Hubbell Inc.
Orange, CT

Although Hubbell’s sales for 1Q 2021 were down -1% to a $1.078 billion, William Sperry, executive VP and CFO, said in the call with investment analysts that the figure includes the three acquisitions that we closed in the fourth quarter that focus on the 5G space, antenna and housing end-use segments.

Sperry also called out the growth potential of the renewables vertical and in particular the wind and solar business, and said the company is anticipating “real secular megatrend type growth rates” in this area. “The energy industry is clearly pivoting from fossil fuels to renewables. And we think Hubbell benefits as the economy continues to adapt to that. (The company is positioned really well in two different ways— we’ve got about $350 million or so of transmission sales, and right now the renewables are harvesting wind and sun in places that are farther from the population centers. That energy needs to be transported across the transmission lines to get to where it will be consumed by users. And that will be quite a favorable trend for the components we sell, and the transmission grid as well.

“On the Electrical Solution side, we see a variety of products, brands, notably from Burndy and Wiley, selling lugs and connectors, bonding and grounding products, wire management. And we’ve had a couple of wins recently on very large solar and wind farms that make us believe our brands and our products are in high demand. We are anticipating strong growth rates going forward off of that $50 million base that we have.”

EMCOR
Norwalk, CT

Although revenues in the company’s Electrical Construction segment declined slightly in 1Q 2021 YOY, decreasing -1.2% or $5.6 million to $456.2 million, EMCOR’s Anthony Guzzi, chairman, president & CEO, is bullish about 2021 and said the data center, warehousing, healthcare semiconductor plants, and indoor air quality were particularly strong.

According to a Motley Fool transcript of the company’s most recent call with analysts, Guzzi said, “We have to execute every day. We’re doing this across 4,000 projects of size of $250,000 or more. But if you added up all our projects, we’re doing this now over about 12,000 projects and service events. And if you take service calls, it’s multiples of that.”

Eaton Corp.
Dublin, Ireland

Sales in the first quarter of 2021 were $4.7 billion, down -2% from the first quarter of 2020, according to the press release announcing the company’s 1Q 2021 results. The divestiture of the Cooper Lighting business reduced sales by -5.5%, which was partially offset by positive currency translation of +2%, +1% growth from acquisitions and organic growth of +0.5%

Craig Arnold, Eaton chairman and chief executive officer, said, “Our first quarter was stronger than expected, with organic sales well above the high end of our guidance range, segment margin at record levels and strong cash flow. We are pleased with how rapidly our businesses are recovering towards pre-pandemic levels.”

Sales for the Electrical Americas segment were $1.6 billion, down -9% from the first quarter of 2020, driven by a -14% reduction from the sale of the Cooper Lighting to Signify. Organic sales were up +2% percent, as the acquisitions of Power Distribution Inc. and Tripp Lite added +2%, and positive currency translation added +1%.

 The twelve-month rolling average of orders in the first quarter was down -5%, driven by declines in oil and gas markets partially offset by strength in data center, residential and utility markets. During the first quarter, the business experienced strong order growth of +7% over the first quarter of 2020. The March backlog grew +17% over March 2020.