Case IH’s largest equipment dealer reported revenue growth of 19% in the second quarter of its fiscal year this morning, but expects the rest of the current year to be increasingly difficult with shrinking equipment margins. As a result, Titan Machinery has reduced its revenue and income forecast for the remainder of this fiscal year.
David Meyer, Titan Machinery’s chairman and chief executive officer, said that “Given the challenges we are facing in both agriculture and construction industries, we are reducing our revenue, net income and earnings per share expectations for fiscal 2014. This year we have slowed our acquisition pace and are focused on integrating our recent acquisitions into our distribution network and positioning our business to achieve better leverage going forward. We remain confident in the long-term profitable growth potential for Titan Machinery due to our proven operating model and healthy balance sheet.”
Fiscal 2014 Outlook
The Company evaluates its financial performance based on its customers’ annual production cycles as opposed to a quarterly basis, due to weather fluctuations and the seasonal nature of each customer’s business. The Company is adjusting its annual guidance based on increased visibility of market conditions. For the full year ending January 31, 2014, the Company now expects revenue to be in the range of $2.25 billion to $2.45 billion compared to the previous range of $2.35 billion to $2.55 billion. The Company expects net income attributable to common stockholders to be in the range of $25.4 million to $31.8 million, and earnings per diluted share to be in the range of $1.20 to $1.50 based on estimated weighted average diluted common shares outstanding of 21.2 million, primarily reflecting the lower expected equipment margins. This compares to previous net income attributable to common stockholders guidance in the range of $36.4 million to $42.8 million, and earnings per diluted share in the range of $1.70 to $2.00 based on estimated weighted average diluted common shares outstanding of 21.4 million.
About Titan Machinery Inc.
Titan Machinery Inc., founded in 1980 and headquartered in West Fargo, North Dakota, is a multi-unit business with mature locations and newly-acquired locations. The Company owns and operates a network of full service agricultural and construction equipment stores in the United States and Europe. The Titan Machinery network consists of 105 North American dealerships in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico, including two outlet stores, and 14 European dealerships in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Ukraine. The Titan Machinery dealerships represent one or more of the CNH Brands (NYSE: CNH), a majority-owned subsidiary of Fiat Industrial (Milan: FI.MI), including CaseIH, New Holland Agriculture, Case Construction, New Holland Construction and CNH Capital. Additional information about Titan Machinery Inc. can be found at www.titanmachinery.com.
