Earnings call transcript: Metallus Inc Q1 2025 misses EPS forecast, revenue beats

Metallus Inc (MTUS) reported its financial results for the first quarter of 2025, revealing a mixed performance. The company posted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.07, falling short of the expected $0.10, while its revenue of $280.5 million surpassed the forecasted $259.6 million. Despite the revenue beat, the company’s stock experienced a decline, dropping 5.96% to $13.09 in after-hours trading. According to InvestingPro analysis, MTUS is currently undervalued, with a Financial Health Score rated as GOOD. The company maintains a strong balance sheet, holding more cash than debt.

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Key Takeaways

• Metallus Inc’s EPS of $0.07 missed the forecast by $0.03.
• Revenue exceeded expectations, reaching $280.5 million against a $259.6 million forecast.
• Stock price fell by nearly 6% following the earnings release.
• The company reported a sequential increase in net sales and adjusted EBITDA.
• Strong demand observed in industrial, automotive, and energy markets.

Company Performance

Metallus Inc demonstrated robust revenue growth in Q1 2025, with net sales rising by 17% sequentially to $280.5 million. This growth was driven by increased shipments and improved melt utilization. The company also reported a significant rise in adjusted EBITDA, which increased by $9.4 million sequentially to $17.7 million. The shortfall in EPS compared to expectations suggests challenges in maintaining profitability, reflected in the company’s weak gross profit margin of 6.62% over the last twelve months. Despite current challenges, InvestingPro data indicates analysts expect the company to return to profitability this year.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: $280.5 million, a 17% sequential increase.
• Earnings per share: $0.07, below the forecast of $0.10.
• Adjusted net income: $3.2 million.
• Cash and cash equivalents: $180.3 million.
• Capital expenditures: $27.5 million in Q1.

Earnings vs. Forecast

Metallus Inc’s Q1 2025 EPS of $0.07 was below the forecasted $0.10, marking a miss of 30%. Despite this, the company achieved a revenue beat, with actual revenue of $280.5 million surpassing the forecast by 8.1%. The EPS miss, while notable, was mitigated by the strong revenue performance, indicating effective revenue generation despite margin pressures.

Market Reaction

Following the earnings announcement, Metallus Inc’s stock price dropped by 5.96%, closing at $13.09. This decline reflects investor disappointment with the EPS miss, despite the revenue beat. The stock’s movement contrasts with its 52-week high of $24.31, highlighting recent pressures. Trading at a low revenue valuation multiple with a price-to-book ratio of 0.8, the stock appears to offer value despite recent market pressures. The broader market reaction suggests cautious sentiment, likely influenced by the mixed financial results.

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Outlook & Guidance

Metallus Inc anticipates an increase in adjusted EBITDA for Q2 2025, with modest sequential shipment growth. The company has implemented spot price increases for its products and expects a significant reduction in pension contributions after 2025. Future revenue forecasts for FY2025 and FY2026 indicate continued growth, with projections of $1.162 billion and $1.286 billion, respectively. InvestingPro data shows analysts have set a consensus target price of $20, suggesting significant upside potential from current levels. The company’s current ratio of 2.03 indicates strong liquidity to support its growth initiatives.

Executive Commentary

CEO Mike Williams emphasized the company’s strategic positioning, stating, "We are well positioned as a U.S. business with a strong balance sheet and continued focus on cost management." CFO Chris Westbrooks added, "As a U.S.-based metals producer, we’re well positioned for future success." These statements highlight Metallus Inc’s confidence in its financial stability and market strategy.

Risks and Challenges

• Supply chain challenges in aerospace and defense sectors.
• Potential market saturation in key segments.
• Macroeconomic pressures impacting raw material costs.
• Competition from domestic and international steel producers.
• Need for continued innovation to maintain competitive advantage.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about the impact of tariffs on demand and the company’s capacity to meet increasing orders. Metallus Inc reported minimal pull-forward demand due to tariffs and highlighted strong domestic sourcing trends in the energy market. Analysts also probed into supply chain challenges, particularly in aerospace and defense, which the company acknowledged as a short-term hurdle.

Metallus Inc’s Q1 2025 results present a mixed picture, with revenue growth overshadowed by an EPS miss. While the stock’s decline reflects investor caution, the company’s strategic initiatives and market positioning offer a positive outlook for future quarters.

Full transcript - Metallus Inc (MTUS) Q1 2025:

Carly, Conference Operator: Thank you for standing by. My name is Carly, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Metalysis First Quarter twenty twenty five Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers’ remarks, there will be a question and answer session.

Thank you. I will now turn the call over to Jennifer Please go ahead.

Jennifer Beaman, Director of Communications and Investor Relations, Metallis: Good morning, and welcome to Metallica’s first quarter twenty twenty five conference call. I’m Jennifer Beaman, Director of Communications and Investor Relations for Metallis. Joining me today is Mike Williams, President and Chief Executive Officer Chris Westbrooks, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and Kevin Rakitich, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer. You all should have received a copy of our press release, which was issued last night. During today’s conference call, we may make forward looking statements as defined by the SEC.

Our actual results may differ materially from those projected or implied due to a variety of factors, which we describe in greater detail in yesterday’s release. Please refer to our SEC filings, including our most recent Form 10 ks and Form 10 Q and the list of factors included in our earnings release, all of which are available on the Metallus website. Where non GAAP financial information is referenced, additional details and reconciliations to its GAAP equivalent are also included in the earnings release. With that, I’d like to turn the call over to Mike. Mike?

Mike Williams, President and Chief Executive Officer, Metallis: Good morning, and we appreciate you joining us today. First, let me say that I am encouraged by the growing demand for domestic steel, and Metallus is well positioned to capitalize on this momentum. Our solid order book, strengthening spot pricing and recent market share gains reflect the confidence our customers have in us and the resilience of our business strategy. Over the past several months, the trade environment has been widely discussed. We fully support the enforcement and expansion of steel tariffs.

As longtime advocates, we believe these measures align with our commitment to fair trade and balancing excessive global overcapacity. This evolving trade environment will help us meet the growing demand for U. S. Produced steel. As consumption of domestically produced steel increases, we are seeing a rise in our order bookings from new customers and existing customers.

Consequently, our order backlog has increased approximately 50% from the same period a year ago. At the same time, we are mindful of the potential challenges posed by the current macroeconomic uncertainty. That said, we are well positioned as a U. S. Business with a strong balance sheet and continued focus on cost management.

We remain focused on execution and the factors within our control in order to deliver value to our stakeholders. Switching gears to safety, our mission is to be recognized as having the safest specialty metals operation in the world. In 2025, we plan to invest approximately $5,000,000 to further strengthen our safety management system and upgrade equipment. I am pleased that our past safety investments are yielding results. To date in 2025, we have seen a year over year improvement in all safety metrics.

Two key areas of focus, lockouttagout tryout and zero incident planning are exceeding our target rates, thanks to the commitment of our employees, continuous training, and supervisory oversight. We recently held our annual IronShield competition, which invites our employees and crews to submit innovative safety projects aimed at improving safety practices. In total, over a hundred projects were submitted for consideration this year. The Faircrest electric arc furnace team earned the 2024 Metallus Iron Shield Award for establishing a hands free EAF taphole lance process, significantly improving safety. Historically, manual lancing posed exposure to potential hazards, but the team collaborated with a third party to develop an automated system using a custom designed mounting block, telescoping lance, and push button controls.

This innovation has reduced exposure by over 80% with plans for further enhancements. Their dedication to safety and teamwork sets a new industry standard. Congratulations to the Faircrest team. Moving to business results for the first quarter. Overall shipments increased by 17% compared with the fourth quarter, driven by higher industrial, automotive and energy shipments, partially offset by lower aerospace and defense shipments.

As a result of the higher shipments and lower manufacturing costs, our sequential profitability more than doubled. In the first quarter, our melt utilization improved sequentially by nine percentage points on strong end market demand. Although not yet to our targeted melt utilization rate, we expect further melt utilization improvement into the second quarter to support our strengthening order book. Lead times are currently ten weeks for SBQ bars and our seamless mechanical tubing products. Turning to specific markets, shipments to our industrial customers increased by 33% sequentially, primarily driven by distributors replenishing their inventory, which helped to offset weaker mining and agricultural markets.

We’ve experienced steady distribution orders and shipments to date through April, which supported recent spot price increases for SBQ and seamless mechanical tubing products. Chris will comment on the specifics of the spot price increases shortly. Energy shipments improved 24% on a sequential basis. Despite a relatively flat rig count since the beginning of the year, our shipments to energy customers have been increasing as we gained share in certain product categories such as coupling stock, directly resulting from the displacement of imports. We are confident that we have the right programs and service packages in place to capitalize on opportunities in the energy market.

Automotive shipments improved by 9% sequentially. The sequential increase in shipments is mostly driven by seasonality. The impact of tariffs on the automotive market remains uncertain in the foreseeable future. And to date, we have not experienced demand softness. However, we maintain close contact with our customers to monitor potential shifts in programs or emerging opportunities.

As a reminder, Metallus benefits by participation on the highest running light truck and SUV automotive programs, including internal combustion, hybrid and electric vehicles, which gives us confidence to manage potential volatility in this market space. In the first quarter, key aerospace and defense customers had some production startup challenges, which resulted in a sequential decrease in aerospace and defense shipments. We expect higher aerospace and defense shipments as the industry works through these short term supply chain challenges. As we have indicated previously, end market demand remains strong, and we are confident in our long term participation in this market. As we mentioned last quarter, we are expanding our participation in aerospace and defense by leveraging vacuum arc remelt steel combined with our unique downstream processing capabilities.

In the first quarter, we saw significant orders for vacuum arc remelt from new and existing customers. We remain on track to hit our twenty twenty five goal of approximately $30,000,000 of revenue using outside VAR products combined with our rolling and piercing capabilities and look forward to growing this business in the future. In the first quarter, we achieved another key milestone related to the installation of new assets to support the increasing demand for artillery shells. This project remains on schedule and we look forward to continuing to partner with the US Army in ramping up the munitions production. Our capital allocation strategy remains unchanged, prioritizing strategic investments that drive long term profitable growth along with our ongoing share repurchase program.

To summarize, there is uncertainty in the trade environment and macroeconomic landscape, but we remain cautiously optimistic given our US based business model and participation in growing specialty metal programs. We will continue executing our business strategy while prioritizing safety, delivering outstanding customer service and making strategic capital investments to further support sustainable profitability, generate strong cash flow and create shareholder value. Now I’d like to turn the call over to Chris.

Chris Westbrooks, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Metallis: Thanks, Mike. Good morning, and thank you for joining our first quarter earnings call. I’m pleased that we started off the year with a sequential improvement in shipments, net sales and profitability. We continue to invest in the business while also maintaining a strong balance sheet. From a financial results perspective, first quarter net sales totaled $280,500,000 a sequential increase of $40,000,000 or 17%.

The increase in net sales was primarily driven by higher shipments of 22,700 tons with increases across all end markets except aerospace and defense or A and D for short. Although A and D shipments declined on a sequential basis during the first quarter, driven by customer startup delays, we expect shipments to A and D customers to increase during the second quarter and demand to remain strong for the foreseeable future. Net income in the first quarter was $1,300,000 or $03 per diluted share. On an adjusted basis, net income for the quarter was $3,200,000 or $07 per diluted share. Adjusted EBITDA was $17,700,000 in the first quarter, a sequential increase of $9,400,000 In addition to the previously discussed 17% increase in first quarter shipments, manufacturing costs declined by $12,500,000 on a sequential basis.

The improvement in manufacturing costs was driven by increased cost absorption on higher production volume as well as lower planned annual maintenance shutdown costs. Additionally, the team continues to carefully manage their costs and drive operational efficiencies. Also contributing to the higher adjusted EBITDA was an increase in the raw material surcharge revenue per ton as a result of higher scrap and alloy prices. Partially offsetting these items was unfavorable price mix during the quarter, driven by a variety of factors, including lower base prices as well as a higher mix of automotive and distribution shipments combined with lower A and D shipments. Now switching gears to pensions.

In the first quarter, the company made $52,600,000 of required pension contributions, of which the majority related to The U. S. Bargaining plan. During the month of April, we made $5,900,000 of required pension contributions and estimate an additional $10,000,000 of required contributions in the second half of twenty twenty five. Following this elevated level of required pension contributions in 2025, the company is estimating a significant reduction in future required contributions subject to future investment performance, actuarial assumptions and funding laws.

Overall, the net underfunded pension and postretirement benefit liability totaled

We continue to actively manage the pension and will provide further updates as available. Moving to cash flow. During the first quarter, cash flow was an outflow of $38,900,000 driven by the previously mentioned required pension contributions. As expected, working capital was a use of cash driven by significantly higher sales activity to start the year. At the end of the first quarter, the company’s cash and cash equivalents balance was $180,300,000 including $44,500,000 of government funded cash on hand for future investments.

I’ll provide further details on government funding and the related investments shortly. Capital expenditures totaled $27,500,000 during the quarter, including approximately $14,000,000 of CapEx that was supported by government funding. For the full year 2025, we continue to forecast approximately $125,000,000 of CapEx consistent with previous guidance and inclusive of approximately $90,000,000 of CapEx funded by the U. S. Government.

In terms of taxes, cash taxes are expected to be minimal in the second quarter. However, the second quarter effective tax rate will likely be more than the statutory rate as a result of the upcoming convertible note settlement, which I’ll discuss shortly. As it relates to government funding, during the first quarter, the company received $11,900,000 of cash from the government as part of the previously announced $99,750,000 funding agreement in support of the U. S. Army’s mission of increasing munitions production.

The milestone which drove the first quarter government funding payments was the finalization of the permitting and asset design for the new roller furnace to be located at our Gambrinas facility. During the first quarter, the company also received an additional $1,000,000 from JobsOhio as part of the previously announced $3,500,000 grant. In April, the company received an additional $5,100,000 in government funding upon the delivery of the inline saws to our Harrison facility, which will support the new automated grinding line. To date through the April, the company has received $71,500,000 of government funding, Receipt of the remaining approximately $32,000,000 of committed government funding is expected throughout 2025 and into 2026 as mutually agreed upon milestones are achieved. As a reminder, this funding will substantially pay for the new Bloomer heat furnace at the company’s Faircrest facility as well as the other assets I just mentioned.

Switching gears to shareholder return activities. In the first quarter, the company repurchased 395,000 shares of its common stock for $5,600,000 In April, the company repurchased 96,000 shares of its common stock for $1,200,000 At the April, the company had a balance of $96,000,000 remaining under its share repurchase authorization. As it relates to convertible notes, during the first quarter, we received a notice of conversion from the holder of the remaining $5,500,000 of convertible notes. The final cash settlement amount will be calculated using a fifty day volume weighted average stock price leading up to the June 16 settlement date. As of 03/31/2025, the fair value of the outstanding convertible notes was $9,700,000 Similar to prior convertible note repurchases, the difference between the settlement amount and principal amounts will be recognized as a loss on extinguishment of debt and will be excluded from adjusted EBITDA.

Since the inception of common share repurchases in early twenty twenty two, combined with the convertible note repurchases to date, we’ve reduced diluted shares outstanding by a significant 23% compared to the fourth quarter of twenty twenty one. Following settlement of the convertible notes in June, the company will be debt free and well positioned for the future. Our balance sheet remains strong and is supported by a total liquidity of $432,000,000 at the March. Turning now to the outlook. We anticipate second quarter adjusted EBITDA to be higher than the first quarter.

Commercially, second quarter shipments are expected to modestly increase on a sequential basis, primarily due to higher A and D shipments. Lead times currently extend to July for both bar and tube products. Additionally, as Mike mentioned, we recently implemented spot price increases on SBQ and seamless mechanical tube products not covered by annual pricing agreements, which is about 30% of our order book. Specifically, for SBQ spot orders effective April 28, prices increased by $60 per ton for standard products and $120 per ton for thermally treated products. For seamless mechanical tubing spot orders effective July 7, prices will increase by $100 per ton.

Operationally, melt utilization is expected to increase in the second quarter and result in better manufacturing cost absorption, driven by improved operational performance and supported by an increasing order book. The organization remains cost disciplined, carefully managing spending while also maintaining assets at optimal levels. As we progress to the second quarter, we’re encouraged by the increased level of increase in order activity from both new and existing customers. We’re committed to our operating plan to ensure we deliver quality products to our customers while also driving an increase in our profitability. As a U.

S.-based metals producer with a strong balance sheet, we’re well positioned for future success. Thanks to all of our employees, customers and suppliers for their continued support. To wrap up, thanks for your interest in Metallus. We’d now like to open the call for questions.

Carly, Conference Operator: Your first question comes from Samuel McKinney with KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Samuel McKinney, Analyst, KeyBanc Capital Markets: Good morning.

Mike Williams, President and Chief Executive Officer, Metallis: Good morning, Sam.

Samuel McKinney, Analyst, KeyBanc Capital Markets: 1Q twenty twenty five shipments up about 17% sequentially, a strong figure well ahead of normal seasonality. We’ve been hearing a lot about pull forward demand to get ahead of tariffs during this earnings cycle. And I was curious if you could frame up how much of that volume boost has to do with that dynamic.

Mike Williams, President and Chief Executive Officer, Metallis: Very little, actually, because for q one, because most of those orders were placed in q four. And, you know, the the tariffs didn’t really go in effect until April. So there was, in that shipment increase was very little, actually, none trying to hedge the the tariffs. It really was market share gains that we achieved in negotiations for 2025 and increasing spot buys from distributors restocking their inventory after year end.

Samuel McKinney, Analyst, KeyBanc Capital Markets: Okay. That’s helpful. And then, Mike, you touched on this earlier, but I wanted to dig in more. I know the energy market has been heavily affected by imports, but you had solid volume momentum in the first quarter. Could you talk about what you’re hearing from customers in that segment and what sort of cadence you’re looking for in the months ahead?

Mike Williams, President and Chief Executive Officer, Metallis: Yeah. I mean, our expectation is that the our energy product demand will continue to increase as that industry or end market is really trying to source domestically because they have been historically heavy importers. There there is still a little bit of inventory foreign import overhang down in some of the, you know, the Houston area. And as that’s getting worked off, we continue to expect our order book demand from our energy customers and new customers to continue to increase.

Samuel McKinney, Analyst, KeyBanc Capital Markets: Okay. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Mike Williams, President and Chief Executive Officer, Metallis: Thank you, Sam.

Carly, Conference Operator: Your next question comes from Dave Storms with Stonegate.

Chris Westbrooks, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Metallis: Good morning, guys. Good morning. Within

Dave Storms, Analyst, Stonegate: the A and D, are there additional details you can give us on customer manufacturing startup challenges?

Mike Williams, President and Chief Executive Officer, Metallis: Yeah. So you have a new facility that’s been constructed, and that facility going through the commissioning process ran into difficulties. I’m not gonna get into the details even though we’re quite aware of the details, because I don’t wanna speak for someone else. But, as they overcome, they kind of rebooted their commissioning process, and our understanding is progress is being made. And, you know, later late later this year, we should start to see that new facility begin to order from us, and we look forward to that.

However, we’ve also gotten a number of new inquiries from not only within The United States, but outside of The United States for our our uniquely positioned munition grades that we make. So we’re pretty excited about that. And then we’ve also won a number of other, what I would call, military applications, and those will begin to ramp up in the second half of the year. That’s a variety from gun barrels to different types of, I guess, I call missiles. So we’re pretty excited about the progress we’re making.

We’ve got new customers. We’ve got new applications. The vacuum arc remelt products that we’re now promoting and selling, We’ve gotten significant orders, and we’re working through a number of qualifications with new customers to ramp up, our sales in that area. And we’re highly confident of meeting our interim target of over $30,000,000 of new sales in those product lines.

Dave Storms, Analyst, Stonegate: Got it. Thank you. And then how do you how do you feel about current production capacity given the, you know, the strengthening order book?

Mike Williams, President and Chief Executive Officer, Metallis: We have plenty of capacity.

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