Plexus Announces Fiscal First Quarter Financial Results
NEENAH, WI (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ: PLXS) announced financial results for our fiscal first quarter ended December 30, 2023, and guidance for our fiscal second quarter ending March 30, 2024.
- Reports fiscal first quarter 2024 revenue of $983 million, GAAP operating margin of 4.6% and GAAP diluted EPS of $1.04, including $0.19 of stock-based compensation expense
- Initiates fiscal second quarter 2024 revenue guidance of $930 million to $970 million with GAAP diluted EPS of $0.48 to $0.63, including $0.25 stock-based compensation expense and approximately $0.32 of restructuring charges
| Three Months Ended | ||||||||
| Dec 30, 2023 | Q1F24 Preliminary | Mar 30, 2024 | ||||||
| Q1F24 Results | Results (1) | Q2F24 Guidance | ||||||
| Summary GAAP Items | ||||||||
| Revenue (in millions) | $983 | $980 to $985 | $930 to $970 | |||||
| Operating margin | 4.6 | % | 4.6% | 3.0% to 3.4% | ||||
| Diluted EPS (2) | $1.04 | $1.02 to $1.06 | $0.48 to $0.63 | |||||
| Summary Non-GAAP Items (3) | ||||||||
| Adjusted operating margin (4) | 4.0% to 4.4% | |||||||
| Adjusted EPS (5) | $0.80 to $0.95 | |||||||
| Return on invested capital (ROIC) | 10.3 | % | ||||||
| Economic return | 2.1 | % | ||||||
| (1) | Preliminary results issued on January 16, 2024; guidance provided October 25, 2023 was revenue of $990 million to $1.03 billion, GAAP operating margin of 4.8% to 5.3% and GAAP EPS of $1.15 to $1.33, including $0.19 of stock-based compensation expense. | ||||||||
| (2) | Includes stock-based compensation expense of $0.19 for Q1F24 results, $0.19 for Q1F24 guidance and $0.25 for Q2F24 guidance. Includes restructuring charges of approximately $0.32 for Q2F24 guidance. | ||||||||
| (3) | Refer to Non-GAAP Supplemental Information in Tables 1 and 2 for additional information regarding non-GAAP financial measures. | ||||||||
| (4) | Excludes restructuring charges of approximately 100 basis points. | ||||||||
| (5) | Excludes restructuring charges of approximately $0.32, but includes stock-based compensation expense of $0.25. | ||||||||
Fiscal First Quarter 2024 Information
- Won 30 manufacturing programs during the quarter representing $261 million in annualized revenue when fully ramped into production
- Trailing four-quarter manufacturing wins of $1.05 billion in annualized revenue when fully ramped into production
- The Board of Directors approved a new $50.0 million share repurchase program that will commence upon completion of the current share repurchase authorization, which has $5.7 million remaining
Todd Kelsey, Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Consistent with revised expectations communicated on January 16, 2024, Plexus delivered fiscal first quarter revenue of $983 million, GAAP operating margin of 4.6% and GAAP EPS of $1.04.”
Mr. Kelsey continued, “Our go-to-market organization is leveraging the current environment to create significant opportunity for future growth, delivering sequential increases in new manufacturing program wins and in our funnel of qualified manufacturing opportunities. For the fiscal first quarter, our team won 30 new manufacturing programs worth $261 million in annualized revenue. Concurrently, we significantly expanded our funnel of qualified manufacturing opportunities by more than $300 million from the prior quarter to $4.0 billion. This funnel continues to include a greater than typical number of large program opportunities.”
Mr. Kelsey further commented, “We are guiding fiscal second quarter revenue of $930 million to $970 million, non-GAAP operating margin of 4.0% to 4.4% and non-GAAP EPS of $0.80 to $0.95. The continued demand softening in the Healthcare/Lifesciences market and certain subsectors of our Industrial sector has created inefficiencies within our engineering and manufacturing teams. In order to generate greater long-term organizational efficiency and structurally reduce our fixed costs and operating expenses, we are implementing a series of actions that we believe will result in fiscal second quarter restructuring charges of approximately $10 million, or $0.32 per share. We expect to complete these actions by our fiscal third quarter, and believe they will result in approximately $20 million of annualized cost savings.”
Patrick Jermain, Chief Financial Officer, commented, “We are guiding slightly higher cash cycle days for our fiscal second quarter related to additional working capital investments in support of new program ramps. With significant management focus and attention on working capital optimization, we expect improvement to our cash cycle as we progress through the second half of fiscal 2024. We anticipate this improvement will help deliver positive free cash flow to support future anticipated growth and our recently announced $50 million share repurchase program.”
Mr. Kelsey concluded, “We currently anticipate the fiscal second quarter to represent a revenue trough, with sequential expansion in revenue and operating margin during the second half of fiscal 2024. We expect to deliver improved profitability resulting from the restructuring actions, increased manufacturing revenue and improved utilization of our engineering team, and remain committed to delivering 5.5% GAAP operating margin in fiscal 2025. In addition, by leveraging our differentiated service offering, we expect Plexus will continue to drive share gain from large and increasing addressable markets. As a result, we remain confident in our ability to sustain industry-leading revenue growth and returns over the long term.”
