FreightCar America 1Q24: Revenue Growth ‘In Line With Expectations’

FreightCar America Castaños, Mexico manufacturing facility. (FCA image)

“First quarter revenue grew 99% year-over-year and in line with our expectations,” said FreightCar America (FCA) President and CEO Nick Randall during a May 8 earnings report.

“We were pleased by our ability to deliver another quarterly record number of railcars out of our Mexico facility, marking our second consecutive quarter of 1,000-plus units of production,” Randall, who assumed the role of President and CEO on May 1, added.

For the first-quarter 2024 ended March 31, 2024, FCA revenue came in at $161.1 million on 1,223 railcar deliveries, an increase of 99% compared to revenues of $81.0 million on 738 railcar deliveries in first-quarter 2023.

Other first-quarter 2024 highlights:

• Gross margin of 7.1% with gross profit of $11.4 million, compared to gross margin of 9.2% with gross profit of $7.5 million in the first quarter of 2023.
• Net loss of ($11.6) million, or ($0.54) per share and Adjusted net income of $4.9 million, or $0.02 per share, accounting primarily for non-cash items associated with a change in fair market value of warrant liability.
• Adjusted EBITDA of $6.1 million, compared to Adjusted EBITDA of $2.1 million in the first quarter of 2023.

“The health of the rail industry continued to improve during the first quarter, and as a result, we continue to maintain our view on industry demand for 35,000 to 40,000 new railcars for the year. As such, we remain confident in the year as we reiterate our stated guidance, with strong revenue and Adjusted EBITDA growth for 2024. With the factory now complete, we have the ability to produce 5,000+ railcars per year and are in our best position yet to efficiently execute. As I step into my new role as CEO, I am focused on our profitable growth through driving efficiencies, realizing the benefits of volume leverage, and improving margins as we flex the full capacity of our facility,” Randall concluded.

Fiscal Year 2024 Outlook

The company’s reaffirmed outlook for fiscal year 2024 is as follows:

“With the start of the year playing out in line with what we initially expected, we are reaffirming our full year guidance ranges, said FCA Chief Financial Officer Mike Riordan.” Furthermore, with the completion of the new manufacturing campus, and as we look ahead, we believe that we are extremely well positioned to enhance shareholder value by capturing incremental share, while remaining focused on margin, as industry demand improves.”