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| Statement |
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| And as a result of these actions, we expect 170 basis points of operating margin improvement in 2024 and continued strong growth going forward |
| I am extremely proud of our progress in 2023 |
| We expect that our performance along with our unique mix of industry-changing product platforms will continue to drive strong shareholder value |
| And we are very proud of our performance in 2023 |
| Throughout this process, we've identified multiple areas for further improvement and expect our efforts to continue to drive long-term profitable revenue growth and significant earnings expansion going forward |
| And within the system given the fact that we've had a year to have good growth in auto production |
| In 2023, we continued to build momentum with our MirrorEye programs with continued strong take rates with the DOT program in Europe and the launch of our first OEM program in North America with Kenworth |
| The benefit there is as the take rates increase, it leverages really well on fixed costs, right? So if take rates were to significantly improve versus where they are today, you can expect an accretive margin profile on that growth, particularly on the OEM side |
| Jim Zizelman And that will also see some benefit from the platform technologies that really are sponsored by the base MirrorEye platform, specifically things like the review trailer camera and its connectivity into the MirrorEye system along with other technologies that will really grow from that or even more forward into the cockpit of the future that we mentioned this morning |
| As mentioned on previous calls, both the OEM and aftermarket retrofit channel provides significant growth opportunities for Stoneridge over the next several years |
| And this morning, we are updating our long-term financial targets to include our strong OEM backlog, aftermarket, and non-OE growth opportunities and substantial margin expansion through our five-year plan |
| So I feel very confident in our ability to see the year and that kind of split |
| So I feel really good about the runway that we're on, which drives improvement in the first half |
| So I feel very confident in our ability to look at that as improvement for the back half and on the contribution margins that we get on that type of content, you can expect pretty strong EBITDA growth as well to follow that |
| Longer term, Stoneridge remains well-positioned to significantly outpace our underlying markets with strong contribution margins and structural cost leverage driving a targeted five-year revenue midpoint of $1.45 billion and midpoint EBITDA margin of 13%, resulting in a midpoint target of $190 million of EBITDA by 2028 |
| In summary, we expect continued strong revenue growth in 2024, continued focus on operational improvement and material cost reduction and continued optimization of our cost structure to drive earnings growth for the year |
| This growth was driven by improved customer production volumes and Stoneridge specific growth drivers including the launch and continued ramp-up of our MirrorEye OEM programs, the launch of our next-generation tachograph and despite less vehicle production than we originally expected the growth of actuation programs on electrified vehicle platforms |
| We will continue to leverage our above market top line growth, targeted gross margin improvements and an efficient operating cost structure to drive earnings growth |
| MirrorEye continued to gain momentum in 2023 as we continued to ramp up production of our previously launched OEM program in Europe with Duff, launched our first North American OEM program with Kenworth, and continued to expand our retrofit and bus applications |
| We expect a significant improvement in EBITDA from the second to third quarter and continued improvement into the fourth quarter |
| Volvo has highlighted MirrorEye on the new FH Aero truck focusing on the system's ability to improve the aerodynamics of the truck to save energy and reduce carbon footprint as well as a significantly improved field of view in both good and poor weather conditions |
| We expect gross margin improvement in the first quarter to continue into the second quarter |
| We are expecting gross margin expansion, driven by material cost improvement and enterprise-wide initiatives, aimed at improving manufacturing performance including, the reduction of quality related costs |
| We continue to significantly -- outpace our underlying end markets, creating a runway for sustainable long-term growth |
| This will drive both OEM growth, as well as aftermarket opportunities, as existing vehicles are also subject to the regulations |
| These benefits include enhanced real-time visibility from nearly every angle of a commercial truck, which can reduce the frequency and severity of accidents, as well as increase in the fuel savings of approximately 2% to 3%, when the traditional mirrors are removed |
| We expect strong contribution margins on our growth, and the ability to take advantage of our existing cost structure to drive operating leverage, as we grow |
| This revenue growth is expected to significantly outperform our weighted average OEM end markets, which are expected to decline by approximately 5%, resulting in nine percentage points of market outperformance |
| Going forward, we see additional opportunities to streamline our operations, evolve our supply chain strategies and continue to design products to enable efficient material procurement and production, to drive inventory turns even higher |
| Our investments in the MirrorEye platform, continues to drive year over year growth, strong take rate expectations and continued momentum across our end markets and applications |
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| Control Devices, fourth quarter sales declined by approximately $15 million versus the third quarter, due to the UAW strike as well as a slower rate of penetration for Electric Vehicles |
| This was primarily due to the incremental impact of the UAW strike of approximately $5.5 million in the quarter as well as the continued softening of demand for Electric Vehicles relative to prior expectations |
| We started the year with a challenging first quarter due to the lingering effects of the supply chain constraints and material cost headwinds |
| Unfavorable FX movements reduced sales by $7 million will reduce production volumes resulted in a $0.02 headwind relative to our previously-provided guidance, primarily due to the slowing growth of Electric Vehicle platforms |
| Fourth quarter operating performance resulted in a $0.04 headwind during the quarter versus previous expectations |
| Finally, below-the-line FX and non-cash reductions in equity earnings reduced EPS by an additional $0.05 |
| Adjusted sales were approximately $229.4 million, a decline of 3.3% relative to the third quarter |
| Although, the supply chain environment continued to improve, the transportation industry continued to face many challenges throughout the year including the UAW strike, higher interest costs and the slower than expected penetration rate for electric vehicle platforms |
| Jim Zizelman Yes, generally, yes, the chaos in the ordering has stopped, but what has instead come in a bit Gary is that with the, I'll say, the weaker than expected growth in electric vehicle platforms and I'm sure reading a lot about OEMs really considering how they're going to go forward with the various types of drivetrains |
| This will result in slightly below breakeven first quarter EPS |
| Fourth quarter operating margin of 1.2% declined by 500 basis points compared to the third quarter, primarily due to reduced fixed cost leverage on decremental sales and incremental costs recognized in the fourth quarter related to the distressed supplier outlined previously |
| Fourth quarter adjusted operating income was $6.2 million or 2.7% of adjusted sales, a decline of approximately 40 basis points versus the third quarter |
| For the full year, we estimate that the UAW strike and distressed supplier costs impacted Control Devices operating margin by approximately 120 basis points |
| As a result, we expect Control Devices sales to slightly decline this year relative to last year |
| In total, we estimate that the UAW strike and distressed supplier costs impacted Control Devices operating margin by approximately $3.6 million or 440 basis points in the fourth quarter |
| In the second half of the year, we navigated through the impact of the UAW strike which in total reduced sales by approximately $6.4 million, operating income by approximately $2.1 million, and adjusted EPS by approximately $0.05 |
| Our inventory balances and turns are relatively worse than what they've been historically |
| We expect first quarter EBITDA to slightly decline relative to the fourth quarter of 2023, primarily due to the annualization of our targeted incentive compensation programs and timing of engineering reimbursements compounded by slightly lower production in our commercial vehicle end markets |
| It has the situation where during the pandemic the OEM order patterns were very erratic stuff like that has all of this really normalize |
| In addition to relatively flat end market performance, we expect a continued ramp-up of electric vehicle platforms, however, at a lower pace than previously expected, which will impact some of our recently launched actuation applications |
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