Alta Equipment Group Inc. Price & Performance (ALTG)

These forward looking statements are subject to both known and unknown risks uncertainties and assumptions, including those related to Ultra's Alta, market opportunities and general economic and business conditions. We have based these forward looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our business financial condition and results of operations. Although we believe these expectations are reasonable, we undertake no obligation to revise any statement to reflect changes that occur after Descriptions of these and other risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward looking statements are discussed in our reports filed with the SEC, including our press release that was issued today. During this call, we may present both GAAP and non GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of GAAP to non GAAP measures is included in today's press release and can be found on our website at investors.altieequipment.com. I will now turn the call over to Ryan. Thank you, Jason. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I'd like to start by expressing my gratitude to our employees, customers and shareholders for their continued Despite a complex macroeconomic environment in 2024, Altapartment Group remains steadfast in executing our strategy reinforcing our position as a leader in the heavy and industrial equipment sector.

I'll begin today with a high level overview of our fourth quarter and full year results before sharing insights on the current business environment and our strategic outlook for 2025. Following my remarks, our CFO, Tony Calucci, will walk through financial details including our cash flow performance, and outlook for the year ahead. 2024 was a year of resilience and disciplined amid challenging market conditions, The impact of higher interest rates and oversupplied equipment market the election year uncertainty weighed on market demand across key end markets. Despite these headwinds, our diversified business model helped us to navigate market volatility and maintain revenue levels comparable to last year. For the full year, total revenue held steady at approximately 1,900,000,000.0 underscoring the resilience of our dealership model and the new and the enduring strength of our product support business, In the fourth quarter, revenue declined 4.5% year over year $498,100,000 reflecting broader market trends However, sequential growth over Q3 suggests a post election rebound adjusted EBITDA for the year reached $168,300,000 a testament to our disciplined cost management and proactive strategies in optimizing our rental fee and working capital. Entering the year, we faced a 2026 maturity wall on our ABL and high yield bond.

In June, we proactively addressed this by successfully raising $500,000,000 in senior second lien bonds refinancing our senior debt and extending maturities to 2029. This strategic move strengthened our balance sheet, enhanced liquidity and secured patient capital to support the business through the cycle, ensuring financial flexibility as we navigate the current market environment. I'll now talk about our business segments starting with Construction Equipment. The Construction Equipment sector faced a challenging year impacted by industry wide oversupply tightening credit conditions and a slowdown in private non residential construction activity. While infrastructure projects provided some stability, overall demand remained subdued. However, market dynamics varied significantly by region. Northern markets, particularly the Great Lakes area, saw steeper industry sales declines with double digit contractions year over year. In contrast, Florida experienced a downturn but fared better than the national average, highlighting the localized nature of the CE market a diverse demand drivers across the geographies. In 2024, new and used equipment sales in our Sea met in our CE segment saw a 10.2% decline organically, a reduction of over million reflecting these macroeconomic challenges, However, organic product support revenues increased 3.7% year over year driven by stronger service rate utilization. The backlog of federal infrastructure spending under the IIJA program remained a long term catalyst with significant funds still to be deployed Additionally, state DOT budgets in key Alta regions including Florida, the North East and the Midwest remain elevated reinforcing demand for heavy equipment rentals and service.

Our master distribution felt a similar headwind in 2024 as supply demand imbalances and broader economic uncertainty weighed on sales. That said, we see momentum building for Channel partners are reporting stronger utilization and increased sales of environmental and specialty machines, setting the stage for growth in 2025. As the market adjusts to an equipment oversupply, we are confident that supply demand imbalance will normalize by mid year twenty twenty five creating a healthier environment for new equipment sales. Additionally, our rent to sell strategy continues to be a critical tool in optimizing fleet utilization and balance sheet efficiency. Now turning to the Material Handling segment. The Material Handling segment also faced headwinds primarily due to the moderation of backlog driven growth The North American lift truck market experienced a decline in new order bookings as the industry worked through record backlogs accumulated in prior years. As a result, while deliveries were strong, net new orders slowed impacting few sales velocity. Altus Material Handling revenue remained stable at $687,400,000 for the year a 0.9% increase from 2023. Supported by sustained product support growth and stable equipment margins. However, pricing pressure, particularly in the in the used equipment market, presented challenges, Warehouse Solutions business also saw softness reflecting cautious capital spending from large logistics and distributions customers Despite these challenges, the long term outlook for material handling remains strong.

The continued growth of e commerce, increased adoption of automation and the transition to Class three electric equipment create opportunities for Alta Alta. Our investments in warehouse automation, fleet electrification, and enhanced service offerings position us to capitalize on these trends in the market Now turning to the electric vehicle segment. I want to provide an update on the current status of our e mobility business. While recent industry developments have led to questions about the broader adoption, of battery electric vehicles and fuel cell electric vehicles we continue to see steady momentum in key markets. For example, major transportation hubs are making long term commitments to hydrogen powered fleets reinforcing hydrogen's viability for high utilization applications. That said, challenges remain particularly around charging and fueling in infrastructure, cost competitiveness, and supply chain constraints. As we evaluate opportunities in this space, our focus remains on ensuring we align with technologies that provide real world value to our customers while maintaining a disciplined approach to investing in emerging solutions. And now to 2025 operational initiatives. As we enter 2025, we remain focused on three key priorities: First, operational efficiency.

Enhancing profitability through cost optimization, streamlining SG and A, and improving fleet utilization. Second, disciplined capital allocation. We successfully reduced net debt by over $60,000,000 in the second half of twenty twenty four rental fleet rightsizing and working capital optimization. Our $20,000,000 share repurchase program remains active and we will deploy capital opportunistic based on market conditions. And third, strategic growth in M and A. Similar to 2024, we are taking a more opportunistic stance to acquisitions in 2025 prioritizing high margin reoccurring the business lines with a focus on expanding our geographic footprint of exclusive distribution rights for world class products. In closing, despite market challenges, Alta remains well positioned for long term The fundamentals of our industry remain intact and we are confident there are strategic priorities will enable us to navigate short term uncertainties while driving long term shareholder value.

Now I'll turn it over to Tony for a detailed analysis of our financial and operating performance. Thank you, Ryan. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for your interest in Alta Equipment Group and our fourth quarter and full year 2024 financial results. Before I start, I first want to thank all of my Alta teammates for their hard work and dedication to our business and our customers in what was a unique 2024. More importantly, you for your commitment to one another in concert with Alta's guiding principles. First, I'll briefly present our fourth quarter results.

Second, I'll present and comment on our full year 2024 results focusing on key themes and the factors that led to the year on year reduction in EBITDA. Third, I'll provide guidance for 2025 adjusted EBITDA and discuss the assumptions that underpin the annual guide. Lastly, I'll be reiterating our cash flow profile. Specifically resetting for investors why our rent to sell business model allows the cash flow throughout the cycle.

As the 2023 and 2024 comparative, is indicative of that theme.

Before I get to my talking points, it should be noted that I'll be referencing slides from our investor presentation, which throughout the call today.

I'd encourage everyone on today's call to review our presentation and our 10 ks, which is available on our Investor Relations website at altg.com.

With that said, for the first portion of my prepared remarks, and as presented in slides tend to 10 to 12 in the earnings deck, fourth quarter performance. For the quarter, the company recorded revenue of $498,100,000 underpinned by a notable $69,000,000 sequential increase in equipment sales when compared to Q3.

Indicative of a return to the equipment markets by our customer base post selection.

While this increase was a welcome relief from the first three quarters of the year, Gross margins on equipment sales were weak as the overhang of supply in the markets continue to pressure pricing in Q4. Additionally, given the uptick in demand in Q4, we made prudent inventory decisions to ultimately relieve the balance sheet by taking lesser than average margins on certain on a certain subsection of the used equipment. Something that we don't expect to reoccur going forward. While the equipment sales lines outperformed our expectations, part service and rental revenues underperformed for the quarter as rental equipment in the North came back into our yards early than expected driven by the mild fall weather, which allowed contractors to finish jobs on time, on time and before the snow flew. Additionally, given the increase in equipment demand for the quarter, we made strategic decisions to offload rental fleet primarily in our rent to sell product categories in our Construction segment whereby we sold equipment to customers that were renting the units ultimately put pressure on rental revenues and EBITDA for the quarter. Lastly, on revenue, As mentioned, product support departments underperformed in the quarter, we believe to be more of a timing issue than anything structurally wrong As the mid week holiday schedule impacted PTO for our technicians, and for our customers more acutely than in previous years, ultimately leading to reduced work days in the quarter when compared to years past.

On the cost line, expense optimization optimization initiatives that started earlier in the year began to take hold as investors should take note of the sequential reduction in SG and A expenses realized in Q4. On a run rate basis, our calculation suggests these cost optimization efforts have yielded approximately $8,000,000 on an annual basis. In summary, recorded $40,700,000 of adjusted EBITDA for the quarter. Now turning to our full year fiscal year full fiscal year 2024 financial results. The company recorded $1,880,000,000 in revenue in 2024, effectively flat when compared with 2023 revenue. On the adjusted EBITDA line, the company achieved $168,300,000 for the year, when compared to $2.00 $1,000,000 pro form a adjusted EBITDA 2023. Effectively creating an estimated $33,000,000 gap between $23,000,000 and '24 When we look back at the anatomy of that gap, the explanation is fairly simple. [indiscernible] didn't sell as much equipment in 2024 when compared to 2023. With the issue most acutely present in our Construction and Master Distribution segments. All told, a reduction of approximately $100,000,000 from pro form a levels of 2,000 from the pro form a levels of 2023 new equipment, new and used equipment volumes impacted EBITDA by roughly $13,000,000 Number two, given the overhang in the equipment markets and the competitive environment for deals, gross margins on equipment volumes we were able to execute on compressed year over year and that margin compression on new and used equipment impacted the EBITDA line roughly $24,000,000 in twenty twenty twenty four.

These two factors totaling $37,000,000 were offset by a decrease in our as well as variable costs related on lower sales volume which totaled approximately $7,000,000 for the year. To conclude, the reduction of our 2024 adjusted EBITDA was almost exclusively related to the supply demand dynamics and the macro factors that were at play in the construction equipment markets in this year and we are proud of how the business reacted to these factors. A quick check-in on the balance sheet as of year end and as depicted on Slide 15. We ended the quarter with approximately $330,000,000 of cash and availability on a revolving line of credit facility. Certainly a comfortable amount of liquidity to navigate any business climate that may be ahead of us. Last point on 2024. As it relates to the balance sheet and optimization efforts, want to point investors to Slide 19 and note that at the end of Q2, when we realized that we were in a different demand environment than what we had planned for, we outlined for investors that we expected to reduce the size of the fleet by $40,000,000 to $50,000,000 and delever the balance sheet as much as possible by year end.

I'm pleased to report mission accomplished. And as noted on Slide 19, we were able to flex our fleet by $45,000,000 which was the primary factor us paying down funded debt by $61,000,000 in the second half of twenty twenty four. I'll provide more detail on how we were able to accomplish this when I present our cash flow model momentarily. Moving on to the third portion of my prepared remarks, 2025 adjusted EBITDA guidance. Which was included in today's earnings release. Terms of the guidance range itself, we expect to report $175,000,000 to $190,000,000 of adjusted EBITDA the full year 2025. A few observations on the guide. And I'd like to point investors to the bridge provided on Slide 20 of our presentation in presents the path as we see it from our 2024 adjusted EBITDA to the midpoint of the 2025 guide.

First, should point out that the guide does not have any aggressive assumptions on equipment sales growth. Specifically in the Construction segment. That said, between better volumes in our Material Handling Master Distribution segments, expanded gross margins overall we have calculated this positive impact to EBITDA at $7,000,000 Investors should keep in mind that 100 basis points of gross margin on $1,000,000,000 of equipment net of direct selling costs approximately $7,000,000 of incremental EBITDA for Alta. Second, we expect to drive organic growth in product support revenues. Much like we've done historically and more notably we expect to be more efficient in product support in 2025. Our confidence here is based on technician productivity efforts which will yield less non billable time and better profitability in 2025. Coming from product support. Third, as mentioned previously, believe that the cost out initiatives implemented in 2024 yielded the 8,000,000 yielded an $8,000,000 run rate in savings. Estimating that we realized half of those savings in 2024, this leads the other half or $4,000,000 to be realized in 2025. Fourth, it comes to rental, our growth As we look to drive physical utilization year over year, versus getting aggressive on any rate increase assumptions, or on the size of the fleet.

Lastly, we have general inflationary type costs on our impacts in our cost structure each year associated with raises for employees, increases in employee benefits and other selling expenses which are a headwind to the aforementioned positive factors influencing EBITDA.

I would caveat that all the factors predispose a generally supportive macro environment to the extent that To the extent more than typical macro dislocations occur, some of our assumptions may prove false. To summarize, we may remain confident in our business model and in our long term prospects. And the team at Alta is committed to the execution of this plan and getting the business back to a more profitable growth path than '25.

Moving on to the last portion of my prepared remarks, I'd like to focus investors on Slides thirteen and fourteen from today's which presents Alta's cash flow performance 2023 and 2024. As an introduction to the slides, in the five years of being a public company, one of the items that I spend more time dealing and discussing with investors is Ulta's cash flow profile especially as it relates to our rent to sell business model. Which is admittedly unique and requires a second level understanding. Slides thirteen and fourteen aim to help equity and debt investors alike with this understanding and presents the rent to sell model in a more simplistic way previous iterations. First, Slide 13, which provides the definitional foundation of rent to rent fleet versus rent to sell equipment. As noted on the slide, rent to rent is treated and invested in via maintenance CapEx like a traditional fixed asset. Notably, rent fleet is meant to be held over the long term and the return on investment in the rent to rent fleet will come via the rental stream on that fleet over many years. As opposed to rent to rent, rent to sell equipment should be viewed more like an analyst would view general inventory.

As it might be temporary or as it is meant to be a temporary or short term investment in equipment, to take advantage of market demand for slightly used heavy construction equipment. The return on investment on rent to sell fleet similar to new equipment, is primarily made through the ultimate sale of the equipment versus the Rental Street rental stream earned on the equipment during its time on our balance sheet.

Most importantly, like inventory, minimal to no maintenance CapEx is required on the rent to sell fleet. Lastly, on Slide 13, you'll note the variation of the rent to sell equipment levels in 2023 versus 2024. Important to note that in 2023, we are planning for a strong 2024 which ultimately was not the case. Said differently, 2023, we fleeted up for a certain level of demand we were experiencing and expecting to continue in 'twenty four But in the midst of 2024, when it was clear that demand levels were lower than what we had planned for, we prudently reacted and reduced our rent to sell equipment efficiently and profitably.

Overall, the JEXA position that was 2023 versus 2024 presented on '13, is a great example of the flexibility of our rent to sell business model. Moving on to Slide 14. Which presents an updated way for investors to deserve our cash flow performance in a simplistic manner. The first layer of the analysis analysis is to isolate free cash flow prior to rent to sell or RTS decisioning which allows us to remove the complexity from the analysis. To walk Now walking down the analysis on Slide 14. First, you will note that the analysis starts with our traditional adjusted EBITDA calculation but has additional non cash add backs that come directly from our cash flow statement. This adjusted EBITDA is then reduced for the gainloss on the sale of rent to self fleet a figure that comes directly from our Construction segment financial. Next, we burdened the calculation for net PP and E CapEx needed for traditional operational fixed cost and cash tax taxes two items that must be attended to annually. Going down the slide, next week burden for pro form a maintenance CapEx associated with the rent to rent fleet, which again is treated as a traditional fixed This first layer of the calculation ultimately yields yields free cash flow prior to rent to sell decisioning.

Next, we bring in the rent to sell cash activity for the year, which is presented in a simple cash in and cash out manner. All sourced directly from our GAAP financials. Note that as previously discussed on Slide 13, in 2023, we made the decision to fleet up which depressed free cash flow after rent to sell decisioning, while the flexing down of the fleet in 2024 allowed us to drive free cash flow after rent to sell decisioning. In 2024. As you will know, we had a better free cash flow performance in 2024 versus 2023 despite the notable reduction in EBITDA year over year. In the end, free cash flow after rent to sell decisioning is what is left before we service debt and make other capital allocation decisions. To conclude the presentation of the slide, we bring in cash interest to provide a coverage ratio that you will note has been nearly two times each of the past two years, comfortable level on that ratio. In summary, free cash flow after rent to sell decisioning produced in each of the past two years which encompass two extremely different operating environments The company has you can see that the company has plenty of cash flows to service its current debt levels and still have additional cash flow to allocate elsewhere.

Finally, I would note that the average cash flow available for equity investors in 2023 to 2020 or was approximately $45,000,000 which means that recent trading levels in the stock would suggest that ALTG common is trading at a 30% free cash flow yield and below one turn of EBITDA. Last point on Slide 14, is that this analysis is fully reconcilable to our GAAP based financial our GAAP based statement of cash flows and that of our earnings presentation. Which I encourage investors to digest and inquire on to fully understand Ulta's cash flow and financial profile as the uniqueness of our business model and GAAP requirements can sometimes be difficult to navigate in determining the business' true cash flow capability. In closing, again, I want to thank my teammates, at Alta for your commitment to our business and to each other throughout 2024 You embodied our guiding principles in a challenging environment and I'm proud of all of your efforts. To our shareholders, we appreciate your confidence and look forward to driving shareholder value. In 2025. Thank you for your time and I will turn it back over to the operator for Q and A. Thank you.

We'll now open the line for questions.

The first question is from the line of Matt Summerville with D. A. Davidson. Your line is now open.

Hi, Larry. You've got Canyon Hayes on for Nat Summerville tonight.

Thanks for taking our questions. You had already alluded to it as any degree in the guidance I just wanted to double click a little bit on the equipment sales volume. What's the sort of underlying assumption for price capture imbued in that guide? And kind of along that lines, what are the base assumptions within each of Altus' markets? Should we be assuming this guide assumes that inflection in any degree or any help there as far as underlying growth rates would be helpful.

Yes.

I think Canyon, the way that we're thinking about it and to go kind of segment by segment. One is it's important for everybody on the call to understand kind of the the impact that was 2024 and we'll start in the Construction segment whereas Ryan noted, we had markets like Florida and Upstate New York that were down 10% to 15% in a market like Illinois down 20%. Selling equipment. So it's important to understand the impact to the downside that happened to appreciate kind of what the guide represents. So overall, in the CE segment, making any grandiose prognostications, if you will, on the size of the market. In 2025 versus 2024. We do think that given the supply overhang sort of melting away here over the first half will allow us to be more competitive from a market share perspective. Even if the markets are off a little bit here in 2024, We're thinking flattish at least because we can potentially take some share back. In the material handling and then that's not at all to say anything about what I mentioned on margins. In the Material Handling side, again, modest low single sort of growth there.

Where we know that we've got a half a year or so of backlog. Some of that is at risk maybe in the back half, but we think that the back half is going to be stronger bookings wise than the first half as Eisar Yellis mentioned. So but modest low single digit sort of numbers there in material handling. On the master distribution side, again, we've kind of gone back to an average of the last two years. That's more of an asset light master master distribution agreement business, right, where they're more of a broker in between sub dealers and OEMs. And the way that we're thinking about sales there is sort of the average of twenty three percent and twenty four which puts that number at a 20% sort of year on year increase. The nominal dollars aren't as big given the size of the segment, but that's that's That's what the guide is based on. [indiscernible] 47, how should we think about kind of the media actions and prioritizations to bring that leverage lower and Maybe what you're thinking about ending the year out on the leverage profile. Thanks.

Yes, sure. I think we did a lot throughout the second half in terms of being mindful of the leverage. And I think of leverage on a nominal dollar basis sometimes versus just the the leverage ratio. If you look at Slide 16 in our deck, A year ago, we would have been sitting at mid-3s and now we're mid-4s. And that gets to the rent to sell sort of model that I laid out for for investors here, which means that's all to say that the leverage ratio can be fleeting. But we worked hard to kind of take care of the nominal leverage. So to get the leverage ratio down, we'll continue to pour cash flows against the debt as they come in. And being mindful of the leverage. We have no grand intentions to grow the fleet, rent to sell or rent to rent this year. And so there should be some cash left over to pay down nominal debt. How EBITDA plays out, we've given you kind of our our prognostication there. And so we're hopeful that we can have some accretion on the leverage ratio. I would also point out for investors that we've provided a new slide on tangible asset coverage in Slide 16 that It's another way to think about the leverage profile of the business where we believe that the debt is covered by over $250,000,000 on a fair market value basis.

Great. Thanks for the detail. Thanks, Kenny.

Thank you. The next question is from Stephen Ramsey with Thompson Research Group.

Your line is now open. Hi, good evening.

I wanted to start on the product support operating expenses moves. Maybe can you clarify how much you have already done in that area to make that those business lines more efficient How much of the guide is based on what you've done versus what you plan to do in 2025?

Yes, Stephen, I think, what I think of it in two ways. The The cost out of the $8,000,000 that was more fixed cost sort of administration expenses. So I would say that that's done, but on the let's just say the first kind of wave, if you will, is done. The rest that's left in product support is sort of embedded in the guide. And is started in earnest probably in Q4.

And then we expect to realize some gains in 2025 related [indiscernible] technician productivity and this is where things like training, rework, non billable time, and just being more efficient or productive with every hour, and price realization that is all yet still out there. I would say And that's one of the bars that's in our bridge here in the slide deck that would be bar number three, parts and service efficiencies. So that's a go get for us in 2025.

Okay. And then I wanted to think about for construction customers purchasing equipment, how you think that unfolds in 2025? Do you think the key lever there is optimism around end market activity clear that's somewhat tied to interest rates Or do you it's more about borrowing rates being more conducive to purchasing or I'm sure it's a mix of both, but curious how you're assessing that backdrop?

Steven, I'll weigh in. Maybe Ryan, Ryan might have a thought here. I think so much of what we saw and observed in 2024 was what we believe to be kind of sentiment driven uncertainty related to the election and that's gone and we saw the pop that we were kind of expecting in the fourth quarter relative to our customer base committing to capital assets. Now whether it continues in the face of additional uncertainty with what's going on tariff wise, etcetera. Is creating a bit of a cloud. What I would say is what we're observing in our Construction segment is sort of a tale of two two customer bases. One is those that are DOT infrastructure based are not as much tied to the cycle or interest rates, projects are fully funded. We feel pretty bullish about that side of our construction business. Whereas on the private non res projects, that's where the pressure sort of continues. All right. And then last one, for me. I'm curious your take on the warehouse solutions business maybe the context of where it stands versus the prior peak and then what your outlook on this business is for 2025? Good evening, Steven.

This is Ryan. I'll take this one.

Relative to the prior peak, we that we can get back there in the next probably twelve months just through organic growth. We are excited about that business segment. We know that that market is forecast to nearly triple by the end of the decade. And we believe that it could be a powerful part of our platform our material handling customers embrace automation. So we're committed to it. We think long term we can really grow that business both on an organic and potentially an M and A basis.

And our near term goal is to kind of get back to that peak level from previous years.

Yes, Steve, just to maybe weigh into, we're not going to we won't give guidance on Peak Logic specifically, but we've got kind of a reinvigoration and a renewed kind of stance on that business and we're in it for the long haul.

All righty. Thank you. The next question is from Ted Jackson with Northland Securities. Your line is now open.

Thanks. My questions have all been basically in this could just be something wrong with my model. But did you do any reclassification any things or restatements of any things in the some in historic periods we've just [indiscernible] [indiscernible] Ted, we broke out rent to sell rent to sell gain I'm sorry, rent to sell CapEx and proceeds between investing and operating cash flows and we broke those out from rent to rent So there's now two lines where there used to be one and that may be I saw that, but my, like, No, I know. But so but there's nothing that would change like your history work net income on any given period because my fourth quarter folks and when I look at the first three quarters of it, it folks and then but it doesn't okay.

All right. Well, that answers it for me. [indiscernible] Thanks, Ted.

Thank you.

There are no further questions. So as a final reminder, it is star one if you'd like to ask a question.

I think operator, that would conclude the analyst questions and we can conclude the call here. Thank you everybody for joining. And we look forward to talking to you all after Q1.

Thank you. That concludes today's call. You for your participation. You may now disconnect your lines.