American Axle Posts Q4 Loss, But Below Street View; Expects Annual Sales In Line With Estimates

(RTTNews) - American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (AXL), a maker of automobile and mobility components, on Friday reported a loss for the fourth-quarter, amidst higher costs and expenses. However, the company registered an improvement in revenue, supported by volume and mix partially offset by the UAW work stoppage.

In addition, the company's loss was below the Street view.

For the fourth-quarter, the company posted a net loss of $19.1 million or $0.16 per share, compared with a profit of $13.9 million or $0.11 per share, reported for the same period of last year.

Excluding items, loss stood at $0.09 per share, compared with a loss of $0.07 per share a year ago.

On average, 10 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected the firm to report a loss of $0.19 per share, for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Operating income slipped to $28.8 million from $53.6 million in 2022. Cost of goods sold moved up to $1.308 billion from previous year's $1.225 billion.

Selling, general, and administrative expenses stood at $95.7 million, higher than $88.5 million a year ago.

Restructuring and acquisition-related costs were $9 million, up from last year's $3.8 million.

Interest expense was $50.2 million, compared with $42.3 million in 2022.

EBITDA stood at $158.3 million, lesser than $185.3 million last year. Excluding items, EBITDA improved to $169.5 million from $157.7 million a year ago.

Sales improved to $1.463 billion from previous year's $1.392 billion, above the analysts' estimate of $1.42 billion.

Looking ahead, for the full year, AXL expects adjusted EBITDA in the range of $685 million to $750 million. For the full-year 2023, the company posted adjusted EBITDA of $693.3 million.

The company projects annual sales of $6.05 billion to $6.35 billion, in line with analysts' estimates of $6.17 billion. For the full-year 2023, the firm recorded sales of $6.079 billion.

AXL was trading up by 3.51 percent at $8.85 per share in the pre-market trade on the New York Stock Exchange.