Belden – Belden Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Results

ST. LOUIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Belden Inc. (NYSE: BDC) (the “Company”), a leading global supplier of network infrastructure and digitization solutions, today reported fiscal fourth quarter and full year results for the period ended December 31, 2023.

Fourth Quarter 2023 Highlights

• Revenues of $551 million, down 16% y/y and down 18% organically
• GAAP EPS of $0.91, down 35% y/y
• Adjusted EPS of $1.46, down 17% y/y
• Executed $42 million of share repurchases during the quarter, and $50 million through January 2024

Full Year 2023 Highlights

• Revenues of $2.512 billion, down 4% y/y and down 4% organically
• GAAP EPS of $5.66, down 6% y/y
• Adjusted EPS of $6.83, up 7% y/y
• Executed $192 million of share repurchases during the year, and $200 million through January 2024

“Given recent industry-wide demand challenges, our team performed well as we wrapped up another transformational year for Belden,” said Ashish Chand, President and CEO of Belden Inc. “For the fourth quarter, our revenues and EPS both exceeded expectations as our solutions transformation continues to drive incremental demand and margin expansion. Revenues for the year were down 4%, driven by broad customer destocking and other temporary headwinds. Despite lower volumes, our profitability continues to improve with gross profit margins increasing by 270 basis points to 38.5% and EBITDA margins increasing by 40 basis points to 17.4%. Our solid execution led to EPS increasing 7% for the full year to $6.83.”

Fourth Quarter 2023

Revenues for the quarter totaled $551 million, decreasing $108 million, or 16%, compared to $659 million in the year-ago period. Revenue declined organically by 18%, with Industrial Automation Solutions down 17% and Enterprise Solutions down 19%. Net income was $39 million, compared to $61 million in the year-ago period. Net income as a percentage of revenue was 7.0%, compared to 9.3% in the year-ago period. EPS totaled $0.91 for the quarter, compared to $1.40 in the year-ago period.

Adjusted EBITDA was $88 million, decreasing $27 million, down 23%, compared to $115 million in the year-ago period. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 16.0%, down 140 bps, compared to 17.4% in the year-ago period. Adjusted EPS was $1.46, decreasing 17% compared to $1.75 in the year-ago period. Relative to our prior guidance, Adjusted EPS benefited in the fourth quarter by $0.15 from a lower-than-expected tax rate. Adjusted results are non-GAAP measures, and a non-GAAP reconciliation table is provided as an appendix to this release.

Full Year 2023

Revenues for the year totaled $2.512 billion, decreasing $94 million, or 4%, compared to $2.606 billion in the prior year. Revenue declined organically by 4%, with Industrial Automation Solutions down 1% and Enterprise Solutions down 8%. Net income was $243 million, compared to $268 million in the prior year. Net income as a percentage of revenue was 9.7%, compared to 10.3% in the prior year. EPS totaled $5.66, compared to $6.01 in the prior year.

Adjusted EBITDA was $438 million, decreasing $6 million, or 1%, compared to $444 million in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 17.4%, up 40 bps, compared to 17.0% in the prior year. Adjusted EPS was $6.83, increasing 7% compared to $6.41 in the prior year.

Outlook

“I am pleased with our full year 2023 results and execution during ongoing challenges,” said Dr. Chand. “The ever-increasing need for data and automation continues. Our long-term growth opportunities are considerable, and with our continued transformation towards solutions, our portfolio is well-positioned to succeed as the next investment cycle ramps up. I am confident in the ability of the Belden team to continue to transform our business, adjust to changing market conditions, leverage our superior product portfolio, and capitalize on growth opportunities in all market conditions as we continue to generate sustainable, long-term shareholder value.”

Challenges from the prior year are anticipated to continue into the first quarter, including customer destocking and other temporary headwinds. Relative to the fourth quarter, end demand is expected to be stable with revenue down, in line with normal seasonal patterns.

Assuming no significant changes to the current market environment, the table below provides guidance for the first quarter of 2024.

Earnings Conference Call

Management will host a conference call today at 8:30 am ET to discuss the results. The listen-only audio of the conference call will be broadcast live via the Internet at https://investor.belden.com. The dial-in number for participants is 1-888-254-3590 with confirmation code 9183010. A replay of this conference call will remain accessible in the investor relations section of the Company’s website for a limited time.

Net Income, Earnings per Share (EPS), and Organic Growth

All references to net income and EPS within this earnings release refer to income from continuing operations and income from continuing operations per diluted share attributable to Belden stockholders, respectively. Organic growth is calculated as the change in revenues excluding the impacts from currency exchange rates, copper prices, acquisitions and divestitures.

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CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
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OPERATING SEGMENT INFORMATION
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OPERATING SEGMENT RECONCILIATION TO CONSOLIDATED RESULTS
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CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

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CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENTS
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BELDEN INC.
RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP MEASURES
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In addition to reporting financial results in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, we provide non-GAAP operating results adjusted for certain items, including: asset impairments; accelerated depreciation expense due to plant consolidation activities; purchase accounting effects related to acquisitions, such as the adjustment of acquired inventory to fair value, and transaction costs; severance, restructuring, and acquisition integration costs; gains (losses) recognized on the disposal of businesses and assets; amortization of intangible assets; gains (losses) on debt extinguishment; certain gains (losses) from patent settlements; discontinued operations; and other costs. We adjust for the items listed above in all periods presented, unless the impact is clearly immaterial to our financial statements. When we calculate the tax effect of the adjustments, we include all current and deferred income tax expense commensurate with the adjusted measure of pre-tax profitability.

We utilize the adjusted results to review our ongoing operations without the effect of these adjustments and for comparison to budgeted operating results. We believe the adjusted results are useful to investors because they help them compare our results to previous periods and provide important insights into underlying trends in the business and how management oversees our business operations on a day-to-day basis. As an example, we adjust for acquisition-related expenses, such as amortization of intangibles and impacts of fair value adjustments because they generally are not related to the acquired business’ core business performance. As an additional example, we exclude the costs of restructuring programs, which can occur from time to time for our current businesses and/or recently acquired businesses. We exclude the costs in calculating adjusted results to allow us and investors to evaluate the performance of the business based upon its expected ongoing operating structure. We believe the adjusted measures, accompanied by the disclosure of the costs of these programs, provides valuable insight.

Adjusted results should be considered only in conjunction with results reported according to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.

BELDEN INC.
RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP MEASURES
(Unaudited)

We define free cash flow, which is a non-GAAP financial measure, as net cash from operating activities adjusted for capital expenditures net of the proceeds from the disposal of tangible assets. We believe free cash flow provides useful information to investors regarding our ability to generate cash from business operations that is available for acquisitions and other investments, service of debt principal, dividends and share repurchases. We use free cash flow, as defined, as one financial measure to monitor and evaluate performance and liquidity. Non-GAAP financial measures should be considered only in conjunction with financial measures reported according to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. Our definition of free cash flow may differ from definitions used by other companies.

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RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP MEASURES
2024 Guidance 

Our guidance is based upon information currently available regarding events and conditions that will impact our future operating results. In particular, our results are subject to the factors listed under “Forward-Looking Statements” in this release. In addition, our actual results are likely to be impacted by other additional events for which information is not available, such as asset impairments, adjustments related to acquisitions and divestitures, severance, restructuring, and acquisition integration costs, gains (losses) recognized on the disposal of assets, gains (losses) on debt extinguishment, discontinued operations, and other gains (losses) related to events or conditions that are not yet known.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains, and any statements made by us concerning the subject matter of this release may contain, forward-looking statements, including our outlook for the first quarter of 2024 and beyond. Forward-looking statements also include any statements regarding future financial performance (including revenues, growth, expenses, earnings, margins, cash flows, dividends, capital expenditures and financial condition), plans and objectives, and related assumptions. In some cases these statements are identifiable through the use of words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “forecast,” “guide,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “project,” “target,” “can,” “could,” “may,” “should,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements reflect management’s current beliefs and expectations and are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results may differ materially from those suggested by any forward-looking statements for a number of reasons, including, without limitation: the impact of a challenging global economy, including the impact of inflation, or a downturn in served markets; the competitiveness of the global markets in which we operate; the inability of the Company to develop and introduce new products; competitive responses to our products; the inability to execute and realize the expected benefits from strategic initiatives (including revenue growth, cost control, and productivity improvement programs); foreign and domestic political, economic and other uncertainties, including changes in currency exchange rates; the impact of disruptions in the global supply chain, including the inability to timely obtain raw materials and components in sufficient quantities on commercially reasonable terms; the inability to achieve our strategic priorities in emerging markets; the impact of changes in global tariffs and trade agreements; volatility in credit and foreign exchange markets; the presence of substitute products in the marketplace; disruptions in the Company’s information systems including due to cyber-attacks; inflation and changes in the price and availability of raw materials leading to higher input and labor costs; the possibility of a resurgence of COVID-19 or the spread of other viruses; difficulty in forecasting revenue due to the unpredictable timing of orders related to customer projects as well as the impacts of channel inventory; changes in tax laws and variability in the Company’s quarterly and annual effective tax rates; the increased prevalence of cloud computing; the inability to successfully complete and integrate acquisitions in furtherance of the Company’s strategic plan; the inability to retain key employees; disruption of, or changes in, the Company’s key distribution channels; the presence of activists proposing certain actions by the Company; perceived or actual product failures; the impact of regulatory requirements and other legal compliance issues; inability to satisfy the increasing expectations with respect to environmental, social and governance matters; assertions that the Company violates the intellectual property of others and the ownership of intellectual property by competitors and others that prevents the use of that intellectual property by the Company; risks related to the use of open source software; the impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets and the resulting impact on financial performance; disruptions and increased costs attendant to collective bargaining groups and other labor matters; and other factors.

For a more complete discussion of risk factors, please see our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2022, filed with the SEC on February 24, 2023. Although the content of this release represents our best judgment as of the date of this report based on information currently available and reasonable assumptions, we give no assurances that the expectations will prove to be accurate. Deviations from the expectations may be material. For these reasons, Belden cautions readers to not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Belden disclaims any duty to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise, except as required by law.