Alta Equipment Group reports Q4 adjusted EPS (46c), consensus (24c)

Reports Q4 revenue $498.1M, consensus $485.48M. Ryan Greenawalt, CEO of Alta, said “Overall, our 2024 performance was impacted by several factors including elevated interest rates and uncertainty regarding the U.S. presidential race, both of which contributed to a moderation of construction spending and a reduction of non-residential project starts in the U.S., when compared to 2023. This backdrop resulted in an overall decline in the North American construction equipment market, as equipment volumes within some of our regional markets were off approximately 10 to 20 percent, year over year. Additionally, in the face of waning demand, construction pricing was further pressured throughout the year as industry dealer channels were overstocked across the landscape, impacting gross margins and market share in our Construction segment. The factors that challenged our Construction segment also impacted our Master Distribution segment in 2024, negatively affecting equipment volumes and gross margins year over year. In contrast, our Material Handling segment showed more resiliency, as North American lift truck deliveries grew in 2024 as the industry continued to work through record backlogs generated post-COVID. As a result, revenues for our Material Handling segment were $687.4 million, a slight increase from a year ago. Post-election, customer sentiment improved, which drove increased demand for equipment as evidenced by our fourth quarter equipment sales results where we registered our best equipment sales quarter of 2024. Despite the notable sequential increase in equipment sales in the fourth quarter, gross margins on equipment sales continued to be pressured as market participants aimed to right-size their inventory and rental fleet levels heading into the new year. Additionally, rental equipment seasonality in our northern regions as well as employee and customer downtime due to the holiday schedule also negatively impacted our results in the fourth quarter.”