Blue Bird reports Q2 EPS 89c, consensus 48c

Reports Q2 revenue $345.9M, consensus $298.4M. “I am incredibly proud of our team’s achievements in delivering another outstanding result in the second quarter,” said Phil Horlock, CEO of Blue Bird Corporation. “The Blue Bird team continued to execute ahead of plan, improving operations and throughput, driving new order growth, and expanding our leadership position in alternative-powered buses. The market demand for our school buses remains very strong with just over 5,900 units in our order backlog. Unit sales in the quarter were down slightly from a year ago, however we grew revenue by 15%, to a record $346 million in a quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was an all-time second quarter record of $46 million, reflecting a 13% margin; that’s an outstanding increase of $25 million over last year. In expanding our leadership position in alternative-powered school buses, we achieved another record quarter of deliveries of our electric-powered buses. Additionally, at quarter-end, we had nearly 500 electric school bus orders in our backlog. We saw strong growth in EV orders from the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program, which awarded nearly $1 billion in funding in 2023 from Phase 1 of its $5 billion program. We are excited for new EV orders over the next year from the recently-announced Phase 2 (A and B) of the 5-year program, which provides at least $1.5 billion in grant and rebate funding for electric school buses. We’ve been working aggressively with our dealers and school districts in submitting applications and we are confident that continued, exciting growth is ahead for Blue Bird on the EV front! Based on our strong start to the year and additional visibility into the 2024 operating environment, we have increased our full year financial guidance for Adjusted EBITDA to $155 million, with a 12% margin. That will be an all-time full-year record for Blue Bird, and we look forward to sustained profitable growth in the coming years, particularly as the global supply-chain recovery progresses.”