Blue Bird reports Q1 EPS 91c, consensus 37c

Reports Q1 revenue $317.7M, consensus $275.1M. “I am incredibly proud of our team’s continued progress in delivering record financial results in the first quarter,” said Phil Horlock, CEO of Blue Bird Corporation. “The Blue Bird team executed a rigorous transformational plan over the past two years to improve operations and throughput, control fixed costs, recover economics through pricing and expand our leadership position in alternative-powered buses. The market demand for our school buses remains very strong with approximately 4,600 units in our order backlog. Unit sales in the quarter were up 9% from a year ago and we grew revenue by an exceptional 35%, to $318 million. Adjusted EBITDA was an all-time quarterly record of $48 million, reflecting a 15% margin, which is an outstanding increase of $51 million compared with last year. In expanding our leadership position in alternative-powered school buses, we achieved another record quarter of deliveries of our zero-emission EV buses. Additionally, at quarter-end, we had more than 400 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 from Phase 1 of its $5 billion program in 2023. 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 $130 million, with an 11% margin, which will be an all-time record for Blue Bird, and look forward to sustained profitable growth in the coming years, particularly as the global supply-chain recovery progresses.”