Generac Holdings Inc. has reported financial results for its third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2021 and provided an update on its outlook for the full year 2021.

Third Quarter 2021 Highlights

  • Net sales increased 34% to a record $943 million during the third quarter of 2021 as compared to $701 million in the prior-year third quarter. Core sales growth, which excludes both the impact of acquisitions and foreign currency, increased approximately 30%.
    • Residential product sales grew 33% to $609 million as compared to $459 million last year.
    • Commercial & Industrial (“C&I”) product sales increased 47% to $258 million as compared to $176 million in the prior year.
  • Net income attributable to the Company during the third quarter was $132 million, or $1.93 per share, as compared to $115 million, or $1.82 per share, for the same period of 2020.
  • Adjusted net income attributable to the Company, as defined in the accompanying reconciliation schedules, was $151 million, or $2.35 per share, as compared to $133 million, or $2.08 per share, in the third quarter of 2020.

“We continued to experience exceptional demand during the third quarter leading to all-time record revenue and further increases in our backlog,” said Aaron Jagdfeld, president and chief executive officer. “We again hit record production levels in spite of the challenging supply chain environment that deteriorated during the third quarter. We have tremendous momentum in our business as we head into 2022 with the continuation of robust home standby demand, an expanding Energy Technology solutions portfolio, and strong global demand for our C&I products. This visibility provides support for another year of expected significant revenue growth with improving margins as we realize the full impact of pricing and cost-reduction actions. To support this growth over the long term, we are planning to make further capacity investments by expanding distribution capabilities in our new South Carolina facility and investing in additional manufacturing automation equipment for home standby generators and other products.”

Jagdfeld continued, “In addition, we recently announced several strategic acquisitions that will accelerate our new ‘Powering a Smarter World’ strategy as we continue our evolution into an energy technology solutions company. We’re particularly excited about yesterday’s announcement to acquire ecobee as this transaction will allow us to create a clean, efficient, and reliable home energy ecosystem that will not only help homeowners reduce their energy consumption, but also help grid operators meet the challenges of an electrical grid under enormous stress.”

Additional Third Quarter 2021 Consolidated Highlights

Gross profit margin was 35.6% as compared to 39.4% in the prior-year third quarter. The current quarter’s margin was pressured by higher input costs due to rising commodity prices, labor, logistics and plant start-up costs, which was partially offset by the early impacts of recent pricing actions.

Operating expenses increased $41.9 million, or 34.8%, as compared to the third quarter of 2020. The increase was primarily driven by additional variable expenses from the significant increase in sales volumes, higher employee and marketing costs, and the impact of acquisitions.

Cash flow from operations was $74 million during the third quarter, as compared to $155 million in the prior year. Free cash flow, as defined in the accompanying reconciliation schedules, was $42 million as compared to $148 million for 2020. The decline in free cash flow was due to higher working capital investment and capital expenditures in the current year quarter, partially offset by an increase in operating earnings.

Business Segment Results

Domestic Segment

Domestic segment sales increased 30% to $790.8 million as compared to $606.9 million in the prior year quarter, with the impact of acquisitions contributing approximately 1% of the revenue growth for the quarter. The core sales growth was driven by strength across both residential and C&I products highlighted by very strong growth with home standby generators, PWRcell energy storage systems, telecom national account customers and C&I mobile products.

Adjusted EBITDA for the segment was $187.7 million, or 23.7% of net sales, as compared to $171.4 million in the prior year, or 28.2% of net sales. This margin performance was impacted by higher input costs, partially offset by the early impacts of improved pricing during the quarter.

International Segment

International segment sales increased 61% to $151.9 million as compared to $94.5 million in the prior year quarter, with the impact of acquisitions and foreign currency contributing approximately 29% of the revenue growth for the quarter. The core sales growth for the segment was driven by strength across all regions, primarily Europe and Latin America, that continued to experience a sharp increase in demand off the prior-year COVID lows and have recovered well above 2019 levels.

Adjusted EBITDA for the segment, before deducting for noncontrolling interests, was $21.5 million, or 14.1% of net sales, as compared to $7.4 million, or 7.9% of net sales, in the prior year. The increase in margin was primarily due to the positive impact of recent acquisitions and improved operating leverage on higher sales volumes.

Updated 2021 Outlook

The Company is maintaining its full-year 2021 net sales growth guidance range of approximately 47 to 50% compared to the prior year, which includes approximately 5% of favorable impact from acquisitions and foreign currency.

While the Company continues to experience an exceptional demand environment, additional supply chain constraints, escalating logistics challenges, and rising input costs are increasingly impacting the business leading to further margin pressures. As a result of these factors and the impact of recent acquisitions, net income margin, before deducting for non-controlling interests, is now expected to be approximately 15.0% for the full-year 2021 as compared to the prior expectation of between 15.5 to 16.0%. The corresponding adjusted EBITDA margin is now expected to be approximately 23.5%, as compared to the previous guidance range of approximately 24.5 to 25.0%.