Itron Announces Third Quarter 2023 Financial Results

LIBERTY LAKE, Wash.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—November 2, 2023—Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI), which is innovating the way utilities and cities manage energy and water, announced today financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2023. Key results for the quarter include (compared with the third quarter of 2022):

• Revenue of $561 million, increased 33%;
• Gross profit of $187 million, increased 56%;
• GAAP net income of $40 million, increased $36 million;
• GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.87, increased $0.78 per share;
• Non-GAAP diluted EPS of $0.98, increased $0.75 per share;
• Adjusted EBITDA of $68 million, increased 181%;
• Free cash flow of $28 million, increased $18 million; and
• Total backlog of $4.3 billion increased 3%.

"Our third quarter results demonstrate broad-based and strong team execution on customer deliveries that drove acceleration in revenue, gross margin, EBITDA, EPS, and cash flow" said Tom Deitrich, Itron's president and CEO. "Our quarter end cash balance of $255 million provides ample liquidity and flexibility as we continue to execute our strategic objectives.

"The dramatically changing utility landscape and the electrification of everything is exposing a variety of growing challenges for the utilities, municipalities, and cities that we serve. Itron's capabilities to provide visibility and control at scale are essential in managing rapidly increasing demand, while ensuring reliable and sustainable access to energy and water for consumers. Our investments in new solutions directly address these critical customer needs and are delivering returns as our third quarter results demonstrate."

Summary of Third Quarter Consolidated Financial Results
(All comparisons made are against the prior year period unless otherwise noted)

Revenue
Total third quarter revenue increased 33%, to $561 million. The increase was due to improving supply chain conditions and strong operational execution.

Device Solutions revenue increased 18%, or 13% in constant currency, due primarily to growth in water meter sales.

Networked Solutions revenue increased 43%, due to improving supply conditions which enabled higher customer deliveries.

Outcomes revenue increased 14%, or 13% in constant currency, due primarily to an increase in recurring services.

Gross Margin
Consolidated company gross margin of 33.4% increased 490 basis points from the prior year due to very favorable product mix and operational efficiencies.

Operating Expenses and Operating Income
GAAP operating income of $55 million was $48 million higher than the prior year, and Non-GAAP operating income of $59 million was $44 million higher than the prior year. Both GAAP and Non-GAAP increases were due to higher gross profit, partially offset by higher operating expenses.

Net Income and Earnings per Share
Net income attributable to Itron, Inc. for the quarter was $40 million, or $0.87 per diluted share, compared with a net income of $4 million, or $0.09 per diluted share in 2022. The increase was driven by higher GAAP operating income, partially offset by higher tax expense.

Non-GAAP net income, which excludes the expenses associated with amortization of intangible assets, amortization of debt placement fees, restructuring, loss on sale of business, strategic initiative expenses, currency translation write-off, goodwill impairment, acquisition and integration, and the tax effect of excluding these expenses, was $45 million, or $0.98 per diluted share, compared with $11 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, in 2022. The increase was due to higher non-GAAP operating income, partially offset by higher tax expense.

Cash Flow
Net cash provided by operating activities was $34 million in the third quarter compared with $15 million in the prior year. Free cash flow was $28 million in the third quarter compared with $11 million in the prior year. The increase in cash flow was due to higher earnings, partially offset by growth in working capital.

Other Measures
Total backlog at quarter end was $4.3 billion compared with $4.2 billion in the prior year. Bookings in the quarter totaled $413 million.

Q4 2023 Outlook and Full Year 2023 Guidance Update
Outlook for the fourth quarter of 2023 is as follows:

• Revenue between $565 and $575 million
• Non-GAAP diluted EPS between $0.70 and $0.80

Itron's guidance for the full year 2023 has been updated as follows:

• Revenue between $2.16 to $2.17 billion vs. previous guidance of $2.11 to $2.14 billion
• Non-GAAP diluted EPS between $2.83 to $2.93 vs. previous guidance of $2.03 to $2.28

Earnings Conference Call
Itron will host a conference call to discuss the financial results contained in this release at 10 a.m. EDT on November 2, 2023. Interested parties may listen to the conference call on a live webcast. The webcast, along with a supplemental presentation, may be accessed from the company's website at investors.itron.com. Participants should access the webcast 10 minutes prior to the start of the call. A webcast replay of the conference call will be available through November 7, 2023 and may be accessed on the company's website at investors.itron.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements
This release contains, and our officers and representatives may from time to time make, "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are neither historical factors nor assurances of future performance. These statements are based on our expectations about, among others, revenues, operations, financial performance, earnings, liquidity, earnings per share, cash flows and restructuring activities including headcount reductions and other cost savings initiatives. This document reflects our current strategy, plans and expectations and is based on information currently available as of the date of this release. When we use words such as "expect", "intend", "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "goal", "seek", "project", "estimate", "future", "strategy", "objective", "may", "likely", "should", "will", "will continue", and similar expressions, including related to future periods, they are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements rely on a number of assumptions and estimates. Although we believe the estimates and assumptions upon which these forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, any of these estimates or assumptions could prove to be inaccurate and the forward-looking statements based on these estimates and assumptions could be incorrect. Our operations involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside our control, and any one of which, or a combination of which, could materially affect our results of operations and whether the forward-looking statements ultimately prove to be correct. Actual results and trends in the future may differ materially from those suggested or implied by the forward-looking statements depending on a variety of factors. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Some of the factors that we believe could affect our results include our ability to execute on our restructuring plans, our ability to achieve estimated cost savings, the rate and timing of customer demand for our products, rescheduling of current customer orders, changes in estimated liabilities for product warranties, adverse impacts of litigation, changes in laws and regulations, our dependence on new product development and intellectual property, future acquisitions, changes in estimates for stock-based and bonus compensation, increasing volatility in foreign exchange rates, international business risks, uncertainties caused by adverse economic conditions, including without limitation those resulting from extraordinary events or circumstances and other factors that are more fully described in Part I, Item 1A: Risk Factors included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2022 and other reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Itron undertakes no obligation to update or revise any information in this press release.

Non-GAAP Financial Information
To supplement our consolidated financial statements, which are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (GAAP), we use certain adjusted or non-GAAP financial measures, including non-GAAP operating expense, non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP diluted earnings per share (EPS), adjusted EBITDA, free cash flow, and constant currency. We provide these non-GAAP financial measures because we believe they provide greater transparency and represent supplemental information used by management in its financial and operational decision making. We exclude certain costs in our non-GAAP financial measures as we believe the net result is a measure of our core business. We believe these measures facilitate operating performance comparisons from period to period by eliminating potential differences caused by the existence and timing of certain expense items that would not otherwise be apparent on a GAAP basis. Non-GAAP performance measures should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, results prepared in accordance with GAAP. We strongly encourage investors and shareholders to review our financial statements and publicly-filed reports in their entirety and not to rely on any single financial measure. Our non-GAAP financial measures may be different from those reported by other companies. When providing future outlooks and/or earnings guidance, a reconciliation of forward-looking non-GAAP diluted EPS to the GAAP diluted EPS has not been provided because we are unable to predict with reasonable certainty the potential amount or timing of restructuring related expenses and their related tax effects without unreasonable effort. These costs are uncertain, depend on various factors and could have a material impact on GAAP results for the guidance period. A more detailed discussion of why we use non-GAAP financial measures, the limitations of using such measures, and reconciliations between non-GAAP and the nearest GAAP financial measures are included in this press release.

Related Documents
Itron Q3 2023 Earnings Statement