Itron Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Financial Results

LIBERTY LAKE, Wash.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—February 26, 2024—Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI), which is innovating new ways for utilities and cities to manage energy and water, announced financial results for its fourth quarter and full year ended Dec. 31, 2023. Key results for the quarter and full year include (compared with the fourth quarter and full year of 2022):

• Revenue of $577 million and $2.2 billion, increased 23% and 21%;
• Gross profit of $196 million and $714 million, increased 39% and 37%;
• GAAP net income attributable to Itron, Inc. of $44 million and $97 million, increased $22 million and $107 million;
• GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.96 and $2.11, increased $0.47 and $2.33;
• Non-GAAP diluted EPS of $1.23 and $3.36, increased $0.52 and $2.23;
• Adjusted EBITDA of $68 million and $226 million, increased 99% and 137%; and
• Free cash flow of $39 million and $98 million, increased $57 million and $93 million

“Itron’s fourth quarter results were very strong, and we concluded 2023 with good operational momentum.” said Tom Deitrich, Itron’s president and CEO. “Our operations remained efficient and critical supply availability continued to improve resulting in record quarterly revenue levels for our Networked Solutions and Outcomes segments.

"We have entered a new era of complexity for the responsible, reliable management of energy and water resources, and Itron's leadership in providing grid edge intelligence, data insights, analytics and automation are essential to our customers' success. Our solutions address this complexity head on and support our customers' efforts to modernize critical infrastructure."

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

Revenue
Total fourth quarter revenue increased 23%, to $577 million. The increase was due to strong operational execution and improved supply chain conditions, which enabled higher customer deliveries.

Device Solutions revenue increased 13%, or 9% in constant currency, due primarily to increased demand for smart water meters and communication modules.

Networked Solutions revenue increased 30%, due to higher activity levels associated with ongoing and new deployments enabled by improved supply chain conditions.

Outcomes revenue increased 10%, or 9% in constant currency, due primarily to increased recurring and one-time services, partially offset by decreased software license activity during the quarter.

Gross Margin
Total company gross margin of 34.0% increased 390 basis points due to cost efficiencies and a higher margin product mix.

Operating Expenses and Operating Income
GAAP operating expenses of $147 million increased $19 million from the prior year, and Non-GAAP operating expenses of $135 million increased $20 million from the prior year.

GAAP operating income of $49 million was $37 million higher than the prior year, and Non-GAAP operating income of $61 million was $36 million higher than the prior year. Both GAAP and Non-GAAP increases were due primarily to higher gross profit, partially offset by higher operating expenses.

Net Income and Earnings per Share (EPS)
Net income attributable to Itron, Inc. for the quarter was $44 million, or $0.96 per diluted share, compared with a net income of $22 million, or $0.49 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 businesses, strategic initiative expenses, currency translation write-off, goodwill impairment, acquisition and integration, and the tax effect of excluding these expenses, was $57 million, or $1.23 per diluted share, compared with $32 million, or $0.71 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 $48 million in the fourth quarter compared with $(13) million in the prior year. Free cash flow was $39 million in the fourth quarter compared with $(18) million in the prior year. The increase in cash flow was due primarily to higher earnings, partially offset by increased cash taxes paid.

Other Measures
After bookings of $839 million during the fourth quarter, total backlog at quarter end was $4.5 billion.

Q1 2024 Outlook and Full Year 2024 Guidance Update
First quarter 2024 financial outlook:

• Revenue between $575 and $585 million
• Non-GAAP diluted EPS between $0.80 and $0.90

Full year 2024 financial guidance:

• Revenue between $2.275 to $2.375 billion
• Non-GAAP diluted EPS between $3.40 to $3.80

Earnings Conference Call
Itron will host a conference call to discuss the financial results contained in this release at 10 a.m. EST on February 26, 2024. 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 March 5, 2024 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.

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