Third Quarter 2014 Revenue $584.8Million, Up 5 Percent

(PRNewswire) —  Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) today announced financial results for the third quarter of 2014.

Third Quarter 2014 Financial Highlights

• Third quarter 2014 revenue of $584.8 million was up 5 percent as compared to the third quarter of 2013. Engineering and Construction revenue was $342.3 million, up 10 percent, with growth across all major product categories. Field Solutions revenue was $88.8 million, down 11 percent due to weakness in sales of agriculture products, partially offset by an increase in Geographic Information System (GIS) sales. Mobile Solutions revenue was $121.2 million, up 7 percent due to double-digit growth in sales of transportation and logistics solutions. Advanced Devices revenue was $32.6 million, down 1 percent. Geographic results were mixed in the quarter. North America grew year-over-year in line with the second quarter, but Europe slowed overall, particularly in agriculture. Asia Pacific growth slowed in the quarter, with mixed performance across the region. Rest of World grew in the quarter, also with mixed performance across the geographies.  
• Both GAAP and non-GAAP profitability were negatively impacted by third quarter acquisitions, including the impact of non-cash write downs on pre-acquisition deferred revenue. The acquisitions are expected to be dilutive to fourth quarter 2014, and accretive to fiscal year 2015.  In addition, GAAP results were negatively impacted by a $52 million reserve for legal matters primarily related to a jury verdict in the U.S. which the company plans to appeal. This legal reserve is excluded from non-GAAP results.     
• GAAP operating income was $11.1 million, down 82 percent as compared to the third quarter of 2013. GAAP operating margin was 1.9 percent of revenue as compared to 11.3 percent of revenue in the third quarter of 2013. Non-GAAP operating income of $118.4 million was up 0.2 percent as compared to the third quarter of 2013. Non-GAAP operating margin was 20.3 percent of revenue as compared to 21.2 percent of revenue in the third quarter of 2013.
• GAAP net income was $11.8 million, down 78 percent as compared to the third quarter of 2013. Diluted GAAP earnings per share were $0.04 as compared to diluted GAAP earnings per share of $0.21 in the third quarter of 2013. Non-GAAP net income of $87.1 million was down 15 percent as compared to the third quarter of 2013. Diluted non-GAAP earnings per share were $0.33 as compared to diluted non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.39 in the third quarter of 2013.
• The GAAP effective tax rate for the quarter was a benefit of (66 percent), as compared to a provision of 14 percent in the third quarter of 2013, primarily due to the tax effect of the $52 million reserve for legal matters. Excluding the tax impact of the legal reserve, the non-GAAP tax rate in the quarter was 25 percent, and was higher than expected due to differences in the geographic mix of pre-tax income.
• Operating cash flow in the quarter was $95.9 million. Year-to-date operating cash flow was $310.5 million, an increase of 12 percent over fiscal 2013 year-to-date.

"While we recorded a year-over-year increase in revenue, the quarter was unimpressive. Our results in agriculture and Europe were both weaker than we originally anticipated," said Steven W. Berglund, Trimble's president and chief executive officer. "Although we expect a challenging fourth quarter compared to last year's performance, we believe we are improving our overall position in key markets."

Forward Looking Guidance

For the fourth quarter of 2014 Trimble expects revenue to be between $560 million and $590 million with GAAP earnings per share of $0.09 to $0.15 and non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.26 to $0.32. Non-GAAP guidance excludes the amortization of intangibles of $39 million related to previous acquisitions, anticipated acquisition costs of $4 million, and the anticipated impact of stock-based compensation expense of $12 million. Both GAAP and non-GAAP earnings per share assume a 21 to 23 percent tax rate and approximately 264 million shares outstanding.

Investor Conference Call / Webcast Details

Trimble will hold a conference call on October 30, 2014 at 1:30 p.m. PT to review its third quarter 2014 results. It will be broadcast live on the Web at http://investor.trimble.com. Investors without Internet access may dial into the call at (800) 528-9198 (U.S.) or (702) 928-6633 (international). The pass code is 22273266. The replay will also be available on the Web at the address above.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information

To help our investors understand our past financial performance and our future results, as well as our performance relative to competitors, we supplement the financial results that we provide in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, with non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP measures can be used to evaluate our historical and prospective financial performance, as well as our performance relative to competitors. Our management regularly uses our supplemental non-GAAP financial measures internally to understand, manage and evaluate our business, and to make operating decisions. These non-GAAP measures are among the primary factors management uses in planning for and forecasting future periods. We believe that these non-GAAP financial measures reflect an additional way of viewing aspects of our operations that, when viewed with our GAAP results, provide a more complete understanding of factors and trends affecting our business. Further, we believe some of our investors track our "core operating performance" as a means of evaluating our performance in the ordinary, ongoing, and customary course of our operations.  Core operating performance excludes items that are non-cash, not expected to recur or not reflective of ongoing financial results. Management also believes that looking at our core operating performance provides a supplemental way to provide consistency in period to period comparisons.

The specific non-GAAP measures, which we use along with a reconciliation to the nearest comparable GAAP measures and the explanation for why these non-GAAP measures provide useful information to investors regarding our financial condition and results of operations and why management chose to exclude selected items can be found at the end of this release. The method we use to produce non-GAAP results is not computed according to GAAP and may differ from the methods used by other companies. Our non-GAAP results are not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for comparable GAAP measures and should be read only in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. Investors are encouraged to review the reconciliation of our non-GAAP financial measures to the comparable GAAP results, which is attached to this earnings release. Additional financial information about our use of non-GAAP results can be found on the investor relations page of our Web site at http://investor.trimble.com .