AAON Inc. announced its operating results for the fourth quarter and year 2014. Sales in the fourth quarter were a record $84.7 million, up 15.5 percent from $73.4 million in 2013. Net income was also a record $10.5 million, up 35.6 percent from $7.8 million in the same period a year ago. Sales for the year 2014 were, too, a record $356.3 million, up 11.0 percent compared to $321.1 million in 2013. Earnings for 2014 were also a record, $44.2 million, up 17.6 percent compared to $37.5 million in 2013.
Earnings for the fourth quarter of 2014 and 2013 were $0.19 and $0.14 per diluted share, based upon 54.8 million and 55.4 million diluted shares outstanding, respectively. Earnings per diluted share for the years 2014 and 2013 were $0.80 and $0.68, based upon 55.4 million and 55.6 million diluted shares outstanding, respectively. All per share earnings reflect the 3-for-2 stock split effective July 16, 2014.
Norman H. Asbjornson, president and CEO, states: “The 2014 gains in sales and income from operations primarily reflect favorable reception of our products and efficiencies from our investment in equipment that caused gross profit as a percent of sales to increase from 28.0 percent to 30.4 percent; despite SG&A expense as a percent of sales having increased from 10.6 percent to 11.4 percent, the majority of which represents non-recurring charitable donations. Absent these donations, our diluted earnings per share would have been $0.04 higher.”
Asbjornson continues: “The company’s backlog increased from $45.3 million at Dec. 31, 2013 to $48.8 million at Dec. 31, 2014. In addition, the company’s balance sheet at year end was strong. The current ratio was 3.1:1 (including cash and investments of $49.3 million). It should be noted that the company purchased a total of 1.0 million shares of AAON stock under its resumed open market buyback program for approximately $20.0 million during the year, for an average cost of $19.67 per share. We continued to remain debt-free and our return on average stockholder equity was 26.1 percent in 2014.”
Asbjornson says: “While we had another record year, we are starting to see an inflation in raw material, component and labor costs, and perceive a stagnation in non-residential construction growth. Still, we expect to have another good year in 2015.”