Universal Stainless & Alloy Products Inc. (NASDAQ:USAP) Q2 2022 Earnings Conference Call July 27, 2022 10:00 AM ET
Company Participants
June Filingeri - Investor Relations
Chris Zimmer - EVP and Chief Commercial Officer
John Arminas - Vice President and General Counsel
Denny Oates - Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Steve DiTommaso - VP and Chief Financial Officer
Conference Call Participants
Phil Gibbs - KeyBanc
Operator
Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Universal Stainless & Alloy Products Inc. Second Quarter 2022 Conference Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions]
At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. June Filingeri. Ma'am, please begin.
June Filingeri
Thank you, Howard. Good morning. This is June Filingeri of CommPartners, and I also would like to welcome you to the Universal Stainless conference call and webcast. We're here to discuss the company's second quarter 2022 results reported this morning.
With us from management are Denny Oates, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; Chris Zimmer, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer; John Arminas, Vice President and General Counsel; and Steve DiTommaso, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
Before I turn the call over to management, let me quickly review procedures. After management has made formal remarks, we will take your questions. The conference operator will instruct you on procedures at that time. Also please note that in this morning's call, management will make forward-looking statements. Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. I would like to remind you of the risks related to these statements, which are more fully described in today's press release and in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
With these formalities complete, I would now like to turn the call over to Denny Oates. Denny, we are ready to begin.
Denny Oates
Thanks, June. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us today. Our company made solid progress in the second quarter despite facing several unprecedented challenges. Let me start off today with some highlights. Our order backlog reached a new record high of $222.7 million. Our top line growth continued with sales up 10% sequentially, up 36% from the second quarter last year and up 32% year-to-date. The 9% to 12% base price increase announced on July 11 marks the sixth inflation-fighting price increase of this year.
Gross margin expanded as expected to 12.6% of sales in the second quarter, excluding the positive AMJP grant of $1.8 million and charges for the liquid metal spill at our Bridgeville melt shop of $3.6 million. Our reported net loss for the second quarter narrowed to $1.4 million or $0.16 per diluted share. Excluding a similar $0.16 per share net charge for the unusual items, we essentially broke even during the quarter.