GATX Corporation (NYSE:GATX) Q1 2023 Earnings Conference Call April 25, 2023 11:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Shari Hellerman - Head of Investor Relations

Bob Lyons - President and Chief Executive Officer

Tom Ellman - Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Paul Titterton - Executive Vice President and President of Rail North America

Conference Call Participants

Justin Long - Stephens Inc.

Matt Elkott - Cowen & Co.

Allison Poliniak - Wells Fargo

Bascome Majors - Susquehanna

Brendan McCarthy - Sidoti

Justin Bergner - Gabelli Funds

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the GATX 2023 First Quarter Earnings Call.

At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode and please be advised that this call is being recorded. After the speakers' prepared remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator instructions]

And at this time, I'll turn things over to Ms. Shari Hellerman, Head of Investor Relations. Shari, please go ahead.

Shari Hellerman

Thank you, Bob. Good morning, everyone and thank you for joining GATX's 2023 first quarter earnings call. I am joined today by Bob Lyons, President and CEO and Tom Ellman, Executive Vice President and CFO.

Please note that some of the information you'll hear during our discussion today will consist of forward-looking statement. Actual results or trends could defer materially from those statements or forecasts. For more information, please refer to the risk factors included in our earnings release and those discussed in GATX's Form 10-K for 2022. GATX assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

Before I provide a quick recap of our first quarter results, I'd like to reminder everyone that our Annual Shareholders' Meeting is scheduled on Friday, April 28 at 09:00 AM Central Time and will be held in a virtual-only meeting format.

Earlier today, GATX reported 2023 first quarter net income of $77.4 million or $2.16 per diluted share. This compares to 2022 first quarter net income of $75.8 million, or $2.10 per due to share. 2023 and 2022 first quarter results included net negative impact of $0.04 per to share and $0.24 per due share, respectively from tax adjustments and other items. These items are detailed on Page 11 of our earnings release.

Now I'll briefly address each segment. At Rail North America, fleet utilization remained high at 99.3% and the renewal success rate was 77.9%, reflecting continued strong demand for railcars currently in our fleet. The lease rate environment for existing railcars remains favourable, as evidenced by the renewal rate change of GATX Lease Price Index of positive 34.3% for the quarter. We remain focused on our objective of lengthening lease terms and locking in attractive rate.