Universal Stainless & Alloy Products, Inc. (NASDAQ:USAP) Q1 2024 Earnings Conference Call May 1, 2024 11:00 AM ET
Company Participants
June Filingeri - President-Comm-Partners LLC
Chris Zimmer - President and CEO
Steve DiTommaso - VP and CFO
Conference Call Participants
Michael Leshock - KeyBanc Capital Markets
Operator
Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Universal Stainless & Alloy Products Inc. First Quarter 2024 Conference Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.
I would now like to hand the conference over to your host today, June Filingeri. Please go ahead.
June Filingeri
Thank you, Brittany. Good morning. This is June Filingeri of Comm-Partners and I also would like to welcome you to the Universal Stainless conference call and webcast. We are here to discuss the company's first quarter 2024 results reported this morning. With us from management are Chris Zimmer, President and Chief Executive Officer; John Arminas, Vice President and General Counsel; and Steven 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. Brittany will instruct you again 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 the formalities complete, I would now like to turn the call over to Chris Zimmer. Chris, we are ready to begin.
Chris Zimmer
Thank you, June. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us.
I'm pleased to report our earnings momentum continued in the first quarter, most evident in our gross margin, which reached 18.9%, the highest in 12 years, even with a $1.3 million raw material misalignment. Without it, our gross margin would have topped 20%. This is the fifth consecutive quarter of gross margin improvement and we expect the momentum to continue in the coming quarters as sales ramp up.
Our base prices continue to increase and raw material headwinds dissipate as commodity prices further stabilize. Operating income rose 51% to $7.3 million in the first quarter, and net income increased nearly 60%, reaching $4.1 million or $0.43 per diluted share compared with $0.27 in the fourth quarter.