Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation. (WAB) Q1 2023 - Earnings Call Transcript

Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation. (NYSE:WAB) Q1 2023 Earnings Conference Call April 26, 2023 8:30 AM ET

Company Participants

Kristine Kubacki - Vice President-Investor Relations

Rafael Santana - President, Chief Executive Officer

John Olin - CFO

Conference Call Participants

Justin Long - Stephens

Allison Poliniak - Wells Fargo.

Ivan Yi - Wolfe Research

Robert Wertheimer - Melius Research

Saree Boroditsky - Jefferies

Jerry Revich - Goldman Sachs

Matthew Elkott - TD Cowen

Steve Barger - KeyBanc Capital Markets

Dillon Cumming - Morgan Stanley

Operator

Good morning and welcome to the Westinghouse First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions]

After today’s presentation there will be an opportunity to ask questions. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Kristine Kubacki, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Kristine Kubacki

Thank you operator. Good morning everyone and welcome to Wabtec’s first quarter 2023 earnings call. With us today are President and CEO, Rafael Santana, CFO, John Olin; and Senior Vice President of Finance, John Mastalerz.

Today’s slide presentation along with our earnings release and financial disclosures were posted to our website earlier today and can be accessed on our investor relations tab on WabtecCorp.com. Some statements we are making are forward-looking and based on our best view of the world and our business today. For more detailed risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to our forward-looking statements please see the disclosures in our earnings release and presentation. We will also discuss non-GAAP financial metrics and encourage you to read our disclosures and reconciliation tables carefully as you consider these metrics.

I will now turn the call over to Rafael.

Rafael Santana

Thanks, Kristine. And good morning, everyone. Let’s move to Slide 4. I’ll start with an update on our business, my perspectives on the quarter and progress against our long-term value creation framework. And then John will cover the financials.

We delivered a strong start to the year, which is evidenced by robust sales and earnings per share growth. We achieved this despite a volatile and uncertain macro environment. Sales were roughly $2.2 billion, which was up 14% versus prior year. Revenue was driven by strong performance across the freight and transit segments, but partially offset by unfavorable effects. Total cash flow used for operations was $25 million. Overall, our financial position remains strong. We continue to allocate capital to maximize shareholder returns by investing from future growth, executing on a strategic M&A and returning cash to shareholders.