10:20 AM EDT, 03/20/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Boyd Group Services Inc. ( BYDGF ) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of US$20 million, or US$0.93 per share, up from US$14.6 million, or US$0.68 per share, a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Capital IQ expected US$1.08.

Sales for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2023, were US$740 million, up from US$637.1 million a year earlier.

Analysts surveyed by Capital IQ expected US$739.6 million.

Adjusted EBITDA for Q4 was US$94.2 million, up from US$74.7 million a year earlier.

During 2023, the company added 78 locations through acquisition and 28 start-up locations, for a total of 106 new collision repair locations. In addition to location growth, Boyd said it achieved same-store sales increases of 15.8%.

Heading into 2024, the company is facing strong comparative period same-store sales results. Thus far in the first quarter of 2024, same-store sales increases, while positive, are lower than the average quarterly 10-year level of same-store sales growth of 5.9%.

Also, mild winter weather impacted demand for glass services, which are already seasonally low in the fourth and first quarters of the year. The same weather is impacting the demand for collision repair services.

Further, Boyd said it remains confident that it is on track to achieve its long-term growth goals, including doubling the size of the business on a constant currency basis from 2021 to 2025 against 2019 sales.

Boyd Group Services ( BYDGF ) also declared a cash dividend for the first quarter of C$0.15 per common share. The dividend will be payable on April 26 to common shareholders of record at the close of business on March 31.

Meanwhile, National Bank said Wednesday that Boyd Group Services' ( BYDGF ) Q4 Results were below estimates and the guidance for Q1 was soft.

Boyd reported Q4 revenue of $740 million, a touch below the NBF $757.1 million forecast and consensus estimate of $742.4 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $94.2 million on 12.7% margins, below the NBF $98.4 million forecast and the Street's $95.4 million. The adjusted EPS of $0.93 missed the NBF $1.15 estimate and the Street's $1.10, the bank noted.

"While results in Q4 and guidance for Q1 were lower than anticipated, we note that at least some pressure on the top line is attributable to the transient impact of weather conditions," the analysts said.

National Bank has a sector perform rating and a price target of C$310.

"Further, gross margin improvement was closely aligned with our expectations, up 120 bps y/y to 45.5% (NBF: 45.4%), while pressure on operating leverage was largely attributable to better-thanexpected execution on the M&A pipeline with a record number of single locations added," the analysts added.

Therefore, the analysts believe the implications of the miss and soft guidance are not as overtly negative as they might otherwise have been.

National Bank will review its estimates and target following the conference call.

Price: 300.05, Change: -14.86, Percent Change: -4.72