Trimble Inc.’s transportation revenue decreased 3% year-over-year to $155 million during the fourth quarter.
The company’s transportation segment was adversely impacted by supply chain challenges both at Trimble and its OEM customers, David Barnes, chief financial officer, said during an earnings call Wednesday.
“On the cost side, we experienced meaningful component inflation and high freight costs, and we incurred costs related to realigning our product portfolio toward available components,” Barnes said. “The leading indicators from our transportation business continue to give us confidence that we are on the path to better annual recurring revenue and margin trends.”
Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 62 cents and revenue of $926 million, beating consensus estimates of 61 cents per share and revenue of $889.8 million.
Trimble also reported fourth-quarter 2021 net income of $157.8 million, up 1.4% compared to the fourth quarter of 2020.
| Trimble Inc. | Q4/21 | Q4/20 | Y/Y Gross Change | Y/Y % Change |
| Total Revenue | $926 | $830 | $96 | 12% |
| Transportation Revenue | $155 | $159.8 | -$4.8 | -3% |
| Buildings/Infrastructure Revenue | $365.1 | $321.4 | $43.7 | 14% |
| Geospatial Revenue | $221.1 | $193.5 | $27.6 | 15% |
| Resources/Utilities Revenue | $183.8 | $155.3 | $28.5 | 18% |
| Adjusted EBITDA | $222.9 | $216.5 | $6.4 | 3% |
| Operating Income | $204.5 | $196.7 | $7.8 | 4% |
| Operating Income % of Revenue | 22.1% | 23.7% | -1.6 | -160bps |
| Adjusted EPS | $0.62 | $0.61 | $0.01 | 1.6% |
Sunnyvale, California-based Trimble is a provider of technology solutions for trucking companies, freight brokerages and third-party logistics providers.
For the year, the company reported adjusted revenue of $3.66 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $2.66.
Trimble expects full-year earnings in the range of $2.75 to $2.95 per share, with revenue of $3.95 billion to $4.05 billion.
North America was Trimble’s largest market by revenue during the fourth quarter of 2021 at $461 million, an 11% increase compared with the fourth quarter of 2020.
Europe was the second-largest market during the fourth quarter of 2021, increasing 15% year-over-year to $288 million. Revenue in the Asia-Pacific region was $118 million in Q4 2021, a 5% year-over-year increase from the fourth quarter of 2020.
Despite lower year-over-year revenue in its transportation segment, Trimble expects the business to grow its annual recurring revenue and margin trends in the back half of 2022.
“We grew bookings year-on-year once again in Q4 and our net retention is at 100%,” Barnes said. “Our OEM customers are seeing stabilization in their own supply chain situation, and we expect that orders from them will pick up early this year. Finally, on the cost side we are introducing new products which will support improved gross margins.”
While Trimble executives remain optimistic about 2022 overall, they said they expect incremental margin growth to be 18% during the first half of the year, which is lower than what they predicted (a 25% to 30% increase) during the Q3 earnings call in November.
“We’re going to see more inflation than we had anticipated in the first half of 2022,” Barnes said. “Our outlook was a little more optimistic on that front; it’s now clear that the supply chain being choked up is going to last at least at some level through the end of next year.”
Watch: Trimble’s Peter Covach recently join the Taking the Hire Road podcast on FreightWaves to talk about driver recruitment and retention.
Click for more FreightWaves articles by Noi Mahoney.
More articles by Noi Mahoney
Canadian protesters continue to disrupt commercial traffic at Ambassador Bridge
Vaccine mandate has varied impact on Mexico cross-border trucking
