Insteel Industries, Inc. announced financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended October 3, 2020.
Net earnings for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 were $7.4 million compared to a net loss of $1.8 million in the same period a year ago. Net sales increased 21.9 percent to $138.2 million from $113.4 million in the prior year quarter driven by a 27.7 percent increase in shipments that offset a 4.6 percent decrease in average selling prices. On a sequential basis, shipments increased 12.0 percent from the third quarter of fiscal 2020 and average selling prices increased 1.1 percent.
In a press release, the company said Insteel's results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 benefitted from robust demand in the company's construction markets and a rebound in spreads between selling prices and raw material costs from depressed levels of a year ago. Shipments in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 were at the highest quarterly level on record for the company.
For the full fiscal year 2020, net earnings increased to $19.0 million from $5.6 million in the prior year. Net sales increased 3.7 percent to $472.6 million from $455.7 million in the prior year driven by a 17.3 percent increase in shipments that offset an 11.5 percent decrease in average selling prices.
As for an outlook, H.O. Woltz III, Insteel's president and CEO, commented, "Looking ahead to fiscal 2021, we expect our financial results will remain vulnerable to uncertain market conditions depending on the strength and direction of the US economic recovery. The latest forecasts for non-residential construction indicate a bottoming or modest improvement, but the sustainability of those trends is not yet clear. Public construction has not experienced the level of weakness forecast at the onset of the pandemic, although the impact varies widely from state to state. Federal action on new transportation spending or proposed state budget relief has the potential to be a positive catalyst if implemented by the US Congress."