Insteel Industries, Inc. reported Thursday net earnings of $2.4 million, or $0.13 per diluted share for Q1 of fiscal 2013 compared with a net loss of $0.2 million in the same period a year ago.
Insteel said that its financial results for Q1 of fiscal 2013 were favorably impacted by widening spreads between selling prices and raw material costs relative to the prior year quarter together with higher shipments and lower unit conversion costs. Capacity utilization for the quarter was 46 percent compared with 48 percent in Q4 of fiscal 2012 and 42 percent in the prior year quarter reflecting continued weakness in Insteel's construction end-markets.
Net sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 increased 1.3 percent to $85.9 million from $84.8 million in the same period a year ago. Shipments increased 5.5 percent from the prior year quarter while average selling prices decreased 4 percent. On a sequential basis, shipments decreased 12.6 percent from Q4 of fiscal 2012 while average selling prices increased 0.5 percent.
"Market conditions for the first quarter were stronger than anticipated during what is typically our weakest period of the year due to the seasonal downturn in construction activity," commented H.O. Woltz III, Insteel's president and CEO. "We are encouraged by the ongoing recovery in the housing market, which may improve the prospects for a broader upturn in nonresidential construction activity and demand for our products. Our outlook for the remainder of the year, however, remains cautious in view of the high degree of economic uncertainty. Nevertheless, we expect that our results will be favorably impacted by the recently completed reconfiguration of our welded wire reinforcement operations and the ramp up of our engineered structural mesh expansion."