Smart Sand Inc (SND) 2020 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to Smart Sand Third Quarter's Earnings Call.

(Operator Instructions)

Please be advised that today's conference may be recorded.

(Operator Instructions)

I will now hand the conference over to your speaker today, Josh Jayne, Finance Manager.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us for Smart Sand's Third Quarter 2020 Earnings Call. On the call today, we have Chuck Young, Founder and Chief Executive Officer; Lee Beckelman, Chief Financial Officer; and John Young, Chief Operating Officer.

Before we begin, I would like to remind all participants that our comments made today will include forward-looking statements, which are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to materially differ from those anticipated. For a complete discussion of such risks and uncertainties. Please refer to the company's press release and our documents on file with the SEC.

Smart Sand disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any financial projections or forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise. This conference call contains time-sensitive information and is accurate only as of the live broadcast today, November 10, 2020.

Additionally, we will refer to the non-GAAP financial measures of adjusted EBITDA and contribution margin during this call. These measures, when used in combination with our GAAP results, provide us and our investors with useful information to better understand our business. Please refer to our most recent press release or our public filings for our reconciliations of adjusted EBITDA to net income and contribution margin to gross profit. I would now like to turn the call over to our CEO, Chuck Young.

Thanks, Josh. and good morning. We all know the market continue to be challenging in the third quarter. Even so, Smart Sand was able to deliver improved operating results over the second quarter lows. We were also able to keep pursuing our long-term strategy to be the premier supplier of Northern White frac sand from the mine to the wellsite. And we did it by acquiring strategic assets at a very attractive valuation.

The frac sand market did show some signs of improvement in the third quarter. Sales volume increased from 208,000 tons to 309,000. Yes, we're still below pre-pandemic activity levels, but we're encouraged by the recent pickup in activity. Barring a dramatic drop in the oil and gas prices, we expect fourth quarter activity to be consistent with third quarter or perhaps even a little better.

As always, we're very focused on managing our costs and operating efficiently. Even in this low volume environment, our cost initiatives and reductions in capital expenditure have paid off. We've been able to generate cash flow from operations, and we've maintained good cash balances and liquidity. We now have $15 million in cash and a total of $28 million in available liquidity.

We couldn't have managed through these difficult times without the effort of our employees. I want to thank all of our employees, once again, for their continued commitment to Smart Sand. We've managed to weather today's volatile operating cycles in the industry better than most of our peers, and how: through our prudent capital structure and operating philosophy. As a result, we're able to continue pursuing strategic opportunities that will allow us to capitalize on the recovery when it finally occurs.

In September, we acquired the oil and gas proppant segments of Eagle Materials, who was in all stock, no cash, no debt deal. I'm excited about the long-term potential of this acquisition for Smart Sand. This was a unique opportunity. We added a significant amount of high-quality sand mining and logistics assets to our company, and we did it at very little cost. As a result, our sales have already started growing. We've begun moving sand through our Peru transload facility, and we expect the mining operations at Utica to resume during the fourth quarter. This acquisition broadens our mine to wellsite capabilities in 3 ways: It adds high-quality sand mining and processing assets. We gain access to enhanced logistics options that includes direct access to an additional Class I rail line, BNSF, and we can expand our service offerings to existing customers while providing opportunities to broaden our customer base. This acquisition gives us a greater access into the western operating basins of the United States. That not only increases our geographic coverage, it also opens the door to new customers in these markets. These additional mining and logistics resources help secure our ability to be the preferred provider of Northern White sand in the proppants market. Best of all, we did it without risking our balance sheet. We remain committed to our core principles of a strong balance sheet and low leverage levels.

We believe consolidation will continue to play a part in the inevitable recovery. We're open to considering more acquisition opportunities like Eagle. As this transaction demonstrates, we're looking for strategic opportunities that attract the valuations. For us to play in any consolidation, we'll need to add assets that increase long-term value for our company and our shareholders. We will only consider consolidation with a purpose.

Testing on our SmartPath transloader has been completed. We now have 2 fleets equipped with it and ready for deployment. The SmartPath transloader is unlike anything in the industry. It's a self-contained system designed to work with bottom dump trailers. It features a drive-over conveyor surge bin and dust collection system. So it's well suited to perform any frac job.

The SmartSystems offerings give our customers the capability to unload, store and deliver proppant at the wellsite, plus the ability to do rapidly set up, take down and transport the entire system. Here's what this capability means to customers, greater efficiencies, more flexibility, enhanced safety and greater reliability.

We've also developed a proprietary software program, with a SmartSystems tracker. It allows our SmartSystems customers to monitor silo specific information. Here's what that information includes: location, proppant type and proppant inventory. Our SmartPath transloader perfectly complements our SmartDepot silos system. It's a great addition to our arsenal of smart products, products that are designed to help E&Ps and oil field service companies get the most out of every dollar they spend. It saves them time without sacrificing efficiency or safety.

While the market is still depressed, it looks like we may be coming off the bottom. We'll continue to stay in close contact with our customers. We're partners with our customers. We work with them to ensure that we're ready to move forward together. We'll continue to maintain our strong balance sheet, we're paying down debt and maintaining surplus liquidity. We're excited about our future and for a number of reasons. Sales volume are on the mend, our new mining operations in Illinois complement our existing high-quality assets in Wisconsin, and we've expanded our last mile offering with a SmartPath transloader. So we're poised to capture more market share than ever before.

In sum, we'll continue to keep an eye on our future and we'll always keep our employee and shareholder interest in mind in everything we do. And with that, I'll turn the call over to our CFO, Lee Beckelman.

Thanks, Chuck. As Chuck stated, it looks like we may have hit the bottom late in the second quarter as the third quarter started to see modest improvements in sales volumes. And we are excited about the opportunities that come along with our acquisition of the Eagle Materials' proppant business. When we acquired this business, we did it cash-free and debt-free. Along with the acquisition, we executed a liquidity support facility, whereby we may draw on the facility to support working capital needs for up to 1 year, and then repay that over the subsequent 3 years or any time before. This ensures that this acquisition will not be a burden on our cash flows as we get it back online and start generating revenues.

As Chuck discussed, we believe there may be additional opportunities for consolidation in our industry. And we are interested in playing a part in this consolidation. However, as we have demonstrated with this acquisition, we are committed to low leverage levels, a prudent capital structure, generating positive cash flow from operations and maintaining adequate liquidity levels. So we will not risk our balance sheet to pursue growth opportunities. Any acquisition we may consider will need to provide us with strategic long-term assets at a reasonable valuation and will not risk our strong balance sheet and liquidity.

Now I'll go through some of the highlights of the third quarter. Starting with sales volume. We sold approximately 309,000 tons in the third quarter, a 49% increase over the second quarter volumes of 208,000, but still well below pre-pandemic activity levels. While the volumes during the third quarter were still low, activity levels did pick up during the quarter from the low point reached in June. Nevertheless, these low volumes remain the primary driver behind much of our results for the quarter.

Total revenues for the third quarter 2020 were $23.4 million compared to $26.1 million in the second quarter. Revenues were lower in the third quarter due primarily to lower shortfall revenue, partially offset by higher sales volumes.

Our cost of sales for the quarter were $18.2 million compared to $11.9 million last quarter. The increase in cost of sales is primarily attributable to higher freight cost as more volumes are delivered in basin.

Total operating expenses were $6.4 million compared to $5.5 million last quarter. The increase in operating expenses was primarily attributable to $875,000 in incremental costs related to the acquisition, partially offset by other reductions in SG&A due to ongoing cost containment measures. Included in net income for the quarter is a noncash bargain purchase gain of $40 million. This is a gain related to our acquisition of the Eagle Materials' proppant business. We retained outside valuation experts to help us determine the fair value of the assets acquired. Fair value for accounting purposes is based on the highest and best use of the assets required. Ultimately, the fair value of the net assets required was approximately $42 million, which exceeds our purchase price of $2 million and results in us recording this gain on a bargain purchase.

This is a nontaxable gain. We removed this gain from our non-GAAP reporting metrics. Our expected tax rate for the full year 2020 is 100% of pretax net income, excluding the nontaxable gain on bargain purchase. This full year tax rate varies from our normal 20% guidance as a result of the bargain purchase gain and NOL pushbacks allowed by the Cares Act.

Net income was $36.3 million in the quarter, which includes $39.9 million in bargain purchase gain, income tax expense of $1.9 million and an operating loss of $1.2 million. For the third quarter 2020, contribution margin was $10.4 million and adjusted EBITDA was $6.1 million compared to the second quarter contribution margin of $19.3 million and adjusted EBITDA of $15.6 million. The decrease sequentially was primarily due to shortfall revenue recognized in the second quarter.

For the third quarter, we spent $1 million in capital investments. Year-to-date, we have generated $22.2 million in operating cash flows and spent $7.4 million on capital investments, which have primarily been on new SmartSystem units. We currently expect our cash flow from operations will continue to exceed our capital expenditures for the full year 2020.

During the quarter, we didn't use our revolver and still have no outstanding borrowings. We ended the quarter with $11 million in cash. Our current cash balance is $15 million as we receive cash payments from some of our contract customers for use on future volumes. Between cash and our availability on our credit facilities, we currently have approximately $28 million in available liquidity.

Our CapEx budget remains reduced, and currently, we expect full year capital expenditures to be less than $10 million. We continue to actively manage our near-term cash flows to try to be in line with our expected cash receipts. We do not expect to have any borrowings on our ABL revolver in the fourth quarter. In terms of guidance for the fourth quarter, we expect sales volumes to be up 15% to 20% from the third quarter levels. And at these levels, we expect to have positive adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter. This concludes our prepared comments, and we will now open the call for questions.

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Stephen Gengaro with Stifel.

So 2 questions about Appalachia. And the first being the purchase of the Chevron assets by EQT, how that might impact you? And then second, with the Eagle transaction, I'm just sort of thinking about the in-basin penetration in Appalachia being pretty small. And what kind of opportunities you see there for growth over the next year or 2.

So I'll let John start that one.

Okay. So Stephen, yes. So on EQT, very strong relationship there. So as we see their growth, we view that as positive for us. You probably saw in the quarter that we did renew our agreement with EQT. And so we're relatively confident that, that will benefit Smart Sand down the road as they integrate those assets.

With regard to the Appalachia and I think your question was on regional sand. One of the challenges that Appalachia has is in developing regional sand is -- generally, there's not a lot of assets that can be developed easily. There's a lot of geographical concerns near these basins, Appalachia, named after the Appalachian Mountains. So there's a lot of mountains in and around there. So we think that it will be more difficult to develop sand mines in comparison to, say, the Permian Basin where the sand is everywhere, and there's a relatively easy permitting regime in place down there.

So we think Appalachia is a good growth prospect for us. We think that by adding the Eagle Materials' assets that those give us additional ways to get our sand in there competitively. And we're excited about the opportunity to continue growing Appalachia.

And then just 1 follow-up. Thinking about the accounts receivable balance and the shortfall revenue in the quarter, I think that sort of normal shortfall revenue and collection should be on normal schedule. Is that reasonable?

Yes. The shortfall revenues are from contracts that are currently in force and would be processed in a normal due course that we recognize.

(Operator Instructions)

Our next question comes from Lucas Pipes with B. Riley Securities.

This is actually Dan Day on for Lucas. Just wanted to get some color around maybe what we could be thinking about for an uptick in sales volumes with these new mines. I think you said in the prepared remarks that they're sort of ramping up now and in 4Q. If I look back the last couple of years, like in a good year, you seem to be around 3 million tons annually, in sort of a weaker year, more like 2.5 million tons. Obviously, 2020 is -- put that to the side. But like, going forward, sort of what could we sort of think about for, like, a good year of sales volumes with these new mines in the fold?

Well, we're not giving guidance for 2021 yet. But as you can see in the fourth quarter, we guided to 15% to 20% increase. And so we feel good about the fourth quarter and where it's going. I think we need to get into early 2021 to see activities levels pick back up. But I think it's not unreasonable thing that we could not -- we could get back to pre-pandemic levels or better on a run rate in the second half of 2021 and going into 2022, but that's depending on oil prices, the current political environment and many other factors. It's really kind of how well the economy responds post pandemic and a lot of factors that it's really too early to factor in to give you good guidance on the 2021 and beyond that.

Yes. I understand. Anything you think about as far as, like, differences in cost structure between your Oakdale mine and the new ones?

We would add on the logistics, just the Eagle Materials mines add access to rail that we didn't have before, which helps us into different basins, is super important.

I think your question in terms of your cost structure, and John, you can add to this as well. But I think our goal would be to -- again, we see a lot of opportunity for that mine to be able to operate in the same fashion we do as Oakdale. And a large opportunity there. And so our goal will be to kind of drive it to be a very low cost, very efficient production.

Like Oakdale, we do most of our activity all at a single location. We're able to manage our wet plant with our dry plant pretty efficiently, we believe, over time. So we think that's going to be -- we're going to be able to achieve -- our goal would be able to achieve kind of similar cost per ton at Utica that we are being able to achieve at Oakdale.

Yes. The only thing I would add to that is the asset that we did buy there. Much of the equipment is very similar to what we're used to working at Oakdale. So we think we'll be able to drive the efficiencies up in Utica, the same way we've been able to drive them up in Oakdale because of our familiarity with that equipment.

Our next question comes from Stephen Gengaro with Stifel.

Just 2 quick ones. One, and I'm not sure -- I know you can't give a lot of color, but is there any update on the timing of the litigation? Or is it -- is there anything you can say there on timing?

Yes. We're not going to give updates on or give additional comments on litigation.

Okay. I just -- I figured that, but I wanted to check. And then just second, as we think about CapEx into next year, Lee, should we just sort of think about it relative to where our activity assumptions are for now? Is that a reasonable approach?

Yes, I'd agree that's a reasonable approach. I think in 2021, we're going to continue to be focused on really managing our capital efficiently. And our goal is to live within our cash flow. And so we're looking to basically from our cash flow from operations less our CapEx to continue to be positive in 2021, like we've managed in 2020.

And then maybe just one final one. I know it's hard to assess. But when you think about spot pricing in the market right now, are you seeing any direction in the market yet? I mean I seem to have heard it's stabilize and maybe slight positive. I'm just curious what your view was on that. And maybe any sense of what activity gains we might need to see on the frac side to see some more positive momentum?

Yes. So it's John here. So I think that from our view of spot pricing, I think it depends on the product, right? 40/70, certainly, there's still high demand for 40/70. Depending on the market, 100-mesh, the fine grade sands are still in demand. With regard to spot pricing, yes, I think that you get to a point where it's difficult for long-term players and folks who are concerned about their balance sheet to sell in those -- in the teens where we were seeing that before.

And so from a standpoint of seeing some stabilization, we haven't seen a huge amount of requests for irrational pricing, like we were seeing at the beginning of the pandemic. I think that as some of our peers come out of bankruptcy or are still working through that process, at some point, there has to be some rationality around the pricing.

And so from that respect, we've seen kind of spot pricing in the low 20s for the in demand products. And there's still not a huge market for some of the coarser products. And the real question is whether or not you end up selling them at the low pricing or not. We don't make a lot of coarse products, so it's not something we've really had to think about.

Our next question comes from Samantha Hoh with Evercore ISI.

Maybe, Lee, just to go back to your guidance on 4Q volumes to be up. Are you anticipating any shortfall revenue for next quarter?

Currently, we're not anticipating that, but it really depends on which customers take volumes and how that manages through. But right now, we're not expecting any significant shortfall volumes or revenues in the quarter.

So does that kind of imply that -- I mean, if you strip out the 3Q shortfall revenue, but on a maybe apples-to-apples basis with volumes trending higher, do you think maybe contribution margin on a per ton basis has bottomed?

No, I think that's fair. I think right now, again, with pricing, I think, kind of bottoming them out, kind of what John was talking about on spot prices, et cetera, I think we could -- if current activity levels stay consistent or improve into 2021, yes, I would say that contribution margin has bottomed.

Okay. And then just one last one. I think I might have missed some of this in your prepared remarks. But in Utica, it sounds like you're resuming mining operations there. It kind of strikes me as this might be one of the first Northern White mines to be reactivated. Is that the case as far as you know? And then also, what's the time frame in terms of getting operations back up at that mine?

Yes. I mean, I would say, and John and Chuck can chime in, but I think we are probably one of the first ones to bring back on other Northern White production. One of the -- as Chuck alluded to earlier, one of the advantages of Utica it's on the BNSF, and that gives us access into other markets that we may not be able to get as efficiently out of Oakdale. So it's very complementary to our Oakdale business. And yes, we have actually started staffing up and building up to be able to start producing sand at Utica this quarter.

So we might actually see sale contribution this quarter or late in the quarter, maybe and then well into next year.

Yes. And I think going forward, I don't think we're necessarily going to ever report where our volumes are coming from, whether it's Utica or Oakdale. But yes, we do expect to happily have sales at Utica add to our volumes this quarter and going forward into 2021.

It's one thing making the sand, but a huge part of making the sand is also finding an efficient way to move it to the basin it's going to get to, and the Utica gives us some great options there, Utica plant.

Our next question comes from [Jonathan Kaplan], [Kaplan Capital Management].

Congratulations on a good quarter and managing through this difficult time. The one thing -- I love the story about Smart Sand and what you guys are doing. The one thing that really concerns me or I find really troubling is the continued increase in accounts receivable. I've actually never come across a company that had an accounts receivable that's equal or almost equal to its market cap. I'm just trying to get an understanding of how that's going to resolve itself. I mean, why it keeps increasing and how it's going to get resolved over time and when it's going to start trending downward?

Well, you've got to remember, and it's fully disclosed in our financials that I believe $54 million of that account receivable balance is related to our litigation with one of our customers. So that balance built up based on what they owe us contractually under the contract, and that's under dispute and under litigation. So -- and so that is part of that buildup over the last 12 months. What you see from the second quarter and the third quarter and the buildup of receivables is really just from the increase in activity. And a lot of that activity increase, actually 40% of our volumes in the third quarter were sold in September. So a lot of that activity get built up and receivable in September, which we would see on a normal course to turn into cash in the fourth quarter. So as sales start to build back up, we will see some buildup in receivables, but we got a bigger bump at the end of the third quarter because our volumes start to pick up in the third quarter in September. But again, $54 million of those receivables are based on the litigation we currently have.

And there's no time frame on the -- when that litigation will get resolved, correct?

No. We don't give any comments as to terms of where that litigation is.

I'm not showing any further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the call back over to Chuck Young for closing remarks.

Thank you for joining Smart Sand's Third Quarter 2020 Earnings Call. Stay safe.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.