A. O. Smith Corporation Q3 2008 Earnings Call Transcript

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2008-10-16 09:42:09.0

Tags: Call Transcript, Earnings, Unit Volume, Operational Accounting, Finance, Seeking Alpha, Call Transcript, Earnings, Unit Volume, Operational Accounting, Finance, Seeking Alpha

Question-and-Answer Session

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Michael Schneider with Robert W. Baird.

Michael Schneider - Robert W. Baird

Maybe first we could just start with the Water Products division. Can you remind us now, as we exit 2008, after all of the pre-buys and other dynamics what the commercial and residential split is in revenue and then operating income as well so we can get a sense of what the mix implications are for 2009?

Paul Jones

For competitive reasons we would rather not talk about what those are. The unit volumes are out there, I think you can get that. We have about a 50% share on the residential side and we have been able to move up to north of that on the standard and commercial side. But, we are not going to talk about the margin splits and I’m sure you understand why.

Michael Schneider - Robert W. Baird

Yes and well we have to make an assumption about average price points. Could you give us a sense of what your average price point or revenue per unit is in residential versus commercial so we can make those assumptions?

Paul Jones

I really can’t. It is all over the map. We make some commercial water heaters that are five gallons and we’ve shipped a couple of huge 6,000-gallon commercial stainless steel units to Dubay a couple of weeks ago, so it is all over the map, everything in between. We have cranked up our export business there and that is doing quite well for us. I know we’re hitting you with some caution. I would just remind you that we are conservative folks. It is very difficult right now to forecast given all the volatility and all the different mixed signals that are coming at us, so we tend to go with a rather cautious or conservative approach.

Michael Schneider - Robert W. Baird

That leads to my next question on the commercial water heater side. If you look at light commercial construction included in the chart you have laid out in your presentation it has been down and deteriorating really for two years and has been negative this year. Yet your commercial products, I would guess, are probably having record quarters right now. Is it exports, is it market share gains, is it just the price increases that are distorting negative volume shipments? Can you just give us an color to explain why we haven’t seen it yet in your commercial business?

 

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