Maumee-based Dana Inc. posted improved earnings and sales in the second quarter as customer production schedules smoothed out at the auto and heavy truck part-makers.
The company also announced a contract to provide e-axles for a future electric pickup truck, signaling that its electrification strategy in the auto industry is gaining traction.
Dana is a global supplier of axles and drivelines to the transportation and heavy equipment industries, including producing systems for electric vehicles.
Sales in the quarter jumped 6 percent to $2.75 billion, an increase of $162 million over the year-earlier second quarter that ended June 30.
Net income attributable to Dana totaled $30 million in the quarter, a bump of $22 million over the second quarter of 2022, the company noted in its earnings filing Friday.
Dana posted adjusted EBITDA of $243 million, an $81 million or 50 percent improvement over the year earlier. EBITDA is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a frequently used measure of operating performance.
Dana CEO James Kamsickas said the company showed the improvements despite numerous resource-draining product launches for traditional and electrified programs.
“The challenging production environment has persisted, but we have positioned ourselves well to take advantage as supply chains and customer order patterns continue to stabilize,” he said Friday.
The previous two years were marked by major disruptions of customer supply chains, causing suppliers such as Dana to start and slow parts production as well.
Dana supplies axles to Jeep’s Toledo Assembly Complex, where Wrangler SUVs and Gladiator mid-sized trucks are built.
During an earnings call Friday with equity analysts, Mr. Kamsickas said Dana has won a major future contract with an undisclosed North American automaker to produce its so-called e-axle for a new pickup truck program.
Asked by analysts, Mr. Kamsickas said he couldn’t talk name the customer nor talk about potential volumes from the new electrified pickup program. That would be up to the customer to reveal, he said.
However, he said it was another win for Dana’s growing electrification business that is increasingly complementing the products it designs and supplies to the traditional, gas, and diesel-powered transportation industry.
Dana would begin supplying the e-axles plus some thermal controls and ancillary products for the program at least three years from now. In answer to an analyst question, Mr. Kamsickas said the timing of the contract is outside the normal three years of backlog the company announces.
Oppenheimer & Co. Senior Research Analyst Noah Kaye said the new award further validates Dana’s big investment in electrification.
“It’s a significant proof point for [Dana’s] product integration and technology strategy,” Mr. Kaye said.
In 2022, sales of e-axles, electric motors, inverters, and related heat-management products represented just 6 percent, or $600 million, of total company sales of $10.2 billion.
But by the end of the decade, Dana expects its electrification sales to be $3 billion as both commercial truck makers and carmakers roll out more electric vehicles to meet state and federal clean regulatory requirements.
About 50 percent of Dana’s sales come from the off-road and commercial trucking industries, Mr. Kaye said.
The new award with a pickup truck maker shows that Dana is smoothly diversifying its electrification portfolio to that market as well, he said.
First Published July 28, 2023, 6:22 p.m.
