Q4 2023 Earnings Summary
Reported on Jan 4, 2025 (After Market Close)
Pre-Earnings Price$241.90Last close (Jan 31, 2024)
Post-Earnings Price$242.98Open (Feb 1, 2024)
Price Change
$1.08(+0.45%)
- Significant progress in the automotive segment: Littelfuse's automotive business has made progress by scaling operations to align with car builds, resulting in improved margins and benefits starting to come through. The company is also investing in current sensing technology, which is expected to contribute to sales later in 2024 and into 2025.
- Strong balance sheet supporting strategic M&A: Littelfuse has a strong balance sheet and continues to focus on strategic M&A opportunities to drive long-term growth. The company has a good pipeline of opportunities to diversify into new end markets and technology niches, aiming to sustain and grow its organic growth pattern.
- Expected return to growth in 2024: The company has made significant progress in clearing excess inventory, estimating that about 70% of excess inventory in distribution channels has been worked through. As inventory levels stabilize, Littelfuse expects a return to growth during 2024, which will be a tailwind for the company.
- The book-to-bill ratio in the electronics segment remains well below 1, indicating continued weak demand and prolonged inventory destocking, with no significant improvement from the third quarter to the fourth quarter.
- The Transportation segment is facing margin pressures, particularly in the commercial vehicle business, where destocking continues and sales are down more than normal trends; volume recovery is crucial for margin recovery, but it's taking longer than expected.
- Visibility on the timing of recovery is challenging, as the extended destocking has led to low utilization rates and depressed factory loadings, making it difficult to predict when the company will return to growth.