READING, Pa. – Carpenter Technology, maker of specialty alloys with operations in Berks County, reviewed Tuesday a plan to boost results.
Demand is high, and Chief Executive Officer Tony Thene said the company can sell every ton of metal it makes. Carpenter sells to the aerospace, consumer, defense, transportation and other industries.
“Underlying demand fundamentals are very strong,” Thene said at Carpenter’s Investor Day presentation. “It is our job to do everything we can do to fulfill that demand.”
Yet shares in the company fell 8.4% Tuesday.
Carpenter has been raising prices as demand rises, according to the presentation.
Thene, who is also the company’s president, also addressed “green” environmental goals. Sustainable practices and profit are “not mutually exclusive,” he said.
“We’re not a political organization,” Thene said. “We’re here to make money,” he said, adding that using recycled scrap, recycling, buying carbon-neutral electricity and reducing how much water the company uses promote sustainability and help Carpenter Technology make money.
The Philadelphia-based company projected during its Investor Day that it will increase adjusted operating income from $243 million in fiscal year 2019 to $460 million to $500 million in fiscal 2027. Adjusted operating income excludes certain items that the company considers to be one-time or unusual.
Carpenter’s largest plant is in Berks County. Other U.S. locations include Latrobe, Pennsylvania; Athens, Alabama, and Hartsville, South Carolina.
The company plans to continue its “attractive dividend,” according to the presentation. The quarterly dividend is 20 cents per share. The dividend yield was 1.6% as the presentation started.
Shares started to drop during the presentation, which began at 9:15 a.m.
Thene said the company is positioned to make money because it only operates in high value, high growth and high margin markets.
“It’s extremely tough to replicate what we do,” he said.
Shares in Carpenter Technology are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CRS. At the close of regular trading, they were at $45.88, down from the $50.10 close Monday. In the last 52 weeks, the shares have traded as high as $54.89 and as low as $24.76.
At the current price, the company’s market capitalization (share price times number of shares outstanding) is $2.3 billion.
