It isn’t such a great summer so far for the West Michigan Whitecaps, the Class A minor league baseball team affiliated with the Detroit Tigers. With 9 wins and 20 losses, they are running considerably behind their 2009 win-loss percentage of .593. Fortunately, we have other home teams to root for here in West Michigan, and two of them, Gentex Corp. and JCI, reported quarterly financials this week that give much to cheer about.
The nice thing about a horrible year is that it gives you a basis for really great comparables. Gentex is the perfect example:
• Q2 net sales increased by 72% over the same period last year;
• Q2 record income from operations increased by 203%;
• Q2 net income was up 179%.
Gentex also says that it is keeping costs under control in spite of the increased volume, with the result that the gross profit margin is up from 30.5% in Q2 2009 to 36.7% most recently.
JCI reported that in its FYQ3, automotive net sales were up 43% over 2009 and net income swung from a $14 million loss to a positive $171 million. New programs are adding to its engineering and launch costs, but overall, JCI too is reaping the benefits of the crash diet of 2009. Unfortunately for JCI, its overall performance did not meet analysts' expectations, so shares fell even though the corporation more than doubled its earnings. The Building Efficiency segment was the party pooper, with net sales up only 2% over last year and profitability flat. Still, the auto team is doing its part, and we will look for these companies to stay the course through the second half, as light vehicle production remains relatively strong.