NCI Reports Third-Quarter 2016 Financial and Operating Results

  • Third-quarter revenue of $80 million, EPS of $0.24;
  • Strong bookings of $236 million, 3.0 times revenue;
  • Company’s total backlog at $663 million, a four-year high; and
  • NCI issues guidance for fourth quarter of 2016 and updates previously issued guidance for full fiscal year.

RESTON, Va.--()--NCI, Inc. (NASDAQ: NCIT), a leading provider of information technology (IT) and professional services and solutions to U.S. Federal Government agencies, today announced its financial and operating results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2016.

Third-quarter 2016 revenue exceeded the midpoint of management’s revenue guidance range issued last quarter. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) was at the high end of the guidance range.

Third-Quarter 2016 Results

For the three months ended September 30, 2016, revenue decreased by 3.1%, or $2.6 million, from the same period a year ago. This decrease was principally due to completed contracts and reductions in staffing and scope of work on certain contracts, partially offset by higher revenues derived under the PEO Soldier program, the Cyber Network Operations and Security Support (CNOSS) program, and new contract awards in the past year.

NCI’s PEO Soldier program accounted for $12.7 million, or 16.0% of revenue, in the third quarter of 2016, up $5.4 million from $7.3 million, or 8.8% of revenue, in the third quarter of 2015. NCI’s CNOSS program accounted for $9.9 million, or 12.4% of revenue, in the third quarter of 2016, up $4.5 million from $5.4 million, or 6.6% of revenue, in the third quarter of 2015.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA)1 for the third quarter was $7.0 million, or 8.8% of revenue, compared with $7.2 million, or 8.7% of revenue, for the same period in 2015. EBITDA margin for the third quarter of 2016 improved primarily as a result of higher direct labor contribution, more efficient absorption of indirect costs, and higher profit from the completion of contract closeouts.

Operating income for the third quarter of 2016 was $5.3 million compared with $5.4 million for the third quarter of 2015. Operating margin for the third quarter of 2016 was 6.6% compared with 6.5% for the third quarter of 2015. Operating margin increased as a result of the factors affecting EBITDA margin, and lower amortization of intangible assets compared with the same period last year.

Net income for the third quarter of 2016 was $3.3 million compared with $3.2 million for the third quarter last year. Net income increased due to the factors affecting operating margin and a lower tax provision in the quarter.

Days sales outstanding (DSO) were 62 days at September 30, 2016, compared with 60 days at June 30, 2016.

Cash flow provided by operating activities for the three months ended September 30, 2016, was $8.3 million. Capital expenditures were $1.3 million for the three months ended September 30, 2016, resulting in free cash flow of $7.0 million for the third quarter of 2016, 2.1 times net income.

NCI reported total backlog at September 30, 2016, of $663 million, of which $173 million was funded, compared with total backlog at June 30, 2016, of $507 million, of which $120 million was funded. Net bookings for the third quarter were $236 million, equating to 3.0 times revenue. Trailing 12-month bookings were $486 million, equating to 1.5 times revenue.

Among new and recompete business awards in the third quarter:

  • An $87 million, five-year, firm-fixed-price contract with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The contract continues support of CMS’ Comprehensive Error Rate Testing (CERT) program by NCI and its wholly-owned subsidiary AdvanceMed. The expanded scope of work includes request and receipt of medical documentation for Medicare claims billed and call center support;
  • Two new cost-plus-fixed-fee TEIS III task orders totaling $73 million for U.S. Army facilities in both the continental U.S. and Pacific Rim. NCI will provide modernization and installation services for command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence/information technology (C4I/IT) infrastructure and systems;
  • A new $43 million award for agile software development services. The firm-fixed-price contract represents new work for a key federal civilian agency;
  • A $21 million, two-year, cost-plus-fixed-fee task order to continue providing network modernization for a DoD customer;
  • A $12 million, five-year, firm-fixed-price award to continue providing application development and support services to a DoD agency; and
  • An $11 million, two-year, firm-fixed-price task order. This award continues NCI’s network and communications support to Fort Stewart, Georgia, and expands it to other regional locations that will comprise the Southeast Regional Network Enterprise Center.

Management’s Outlook

Based on the company’s current contract backlog and management’s estimate of future tasking and contract awards, NCI is issuing guidance for its fourth quarter and updating guidance for full fiscal year 2016. The table below represents management’s current expectations about future financial performance based on information available at this time:

             
    Fourth Quarter     Fiscal Year
Fiscal Year 2016 Ending Ending
     

December 31, 2016

   

December 31, 2016

Revenue     $75 million–$81 million     $320 million–$326 million
Diluted EPS     $0.19–$0.21     $0.90–$0.92
Diluted projected share count     13.9 million     13.9 million
 

“Bookings in the third quarter were extremely strong, at 3.0 times revenue. Trailing 12-month bookings were $486 million, or 1.5 times revenue, with approximately 50% of third-quarter awards representing new business for NCI. These awards were equally distributed across our DoD and federal civilian clients. We’re especially encouraged by our recent agile software development award, representing an important win in this growing market,” said NCI’s president and CEO, Brian J. Clark.

“Revenue for the third quarter exceeded the midpoint of guidance we issued on last quarter’s call, and EPS hit the top end of guidance,” continued Clark. “While our third-quarter awards will strengthen NCI’s position in a number of key markets, we also will face challenges as we support the ramp up of the new work. These include startup costs, uncertainties regarding the timing of new contract revenue, and the continued competitive pressures in the marketplace. Finally, we still are pursuing potential transactions, including smaller, opportunistic acquisitions and transformative deals that would immediately add to NCI’s scale in the government IT and professional services market.”

Conference Call Information

As previously announced, NCI will conduct a conference call today at 4:30 p.m. EDT to discuss third-quarter 2016 results, issue guidance for the fourth quarter of 2016 and update the outlook for fiscal year 2016.

Analysts and institutional investors may listen to the conference call by dialing (888) 466-4582 (United States/Canada) or (719) 325-2497 (international) with pass code 2128092. The conference call will be provided simultaneously as a webcast through a link on the NCI website (www.nciinc.com).

A replay of the conference call will be available approximately two hours after the conclusion of the call through November 2, 2016, by dialing (844) 512-2921 (United States/Canada) or (412) 317-6671 (international) and entering pass code 2128092.

About NCI, Inc.:

NCI is a leading provider of enterprise solutions and services to U.S. defense, intelligence, health and civilian government agencies. The company has the expertise and proven track record to solve its customers’ most important and complex mission challenges through technology and innovation. NCI’s team of highly skilled professionals focuses on delivering cost-effective solutions and services in the areas of agile development and integration; cybersecurity and information assurance; engineering and logistics; big data and data analytics; IT infrastructure optimization and service management; and health and program integrity. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, NCI has approximately 2,000 employees operating at more than 100 locations worldwide. NCI: Trust. Integrity. Performance. For more information, visit www.nciinc.com or email investor@nciinc.com. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (@nciinc_) and LinkedIn.

1 NCI believes that information concerning EBITDA enhances overall understanding of its current financial performance, allowing management and investors to better assess NCI’s comparable financial results. This non-GAAP financial measure should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. NCI computes EBITDA as reflected in the reconciliation table at the end of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements and assumptions made in this press release that do not address historical facts constitute “forward-looking” statements that NCI believes to be within the definition in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements reflect our current views with respect to future events or our future financial or operational performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause our actual results or performance to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Many of these factors are beyond our ability to control or predict. Words such as “may,” “will,” “intends,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “projects,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue,” or “opportunity,” or the negative of these terms or words of similar import are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

The factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated include, but are not limited to, the following: our dependence on our contracts with federal government agencies, particularly within the U.S. Department of Defense, for substantially all of our revenue; a reduction in the overall U.S. Defense budget, volatility in spending authorizations for defense and intelligence-related programs by the U.S. Federal Government or a shift in spending to programs in areas where we do not currently provide services; federal government shutdowns (such as that which occurred during the federal government’s 1996 and 2014 fiscal years), other delays in the federal government appropriations process, or budgetary cuts resulting from congressional committee recommendations or automatic sequestration under the Budget Control Act of 2011 (as amended by the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 and the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014), risk of contract performance or termination; failure to achieve contract awards in connection with recompetes for present business and/or competition for new business; adverse results of federal government audits of our government contracts; government contract procurement (such as bid protest, small business set asides, etc.) and termination risks; competitive factors such as pricing pressures and competition to hire and retain employees (particularly those with security clearances); federal government agencies awarding contracts on a technically-acceptable/lowest-cost basis in order to reduce expenditures; failure to successfully identify and integrate future acquired companies or businesses into our operations or to realize any accretive or synergistic effects from such acquisitions or to effectively integrate acquisitions appropriate to the achievement of our strategic plans; economic conditions in the United States, including conditions that result from terrorist activities or war; material changes in laws or regulations applicable to our businesses, particularly legislation affecting (i) government contracts for services, (ii) outsourcing of activities that have been performed by the government, (iii) government contracts containing organizational conflict of interest (OCI) clauses, (iv) delays related to agency-specific funding freezes, (v) competition for task orders under government wide acquisition contracts (GWACs), agency-specific indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts and/or schedule contracts with the General Services Administration; and (vi) our own ability to achieve the objectives of near-term or long-range business plans, including internal systems failures. These and other risk factors are more fully discussed in the section titled “Risk Factors” in NCI's Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and from time to time, in other filings with the SEC, such as our Forms 8-K and Forms 10-Q.

The forward-looking statements included in this news release are only made as of the date of this news release, and NCI undertakes no obligation to publicly update any of the forward-looking statements made herein, whether as a result of new information, subsequent events or circumstances, or changes in expectations or otherwise.

 

NCI, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME

(UNAUDITED)

(in thousands, except per share data)

 
               

Three months ended

September 30,

Nine months ended

September 30,

2016 2015 2016 2015
 
Revenue $ 79,753 $ 82,310 $ 245,308 $ 249,077
 
Operating expenses:
Cost of revenue 66,305 68,677 204,213 207,832
General and administrative expenses 6,434 6,445 19,375 19,941
Depreciation and amortization 1,737 1,794 5,213 5,774
Acquisition and integration related expenses     6     428
 
Total operating expenses   74,476   76,922   228,801   233,975
 
 
Operating income 5,277 5,388 16,507 15,102
Interest expense, net   134   204   477   662
 
 
Income before income taxes 5,143 5,184 16,030 14,440
Provision for income taxes   1,882   2,013   6,206   5,818
 
Net income $ 3,261 $ 3,171 $ 9,824 $ 8,622
 
 
Earnings per common and common equivalent share:
Basic:
Weighted average shares outstanding 13,201 13,029 13,180 13,004
 
Net income per share $ 0.25 $ 0.24 $ 0.75 $ 0.66
 
 
Diluted:
 
Weighted average shares outstanding 13,857 13,697 13,863 13,659
 
Net income per share $ 0.24 $ 0.23 $ 0.71 $ 0.63
 
Cash dividend declared and paid per share   $ $ 0.15 $ 0.12
 
 

NCI, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(UNAUDITED)

(in thousands, except par values)

 
 
       
As of As of
September 30, December 31,
2016 2015
 
Assets:
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents $ 244 $ 233
Accounts receivable, net 53,332 60,044
Prepaid expenses and other current assets   3,979     3,447  
 
Total current assets 57,555 63,724
Property and equipment, net 6,338 6,698
Other assets 1,525 1,548
Deferred tax assets, net 38,066 38,789
Intangible assets, net 16,498 19,231
Goodwill   33,878     33,878  
 
Total assets $ 153,860   $ 163,868  
 
 
Liabilities and stockholders’ equity:
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable 11,226 19,693
Accrued salaries and benefits 17,613 18,977
Deferred revenue 2,312 2,217
Other accrued expenses   4,563     3,843  
 
Total current liabilities   35,714     44,730  
 
 
Long-term debt 10,000
Other long-term liabilities   2,622     2,578  
 
Total liabilities   38,336     57,308  
 
 
Stockholders’ equity:
Class A common stock, $0.019 par value—37,500 shares authorized; 9,952 shares issued and 9,035 shares outstanding as of September 30, 2016, and 9,843 shares issued and 8,961 shares outstanding as of December 31, 2015 189 187
Class B common stock, $0.019 par value—12,500 shares authorized; 4,500 shares issued and outstanding as of September 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015 86 86
Additional paid-in capital 77,727 76,569
Treasury stock at cost—917 shares of Class A common stock as of September 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015 (8,331 ) (8,331 )
Retained earnings   45,853     38,049  
 
Total stockholders’ equity   115,524     106,560  
 
 
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity $ 153,860   $ 163,868  
 
 

NCI, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(UNAUDITED)

(in thousands)

 
 
   

Nine months ended

September 30,

2016     2015
Cash flows from operating activities:
Net income $ 9,824 $ 8,622
Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:
Depreciation and amortization 5,213 5,774
Share-based compensation 769 1,036
Deferred income taxes 723 228
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
Accounts receivable, net 6,712 5,421
Prepaid expenses and other assets (509 ) 3,893
Accounts payable (8,467 ) (1,387 )
Accrued expenses and other liabilities   (504 )   (1,105 )
 
Net cash provided by operating activities   13,761     22,482  
 
 
Cash flows from investing activities:
Purchases of property and equipment (2,121 ) (1,537 )
Cash paid for acquisition, net of cash acquired       (56,657 )
 
Net cash used in investing activities   (2,121 )   (58,194 )
 
 
Cash flows from financing activities:
Borrowings under credit facility 126,303 146,395
Repayments on credit facility (136,303 ) (135,099 )
Proceeds from exercise of stock options 391 235
Repurchase of stock awards (53 )
Dividends paid   (2,020 )   (1,561 )
 
Net cash (used in) provided by financing activities   (11,629 )   9,917  
 
 
Net change in cash and cash equivalents 11 (25,795 )
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period   233     25,819  
 
Cash and cash equivalents, end of period $ 244   $ 24  
 
 
Supplemental disclosure of cash flow information:
Cash paid during the period for:
Interest $ 372   $ 588  
 
Income taxes $ 4,670   $ 2,871  
 
 

NCI, INC.

EBITDA Reconciliation Table

(UNAUDITED)

(in thousands)

 
 
   

Three months ended

September 30,

   

Nine months ended

September 30,

2016     2015 2016     2015
 
GAAP operating income $ 5,277 $ 5,388 $ 16,507 $ 15,102
Depreciation and amortization 1,737 1,794 5,213 5,774
                       
 
EBITDA 7,014 7,182 21,720 20,876
EBITDA margin   8.8%       8.7%   8.8%       8.4%
 

Contacts

NCI, Inc.
Investor Contact
Lawrence Delaney, Jr.
Investor Relations Advisor
(714) 734-5142
or
Media Contact
Joelle Shreves
Vice President, Marketing & Corporate Communications
(703) 707-6904

Release Summary

NCI will conduct a conference call at 4:30 pm ET today to discuss third quarter 2016 results, issue guidance for the fourth quarter of 2016 and update the outlook for fiscal year 2016.

Contacts

NCI, Inc.
Investor Contact
Lawrence Delaney, Jr.
Investor Relations Advisor
(714) 734-5142
or
Media Contact
Joelle Shreves
Vice President, Marketing & Corporate Communications
(703) 707-6904