American Axle & Manufacturing Q1 EPS Beats By $0.07

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. AXL disclosed net income of $61.1 million for the first quarter compared to $53.1 million in the year-ago quarter representing 14.85 percent year-over-year growth. Similarly, its earnings also grew 14.7 percent to $0.78 a share from $0.68 a share in the corresponding quarter of the last year. That was $0.07 a share higher than the Street analysts' expectations of $0.71 a share.

American Axle & Manufacturing reported flat revenue of $969.2 million in the first quarter versus $969.1 million in the previous year quarter. This was lower than the analysts' predictions of $998.76 million.

David Dauch, its Chairman and CEO, reacted to the results to say, "Our strong first quarter financial results position AAM to achieve our full year 2016 financial targets. As we look forward to the remainder of 2016, we remain focused on supporting the launch of programs in our new business backlog and advancing AAM's product technology to drive long-term profitable growth and shareholder value."

AAM's Non-GM sales were $323.2 million in the first quarter, down from $328.9 million in the first quarter of 2015. Its content-per-vehicle was $1,611 versus $1,676 in the first quarter of 2015 representing a drop of 4 percent.

The company disclosed its Board has given an authorization to buy back a maximum of $100 million worth of shares as part of its overall capital allocation strategy. Dauch said that "The authorization of a share repurchase program by the Board of Directors demonstrates the confidence in AAM's long-term growth and strong free cash flow generation as well as our commitment to create and deliver value to our shareholders."