Sunday, October 21, 2018

Wisconsin Companies Total Reported Pretax Income in the First Half of 2018 Increased By a Robust 17%. But There Was Noise in the Earnings Numbers and When I Back Out Unusual One-Offs Not Relevant For Evaluating Company Operating Performance For Just 4 of These Companies, I Get a More Realistic As-Adjusted Total Pretax Income Increasing By a Much Lower 6% in the First Half of 2018

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As a Comparison, in Barack Obama's Last Year in Office in 2016, Wisconsin Companies Total Pretax Earnings Growth Was 34% Over That in Annual 2015  
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And Wisconsin Companies Had Their Total Pretax Earnings Increase By 2,620% During the Obama Administration, Going From $433 Mil in 2009 to $11.776 Bil in 2016
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From a review of US SEC filings, there were 34 Companies effectively headquartered in Wisconsin with stock market caps of more than $1 Bil several months ago.

My focus is on Pretax Income rather than on After-Tax Net Income because Income Taxes are simply a transfer of financial wealth between US Corporations and the US Federal, US State and Foreign Governments.  It has nothing whatsoever to do with Company Operating Performance.

The items I reversed out to better reflect Company Operating Performance were Fiserv's $232 mil Gain on Sale of Business in the First Half of 2018, Gardner Denver's Stock Compensation IPO Charge of $150 mil and its $50 mil Loss on Debt Extinguishment, both in the First Half of 2017, Johnson Control's $148 mil Restructuring and Impairment Charges in the First Half of 2017 and Actuant's $117 mil Impairment and Divestiture Costs in the First Half of 2017.

From a review of SEC filings, the chart below shows the Gold-Standard US GAAP Pretax Income (Loss) From Continuing Operations for the First Half of both 2018 and 2017 for these 34 Wisconsin Companies.
US US
GAAP GAAP
Pretax Pretax
Income Income
(Loss) (Loss)
6 Months 6 Months
Ended Ended
June June Better
July July (Worse)
Wisconsin Companies or Aug or Aug %
Market Caps Above $1 Bil 2018 2017  Change
mils $ mils $
Johnson Controls Intl plc              1,471              1,111 32%
Fiserv                 886                 679 30%
WEC Energy Group                 761                 885 -14%
Rockwell Automation                 552                 506 9%
Harley Davidson                 549                 679 -19%
Kohls                 484                 441 10%
Snap-On                 463                 432
MGIC Investment Corp                 418                 355
Oshkosh Corp                 345                 267
Manpower Group                 336                 296
A.O. Smith                 271                 248
Alliant Energy                 257                 237
Associated Bancorp                 191                 155
Artisan Partners Asset Mgt                 164                 119
Regal Beloit                 161                 131
Schneider National                 153                 113
Gardner Denver Holdings                 143               (199) 172%
Bemis                 123                 115
Generac Holdings                 118                   59
Sensient Technologies                   97                   59
Brady Corp                   82                   67
MGE Energy                   51                   55
Plexus Corp                   45                   59
Marcus Corp                   38                   31
REV Group                   32                   35
Marten Transport Ltd                   32                   29
Spectrum Brands Holdings                   26                   39
Douglas Dynamics                   25                   16
Physicians Realty Trust                   23                   17
Badger Meter                   18                   30
Rexnord                     3                   76
Quad/Graphics                   (2)                   47
Actuant                 (21)                 (90) 77%
Exact Sciences                 (75)                 (66)
Total all 34 Wisconsin Companies              8,220              7,032 17%

Also from a review of SEC filings, the chart below shows the Gold-Standard US GAAP Pretax Income (Loss) From Continuing Operations for Annual 2016, 2015 and 2009 for these Wisconsin Companies During the Obama Administration.
Obama
Obama Second Obama
Last Last First
Year Year Year
2016 2015 2009
Audited Audited Audited
Pretax Pretax Pretax
Income Income Income
(Loss) (Loss) (Loss)
From From From
Wisconsin Companies City State 2016 Continuing Continuing Continuing
Stock Market Caps Above $1 Bil HQs HQs FYE Operations Operations Operations
 $ mils  $ mils  $ mils
WEC Energy Group Milwaukee WI Dec 16              1,507              1,074                 591
Fiserv Brookfield WI Dec 16              1,422              1,089                 746
Johnson Controls Intl plc Milwaukee WI Sep 16              1,061                 931            (1,770)
Harley Davidson Milwaukee WI Dec 16              1,024              1,150                 179
Rockwell Automation Milwaukee WI Sep 16                 943              1,128                 274
Kohls Menomonee Falls WI Jan 17                 875              1,057              1,588
Snap On Kenosha WI Dec 16                 804                 712                 205
Manpower Group Milwaukee WI Dec 16                 701                 661                 (23)
MGIC Investment Corp Milwaukee WI Dec 16                 515                 488            (1,765)
A.O. Smith Milwaukee WI Dec 16                 463                 403                   91
Alliant Energy Madison WI Dec 16                 443                 461                 120
Bemis Neenah WI Dec 16                 351                 364                 240
Oshkosh Corp Oshkosh WI Sep 16                 309                 329            (1,180)
Associated Bancorp Green Bay WI Dec 16                 288                 270               (285)
Regal Beloit Beloit WI Dec 16                 266                 197                 138
Artisan Partners Asset Mgt Milwaukee WI Dec 16                 224                 259                   48
Sensient Technologies Milwaukee WI Dec 16                 167                 149                 123
Generac Holdings Waukesha WI Dec 16                 156                 123                   43
Brady Corp Milwaukee WI Jul 16                 127                 109                   97
MGE Energy Madison WI Dec 16                 118                 113                   79
Plexus Corp Neenah WI Sep 16                   87                 106                   45
Rexnord Milwaukee WI Mar 17                   82                   86                 119
Douglas Dynamics Milwaukee WI Dec 16                   64                   66                   14
Marcus Corp Milwaukee WI Dec 16                   61                   39                   27
Quad/Graphics Sussex WI Dec 16                   58               (925)                   55
Marten Transport Ltd Mondovi WI Dec 16                   57                   61                   29
Badger Meter Milwaukee WI Dec 16                   50                   41                   42
Gardner Denver Holdings Milwaukee WI Dec 16                 (63)               (367)               (138)
Joy Global Inc Milwaukee WI Oct16                 (87)            (1,177)                 683
Actuant Menomonee Falls WI Aug 16               (130)                   25                   27
Exact Sciences Madison WI Dec 16               (167)               (158)                   (9)
Total all 31 Wisconsin Companies            11,776              8,864                 433
Total Pretax Income % Increase
….. 2016 vs 2009 (Obama's Last Year vs First Year)
2,620%
Spectrum Brands Holdings Middleton WI Sep 16                 398                 193
 N/A 
Schneider National Green Bay WI Dec 16                 266                 239
 N/A 
REV Group Milwaukee WI Oct 16                   43                   35
 N/A 
Physicians Realty Trust Milwaukee WI Dec 16                   32                   13
 N/A 
Total all 35 Wisconsin Companies            12,515              9,344
Total Pretax Income % Increase
…2016 vs 2015 (Obama's Last Year vs 2nd Last Year)
34%