Lakeland Industries reports Q1 EPS $1.08, consensus 15c

Reports Q1 revenue $45.6M, consensus $27.76 1Q21 sales include approximately $11.2 million of demand directly attributable to COVID-19.Coronavirus-related demand added approximately $11.2 million to our fiscal 2021 first quarter sales. Approximately $6.8 million of these orders were fulfilled with products already in inventory. Additional sales which we believe were influenced by the coronavirus outbreak were not determinable. Gross margins benefited from improved manufacturing efficiencies resulting from a management decision to limit our product offering during the pandemic period that increased our manufacturing throughput beyond the increase in manufacturing capacity due to extended plant operations schedules. Gross margins also benefited by sales of inventory that had been fully or partially reserved in previous periods. On a consolidated basis for the first quarter, gross margin as a percentage of revenue reached a record 48.6%, compared to 30.6% in the prior year period and 37.7% in the fourth quarter of last year when we had approximately $1.0 million of COVID-19 related demand. As previously disclosed, in anticipation of continued heightened demand relating to COVID-19, we commenced manufacturing capacity expansion efforts. By the end of the first quarter, we had accelerated a previously planned expansion of our sealed seam manufacturing capacity by 30% which is principally used for our chemical product lines. This expansion required minimal investment, with total capital expenditures flat year-over-year at less than $200,000 in each period. Effective February 14, 2020, we increased the operating hours of certain facilities making disposable and select chemical garments which had previously been curtailed in order to draw down inventories. In aggregate, we estimate the scheduling changes amounted to a nearly 50% increase in capacity above our curtailment schedule and about 20% above our normal operating schedule. However, it should be noted that even with this significant increase in capacity, revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2021 of $45.6 million would not have been attainable absent our inventory position at the onset of the pandemic."