•  Second Quarter Revenue Increased 32% to $410 Million-
• Company Reiterates Revenue Outlook Range; Lowers Earnings Per Share Outlook Range-
• Equipment Margin Compression Impacted from Regional Drought Conditions-
• Company Continues Acquisition Strategy in Upper Midwest and Expands International Distribution Network-

Titan Machinery (Nasdaq:TITN), a leading network of full-service agricultural and construction equipment stores, today reported financial results for the fiscal second quarter and first six months ended July 31, 2012.

Fiscal 2013 Second Quarter Results

For the second quarter of fiscal 2013, revenue increased 31.9% to $410.1 million from revenue of $310.8 million in the second quarter last year. All four of the Company’s revenue sources — equipment, parts, service, and rental and other — contributed to this period-over-period revenue growth. Equipment sales were $306.2 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2013, compared to $225.3 million in the second quarter last year. Parts sales were $57.9 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2013, compared to $49.3 million in the second quarter last year. Revenue generated from service was $30.5 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2013, compared to $25.4 million in the second quarter last year. Revenue from rental and other increased to $15.5 million from $10.9 million in the second quarter last year.

Gross profit for the second quarter of fiscal 2013 was $70.4 million, compared to $55.9 million in the second quarter last year. The Company’s gross profit margin was 17.2% in the second quarter of fiscal 2013, compared to 18.0% in the second quarter last year. The decrease in gross profit margin was primarily due to lower used equipment margins as a result of a more competitive pricing environment and the change in sales mix, in which the higher margin parts and service businesses generated a smaller percentage of sales compared to the same quarter last year.

Operating expenses were 13.8% of revenue or $56.5 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2013, compared to 14.2% or $44.1 million for the second quarter of last year.

Pre-tax income for the second quarter of fiscal 2013 was $8.8 million, compared to $10.4 million in the second quarter last year. Pre-tax margin was 2.1% for the second quarter of fiscal 2013, compared to 3.3% in the second quarter last year. Pre-tax Agriculture segment income was $10.6 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2013, compared to $10.9 million in the second quarter last year. Pre-tax Construction segment income was $628,000 for the second quarter of fiscal 2013, compared to pre-tax Construction segment income of $576,000 in the second quarter last year. The year over year decline in Company pre-tax income reflected lower equipment margins, increased floorplan expenses due to higher inventory levels, and higher interest expense due to the Company’s April 2012 private offering of convertible debt.

Net income attributable to common stockholders for the second quarter of fiscal 2013 was $5.2 million, compared to $6.2 million in the second quarter last year. Earnings per diluted share for the second quarter of fiscal 2013 were $0.25 on approximately 21.0 million weighted average diluted common shares outstanding, compared to $0.30 on approximately 20.6 million weighted average diluted common shares outstanding in the second quarter last year.

Fiscal 2013 First Six Months Results

For the six months ended July 31, 2012, revenue increased 32.2% to $831.8 million from $629.0 million for the same period last year. Gross margin for the first six months of fiscal 2013 was 16.9%, compared to 17.3% in the same period last year. Pre-tax income for the first six months of fiscal 2013 was $21.1 million for a pre-tax margin of 2.5%, compared to $22.6 million, or a pre-tax margin of 3.6%, for the same period last year. Net income attributable to common stockholders for the first six months of fiscal 2013 was $12.7 million, or $0.60 per diluted share, compared to $13.4 million, or $0.69 per diluted share, for the same period last year. The six-month weighted average diluted common shares outstanding for the first six months of fiscal 2013 was 21.0 million, compared to 19.4 million weighted average diluted common shares outstanding in the same period last year.

Balance Sheet

The Company ended the second quarter of fiscal 2013 with cash and cash equivalents of $126.5 million. The Company’s inventory level was $938.3 million as of July 31, 2012, compared to $748.0 million at the end of fiscal 2012. This inventory level primarily reflected an increase in new equipment, which increased to $626.4 million at July 31, 2012 from $445.5 million at January 31, 2012, while used equipment decreased slightly to $211.9 million at July 31, 2012 from $219.8 million at January 31, 2012. Given the increased new equipment supply in the Agriculture industry, the Company has adjusted its strategy for new equipment inventory and expects this strategy will result in a decrease of new equipment inventory, excluding acquisitions, during the back half of fiscal 2013 after peaking in the third quarter of fiscal 2013. The Company will continue to manage used equipment levels and valuations regularly but due to seasonally higher new equipment demand in the back half of the year the used equipment inventory level is anticipated to increase by the end of fiscal 2013. The Company had available $162.0 million of its $800.0 million total discretionary floorplan lines of credit as of July 31, 2012.

Acquisitions & New Store Openings

In fiscal 2013 to date, the Company completed five acquisitions, consisting of three agriculture equipment dealership locations in the United States, three construction equipment dealership locations in the United States, one independent rental yard location in the United States, and seven agriculture equipment dealership locations in Europe. The Company also opened a new construction dealership in Windsor, Colorado and three new agriculture dealership locations in Romania. In addition, the Company recently contracted with CNH to distribute Case Construction equipment in Romania and Bulgaria.

Management Comments

David Meyer, Titan Machinery’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “In the second quarter, we continued to make progress with our business, as we generated organic and acquired growth for both our Agriculture and Construction segments. Even though our agriculture customers experienced strengthening commodity prices midway through our second quarter, severe drought conditions in the Midwest negatively impacted customer sentiment and associated equipment margins. Construction equipment margins were also pressured by competitive conditions particularly in some of the larger metro areas of recent acquisitions. These factors generated a competitive retail equipment market where we were able to maintain sales activity but experienced a compression in our overall equipment margins and in particular our used equipment margins. As a result, we are reiterating our annual revenue guidance but lowering annual net income and earnings per share outlook.”

Mr. Meyer continued, “As we enter the second half of fiscal 2013, we are confident in our revenue forecasts due to strong agriculture balance sheets, crop insurance and record high commodity prices. Based on the increased inventory availability due to the widespread drought, we have adjusted our inventory management strategy. With the combination of expected strong revenue and conservative stocking, we expect our new inventory levels to decrease by the end of our fiscal 2013 year after peaking in the current third quarter. We continue to execute our growth strategy with strategic acquisitions and store openings across all of our Agriculture, Construction, Rental, and International growth platforms and are excited that our acquisition growth opportunities as well as our strong organic growth have us well-positioned for the future.”

Updating Fiscal 2013 Outlook

The Company evaluates its financial performance based on its customers' annual production cycles as opposed to a quarterly basis, due to weather fluctuations and the seasonal nature of each customer's business. The Company is reiterating its previous revenue guidance and continues to expect revenue for the full year ending January 31, 2013 in a range of $1.95 billion to $2.1 billion. The Company is lowering its net income attributable to common stockholders and earnings per diluted share guidance. Net income attributable to common stockholders is now expected to be in the range of $44.3 million to $48.5 million, compared to the previous range of $53.8 million to $58.0 million. Earnings per diluted share is now expected to be in the range of $2.10 to $2.30 based on estimated weighted average diluted common shares outstanding of 21.1 million, compared to the previous range of $2.55 to $2.75 based on estimated weighted average diluted common shares outstanding of 21.1 million. For comparative purposes, the Company generated revenue of $1.66 billion in fiscal year 2012 and net income attributable to common stockholders for fiscal 2012 was $43.8 million, or $2.18 per diluted share, based on weighted average diluted common shares outstanding of 20.1 million.

Conference Call and Presentation Information

The Company will host a conference call and audio webcast today at 7:30 a.m. Central time (8:30 a.m. Eastern time). A copy of the presentation that will accompany the prepared remarks from the conference call is available on the Company’s website under Investor Relations at www.titanmachinery.com. An archive of the audio webcast will be available on the Company’s website under Investor Relations at www.titanmachinery.com 30 days following the audio webcast.

Investors interested in participating in the live call can dial (888) 417-8519 from the U.S. International callers can dial (719) 325-2214. A telephone replay will be available approximately two hours after the call concludes and will be available through Monday, September 24, 2012, by dialing (877) 870-5176 from the U.S., or (858) 384-5517 from international locations, and entering confirmation code 4737015.

About Titan Machinery

Titan Machinery, founded in 1980 and headquartered in West Fargo, North Dakota, is a multi-unit business with mature locations and newly-acquired locations. The Company owns and operates a network of full service agricultural and construction equipment stores in the United States and Europe. The Titan Machinery network consists of 99 North American dealerships in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Wyoming, Wisconsin, and Colorado, including two outlet stores, as well as 12 European dealerships in Romania and Bulgaria. The Titan Machinery dealerships represent one or more of the CNH Brands (NYSE: CNH), a majority-owned subsidiary of Fiat Industrial (Milan: FI.MI), including Case IH, New Holland Agriculture, Case Construction, New Holland Construction, Kobelco and CNH Capital. Additional information about Titan Machinery Inc. can be found at www.titanmachinery.com.