Revenue records keep falling for Raymond James, MarineMax

Jay Cridlin, Tampa Bay Times
·3 min read

Amid a turbulent week on Wall Street, two of Tampa Bay’s largest public companies have once again shattered quarterly revenue records.

St. Petersburg wealth management firm Raymond James Financial announced quarterly revenues of nearly $2.8 billion for the three months ending Dec. 31, up 3 percent from the prior quarter and 23 percent year over year. It was the company’s sixth straight quarter posting record revenues.

Meanwhile, Clearwater boat retailer MarineMax on Thursday kept its pandemic-long hot streak running, posting revenues of $472 million. While not an overall record, that marked a 15 percent uptick from the same quarter in 2020, and a company record for quarters ending Dec. 31.

For Raymond James, growth has been a trend throughout the pandemic. As has been the case in recent quarters, the company also posted record net income ($446 million) and client assets under management ($1.26 trillion).

Raymond James CEO Paul Reilly told investors on Thursday that the Federal Reserve’s expected upcoming interest rate hike would provide “significant tailwinds” for the rest of the year, especially given the company’s pending acquisition of Pittsburgh holding bank TriState Capital Holdings. TriState on Wednesday posted record quarterly and annual revenues of its own.

A rate increase could boost the company’s profit margins, which sat at just over 20 percent for the quarter, to 21 or 22 percent, said chief financial officer Paul Shoukry.

“There is more upside if rates increase faster than we originally anticipated,” Shoukry said.

At MarineMax, total assets rose for the first time above $1.1 billion, partly through the acquisitions last fall of Dallas-area towboat dealer Texas MasterCraft and Largo’s Intrepid Powerboats. The company has grown aggressively over the last couple of years, expanding its dealership footprint throughout the Midwest.

The “results were a great achievement, given the extremely lean inventory and well-documented supply chain issues,” MarineMax CEO and president Brett McGill said on a conference call with investors. “With the peak selling season ahead, we expect to build on the strong start to our fiscal year, and remain confident that we will continue to enhance long-term shareholder value.”

McGill said supply chain issues aren’t likely to ease up before late 2022, but customer deposits remain high, and the company is working with manufacturers on back orders to keep up with demand.

“There’s still some choppiness out there, and it seems like it’s a different problem on any given day with each manufacturer,” chief financial officer Mike McLamb said.

Raymond James and MarineMax’s earnings reports came in the middle of an up-and-down week on Wall Street, as inflation concerns mounted and the Fed signaled an impending interest rate hike. A positive U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis report on gross domestic product during the last quarter of 2021 prompted the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq and S&P 500 to rise Thursday morning.

After dropping to a low of $93.47 per share on Monday, Raymond James stock leaped to more than $103 after markets opened on Thursday. MarineMax stock, which had fallen from more than $60 per share on Jan. 3 to below $41 on Monday, rose back to $45.44 by midmorning.