GATX Q3 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: North America remains a core strength — fleet utilization was 98.9% with an 87.1% renewal success rate, a +22.8% lease price index this quarter, strong remarketing income (~$60M Q3; ~$81M YTD) and a pipeline the company expects to drive a strong Q4; the Wells Fargo rail asset deal is still expected to close in 1Q26.
  • Positive Sentiment: Engine leasing outperformed — high utilization and lease rates, RRPF affiliates have invested >$1B YTD, and GATX acquired seven spare engines for $147.1M, supporting attractive operating results and growth opportunities.
  • Negative Sentiment: Quarterly earnings slipped year‑over‑year — Q3 net income was $82.2M ($2.25/sh) versus $89M ($2.43/sh) a year ago, with tax and other adjustments affecting comparability.
  • Negative Sentiment: Higher maintenance costs in North America — a heavier-than-expected shop mix forced more outsourcing at higher cost, pushing maintenance expense up and potentially pressuring margins until more work is absorbed in GATX shops.
  • Neutral Sentiment: Europe remains mixed — Rail International utilization was 93.7% amid market challenges; GATX agreed to buy ~6,000 DB Cargo cars in a sale-leaseback closing by end-2025, which management says is a longer-term growth play rather than materially accretive in year one.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
GATX Q3 2025
00:00 / 00:00

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Operator

Thank you for standing by. My name is Greg, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to today's GATX Corporation 2025 third quarter earnings call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. Once again, star one. If you'd like to withdraw your question, simply press star one again. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Shari Hellerman, Head of Investor Relations. Shari?

Shari Hellerman
Shari Hellerman
Head of Investor Relations at GATX Corporation

Thank you, Greg. Good morning, and thank you for joining GATX's 2025 third quarter earnings call. I'm joined today by Bob Lyons, President and Chief Executive Officer, Tom Ellman, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Paul Titterton, Executive Vice President and President of Rail North America. As a reminder, some of the information you'll hear during our discussion today will consist of forward-looking statements. Actual results or trends could differ materially from those statements or forecasts. For more information, please refer to the risk factors included in our earnings release and those discussed in GATX's Form 10-K for 2024 and our other filings with the SEC. GATX assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. Earlier today, GATX reported 2025 third quarter net income of $82.2 million or $2.25 per diluted share.

Shari Hellerman
Shari Hellerman
Head of Investor Relations at GATX Corporation

This compares to 2024 third quarter net income of $89 million or $2.43 per diluted share. The 2025 third quarter results include a net positive impact of $5.3 million or $0.15 per diluted share from tax adjustments and other items. The 2024 third quarter results include a net negative impact of $2.5 million or $0.07 per diluted share from tax adjustments and other items. Year-to-date 2025 net income was $236.3 million or $6.46 per diluted share. This compares to $207.7 million or $5.68 per diluted share for the same period in 2024. The 2025 year-to-date results include a net positive impact of $5.3 million or $0.15 per diluted share from tax adjustments and other items. The 2024 year-to-date results include a net negative impact of $9.9 million or $0.27 per diluted share from tax adjustments and other items.

Shari Hellerman
Shari Hellerman
Head of Investor Relations at GATX Corporation

These items are detailed in the supplemental information section of our earnings release. I'll briefly address each of our business segments. After that, we'll open the call up for questions. In North America, demand for our existing fleet remains stable. GATX Rail North America's fleet utilization remained high at 98.9% at quarter end, and our renewal success rate reached 87.1%. Our commercial team continues to successfully increase renewal lease rates while extending lease terms. The renewal rate change of GATX's lease price index was positive 22.8% for the quarter, and the average renewal term was 60 months. While tariffs and macro uncertainties have affected customers who use the most economically sensitive car types, demand for the large majority of car types in our fleet is holding up well. An encouraging sign in the North American market is the continued strength of the secondary market.

Shari Hellerman
Shari Hellerman
Head of Investor Relations at GATX Corporation

As we offer select packages for sale, we're seeing very strong demand for GATX assets from a diverse and deep buyer pool. We generated over $60 million in remarketing income during the quarter, bringing the year-to-date total to approximately $81 million, and we expect that we'll finish the year with a strong fourth quarter. Regarding the pending acquisition of Wells Fargo's rail operating lease assets, we continue to expect closing to occur in the first quarter of 2026 or sooner. Turning to Rail International, GATX Rail Europe's fleet utilization was 93.7% at the end of the quarter, reflecting ongoing market challenges in Europe. Despite these conditions, we continue to renew leases for many car types at rates higher than those of expiring leases, demonstrating the market's resilience.

Shari Hellerman
Shari Hellerman
Head of Investor Relations at GATX Corporation

In September, we announced an agreement to acquire approximately 6,000 railcars from DB Cargo, a major European rail freight operator, through a sale-leaseback transaction. Closing is expected by the end of 2025, subject to customary regulatory approvals. In India, rail freight volume remains robust, and demand for railcars is very strong despite trade uncertainties. During the quarter, GATX Rail India took delivery of 600 new cars and placed them with customers. Fleet utilization was maintained at 100% at quarter end. Engine leasing performed very well this quarter, driven by continued high demand for aircraft spare engines. This demand is manifesting itself in high utilization, attractive lease rates, and opportunities to sell engines at compelling valuations. At the same time, we identified attractive opportunities to increase our direct investment in aircraft spare engines, acquiring seven additional engines for $147.1 million during the quarter.

Shari Hellerman
Shari Hellerman
Head of Investor Relations at GATX Corporation

The RRPF affiliates also continued to expand their portfolios, with total investment already exceeding $1 billion year-to-date. Finally, as we noted in the earnings release, we continue to expect 2025 full-year earnings guidance to be in the range of $8.50-$8.90 per diluted share. This guidance excludes any impact from tax adjustments or other items and also excludes any impact from the Wells Fargo transaction. Those are our prepared remarks. I'll hand it back to the operator so we can open it up for Q&A.

Operator

Thanks, Shari. At this time, I would like to remind everyone, in order to ask a question, press star and the number one on your telephone keypad. Once again, star one. We will pause just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. It looks like our first question of the day comes from the line of Ben Moore with Citigroup. Ben, please go ahead.

Ben Moore
Ben Moore
Director and Equity Research Analyst at Citigroup

Yes, hi, good morning. Thanks for taking our question. To get to your midpoint of your guide, you would need 4Q EPS at $2.39 versus consensus at $2.25. Can you discuss how you plan to close that gap on both revenue and margin drivers, please?

Bob Lyons
Bob Lyons
President and CEO at GATX Corporation

Good morning, Ben. Thanks for your question. This is Bob. I'll take that one. As indicated, you know, the full year, just to kind of take a step back, has largely played out as we anticipated. Certainly, some puts and takes on various line items, which is not unusual, but the overall results and the overall environment are very consistent with what we thought coming into the year. We would expect that to continue into the fourth quarter. As Shari noted in her opening comments, we have a very strong pipeline of assets that we have for sale in the secondary market. We're seeing really strong demand, so we would expect really solid remarketing income in the fourth quarter. That will be largely the biggest driver in Q4 relative to Q3.

Ben Moore
Ben Moore
Director and Equity Research Analyst at Citigroup

Great. I appreciate that. Maybe just as a follow-up on the remarketing you mentioned, looking into the next couple of years, longer term, would you still expect sort of elevated remarketing levels at the roughly $100million-$110 million through 2027, maybe kind of driven by inflation from the U.S. administration's policies and also more freight car mix from your Brookfield JV versus the roughly $50 million level that we saw back in pre-COVID levels?

Bob Lyons
Bob Lyons
President and CEO at GATX Corporation

Yeah, well it's a bit difficult to predict many years out into the future, but based on everything we're seeing today, there's no reason to believe or no reason for us to feel that the secondary market is going to adjust materially downward. Demand is really strong and very encouraged by just the sheer number of buyers and their appetite for the assets that GATX has on lease. We see a really positive market and environment for remarketing income in the years ahead. I think also supporting that is what we've talked about frequently over the last couple of years, the supply side thesis, that new car supply and capacity, manufacturing capacity in North America is more in line with true underlying demand for new cars.

Bob Lyons
Bob Lyons
President and CEO at GATX Corporation

As investors and current competitors in this market look for ways to grow and to build their fleets, the secondary market becomes a very, very good alternative, and we're seeing that.

Ben Moore
Ben Moore
Director and Equity Research Analyst at Citigroup

Great. Really appreciate the time and insights. Thank you.

Bob Lyons
Bob Lyons
President and CEO at GATX Corporation

Thanks, Ben.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Bascome Majors with Susquehanna. Bascome, please go ahead.

Bascome Majors
Bascome Majors
Senior Industrials Equity Research Analyst at Susquehanna

Thanks for taking our questions here. To the GATX and Wells Fargo deal, you've talked about that being modestly accretive in the first full year. When we go through the pro forma historic financials you filed recently, it's indicating some modest dilution on a look-back adjusted for financing and other items. Can you help us square where we get to accretion under your ownership versus this historic look-back and where those just wouldn't add up similarly to what you're seeing on a go-forward basis? Thank you.

Tom Ellman
Tom Ellman
EVP and CFO at GATX Corporation

Yep. Bascome, first of all, it's important to note what we issued. That 8K is looking at what happened if the transaction for income statement purposes closed on 1/1/2024, and then for balance sheet purposes closed June 30th, 2025. Obviously, it didn't close on either of those dates. The other thing that it does is it takes the actual results of both companies and then kind of puts them together. Two things it does not do are it doesn't make allowances for the fact that the combined SG&A of the two companies is going to be a bigger number than what the SG&A would be for GATX on a consolidated basis. The other thing it ignores is any kind of management fee.

Tom Ellman
Tom Ellman
EVP and CFO at GATX Corporation

There are a variety of other items just because of the nature of how those statements come together that don't find their way in, but those are two big things that would take you from the dilutive numbers that you saw in those reportings versus the modestly accretive numbers that we've talked about several times.

Bob Lyons
Bob Lyons
President and CEO at GATX Corporation

Bascome, I would just add to Tom's two key points. There's no SG&A synergy in there. That's an easy one you can pick right off the financial statement that was filed with the 8K. You can see what the SG&A is for Wells Fargo Rail and then for the combined entity, and there's no benefit given to synergies. There's no management fee. We haven't broken that out yet.

Bob Lyons
Bob Lyons
President and CEO at GATX Corporation

When the transaction closes and we provide guidance going forward, we'll give you some more clarity on the management fee, but that's not an immaterial number, and that's not reflected in the financial numbers. Nor is any other type of synergy that GATX may generate from the combined entity. It's really just a financial roll-up, not a snapshot of the go-forward scenario.

Bascome Majors
Bascome Majors
Senior Industrials Equity Research Analyst at Susquehanna

Thank you for that. Regarding the DB Cargo deal in Europe, any thoughts on whether that will be needle-moving next year from a financial standpoint, or is that really more of a long-term investment in growing the European fleet? Thank you.

Bob Lyons
Bob Lyons
President and CEO at GATX Corporation

Yep, it's Bob again, Bascome. It's more of a long-term, you know, like from an accretion-dilution standpoint, it's not material one way or the other in the year, the first year of ownership. It is a longer-term investment, but one that we're very excited about to be able to do a transaction like this. It starts out as a net lease, likely will convert over time to full-service leases as those initial leases roll over. Also likely to convert at some level to full-service leases versus the net, as mentioned. The DB, I think, is a very good example of what we're seeing begin to form in Europe. They have a fleet of 70,000 wagons themselves. Like other railroads in Europe, DB is looking for ways to enhance their cash flow. They don't necessarily need to own all of their rolling stock.

Bob Lyons
Bob Lyons
President and CEO at GATX Corporation

We think there may be opportunities elsewhere across Europe for similar type transactions. We're certainly out in the marketplace looking for those opportunities as well.

Bascome Majors
Bascome Majors
Senior Industrials Equity Research Analyst at Susquehanna

Lastly, you've already commented on the secondary market in North American rail and really seeing no need or driver for that to change from the favorable situation it's been in for the last couple of years. You know, can you speak a little bit to the sequential performance in lease rates? I mean, certainly, the lease price index is still very positive. She had a slight tick down in utilization in North America. The lease price index is a little lower than it was in recent quarters. Just, I mean, is there any sequential just gradual weakening going along? You know, any thoughts on just the market here and now versus six, nine, 12 months ago? Thank you.

Paul Titterton
Paul Titterton
EVP and Chief Commercial Officer at GATX

Sure, Bascome. This is Paul, and I'll be happy to take that one. What I would say overall, despite all the macro uncertainty, the North American railcar market is holding up pretty well. When we look across the fleet in general, lease rates remain at healthy levels, and that continues to be the case. We've seen sequentially, quarter over quarter, rates across most car types flat to perhaps down very, very slightly. In general, Bob alluded to the sort of supply-led market thesis that we've had for quite some time that has really proven itself out. I think that's where this period of macro uncertainty from a lease rate standpoint is really quite different from past periods.

Paul Titterton
Paul Titterton
EVP and Chief Commercial Officer at GATX

If you think about, for example, the lead-up to the Great Recession or the lead-up to the COVID recession, and I'm not comparing necessarily this period to those periods, but those were periods where we started to see macro uncertainty and there was a very large negative market response from a lease rate standpoint. We really don't see that here. That's really because the market hasn't been overbuilt. Fleets remain fairly highly utilized. Again, a little bit of quarter-to-quarter deterioration, but overall across the fleet, for the most part, rates holding up well.

Bob Lyons
Bob Lyons
President and CEO at GATX Corporation

I'll add to that, Bascome, too. I think, you know, Paul can elaborate on this, but one of the additional drivers to that we're seeing, scrap rates are holding up really well. With the market largely in balance, any temporary imbalance in a specific car type appears to be rectifying itself very quickly from a scrapping standpoint. Supply and demand are not getting out of balance for any extended period of time in any car type.

Bascome Majors
Bascome Majors
Senior Industrials Equity Research Analyst at Susquehanna

Thank you all.

Bob Lyons
Bob Lyons
President and CEO at GATX Corporation

Thank you, Bascome.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Andrzej Tomczyk with Goldman Sachs. Andrzej, please go ahead.

Andrzej Tomczyk
Research Analyst at Goldman Sachs

Hey everybody, thanks for taking my questions. I just wanted to touch a little bit on the maintenance expense within North America. I know that jumped up a little bit sequentially, and we've been talking about increasing maintenance expenses in North America. I'm just curious, on a go-forward basis, is that sort of a good dollar level to be at in terms of North America maintenance, or should we continue to expect increases from here? Thanks.

Paul Titterton
Paul Titterton
EVP and Chief Commercial Officer at GATX

This is Paul speaking. I'll just contextualize it before I get directly to your question. Fundamentally, as you know, over the last really five to seven years, we made tremendous investments in our own maintenance capability, and that's because we have a very substantial marginal cost advantage working cars in our own network versus in the contract network. That's been borne out over time. This year, from a mix standpoint, we do a great deal of work to try to forecast the mix of work coming into our facilities. This was a mix that really filled up our shops at a higher clip than we had forecast. As a result, we had to put more work into the contract network, which is more expensive. We're not going to guide for 2026 yet because obviously, traditionally with GATX, we don't do that until the next earnings call.

Paul Titterton
Paul Titterton
EVP and Chief Commercial Officer at GATX

I can't really comment specifically on 2026. What I can say is over the long run, we are on track with our objective of continuing to put more work into our own shops and control our costs. We remain of the view that we can achieve that going forward.

Andrzej Tomczyk
Research Analyst at Goldman Sachs

Understood. Maybe a little bit on the combined nature of the Wells Fargo deal as we move forward, if that goes through. I know you mentioned the SG&A synergies, the management fees as well, but should we be thinking of longer-term synergies on other line items like maintenance as well?

Bob Lyons
Bob Lyons
President and CEO at GATX Corporation

I'll take that one. Andrzej, thank you for the question. Yes, is the short answer to that question. There will be synergies in other line items as well. Maintenance is one area that we have talked about a little bit more publicly because Wells Fargo, as a bank, is not allowed to own maintenance facilities directly. They do all of their work through third-party shops. As Paul mentioned, we are at full capacity in our shops today. When this transaction closes, it's not an immediate opportunity to bring work on those cars into the GATX shops. We'll continue using the third-party network that Wells has effectively established over the years. Longer term, absolutely, we will look for opportunities to bring more of that work in-house at GATX.

Andrzej Tomczyk
Research Analyst at Goldman Sachs

Understood. Appreciate the context. Maybe just shifting a little bit to the spare engine leasing side of the business. It seemed like a good strong quarter there again. I'm just curious if you could share the breakout between the gains and the core EBIT this quarter, and maybe how you expect to trend into year-end.

Tom Ellman
Tom Ellman
EVP and CFO at GATX Corporation

Sure. For the quarter, the operating income was about 85% of the total, and the remarketing was about 15%. Year-to-date, we're at about three quarters, one quarter. Much like Paul's commentary about 2026, we usually don't try to get too specific on individual quarters because it's challenging, particularly given the lumpy nature of the way remarketing comes in, whether it's aircraft engines or railcars. The three quarters, one quarter is a little higher on the operating income side than we've historically been. If history is a guideline, you would see a little bit more on the gain side on the remarketing, but there's no guarantee of that.

Andrzej Tomczyk
Research Analyst at Goldman Sachs

Understood. Lastly for me, I did notice that the renewal success rate in North America jumped up to 87% from 84% last quarter and 82% last year. I'm just curious if that increases anything to read into relative to the certainty around tariffs. Is there any increased certainty from your customers, and is that leading to increased renewal success rates? Thanks.

Paul Titterton
Paul Titterton
EVP and Chief Commercial Officer at GATX

I would say I wouldn't so much characterize that as driven by increased certainty by our customers, but much more just as we mentioned earlier, the fleet overall remains fairly tight. Obviously, it's in our interest and the customer's interest to renew. It reduces costs for both of us to the extent that demand is still there. In a relatively tight fleet, as long as less O and less C are acting rationally and we price to the market, we should have a very high renewal success rate. I wouldn't necessarily read into that number or anything from a macro standpoint.

Andrzej Tomczyk
Research Analyst at Goldman Sachs

Appreciate it. Thanks, all.

Operator

All right. Thank you for the questions. Our next question comes from the line of Brendan McCarthy with Susquehanna. Brendan, please go ahead.

Operator

Great. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions here. I wanted to circle back to a point on the supply side dynamics. I think you mentioned the market remains in balance, really supported by some of the higher scrapping rates. I guess, do you see any room or capacity for new car builds just stemming from any different economic variables that may shift in the future, such as a lower interest rate environment?

Paul Titterton
Paul Titterton
EVP and Chief Commercial Officer at GATX

Fundamentally, I would say the answer is no. We don't foresee a big uptick in builds absent some spike in demand that we can't predict. What I will say is it's not just a question of financing costs. The builders have really rationalized capacity right now. If we think back to the crude boom, which was the last big boom in railcar production, the builders were producing at an 80,000 car a year clip. They couldn't ramp up to anything close to that number right now without a Herculean effort. Fundamentally, I think the supply side has right-sized quite a bit. I think a dip in financing costs is unlikely to have a hugely material impact on new car production.

Paul Titterton
Paul Titterton
EVP and Chief Commercial Officer at GATX

Got it. That's helpful. Really, absent any factors driving overbuilding on the car build side, do you see any reason why lease rates can't continue to remain above the 20% threshold?

Paul Titterton
Paul Titterton
EVP and Chief Commercial Officer at GATX

Eventually, you know, you will work your way through that pool of cars that were priced at much lower rates. Over the longer term, you will get to a point where you're not, you know, you're renewing more cars, more and more cars that are put on at, you know, today's market rate. We're still a ways off from that.

Paul Titterton
Paul Titterton
EVP and Chief Commercial Officer at GATX

That makes sense. Do you have any idea of how far along in the future that may be, whether it be two, three years, or perhaps longer?

Paul Titterton
Paul Titterton
EVP and Chief Commercial Officer at GATX

Yeah, Tom, go ahead.

Bob Lyons
Bob Lyons
President and CEO at GATX Corporation

As Paul mentioned earlier, we'll give more guidance next quarter, but order of magnitude, we're probably about halfway through remarketing those.

Bob Lyons
Bob Lyons
President and CEO at GATX Corporation

Okay. I wanted to transition to the engine leasing business. Really strong quarter there. Are you seeing any hesitancy from customers on the engine leasing side or anything within Rolls-Royce and Partners Finance affiliates, just resulting from uncertainty around tariffs or anything like that?

Bob Lyons
Bob Lyons
President and CEO at GATX Corporation

The short answer is no. The recovery and post-COVID in aviation has been great. We continue to see very high demand for the engines and don't expect any changes there. Of course, tariffs or general macroeconomic activity certainly will keep an eye on that for possible signs of what it might do to demand. To date, in the near term here, we expect that business to continue to be very strong.

Paul Titterton
Paul Titterton
EVP and Chief Commercial Officer at GATX

We've been encouraged by the investment volume and opportunities that we've seen, particularly within the joint venture itself, Rolls-Royce and Partners Finance, the team there. We came into the year expecting around $800 million, roughly, in total investment volume. Through the third quarter, we've already gone just north of $1 billion. They're having an outstanding year in terms of putting capital to work at really attractive returns.

Paul Titterton
Paul Titterton
EVP and Chief Commercial Officer at GATX

Great. That's helpful. On the internal portfolio, GEL looks like, I believe I saw seven engines were purchased in the quarter. Is there anything to comment on related to the purchasing pattern there? I know there were no engines purchased in the first half of the year. Was there any outsized read-through there for this quarter?

Paul Titterton
Paul Titterton
EVP and Chief Commercial Officer at GATX

No, nothing in particular. What I will comment on, I think it might be helpful to kind of take a look back. When we first started doing direct investments in engines, it was during the depths of the COVID downturn. At that point in time, Rolls-Royce's financial results were pretty stressed, and the capital markets in general were really in a state of flux, and there was not a lot of capital flowing into aerospace, whether it be aircraft in terms of airframes or engines. That presented GATX with a really unique opportunity to step in and buy engines directly, support Rolls-Royce in doing so, and invest in some very attractive assets for GATX for the long term. We now have over $1 billion of direct investment in engines, and they will pay dividends for years to come.

Paul Titterton
Paul Titterton
EVP and Chief Commercial Officer at GATX

We also knew at the same time that Rolls-Royce's financial performance would strengthen, their credit profile would strengthen, and more capital would flow back into aerospace investments, as it always does. It is the epitome of capital flowing in and out depending on cycles. It certainly has flowed back in, and Rolls-Royce, we knew, would always look at their most effective way to sell engines, whether it be into the JV or GATX directly. The fact of the matter is they have a lot more options available to them today. We knew that. I think our investments going forward will be directly much more opportunistic than they are programmatic.

Paul Titterton
Paul Titterton
EVP and Chief Commercial Officer at GATX

Understood. I appreciate the detail. That's all from me.

Paul Titterton
Paul Titterton
EVP and Chief Commercial Officer at GATX

Yep.

Operator

All right. Thank you, Brendan. Our next question comes from the line of Justin Bergner with Gabelli Funds. Justin, please go ahead.

Justin Bergner
Portfolio Manager at Gabelli Funds

Good morning, Bob. Good morning, Tom. Good morning, Shari.

Tom Ellman
Tom Ellman
EVP and CFO at GATX Corporation

Morning.

Shari Hellerman
Shari Hellerman
Head of Investor Relations at GATX Corporation

Morning.

Justin Bergner
Portfolio Manager at Gabelli Funds

A few questions here. I just wanted to make sure I heard correctly on the mix of operating and remarketing income within the Rolls-Royce and Partners Finance JV. It seems like the JV income stepped up from $33 million in Q1, then dipped to $22 million in Q2 and $53 million in Q3. I think you indicated that the share of remarketing income was less than the year-to-date.

Bob Lyons
Bob Lyons
President and CEO at GATX Corporation

Yeah, Justin, that's correct. Part of the reason for that is one of the items that we called out was the insurance recovery. What that insurance recovery is, is back in 2022, we had an impairment at the JV for some engines that were in Russia, as you know, as the Russia-Ukrainian conflict got going. We did not anticipate being able to get those engines out, and there was some uncertainty about what would happen from an insurance standpoint. As it turned out, this year, we had a recovery of insurance proceeds, and that shows up in the operating income line. That's part of the reason for that relatively higher number in Q3.

Justin Bergner
Portfolio Manager at Gabelli Funds

Okay, that's helpful. I see an $8.2 million adjustment net of taxes for the affiliate income. Does that correspond to the $55 million, or do I need to gross that up to be pre-tax?

Bob Lyons
Bob Lyons
President and CEO at GATX Corporation

I'm not totally sure where you're getting the $55, but that is an after-tax number. That relates directly to the insurance proceed that Tom just mentioned. We normalized for that.

Justin Bergner
Portfolio Manager at Gabelli Funds

Sorry, it was $53.4. The $8.2 is apples to apples on a tax basis with the $53.4? I need to gross it up to be pre-taxed.

Bob Lyons
Bob Lyons
President and CEO at GATX Corporation

Where specifically, Justin, are you picking up the $53.4 number? I just want to make sure we're looking also apples to apples.

Justin Bergner
Portfolio Manager at Gabelli Funds

If I'm reading correctly, share of affiliates pre-tax earnings is $53.4 million.

Shari Hellerman
Shari Hellerman
Head of Investor Relations at GATX Corporation

Yeah, Justin, that's the pre-tax number for the share of affiliates' earnings from RRPF. That includes the, sorry, that's the third quarter.

Bob Lyons
Bob Lyons
President and CEO at GATX Corporation

Yeah, you're right.

Shari Hellerman
Shari Hellerman
Head of Investor Relations at GATX Corporation

That includes the insurance proceeds that Tom was alluding to. You would need to use the pre-tax number to adjust for that $53.4 million figure.

Justin Bergner
Portfolio Manager at Gabelli Funds

Okay, is there a pre-tax number given? I think I only see the post-tax number of $8.2.

Shari Hellerman
Shari Hellerman
Head of Investor Relations at GATX Corporation

Yes, it is. It's in the engine leasing section of the earnings release. It is $10.9 million pre-tax and then $8.2 million after-tax.

Justin Bergner
Portfolio Manager at Gabelli Funds

Thank you. Sorry about that confusion. With respect to your guidance for the year, should I maybe infer that within the unchanged guidance, your engine leasing view is somewhat stronger, your gains on dispositions may be slightly stronger, and Rail North America X gains and Rail International a touch lower?

Bob Lyons
Bob Lyons
President and CEO at GATX Corporation

Yeah, so Justin, when we took up guidance in 2Q, we mentioned that it was primarily because of the outperformance in the engine business. If you look at where both Rail International and Rail North America are relative to the guidance we gave at the beginning of the year, they're kind of both within the range, but at the lower end of that range. That was the case when we took guidance up, and that's the case where we are right now. Really unchanged quarter to quarter.

Justin Bergner
Portfolio Manager at Gabelli Funds

Great, thank you. One or two more, if I may. It looks like the gain per car on asset dispositions in Rail North America was a lot lower this quarter. Is that simply related to the mix of cars you sold, or should I read anything into it about the strength of pricing in the secondary market?

Paul Titterton
Paul Titterton
EVP and Chief Commercial Officer at GATX

It's really the mix of cars, Justin, which changes quarter to quarter. It's not just the cars, but the underlying lease is also a big driver of the value ascribed to any particular car in the secondary market. If you're selling cars with a Class one railroad with a 10-year lease stream attached to it, the secondary market's going to really value that highly. Given the volume of cars we sell in a given year, it moves all over the map.

Justin Bergner
Portfolio Manager at Gabelli Funds

Gotcha. Lastly, to clarify, the increased maintenance expense, was that purely due to kind of volume of maintenance events and the need to outsource, or was there anything in terms of operational execution in your own facilities that may have also weighed on the margin?

Tom Ellman
Tom Ellman
EVP and CFO at GATX Corporation

It's really just volume and mix. Fundamentally, we, as Bob said, you know, we have filled up our network with work, and that is, of course, on the heels of the substantial investment and increased capacity we've had over the last few years. Whatever is left over that we can't fill has to go into the contract network.

Justin Bergner
Portfolio Manager at Gabelli Funds

Was there any kind of lumpy nature of tank car requalifications this quarter?

Tom Ellman
Tom Ellman
EVP and CFO at GATX Corporation

Not noticeably so, no.

Justin Bergner
Portfolio Manager at Gabelli Funds

Okay, thank you so much for all the questions.

Justin Bergner
Portfolio Manager at Gabelli Funds

Thank you.

Tom Ellman
Tom Ellman
EVP and CFO at GATX Corporation

Thanks, Justin.

Operator

It looks like we have a follow-up question from Bascome Majors at Susquehanna. Bascome, please go ahead.

Bascome Majors
Bascome Majors
Senior Industrials Equity Research Analyst at Susquehanna

Thanks, everyone. Just one more for me. As we get into next year, it sounds like you don't expect a lot of changes in the North American rail cyclical backdrop. I mean, you are taking on a lot of new cars and customers via the JV and your management of that. Is there anything to tweak on the sales incentives to really drive the outcomes you want to maximize value in the next year or two compared to this year?

Bob Lyons
Bob Lyons
President and CEO at GATX Corporation

Yeah, that's a really good question, Bascome, because we do adjust our sales incentive plan in North American Rail every year. There are various toggles we use to kind of drive the performance and the outcomes that we want. We, of course, will be taking a very hard look at that here. We always do it in the fourth quarter as we set the plan for the year ahead. Assuming we close on the Wells Fargo transaction as expected, that'll give us a really good new footprint in which to set those goals for the sales team. There will be some adjustments made. It's a 2X size fleet, essentially, more opportunities, bigger customer opportunities. We'll drive the sales force accordingly. It's a really good question.

Bascome Majors
Bascome Majors
Senior Industrials Equity Research Analyst at Susquehanna

Thank you.

Operator

All right. Thanks, Bascome. It looks like there are no further questions. I will now turn the call back over to Shari Hellerman for closing remarks. Shari?

Shari Hellerman
Shari Hellerman
Head of Investor Relations at GATX Corporation

I'd like to thank everyone for their participation on the call this morning. Please contact me with any follow-up questions. Have a great day. Thank you.

Operator

Thanks, Shari. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you for joining, and you may now disconnect.

Executives
    • Shari Hellerman
      Shari Hellerman
      Head of Investor Relations
    • Paul Titterton
      Paul Titterton
      EVP and Chief Commercial Officer
    • Bob Lyons
      Bob Lyons
      President and CEO
    • Tom Ellman
      Tom Ellman
      EVP and CFO
Analysts
    • Ben Moore
      Director and Equity Research Analyst at Citigroup
    • Andrzej Tomczyk
      Research Analyst at Goldman Sachs
    • Analyst at Susquehanna
    • Justin Bergner
      Portfolio Manager at Gabelli Funds
    • Bascome Majors
      Senior Industrials Equity Research Analyst at Susquehanna