Third quarter sales were $1.13 billion, down 12% compared to the third quarter of 2019.
Organic sales were down 14%.
As expected, our commercial aerospace business, which is less than 10% of the overall company, experienced the largest impact from COVID, with sales down approximately 35% versus the prior year.
Third quarter operating income was $270 million and operating margins were a record 24%, up 40 basis points compared to last year's third quarter, while decremental margins were an impressive 20% in the quarter.
EBITDA in the third quarter was $332 million and EBITDA margins were a record 29.5%, up 210 basis points over last year's comparable period.
This led to earnings per diluted share of $1.01, down just 5% compared to the third quarter of 2019.
Operating cash flow in the quarter was $310 million and free cash flow conversion was an impressive 146% of that income.
Sales in the third quarter for EIG were $748.4 million, down 8% from the comparable period in 2019.
Organic sales were down 15% year-over-year, with the acquisitions of Gatan and IntelliPower contributing six points and foreign currency contributing one point.
EIG's third quarter operating income was $203.7 million and operating margins were an impressive 27.2%, up 30 basis points compared to the same quarter last year.
EMG sales were $378.6 million, down 18% from last year's third quarter, driven in part by the impact of the Reading Alloys divestiture.
Organic sales were down 13%, with a divestiture of 8-point headwind, the acquisition of PDT added two points and foreign currency adding one point.
EMG's operating income was $84.3 million and operating margins were solid at 22.3% for the quarter.
In the third quarter, we generated $70 million in total cost savings, which was at the high end of our expectations, with $40 million in structural savings and $30 million in temporary cost reduction savings.
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, we expect a slightly higher level of structural savings, while temporary savings will be reduced from the third quarter levels, as we add back additional temporary costs during the quarter.
As a result, we expect approximately $55 million in our total cost savings in the fourth quarter, with $45 million in structural and $10 million in temporary cost savings.
And for the full year, we expect approximately $230 million in total cost savings, with $140 million in structural savings and $90 million in temporary savings.
Our Vitality Index, which measures the amount of sales generated from new products introduced during the last three years was very strong at 25% in the quarter.
Diluted earnings per share are expected to be in the range of $1 to $1.04, down 4% to 7% versus the prior year.
Fourth quarter decremental margins are expected to remain solid in the low 20%s.
Third quarter general and administrative expenses were down $4.5 million, compared to the same period of 2019, primarily due to lower compensation costs and other discretionary spending cuts.
As a percentage of sales, general and administrative expenses were 1.5% of sales in the quarter, down from 1.7% last year.
The effective tax rate in the third quarter was 17.5%, down from 19.5% in the same period last year.
For 2020, we now expect our effective tax rate to be between 19% and 19.5%, and as we have stated in the past, actual quarterly tax rates can differ dramatically, either positively or negatively from this full year estimated rate.
Operating capital and working capital was an impressive 17% in the third quarter, down sequentially from the second quarter's 19.6% on outstanding working capital management.
Capital expenditures in the quarter were $10 million.
We now expect full year capital expenditures to be approximately $80 million, which is $5 million higher than our full year expectations last quarter, as we are investing in incremental growth opportunities.
Our full year capital expenditures estimate remains below our initial expectations to start the year of $100 million.
Depreciation and amortization expense in the quarter was $63 million.
For the full year, we expect depreciation and amortization to be approximately $255 million, which includes after-tax, acquisition-related intangible amortization of approximately $117 million or $0.51 per diluted share.
Operating cash flow in the quarter was $310 million, free cash flow was $300 million and free cash flow conversion was excellent at 146% of net income.
Total debt at the end of the quarter was $2.8 billion, up slightly from $2.77 billion at the end of 2019 and down $68 million from the end of the second quarter.
Offsetting this debt is cash and cash equivalents of $1.3 billion.
Our gross debt-to-EBITDA ratio at the end of the third quarter was 2.1 times, as we are intentionally holding higher than normal cash balances.
This was comfortably below our debt covenants of 3.5 times and our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio was 1.1 times at quarter end, which improved by two -- 0.2 turns in the quarter.
We remain well-positioned to manage this economic downturn with approximately $2.3 billion in liquidity to support our operations and growth initiatives.
This includes approximately $1 billion in available revolver capacity.

Summary:
Third quarter sales were $1.13 billion, down 12% compared to the third quarter of 2019.
This led to earnings per diluted share of $1.01, down just 5% compared to the third quarter of 2019.
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, we expect a slightly higher level of structural savings, while temporary savings will be reduced from the third quarter levels, as we add back additional temporary costs during the quarter.
Diluted earnings per share are expected to be in the range of $1 to $1.04, down 4% to 7% versus the prior year.