AstroNova, Inc.

Good day ladies and gentlemen and welcome to Estronova's first quarter fiscal 2023 financial results conference call. Today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to David Kalosdian, the company's investor relations firm, Sharon Murrell Associates. Please go ahead sir.

Thank you, Kyle. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us. Hosting this morning's call are Greg Woods, Astronova's President and CEO, and David Smith, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Greg will discuss the company's operating highlights. David will take you through the financials at the high level. Greg will make some concluding comments, and then management will be happy to take your questions. By now, you should have received a copy of the earnings release that was issued today. If you don't have a copy, please go to the investor's page of the Astronova website, www.astronovainc.com. Please note that statements made during today's call that are not statements of historical fact are considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions that could involve risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, actual results could differ materially, except as required by law. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of today, June 8, 2022. Astronova undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements. For further information regarding the forward-looking statements and the factors that may cause differences, please see the risk factors in Astronova's annual report on Form 10-K and the other filings the company makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission. On today's call, Mansfield will be referring to non-GAAP financial measures. Astronova believes that the inclusion of these measures helps investors gain a meaningful understanding of the changes in the company's core operating results and can also help investors who wish to make comparisons between Astronova and other companies on both a GAAP and non-GAAP basis. A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures is available in today's earnings release. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Greg.

Thanks, David, and good morning, everyone. Despite the ongoing supply chain constraints and cost increases we faced during the first quarter, we were able to post modest increases in both revenue and operating income compared to last year's first quarter. Revenue was up 6.6% to $31 million, and operating income was up 4% to $764,000. Those supply chain impacts affected both segments of our business, In our product identification segment, where again this quarter, several orders could not be fulfilled, resulting in lower segment revenue. Product identification revenue declined 6% in the quarter to 21.7 million. And operating income was 1.4 million, or 6.5% of product revenue, compared to 2.7 million, or 11.8% of product revenue in the same period last year. On the innovation front, As mentioned in this morning's press release, we are about to further extend the breadth of our industry-leading Quick Label product line by launching our first printer specifically designed for the entry-level segment of the on-site digital color label printing market. We've equipped this new printer with a large seven-inch color touchscreen, a unique feature for this category, and included ample internal image storage, making it extremely easy to use. It's also a highly affordable solution for smaller businesses, as well as larger enterprises that need to deploy multiple on-demand label printers at distributed locations throughout their facilities. This product significantly expands our addressable market to a new large class of customers, those looking for a sub-$5,000 printer solution. Turning to our test and measurement segment, first quarter revenue increased to $9.3 million up 55% from the same period in fiscal 2022. Segment operating income also increased substantially, climbing to $1.9 million, or 20.6% of revenue, from $350,000, or 5.9% in the year-ago period. Our results continue to be bolstered by the ongoing gradual recovery in the commercial aviation market. Most of the rebound so far has occurred with the domestic single-aisle aircraft, and the ongoing recovery of the 737 MAX production rate. We're also starting to see encouraging signs of growth in the long haul dual aisle aircraft segment. In addition to the increased production rates of commercial and business aircraft, the overall air traffic growth benefits our aerospace parts and repair businesses, which continued to increase during the quarter. One area that is still lagging, however, is Asia. and in particular, China. We're hopeful that this region, too, will start ramping up later this year. In the tested measurement segment's data acquisition product lines, we're also seeing stronger demand. In particular, we are benefiting from some of last year's program wins in the defense sector. Especially in demand are high-end EV5000 systems that are being deployed at several U.S. installations this year. In addition to the defense segment, we are also making inroads with our data acquisition offerings in the power industry, where we have scored design wins in various applications, ranging from solar to battery to nuclear power monitoring and troubleshooting. In closing, despite the current macro environmental challenges, we are making headway in addressing supply chain and cost issues in both segments of our business, including sourcing alternative components and materials, as well as boosting inventories to buffer disruptions. Additionally, we are increasing prices in areas that have seen higher input costs where we have the opportunity to do so. We believe these and other countermeasures underway will better position us in the future. Although it will take time for the increases to be fully reflected in our results, we expect to begin seeing those in the second half of this year. Now, let me turn the call over to David for the financial review.