Gibraltar Industries, Inc.

Greetings, and welcome to the Gibraltar Industries Third Quarter 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Carolyn Capaccio-Celeste. Thank you. You may begin.

Thanks, Christine. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. With me on the call is Bill Bosway, Gibraltar Industries Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, and Tim Murphy, Gibraltar's Chief Financial Officer. The press release that was issued this morning, as well as the slide presentation that management will use during the call, are both available in the investor section of the company's website, GibraltarOne.com. Gibraltar's earnings press release and remarks contain non-GAAP financial measures. Tables of reconciliation of GAAP to adjusted financial measures can be found in the earnings press release that was issued today. Also, as noted on slide two of the presentation, the earnings press release and slide presentation contain forward-looking statements with respect to future results. These statements are not guaranteed the future performance, and the company's actual results may differ materially from the anticipated events. performance, or results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Gibraltar advises you to read the risk factors detailed in its SEC filings, which can also be accessed through the company's website. Now, I'll turn the call over to Bill Bosway. Bill?

Thanks, Carolyn. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining today's call. We'll start with an overview of the third quarter results, and Tim's going to take you through our financial performance, and then I'll walk you through our updated 2023 outlook. then we'll open the call for your questions. So let's start by turning to slide three, titled third quarter results. Third quarter 2023 results, sorry. Our focus on driving quality of earnings in 2023 continues to pay off in our delivery of higher profitability and strong cash flow generation. We executed well in the quarter, continuing our momentum from the first half of the year. We continue to experience solid in-market demand, We also expanded our market participation, particularly across our residential and infrastructure businesses. In both our renewables and ag tech businesses, we did experience some delays in start dates of contracted and active projects, and those projects have since begun or shifted to either the fourth quarter or into early 2024. As well during the quarter, on an adjusted basis, we increased operating income 19%, EPS 23%, and pre-cash flow increased to 23% of net sales. We continue to accelerate our 80-20 initiatives across product lines and operations and also optimize our supply chain management with market price actions. Our improvement in operating margin and working capital continue to drive solid cash generation performance. In all, our results... We expect our momentum to continue in the fourth quarter and support strong full-year performance in 2023. As a result, we are changing our guidance for 2023. We are narrowing our net sales outlook and raising our outlook for both profitability and EPS, which we will review shortly. Now let's turn to slide four for an update on the solar market. Our demand pipeline in renewables is very active and bookings continue to grow as the industry continues to navigate through three basic issues, module supply, permitting delays, and clarity on the final rules governing IRA tax benefits. First, let's start with module supply. It is improving as additional module suppliers are having more consistent success importing through the UFLPA process. And this is encouraging, and yet we need to see additional progress as we close out 2023 and move into 2024. Also related to module supply, the Department of Commerce issued its final ruling in August on its ADCBD investigation. The DOC final report indicated three of the eight module suppliers were found not to be circumventing and, as a result, are able to export to the U.S. without duty. The report also confirmed that module suppliers using non-China wafer supply are also not subject to duty. The DOC also implemented the administration's tariff waiver, which is in effect until early 2024 and may be reevaluated at that time. Because of the administration's waiver, the DOC investigation results are a little less concerning relative to the UFLPA importation process. Secondly, delays in obtaining permits for projects remains an issue. Although customers find permitting a challenge in the near term, they are confident the situation will continue to improve as local government agencies ramp capacity to improve the approval process for permit applications. Customers are anxiously awaiting final guidelines from the Department of Treasury on how to secure additional tax incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act. Tax credits directly affect project economics and returns, and we are seeing some customers with projects in process pause and or defer additional projects until they have a clear understanding of how to realize the incremental tax benefits. We expect the industry to work through these challenges, and as they ease or improve, our customers will be in a better position to execute current demand. and really properly plan to support robust demand pipelines expected going forward. With that, I'll turn over to Tim for a review of our results.