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Operator
Good day and welcome to the San Mena Corporation third quarter fiscal 2022 earnings conference call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing star then zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on a touch-tone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Paige Melching, Senior Vice President of Investor Communications. Please go ahead.
spk00
Thank you, Matt. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Sandmina's third quarter fiscal 2022 earnings call. A copy of our press release and slide for today's discussion are available on our website at sandmina.com in the investor relations section. Joining me on today's call is Yuri Sola, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
Matt
Good afternoon.
spk00
and Kurt Edzima, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
Kurt Edzima
Good afternoon.
spk00
Before we begin with our prepared remarks, let me remind everyone that today's call is being webcasted and recorded and will be available on our website. You can follow along with our prepared remarks and our slides provided on our website. Please turn to slide three of our presentation or the press release safe harbor statement. During this conference call, we may make projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of the company. We caution you that such statements are just projections. The company's actual results could differ materially from those projected in these statements as a result of a number of factors set forth in the company's annual and quarterly reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company is under no obligation to and expressly disclaims any such obligation to update or alter any of the forward-looking statements made in this earnings release, their earnings presentation, the conference call, or the investor relations section of our website, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, unless otherwise required by law. Included in our press release and slides issued today, we have provided you with statements of operation for the quarter ended July 2nd, 2022 on a GAAP basis, as well as certain non-GAAP financial information. A reconciliation between the GAAP and non-GAAP financial information is also provided in the press release and slides posted on our website. In general, our non-GAAP information excludes restructuring costs, acquisition and integration costs, non-stock, or sorry, non-cash stock-based compensation expense, amortization expense, and other unusual or infrequent items. Any comments we make on this call as they relate to the income statement measures will be directed at our non-GAAP financial results. Accordingly, unless otherwise stated in this conference call, when we refer to gross profit, gross margin, operating income, operating margin, taxes, net income, and earnings per share, we are referring to our non-GAAP information. I would now like to turn the call over to Yuri Sola.
Matt
Thanks, Paige. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome. Thank you all for being here with us today. First, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize Samina leadership team and our employees. for managing successfully around material constraints and navigating around COVID challenges in our China operations. So to you, Samina's team, thank you for delivering strong and consistent results for the third quarter. Let's keep it up. For agenda, we have that Kurt, our CFO, to review details of our results for you. I will follow up with additional comments about Samina's results and the future goals. then Kurt and I will open for questions and answers. Now I'd like to turn this call over to you, Kurt.
Kurt Edzima
Thanks, Yuri. Please turn to slide five. In the third quarter, our team once again did an outstanding job delivering strong revenue and profit growth, as well as cash generation. U3 revenue of $2.02 billion grew substantially by approximately 5.6%, from the prior quarter and exceeded the high end of our outlook of $1.825 to $1.925 billion. This is primarily due to strong customer demand and excellent coordination with suppliers and customers to help mitigate material challenges. Non-GAAP gross margin improved to 8.4% compared to 8.1% in the prior quarter primarily due to higher revenues and a more favorable product mix. Non-GAAP operating margin was 5.5% compared to 5% in the prior quarter. This was primarily due to improved gross margins and operating expense leverage. Non-GAAP fully diluted earnings per share grew significantly by approximately 14.4% to $1.30 compared to $1.14 in the prior quarter and exceeded the upper end of the outlook range of $1.05 to $1.15 by 15 cents. Finally, Q3 gap fully diluted earnings per share was $1.29. Please turn to slide six. This slide shows the quarterly trends of our financial results. We've delivered consistent financial performance over the last two years, despite the challenges associated with COVID and the supply chain constraints. Non-GAAP gross margins have exceeded 8% for the last nine consecutive quarters. In addition, non-GAAP operating margins have been 5% or higher for seven of the last eight quarters. Now please turn to slide seven. Q3 IMS revenue increased to $1.625 billion, an increase of 4.3% over the prior quarter. This is primarily due to strong customer demand and excellent coordination by the supply chain and operations team in conjunction with our suppliers and customers to help mitigate these material challenges. Nogap gross margin for IMS improved to 7.3% compared to 7% in the prior quarter, primarily due to higher revenue levels and a more favorable product mix. Components, products, and services revenue grew significantly to $428 million. Non-GAAP gross margin for CPS was relatively flat at 11.9%. Now please turn to slide 8. We have a very healthy balance sheet, which provides us a competitive advantage for our company. Cash and cash equivalents was 493 million. Between cash and the availability under the revolver or other debt facilities, we have approximately 1.3 billion of liquidity. There were no borrowings under our revolver at the end of Q3. Cash generation continued to be strong in Q3. Cash flow from operations was 102 million and free cash flow was 65 million. Our strong balance sheet and cash flow generation allows the company to continue to be opportunistic as it repurchases shares and returns capital to shareholders. During the third quarter, we repurchased approximately 3.1 million shares, bringing the total for the fiscal year through the end of Q3 to 7.4 million shares. At the end of Q3, we had approximately 188 million remaining of share repurchase authorization. Now please turn to slide nine. Despite the higher levels of inventory, we were able to manage working capital such that cash cycle days remained relatively steady at approximately 56 days. Non-GAAP pre-tax ROIC continued to improve to 31.6%. Now please turn to slide 10. Let's talk about the outlook for Q4. Overall customer demand remains strong, but there continues to be supply chain challenges. We expect Q4 revenue to be in the range of $1.95 billion to $2.05 billion for the quarter. We expect non-GAAP gross margins in the range of 8.1% to 8.6%, depending on product mix. non-GAAP operating expenses in the range of $61 to $63 million, and non-GAAP operating margin in the range of 5 to 5.6%. We expect non-GAAP other expenses of approximately $8 to $9 million, non-GAAP tax rate of approximately 17.5%, non-GAAP fully diluted share count of approximately $61 million. When you consider all of this guidance, our outlook for our non-GAAP diluted earnings per share for Q4 is expected to be in the range of $1.27 to $1.37. I would note, if we achieve the midpoint of our Q4 outlook for both revenue and non-GAAP EPS, fiscal 22 revenue will have increased over 14% compared to fiscal 21, and fiscal 22 non-GAAP EPS will have increased over 20% compared to FY21. We expect Q4 CAPEX to be approximately $45 million, driven by growth of new programs and to support future growth. We expect depreciation of around $30 million. In summary, demand remains strong across our customer base. We are confident in our business model and expect the company to continue to deliver strong operating leverage and cash flow generation over time. And with that, I'll turn the call back over to Yuri.
Matt
Thank you, Kurt. Ladies and gentlemen, let me make a few more comments about business environment in the third quarter. I'll talk a little bit about outlook for the fourth quarter and how Semina is positioned for the future. As you heard from Kurt, Samina delivered strong and consistent results. Key drivers in the third quarter were growth was broad-based, driven by strong demand from all our end markets. Performance of our supply chain organization was excellent by working closely with our customers and suppliers. Lead times for semi-components is still challenging, but we saw some nice improvements in the third quarter. And we had a great operational execution by creating a right flexibility to build the product in a short cycle time. Through operational flexibility and excellent operational execution, we're able to deliver critical requirements for our customers. I can also tell you that our Semina team has done an outstanding job as we continue to differentiate our industry-leading capabilities by delivering competitive advantage to our customers. Overall, we delivered nice organic growth, quarter-over-quarter growth of approximately 6%, and year-over-year growth approximately 22-plus percent. Now, please turn to slide 12. Let me give you some highlights of the revenue for the third quarter by end markets. As you can see on this slide, top 10 customers were 47.7% of our revenues. Communication networks and cloud infrastructure would continue to see strength in this market segment, which was 40% of our revenue. This segment, quarter over quarter, grew approximately 6%, and year over year, grew 14%. Growth was driven by optical systems, 5G networks, and cloud infrastructure. Industrial, medical, defense, and automotive was approximately 60% of our revenue. This segment grew 5.5% quarter over quarter. We see strong demand year over year growth of 27.2% is the result of our efforts to diversify in these segments as we win new programs. Growth was driven by industrial, medical, defense, and automotive. We nicely saw nice growth across all of these key markets. Let me tell you more about bookings. The third quarter bookings continue to be strong. Book-to-bill was 107 to 1. I can also tell you that the pipeline of new opportunities is solid. And overall, we have strong demand and solid backlog. Please turn to slide 13. Now let's talk about revenue outlook by market segments for the fourth quarter. We see a strong demand across all the market segments. The MENA has healthy backlog for the fourth quarter and beyond. New project wins are driving the growth. We expect supply constraints to continue, and we expect to manage successfully around material constraints. We're forecasting that 40% plus or minus of four-quarter revenue will be from communication networks and cloud infrastructure markets, driven by optical systems, 5G networks, cloud networking, and enterprise storage systems. All of these segments we expect to move in the right direction. We're also forecasting that approximately 60% of revenue for a four-quarter will be from industrial, medical, defense, and automotive markets. Again, in this segment, we expect to move in the right direction. As you can see, Samina does not serve consumer markets. Our focus is on mission critical, high complexity, heavy regulated markets. Please turn to slide 14. For fourth quarter, again, we see nice, strong backlog, and we're forecasting approximately $195 to $20 billion for revenue. We also expect revenue growth for a year to be around 14-plus percent. For non-GAAP EPS outlook, it's 127 to 137, and for a year, we expect non-GAAP EPS growth of approximately 20-plus percent. So the way I would conclude, this was a pretty good year for Sanina. Now let me talk to you about growth for a fiscal year 23 and beyond. Let's talk about inflation and potential recession. I know this is on everybody's mind, but I want to just remind you I'm not an economist, but I do have strong foundation and experience of how to manage through this environment. As we all know, inflation is here, and recession may be here already. From Samina's management point of view, we are running Samina under the assumption that recession is already here. Most important, Samina is well positioned for any economic environment. On the positive side, we are excited about Samina's future for the fiscal year 2023 and beyond. We have been consistent and continue to focus on the profitable growth, which is evident in our results, despite the challenges of microeconomics backdrop. We focus on things that we control, which is quality of our customer base, building right partnerships by focusing on high complexity products. We focus on quality of earnings, consistency, and the growth of the earnings. We focus on quarterly and yearly cash flow that gives us opportunity to invest in our future that will drive the margin expansion. And we are focused on maximizing shareholders' value, short-term and long-term. For fiscal 2023, we expect to see nice improvement over fiscal year 2022. Tamina is in a great position. We have strong balance sheet and we will continue to generate strong cash flow. Sanmina has well diversified customer base in a high complexity and heavily regulated markets. And we can expect to continue to diversify our end markets as we grow. We are going into fiscal year 2023 with strong backlog and strong forecast from our key customers. New projects will continue to drive the growth, and pipeline of new opportunities is exciting. Let me tell you more about making investment for the future and how we are expanding our capabilities to support new wins for fiscal year 23 and beyond. We're really focused on some key markets that have been successful for us, such as medical, defense, and automotive. We believe we're well positioned and fair amount of opportunities are front of us that we believe that will continue to drive the growth. Industrial and alternative energy, we're in a great position and some great opportunities to continue to expand. In communication and cloud infrastructure, we have strong position that we are focused on a leading edge technologies here. In these key focus markets, Overall, we are expanding into more profitable projects by providing industry-leading technical engineering solutions from R&D, advanced components, products, and integrated manufacturing services. All of these opportunities in these key markets are translated into growth and margin expansion for Samina in fiscal year 2023. Also, I can tell you that Samina still has a lot of leverage in our business model. Please turn to slide 15. Third quarter was a good quarter for us. Revenue of $2.2 billion, exceeding output by 5.6% sequentially and approximately 22% year-over-year. Non-GAAP operating margin of 5.5% and spending by 50 basis points. None got diluted EPS of $1.30, exceeding our outlook by 14.4% sequentially and approximately 31.7% year-over-year. And we generated strong free cash flow. For a fourth quarter, demand remains strong, as we said. We continue to work through supply chain constraints, and we'll be managing this pretty well. We're forecasting solid revenue of $1.95 to $2.05, supported by a strong backlog, and non-GAAP diluted EPS, $1.27 to $1.37. I can tell you, Samina is in excellent shape, and we are well positioned to manage through this dynamic environment. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank you all for your time and support. Operator, we're now ready to open the lines for questions and answers. Thank you all.
Operator
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then 1 on your touchtone phone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star then 2. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. And our first question will come from Ruplu Bhattacharya with Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Rupul
Hi, thank you for taking my questions. Maybe for the first one, I'd like to ask in the communications and market, can you help us rank order the strength you saw in networking versus optical versus wireless 5G? Which one was the strongest? Which one was weaker? And then as you look into the fourth quarter, how do you see that playing out in the fourth quarter in terms of the the relative strength of these end markets?
Matt
Yeah, as I mentioned, I think that segment for us is in a good position. I think we're involved in a lot of the leading-edge technology. So the networking part, as you know, in the networking part, there's optical components and optical parts that go in both of those. I would say that the networking was, for us, very strong. Optical, also very strong. And all three segments, that 5G, it was a good quarter. It was a good quarter for us. We grew nicely, and we expect to continue to do the same thing.
Rupul
And so you expect that strand to continue into the fourth quarter as well?
Matt
Well, we still, we could have shipped a lot more if we had that part. So, you know, we still, you know, challenged to get all the parts that we need. We expect to continue to get what we are looking for as we've been doing it. As I said, I think things are getting a little bit better, so hopefully we'll get more parts. But we're in a good position to continue. We'll have a very strong ship that's there.
Rupul
Let me ask you this. The second half of fiscal 22, when we look at the June quarter and the September quarter that you're guiding, those quarters had easier year-on-year compares on the revenue side. But when we look at the first half of 23, the December quarter and the March quarter, the year-on-year revenue compares become much tougher. So can you give us your thoughts on the first half of 23? What are the puts and takes that we need to keep in mind? And how do you think about year-on-year revenue growth first half of 22 versus first half of 23?
Matt
Yeah, I think the first half of 2023 is going to be pretty solid for us, what we see today. As I said earlier in my prepared statement, Rupu, we expect definitely 2023 to be a stronger year for us. What I mean by that, to grow more than what we did in 2022. and also to, you know, in absolute dollars. I don't want to give percentages out there, but definitely we expect to make more money in 23 than we did in 22. So we expect to have a very solid year. I think our company is in a great position. You know, we're very aggressive. We've got one foot on a pedal and another one on a brake. In this environment, that's what we've got to do. But we've been very aggressive, and that's why we are expanding significantly. We're not expanding because of capacity. We are expanding to bring some new technology that are required by our customers, some new opportunities that we already want. So we expect to have a good year. But we'll take, you know, one quarter at a time. That's all I can tell you. But I know we'll have a good year.
Rupul
Okay. I have a couple for Kurt. If we look at inventory, it looks like inventory grew 11% sequentially, and it's up like 78% year on year. So just over the next couple of quarters, how do you see inventory trending given your forecasting revenue growth? How should we think about cash conversion cycle and free cash flow over the next couple of quarters?
Kurt Edzima
Yeah, so as we've said on prior calls, I mean, the main reason why inventory has gone up is that you know, we've been buying parts in the hopes that we would get in some of these constrained semiconductor or other constrained parts. And therefore, when they haven't come in as expected, you know, we still have that inventory on hand. So I think in terms of how I expect inventory to play out, you know, my expectation is that it will still grow A little bit more in the next quarter or two, but the hope would be as the supply constraints start to become more manageable, that inventory would level off and then candidly, ultimately decline to get back to a more normalized turns. But I would say we're probably in for another quarter or two of high inventory and perhaps a little bit higher inventory. But that'll depend on a bunch of variables that are hard to predict.
Rupul
Got it. And maybe for my last one, can I ask you, the CPS segment gross margins declined looks like 20 bps on sequentially higher revenues. What were some of the puts and takes in that segment?
Kurt Edzima
Yeah, that's really just product mix. As you know, that segment is made up of a bunch of different businesses, components, products, and services. So I think just the mix, even though the revenue grew, the mix was slightly different that quarter. We still believe in that segment, and we expect, as you already mentioned, there's a lot of operating leverage in that segment. So we expect those margins to increase over time, especially as some of these supply constraints resolve.
Matt
If I can add to that, Rupul, I think if you look at where we are today, we did a lot of work the last couple of years. The company is positioned to go to the next level. I think a lot of our critical components, products and services, have a lot of opportunities. So we believe there's a lot more room there in both that segment and also in our IMS. We're not satisfied with our margins. We think we can do better than what we delivered this quarter.
Rupul
Okay. Thank you for all the details. Appreciate it.
Operator
Our next question will come from Jim Suva with Citigroup. Please go ahead.
Matt
Hello, Jim.
Jim
Good evening. Could both of you maybe comment a little bit on the operating margins? You know, very impressive here. Is it structurally you think could stay at these levels, or is it, you know, you're getting a little bit of extra profitability due to higher component costs and expedited shipping to meet customers? I'm just going to want to dive into the sustainability of the operating margins and how impressive high they are?
Matt
Well, Jim, let me start with that, and I'll turn it over to my expert, the CFO here. First of all, we think our minimum margin should be 5% to 6% operating. As we said at the beginning of the year, we want to get over the 5%, which we did, and they're now keeping it up. It's So we'll be in the five to six somewhere, but we want to be to the high end of that, okay? So that's the goal. I think what's happening, a lot of these improvements that we're making are paying off, you know, because the parts, not getting parts on daily basis, our efficiencies are not that good today. We expect our efficiency to improve as the constraints ease up. So we expect to... to really drive the margin up. We also bring in projects, Jim, that are a lot better to drive the margins up. So we've got higher goals than what we delivered this quarter. But it's going to take us a year to get where we want to get, but we're moving in the right direction.
Kurt Edzima
Yeah, Jim, I'd say it's a combination of a couple things. I mean, obviously, gross margin improved by, you know, roughly 30 basis points. That was a combination of higher revenue, so we got a little bit more leverage in the model, and also favorable product mix. But as Yuri pointed out, we've done in the past, candidly, better gross margins, and I think as we get more efficient, as the supply chain gets more stable and we receive materials more evenly throughout the quarter, we think we should be able to improve that over time. And then on the operating leverage, again, you know, we're trying to keep, and I think we've been successful keeping, you know, OPEX around 60 or 60 and change million. Obviously, every quarter is up and down. There's different puts and takes, but we expect to see further leverage there. So it was really a combination of better margins due to higher revenue and and better mix, and then operating leverage, you know, relatively flat OPEX on higher revenue, and that resulted in the 5-5. There's always going to be some variability quarter to quarter, but we think, as Yuri has said multiple times, that there's continued leverage in the model, and so as revenue grows and as some of these inefficiencies caused by the supply chain lack of linearity, I'll say, inside of a quarter, we should continue to be able to improve things.
Jim
And then as my follow-up, how should we think about uses of cash flow? Obviously, best to fund the current business. But beyond that, how should we think about uses of cash flow? Are there any areas you kind of want to get into or you're comfortable with that or geographic footprint? I know you have a global footprint. How should we think about your uses of cash that you could use in the future?
Matt
All right, let me start from a growth and margin expansion, and then I'll, you know, turn it to Kurt to tune it up. Jim, I think we are planning to invest more probably next 12, 18 months than we did in the last, you know, couple years, okay? And most of this investment is going in some unique capabilities that will drive the expansion process. That's really what we want to focus. We want to focus on this high-complexity niche market area that we believe we have competitive advantage, both on technology and execution point of view. So we're adding, really, capabilities there. And back to your first question, we want to change the model on this business. So I don't think it's acceptable anymore in this business to be At the 4% operating margin, I think it needs to move up in the 5 to 6 consistently and hopefully in the high end of 6. So that's our next step.
Kurt Edzima
But, Kirk? Yeah, I mean, I think as Yuri said, our priority is organic growth. And part of that organic growth is to continue to add to our capabilities as a result of not only expanding our existing customer relations, but also new programs that we take on. I think in general, we're very happy with our geographic footprint. We have one of the broadest geographic footprints in the industry. But that doesn't mean we won't continue to expand existing sites to take on additional growth. So I think our number one priority has been and will always be organic growth. You know, we continue to pay down our debt, approximately $5 million a quarter. So we've done that. And then, as you've seen, we've opportunistically bought back shares. So those are our priorities, but clearly organic growth above everything else. We feel like there's a lot of opportunity in this business, and we're going to continue to invest in this business to drive profitable growth.
Jim
Thank you so much for the details.
Kurt Edzima
Thanks, Jim.
Operator
Our next question will come from Christian Schwab with Craig Hallam Capital Group. Please go ahead.
Schwab
Thank you. Congratulations, guys, on another great quarter of execution and guidance. I just have a couple quick questions, Yuri. With the mindset that you're running the company as if we're already in a recession, what You know, can you talk to us about, you know, further clarity of visibility of bookings and backlog and how many quarters does that extend? You're very optimistic, it sounds like, for a continuation of top line revenue growth in fiscal year 23 over 22. Is there any quantification you can put around that for us?
Matt
Yeah, I mean, as I mentioned in our prepared statement, the demand today, we see a strong demand. We have a strong backlog. Our customers still are optimistic about the future. We're well positioned. We've got a strong pipeline of new winds that are coming up that should be shipping in 2023. And, you know, these shortages really hurt us. I mean, if we didn't have these shortages, we could have shift a lot more. So as that gets resolved, I think some of these new programs that we have should continue to drive. So we're optimistic that 23 is going to be a solid year for us. What we see today, Christian, is that we think in absolute dollars we're going to do more than we did this year. But definitely, I think we're in a position to make more money because we know internally that we can do more than what we're doing today. So we're tuning internally. When I say we're running like it's a recession here, you know, you constantly, nature of this business is you have to tune things up on a daily basis. So it's all about doing the right thing for your customer, listening to your customers, and executing. That's all it takes. And the companies that execute better will be able to make a little bit extra money. And that's our model right now. And And our components, products, and services, I think, are moving in the right direction. They're making huge improvements from a capabilities point of view and expanding the customer base in there. So we expect to see a good return in our defense business. The backlog in our defense business is, I think, solid for the next three, four years. So we have a lot of good opportunities that will help us improve the margins. But again, in this environment, you take one day at a time, one week at a time, and one quarter at a time. And we're going to continue with the same model. I like what I see. I like our position. We've got a strong balance sheet. So no matter what happened with recession, this is not going to... In 2008, 2009, we had a lot of debt. We had a lot of moving parts. Today, you know, we're strictly focusing today on execution and winning the business. We have a strong balance sheet. So... Whatever happens with the economy, I believe Sanmina will perform pretty well against any of our competitors. So that's why we're optimistic what's in front of us. But, again, we have to make sure we do our job on a daily basis.
Schwab
Great. And then my last question, reverting back to, you know, the meaningful growth in inventory, that is, Your conviction, you know, investors should probably interpret your conviction and backlog bookings and new program pipeline as a reason why, despite possibly already being in a recession, we have no problem building a bunch of inventory waiting for constrained parts because we don't really feel like there's little to no risk of any push-outs or cancellations.
Matt
Let me make sure we're very clear. Inventory that we have is strictly customer guaranteed. We only buy per customer requirement. So we don't build anything that is not under the contract with the customer. So let's make sure that that's very clear. So the inventory we have is being driven by our customer requirements. And what we see today, that requirements are there. And believe me, in a lot of these cases, they wish we shipped them last quarter. So that's kind of what we are operating in. You know, another thing, as I said earlier, Christian, as you know, we are not in consumer market. I mean, you know, I think our market for consumer is fraction of percent, if any. So, you know, I think the other businesses I think will go through. I don't think we're going to have a severe recession, but I'm not an export. But in the markets that we focus on, I think there's a lot of resilience in those type of markets, and, you know, we're one of the leaders there.
Kurt Edzima
Yeah, just one clarification on that point. So I think, first of all, the inventory that grows, that is component inventory, right? That's raw materials. We're not building finished goods that are sitting on dock waiting to get shipped that you add a semiconductor to as soon as it walks in. Our cycle times are really short, so it's really more raw materials or subassemblies, not finished goods. I think the second thing I would say is you said, well, it shows San Mines' confidence. I'd say it shows San Mines' confidence, but it also shows our customers' confidence because at the end of the day, the inventory is driven by our customers' forecasts, and at the end of the day, those customers are on the hook for that inventory. So I would say it's not just our confidence. I think it's our customers' confidence. That's a good question.
Schwab
Yeah, that's wonderful. Thanks, guys.
Matt
That's it. Thanks, Christian. Operator, we have time for one more question, please.
Operator
Thank you. Our last question will come from Anja Soderstorm with Sedoti. Please go ahead.
Matt
Hello, Anja.
spk01
Hi. Thank you for taking my question, and congratulations on another exceptional quarter. I'm just curious, it seems like what's holding you back is some specific components that you're dependent on to be able to assemble the inventory you have. What do you see in terms of attaining those components? Is there anything specific that needs to happen?
Matt
I think a lot of these components are custom around Semi, Anya, and it's been the same challenges for over a year. I said earlier on prepared statement, things are getting better. As you know, some of these components was ordered over a year ago. We're getting our shares. I think we work very close with our customers. As you know, we have a who's who with our customer base. They have a lot, you know, between our strength and their strength. We have a lot of connections with the component supplier. But, you know, we're going through the same challenges as everybody else around the world. But, you know, we believe that we are managing it pretty well. We expect to see improvement sometimes in 23 right now. If I have to guess, probably middle of 23. But I think for next couple quarters, I think we'll continue to see some of these shortages will continue.
spk01
Okay, thank you. And just the last one, I understand you have a pretty recession-proof end market that you serve, but is there any area of your end market that you see some sort of slowdown?
Matt
Not really. I mean, we have a few parts that are built around the COVID, you know, maybe some of those parts, but that's a small percentage of our business. But overall, you know, we have a very strong position.
spk01
Okay, great. Thank you. That was all from me.
Matt
That's all. Well, ladies and gentlemen, personally, I want to thank you again for your time. Appreciate it. In this environment, we take one quarter of time. We are excited what's in front of us. Now it's all about executing for another good quarter. So with that, thank you very much. Looking forward to talking to you. And if any of you have any questions, please get back to us. Bye-bye.
Operator
The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.
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