Dycom Industries, Inc.

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Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the DICOM Industries, Inc. 3rd Quarter 2023 Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during this session, you will need to press star 1-1 on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would like to hand the conference over to your host today, Mr. Stephen Nielsen, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for attending this conference call to review our third quarter fiscal 2023 results. Going to slide two. During this call, we will be referring to a slide presentation, which can be found on our website's Investor Center main page. Relevant slides will be identified by number throughout our presentation. Today, we have on the call Drew DeFerrari, our Chief Financial Officer, and Ryan Ernest, our General Counsel. Now I will turn the call over to Ryan Ernest. Thank you, Steve.

All forward-looking statements made during this conference call are provided pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation and Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include all comments reflecting expectations, assumptions, or beliefs about future events or performance that do not relate fully to historical periods. These forward-looking statements are subject to risk and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from current projections, including those risks described in our annual report on Form 10-K, filed March 4, 2022, together with our other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements are made solely as of the original broadcast date of this conference call, and we assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. Steve?

Thanks, Ryan. Now moving to slide four and a review of our third quarter results. As we review our results, please note that in our comments today and in the accompanying slides, we reference certain non-GAAP measures. We refer you to the quarterly report section of our website for reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to their corresponding GAAP measures. Now for the quarter. Revenue was $1.042 billion, an organic increase of 22.1%. As we deployed gigabit wireline networks, wireless wireline converged networks, and wireless networks, this quarter reflected an increase in demand from four of our top five customers. Gross margin was 18.4% of revenue and increased 103 basis points compared to Q3 2022. Improved operating performance of 123 basis points in Q2 was partially offset by 20 basis points of higher fuel costs. General and administrative expenses were 7.6% of revenue, and all of these factors produced adjusted EBITDA of $114.6 million, or 11% of revenue, and earnings per share of $1.80 compared to $0.94 in the year-ago quarter. Liquidity was ample at $444.3 million, improving sequentially. Now going to slide five. Today, major industry participants are constructing or upgrading significant wireline networks across broad sections of the country. These wireline networks are generally designed to provision gigabit network speeds to individual consumers and businesses, either directly or wirelessly using 5G technologies. Industry participants have stated their belief that a single high-capacity fiber network can most cost-effectively deliver services to both consumers and businesses, enabling multiple revenue streams from a single investment. This view is increasing the appetite for fiber deployments, and we believe that the industry effort to deploy high-capacity fiber networks continues to meaningfully broaden the set of opportunities for our industry. Increasing access to high-capacity telecommunications continues to be crucial to society especially in rural America. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes over $40 billion for the construction of rural communications networks in unserved and underserved areas across the country. This represents an unprecedented level of support. In addition, substantially all states are commencing programs that will provide funding for telecommunications networks even prior to the initiation of funding under the Infrastructure Act. We are providing program management, planning, engineering and design, aerial, underground, and wireless construction and fulfillment services for Gigabit deployments. These services are being provided across the country in numerous geographic areas to multiple customers. These deployments include networks consisting entirely of wired network elements and converged wireless wireline multi-use networks. Fiber network deployment opportunities are increasing in rural America as new industry participants respond to emerging societal initiatives. We continue to provide integrated planning, engineering and design, procurement and construction and maintenance services to several industry participants. Macroeconomic conditions, including those impacting the cost of capital, may influence the execution of some industry plans. The market for labor remains tight in many regions around the country. Automotive and equipment supply chains remain challenged, particularly for the large truck chassis required for specialty equipment. Prices for capital equipment continue to increase. It remains to be seen how long these conditions may persist. Looking ahead, these factors will increase the likelihood that demand could fluctuate amongst customers. These fluctuations may result in a wider range of potential outcomes moving into next year. Within this context, we remain confident that our scale and financial strength position us well to deliver valuable service to our customers. Moving to slide six. During the quarter, organic revenue increased 22.1%. Our top five customers combined produced 66.5% of revenue. increasing 27.4% organically. Demand increased from four of our top five customers. All other customers increased 13.3% organically. AT&T was our largest customer, 24.8% of total revenue, or $258.2 million. AT&T grew 29.4% organically. This was our seventh consecutive quarter of organic growth with AT&T. Lumen was our second largest customer, 13.7% of revenue, or $142.9 million. Lumen grew organically 64.5%, excluding from both periods operations sold to Brightspeed. This was our third consecutive quarter of organic growth with Lumen. Revenue from Comcast was $108.8 million, or 10.4% of revenue. Comcast was DICOM's third largest customer. Verizon was our fourth largest customer at $94.9 million, or 9.1% of revenue. Verizon grew 1.7% organically. And finally, revenue from Frontier was $88.9 million, or 8.5% of revenue. Frontier grew 115.4% organically. This is the second consecutive quarter where our top five customers grew organically in excess of 25%, and the 15th consecutive quarter where all of our other customers in aggregate, excluding the top five customers, have grown organically. Of note, fiber construction revenue from electric utilities was $82.4 million in the quarter and increased organically 53.6% year over year. We have extended our geographic reach and expanded our program management and network planning services. In fact, over the last several years, we believe we have meaningfully increased the long-term value of our maintenance and operations business, a trend which we believe will parallel our deployment of gigabit wireline direct and wireless wireline converged networks as those deployments dramatically increase the amount of outside plant network that must be extended and maintained. Now going to slide seven. Backlog at the end of the third quarter was $6.116 billion. versus 6.028 billion at the end of the July 2022 quarter, an increase of 88 million. Of this backlog, approximately 3.276 billion is expected to be completed in the next 12 months. Backlog activity during the third quarter reflects solid performance as we booked new work and renewed existing work. We continue to anticipate substantial future opportunities across a broad array of our customers. During the quarter, we received from Lumen, construction and maintenance agreements in Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, and Florida. For AT&T, a utility line locating agreement in Florida. From Charter, construction and maintenance agreements in Texas, Michigan, Ohio, New York, and Florida. For Windstream, a construction agreement in Georgia, and various rural fiber construction agreements in Oregon, Wisconsin, and Missouri. Headcount was $15,167. Now I will turn the call over to Drew for his financial review and outlook. Thanks, Steve, and good morning, everyone.

Going to slide eight, contract revenues were $1.042 billion, and organic revenue increased 22.1%. Adjusted EBITDA was $114.6 million, or 11% of revenue, compared to $83.1 million, or 9.7% of revenue. This reflects an improvement of 126 basis points compared to Q3 2022. Gross margin was 18.4% of revenue and increased 103 basis points. Improved operating performance of 123 basis points of gross margin was partially offset by 20 basis points of higher fuel costs. G&A expense of 7.6% decreased from 7.8% of revenue in Q3 22 from improved operating leverage at the higher level of revenue and tight management of costs. Net income was $1.80 per share compared to $0.94 per share in Q3 last year. The results for Q3 23 included tax benefits of $3.2 million or $0.11 per share compared to tax benefits of $3 million or $0.10 per share in Q3 22 for the vesting and exercise of share-based awards and credits related to tax filings for prior years. The increase in earnings reflects higher adjusted EBITDA, lower depreciation and amortization, and higher gains on asset sales, partially offset by higher stock-based compensation and interest expense. Going to slide nine. Our financial position and balance sheet remains strong. We ended Q3 with $500 million of senior notes, $336.875 million of term loan, and no revolver borrowings. Cash and equivalents were 65.3 million, and liquidity was ample at 444.3 million. Our capital allocation prioritizes organic growth, followed by opportunistic share repurchases and M&A within the context of our historical range of net leverage. Going to slide 10, cash flow used for operating activities was 4.5 million in Q3 to fund the sequential growth in operations. Capital expenditures were $49.2 million net of disposal proceeds, and gross CapEx was $54.8 million. The automotive and equipment supply chains remain challenged, and we now expect fiscal 2023 full-year capital expenditures net of disposals to range from $165 to $175 million. This is a decrease compared to the low end of $180 million from our outlook previously provided. The combined DSOs of accounts receivable and net contract assets was 112 days, an increase of five days sequentially as we grew with several large customers during the quarter. Going to slide 11. Each year, our January quarterly results are impacted by seasonality, including inclement weather, fewer available work days due to the holidays, reduced daylight work hours, as well as the restart of calendar payroll taxes. These and other factors may have a pronounced impact on our actual results for the January quarter. As we look ahead to the quarter ending January 28, 2023, we expect contract revenues to increase mid to high single digit as a percentage of contract revenues as compared to the quarter ended January 29, 2022. And we expect non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA percentage of contract revenues to increase modestly compared to Q4 of last year. We also expect $11.8 million of net interest expense reflecting higher market interest rates, a 27% effective income tax rate, and $30.1 million diluted shares. Now I will turn the call back to Steve.

Thanks, Drew. Moving to slide 12. This quarter, we experienced solid activity and capitalized on our significant strengths. First and foremost, we maintained significant customer presence throughout our markets. We are encouraged by the breadth in our business. Our extensive market presence has allowed us to be at the forefront of evolving industry opportunities. Telephone companies are deploying fiber to the home to enable gigabit high-speed connections. Increasingly, rural electric utilities are doing the same. Dramatically increased speeds to consumers are being provisioned and consumer data usage is growing, particularly upstream. Wireless construction activity in support of newly available spectrum bands is increasing this year. Federal and state support for rural deployments of communications networks is dramatically increasing in scale and duration. Cable operators are deploying fiber to small and medium businesses and enterprises. A portion of those deployments are in anticipation of the customer sales process. Deployments to expand capacity as well as new build opportunities are underway. Customers are consolidating supply chains, creating opportunities for market share growth and increasing the long-term value of our maintenance and operations business. As our nation and industry navigate increased economic uncertainty, We remain encouraged that a growing number of our customers are committed to multi-year capital spending initiatives. We are confident in our strategies, the prospects for our company, the capabilities of our dedicated employees, and the experience of our management team.

Now, operator, we will open the call for questions.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. If you have a question at this time, please press star 11 on your telephone. Thank you, operator.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for attending this conference call.

Our first question comes from the line of Sean Eastman with KeyBank. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Good morning, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. So I just wanted to start on the revenue guidance for the fourth quarter. I think last quarter you guys had highlighted normal seasonal moderation going into the fourth quarter. Obviously now that the third quarter revenue came in higher and it seems like a bit of a more pronounced seasonal moderation into 4Q. So was there some pull forward there? Maybe just what's happening under the hood? And what should we take away from this step down from the low 20% growth to sort of the mid to high single-digit growth and the guidance for the fourth quarter as we think about growth prospects into next year?

Yeah. So, Sean, and I think we commented on this on the last call, that when you have a really strong year and we've had a really strong first three quarters, it's not unusual for the fourth quarter to be somewhat weaker. With respect to growth weight, and we talked about this last time, we have a quarter that's disproportionately impacted by weather, by holidays, by daylight hours. And so, you know, I think that that is certainly a factor. I think the other thing that we highlighted in the comments in the slide is as we're looking ahead, we're taking a prudent view towards the kind of the macroeconomic effects of an increased cost of capital. And that's just something at this point, we're not giving guidance for next year, but we're just thinking about kind of what the consequences of that are on the overall economy.

Okay, thanks for that, Steve. And then just drilling in on that comment specifically around cost of capital and the potential for a wider range of outcomes moving into next year I mean is that comment sort of in advance of some potential squishiness just given the development since we heard from you last quarter or are you starting to see evidence that some work is going on the shelf around you know the the kind of you know macro uncertainty

Well, with respect to kind of that macro uncertainty, Sean, I mean, we look at our short cycle businesses. We continue to have signals that the economy is growing. It's a little slow, but it's continuing to grow. I think we were encouraged. We've had a number of customers in the last month that have reiterated long-term plans around large fiber deployments. But that being said, with the increase in the cost of capital, if you look at where interest rates are, we think it's just prudent to remember a couple, three things. So when we've been through periods of higher cost of capital, that does pressure short-term investment cases. On the other hand, what we hear from our customers is, is that many of the programs that we are on are strategic. The more strategic, the better. The more strategic, the more durable. And so you balance that against as things, as interest rates have gone up, that if they go up further, cost of capital goes up further, or there's a pronounced impact on the consumer, that there could be an impact on the business. So just trying to take a prudent outlook as we look ahead. Okay, fair enough, Steve.

I'll turn it over there.

Thank you.

Thank you. And one moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Alex Regal with B Reilly. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Thanks. Good morning, Steve. Hey, Alex. Double quick questions here. First, your comment about anticipating substantial future opportunities. Does this suggest you expect your backlog to increase substantially in the near term?

You know, Alex, as we've talked about before with backlog, you know, it's calculated looking backwards. We've had strong growth, so that's not necessarily reflected in the backlog. I think we were encouraged with the awards that we had this quarter. I mean, we had some a broad set of renewals as well as a little bit of new work with Lumen, a nice new locate agreement with AT&T as well as other renewals with other customers. So we feel good about the opportunity set in the business. Again, hard to not be encouraged when you have a customer last week outline their fiber plans in 30 markets across the country.

And then you lowered your CapEx budget this year. Is this due to difficult supply chain or a softer demand outlook?

Now, we have $80 million of equipment on order, and we're looking at an order on one particular type of equipment that would be the largest, I think, probably in the company's history. So we have lots of appetite for equipment, just a little bit slow to arrive. But we'll be happy when it gets here.

Thank you. I'll get back in the queue.

Thank you, and one moment for our next question. Our next question comes on the line of Adam Palmer with Thompson Davis. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning, guys. Nice quarter. Hey, Adam. Steve, in terms of the wider range of outcomes next year, are you trying to say that you see a scenario where revenues – down or it's just hard to tell how much it could be up?

You know, Adam, we're not giving guidance again. I guess what I would say is if you think about when we had this call a year ago, the Fed was still buying mortgage and government securities and hadn't raised the rate. The rate was effective. The Fed funds rate was effectively zero. And so if you think about the cumulative effect of all those increases since then, and one probably coming up. I'm not a Fed watcher, but probably another one coming soon. We just want to make sure that people understand that there's a little more uncertainty as we go ahead. We've got lots of opportunity, but we've also been around enough to know that when the cost of capital goes up, it can have an effect on economic activity, which may affect our customers. I mean, we're encouraged. We work for big customers that have long-term programs. We're working on a program now that's coming on two decades of continuous employment on that Fiverr program, and actually that customer is accelerating right now. But we just want to make sure we have a prudent expectation for next year.

And then, Related to that customer you just mentioned, are you – the large program from them that was outside of their traditional footprint, was there still a negative impact from that in your third quarter?

Yeah, there was still an impact. It'll be less in this quarter, and we think it'll be immaterial next year. The year-over-year growth was really driven by – increased activity around fiber deployments in their footprint, as well as the addition of another state that we started during the quarter. So happy with the progress there.

Okay, great. And then last one for me, can you comment at all on BrightSpeed? I didn't see any awards from them in Q3. There were some in Q2, and I'm just curious if that over time could become a top 10 customer.

Well, and one way to think about it, Adam, is we had just call it $8 million of revenue in