NYSE:GVA Granite Construction Q3 2023 Earnings Report C$0.12 -0.01 (-4.00%) As of 03:49 PM Eastern Earnings HistoryForecast Westhaven Gold EPS ResultsActual EPSC$1.69Consensus EPS C$1.41Beat/MissBeat by +C$0.28One Year Ago EPSN/AWesthaven Gold Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$1.12 billionExpected RevenueN/ABeat/MissN/AYoY Revenue GrowthN/AWesthaven Gold Announcement DetailsQuarterQ3 2023Date10/31/2023TimeN/AConference Call DateTuesday, October 31, 2023Conference Call Time11:00AM ETUpcoming EarningsGranite Construction's Q1 2025 earnings is scheduled for Thursday, May 1, 2025, with a conference call scheduled at 11:00 AM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Q1 2025 Earnings ReportConference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptSlide DeckPress Release (8-K)Quarterly Report (10-Q)Earnings HistoryCompany ProfileSlide DeckFull Screen Slide DeckPowered by Granite Construction Q3 2023 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrOctober 31, 2023 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 10 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00My name is Kate, and I will be your conference facilitator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Granite Construction Investor Relations Q3 2023 conference call. This call is being recorded. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background and after the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer period. Please note, we will take one question and one follow-up question from each participant today. Operator00:00:29It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Relations, Inc. Vice President of Investor Relations, Mike Barker. Speaker 100:00:38Good morning and thank you for joining us. I'm pleased to be here today with President and Chief Executive Officer, Kyle Larkin and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Lisa Curtis. Please note that today's earnings presentation will be available on the Events and Presentations page of our Investor Relations website. We begin today with a brief discussion regarding forward looking statements and non GAAP measures. Some of the discussion today and Company's Investor Relations. Speaker 100:01:07Today, we will begin the presentation today that may include forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward looking statements are estimates reflecting the current expectations and best judgment of senior management regarding future events, Occurrences, opportunities, targets, growth, demand, strategic plans, circumstances, activities, performance, shareholder value, outcomes, outlook, guidance, objectives, Committed and Awarded Projects or CAP and results. Actual results could differ materially from statements made today. Please refer to Granite's most recent 10 ks and 10 Q filings for a more complete description of risk factors that could affect these forward looking statements. The company assumes no obligation to update forward looking statements except as required by law. Speaker 100:02:01Certain non GAAP measures may be discussed during today's call and from time to time by the company's executives. These include, but are not limited to, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share. The required disclosures regarding our non GAAP measures are included as part of our earnings press releases and in company presentations, which are available on our website graniteconstruction.com under Investor Relations. Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Kyle Larkin. Speaker 200:02:33Good morning, and welcome to our Q3 conference call. We had a strong Q3. Q3 marked our 2nd consecutive quarter of top line growth. We continue to grow our record cap of projects that should produce margins in line with our expectations. Just over 2 years ago, We stated that our goal was to transform Granite from what had become a volatile business into a business that earns predictable, strong financial results, while also producing consistent sustainable growth. Speaker 200:03:02We also shared our plan to earn adjusted EBITDA margins that Granite had not seen since the housing boom. To support this effort, we took significant actions on both the construction and material size of the business. For construction, The first step we took was to derisk our committed and awarded project portfolio or CAAT. We moved away from complex design build projects and shifted our focus to best value and bid build projects. In best value projects such as CMGC, our construction manager general contractor, We are better positioned to succeed as we work collaboratively with the client to mitigate risk for the project. Speaker 200:03:39Although some best value projects have high total contract values, they are often separated into smaller work packages, which are then reviewed through multiple project workshops. We've constructed more than 60 best value projects and they are generally completed quicker and with fewer claims. Our record high quality cap and macroeconomic construction fueled by the Federal Infrastructure Bill or IIJA puts Granite in the strongest position for growth and profitability in over a decade. On the materials side of the business, we said we intended to invest in our materials business and in the home markets that have been our strength since our founding. For the past 3 years, we've invested in greenfield reserves, a liquid asphalt terminal, new automated aggregate plants and bolt on materials investments. Speaker 200:04:23These actions have strengthened our positions in our profitable vertically integrated markets. We see further opportunities to strengthen our current home markets and to expand in the new geographies. While much of the focus of the past couple of years has been on internal transformation, We're now growing and plan to pursue opportunities to drive growth and expand our footprint in both our Materials and Construction segments. Our 2024 strategic plan is designed to grow our margins. The actions our teams have accomplished over the past 3 years gives me confidence We are on track to achieve our 2024 financial targets. Speaker 200:04:59Now let's review the performance in our segments for the quarter, starting with the Construction segment. Total cap grew in Q3, continuing the trend over the last year. Cap increased $147,000,000 from the 2nd quarter and is up $1,500,000,000 or 37 percent year over year to $5,600,000,000 This represents a 2nd consecutive record cap for Granite. And what is typically our largest revenue quarter of the year, growing cap is a significant accomplishment for our teams. Robust market has produced a number of public and Private Opportunities that should allow us to continue to build high quality cap in the Q4 and as we move into 2024. Speaker 200:05:41Further, I believe the IIJA funding will continue to expand bid opportunities in 2024 across all of our key markets and we are well positioned to capitalize on those opportunities. Diving into our operating groups and starting with the California Group, cap was flat in the Q2 and increased $792,000,000 or 51% from Q3 2022. This is a really impressive result as the group continued to win and then begin amount of work, while achieving record 3rd quarter revenue. Public spending in the state has been strong and is expected to continue. Earlier in the year, there were concerns about the state budget deficit, but these concerns were resolved without impact to transportation spending. Speaker 200:06:23During Q3, Caltrans, the State Department of Transportation, again awarded their highest dollar value contracts in at least 5 years. Historically, high bid opportunities are expected to continue in 2024. Moving to the Mountain Group, our most seasonal group. Cap decreased $65,000,000 from the 2nd quarter as the group posted year over year revenue growth of 12% in the 3rd quarter. Despite the decrease in cap during the quarter, the group ended with cap of $1,400,000,000 remained significantly higher by 431,000,000 of 43% year over year. Speaker 200:06:56Our Utah, Alaska and Nevada regions continue to lead the group with strong cap. With budgeted spending in each state and the group expected to increase in 2024, the Mountain Group is poised for continued growth in the 4th quarter and 2024. Finally, in the Central Group, cap increased in the quarter by $212,000,000 sequentially, of $284,000,000 year over year to $1,800,000,000 The increase in cap was led by the tunnel division, which landed a $205,000,000 tunnel project in Ohio and continued growth in the Texas region home markets in Houston and Dallas. While the Central Group revenue was flat year over year in the quarter, I expect the group to return to revenue growth in 2024. The transformation of the Central Group's cap has been tremendous and a key component to our expected margin expansion in 2024. Speaker 200:07:48Overall, the construction segment had an outstanding quarter. We continue to build high quality cap, grow revenue and increased profitability in line with expectations. I believe we will continue to grow cap and revenue in the Q4 and enter 2024 very well positioned to achieve our financial targets. Moving to the Materials segment, we built on the momentum of the 2nd quarter with another strong performance in the Q3. As I mentioned last call, cost inflation significantly impacted profitability last year normalized in 2023. Speaker 200:08:23These stabilized costs combined with aggregate and asphalt price increases resulted in margin gains in the 2nd and third quarters of 2023. Relations. Materials volumes and orders remain strong throughout the Q3 and going into the Q4. In this market environment, I expect to realize further price increases in 2020 As we have previously reported, we've been investing in our materials business in numerous ways over the last 2 years. In the Q4, we're expecting the completion of major investments in 2 automation projects, including a new fully automated higher grade plant. Speaker 200:08:57These investments in our Materials segment should drive cost efficiencies and further margin expansion in 2024, in line with our gross margin expectations of 15% to 17%. Now, I'll turn it over to Lisa to review our financial performance for the quarter. Speaker 300:09:14Thank you, Kyle. In the Q3, revenue increased $108,000,000 or 11% year over year to 1,100,000,000 while gross profit increased $52,000,000 to $167,000,000 or gross profit margin of 15%. These results reflect a strong performance in both the Construction and Materials segments during the quarter. In the construction segment, revenue increased $98,000,000 or 12% year over year to $946,000,000 and outstanding results for the segment. The revenue increase was led by the California and Mountain Groups, which were up an impressive 21% and 12%, respectively, year over year. Speaker 300:09:59Entering the quarter with record cap, the California Group's significant Year over year revenue increase was in line with our expectations as the group overcame a historically wet and slow start to the year. Heading into Q4, I expect continued top line growth in the Q4 year over year and in 2024. The The Mountain Group's 12% year over year growth was led by construction revenue increases in the Alaska and Nevada regions with our larger regions such as Utah and Washington also contributing meaningfully to revenue. Finally, in the Central Group, revenue in the quarter was flat year over year with revenue in the growing Texas, Arizona and Illinois regions, offsetting declines in the Florida region as legacy projects wrap up. Construction segment gross profit increased $44,000,000 year over year to $137,000,000 with a gross margin impact of 14.5%, up from 11% in the Q3 of the prior year. Speaker 300:11:11The gross profit margin includes a write down on the I-sixty four High Rise Bridge project of 8,000,000 during the quarter with an impact to Granite after non controlling interest of $4,000,000 The project continues to move towards completion, which is expected by the end of 2023. Despite the impact of I-sixty 4 in the quarter, construction segment gross profit margin improved year over year as expected, led by our higher quality cap compared to the prior year. Over the past year, we have won work at higher margins and we are seeing the benefit in our gross profit margin. In the Materials segment, revenue increased $10,000,000 year over year to $171,000,000 with gross profit increasing $7,000,000 to $29,000,000 or a gross profit margin of 17%. The improvement in gross profit margin was primarily due to sales price increases in both asphalt and aggregates and stable oil and energy costs. Speaker 300:12:18The year over year increases in revenue and gross profit resulted in 3rd quarter adjusted diluted earnings per share of 1.69 and adjusted EBITDA margin of 11%. Our non GAAP adjustments during the quarter included a litigation charge of $8,000,000 and other costs related to the settlement of the sales force tower matter. At the end of the Q3, our cash and marketable securities totaled $329,000,000 up from $251,000,000 in the 2nd quarter. During the quarter, we also paid off our outstanding revolver draw in the amount of $55,000,000 resulting in a net debt reduction of $133,000,000 Third quarter profit and favorable movement in key working capital accounts produced strong operating cash flow in the quarter of $153,000,000 We reduced net contract assets by $55,000,000 from the 2nd quarter as billings, cash collection and overall activity from projects ramping up in the second quarter progressed through the heart of the construction season. I am pleased with our progress in the quarter and expect the trend of strong cash generation to continue in the Q4 as seasonally high receivable balances are collected. Speaker 300:13:44I believe as we settle older outstanding claims In conjunction with our de risked business model, our cash flow will continue to significantly improve. Our Q3 performance was directly in line with our 2023 guidance expectations and we are not changing our guidance. I believe we could achieve the higher end of our revenue and adjusted EBITDA margin ranges if we continue to have favorable weather conditions in the Q4 and we continue to execute across our portfolio. We are also maintaining our 2024 financial targets of $3,600,000,000 to $3,900,000,000 in revenue and adjusted EBITDA margin of 9% to 11%. We believe we have the market opportunities and the cap to reach our 2024 targets that will then lead to even further gains beyond 2024. Speaker 300:14:43Now, I'll turn it back over to Kyle. Speaker 200:14:46Thanks, Lisa. I'll close with the following points. Although we grew our top and bottom lines in the quarter in alignment with our guidance for 2023 2024 financial targets, Our results were impacted again by I-sixty four. While less impactful than prior quarters, we can't finish this job soon enough. Fortunately, we expect to complete the project this year. Speaker 200:15:09Revenue growth during the quarter was consistent with the strong cap position our teams had when heading into the quarter. I'm impressed that Even though the Q3 was our busiest quarter, we were still able to continue to build cap as we have done in each quarter over the last year. We ended the Q3 with another record cap and in a great position for the Q4 and 2024. I believe we will continue to build cap over the next year as we are still in the early stages of projects going out for bid funded by the IIJA. We are being selective in the projects that we bid, but are winning work at better margins year over year. Speaker 200:15:46That is really good sign for Granite and the industry. Lastly, the Materials segment is performing very well. We continue to invest in the Materials segment and I believe we will see top line growth and bottom line expansion as those investments come online. Operator, I will now turn it back to you for questions. Operator00:16:08Please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up question and feel free to jump back in the queue if you have additional questions. Our first question is from Steven Ramsey with Thompson Research Group. Please go ahead. Speaker 400:16:23Hey, good morning. This is actually Brian Biros on for Steven. Thank you for taking my questions. Speaker 100:16:27First, I'm going to ask Speaker 200:16:27you, cap growth Speaker 400:16:29in the Central region It's very strong. Can you just talk more to the project set that you filled the cap with there? I think you mentioned a few projects in the prepared remarks. Are there any other specific types of projects you're targeting and just how does the margin profile on those compare to the other Mountain California regions? Speaker 200:16:48Yes. So good question. Our business down in Texas and our Texas region, that was one of our initiatives a couple of years ago to really shift back to that home market strategy, specifically within our Texas region. And they've been focused on Two primary markets today, Dallas Fort Worth, which has been in that market for a long time, and also in the Houston market. And so we're seeing that home market strategy pay off for that team. Speaker 200:17:12Historically, we've been pursuing large projects, mega projects out of that office across the country. So this home market strategy for them is really focusing on Smaller DOT jobs, projects that are fully designed, the big build type projects that they can execute on and and perform at a high level. And that's really what their portion of the cap is. It's the average job size now for them is Probably pretty close to $50,000,000 maybe $75,000,000 which is a lot different than historically the type of work that they would have on the book. So that's such a great example of how we Shifted away from really risky projects and asked our teams to focus on the home market strategy and they've done a really nice job executing on that. Speaker 200:17:54From a margin profile perspective, it's right in line with the rest of the company and where we expect to be directionally as an organization moving in 2024. Speaker 400:18:03Got it. Thank you. And then follow-up, maybe just the construction gross margins overall, looks like it might have been Above 15% if you exclude the I-sixty four, is that the right way to think about the gross margins there? And if you for next year. So just thinking about how to reach the high end of that in 2024? Speaker 200:18:33Yes, we're pretty close. I think if you adjust out I-sixty four, we're just below the kind of range that we put out there at 14% to 16% for 2024. We have 2 other things going for us. Certainly, we've been focusing on execution as a company for a while. We put in place our Construction playbook across the company and that's been moving forward and the teams have been adopting the playbook and implementing it across the organization. Speaker 200:18:58And so we expect to see For the margin expansion and construction through our efforts on that front. And then the other thing to think about is our cap. So our cap has gotten stronger. As we've talked in the last few quarters now, we're picking up more work with higher margins. And so we've seen that trend continue through Q3. Speaker 200:19:16And so as projects get burned through in construction, we bring new cap into construction, we expect a margin expansion on that end. So that gives us with the confidence that we're going to be well within that range of 14% to 16% as we get into 2024. Speaker 400:19:33Thank you. Speaker 200:19:34Thank you. Thank you. Operator00:19:37The next question is from Brent Thielman of D. A. Davidson. Please go ahead. Speaker 500:19:43Hey, great. Thanks. Good morning. Hey, Kyle, you mentioned several times through the commentary just better bid margin within the book of business that you have today and obviously you've been more selective as well over the last couple of years in terms of what you're pursuing. Any more sort of granularity on how those bid margins within the cap look today relative to a year ago or 2 years ago as we think about you executing on that book over the next 12 plus months. Speaker 200:20:13Yes. I mean, I think if you go back a couple of years, certainly, we saw the market tighten a little bit in early 2021. We talked about that. And As we've seen the market kind of adjust and grow, and certainly with the IIJA funds coming in, I think over that 2 year period, we've seen our margins improve probably pretty close to 1.5%, so maybe up to 2% on the day, I think, might be a Good proxy for what we've seen. So we'll start to see that really transition in. Speaker 200:20:40I mean, some of that already has, so I don't want to overpromise and suggest there's another 2% in margin expansion just in our cap, but we've seen some of that cap already get burned through and some of the newer cap coming in certainly better margins than we had a couple of years ago. Speaker 500:20:57Okay. And then obviously some of the concerns in the market right now these days seem to be around the private sector. You're obviously much more focused Speaker 200:21:24Yes, I think I look at the public side is really strong. I think as we look at what's coming for our teams really across our entire footprint, Association website had a lot of good information around the opportunities that are out in front of us, specifically in our markets. And they all show Really strong public funding for us in 2024. I know our teams see a lot of opportunities for growth in 2024 and beyond as a result of that. On the private side, Our focus has really been around mining, rail, industrials and solar has been a little bit soft this year, I think as So our developers kind of work through some of the funding that came their way and we expect that to pick back up. Speaker 200:22:12And I think the only softness we've seen is probably around residential. And I would look at that more on the material side. But as we talked before, we don't really correlate high with the residential, we correlate with transportation for a couple of reasons. One is our asphalt is about 2 thirds of our materials business versus aggregates. But most of it's been kind of isolated up in the Northern California and Northwest Washington. Speaker 200:22:37But that's been in place for a few quarters now. So we think that that Softening is kind of already into our numbers of what we've seen today. Speaker 500:22:47Okay, really helpful. Thank you. Speaker 200:22:49Thank you. Operator00:22:53The next question is from Brian Russo of Sidoti. Please go ahead. Speaker 600:22:59Hi, good morning. Good morning. Just curious, when we look to 2024, and the targets you've given 9% to 11% EBITDA margins and the top line and gross margins by Construction Materials segment. Are those kind of considered normalized or can you improve upon that as well, maybe as you referenced better bidding or maybe it's incremental vertical integration or even a different public versus private mix, which I think is approximately sixty-forty. Just wanted to get your kind of strategic thoughts on that. Speaker 200:23:42Yes. Good question, Brian. I mean, we first off, we feel good about where we're headed directionally and what we look like for 2024. We have put out 39% to 11% EBITDA margin. When you look at where we are today in terms of our midpoint of our guidance around 8%, There's obviously some nice improvement as we have I-sixty four wrapped up and behind us. Speaker 200:24:02That gets us pretty close to the bottom end of that range. As I mentioned in the previous question, our cap is very different. As we believe there is a margin expansion associated with our cap as we Newer projects going through the pipeline, so to speak. So that will help drive up margins as well into that range. We think our execution, We're still not there. Speaker 200:24:26I mean, there's still opportunities for us as a company to improve. We don't want to suggest that we're kind of at the end of the road in terms of operational excellence as a company. That's going to stay A really primary focus of ours next year and beyond. So we think there's continued opportunities for us on that front. We see opportunities for materials pricing. Speaker 200:24:46So we do expect to raise pricing again in 2024 and then we'll kind of see where things go beyond that. And And then the automation effort, we talked about a couple of the facilities we're bringing online next year and those are nice investments for us. And with those facilities, I think that's going to help expand our margins as well. And I think from there, we're always going to expect certainly from our team in 2025 beyond top and bottom line growth. And so that's something that we can come back to you on in terms of kind of what's the next step for the company longer term and how we can get those top line and bottom line growth up. Speaker 600:25:25Okay, great. And just Just curious on the I-sixty four project, obviously your write downs are declining each quarter this year. So what is actually or technically left to complete that project by year end? What's your confidence level That, that can actually happen since I think previously you were targeting mid October. Speaker 200:25:51Yes, that's right. And really the impact in the quarter was just further delays, mostly associated with design conflicts that we encountered as we started to kind of put the So today, we're down to final top lift paving. So we're actually putting the final surfacing on the roadway itself, The final striping in and putting the vehicles in their final configuration and expecting to turn it over to the owner in December. And so again, we're working day, working nights, 2 or 3 paving crews, getting that work complete. So there's things in our control that we feel good about. Speaker 200:26:26So we're confident that We can perform the work for meeting our productions that the project will be complete. I think the only thing that's out there would be weather. If some major storm came through the area, that could be a Back for the team. We expect to have a few rain days here and there. That's certainly normal for that part of the country in this time of year, but we feel good about the opportunity to get that project behind us this year. Speaker 600:26:50All right, excellent. And then lastly, just you mentioned expanding your footprint into new geographies. Could you just elaborate on that? What might be complementary to, I guess, your existing home markets? Speaker 200:27:03Sure. Yes. I mean, I think you go back to Q1 and 'twenty two, we laid out a plan that from 'twenty two through 'twenty four and beyond, we're going to focus on and strengthen of our existing home markets that was really around small bolt ons, automation efforts and purchasing material reserves and our existing oil markets. And we've got a lot done, as we mentioned in prepared remarks, around Centennial Asphalt and Oil Terminal in Bakersfield, Brunswick Canyon, quarry in Hot Plant Northern Nevada. Grantsville is a quarry expansion in Salt Lake City and then Coast Mountain Resources, which is a quarry up in Canada that ships material down into our business in the State of Washington. Speaker 200:27:42So a lot of really nice support and strengthen of our existing home markets over the last couple of years that we're excited about. But we always spoke to doing something larger around expansion and getting outside our existing footprint, specifically around a vertically integrated business in 2024 and beyond. We felt like the timing would be right For us to do that, the large mega project challenges we had as a company would be behind us. And so we do feel like it's time for us to take on a new opportunity outside our existing footprint. I think there's a lot in the pipeline that are out there in the marketplace today. Speaker 200:28:18I can tell you what we're looking at is, first off, Businesses to be a platform and we're still looking for a market that's healthy and growing. And of course, we're looking for strong leadership. And those opportunities are out there. We have a couple of things in the pipeline and I hope that we'll be able to share some success in the coming months. Speaker 600:28:37Okay, great. Thank you very much. Speaker 200:28:39Thank you. Operator00:28:42The next question is from Michael Dudas of Vertical Research Partners. Please go ahead. Speaker 100:28:48Good morning, gentlemen, Lisa. Speaker 500:28:50Good morning. Kyle, Speaker 700:28:54just Quickly, I'm following up on the material side. Speaker 800:28:57How does how do you said costs have been normalized. Any insight on maybe Speaker 100:29:12Volume growth associated with that business relative to not only the core businesses, and you mentioned about residential, a Speaker 700:29:19little bit slower, but bottoming, But some Speaker 100:29:21of the new acquisitions, some of the new opportunities you've got from your bolt ons. Speaker 200:29:27Yes, I think the Cost has stayed fairly consistent this year. I mean, there's been some fluctuations certainly of late. We've seen a little bit there. I mean, the energy escalator we put in place Last April is still out there for us to protect ourselves and also we have public owners that provide some protection on that end of things. We feel good about on the cost components today. Speaker 200:29:46We did yes, we were able to raise pricing on agates and asphalt in 2023, and we do expect that to be consistent with what we can do next year, in the range of say 5% to 10%. But all in all, we do think that the cost components have normalized and I think that's good news for the business. From a volume perspective, we haven't seen a drop. So despite the fact that there were a couple of markets that softened with residential, our volumes were actually up on both asphalt and aggregates for the year. So I think that's kind of indicative of the market today. Operator00:30:27The next question is from Jerry Revich of Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead. Speaker 900:30:32Hi, this is Adam on for Jerry today. Thanks for taking my question. Nice to see the positive free cash flow inflection in the quarter. Can you just update us on how you're thinking about the free cash flow and receivables trajectory in Q4 and into 2024. And then as a follow-up, how are payment terms on new projects You're winning. Speaker 900:30:58How do they compare to what you're winning in 2022 2021? Speaker 300:31:04Yes. Hey, Adam, this is Lisa. So good morning. Yes, really good quarter from a cash perspective, coming in at $153,000,000 for the quarter. We've talked before about From an internal perspective, how we look at operating cash flow and ultimately free cash flow is first, we're incentivized internally at a 5% operating cash flow as a percent of revenue, that being at 5%. Speaker 300:31:35And We manage our CapEx, looking at we spend approximately 1% to 2% for maintenance CapEx. And so you take that from our operating cash flows that leaves about 2.5%, 3%. So that's our target of what we're shooting for. So As we work through some of our challenging projects from the past, which are which some of that is Included in our contract assets, we anticipate cash to be freeing up as we're moving forward, and we've seen that in Q3 and our operating cash flow. Our net contract assets went down around $55,000,000 as I mentioned in the 3rd quarter. Speaker 300:32:21And overall, that's just key working capital, account movements. Receivables are up in the quarter, which We expected that wasn't unusual. We started the year off slow and then picked up activity levels in Q2. So we were full speed ahead when we entered Q3 with a very busy quarter coming in with revenues of $1,100,000,000 So higher accounts receivable that we expect to turn in Q4, along with just other working capital accounts with higher activity. And so going into 2024, At a minimum, we would anticipate our operating cash flow targets being similar or even pushing a little bit higher as we build momentum and start to release some of the contract assets that are on our balance sheet, improvements in our contract liabilities and then receivables just from a collections perspective. Speaker 300:33:21We're always working with the teams, to focus on cash collections and just generation and just speeding up that process. And so that area is working well, but just continue to maintain the focus going into 2024. Speaker 900:33:38Thank you. Very helpful. And I appreciate the Can you update us on the contract mix of your cap? So How much is fixed price versus fixed unit price? Any color there would be helpful. Speaker 200:33:59Yes, I don't know if we have the breakdown between fixed price and fixed unit price on the bid build side of things. But our cap, if you look at the best value, has been pretty business between last year in Q3 and this year in Q3, right around 42% or so. Our fully designed projects are at 53% of our cap today. And so I think we feel good. We feel like we de risk the company. Speaker 200:34:21Our design build again went from 5% down to 3%. And so that's relative. As you see, the I-sixty four jobs certainly wind down that we expect. We don't expect that to go to 0. There's still owners that will have contract that we have a compelling reason to pursue, but they're kind of the exception in our business today. Speaker 200:34:40So I don't I think we feel good about where we're at from a cap perspective and the contracting message we have. I don't think anything shifted by the way in terms of the payment terms With the contract work, that hasn't really changed a whole lot. What's changed is this whole market strategy. I think one, we're working for clients that we know and we understand, which Allows us to move away from having contract claims, which is certainly not helpful in terms of generating cash for the business. So I think our entire business model has shifted, which only help not only de risk the company, but also generate better cash flows in the future. Operator00:35:31Relations. This is the end of Q Day. And now I would like to turn the call back over to Mr. Larkin. Speaker 200:35:39Okay. Well, thank you for joining the call today. As always, we want to thank all of our employees for the work they do every day. I believe that our company has never been stronger who are in a better position to grow and deliver shareholder returns. Let's finish the year strong. Speaker 200:35:54Thank you for joining the call and your interest in Granite. We look forward to speaking with you allRead moreRemove AdsPowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallGranite Construction Q3 202300:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2xRemove Ads Earnings DocumentsSlide DeckPress Release(8-K)Quarterly report(10-Q) Westhaven Gold Earnings HeadlinesBranchOut Food (NASDAQ:BOF) Stock Price Down 4.9% - What's Next?April 9, 2025 | americanbankingnews.comBranchOut Food Inc.March 24, 2025 | wsj.comWarning: “DOGE Collapse” imminentElon Strikes Back You may already sense that the tide is turning against Elon Musk and DOGE. Just this week, President Trump promised to buy a Tesla to help support Musk in the face of a boycott against his company. 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Email Address About Westhaven GoldWesthaven Gold (CVE:WHN), a junior exploration company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of resource properties in Canada. The company primarily explores for gold and silver deposits. The company was formerly known as Westhaven Ventures Inc. and changed its name to Westhaven Gold Corp. in June 2020. 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There are 10 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00My name is Kate, and I will be your conference facilitator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Granite Construction Investor Relations Q3 2023 conference call. This call is being recorded. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background and after the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer period. Please note, we will take one question and one follow-up question from each participant today. Operator00:00:29It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Relations, Inc. Vice President of Investor Relations, Mike Barker. Speaker 100:00:38Good morning and thank you for joining us. I'm pleased to be here today with President and Chief Executive Officer, Kyle Larkin and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Lisa Curtis. Please note that today's earnings presentation will be available on the Events and Presentations page of our Investor Relations website. We begin today with a brief discussion regarding forward looking statements and non GAAP measures. Some of the discussion today and Company's Investor Relations. Speaker 100:01:07Today, we will begin the presentation today that may include forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward looking statements are estimates reflecting the current expectations and best judgment of senior management regarding future events, Occurrences, opportunities, targets, growth, demand, strategic plans, circumstances, activities, performance, shareholder value, outcomes, outlook, guidance, objectives, Committed and Awarded Projects or CAP and results. Actual results could differ materially from statements made today. Please refer to Granite's most recent 10 ks and 10 Q filings for a more complete description of risk factors that could affect these forward looking statements. The company assumes no obligation to update forward looking statements except as required by law. Speaker 100:02:01Certain non GAAP measures may be discussed during today's call and from time to time by the company's executives. These include, but are not limited to, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share. The required disclosures regarding our non GAAP measures are included as part of our earnings press releases and in company presentations, which are available on our website graniteconstruction.com under Investor Relations. Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Kyle Larkin. Speaker 200:02:33Good morning, and welcome to our Q3 conference call. We had a strong Q3. Q3 marked our 2nd consecutive quarter of top line growth. We continue to grow our record cap of projects that should produce margins in line with our expectations. Just over 2 years ago, We stated that our goal was to transform Granite from what had become a volatile business into a business that earns predictable, strong financial results, while also producing consistent sustainable growth. Speaker 200:03:02We also shared our plan to earn adjusted EBITDA margins that Granite had not seen since the housing boom. To support this effort, we took significant actions on both the construction and material size of the business. For construction, The first step we took was to derisk our committed and awarded project portfolio or CAAT. We moved away from complex design build projects and shifted our focus to best value and bid build projects. In best value projects such as CMGC, our construction manager general contractor, We are better positioned to succeed as we work collaboratively with the client to mitigate risk for the project. Speaker 200:03:39Although some best value projects have high total contract values, they are often separated into smaller work packages, which are then reviewed through multiple project workshops. We've constructed more than 60 best value projects and they are generally completed quicker and with fewer claims. Our record high quality cap and macroeconomic construction fueled by the Federal Infrastructure Bill or IIJA puts Granite in the strongest position for growth and profitability in over a decade. On the materials side of the business, we said we intended to invest in our materials business and in the home markets that have been our strength since our founding. For the past 3 years, we've invested in greenfield reserves, a liquid asphalt terminal, new automated aggregate plants and bolt on materials investments. Speaker 200:04:23These actions have strengthened our positions in our profitable vertically integrated markets. We see further opportunities to strengthen our current home markets and to expand in the new geographies. While much of the focus of the past couple of years has been on internal transformation, We're now growing and plan to pursue opportunities to drive growth and expand our footprint in both our Materials and Construction segments. Our 2024 strategic plan is designed to grow our margins. The actions our teams have accomplished over the past 3 years gives me confidence We are on track to achieve our 2024 financial targets. Speaker 200:04:59Now let's review the performance in our segments for the quarter, starting with the Construction segment. Total cap grew in Q3, continuing the trend over the last year. Cap increased $147,000,000 from the 2nd quarter and is up $1,500,000,000 or 37 percent year over year to $5,600,000,000 This represents a 2nd consecutive record cap for Granite. And what is typically our largest revenue quarter of the year, growing cap is a significant accomplishment for our teams. Robust market has produced a number of public and Private Opportunities that should allow us to continue to build high quality cap in the Q4 and as we move into 2024. Speaker 200:05:41Further, I believe the IIJA funding will continue to expand bid opportunities in 2024 across all of our key markets and we are well positioned to capitalize on those opportunities. Diving into our operating groups and starting with the California Group, cap was flat in the Q2 and increased $792,000,000 or 51% from Q3 2022. This is a really impressive result as the group continued to win and then begin amount of work, while achieving record 3rd quarter revenue. Public spending in the state has been strong and is expected to continue. Earlier in the year, there were concerns about the state budget deficit, but these concerns were resolved without impact to transportation spending. Speaker 200:06:23During Q3, Caltrans, the State Department of Transportation, again awarded their highest dollar value contracts in at least 5 years. Historically, high bid opportunities are expected to continue in 2024. Moving to the Mountain Group, our most seasonal group. Cap decreased $65,000,000 from the 2nd quarter as the group posted year over year revenue growth of 12% in the 3rd quarter. Despite the decrease in cap during the quarter, the group ended with cap of $1,400,000,000 remained significantly higher by 431,000,000 of 43% year over year. Speaker 200:06:56Our Utah, Alaska and Nevada regions continue to lead the group with strong cap. With budgeted spending in each state and the group expected to increase in 2024, the Mountain Group is poised for continued growth in the 4th quarter and 2024. Finally, in the Central Group, cap increased in the quarter by $212,000,000 sequentially, of $284,000,000 year over year to $1,800,000,000 The increase in cap was led by the tunnel division, which landed a $205,000,000 tunnel project in Ohio and continued growth in the Texas region home markets in Houston and Dallas. While the Central Group revenue was flat year over year in the quarter, I expect the group to return to revenue growth in 2024. The transformation of the Central Group's cap has been tremendous and a key component to our expected margin expansion in 2024. Speaker 200:07:48Overall, the construction segment had an outstanding quarter. We continue to build high quality cap, grow revenue and increased profitability in line with expectations. I believe we will continue to grow cap and revenue in the Q4 and enter 2024 very well positioned to achieve our financial targets. Moving to the Materials segment, we built on the momentum of the 2nd quarter with another strong performance in the Q3. As I mentioned last call, cost inflation significantly impacted profitability last year normalized in 2023. Speaker 200:08:23These stabilized costs combined with aggregate and asphalt price increases resulted in margin gains in the 2nd and third quarters of 2023. Relations. Materials volumes and orders remain strong throughout the Q3 and going into the Q4. In this market environment, I expect to realize further price increases in 2020 As we have previously reported, we've been investing in our materials business in numerous ways over the last 2 years. In the Q4, we're expecting the completion of major investments in 2 automation projects, including a new fully automated higher grade plant. Speaker 200:08:57These investments in our Materials segment should drive cost efficiencies and further margin expansion in 2024, in line with our gross margin expectations of 15% to 17%. Now, I'll turn it over to Lisa to review our financial performance for the quarter. Speaker 300:09:14Thank you, Kyle. In the Q3, revenue increased $108,000,000 or 11% year over year to 1,100,000,000 while gross profit increased $52,000,000 to $167,000,000 or gross profit margin of 15%. These results reflect a strong performance in both the Construction and Materials segments during the quarter. In the construction segment, revenue increased $98,000,000 or 12% year over year to $946,000,000 and outstanding results for the segment. The revenue increase was led by the California and Mountain Groups, which were up an impressive 21% and 12%, respectively, year over year. Speaker 300:09:59Entering the quarter with record cap, the California Group's significant Year over year revenue increase was in line with our expectations as the group overcame a historically wet and slow start to the year. Heading into Q4, I expect continued top line growth in the Q4 year over year and in 2024. The The Mountain Group's 12% year over year growth was led by construction revenue increases in the Alaska and Nevada regions with our larger regions such as Utah and Washington also contributing meaningfully to revenue. Finally, in the Central Group, revenue in the quarter was flat year over year with revenue in the growing Texas, Arizona and Illinois regions, offsetting declines in the Florida region as legacy projects wrap up. Construction segment gross profit increased $44,000,000 year over year to $137,000,000 with a gross margin impact of 14.5%, up from 11% in the Q3 of the prior year. Speaker 300:11:11The gross profit margin includes a write down on the I-sixty four High Rise Bridge project of 8,000,000 during the quarter with an impact to Granite after non controlling interest of $4,000,000 The project continues to move towards completion, which is expected by the end of 2023. Despite the impact of I-sixty 4 in the quarter, construction segment gross profit margin improved year over year as expected, led by our higher quality cap compared to the prior year. Over the past year, we have won work at higher margins and we are seeing the benefit in our gross profit margin. In the Materials segment, revenue increased $10,000,000 year over year to $171,000,000 with gross profit increasing $7,000,000 to $29,000,000 or a gross profit margin of 17%. The improvement in gross profit margin was primarily due to sales price increases in both asphalt and aggregates and stable oil and energy costs. Speaker 300:12:18The year over year increases in revenue and gross profit resulted in 3rd quarter adjusted diluted earnings per share of 1.69 and adjusted EBITDA margin of 11%. Our non GAAP adjustments during the quarter included a litigation charge of $8,000,000 and other costs related to the settlement of the sales force tower matter. At the end of the Q3, our cash and marketable securities totaled $329,000,000 up from $251,000,000 in the 2nd quarter. During the quarter, we also paid off our outstanding revolver draw in the amount of $55,000,000 resulting in a net debt reduction of $133,000,000 Third quarter profit and favorable movement in key working capital accounts produced strong operating cash flow in the quarter of $153,000,000 We reduced net contract assets by $55,000,000 from the 2nd quarter as billings, cash collection and overall activity from projects ramping up in the second quarter progressed through the heart of the construction season. I am pleased with our progress in the quarter and expect the trend of strong cash generation to continue in the Q4 as seasonally high receivable balances are collected. Speaker 300:13:44I believe as we settle older outstanding claims In conjunction with our de risked business model, our cash flow will continue to significantly improve. Our Q3 performance was directly in line with our 2023 guidance expectations and we are not changing our guidance. I believe we could achieve the higher end of our revenue and adjusted EBITDA margin ranges if we continue to have favorable weather conditions in the Q4 and we continue to execute across our portfolio. We are also maintaining our 2024 financial targets of $3,600,000,000 to $3,900,000,000 in revenue and adjusted EBITDA margin of 9% to 11%. We believe we have the market opportunities and the cap to reach our 2024 targets that will then lead to even further gains beyond 2024. Speaker 300:14:43Now, I'll turn it back over to Kyle. Speaker 200:14:46Thanks, Lisa. I'll close with the following points. Although we grew our top and bottom lines in the quarter in alignment with our guidance for 2023 2024 financial targets, Our results were impacted again by I-sixty four. While less impactful than prior quarters, we can't finish this job soon enough. Fortunately, we expect to complete the project this year. Speaker 200:15:09Revenue growth during the quarter was consistent with the strong cap position our teams had when heading into the quarter. I'm impressed that Even though the Q3 was our busiest quarter, we were still able to continue to build cap as we have done in each quarter over the last year. We ended the Q3 with another record cap and in a great position for the Q4 and 2024. I believe we will continue to build cap over the next year as we are still in the early stages of projects going out for bid funded by the IIJA. We are being selective in the projects that we bid, but are winning work at better margins year over year. Speaker 200:15:46That is really good sign for Granite and the industry. Lastly, the Materials segment is performing very well. We continue to invest in the Materials segment and I believe we will see top line growth and bottom line expansion as those investments come online. Operator, I will now turn it back to you for questions. Operator00:16:08Please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up question and feel free to jump back in the queue if you have additional questions. Our first question is from Steven Ramsey with Thompson Research Group. Please go ahead. Speaker 400:16:23Hey, good morning. This is actually Brian Biros on for Steven. Thank you for taking my questions. Speaker 100:16:27First, I'm going to ask Speaker 200:16:27you, cap growth Speaker 400:16:29in the Central region It's very strong. Can you just talk more to the project set that you filled the cap with there? I think you mentioned a few projects in the prepared remarks. Are there any other specific types of projects you're targeting and just how does the margin profile on those compare to the other Mountain California regions? Speaker 200:16:48Yes. So good question. Our business down in Texas and our Texas region, that was one of our initiatives a couple of years ago to really shift back to that home market strategy, specifically within our Texas region. And they've been focused on Two primary markets today, Dallas Fort Worth, which has been in that market for a long time, and also in the Houston market. And so we're seeing that home market strategy pay off for that team. Speaker 200:17:12Historically, we've been pursuing large projects, mega projects out of that office across the country. So this home market strategy for them is really focusing on Smaller DOT jobs, projects that are fully designed, the big build type projects that they can execute on and and perform at a high level. And that's really what their portion of the cap is. It's the average job size now for them is Probably pretty close to $50,000,000 maybe $75,000,000 which is a lot different than historically the type of work that they would have on the book. So that's such a great example of how we Shifted away from really risky projects and asked our teams to focus on the home market strategy and they've done a really nice job executing on that. Speaker 200:17:54From a margin profile perspective, it's right in line with the rest of the company and where we expect to be directionally as an organization moving in 2024. Speaker 400:18:03Got it. Thank you. And then follow-up, maybe just the construction gross margins overall, looks like it might have been Above 15% if you exclude the I-sixty four, is that the right way to think about the gross margins there? And if you for next year. So just thinking about how to reach the high end of that in 2024? Speaker 200:18:33Yes, we're pretty close. I think if you adjust out I-sixty four, we're just below the kind of range that we put out there at 14% to 16% for 2024. We have 2 other things going for us. Certainly, we've been focusing on execution as a company for a while. We put in place our Construction playbook across the company and that's been moving forward and the teams have been adopting the playbook and implementing it across the organization. Speaker 200:18:58And so we expect to see For the margin expansion and construction through our efforts on that front. And then the other thing to think about is our cap. So our cap has gotten stronger. As we've talked in the last few quarters now, we're picking up more work with higher margins. And so we've seen that trend continue through Q3. Speaker 200:19:16And so as projects get burned through in construction, we bring new cap into construction, we expect a margin expansion on that end. So that gives us with the confidence that we're going to be well within that range of 14% to 16% as we get into 2024. Speaker 400:19:33Thank you. Speaker 200:19:34Thank you. Thank you. Operator00:19:37The next question is from Brent Thielman of D. A. Davidson. Please go ahead. Speaker 500:19:43Hey, great. Thanks. Good morning. Hey, Kyle, you mentioned several times through the commentary just better bid margin within the book of business that you have today and obviously you've been more selective as well over the last couple of years in terms of what you're pursuing. Any more sort of granularity on how those bid margins within the cap look today relative to a year ago or 2 years ago as we think about you executing on that book over the next 12 plus months. Speaker 200:20:13Yes. I mean, I think if you go back a couple of years, certainly, we saw the market tighten a little bit in early 2021. We talked about that. And As we've seen the market kind of adjust and grow, and certainly with the IIJA funds coming in, I think over that 2 year period, we've seen our margins improve probably pretty close to 1.5%, so maybe up to 2% on the day, I think, might be a Good proxy for what we've seen. So we'll start to see that really transition in. Speaker 200:20:40I mean, some of that already has, so I don't want to overpromise and suggest there's another 2% in margin expansion just in our cap, but we've seen some of that cap already get burned through and some of the newer cap coming in certainly better margins than we had a couple of years ago. Speaker 500:20:57Okay. And then obviously some of the concerns in the market right now these days seem to be around the private sector. You're obviously much more focused Speaker 200:21:24Yes, I think I look at the public side is really strong. I think as we look at what's coming for our teams really across our entire footprint, Association website had a lot of good information around the opportunities that are out in front of us, specifically in our markets. And they all show Really strong public funding for us in 2024. I know our teams see a lot of opportunities for growth in 2024 and beyond as a result of that. On the private side, Our focus has really been around mining, rail, industrials and solar has been a little bit soft this year, I think as So our developers kind of work through some of the funding that came their way and we expect that to pick back up. Speaker 200:22:12And I think the only softness we've seen is probably around residential. And I would look at that more on the material side. But as we talked before, we don't really correlate high with the residential, we correlate with transportation for a couple of reasons. One is our asphalt is about 2 thirds of our materials business versus aggregates. But most of it's been kind of isolated up in the Northern California and Northwest Washington. Speaker 200:22:37But that's been in place for a few quarters now. So we think that that Softening is kind of already into our numbers of what we've seen today. Speaker 500:22:47Okay, really helpful. Thank you. Speaker 200:22:49Thank you. Operator00:22:53The next question is from Brian Russo of Sidoti. Please go ahead. Speaker 600:22:59Hi, good morning. Good morning. Just curious, when we look to 2024, and the targets you've given 9% to 11% EBITDA margins and the top line and gross margins by Construction Materials segment. Are those kind of considered normalized or can you improve upon that as well, maybe as you referenced better bidding or maybe it's incremental vertical integration or even a different public versus private mix, which I think is approximately sixty-forty. Just wanted to get your kind of strategic thoughts on that. Speaker 200:23:42Yes. Good question, Brian. I mean, we first off, we feel good about where we're headed directionally and what we look like for 2024. We have put out 39% to 11% EBITDA margin. When you look at where we are today in terms of our midpoint of our guidance around 8%, There's obviously some nice improvement as we have I-sixty four wrapped up and behind us. Speaker 200:24:02That gets us pretty close to the bottom end of that range. As I mentioned in the previous question, our cap is very different. As we believe there is a margin expansion associated with our cap as we Newer projects going through the pipeline, so to speak. So that will help drive up margins as well into that range. We think our execution, We're still not there. Speaker 200:24:26I mean, there's still opportunities for us as a company to improve. We don't want to suggest that we're kind of at the end of the road in terms of operational excellence as a company. That's going to stay A really primary focus of ours next year and beyond. So we think there's continued opportunities for us on that front. We see opportunities for materials pricing. Speaker 200:24:46So we do expect to raise pricing again in 2024 and then we'll kind of see where things go beyond that. And And then the automation effort, we talked about a couple of the facilities we're bringing online next year and those are nice investments for us. And with those facilities, I think that's going to help expand our margins as well. And I think from there, we're always going to expect certainly from our team in 2025 beyond top and bottom line growth. And so that's something that we can come back to you on in terms of kind of what's the next step for the company longer term and how we can get those top line and bottom line growth up. Speaker 600:25:25Okay, great. And just Just curious on the I-sixty four project, obviously your write downs are declining each quarter this year. So what is actually or technically left to complete that project by year end? What's your confidence level That, that can actually happen since I think previously you were targeting mid October. Speaker 200:25:51Yes, that's right. And really the impact in the quarter was just further delays, mostly associated with design conflicts that we encountered as we started to kind of put the So today, we're down to final top lift paving. So we're actually putting the final surfacing on the roadway itself, The final striping in and putting the vehicles in their final configuration and expecting to turn it over to the owner in December. And so again, we're working day, working nights, 2 or 3 paving crews, getting that work complete. So there's things in our control that we feel good about. Speaker 200:26:26So we're confident that We can perform the work for meeting our productions that the project will be complete. I think the only thing that's out there would be weather. If some major storm came through the area, that could be a Back for the team. We expect to have a few rain days here and there. That's certainly normal for that part of the country in this time of year, but we feel good about the opportunity to get that project behind us this year. Speaker 600:26:50All right, excellent. And then lastly, just you mentioned expanding your footprint into new geographies. Could you just elaborate on that? What might be complementary to, I guess, your existing home markets? Speaker 200:27:03Sure. Yes. I mean, I think you go back to Q1 and 'twenty two, we laid out a plan that from 'twenty two through 'twenty four and beyond, we're going to focus on and strengthen of our existing home markets that was really around small bolt ons, automation efforts and purchasing material reserves and our existing oil markets. And we've got a lot done, as we mentioned in prepared remarks, around Centennial Asphalt and Oil Terminal in Bakersfield, Brunswick Canyon, quarry in Hot Plant Northern Nevada. Grantsville is a quarry expansion in Salt Lake City and then Coast Mountain Resources, which is a quarry up in Canada that ships material down into our business in the State of Washington. Speaker 200:27:42So a lot of really nice support and strengthen of our existing home markets over the last couple of years that we're excited about. But we always spoke to doing something larger around expansion and getting outside our existing footprint, specifically around a vertically integrated business in 2024 and beyond. We felt like the timing would be right For us to do that, the large mega project challenges we had as a company would be behind us. And so we do feel like it's time for us to take on a new opportunity outside our existing footprint. I think there's a lot in the pipeline that are out there in the marketplace today. Speaker 200:28:18I can tell you what we're looking at is, first off, Businesses to be a platform and we're still looking for a market that's healthy and growing. And of course, we're looking for strong leadership. And those opportunities are out there. We have a couple of things in the pipeline and I hope that we'll be able to share some success in the coming months. Speaker 600:28:37Okay, great. Thank you very much. Speaker 200:28:39Thank you. Operator00:28:42The next question is from Michael Dudas of Vertical Research Partners. Please go ahead. Speaker 100:28:48Good morning, gentlemen, Lisa. Speaker 500:28:50Good morning. Kyle, Speaker 700:28:54just Quickly, I'm following up on the material side. Speaker 800:28:57How does how do you said costs have been normalized. Any insight on maybe Speaker 100:29:12Volume growth associated with that business relative to not only the core businesses, and you mentioned about residential, a Speaker 700:29:19little bit slower, but bottoming, But some Speaker 100:29:21of the new acquisitions, some of the new opportunities you've got from your bolt ons. Speaker 200:29:27Yes, I think the Cost has stayed fairly consistent this year. I mean, there's been some fluctuations certainly of late. We've seen a little bit there. I mean, the energy escalator we put in place Last April is still out there for us to protect ourselves and also we have public owners that provide some protection on that end of things. We feel good about on the cost components today. Speaker 200:29:46We did yes, we were able to raise pricing on agates and asphalt in 2023, and we do expect that to be consistent with what we can do next year, in the range of say 5% to 10%. But all in all, we do think that the cost components have normalized and I think that's good news for the business. From a volume perspective, we haven't seen a drop. So despite the fact that there were a couple of markets that softened with residential, our volumes were actually up on both asphalt and aggregates for the year. So I think that's kind of indicative of the market today. Operator00:30:27The next question is from Jerry Revich of Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead. Speaker 900:30:32Hi, this is Adam on for Jerry today. Thanks for taking my question. Nice to see the positive free cash flow inflection in the quarter. Can you just update us on how you're thinking about the free cash flow and receivables trajectory in Q4 and into 2024. And then as a follow-up, how are payment terms on new projects You're winning. Speaker 900:30:58How do they compare to what you're winning in 2022 2021? Speaker 300:31:04Yes. Hey, Adam, this is Lisa. So good morning. Yes, really good quarter from a cash perspective, coming in at $153,000,000 for the quarter. We've talked before about From an internal perspective, how we look at operating cash flow and ultimately free cash flow is first, we're incentivized internally at a 5% operating cash flow as a percent of revenue, that being at 5%. Speaker 300:31:35And We manage our CapEx, looking at we spend approximately 1% to 2% for maintenance CapEx. And so you take that from our operating cash flows that leaves about 2.5%, 3%. So that's our target of what we're shooting for. So As we work through some of our challenging projects from the past, which are which some of that is Included in our contract assets, we anticipate cash to be freeing up as we're moving forward, and we've seen that in Q3 and our operating cash flow. Our net contract assets went down around $55,000,000 as I mentioned in the 3rd quarter. Speaker 300:32:21And overall, that's just key working capital, account movements. Receivables are up in the quarter, which We expected that wasn't unusual. We started the year off slow and then picked up activity levels in Q2. So we were full speed ahead when we entered Q3 with a very busy quarter coming in with revenues of $1,100,000,000 So higher accounts receivable that we expect to turn in Q4, along with just other working capital accounts with higher activity. And so going into 2024, At a minimum, we would anticipate our operating cash flow targets being similar or even pushing a little bit higher as we build momentum and start to release some of the contract assets that are on our balance sheet, improvements in our contract liabilities and then receivables just from a collections perspective. Speaker 300:33:21We're always working with the teams, to focus on cash collections and just generation and just speeding up that process. And so that area is working well, but just continue to maintain the focus going into 2024. Speaker 900:33:38Thank you. Very helpful. And I appreciate the Can you update us on the contract mix of your cap? So How much is fixed price versus fixed unit price? Any color there would be helpful. Speaker 200:33:59Yes, I don't know if we have the breakdown between fixed price and fixed unit price on the bid build side of things. But our cap, if you look at the best value, has been pretty business between last year in Q3 and this year in Q3, right around 42% or so. Our fully designed projects are at 53% of our cap today. And so I think we feel good. We feel like we de risk the company. Speaker 200:34:21Our design build again went from 5% down to 3%. And so that's relative. As you see, the I-sixty four jobs certainly wind down that we expect. We don't expect that to go to 0. There's still owners that will have contract that we have a compelling reason to pursue, but they're kind of the exception in our business today. Speaker 200:34:40So I don't I think we feel good about where we're at from a cap perspective and the contracting message we have. I don't think anything shifted by the way in terms of the payment terms With the contract work, that hasn't really changed a whole lot. What's changed is this whole market strategy. I think one, we're working for clients that we know and we understand, which Allows us to move away from having contract claims, which is certainly not helpful in terms of generating cash for the business. So I think our entire business model has shifted, which only help not only de risk the company, but also generate better cash flows in the future. Operator00:35:31Relations. This is the end of Q Day. And now I would like to turn the call back over to Mr. Larkin. Speaker 200:35:39Okay. Well, thank you for joining the call today. As always, we want to thank all of our employees for the work they do every day. I believe that our company has never been stronger who are in a better position to grow and deliver shareholder returns. Let's finish the year strong. Speaker 200:35:54Thank you for joining the call and your interest in Granite. We look forward to speaking with you allRead moreRemove AdsPowered by