Atkore Q1 2024 Earnings Report $56.72 -2.81 (-4.72%) Closing price 03:59 PM EasternExtended Trading$55.98 -0.73 (-1.30%) As of 07:11 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. Earnings HistoryForecast Atkore EPS ResultsActual EPS$4.12Consensus EPS $3.08Beat/MissBeat by +$1.04One Year Ago EPS$4.51Atkore Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$798.50 millionExpected Revenue$777.05 millionBeat/MissBeat by +$21.45 millionYoY Revenue Growth-4.20%Atkore Announcement DetailsQuarterQ1 2024Date2/1/2024TimeBefore Market OpensConference Call DateThursday, February 1, 2024Conference Call Time8:00AM ETUpcoming EarningsAtkore's Q2 2025 earnings is scheduled for Tuesday, May 6, 2025, with a conference call scheduled at 8:00 AM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Q2 2025 Earnings ReportConference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptSlide DeckPress Release (8-K)Quarterly Report (10-Q)Earnings HistoryATKR ProfileSlide DeckFull Screen Slide DeckPowered by Atkore Q1 2024 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrFebruary 1, 2024 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 9 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Good morning. My name is Rob, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Atkore's First Quarter Fiscal Year 20 24 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute In a listen only mode. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. Operator00:00:27As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. Thank you. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, John Deitzer, Vice President of Treasury and Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin. Speaker 100:00:40Thank you, and good morning, everyone. I'm joined today by Bill Waltz, President and CEO as well as David Johnson, Chief Financial Officer. We will take your questions after comments by Bill and David. I would like to remind everyone that during this call, we may make projections or forward looking statements regarding future events or financial performance of the company. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties such that actual results may differ materially. Speaker 100:01:10Please refer to our SEC filings in today's press release, which identify important factors that could cause Actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward looking statements. In addition, any reference in our discussion today to EBITDA means adjusted EBITDA and any reference to EPS or adjusted EPS means adjusted diluted earnings per share. Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted diluted earnings per share are non GAAP measures. Reconciliations of non GAAP measures and a presentation of the most comparable GAAP measures are available in the appendix to today's presentation. With that, I'll turn it over to Bill. Speaker 200:01:53Thanks, John, and good morning, everyone. Starting on Slide 3, Atkore is off to a strong start for FY 'twenty four and we are demonstrating the structural improvements and transformation that we made to our business over the past several years. I'm proud to share that volumes for the quarter were up 13% driven by contributions across all key product areas. We're focused on executing our capital deployment model as evidenced by the $96,000,000 in shares repurchased in the Q1 and the continued activity in January. In addition, I'm very pleased to announce that we've officially declared our 1st quarterly dividend, a very exciting achievement for our company. Speaker 200:02:44I also want to highlight the release of our fiscal year 2023 sustainability report, which was published last month. This report provides an update on the progress against our 2025 targets and covers additional important topics and initiatives. I'd like to take a moment to thank all of our employees for everything they do to support our key stakeholders. Overall, in fiscal 2024, we're off to a great start and I continue to be excited for what's to come. With that, I'll now turn the call over to David to talk through the results from the Q1 and our outlook for the full year. Speaker 300:03:28Thank you, Bill, and good morning, everyone. Moving to our consolidated results on Slide 4. In the Q1, net sales were $798,000,000 and adjusted EBITDA was $214,000,000 We are pleased with our margin performance in the quarter with adjusted EBITDA margins over 26%. Our tax rate in the quarter was favorable due to previously granted stock compensation. This outsized benefit was unique and contributed to our strong EPS performance. Speaker 300:04:01Moving forward, we expect the rate to be closer to roughly 25% for the remaining quarters in the year. Turning to Slide 5 in our consolidated bridges. I'm pleased by our strong volume performance in the quarter with organic volumes up over 13%. These gains were offset by the continued pricing normalization, But this impact was within expectations and aligns with the pricing trends we have been discussing for the past several years. Moving to Slide 6, we're making good progress against the low double digit volume expectation for the full year with solid contributions across all key product areas. Speaker 300:04:44Our plastic pipe and conduit category was up high single digits, led by solid growth in our PVC products. Across our electrical related categories, Walins were slightly higher than anticipated in Q1 as several large customers met their calendar year end rebate levels. Looking ahead, we expect Q2 to be softer than Q1 in terms of year over year volume percentage growth Due to this timing of purchases at year end and the recent severe weather conditions that have unfavorably impacted our gain work performance. Turning to Slide 7, both segments had positive volume growth in the 1st quarter. Margins compressed in our Electrical segment with the previously mentioned pricing normalization that remained very strong at 34%. Speaker 300:05:38We also faced some year over year margin compression on the F and I side due to a tough comparison versus the prior year and the planned start up costs in Indiana to support the volume ramp. Turning to Slide 8, We continue to execute our capital deployment model with cash generated from the business and our balance sheet is in tremendous position with no maturity repayments required until 2028. Next on Slide 9, I am pleased to highlight a significant milestone for our company with the upcoming payment of our 1st regular quarterly dividend. Earlier this week, Atkore's Board of Directors the first quarterly dividend payment of $0.32 per share. This achievement was made possible by our sustained performance of our multi year period and our confidence in the future. Speaker 300:06:29Now for our fiscal year 2024 outlook on Page 10. Our expectation of low double digit percentage volume growth for the year remains on track. Also with our strong EPS performance in Q1, We are increasing our full year estimate accordingly. As previously mentioned, our performance in January was impacted by several factors, including the adverse weather conditions in many parts of the U. S. Speaker 300:06:58This is affecting our estimates for Q2, But overall, we are maintaining our outlook for full year net sales and adjusted EBITDA. Also, As we've discussed before, we've always built in an expectation that the back half of the year will be stronger than the first half for two main reasons. First, as we are ramping up these new facilities, our volume from these sites will steadily increase throughout the year. And second, our overall business is always stronger in the spring and summer construction seasons versus the fall and winter. Therefore, we expect adjusted EBITDA to improve sequentially from Q2 to Q3 and then Q3 to Q4. Speaker 300:07:40With that, I'll turn it back to Bill. Speaker 200:07:46Thanks, David. We are very pleased with what we've accomplished this quarter and our outlook for this fiscal year, but we're even more excited about all the opportunities ahead. Moving to slide 11, as we've said before, the electrical industry is a great place to be. It's difficult to find a building or infrastructure project that does not require Atkore's products. With over 90% of Atkore's product portfolio supporting electrical infrastructure, we are well to benefit from the strong electrical trends projected across numerous end market categories. Speaker 200:08:29On Slide 12, we've analyzed product volume data to determine estimated density across key end markets With anticipated growth in data centers, manufacturing, lodging, healthcare, education and multifamily over the next 5 years and Atkore's ability to deliver a wide range of products that each of these buildings need. I am again reminded that Atkore in the electrical industry overall is a great place to be. Better yet, consensus agrees. Experts and peers across the industry also have a positive outlook on 2024 and beyond. In addition, with several other major public electrical contractors and electrical peers reporting record backlogs and project positive growth, it reinforces our confidence in the future for this industry. Speaker 200:09:28With that, we'll turn it back to the operator to open the line for questions. Operator00:09:46Your first question comes from the line of Andy Kaplowitz from Citigroup. Your line is open. Speaker 400:09:52Hey, good morning, guys. Speaker 200:09:54Good morning, Andy. Good morning. Speaker 400:09:57Bill or David, I know you've guided to relatively strong volume growth for the year, But you did have a nice positive bump in electrical volumes in Q1. I know you mentioned some of the bigger customers pulling forward their volume. But Maybe you can quantify how much that was that pull forward. Did you at all see a turn in your HDP markets? And Could you quantify the weather impact in Q2? Speaker 400:10:22How much that could impact Q2 results? Speaker 200:10:25Yes. I'll start Andy then turn it over to David always with What level of specificity here? But first HDPE very much on track for what we expected. But as David said in the past, it's more of a fiscal 25 and you can see that with I won't call it other public corporations, but even large fiber optic companies have announced earnings recently and it's almost The 3rd slide could have been interchanged with ours or what we've communicated there. And again, we can follow-up with why we think that home here in a moment. Speaker 200:10:56What we saw and this is common for every year is we said and the industry sets, not just us, rebate levels go if you hit X number, volume, dollars will give you whatever 2%, whatever the number rebate is back and we try to stay firm to that. So some of our customers Literally, Jess said, okay, we understand. And I'm assuming when we saw a spike in December, it was to get to their goals. So a little soft there. And then not a surprise, I think for anybody in January here that with the weather Yes, across the country, for example, us talking to our customers, for example, one large customer, I won't be overly specific here, but had over 50 of their locations down for at least 2 days or more, Dealing with the weather. Speaker 200:11:46So with those two things, January was light. And but again, if you add up the Strong organic growth in Q1 with what we're kind of forecasting per se without precise number in Q2. It's basically averages out and bridges exactly to what we have for the year. So again, to me, it's a good comfort thing that we're still on track and raised EPS. So hopefully somewhere in that level I answered your questions. Speaker 400:12:17You did, Bill. But let me sort of step back. I think you talked Contractor backlogs, when you step back, obviously, the lead indicators are kind of all over the place, still maybe stabilizing at lower levels. Are you seeing sort of any changes in primary markets? We already talked about HTP, but clearly things like data centers are ramping up, You've been working on undergrounding. Speaker 400:12:41So like are things sort of better than they were a few months ago as rates have come down? Worse? Like how do you sort of frame the market At this point? Speaker 200:12:48Yes, I think either consistent, but definitely not worse. Let's put it that way. So maybe Andy to your point, there's so many metrics out there and which metrics are relevant or even over time how metrics evolve on the importance. And one of the ones that at least I'll say I, but at course, gravid 18.2 that we don't talk about in the earnings deck, I don't think, but was Association of Building Contractors, they're still high 8 plus months, I forgot the exact 8.6, 8.8. But I do recall 2 things, for example. Speaker 200:13:211, In December, they actually increased a 10th of a month. So if their backlog is going up and then here in the last two days, The Association of Building Contractors said about they have even higher number of open jobs as they put jobs. So literally we could have written their script On the biggest constraint to Atkore and it's a good thing, isn't the market. So whether you read ABI or something like that, It's literally there is around 9 months of backlog right now with contractors, ABI or ABC would talk to that. And to the point of as other skilled trades, whether it's a maintenance manager someplace else may have slowing hiring, It's actually the economists for Association of Building Contractors said how that's good for the industry so they can hire more people. Speaker 200:14:09So Andy, at the end of the day, I'm pretty confident. We can talk about Q2 versus Q3 and when things ramp up in our own self growth initiatives, But the backlogs are out there for us and everybody else. Speaker 500:14:24Yes. Andy, if you look at the construction employment continues to go up, Although the estimate from this week from the Contractors Association said that they estimate they need around 500,000 more New folks entering construction and that's over above the net normal. So there's just there is a lot of work out there. I mean when we talk about the contractor backlog of being run, that's about as high as it's going to be because people aren't going to take jobs 2 years from me. So I think that's just a really healthy rate. Speaker 500:14:57This is around, again, getting folks who can actually execute some of these projects. Speaker 400:15:04And one more for me. I know you said Safety and infrastructure included $7,000,000 of start up costs, but did you contemplate those costs when you were thinking about when you guided us to Q1, How are you factoring in any incremental startup costs going forward? And was there anything else holding down Safety and Infrastructure margin? Speaker 200:15:22Yes. I think Andy we're on track. So both the fact that like one simple way to do this is we hit our guide for Q1 actually exceeded the guide in the range slightly. Some of that now again is just the volume Go ahead. I don't want to again our transparency, but it was a good quarter and we're on for the full year for EBITDA and I'll make the plug again in EPS. Speaker 200:15:45So And one other thing I know David wants to jump in here too. Realize with a large complex factory, I think once a while shareholders forget, it's like, oh, you're just making a torque to Every size difference, it's an octagon, it's a circle. You can't do those things until you're actually up and running. You don't have the air permits. So literally Getting all the machinery tuned for every new size, determining things like whether you're using MIG or TIG welding, there's just so many different complexities there That we knew it's going to take all year to ramp up. Speaker 200:16:15But as David said in the prepared remarks, that's why also as we look for our guide for the year, You'll see a ramp up as we continue to hit our volume numbers and so forth. So both confidence in our as much as you can be, confidence in our year end outlook for EBITDA, confidence in our volume numbers as things pick up through the year. Speaker 400:16:38Got it. Thanks guys. Speaker 200:16:40Yes. Thanks, Andy. Speaker 500:16:41Thank you. Your Operator00:16:43next question comes from the line of Deane Dray from RBC. Your line is open. Speaker 600:16:48Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Speaker 200:16:50Hey, good morning, Dean. Good morning, Dean. Speaker 600:16:52It was great to see that volume come through this quarter, especially like Slide 6 that shows you that balance across the portfolio. So, good to see that. Speaker 200:17:06Oh, yes. Dean, thank you for that. I mean, purely from the standpoint, it wasn't Once in a while we get focused on one product line versus it wasn't a one trip pony, every product line was up there. And also I think what that chart shows is, well, for example, PVC and HD is important. It's 31% of our sales. Speaker 200:17:24So there's A lot of other great products, some of which we're doing really well on pricing with and so forth. So it's a good environment for Atkore. Speaker 600:17:33Great. And that takes me to the heart of the question here is take us through the pricing dynamics this quarter. And I know the recovery and the normalization is not going to be linear, but what were the specific dynamics this quarter, input costs, competitive positioning, Where the demand was, I know geographically that's a factor as well, but just take us through those dynamics if you could. Speaker 200:18:00I'll start and then again if David would like that specificity to this with the charts. I'd say it's overall on track. Again, without getting into each Product line, there's some are a little bit lower, but there's absolutely some going, hey, General Manager and sales team, keep doing what you're doing here. And I can think of and again, if you go back to that Page 6 reference without me calling out specific of these products And at least 2 of those categories and maybe more, others have led price increases. So I think we're a price leader because we had that one order, one delivery, one invoice and we have the ability to bring more value than many of our competitors to the industry. Speaker 200:18:41But we're not the only one out there thinking about how you give good returns to their shareholders. So, right on track overall. Speaker 500:18:50Yes. And Dean, when you look at the on Slide 5, if you net on the EBITDA bridge, the price versus cost changes, you're around $90,000,000 and we had guided, I believe a midpoint of around $250,000,000 for the year. That was always going to be more front end loaded year over year if you look at that because pricing went down all last year sequentially. So I would say to go to what Bill said, We're definitely on track for our expectations for the year. Speaker 600:19:22Got it. And that kind of takes me to the next question on The assumptions first half, second half and I get the seasonality piece, it's clearly that's the construction season that drives that second half. But just there's such a disparity here in first half EBITDA, If I have the numbers right, year over year down 22% and then second half You're coming to almost even to last year. So is that the expected ramp between the 2? And how much of that and I get the volume part because we're seeing that come through and we're believers in the end market demand. Speaker 600:20:08So is pricing the key component there? Speaker 500:20:12So a couple of things. I would look at it more sequentially in the year of FY 2024 because when you compare it versus FY 2023 of last year, we still had some really strong quarters at the beginning of the year as pricing went down through the year. So said another way, our comps will get easier at the back half of the year. So when you look at what we have in the second half of our fiscal year this year versus the first half, you will see A number that you'll need like in the $240,000,000 $250,000,000 kind of EBITDA range versus the $210,000,000 $15,000,000 or whatever average for Q1 maybe a little bit lower than for the first half. That is definitely again increases in Hobart, normal seasonality where you see the construction season picking up and then pricing firming versus last year where pricing was still going down. Speaker 500:21:09I think you add that all together. I would say the seasonality is fairly atypical, just a little bit more back end loaded because of Speaker 700:21:18our growth initiatives hitting in the back half of the year. Speaker 500:21:18All right. That was really is hitting in the back half of the year. Speaker 600:21:21All right. That was really helpful, David. I appreciate the precision, especially the reminder about the dynamics second half in those of last year in the comps. So that was really helpful. And just last one for me. Speaker 600:21:33You referenced the Indiana plant. Can you give us an update, The startup, where does it stand in terms of productivity, efficiencies and so forth? Speaker 200:21:43Yes. So my first thing, but Dean, to your question A little bit how I answered with Andy. It's on track. So now on track means that as David called out and we had the $7,000,000 it's not generating the profits that we expect long term, but that's to be expected. If you just Again, the complexity of every product SKU is not like starting up a light bulb factory or a ketchup manufacturer that you just have one SKU and you run it. Speaker 200:22:10It starts or it doesn't start. Here is each customer, each product running it, taking the machines down for a couple of days, Bringing up a second ship, bringing up a third ship, but we're still I mean, we have a phenomenal leadership team there And it's progressing basically as the way we expected. Is there profit short term as you get a plan up and running? Yes. But it's like again, to me the reaffirmation is we have the forecast for the rest of the year. Speaker 200:22:38We're still on it. Everything's moving as expected at this time. Speaker 600:22:43All good to hear. Thank you. Speaker 200:22:45Thanks, Dean. Thanks, Dean. Operator00:22:48Your next question comes from the line of Chris Moore from CJS Securities. Your line is Speaker 800:22:53open. Hey, good morning guys. Thanks for taking a couple of questions. Maybe just on PVC pricing For January, was there a much change? Speaker 200:23:05No, nothing. I mean, what expected volume, Chris, like a lot of our products, you can imagine, especially the products that go underground, which is PVC and HDPE and so forth there, probably fiberglass conduit. Again, these are smaller lines, fiberglass actually under bridges, so misspoke. But those type are definitely being impacted by the weather across the country, but pricing basically on track. And we've put in 1 or 2 price increases. Speaker 200:23:34It's harder when the demand isn't there to get them to realize, but we're still optimistic going forward on these attempting to push the prices in the industry up. Speaker 500:23:43Chris, as you recall, our backlog is less than a couple of weeks. So we do kind of every week look at where volumes are and what have you. And Like Bill mentioned, we mentioned in our prepared remarks, January was light due to several factors. The first Start of this week has been much stronger. So we'll see versus our expectations here in Q2, how it lays out for the rest of the quarter. Speaker 800:24:11Got it. Appreciate that. Maybe just one more on Indiana. So obviously, you You talked quite a bit about the driver from the Inflation Reduction Act. You guys are getting up and getting going. Speaker 800:24:25How would you characterize kind of demand for torque tubes overall and how would you view that kind of against the current domestic capacity to meet that demand, is it enough beyond where you guys are at? What are you seeing overall? Speaker 200:24:45Yes, Chris, the best I can tell and again it's estimates and so forth is there was more demand out there than capacity in the go forward. And again, I think as we've given prepared remarks or answered questions over the years and again, others, Including public customers could probably comment on this. But with the Inflation Reduction Act, it should move All the volume into the states, which is a great thing for the U. S. And its economy. Speaker 200:25:14But that literally even if the Solar market did not grow, which we'll come back to in a second, doubles the amount of solar torque tubes. And right now, I don't think that capacity exists by anybody out there. So again, as we add the capacity of fine tuning, getting multiple shifts up, I have to believe some of our competitors are doing the same thing and so forth. But you add doubling the size of the domestic torque tube market Plus whatever double digit plus growth of the solar market, I don't think anyone would dispute that. It's a really an exciting market for both Atkore and I think just the country as we become more carbon free. Speaker 800:25:59Got it. I appreciate that. Maybe just one last one here. Obviously, you guys sell the majority of products through distributors, but You've talked about marketing efforts that go kind of way beyond this distribution channel, develop relationships with the big players in Markets like array makers, fab owners, etcetera, with the goal of becoming a partner, just wondering if you can provide kind of Any update there and thoughts on I know that's a longer term process, but kind of how you're viewing that? Speaker 200:26:29It's really exciting. It's almost Chris, I'm teasing because we did not do this, but if you were to give me a softball question here. To your point, it's a multiyear process, But what I'm proud, I think we did a press release here in the last month or 2 was NECA, which is the National Electrical Contractor Association. So represents all the construction contractors in the electrical space that are union, that are so equivalent non union organization, named us as one of like the premier partners. And to give you a feel, there's around 13 give or take premier partners that's everything from a freight carrier to electrical, like energy generator company for their plants, tools. Speaker 200:27:11So in our space across PVC products, across steel conduit products, across metal framing products, just go through. We are the only premier partner basically for all of our set of products there. There's some other product manufacturers in certain spaces, but It just shows the relationships that Atkore is building out there. That's a real complement to our organization, our products, our value in the partnership we're doing. So it's exciting, Chris. Speaker 800:27:42Got it. I appreciate that. I will leave it there. Speaker 100:27:46Thanks, Chris. Thank you. Operator00:27:48Your next question comes from the line of Alex Rygiel from B. Riley. Your line is open. Speaker 100:27:54Thank you. Good morning, gentlemen. A very nice quarter. Speaker 200:27:57Thank you, Alex. Speaker 100:27:59Couple of quick questions here. First, as we think about the 2nd quarter guidance versus the Q1. Directionally, what does your guidance imply for price and volume? And I guess what I'm getting at here is, have we seen The correction in raw materials sort of fully reflected in either this Q1 or the 2nd quarter guide? Speaker 500:28:22I would say in the second quarter guide, we get from our comments that our volume year over year, we expect it to be lower than it was in Q1 as a growth year over year, but still a growth modest growth year over year. I would say pricing, when you look at commodities and there's been steel has been on its way up now, maybe on its way down, what have you. I think that that gets reflected fairly quickly in our numbers. We are able to price on a daily basis. We might not see an increase or decrease as for weeks as we work through our inventory. Speaker 500:29:01So I would say it's pretty dynamic. So there isn't really a situation where it lags in any meaningful way except for the S and I segment where that tends to be more quarterly based. And so a Speaker 700:29:15little bit behind when steel is on its way up, a Speaker 500:29:17little bit of headwind steel is on its way down, but that again tends to normalize over a couple of quarters. Speaker 200:29:23And then Alex, if I can bridge off your question a little bit. Again, David, it's better at giving you the bridge. But just for you or other shareholders out there, The way we think about our profit and pricing, first thing is just general industry volume. Obviously, if there's strike tight capacity, Like any product, you can solve for more because you have multiple options and multiple customers that want it, so volume. Second thing where I think we are absolutely the industry leader is our capability and we're really doubling down on 3 Leader is our capability and we're really doubling down on this, the one order, one delivery, one invoice that just is a competitive sustainable advantage that I don't think anyone else can match period in the next decade, my own personal opinion. Speaker 200:30:06Then it gets to where your question was to go, okay, steel up, steel down. And I think David answered there, we do The nominal real time pricing that it's not a large driver of our EBITDA for example. Speaker 400:30:22And then secondly, can you give us Speaker 100:30:23an update on the expansion of your distribution centers? Speaker 200:30:27Yes. So great wow, great question there. That every other question hasn't been good. We're right on track with the following things. We have several of them up and running well. Speaker 200:30:38Now we're working on 1 in the Dallas area and 1 on the Atlanta area. We have the facilities purchase, lease. We're putting in racking, starting to bring products up. It's really also something as David talked earlier to other questions, we talk about this fiscal year and go, Hey, to Dean Dray's question, like bridge me the average 210 to the 250 in the second half of the year. I think the RSCs are more of a thing that's going to help us in fiscal year 2026 just to go until we fully get them up and fully get the value prop. Speaker 200:31:09We're getting it now, but the leverage of that as we go forward is what again gives us confidence in the $18 plus EPS that we've put out there a couple of years ago now. Speaker 100:31:21Very helpful. Thank you very much. Speaker 200:31:23Yes. Thanks, Alex. Thanks, Alex. Operator00:31:26Your final question comes from the line of Chris Dankert from Loop Capital. Your line is open. Speaker 700:31:33Hey, good morning guys. Thanks for taking the question. Speaker 200:31:36Thanks, Rich. Speaker 700:31:36I guess first off, you've mentioned there was probably some little bit of rebate buying to hit those breakpoints at the end of the year here. Just do you feel like distribution inventories are still in a good place as we kind of Moving to the Q2 here, so maybe any kind of comment on how you see the inventory landscape at the distribution level? Yes. Speaker 200:31:56I think we're back, God Bless here to normal pre COVID. In other words, there's inventory out there, but the appropriate amount for this at this time of year and As we get it's hard to predict to David's earlier point with 1 or 2 weeks of backlog we talked in March or April, but at some time Customers are even putting more in because they know that spring season and summer season will be stronger and therefore will start to stock up more. But at this stage, Right on track. I wouldn't say they're low, but they're definitely not high. And there's no reason to be. Speaker 200:32:30In other words, back to earlier Commodity prices are pretty stable. We could talk about steel going down a little bit, PVC maybe going up a little bit, those type of things. And even our pricing, While we always aspire to increase our pricing some, there's no dramatic swings or supplier shortages. So business is back to normal. Speaker 700:32:52Got it. Glad to hear that. And then maybe just to zoom out to 30,000 feet for a second, Obviously, competitive dynamics don't swing too much quarter to quarter, but certainly we're getting a lot of questions on just are there any changes in the competitive landscape. I mean pricing would suggest There's nothing dramatic going on at the moment, but maybe just a quick comment on how you see the competitive landscape and what's going on or what might be changing a little bit incrementally here? Speaker 200:33:17Nothing of significance. There's always minor players that try to enter and noise level things, so somebody importing a product because of things. But literally there's as much opportunity without me getting specific On things the U. S. Government may do or you saw flashes this morning if Trump was elected, he would stop imports and All the different things. Speaker 200:33:41At the end of the day, it's the earlier questions of others. The demand out there, almost 9 months of contractor backlog. It's our self help things of growing with the solar industry, growing with HDP and so forth that those are really the drivers of the business. Speaker 500:33:59And Chris, just remember, I mean, I think we've talked about this many times. You still have to have agents, you have to have Distribution, you have to have a brand that people know. I mean, so there are a lot of reasons why like We do well in that the competitive landscape is fairly stable year over year. Speaker 700:34:22Makes sense. Well, thanks so much guys and congrats on a nice start to the year here. Speaker 500:34:27Thank you, Chris. Operator00:34:29This concludes the question and answer session. I would now like to turn the call back over to Bill Waltz for closing remarks. Speaker 200:34:37Thank you. Let me take a moment to summarize my key three takeaways from today's discussion. First, Q1 was a solid start to the year with organic volumes up 13%. 2nd, The declaration of our 1st quarterly dividend is another recognition of our structural improvements and transformation over the past several years. 3rd, with a great team, product portfolio and strategy supported by strong secular tailwinds, We believe the best is yet to come at Atkore. Speaker 200:35:15Before we conclude today's call, I would like to mention a planned rotation of key talent that demonstrates the Atkore Business System at work. John Deitzer will be transitioning into the role of VP of Electrical Finance And Matt Klein, who is currently our VP of Electrical Finance, as well as the General Manager of our Fiberglass Conduit Business Unit, We'll be moving into the treasury and IR role. We wish them both continued success in their new positions. With that, thank you for your support and interest in our company. We look forward to speaking with you during our next quarterly call. Speaker 200:35:57This concludes the call for today. Operator00:36:01This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect.Read moreRemove AdsPowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallAtkore Q1 202400:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2xRemove Ads Earnings DocumentsSlide DeckPress Release(8-K)Quarterly report(10-Q) Atkore Earnings HeadlinesCintas Delivers Earnings Beat, Signals More Growth AheadCintas' stock price rebound was catalyzed by the Q3 results and year-end guidance, and maybe accelerated by analysts this year.March 31, 2025 | marketbeat.comCintas (CTAS) Reinstated with Buy Rating by BofA Analyst, Price Target Set at $250 | CTAS Stock NewsApril 10 at 8:40 AM | gurufocus.comCrypto’s crashing…but we’re still profitingMost traders are panicking right now. Bitcoin’s dropping. Altcoins are bleeding. The stock market’s a mess. The news is screaming fear. But while most traders watch their portfolios tank…April 10, 2025 | Crypto Swap Profits (Ad)Top Cintas Executive Cashes In on Stock Sale!April 9 at 10:13 PM | tipranks.comCintas Corp (CTAS) Announces Quarterly Cash DividendApril 8 at 3:23 PM | gurufocus.comJim Cramer on Cintas Corporation (CTAS): “I Like Domestic Service Like a Cintas”April 8 at 3:23 PM | insidermonkey.comSee More Cintas Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Atkore? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Atkore and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About AtkoreAtkore (NYSE:ATKR) engages in the manufacture and sale of electrical, mechanical, safety, and infrastructure products and solutions in the United States and internationally. The company offers conduits, cables, and installation accessories. It also designs and manufactures protection and reliability solutions for critical infrastructure, such as metal framing, mechanical pipe, perimeter security, and cable management. The company offers its products under the Allied Tube & Conduit, AFC Cable Systems, Kaf-Tech, Heritage Plastics, Unistrut, Power-Strut, Cope, US Tray, FRE Composites, United Poly Systems, Calbond, and Calpipe. It serves various end markets, including new construction; maintenance, repair, and remodel; infrastructure; diversified industrials; alternative power generation; healthcare; data centers; and governments through electrical, industrial, and mechanical contractors, as well as original equipment manufacturers. The company was formerly known as Atkore International Group Inc. and changed its name to Atkore Inc. in February 2021. 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There are 9 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Good morning. My name is Rob, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Atkore's First Quarter Fiscal Year 20 24 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute In a listen only mode. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. Operator00:00:27As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. Thank you. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, John Deitzer, Vice President of Treasury and Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin. Speaker 100:00:40Thank you, and good morning, everyone. I'm joined today by Bill Waltz, President and CEO as well as David Johnson, Chief Financial Officer. We will take your questions after comments by Bill and David. I would like to remind everyone that during this call, we may make projections or forward looking statements regarding future events or financial performance of the company. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties such that actual results may differ materially. Speaker 100:01:10Please refer to our SEC filings in today's press release, which identify important factors that could cause Actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward looking statements. In addition, any reference in our discussion today to EBITDA means adjusted EBITDA and any reference to EPS or adjusted EPS means adjusted diluted earnings per share. Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted diluted earnings per share are non GAAP measures. Reconciliations of non GAAP measures and a presentation of the most comparable GAAP measures are available in the appendix to today's presentation. With that, I'll turn it over to Bill. Speaker 200:01:53Thanks, John, and good morning, everyone. Starting on Slide 3, Atkore is off to a strong start for FY 'twenty four and we are demonstrating the structural improvements and transformation that we made to our business over the past several years. I'm proud to share that volumes for the quarter were up 13% driven by contributions across all key product areas. We're focused on executing our capital deployment model as evidenced by the $96,000,000 in shares repurchased in the Q1 and the continued activity in January. In addition, I'm very pleased to announce that we've officially declared our 1st quarterly dividend, a very exciting achievement for our company. Speaker 200:02:44I also want to highlight the release of our fiscal year 2023 sustainability report, which was published last month. This report provides an update on the progress against our 2025 targets and covers additional important topics and initiatives. I'd like to take a moment to thank all of our employees for everything they do to support our key stakeholders. Overall, in fiscal 2024, we're off to a great start and I continue to be excited for what's to come. With that, I'll now turn the call over to David to talk through the results from the Q1 and our outlook for the full year. Speaker 300:03:28Thank you, Bill, and good morning, everyone. Moving to our consolidated results on Slide 4. In the Q1, net sales were $798,000,000 and adjusted EBITDA was $214,000,000 We are pleased with our margin performance in the quarter with adjusted EBITDA margins over 26%. Our tax rate in the quarter was favorable due to previously granted stock compensation. This outsized benefit was unique and contributed to our strong EPS performance. Speaker 300:04:01Moving forward, we expect the rate to be closer to roughly 25% for the remaining quarters in the year. Turning to Slide 5 in our consolidated bridges. I'm pleased by our strong volume performance in the quarter with organic volumes up over 13%. These gains were offset by the continued pricing normalization, But this impact was within expectations and aligns with the pricing trends we have been discussing for the past several years. Moving to Slide 6, we're making good progress against the low double digit volume expectation for the full year with solid contributions across all key product areas. Speaker 300:04:44Our plastic pipe and conduit category was up high single digits, led by solid growth in our PVC products. Across our electrical related categories, Walins were slightly higher than anticipated in Q1 as several large customers met their calendar year end rebate levels. Looking ahead, we expect Q2 to be softer than Q1 in terms of year over year volume percentage growth Due to this timing of purchases at year end and the recent severe weather conditions that have unfavorably impacted our gain work performance. Turning to Slide 7, both segments had positive volume growth in the 1st quarter. Margins compressed in our Electrical segment with the previously mentioned pricing normalization that remained very strong at 34%. Speaker 300:05:38We also faced some year over year margin compression on the F and I side due to a tough comparison versus the prior year and the planned start up costs in Indiana to support the volume ramp. Turning to Slide 8, We continue to execute our capital deployment model with cash generated from the business and our balance sheet is in tremendous position with no maturity repayments required until 2028. Next on Slide 9, I am pleased to highlight a significant milestone for our company with the upcoming payment of our 1st regular quarterly dividend. Earlier this week, Atkore's Board of Directors the first quarterly dividend payment of $0.32 per share. This achievement was made possible by our sustained performance of our multi year period and our confidence in the future. Speaker 300:06:29Now for our fiscal year 2024 outlook on Page 10. Our expectation of low double digit percentage volume growth for the year remains on track. Also with our strong EPS performance in Q1, We are increasing our full year estimate accordingly. As previously mentioned, our performance in January was impacted by several factors, including the adverse weather conditions in many parts of the U. S. Speaker 300:06:58This is affecting our estimates for Q2, But overall, we are maintaining our outlook for full year net sales and adjusted EBITDA. Also, As we've discussed before, we've always built in an expectation that the back half of the year will be stronger than the first half for two main reasons. First, as we are ramping up these new facilities, our volume from these sites will steadily increase throughout the year. And second, our overall business is always stronger in the spring and summer construction seasons versus the fall and winter. Therefore, we expect adjusted EBITDA to improve sequentially from Q2 to Q3 and then Q3 to Q4. Speaker 300:07:40With that, I'll turn it back to Bill. Speaker 200:07:46Thanks, David. We are very pleased with what we've accomplished this quarter and our outlook for this fiscal year, but we're even more excited about all the opportunities ahead. Moving to slide 11, as we've said before, the electrical industry is a great place to be. It's difficult to find a building or infrastructure project that does not require Atkore's products. With over 90% of Atkore's product portfolio supporting electrical infrastructure, we are well to benefit from the strong electrical trends projected across numerous end market categories. Speaker 200:08:29On Slide 12, we've analyzed product volume data to determine estimated density across key end markets With anticipated growth in data centers, manufacturing, lodging, healthcare, education and multifamily over the next 5 years and Atkore's ability to deliver a wide range of products that each of these buildings need. I am again reminded that Atkore in the electrical industry overall is a great place to be. Better yet, consensus agrees. Experts and peers across the industry also have a positive outlook on 2024 and beyond. In addition, with several other major public electrical contractors and electrical peers reporting record backlogs and project positive growth, it reinforces our confidence in the future for this industry. Speaker 200:09:28With that, we'll turn it back to the operator to open the line for questions. Operator00:09:46Your first question comes from the line of Andy Kaplowitz from Citigroup. Your line is open. Speaker 400:09:52Hey, good morning, guys. Speaker 200:09:54Good morning, Andy. Good morning. Speaker 400:09:57Bill or David, I know you've guided to relatively strong volume growth for the year, But you did have a nice positive bump in electrical volumes in Q1. I know you mentioned some of the bigger customers pulling forward their volume. But Maybe you can quantify how much that was that pull forward. Did you at all see a turn in your HDP markets? And Could you quantify the weather impact in Q2? Speaker 400:10:22How much that could impact Q2 results? Speaker 200:10:25Yes. I'll start Andy then turn it over to David always with What level of specificity here? But first HDPE very much on track for what we expected. But as David said in the past, it's more of a fiscal 25 and you can see that with I won't call it other public corporations, but even large fiber optic companies have announced earnings recently and it's almost The 3rd slide could have been interchanged with ours or what we've communicated there. And again, we can follow-up with why we think that home here in a moment. Speaker 200:10:56What we saw and this is common for every year is we said and the industry sets, not just us, rebate levels go if you hit X number, volume, dollars will give you whatever 2%, whatever the number rebate is back and we try to stay firm to that. So some of our customers Literally, Jess said, okay, we understand. And I'm assuming when we saw a spike in December, it was to get to their goals. So a little soft there. And then not a surprise, I think for anybody in January here that with the weather Yes, across the country, for example, us talking to our customers, for example, one large customer, I won't be overly specific here, but had over 50 of their locations down for at least 2 days or more, Dealing with the weather. Speaker 200:11:46So with those two things, January was light. And but again, if you add up the Strong organic growth in Q1 with what we're kind of forecasting per se without precise number in Q2. It's basically averages out and bridges exactly to what we have for the year. So again, to me, it's a good comfort thing that we're still on track and raised EPS. So hopefully somewhere in that level I answered your questions. Speaker 400:12:17You did, Bill. But let me sort of step back. I think you talked Contractor backlogs, when you step back, obviously, the lead indicators are kind of all over the place, still maybe stabilizing at lower levels. Are you seeing sort of any changes in primary markets? We already talked about HTP, but clearly things like data centers are ramping up, You've been working on undergrounding. Speaker 400:12:41So like are things sort of better than they were a few months ago as rates have come down? Worse? Like how do you sort of frame the market At this point? Speaker 200:12:48Yes, I think either consistent, but definitely not worse. Let's put it that way. So maybe Andy to your point, there's so many metrics out there and which metrics are relevant or even over time how metrics evolve on the importance. And one of the ones that at least I'll say I, but at course, gravid 18.2 that we don't talk about in the earnings deck, I don't think, but was Association of Building Contractors, they're still high 8 plus months, I forgot the exact 8.6, 8.8. But I do recall 2 things, for example. Speaker 200:13:211, In December, they actually increased a 10th of a month. So if their backlog is going up and then here in the last two days, The Association of Building Contractors said about they have even higher number of open jobs as they put jobs. So literally we could have written their script On the biggest constraint to Atkore and it's a good thing, isn't the market. So whether you read ABI or something like that, It's literally there is around 9 months of backlog right now with contractors, ABI or ABC would talk to that. And to the point of as other skilled trades, whether it's a maintenance manager someplace else may have slowing hiring, It's actually the economists for Association of Building Contractors said how that's good for the industry so they can hire more people. Speaker 200:14:09So Andy, at the end of the day, I'm pretty confident. We can talk about Q2 versus Q3 and when things ramp up in our own self growth initiatives, But the backlogs are out there for us and everybody else. Speaker 500:14:24Yes. Andy, if you look at the construction employment continues to go up, Although the estimate from this week from the Contractors Association said that they estimate they need around 500,000 more New folks entering construction and that's over above the net normal. So there's just there is a lot of work out there. I mean when we talk about the contractor backlog of being run, that's about as high as it's going to be because people aren't going to take jobs 2 years from me. So I think that's just a really healthy rate. Speaker 500:14:57This is around, again, getting folks who can actually execute some of these projects. Speaker 400:15:04And one more for me. I know you said Safety and infrastructure included $7,000,000 of start up costs, but did you contemplate those costs when you were thinking about when you guided us to Q1, How are you factoring in any incremental startup costs going forward? And was there anything else holding down Safety and Infrastructure margin? Speaker 200:15:22Yes. I think Andy we're on track. So both the fact that like one simple way to do this is we hit our guide for Q1 actually exceeded the guide in the range slightly. Some of that now again is just the volume Go ahead. I don't want to again our transparency, but it was a good quarter and we're on for the full year for EBITDA and I'll make the plug again in EPS. Speaker 200:15:45So And one other thing I know David wants to jump in here too. Realize with a large complex factory, I think once a while shareholders forget, it's like, oh, you're just making a torque to Every size difference, it's an octagon, it's a circle. You can't do those things until you're actually up and running. You don't have the air permits. So literally Getting all the machinery tuned for every new size, determining things like whether you're using MIG or TIG welding, there's just so many different complexities there That we knew it's going to take all year to ramp up. Speaker 200:16:15But as David said in the prepared remarks, that's why also as we look for our guide for the year, You'll see a ramp up as we continue to hit our volume numbers and so forth. So both confidence in our as much as you can be, confidence in our year end outlook for EBITDA, confidence in our volume numbers as things pick up through the year. Speaker 400:16:38Got it. Thanks guys. Speaker 200:16:40Yes. Thanks, Andy. Speaker 500:16:41Thank you. Your Operator00:16:43next question comes from the line of Deane Dray from RBC. Your line is open. Speaker 600:16:48Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Speaker 200:16:50Hey, good morning, Dean. Good morning, Dean. Speaker 600:16:52It was great to see that volume come through this quarter, especially like Slide 6 that shows you that balance across the portfolio. So, good to see that. Speaker 200:17:06Oh, yes. Dean, thank you for that. I mean, purely from the standpoint, it wasn't Once in a while we get focused on one product line versus it wasn't a one trip pony, every product line was up there. And also I think what that chart shows is, well, for example, PVC and HD is important. It's 31% of our sales. Speaker 200:17:24So there's A lot of other great products, some of which we're doing really well on pricing with and so forth. So it's a good environment for Atkore. Speaker 600:17:33Great. And that takes me to the heart of the question here is take us through the pricing dynamics this quarter. And I know the recovery and the normalization is not going to be linear, but what were the specific dynamics this quarter, input costs, competitive positioning, Where the demand was, I know geographically that's a factor as well, but just take us through those dynamics if you could. Speaker 200:18:00I'll start and then again if David would like that specificity to this with the charts. I'd say it's overall on track. Again, without getting into each Product line, there's some are a little bit lower, but there's absolutely some going, hey, General Manager and sales team, keep doing what you're doing here. And I can think of and again, if you go back to that Page 6 reference without me calling out specific of these products And at least 2 of those categories and maybe more, others have led price increases. So I think we're a price leader because we had that one order, one delivery, one invoice and we have the ability to bring more value than many of our competitors to the industry. Speaker 200:18:41But we're not the only one out there thinking about how you give good returns to their shareholders. So, right on track overall. Speaker 500:18:50Yes. And Dean, when you look at the on Slide 5, if you net on the EBITDA bridge, the price versus cost changes, you're around $90,000,000 and we had guided, I believe a midpoint of around $250,000,000 for the year. That was always going to be more front end loaded year over year if you look at that because pricing went down all last year sequentially. So I would say to go to what Bill said, We're definitely on track for our expectations for the year. Speaker 600:19:22Got it. And that kind of takes me to the next question on The assumptions first half, second half and I get the seasonality piece, it's clearly that's the construction season that drives that second half. But just there's such a disparity here in first half EBITDA, If I have the numbers right, year over year down 22% and then second half You're coming to almost even to last year. So is that the expected ramp between the 2? And how much of that and I get the volume part because we're seeing that come through and we're believers in the end market demand. Speaker 600:20:08So is pricing the key component there? Speaker 500:20:12So a couple of things. I would look at it more sequentially in the year of FY 2024 because when you compare it versus FY 2023 of last year, we still had some really strong quarters at the beginning of the year as pricing went down through the year. So said another way, our comps will get easier at the back half of the year. So when you look at what we have in the second half of our fiscal year this year versus the first half, you will see A number that you'll need like in the $240,000,000 $250,000,000 kind of EBITDA range versus the $210,000,000 $15,000,000 or whatever average for Q1 maybe a little bit lower than for the first half. That is definitely again increases in Hobart, normal seasonality where you see the construction season picking up and then pricing firming versus last year where pricing was still going down. Speaker 500:21:09I think you add that all together. I would say the seasonality is fairly atypical, just a little bit more back end loaded because of Speaker 700:21:18our growth initiatives hitting in the back half of the year. Speaker 500:21:18All right. That was really is hitting in the back half of the year. Speaker 600:21:21All right. That was really helpful, David. I appreciate the precision, especially the reminder about the dynamics second half in those of last year in the comps. So that was really helpful. And just last one for me. Speaker 600:21:33You referenced the Indiana plant. Can you give us an update, The startup, where does it stand in terms of productivity, efficiencies and so forth? Speaker 200:21:43Yes. So my first thing, but Dean, to your question A little bit how I answered with Andy. It's on track. So now on track means that as David called out and we had the $7,000,000 it's not generating the profits that we expect long term, but that's to be expected. If you just Again, the complexity of every product SKU is not like starting up a light bulb factory or a ketchup manufacturer that you just have one SKU and you run it. Speaker 200:22:10It starts or it doesn't start. Here is each customer, each product running it, taking the machines down for a couple of days, Bringing up a second ship, bringing up a third ship, but we're still I mean, we have a phenomenal leadership team there And it's progressing basically as the way we expected. Is there profit short term as you get a plan up and running? Yes. But it's like again, to me the reaffirmation is we have the forecast for the rest of the year. Speaker 200:22:38We're still on it. Everything's moving as expected at this time. Speaker 600:22:43All good to hear. Thank you. Speaker 200:22:45Thanks, Dean. Thanks, Dean. Operator00:22:48Your next question comes from the line of Chris Moore from CJS Securities. Your line is Speaker 800:22:53open. Hey, good morning guys. Thanks for taking a couple of questions. Maybe just on PVC pricing For January, was there a much change? Speaker 200:23:05No, nothing. I mean, what expected volume, Chris, like a lot of our products, you can imagine, especially the products that go underground, which is PVC and HDPE and so forth there, probably fiberglass conduit. Again, these are smaller lines, fiberglass actually under bridges, so misspoke. But those type are definitely being impacted by the weather across the country, but pricing basically on track. And we've put in 1 or 2 price increases. Speaker 200:23:34It's harder when the demand isn't there to get them to realize, but we're still optimistic going forward on these attempting to push the prices in the industry up. Speaker 500:23:43Chris, as you recall, our backlog is less than a couple of weeks. So we do kind of every week look at where volumes are and what have you. And Like Bill mentioned, we mentioned in our prepared remarks, January was light due to several factors. The first Start of this week has been much stronger. So we'll see versus our expectations here in Q2, how it lays out for the rest of the quarter. Speaker 800:24:11Got it. Appreciate that. Maybe just one more on Indiana. So obviously, you You talked quite a bit about the driver from the Inflation Reduction Act. You guys are getting up and getting going. Speaker 800:24:25How would you characterize kind of demand for torque tubes overall and how would you view that kind of against the current domestic capacity to meet that demand, is it enough beyond where you guys are at? What are you seeing overall? Speaker 200:24:45Yes, Chris, the best I can tell and again it's estimates and so forth is there was more demand out there than capacity in the go forward. And again, I think as we've given prepared remarks or answered questions over the years and again, others, Including public customers could probably comment on this. But with the Inflation Reduction Act, it should move All the volume into the states, which is a great thing for the U. S. And its economy. Speaker 200:25:14But that literally even if the Solar market did not grow, which we'll come back to in a second, doubles the amount of solar torque tubes. And right now, I don't think that capacity exists by anybody out there. So again, as we add the capacity of fine tuning, getting multiple shifts up, I have to believe some of our competitors are doing the same thing and so forth. But you add doubling the size of the domestic torque tube market Plus whatever double digit plus growth of the solar market, I don't think anyone would dispute that. It's a really an exciting market for both Atkore and I think just the country as we become more carbon free. Speaker 800:25:59Got it. I appreciate that. Maybe just one last one here. Obviously, you guys sell the majority of products through distributors, but You've talked about marketing efforts that go kind of way beyond this distribution channel, develop relationships with the big players in Markets like array makers, fab owners, etcetera, with the goal of becoming a partner, just wondering if you can provide kind of Any update there and thoughts on I know that's a longer term process, but kind of how you're viewing that? Speaker 200:26:29It's really exciting. It's almost Chris, I'm teasing because we did not do this, but if you were to give me a softball question here. To your point, it's a multiyear process, But what I'm proud, I think we did a press release here in the last month or 2 was NECA, which is the National Electrical Contractor Association. So represents all the construction contractors in the electrical space that are union, that are so equivalent non union organization, named us as one of like the premier partners. And to give you a feel, there's around 13 give or take premier partners that's everything from a freight carrier to electrical, like energy generator company for their plants, tools. Speaker 200:27:11So in our space across PVC products, across steel conduit products, across metal framing products, just go through. We are the only premier partner basically for all of our set of products there. There's some other product manufacturers in certain spaces, but It just shows the relationships that Atkore is building out there. That's a real complement to our organization, our products, our value in the partnership we're doing. So it's exciting, Chris. Speaker 800:27:42Got it. I appreciate that. I will leave it there. Speaker 100:27:46Thanks, Chris. Thank you. Operator00:27:48Your next question comes from the line of Alex Rygiel from B. Riley. Your line is open. Speaker 100:27:54Thank you. Good morning, gentlemen. A very nice quarter. Speaker 200:27:57Thank you, Alex. Speaker 100:27:59Couple of quick questions here. First, as we think about the 2nd quarter guidance versus the Q1. Directionally, what does your guidance imply for price and volume? And I guess what I'm getting at here is, have we seen The correction in raw materials sort of fully reflected in either this Q1 or the 2nd quarter guide? Speaker 500:28:22I would say in the second quarter guide, we get from our comments that our volume year over year, we expect it to be lower than it was in Q1 as a growth year over year, but still a growth modest growth year over year. I would say pricing, when you look at commodities and there's been steel has been on its way up now, maybe on its way down, what have you. I think that that gets reflected fairly quickly in our numbers. We are able to price on a daily basis. We might not see an increase or decrease as for weeks as we work through our inventory. Speaker 500:29:01So I would say it's pretty dynamic. So there isn't really a situation where it lags in any meaningful way except for the S and I segment where that tends to be more quarterly based. And so a Speaker 700:29:15little bit behind when steel is on its way up, a Speaker 500:29:17little bit of headwind steel is on its way down, but that again tends to normalize over a couple of quarters. Speaker 200:29:23And then Alex, if I can bridge off your question a little bit. Again, David, it's better at giving you the bridge. But just for you or other shareholders out there, The way we think about our profit and pricing, first thing is just general industry volume. Obviously, if there's strike tight capacity, Like any product, you can solve for more because you have multiple options and multiple customers that want it, so volume. Second thing where I think we are absolutely the industry leader is our capability and we're really doubling down on 3 Leader is our capability and we're really doubling down on this, the one order, one delivery, one invoice that just is a competitive sustainable advantage that I don't think anyone else can match period in the next decade, my own personal opinion. Speaker 200:30:06Then it gets to where your question was to go, okay, steel up, steel down. And I think David answered there, we do The nominal real time pricing that it's not a large driver of our EBITDA for example. Speaker 400:30:22And then secondly, can you give us Speaker 100:30:23an update on the expansion of your distribution centers? Speaker 200:30:27Yes. So great wow, great question there. That every other question hasn't been good. We're right on track with the following things. We have several of them up and running well. Speaker 200:30:38Now we're working on 1 in the Dallas area and 1 on the Atlanta area. We have the facilities purchase, lease. We're putting in racking, starting to bring products up. It's really also something as David talked earlier to other questions, we talk about this fiscal year and go, Hey, to Dean Dray's question, like bridge me the average 210 to the 250 in the second half of the year. I think the RSCs are more of a thing that's going to help us in fiscal year 2026 just to go until we fully get them up and fully get the value prop. Speaker 200:31:09We're getting it now, but the leverage of that as we go forward is what again gives us confidence in the $18 plus EPS that we've put out there a couple of years ago now. Speaker 100:31:21Very helpful. Thank you very much. Speaker 200:31:23Yes. Thanks, Alex. Thanks, Alex. Operator00:31:26Your final question comes from the line of Chris Dankert from Loop Capital. Your line is open. Speaker 700:31:33Hey, good morning guys. Thanks for taking the question. Speaker 200:31:36Thanks, Rich. Speaker 700:31:36I guess first off, you've mentioned there was probably some little bit of rebate buying to hit those breakpoints at the end of the year here. Just do you feel like distribution inventories are still in a good place as we kind of Moving to the Q2 here, so maybe any kind of comment on how you see the inventory landscape at the distribution level? Yes. Speaker 200:31:56I think we're back, God Bless here to normal pre COVID. In other words, there's inventory out there, but the appropriate amount for this at this time of year and As we get it's hard to predict to David's earlier point with 1 or 2 weeks of backlog we talked in March or April, but at some time Customers are even putting more in because they know that spring season and summer season will be stronger and therefore will start to stock up more. But at this stage, Right on track. I wouldn't say they're low, but they're definitely not high. And there's no reason to be. Speaker 200:32:30In other words, back to earlier Commodity prices are pretty stable. We could talk about steel going down a little bit, PVC maybe going up a little bit, those type of things. And even our pricing, While we always aspire to increase our pricing some, there's no dramatic swings or supplier shortages. So business is back to normal. Speaker 700:32:52Got it. Glad to hear that. And then maybe just to zoom out to 30,000 feet for a second, Obviously, competitive dynamics don't swing too much quarter to quarter, but certainly we're getting a lot of questions on just are there any changes in the competitive landscape. I mean pricing would suggest There's nothing dramatic going on at the moment, but maybe just a quick comment on how you see the competitive landscape and what's going on or what might be changing a little bit incrementally here? Speaker 200:33:17Nothing of significance. There's always minor players that try to enter and noise level things, so somebody importing a product because of things. But literally there's as much opportunity without me getting specific On things the U. S. Government may do or you saw flashes this morning if Trump was elected, he would stop imports and All the different things. Speaker 200:33:41At the end of the day, it's the earlier questions of others. The demand out there, almost 9 months of contractor backlog. It's our self help things of growing with the solar industry, growing with HDP and so forth that those are really the drivers of the business. Speaker 500:33:59And Chris, just remember, I mean, I think we've talked about this many times. You still have to have agents, you have to have Distribution, you have to have a brand that people know. I mean, so there are a lot of reasons why like We do well in that the competitive landscape is fairly stable year over year. Speaker 700:34:22Makes sense. Well, thanks so much guys and congrats on a nice start to the year here. Speaker 500:34:27Thank you, Chris. Operator00:34:29This concludes the question and answer session. I would now like to turn the call back over to Bill Waltz for closing remarks. Speaker 200:34:37Thank you. Let me take a moment to summarize my key three takeaways from today's discussion. First, Q1 was a solid start to the year with organic volumes up 13%. 2nd, The declaration of our 1st quarterly dividend is another recognition of our structural improvements and transformation over the past several years. 3rd, with a great team, product portfolio and strategy supported by strong secular tailwinds, We believe the best is yet to come at Atkore. Speaker 200:35:15Before we conclude today's call, I would like to mention a planned rotation of key talent that demonstrates the Atkore Business System at work. John Deitzer will be transitioning into the role of VP of Electrical Finance And Matt Klein, who is currently our VP of Electrical Finance, as well as the General Manager of our Fiberglass Conduit Business Unit, We'll be moving into the treasury and IR role. We wish them both continued success in their new positions. With that, thank you for your support and interest in our company. We look forward to speaking with you during our next quarterly call. Speaker 200:35:57This concludes the call for today. Operator00:36:01This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect.Read moreRemove AdsPowered by