Gayla J. Delly
Analyst · Jim Suva with Citi
Thank you, Don, and good morning, everyone. In addition to our strong operational performance, I am pleased to share with you another quarter of strong bookings. During the first quarter of 2014, our bookings included 38 new programs, with 8 of these being engineering projects. These programs have an estimated annual revenue run rate between $135 million and $165 million. Our bookings come from new outsourcing opportunities, as well as new program wins with existing customers. Many of these have come from our targeted nontraditional market efforts. We are continuing to fill our pipeline with new opportunities resulting from the strong design and manufacturing solutions that we offer to our customers. Now let's turn to Slide 9, where we will discuss our perspective on the markets we serve. Beginning with computing, we expect to see low single-digit growth for the next quarter. Within this sector, we see a mixed outlook across server, doors and high-performance computing with softness in existing products being offset primarily by new program ramps. We currently expect computing to remain around the 20% level of our revenues for 2014. We see over 20% growth in industrial controls for the upcoming quarter. We have new programs ramping in industrial automation and controls for the transportation, refining and building infrastructure industry. We also see strength in commercial aerospace. In medical, we expect Q2 and the subsequent quarters of 2014 to remain stable and see a return to growth in early 2015 based on the estimated timing of regulatory approvals being received for some of our new program ramps. In test and instrumentation, for the second quarter, we expect revenue to be down in the high single digits after we ramped several new programs in Q1. Overall, in test and instrumentation, we see some level of moderation in new order pattern. In telecom, we expect mid-single digit increases in demand. Again, in this sector, growth is coming primarily from new product introductions and new program wins supporting the cellular infrastructure and networking space. In summary, please turn with me to Slide 10. As Don indicated, Q1 was an excellent start to what we expect to be a very good year for Benchmark. We are maintaining and growing our share in our targeted market while continuing to improve on our overall profitability. In fact, we expect year-over-year growth in 4 of the 5 segments we serve. Our operating margin results evidence the improvements we are making. We expect to benefit from further leverage in our operational excellence activities and from the integration of our recently acquired sites and the implementation of our operating systems. We have been through some very important transformational periods while achieving great strides in the diversification of our revenues and maintaining the focus on profitability. For Benchmark, this is our time. Growth opportunities in the nontraditional markets are outpacing that of traditional markets. Our heritage and our expertise developed over the years uniquely positions us to win in these markets. We have the infrastructure, the talent base and the business systems to be the solutions provider of choice. To reiterate, our top 3 priorities remain portfolio management, operational excellence and customer focus. We have refined our focus on portfolio management. In this regard, we have intensified efforts in higher growth areas and outsourcing sectors in the nontraditional markets of industrial, medical, test and instrumentation and certain segments within the telecom market while continuing our long-term commitment to serve the more complex needs of computing customers. Some of our customers in this sector were, in essence, the sponsors and pioneers of the outsourcing industry. For the last several years, we have increased our investments and expanded our capabilities in design services, precision machining and complex assembly, as well as increased our microelectronics capabilities. Each of these areas have allowed us to expand the service model we offer in support of the growing need for outsourcing solutions for our customers and targeted markets. We are pleased with the results of our efforts to date, to grow the nontraditional portion of our portfolio. In fact, for the first time, this portion of our portfolio exceeded 50% of our quarterly revenue. Our second strategic priority is operational excellence. Achieving the growth in our markets is made possible because of this priority. Operational excellence is the key to driving consistent results and operating margin improvement. Last year, we supported a record number of successful new program ramps, and I am challenging our team to beat that number again this year. Another aspect of our operational excellence involves ensuring our acquisition integration plans are effective and efficient. We are on plan for our integration activities. And in some areas, we have accelerated our integration plan. Against the backdrop of many moving parts, our teams are continuing to execute on our initiatives, gain efficiencies and identify yet further opportunities for improvement. True evidence of having a continuous improvement culture. Benchmark has always been a strong operator with a keen attentiveness to cost management. Our teams remain committed to this aspect of our culture. This is simply a part of our DNA. Importantly, our team's zest for operational excellence is driven by a passion and commitment to the best customers, our customers, which brings us to our third strategic priority customer focus. When I meet with customers and hear their story, I hear consistency and the challenges and opportunities they face in their diverse and dynamic end markets. These very diverse and dynamic end markets have a common ground of cost headwinds, stringent quality and delivery requirements. To manage these, our customers are seeking partners who can assist them in managing the complexity of their ever-changing business model, and we are excited about helping our customers win in their chosen market. We remain committed to delivering solid outsourced manufacturing and design solutions to our customers. The investments in our enhanced customer focus programs continue to manifest results in increased bookings and improved realized profitable growth. Simply stated, our strategy is working and we remain well on path to achieving our near-term 4% operating margin targets in the second half of 2014. Benchmark continues to deliver consistent and reliable results, and we are well positioned to meet the challenges in our industry. We currently have an impressive pipeline of opportunities and look forward to the upcoming launches to support our new customers. In closing, I want to recognize and thank our Benchmark employees who are dedicated to our customers and our success. Our team is invigorated and ready to move forward with our customers jointly, aligned to meet the challenges ahead. We remain steadfast in our commitment to them and thank our customers for putting their trust in our solutions. And we also want to say thank you to our shareholders for their continued trust and investment in Benchmark. And now, operator, I'd like to open the floor to questions.