Jeff Benck
Analyst · Lake Street. Please go ahead
Thanks, Roop, for that update. Following Roop's comments on our second quarter guidance, I wanted to provide some additional color on our view of demand by sector for the remainder of 2021. This is on slide 13. For the second quarter, we expect revenue to be up sequentially by about $30 million. This strength is led by expected sequential growth in Semi-Cap, A&D and Computing. In Semi-Cap, the demand outlook continues to build for semiconductor capital equipment and a strengthening in Q2 over our Q1 results. The strong demand for semiconductors due to the accelerating pace of digital transformation is fueling this growth, and we remain well positioned with the industry leaders in this sector. We believe this wafer fab equipment growth cycle has the potential to continue for several years not only due to the current severe semiconductor shortages, but also driven by government investment to address concerns about supply chain security and overall competitiveness. With this current demand strength and signals from our customers, we are revising our outlook for this sector upward from 10% growth to greater than 20% revenue growth over 2020 levels. In A&D, growth in the second quarter is led by increased demand for defense related communications, radar and security products. Growth is expected in Q2, even though demand for commercial aerospace programs, which was about 25% of the sector demand in 2020, continues to deteriorate. As such, we expect the A&D sector will still be flat for 2021. In the computing sector, we expect strong revenue growth in 2021 from high-performance computing projects with expected ramp starting in Q2 and continuing through second half 2021. In the medical sector, we are expecting revenue to remain relatively flat in the first half as elective surgery and demand for cardiac-related products have not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels. We are receiving some early indications from our customers that elective surgery demand is strengthening and this, coupled with a number of new program ramp starting in Q3, point to stronger medical sector growth in the second half of this year. We expect 2021 will be another growth year for the medical sector. In the telco market, where we remain highly selective in our engagements, overall demand is stable in Q2 and is it proving through second half 2021 from broadband infrastructure product growth. In industrials, we've yet to see significant demand recovery in our oil and gas and our building and transportation infrastructure customers. We are excited about a tremendous number of new program ramps in the industrial space. Many of these programs are new designs and technologically advanced programs and, as such, we are experiencing some program delays. Based on these dynamics, we believe industrials will now be flat for the year. If you turn to slide 14, I wanted to provide further updates on our ESG and sustainability efforts. Since the February call, our ESG Council has successfully worked to deliver our first SASB Factsheet, which can be found on the Sustainability page of our website. This document highlights our current performance against the technical requirements for the EMS and ODM industry within the SASB framework. The objective of releasing this Factsheet is to provide continued transparency as we further enhance our performance within the framework of our five key ESG tenet. Beyond the SASB report, we have also provided further updates on our progress in both our most recent Annual Report and Proxy. At Benchmark, we value diversity and expect our leaders to embrace all people regardless of gender, race, class or creed. Recognizing the greater inclusion fosters better decision-making and increased innovation. We are strengthening our diversity equity and inclusion programs through a planned set of actions around training, policies and through a revitalized recruiting strategy. As such, we have engaged a consultant who is leading a DVI perception study to establish a framework for how we listen, learn and act to achieve our goals. We are very proud to have been awarded a 2021 Silver Medal from EcoVadis in recognition of our sustainability progress. EcoVadis is one of the world's most trusted providers of business sustainability ratings and their assessment covers a broad range of non-financial management systems, including environmental labor and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement. This recognition puts us in the top 25% of companies rated. Looking ahead, we have started both quantitative and qualitative data collection to align the reporting to the Global Reporting Initiative, or GRI, standards. As we have announced previously, we are committed partner with Applied Materials and other strategic customers as part of the electronic supply chain ecosystem. There is tremendous momentum at Benchmark surrounding ESG and Sustainability, and I look forward to providing further updates as we continue our journey. I now want to wrap up the call today with a summary of our progress towards our three strategic initiatives for 2021 on slide 15. Growing revenue is a top priority at Benchmark through the efforts of the entire Benchmark organization and led by our go-to-market team, we are continuing to see strong new bookings both with the existing accounts and targeted new customers with innovative products aligned to our sector strategies. We are very focused on helping our customers to accelerate their time in market, provide - providing more of the complete solution, which includes both engineering and manufacturing services. This is reflected in our increased attach rate of design engagements to manufacturing wins and vice versa. To that point, in Q1, about 50% of our new wins have an engineering component. Our differentiated offerings and support in the Semi-Cap market and our new program wins have enabled significant growth in the Semi-Cap vertical, which we expect will now grow over 20% this year. This strength, coupled with new programs in high performance computing in mid-2021 and additional new program ramps in the higher value markets, gives us confidence that we can achieve greater than 5% growth in 2021. In order to support our long-term growth and scale objectives, we must also invest in sustainable infrastructure and talent, needed to support our long-term business. As I discussed earlier, ESG and sustainability initiatives and advancing diversity and inclusion underpin this foundational imperative. But they are not our only areas of investment as we are also investing in tools, processes and manufacturing assets to drive further operational effectiveness. As we evaluate how to best serve our customers, including exploring advances in technology, we are also contemplating incremental capital investments aligned to our strategy, as Roop referenced earlier. Even though we continue to invest in our business, we are committed to driving an efficient shared services organization and continuing our focus on expense management to maintain our SG&A spend at or below 6% of revenue. Finally, we expect to grow earnings faster than revenue. Our model is predicated on revenue growth that enables higher utilization to better leverage our fixed costs. With revenue growth from increasing demand and new ramps, we still expect to achieve 9% gross margin for the full year. Given the current supply chain environment, we do expect inventory growth in support of securing component supply for our customers, but we are still forecasting cash flows from operations for the full year between $80 million and $100 million. In support of efficient use of capital and returning value to our shareholders, we plan to continue buybacks and our recurring dividend. All in all, 2021 is off to a good start. I remain energized and excited about our capabilities and the progress we are making in developing our strategic customer relationships. I want to express my continued thanks to our hard-working and valuable employees and our suppliers for their incredible support. I look forward to providing further updates on our call in July. And, with that, I'll turn the call over to the operator to conduct the Q&A. Operator?