Earnings Labs

Dnow Inc. (DNOW)

Q2 2017 Earnings Call· Wed, Aug 2, 2017

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Welcome to the second quarter earnings conference call. My name is Sylvia, and I'll be your operator for today's call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session. I would now turn the call over to Chief Accounting Officer, Dave Cherechinsky. Mr. Cherechinsky, you may begin.

David A. Cherechinsky - NOW, Inc.

Management

Thank you, Sylvia, and welcome everyone to the NOW Inc. second quarter 2017 earnings conference call. We appreciate you joining us this morning and thank you for your interest in NOW Inc. With me today are Robert Workman, President and Chief Executive Officer of NOW Inc.; and Dan Molinaro, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. NOW Inc. operates primarily under the DistributionNOW and Wilson Export brands, and you'll hear us refer to DistributionNOW and DNOW, which is our New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol during our conversations this morning. Before we begin this discussion on NOW Inc.'s financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2017, please note that some of the statements we make during this call may contain forecasts, projections and estimates, including but not limited to, comments about our outlook for the company's business. These are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Federal Securities Laws based on limited information as of today which is subject to change. They are subject to risks and uncertainties and actual results may differ materially. No one should assume that these forward-looking statements remain valid later in the quarter or later in the year. I refer you to the latest Forms 10-K and 10-Q that NOW Inc. has on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a more detailed discussion of the major risk factors affecting our business. Further information regarding as well as supplemental, financial and operating information may be found within our press release on our Investor Relations website at ir.distributionnow.com or in our filings with the SEC. In an effort to provide investors with additional information relative to our results as determined by U.S. GAAP, you'll note that we also disclose various non-GAAP financial measures including EBITDA, excluding other costs, net loss excluding other costs, and diluted loss per share excluding other costs. Each exclude the impact of certain other costs and therefore has not been calculated in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of each of these non-GAAP financial measures to its most comparable GAAP financial measure is included in our press release. As of this morning, the Investor Relations section of our website contains a presentation covering our results and key takeaways for the quarter. A replay of today's call will be available on the site for the next 30 days. We plan to file our second quarter 2017 Form 10-Q today and it will also be available on our website. Later on this call, Dan will discuss our financial performance and we will then answer your questions, but first let me turn the call over to Robert.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Thanks, Dave. When the downturn began, no one correctly anticipated how long, choppy and uncertain in would be. In the first half of 2015, the counter of the down-cycle tracked the path of the prior downturn and recovery. WTI oil prices recovered to $60 in June of 2015 and rigs were rebounding almost in lockstep with the 2009 recovery. Then we saw the brutal double dip phenomenon that turned 2016 into the industry's worst cycle in a generation. Throughout this, our strategy has been to maximize our ability to serve our customers when the market returned and we're doing just that. Our plan also has been to pull out costs thoughtfully to minimize losses and solidify our position in the market and we're doing that too. We recognize that a reduced infrastructure with fewer resources were demand making choices. So we intentionally retained a core of talented people who can whether the cycle, pursue product lines, customers, transactions and risks where the reward was commensurate with the investment. Collaborated with our suppliers, trained our people and deployed technology to drive real improvement in our margins, secured many contract wins, strengthening our market position. Successfully negotiated improvements with low profit accounts, chose to walk away from some dilutive margin projects and contracts and we did these things and more and are continuing to look for ways to constantly improve our business every day. There is no doubt the recovery is underway, but the path is uncertain. Notwithstanding, we will continue to focus on the fundamentals namely growth, price, expenses, managing the balance sheet and delivering returns to our shareholders. To that end, the second quarter of 2017 represents the fourth consecutive quarter of top line growth and the beginning of our fourth year as a standalone public company. The second quarter…

Daniel L. Molinaro - NOW, Inc.

Management

Thanks, Robert. We are confident as we approach a return to profitability and I appreciate the efforts of our dedicated workforce as I'm convinced that we have the top people in the industry. I'm proud to be part of this wonderful team and I'm grateful for the hard work and perseverance of the DNOW family. Thanks for all you do. We will continue to concentrate on the needs of our customers while focusing on producing long-term value for our stakeholders. Robert discussed our business and I'll say more about our financials. NOW Inc. reported a net loss of $17 million or $0.16 per fully diluted share on a U.S. GAAP basis for the second quarter of 2017 on $651 million in revenue. This compares with a net loss of $23 million or $0.21 per share on $631 million of revenue in the first quarter of 2017. When looking at the year ago quarter, we had a net loss of $44 million or $0.40 per fully diluted share on revenue of $501 million for the second quarter of 2016. The second quarter of 2017 results included $6 million of after-tax charges for valuation allowances recorded against our deferred tax assets and $1 million of pre-tax severance charges. After adjusting for these charges, our second quarter loss was $11 million or $0.10 per share, both non-GAAP measures. We are encouraged by gross margin continuing to rise improving to 19.0% in Q2 compared with 18.1% in Q1 2017 and compared with 16.6% in the year ago quarter. The company generated an operating loss of $14 million in the second quarter of this year versus a $21 million loss in the previous quarter and an operating loss of $57 million in the year ago quarter. Second quarter EBITDA, excluding other costs, a non-GAAP measure,…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. And our first question comes from Matt Duncan from Stephens.

Matt Duncan - Stephens, Inc.

Analyst · Stephens

Hey. Good morning, guys.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Hey, Matt. How are you?

Daniel L. Molinaro - NOW, Inc.

Management

Hello, Matt.

Matt Duncan - Stephens, Inc.

Analyst · Stephens

Good. How are you all?

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

All good.

Matt Duncan - Stephens, Inc.

Analyst · Stephens

So, Robert, first question, just on the delays in tank battery construction. Are you starting to see any signs yet that that is starting to ease a little bit, or what your expectations there on when you might actually start to see that revenue activity kick up, and can you talk about what the backlog growth has been like there?

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Yeah. The numbers keep growing. I'm looking forward to the next report that comes out. And so it really depends on when these service providers get their frac fleets back up to work. I mean most of them reported their earnings last week, and you heard everything from putting five or 10 more spreads back to work in Q3 or putting all of them back to work by the year-end. So the pace at which they get those refurbished and staffed and then work through the actual frac process, because them going back to work doesn't create tank batteries, they actually have to finish the frac process and leave the well site. So I would expect we're going to fill it in Q3, but reading the notes from everyone's press releases last week – basically most of them went out last week – they all act like they're going to go out through Q3 and into Q4. So you're going to see some impact from that, but not the full impact, I don't believe.

Matt Duncan - Stephens, Inc.

Analyst · Stephens

Okay. So over the balance of the year, we'll see that start to come back, is what it sounds like.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

I would expect. I mean, they were all very optimistic at putting equipment back to work.

Matt Duncan - Stephens, Inc.

Analyst · Stephens

Okay. And then in your slides, there's an interesting comment I was hoping we could explore a little bit more. You say that you are exploring numerous options related to corporate development not limited to the continued hunt for acquisitions. What other stuff are you guys looking at?

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Well, I mean, obviously we're always going to be active in the M&A front, but there's other things that are in our business that could be potential for some kind of deal with another manufacturer or service company that would be a good swap sort of.

Matt Duncan - Stephens, Inc.

Analyst · Stephens

Okay. All right. And then last thing just on breakeven EBITDA. You've told us before that that's $150 million of revenue in a normal 3Q, obviously you had the break-up there in the 2Q in Canada which hurts your ability there. So is that still the number if you do $650 million of revenue in the third quarter, should we expect breakeven or better EBITDA?

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Well, if we only do $650 million in the third quarter, I'm going to be highly disappointed, but let's say for some reason that happened, then yes, I would expect us to get to positive EBITDA.

Matt Duncan - Stephens, Inc.

Analyst · Stephens

Okay. I'll hop back in queue. Thanks, guys.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

The two things working against us were simply in international contraction and Canada break-up.

Matt Duncan - Stephens, Inc.

Analyst · Stephens

Yeah. Understood. All right. Thanks.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Following question comes from Nathan Jones from Stifel. Nathan Hardie Jones - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.: Good morning, everyone.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Hi, Nathan. How are you? Good morning. Nathan Hardie Jones - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.: Good. Thanks. How are you?

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

We're all good. Nathan Hardie Jones - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.: There's certainly been a lot of reports from some of your suppliers, particularly on valves and pipes that they're having supply chain issues and difficulty ramping up with the demand here. I would think that gives not only them some pricing power, but you some pricing power. And I know you talked a little bit about that on the call and maybe some targeted areas where you can continue to raise price. Can you give us a little more color on what kind of pricing power you're getting with your customers and what kind of pricing power the suppliers are having as well?

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Yeah. So pricing comes through many different methods. If manufacturers raise list prices, which is typically how they push price increases to us, then we raise those list prices in our system, which not only affects sales of that product as we receive it, but current inventory. So that helps. We do a tremendous amount of project work, whether it's tank batteries or midstream projects. And as tightening supplies occur, our branches will push margins trying to see where the line would be for still winning the project yet improving profitability, because firstly that helps them because that's the way their incentive plan works. And then we have our pricing software system which looks for transactions that are in the region or with certain products that will recommend the branches start pushing pricing. So we've had good gross margin progression in Q1 and Q2. A very large piece of that is strictly through product margins. And so basically you're just seeing the recovery of product margins that were severely hurt in the downturn. Nathan Hardie Jones - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.: Is there any additional color you can give us on your expectations for gross margins in the second half?

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Well, what concerns me about gross margin progression is that we tend to be seeing a flattening in the market. So we're no longer going through the Q1, Q2 active rig count adds. And so, when equipment's being added and activity's growing, that's a good period for price improvement. If it were to flatten, which is – everybody's best guess as to whether that does or doesn't happen – even though competition in pricing remains fierce today, it will only get more fierce. Nathan Hardie Jones - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.: Then maybe on the Process Solutions Group again. You talked about labor constraints inhibiting your ability to ramp up there. How do you balance potentially raising what you're willing to pay those folks to come back over and being able to meet that demand versus the impact it might have on margins?

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Well, that's the case with any operations. It's not just Process Solutions. But generally we have what we believe is a reasonable rate for all the different positions, and we're actually having some success in getting people into our business, staying within what we consider to be reasonable expense level. So obviously we're not going to bring in somebody who makes generally $15 an hour and pay them $50 just to get through these projects, or ultimately that'll be an outcome that we won't like. So obviously when it comes to expectations for salaries, that is one of the things that hinder our ability to add people, but we're getting through it right now. Nathan Hardie Jones - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.: Okay. Thanks very much for the help.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

You're welcome.

Operator

Operator

The following question comes from Steve Barger from KeyBanc Capital.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Hey, Steve.

Ryan Mills - KeyBanc Capital Markets, Inc.

Analyst · KeyBanc Capital

Good morning, guys. This is Ryan on the call for Steve.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Hi, Ryan.

Ryan Mills - KeyBanc Capital Markets, Inc.

Analyst · KeyBanc Capital

Yeah. Strong sequential incremental margins in the quarter and I believe you guys previously expected them to be in the low-20% range in the back half. Has that changed? And if not, what revenue growth do you think you'd have to see to hit that 30% range again?

David A. Cherechinsky - NOW, Inc.

Management

This is Dave, Ryan. Yeah. We guided to lower sequential gross margins in the second quarter which now have averaged almost 27% in the last four quarters. Those are very high premium gross margins. They were 35% in this most recent quarter. We don't expect that kind of flow-throughs going forward.

Ryan Mills - KeyBanc Capital Markets, Inc.

Analyst · KeyBanc Capital

Okay.

David A. Cherechinsky - NOW, Inc.

Management

Gross margin's been a major driver for that, but we've been very focused on cost containment. So, our folks are favoring higher margin transactions. That's how we've been able to increase price effectively and drive a gross margin that it's amazing that for the full year 2016, we had 16.4% gross margins. Now all of a sudden we're at 19%, so we're really laser-focused on expanding price and managing the expense level pretty well. So we're going to be in the 15% to 20% range, but it could be in low-20% if we see further price expansion.

Ryan Mills - KeyBanc Capital Markets, Inc.

Analyst · KeyBanc Capital

Okay. And then my next question, just looking into the back half for the international segment. It's going against its easiest comps in the year. From what you've been hearing from customers so far, I mean do you think we could hit positive year-over-year growth in the third quarter?

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Well as far as growing international, we need to stem the tide of continued offshore depletion. I mean, if you just looked at some announcements that happened this week during earnings, you have more rigs being scrapped, that means more inventories going into the shore bases. So I need that to stop in order to grow international because it's such a big piece. I mean, our revenues are literally off in the international segment, 70% since 2014. So I'm...

Ryan Mills - KeyBanc Capital Markets, Inc.

Analyst · KeyBanc Capital

Okay.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

... literally I'm hoping that our land growth, which we're having some really good successes, I just didn't do about not too long ago, we have some great successes on land, it's just happened to offset continued scrapping of rigs.

Ryan Mills - KeyBanc Capital Markets, Inc.

Analyst · KeyBanc Capital

Got it. Thanks, guys.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Our following question comes from Andrew Buscaglia from Credit Suisse.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Hey, Andrew. Jason Radin - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC: Hi, guys. This is Jason on for Andrew. How are you?

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Good, Jason. Jason Radin - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC: Good. So I just want to ask about the general backdrop and if you've seen any change in tone or sentiment from your customers, just thinking about projects that it surprised you, either on the positive or negative side and how has that sentiment changed relative to the last quarter?

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Yeah. I've not experienced anything related to projects that's negative, even with the oil hanging out in this $40 range. I mean, most of our customers still plan to spend their budgets and those that are pulling back on their budgets are pulling back on it in areas that aren't related to things that would affect us. So, so far I've not heard anything that gives me some pause. Some things that have surprised me to the upside have been very nice growth in midstream both in U.S. and Canada. We're winning more projects than we are accustomed. Our valve actuation faculties that we opened, the two we opened in the U.S. in last couple of quarters have done very, very well, much better than we planned. So the midstream sector is the one that's surprised me to the upside. Jason Radin - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC: Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Next question comes from Chuck Minervino from Susquehanna.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Hey, Chuck.

Charles Minervino - Susquehanna Financial Group LLLP

Analyst · Susquehanna

Hi. Good morning.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Good morning.

Daniel L. Molinaro - NOW, Inc.

Management

Hey, Chuck.

Charles Minervino - Susquehanna Financial Group LLLP

Analyst · Susquehanna

Hey, just wanted to check. I think you provided some kind of color on the 3Q revenues earlier in the call. I think you said something like $700 million or something around $700 million for the second half of the year. Is that the right number that – am I listening to that correctly?

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Yeah. So we're believing we can get over $700 million in Q3 and the root of that is simply the unknown ability for companies to get through the frac process. So I mean, if I get surprised and the fleets went to work in late Q2 and early Q3 and they're going to finish fracking more wells than I expected in mid-Q3, and we move into tank battery construction, then I'll be surprised with the upside. It's so hard to gauge when these spreads are going to get back to work.

Charles Minervino - Susquehanna Financial Group LLLP

Analyst · Susquehanna

Okay yeah. And so if that – yeah, I just wanted to kind of touch on that number a little bit so that would be about $50 million of revenues sequentially 2Q to 3Q. And it looks like, in Canada historically you could get very big numbers sequentially. It's ranged all over the place, but it looks like something in the $10 million to $20 million range historically which would only really leave something like $30 million in the U.S., which seems kind of light given the environment we're in. Am I kind of going through that correctly and then you have your uncertainty with the tank battery construction, which maybe can provide some juice to that number as well. But am I thinking about that kind of the right way?

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

You're thinking about it correctly; however, we had such a strong performance in break-up, I would expect that range you mentioned, of $10 million to $20 million to likely to be on the lower end of that scale since we didn't have nearly as significant a drop in Q2 as normal. And then yeah, we're basically at flat rig count right now. So our growth in the U.S. is really about working through the DUCs. And so it goes back to my earlier my comment, if for some reason, we meaningfully work through those during Q3, then I'll be surprised with the upside on U.S. revenue.

Charles Minervino - Susquehanna Financial Group LLLP

Analyst · Susquehanna

Okay. Got you. And then with the warehousing costs, I know they were up 1Q to 2Q and I think you mentioned the supply chain kind of new relationship there that you had to staff up for. Is that still growing in 3Q, 4Q or is that going to start flattening out here following the hirings that you've done?

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Well, we've really only grown our expenses by $3 million since year-end of 2016 on over $100 million revenue growth. So that's pretty good expense control. I would expect that whatever estimate you're making for sequential revenue changes and if you assume it's going to get 15% to 20% flow through to EBITDA and you assume our gross margin percent holds firm, that pretty much tells you what expenses are going to be.

Charles Minervino - Susquehanna Financial Group LLLP

Analyst · Susquehanna

Okay. I guess I'm just kind of getting to that and trying. I think you made a mention of like a breakeven – better than breakeven in 3Q which, it would seem like it would be decently better than breakeven given kind of where you're talking about revenues and where you're talking about the incremental EBITDA?

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Well, the question was would we breakeven in Q3 at $650 million?

Charles Minervino - Susquehanna Financial Group LLLP

Analyst · Susquehanna

Okay.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

And the answer to that would be, yes, but at $700 million it's not breakeven.

Charles Minervino - Susquehanna Financial Group LLLP

Analyst · Susquehanna

Got you. That's what I was getting at.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

It's better than breakeven. I mean at $700 million of rev if we reach it, which there's all sorts of unknowns about what I just mentioned earlier and you get 20% flow-through, you can possibly get EPS breakeven.

Charles Minervino - Susquehanna Financial Group LLLP

Analyst · Susquehanna

That was, thought, my next question was you did mention EPS breakeven in the second half in your press release. I just wanted to know if you could kind of clarify that as a quarterly or a 3Q and 4Q or if it was some point in the second half?

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

No, it's not. If we get $50 million more revenue in Q3, barring anything unforeseen that I can't imagine right now, we will be at or near breakeven EPS for the quarter.

Charles Minervino - Susquehanna Financial Group LLLP

Analyst · Susquehanna

Yeah. That's okay. Okay. Thank you very much.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

If we get considerably more than $50 million, then that's even better.

Charles Minervino - Susquehanna Financial Group LLLP

Analyst · Susquehanna

Okay. Thank you.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

You're welcome.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Walter Liptak from Seaport Global.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Hey, Walt.

Daniel L. Molinaro - NOW, Inc.

Management

Hey, Walt.

Walter S. Liptak - Seaport Global Securities LLC

Analyst · Seaport Global

Hi. Thanks. Good morning, guys. I want to ask about the DUC build. Did you guys try and quantify how much revenue does building DUCs cost you during the quarter?

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

No. We didn't try to quantify it because for me to do, we don't own 100% share in obviously that market. I'd have to be able to quantify how the 6,000 DUCs are allocated to our core customers that they didn't try to quantify how much it affected us. And I think it's pretty hard. All I really have is IEA data and they don't give you much accuracy with respect to how many DUCs apply to each operator. So that would have to be known for me to make any kind of assessment.

Walter S. Liptak - Seaport Global Securities LLC

Analyst · Seaport Global

Okay. Okay great. And then just to switch gears to something a little bit more boring, the inventory cash outflow in the second quarter. Are you expecting to increase inventory levels or have more cash outflow in the third quarter? How are you balancing that, I guess, with kind of these question marks about the DUC build or not and price of oil, et cetera?

David A. Cherechinsky - NOW, Inc.

Management

Yeah. That's a good question. So we're kind of threading the needle in that regard. We have a market where we exited the first quarter with $51 oil and it dropped to $42 in late-June. So there's some skid issues there. So I'm being very thoughtful about what we buy for the future, but we've got projects lined up for the next two quarters to three quarters. We're trying not to make spec purchases on inventory, but there's still pockets of optimism which we're trying to satisfy. So we did have a noted increase in inventory, but we have new customers that we need to add inventory for. We expect growth in the third quarter like we've talked about but we're still thoughtful about managing that asset because things could soften again.

Walter S. Liptak - Seaport Global Securities LLC

Analyst · Seaport Global

Okay.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Yeah. While we'd expect our inventory turns – we expect our inventory turns to be, like we've always said, 4.0 or better. And so we're still in that – in last two quarters, still in that range.

David A. Cherechinsky - NOW, Inc.

Management

Yeah. I mean, even we expect improvements in our term rates, in our DSOs, and we like Robert alluded to, we're going to be EBITDA-profitable likely. So we could be improving our cash position or net debt position in the coming quarters.

Walter S. Liptak - Seaport Global Securities LLC

Analyst · Seaport Global

Okay. That sounds great. And it sounds like, you'll keep those turns about the same though if revenue is going up and your purchases will go up a little bit in the third quarter?

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Yeah. That's correct. It's going to – to manage growth, we're going to have to have inventory commensurate with that.

Walter S. Liptak - Seaport Global Securities LLC

Analyst · Seaport Global

Yeah. Okay. Okay great. Thank you, guys.

David A. Cherechinsky - NOW, Inc.

Management

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Next question comes from Sean Meakim from JPMorgan.

David A. Cherechinsky - NOW, Inc.

Management

Hey, Sean.

Sean C. Meakim - JPMorgan Securities LLC

Analyst · JPMorgan

Hi. Good morning.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Good morning.

Sean C. Meakim - JPMorgan Securities LLC

Analyst · JPMorgan

Maybe let's stay on that topic. I'm just thinking about the working capital sales ratios stayed nicely inside that target, low 20s but thinking about – how do we think about the incremental working capital bill relative to the incremental sales in the quarter? The bill is well in excess of that. How do we think about that dynamic in the next few quarters?

David A. Cherechinsky - NOW, Inc.

Management

Well, one big part of that interesting shift was we went through a break-up in Canada. And we're still staffing for a "recovery," quote-unquote, for the third quarter in Canada. So you'll naturally see our inventory turns get better in the third quarter, and we expect it to improve just for that simple math reversion to normal revenue levels in Canada. That's a big difference. We did see a contraction in international, like Robert talked about. That's a pretty lumpy business. We guided to flatness there. So we'll kind of bottom – bounce along a flattish kind of curve there. But the main driver for inventory growth was we've got projects like I talked about and we went through a break-up in Canada.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

And don't forget I mentioned earlier that the order intake in Process Solutions in the States has increased considerably. So you have to purchase material up-front for those projects and it may take three, six, nine months to get them out of the door. So you're going to see a build in WIP with respect to that.

Sean C. Meakim - JPMorgan Securities LLC

Analyst · JPMorgan

Got it. Okay. So in a flattening rig count environment, you think your revenue should still continue to rise given the lag impact on your business and therefore, working capital should still continue to go, but maybe perhaps with less of a build relative to the incremental revenue going forward?

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Yeah. Yes, we went from 21% working capital in Q1 to 22% in Q2. And as things kind of move forward at the pace we see now, we would fully expect the percent of revenue number to come down even though we're adding receivables in inventory.

Sean C. Meakim - JPMorgan Securities LLC

Analyst · JPMorgan

Okay. Thank you. That's very helpful. And then one more just on the margins. Could you maybe give us a little more detail on what drove the mix shift? I mean, you mentioned favoring higher margin transactions. Does that lead to shifts in customer or product mix? What does that look like I guess under the hood?

David A. Cherechinsky - NOW, Inc.

Management

A little bit of both. So we've seen pretty broad price appreciation because we're very intentional throughout the organization of favoring higher margin transactions. So from a product mix perspective, we're seeing growth pretty much across the board, most notably in pipe, like we mentioned on the first quarter. So pipe still remains a real bright spot for us in terms of margins.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

But we are experiencing it across all of our product lines. I mean, the branches are pushing price on things as simple as a tank battery, which includes every possible feasible product you can think we have in inventory, they're pushing it across the board. It's just – pipe is just a little bit more pronounced.

David A. Cherechinsky - NOW, Inc.

Management

And in addition to that from a customers perspective, we are – with different customers there's a different cost to service the customer. So if the cost to service a customer or a transaction or a project exceeds the gross margin, we're kind of allocating our capital elsewhere. So that's kind of a customer-project mix difference as well, but the biggest driver has been product and has been our emphasis on pushing price in a market that's growing. And we pretty much have said that for the last few quarters. We expect this, and it's being delivered in the field.

Sean C. Meakim - JPMorgan Securities LLC

Analyst · JPMorgan

Understood. Okay. Thank you.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Thank you.

David A. Cherechinsky - NOW, Inc.

Management

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Vebs Vaishnav from Cowen. Vaibhav Vaishnav - Cowen & Co. LLC: Hey, good morning and...

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Hey, Vebs. Vaibhav Vaishnav - Cowen & Co. LLC: ... hey. Thanks for taking my question. So if I followed the guide correctly, it sounds like Canada should be up towards the low end of $10 million to $20 million range, historically we have seen. Internationally up, call it, low-single-digits, which would imply U.S. revenues up, call it, 6% to 8% in 3Q versus 10% that we saw in 2Q. First, is that fair? And I understand, I guess your point is going forward you could be surprised if frac activity surprises you to the upside, but I thought like you also said there were some revenue leakage or revenue deferred from 2Q. If you could just help me reconcile that?

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

What was the last part about 2Q? Vaibhav Vaishnav - Cowen & Co. LLC: That, I think like when you spoke about 2Q revenues, you mentioned like there was some shortage – not shortage, but the certified people, they were less than what you wanted and there were some customer deferrals?

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Oh, deferrals. Sorry. Okay. So, yes, I would expect Canada simply to grow on the low end of the $10 million to $20 million range for only one reason and that's because they had such a strong Q2. So that's a fair thing to assume. International, I'm just living in a world right now – as every quarter, these offshore drillers announce more scrapped rigs, I'm just living in a world about hope for flat revenue. I hope we can grow in lots of places to offset that reduction, because that reduction is no small number. So I would expect flattish kind of performance international until the tide ends on these scrappings, and then the U.S. would make up the rest of that number to get over $700 million. The deferrals you're talking about is mainly our Process Solutions business. So we had two issues. One is, we just couldn't get stuff out the door because we have issues with resources. If we had unlimited resources, that number would have been a lot different. Two, on a normal basis, we have customers who can't take delivery of packages that we've fabricated. And so the site's not ready or the pad's not ready. And so we have no choice because they can't receive the material to put it on our yard in Casper. And when it's on our yard in Casper, we can't recognize the revenue. So that kind of stuff affects revenue recognition. Vaibhav Vaishnav - Cowen & Co. LLC: Okay. And though that should help you in 3Q, is that fair?

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Yes, yes. Vaibhav Vaishnav - Cowen & Co. LLC: Okay. Okay.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

All sorts of things should help us not just in 3Q, but going forward, assuming we don't have a huge contraction in the market or folks start creating more DUCs. Vaibhav Vaishnav - Cowen & Co. LLC: And that's a good segue into my next question. So if I think, let's just say this frac activity as everybody is putting back frac fleets in 2Q and 3Q and you guys have some revenue lag. I would expect even if let's say U.S. rig count flattens out in 3Q, your fourth quarter should still be outperforming that rig count handily. Is that fair way to think about it?

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

If rig count flattens, which would be the first time in the history of the world that's happened, but let's say it stays somewhere reasonably flat and frac fleets get put out meaningfully in Q3 and they start working through the DUCs meaningfully in Q3 and Q4, we may have another anomaly. The first anomaly was Q2 beat Q1, which typically doesn't happen in this business, and Q4 could have a shot at beating Q3, which typically doesn't happen in this business, but at a flat rig count and all the frac spreads out working, I would expect growth quarter-on-quarter for some time. Vaibhav Vaishnav - Cowen & Co. LLC: Got it. And last question if I may. Just any updates on your thoughts about M&A. What you're seeing out there? It sounds like couple of other companies said second half would be M&A friendly. Just what's your view on M&A pipeline?

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Well, you've known us for a while now and you know we're pretty conservative about what we're willing to allocate with respect to valuation. That worked well for us in 2015 and 2016 because outlook for the industry was bad and it was easy to get folks to align around proper valuations. Now everyone's – if you owned a business that we would like to acquire and you survived the downturn, and you're in a place where either activity like in the Permian for example is strong or you believe that as soon as the decline rates are going to start sometime soon and your revenues are going to continue to grow, your expectations for the valuation of your business exceeds our comfort zone. So it really depends on what the market does. There's plenty of opportunities out there. I mean, Michelle and her team working endlessly on these opportunities. It's just the bid-ask spread has grown now that people are more optimistic. Vaibhav Vaishnav - Cowen & Co. LLC: Got it. Right. That's all for me. Thank you so much.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

We have no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call over to Robert Workman, CEO and President, for closing statements.

Robert R. Workman - NOW, Inc.

Management

I thank everybody for your interest in DistributionNOW and we look forward to speaking to you in November. Thanks.

Operator

Operator

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes today's conference. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.