Steven Nielsen
Analyst · UBS. You may proceed
Thanks, Ryan. Now, moving to Slide 4 and a review of our first quarter results. As we review our results, please note that in our comments today and in the accompanying slides, we reference certain non-GAAP measures. We refer you to the quarterly report section of our website for a reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to their corresponding GAAP measures. To begin, I want to express my sincere thanks to our employees who have served our customers with real fortitude in difficult times. Now for the quarter. Revenue was $876.3 million, an organic increase of 21.1%. As we deployed gigabit wireline networks, wireless/wireline converged networks and wireless networks, this quarter reflected an increase in demand from three of our top five customers. Gross margin was 14.9% of revenue and increased approximately 13 basis points compared to the first quarter of 2022. Improved operating performance of over 70 basis points in Q1 was partially offset by 58 basis points of higher fuel costs. General and administrative expenses were 7.9% of revenue. And all of these factors produced adjusted EBITDA of $63.7 million or 7.3% of revenue and earnings per share of $0.65 compared to $0.03 in the year ago quarter. Included in earnings per share in the first quarter of 2023 are incremental tax benefits of $0.14 per share compared to $0.09 per share in the year ago quarter. Liquidity was solid at $309.5 million and sequentially, days sale outstanding declined 3 days. During the quarter, we repurchased 200,000 shares for $18.5 million. Now going to Slide 5. Today, major industry participants are constructing or upgrading significant wireline networks across broad sections of the country. These wireline networks are generally designed to provision gigabit network speeds to individual consumers and businesses either directly or wirelessly using 5G technologies. Industry participants have stated their belief that a single high-capacity fiber network can most cost effectively deliver services to both consumers and businesses, enabling multiple revenue stream from a single investment. This view is increasing the appetite for fiber deployments and we believe that the industry effort to deploy high-capacity fiber networks continues to meaningfully broaden the set of opportunities for our industry. Increasing access to high-capacity telecommunications continues to be crucial to society, especially in rural America. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act included over $40 billion for the construction of rural communications networks in unserved and underserved areas across the country. This represents an unprecedented level of support. In addition, an increasing number of states are commencing programs that will provide funding for telecommunications networks even prior to the initiation of funding under the Infrastructure Act. We are providing program management, planning, engineering and design, aerial, underground and wireless construction and fulfillment services for gigabit deployments. These services are being provided across the country in numerous geographic areas to multiple customers. These deployments include networks consisting entirely of wired network elements and converged wireless/wireline multiuse networks. Fiber network deployment opportunities are increasing in rural America as new industry participants respond to emerging societal initiatives. We continue to provide integrated planning, engineering and design, procurement and construction and maintenance services to several industry participants. Macroeconomic effects and supply constraints may influence the near-term execution of some customer plans. Broad increases in demand for fiber optic cable and related equipment may cause delivery volatility in the short to intermediate term. In addition, the market for labor remains tight in many regions around the country. It remains to be seen how long this condition persists. Furthermore, the automotive and equipment supply chain remains challenged, particularly for the large truck chassis required for specialty equipment. Prices for capital equipment are increasing. As we contend with these factors, we are encouraged that industry participants increasingly understand industry-wide cost pressures and are beginning in some instances to address those impacts. Within this context, we remain confident that our scale and financial strength position us well to deliver valuable service to our customers. Moving to Slide 6. During the quarter, organic revenue increased 21.1%. Our top 5 customers combined produced 67.3% of revenue, increasing 19.8% organically. Demand increased from 3 of our top 5 customers. All other customers increased 23.9% organically. AT&T was our largest customer at 27.1% of total revenue or $237.4 million. AT&T grew 52.7% organically. This was our fifth consecutive quarter of organic growth with AT&T. Revenue from Comcast was $111.3 million or 12.7% of revenue. Comcast was Dycom’s second-largest customer. Lumen was our third-largest customer at 11.7% of revenue or $102.8 million. Lumen grew organically 20.3%. This was our first organic growth with Lumen in 7 quarters. Verizon was our fourth-largest customer at $81 million or 9.2% of revenue. And finally, revenue from Frontier was $57.2 million or 6.5% of revenue. Frontier grew 127.1% organically. This is the first quarter since April of 2019 where our top five customers grew organically in excess of 15% and the 13th consecutive quarter where all of our other customers in aggregate, excluding the top 5 customers, have grown organically. Of note, fiber construction revenue from electric utilities was $69.6 million in the quarter and increased organically 47% year-over-year. We have extended our geographic reach and expanded our program management and network planning services. In fact, over the last several years, we believe we have meaningfully increased the long-term value of our maintenance and operations business, a trend which we believe will parallel our deployment of gigabit wireline direct and wireless/wireline converged networks as those deployments dramatically increase the amount of outside plant network that must be extended and maintained. Now going to Slide 7. Backlog at the end of the first quarter was $5.593 billion versus $5.822 billion at the end of the January 2022 quarter, a decline of $229 million. Of this backlog, approximately $2.959 billion is expected to be completed in the next 12 months. Backlog activity during the first quarter reflects solid performance as we booked new work and renewed existing work. We continue to anticipate substantial future opportunities across a broad array of our customers. During the quarter, we received from AT&T placement services agreements in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida; for Frontier fiber construction agreements for Illinois and Michigan; from Bright Speed, a fiber construction agreement in North Carolina; for Verizon, an engineering agreement for Massachusetts and Rhode Island and maintenance and restoration agreement in Florida; and various rural fiber construction agreements in Arkansas, Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. Head count increased during the quarter to 15,221. Now, I will turn the call over to Drew for his financial review and outlook.