Operator
Operator
Good morning and welcome to the Plexus Corp. Conference Call Regarding its Fiscal Third Quarter 2015 Earnings Announcement. My name is Lorraine and I will be your operator for today's call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After a brief discussion by management, we will open the conference call for questions. The conference call is scheduled to last approximately one hour. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Angelo Ninivaggi, Plexus' Senior Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel. Angelo? Angelo Michael Ninivaggi - Senior Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel & Secretary: Thank you, Lorraine. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Before we begin, I should remind everyone that statements made during the call today and information included in the supporting material that is not historical in nature, such as statements in the future tense and statements that include believe, expect, intend, plan, anticipate and similar terms, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees since there are inherent difficulties in predicting future results and actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. For a list of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed, please refer to the company's periodic SEC filings, particularly the Risk Factors in our Form 10-K filing for the fiscal year ended September 27, 2014, and the Safe Harbor and Fair Disclosure Statement in yesterday's press release. Plexus provides non-GAAP supplemental information, such as return on invested capital, Economic Return and free cash flow, because those measures are used for internal management goals and decision-making and because they provide additional insight into financial performance. In addition, management uses these and other non-GAAP measures, such as adjusted net income and adjusted operating margins, to provide a better understanding of core performance for purposes of period-to-period comparisons. For a full reconciliation of non-GAAP supplemental information, please refer to yesterday's press release and our periodic SEC filings. We encourage participants on the call this morning to access the live webcast and supporting materials at Plexus' website at www.plexus.com and clicking on Investor Relations at the top of the page and then Event Calendar. Joining me today are Dean Foate, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; Todd Kelsey, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; Pat Jermain, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Steven Frisch, Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer. I'll be now turning the call over to Dean Foate. Dean? Dean A. Foate - Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Thank you, Angelo, and good morning, everyone. Yesterday, after the close of the market, we reportedly results for our fiscal third quarter 2015. Revenue was $670 million with diluted EPS of $0.69. Both results were consistent with our announcement of preliminary results on July 13. Relative to our original guidance issued April 22, our revenue was at the low end of the range while our EPS result was $0.02 below the bottom of the range. Before Todd and Pat provide further context and details regarding our performance this quarter, I will summarize a few notable items on slide four. While our revenue results are disappointing versus our earlier expectations, we grew about 3% sequentially and we were up 8% versus the comparable quarter last year. Our $670 million revenue results set a new record for the company. During the quarter, we experienced modestly weaker demand in both our Networking/Communications and Healthcare/Life Sciences sectors. The Networking/Communications weakness was more disruptive to results as it occurred late in the quarter with meaningful reductions in demand carrying into our fiscal Q4. While our miss in our Defense/Security and Aerospace sector was a consequence of both modest end-market demand weakness and more significantly these product shipments late in the quarter due to unanticipated production process constraint in one of our focus factories. While we didn't achieve the financial results we set out to deliver this quarter, I am pleased with our ever improving focus on providing exceptional value and execution for our customers. As evidenced, our Net Promoter Scores continue to rise. And this quarter, we're awarded six outstanding performance awards, including Global Supplier of the Year for GE Healthcare. Additionally, we achieved AS9100 Quality Management System certification for Plexus Engineering Solutions in Europe. This certification is in support of our strategy to support higher levels of engineering value-add to customers in the European Aerospace market. We made a few significant leadership changes over the course of the quarter to better position us for growth and improved execution. Recently, we announced the appointment of Oliver Mihm as President of Plexus EMEA. In his new role, Oliver assumes responsibilities for the strategy and execution of all the aspects of Plexus' business in the EMEA region. Oliver is a talented and versatile leader who possesses exceptional customer-facing skills. Ronnie Darroch, who was previously pulling double duty leading Plexus EMEA and Global Manufacturing Solutions, can now focus his exceptional talents on strategy and execution of our Global Manufacturing platform. Ronnie has recently relocated to the United States. Finally, Mike Running assumed leadership over our Global Engineering Solutions business. Over his long tenure at Plexus, Mike has held a number of leadership positions in our engineering organization and is well prepared to leverage his significant portfolio skills to grow this profitable business to the $100 million level and beyond. Advancing to our fiscal fourth quarter guidance on slide five. Looking forward to next quarter, we expect continuing end-market weakness in our Networking/Communications sector to largely offset anticipated sequential growth in our other three market sectors. We are establishing fiscal fourth quarter 2015 revenue guidance of $650 million to $680 million. Achieving the midpoint of this range would bring our full year revenue growth just shy of our 12% enduring goal with all four sectors growing year-over-year. At this level of revenue, we expect diluted EPS in the range of $0.64 to $0.72, including approximately $0.10 of stock-based compensation expense, but excluding any unanticipated special items. I will now turn the call over to Todd for some further comments about our market sectors and operating performance. Todd? Todd P. Kelsey - Chief Operating Officer & Executive Vice President: Thank you, Dean. Good morning. Please advance to slide six for insight into the performance of our market sectors during Q3 of fiscal 2015 as well as our expectations for the sectors in fiscal Q4 of 2015. Our Networking/Communications sector was up 6% sequentially in Q3, which was below our expectations of a high single-digit increase. Two of our top customers de-committed to earlier forecast late in the quarter, while performance in the remainder of the sector was mixed. We expect our Networking/Communications sector to be down in the high teens percentage point range in fiscal Q4, a dramatic change from our expectations of just a few weeks ago. Several of our top customers are experiencing recent weakened end-market demand, a trend consistent with what we observed with our peers. While we're benefiting from new program ramps, the sector remains volatile and our expectations have changed significantly. Despite the recent contraction, we're still projecting double-digit percentage growth within the sector in fiscal 2015. Our Healthcare/Life Sciences sector was down 6% sequentially in Q3, below our expectations of a low single-digit decline. This marked the first time in the last seven quarters that the Healthcare/Life Sciences demand did not strengthen within the quarter. Three of our top 10 customers underperformed to expectations within the quarter. Looking ahead to fiscal Q4, we currently anticipate revenue in our Healthcare/Life Sciences sector to be up in the low single-digits as we benefit from new program ramps. While end-market demand is muted, we expect a good growth here in fiscal 2016 within our Healthcare/Life Sciences market sector as a result of recent program wins. Our Industrial/Commercial sector was up 10% sequentially in our fiscal Q3, slightly above our expectations. Seven of our top 10 customers grew sequentially in the quarter. And we benefited from the large new program ramp we highlighted last quarter. We currently anticipate that our Industrial/Commercial sector will be up in the low double-digit range in our fiscal Q4 as a result of new program ramps and strengthening demand with a top customer. We're positioned for strong growth in this sector for fiscal 2015 and fiscal 2016. Our Defense/Security/Aerospace sector was up 2% sequentially in Q3, a result that was well below our expectations of high single-digit growth. We experienced a production process constraint in one of our Defense/Security/Aerospace factories that limited our ability to complete product shipments late in the quarter. We're working closely with our customers to implement solutions that will reduce further impact. We currently expect Q4 to be up in the high single-digits as we benefit from strengthening demand with a top security customer and new program ramps in Aerospace. Fiscal 2015 remains a healthy growth year for the sector and fiscal 2016 is also positioned well. Next to new business wins on slide seven. During the quarter, we won 34 new programs in our Manufacturing Solutions group that we anticipate will generate approximately $147 million in annualized revenue when fully ramped in production. Our wins were balanced across our three regions. When reviewing the trailing four quarter wins as a percentage of the trailing four quarter revenue, which is the line on the accompanying regional revenue graph, each region is at a healthy ratio above our 25% goal. Our EMEA region has particularly strong wins momentum, enhancing confidence that we'll meaningfully grow the region in future quarters. Please advance to slide eight. This slide provides further insight into the wins performance of our market sectors. It is important to note that there is significant volatility in the data and longer-term trends provide the most value in measuring sector performance. In fiscal Q3, our Manufacturing Solutions wins were particularly strong in the Healthcare/Life Sciences market sector. The team has performed well over the past three fiscal years, positioning us for growth in fiscal 2016 and beyond. Our Manufacturing Solutions wins included significant programs in microelectronics and aftermarket services, two differentiating and higher margin service offerings. Our funnel of new business opportunities remains healthy at $2 billion. Now advancing to wins momentum on slide nine. Our Manufacturing wins trailing four quarter performance as shown by the dark blue bars is at $716 million. This performance results in a trailing four quarter win ratio of 27% relative to the trailing four quarter revenue, above our target of 25%. While not included in the wins results on the recent slides, we had another good quarter in Engineering Solutions with new project wins totaling approximately $23 million. Our Engineering wins remains very strong in our Healthcare/Life Sciences sector where we continue to differentiate the marketplace. Our backlog in Engineering Solutions is quite healthy and its operational performance has been very good. Next, I'd like to turn to operating performance on slide 10. We achieved record revenue in fiscal Q3 affirming the success of our go-to-market strategy and our focus on customer service excellence. Operating margin finished disproportionately below expectations, primarily as a result of the revenue shortfall due to process constraints in Defense/Security/Aerospace coupled with additional investments we made in the focus factory to address manufacturing inefficiencies. Our Q4 guidance suggests relatively flat revenue and modest improvements to operating margins. In fiscal Q3, our Economic Return remained well within the value creation zone at 310 basis points. Please advance to slide 11 for additional insight into our recent operating margin performance and future expectations. Throughout this discussion, I will move from left to right on the slide. As we entered Q3, we focused on three operational improvement priorities: Guadalajara ramp, EMEA growth, and Aerospace and Defense Center of Excellence ramp. Two of the three are progressing at or ahead of plan. Entering Q3, we expected our Guadalajara site to approach breakeven. The site exceeded expectations and was profitable for the quarter. This had a 20 basis point positive impact to operating margin. We continue to expect to achieve corporate margin targets at the site by Q1 of fiscal 2016 as our annualized run rate exceeds $200 million. Customer satisfaction at the site remains very high. Moreover, our funnel of new business opportunities at the Guadalajara site, which is not included in the revenue projections, is quite strong. In addition, in fiscal Q3, we obtained ISO 1345 (sic) [13485] certification at the site. ISO 1345 (sic) [13485] is an important Healthcare/Life Sciences quality standard. And our teams are leveraging this accomplishment to drive new business into the facility. As anticipated, our path to consistent profitability in EMEA took a one quarter pause as a consequence of soft end markets, transition delays, and investments in new transitions. We're still on track to resume our profitability improvements in the region in fiscal Q4. Our operational results did not progress as anticipated in our Aerospace and Defense Center of Excellence within fiscal Q3. We experienced a production process constraint that limited our ability to complete product shipments late in the quarter. This had a 20 basis point impact to fiscal Q3 operating margin. We're working with our customers on solutions to the process constraint and expect to have this resolved in fiscal Q4. We also made additional investments over those previously communicated, which had a 20 basis point burden on our Q3 operating margin in order to address inefficiencies and properly service our customers in this important market. These investments are positively influencing our key customer metrics, which are trending favorably. While we expect to begin to recover our investments in the next two quarters, the complete recovery will occur over fiscal 2016. Looking forward to Q4, we anticipate that we'll recover the revenue impact of the production process constraints in our Aerospace and Defense factory. We will benefit from the revenue ramp in EMEA. And we will continue to recover our Guadalajara investment according to plan. However, much of these gains will be offset by under-absorption of fixed cost that we put in place during fiscal Q3 to service the previously anticipated revenue growth in fiscal Q4, which was just recently reduced in our forecast. We will work to remove our delays at certain cost as the quarter unfolds. However, we anticipate regional sequential growth in the Networking/Communications and other sectors in fiscal Q1 of 2016. As a result of this increased leverage and continued progress in our three priorities outlined above, we expect improved operating margin in fiscal Q1 of 2016 as we strive to meet our operating margin target range of 4.7% to 5%. I will now turn the call over to Pat for more detailed review of our financial performance. Pat? Patrick J. Jermain - Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer: Thank you, Todd, and good morning. Our fiscal third quarter results are summarized on slide 12. Third quarter revenue of $670 million was at the low end of our guidance, however 8% above the prior year third quarter. Gross margin was 8.8%, which was below our expectations and below the fiscal second quarter gross margin of 9.2%. The lower gross margin primarily related to one of our Aerospace and Defense focus factories where missed shipments late in the quarter impacted fixed cost absorption. We also made deliberate short-term investments in this focus factory to improve quality and manufacturing efficiencies. Selling and administrative expense of $30.5 million was consistent with our expectations and as a percentage of revenue was approximately 4.5%, which has been the lowest level we've seen in several years. This percentage has trended downward in recent history due to improved productivity and prudent management of SG&A expenses as we grow the top line. Operating margin of 4.2% (sic) [4.3%] was below our guidance, driven by the shortfall in gross margin. Diluted earnings per share of $0.69 was consistent with fiscal second quarter and consistent with the preliminary results provided on July 13. Similar to last quarter, the current quarter overall impact on revenue and earnings from currency fluctuations related to our European operations was less than 1% when compared to both our quarterly forecast and the prior year fiscal third quarter. Turning now to the balance sheet on slide 13. Return on invested capital was 14.1% for the fiscal third quarter, reflecting an Economic Return of 3.1% based on our fiscal 2015 weighted average cost of capital of 11%. During the quarter, we repurchased approximately 170,000 shares for $7.5 million at a weighted average price of $44.40 per share. The shares were purchased under our $30 million stock repurchase program. We have approximately $7.5 million remaining under the authorization, which we plan to repurchase on a relatively consistent basis over the fiscal fourth quarter. During the quarter, we generated $15 million in cash from operations and spent $10 million in capital expenditures, resulting in free cash flow of approximately $5 million. Our cash cycle at the end of the third quarter was 62 days, which was in line with our expectations and three days higher than our results in the fiscal second quarter. Please turn to slide 14 for details on our cash cycle. Sequentially days and receivables were flat, which again demonstrated our focus on managing receivables. Days in inventory were 88 days, sequentially up two days, primarily driven by the late quarter reduction in revenue compared to our forecast. Accounts payable days were 62 days, sequentially down one day due to the timing of inventory purchases and supplier payments during the quarter. As Dean has already provided revenue and earnings per share guidance, I will now turn to some additional details on our fiscal fourth quarter 2015, which are summarized on slide 15. Gross margin is expected to be in the range of 8.7% to 9.0% comparable to the fiscal third quarter of 2015. With similar revenue expected in the fiscal fourth quarter compared to the third quarter, we expect sequentially consistent SG&A expense in the range of $30 million to $31 million. At the midpoint of our revenue guidance, anticipated SG&A would be approximately 4.6% of revenue. Operating margin is expected to be approximately 4.2% to 4.5% for the fiscal fourth quarter. As Todd has discussed, we're forecasting continued improvement during the next few quarters with our European operations and with the ramp-up of our Guadalajara site. However, the abrupt reduction in fourth quarter revenue for our Networking/Communications sector will negatively impact operating margin from the under-absorption of fixed costs. We're mindful of the gap in operating margin and have a sense of urgency to achieve our targeted operating margin range of 4.7% to 5%. In order to do so, we need to recover our investment in our Aerospace and Defense focus factory, improve productivity levels, and prudently manage our capital and SG&A spending. A few other notes. Depreciation expense is expected to be approximately $12 million in the fiscal fourth quarter. Consistent with our fiscal third quarter, we are estimating a tax rate of 10% to 12% for both the fiscal fourth quarter and full year. This rate has increased slightly since last quarter based on the global distribution of our earnings. Our expectation for the balance sheet is that working capital needs will increase slightly. Based on changes in our market sector mix and the abrupt reduction in our fourth quarter revenue forecast, cash cycle days are expected to be in the range of 63 days to 67 days. We're now forecasting free cash flow in the range of $40 million to $60 million for fiscal 2015. We expect capital spending to be approximately $40 million for fiscal 2015. The majority of this capital is for equipment to support new capabilities, new program ramps, and the refresh of older equipment. We anticipate maintaining a similar level for fiscal 2016. With that, I will open the call for questions. We ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. Lorraine?