Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (NYSE:BAH) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Horacio Rozanski: There’s large contracts being competed all the time. We have a couple of large contracts in health that are up for competition. We have a couple of large contracts in our Defense business they are up for recompete. And obviously, we’re tracking those very closely. We’re well positioned if we lost any of those. Obviously, that would not be good. But at the same time, where we have a number of very large, very exciting contracts that were awaiting word on and so forth. So — on balance, as we think about the business, we think about contract vehicles, obviously, they’re important, but we think about them as a means to an end and the end is to really serve the mission. And to create overlap between these contracts when we can so that we are actually well positioned to continue to serve a mission if we lose part of the scope because of a contract going away, if we win something our commitment is to the mission and to continue to grow into the missions that matter.

Robert Spingarn: Right. Well, you’ve certainly managed it well so far. Thanks for the color.

Horacio Rozanski: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. And our next question coming from the line of Cai von Rumohr with Cowen. Your line is open.

Cai von Rumohr: Hello. So I’m a little confused. Your headcount went up 2% in the quarter. That’s an almost unprecedented first quarter increase. And the top end of your guide assumes that revenues over the next three quarters will average $110 million less than the first quarter. And per your 10-K focus Fox [ph] was only about $55 million to $60 million a quarter run rate. So it looks like either you have too many people on board or your revenue guide has to come up?

Matt Calderone: Cai, I’ll take that one. Look, we had an exceptional Q1. We knew it was going to be strong. And as both Horacio and I said, it exceeded expectations, and it positions us very, very well within our guided range. And we are seeing, as Horacio said, significant momentum in the business across all three sectors on both the supply and demand side. It is early. We do want to see how Q2 plays out. There is, as you know, significant uncertainty in the funding environment that remains. And as I’m sure you know, our comps do get harder. We’ve generated 2% to 3% headcount growth each quarter for the last quarter, four quarters, which is really unprecedented. We’re not going to replicate that. Utilization spiked in Q2, Q3, we added ever watch.

There are a handful of reasons why I think the year-over-year comps get more challenging. But none of this should take away from the underlying momentum that we see. We’re just going to see the pace of growth moderate some over the back half.

Horacio Rozanski: Yes, Cai, just to be very specific, we have not over hired. Our team is fully utilized, and we are leaning forward.

Cai von Rumohr: Great. And the second one is now that the DOJ uncertainty is behind you. Any thoughts about kind of taking on some more permanent debt and reducing the exposure of the term?

Matt Calderone: Cai, we’re always looking at opportunities to revise our capital structure.

Cai von Rumohr: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. And our next question coming from the line Louie DiPalma with William Blair. Your line is open.

Horacio Rozanski -: Hi, Louis. Good morning. We can hear you.

Operator: Louis, your line is open. Your might be on mute. Sorry, you might be having some cell phone issue. I’m not showing any further questions. I will now turn the call back over to Mr. Rozanski for any closing remarks.