Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (NYSE:BAH) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Horacio Rozanski: You know, from my perspective – well, first of all, as you see, we have strong growth across the board right now. And the type of work that we are doing under VoLT, the work we’re positioned to do, again, around bringing AI, cyber, digital transformation into existing missions, into expanded mission scopes around space, around INDOPACOM in China around some of the key issues, which at some level are some of the few bipartisans remaining give us confidence that we are doing the right work and in the right place. And at least for the immediate future, the increases in head count and the speed at which our headcount is – our people are getting on programs give us confidence that the business has strength. And that’s our approach, and it’s not limited to one small piece or another. It’s where – we believe that’s a broad-based view.

Tobey Sommer: Thank you.

Operator: And one moment. Our next question will come from Mariana Perez Mora from Bank of America. Your line is open, Mariana.

Mariana Perez Mora: Good morning, everyone. Thank you for taking my question.

Horacio Rozanski: Good morning.

Mariana Perez Mora: So my question is about free cash flow in order for – to get to hit your cash from operations outlook, you have to generate more than $200 million net of a fair amount of tax payments. Could you please give us some color on how to bridge to that $200 million-plus free cash flow generation?

Matt Calderone: Happy to. Our cash performance year-to-date has been solid. Again, that’s why we reiterated guidance. Thankfully, we took a conservative approach and didn’t assume 174 would be repealed. So we anticipate, and you see that in the bridge we provide an – we provided in the presentation initially 174 being about 170 – about $140 million this year, and we have $175 million of other cash taxes. So to get to the bridge that you described, we’re obviously growing, and collections are keeping pace with growth in Q3. Outlays were also up, including a couple of things that were temporal. So we feel like we’ve got the ability to generate cash and invest in the business and hit our targets in the guidance.

Mariana Perez Mora: Thank you. And then a follow-up to Tobey’s question on consumer resolution or like this potential year-long continue resolution next year. I understand that the right strategy is prepared to the future and not for the headwinds of the process to get to that future. But can you help us understand, how much of a headwind could be a year-long Continuous solution into your organic growth?

Horacio Rozanski: At this point, I think it’s a little premature to try and speculate what the budget picture will look like next year and how it might play out. I think as just Matt pointed out, we and the industry have become very adept at managing through this budget turbulence. We – and I think that’s ultimately what we are focused on, I think when we get closer, if we know more and there’s more clarity, we’ll be happy to engage at that time. The one thing I can tell you is our business right now is doing well, their strength on the demand side, their strength in the supply side, their strength on the balance sheet. And all of that strength put together give us confidence that within reason, we can – we’re preparing well to weather a storm and deliver on our investment thesis commitments through FY ’25.

Mariana Perez Mora: Perfect. Thank you very much for the color.

Horacio Rozanski: Thank you.

Operator: And I’m showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the conference back to Horacio Rozanski for closing remarks.