Builders FirstSource, Inc. (NYSE:BLDR) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Matthew Bouley: Got it. Thanks, guys, for that comprehensive answer, very helpful. So, I guess, some of what you mentioned, Peter, on the Multi-Family side is going to address this next question. Kind of zooming into the base business, it looks like you’re saying there’s, I don’t know, maybe some rounding, but roughly $600 million of earnings above the base this year. How much of that is — that Multi-Family commodity cost timing, other commodity, maybe OSB? And could you break down if there’s anything else in there besides commodity that’s kind of above the base business? Thank you.

Peter Jackson: Yes. No, good question, Matt. So just a basic reminder, the base business is really just trying to take out any commodity fluctuation in two ways, right? Anything that’s not $400 lumber we normalize for, and we also normalize for margins attributable to those same commodities. So we don’t normalize for margins anywhere else, but it does have the impact within that $600 million that you mentioned that yes, there’s some rounding. Within that $600 million that you mentioned, that’s attributable to margins. And this particular year, it’s mostly margins. So, the vast majority of what has flowed through is the normalization of those outperforming margins over the course of the year. There is certainly a component of that that is from the Multi-Family, right?

So it’s because a piece of the commodities flows into our manufactured products, including roofing, floor, trusses as well as wall panels, which obviously have a significant component of commodity in them. So, we take an adjustment for that. So, that is the primary driver is the margins attributable to the commodity change this year.

Operator: The next question comes from Trey Grooms with Stephens.

Trey Grooms: Yes, I’d echo the congrats on the outstanding work in the quarter.

Dave Rush: Thanks, Trey. I appreciate it.

Trey Grooms: Sure. So, on Multi-Family, I think you mentioned that you expect that to remain strong through this year. So, are you seeing anything in your backlog or hearing anything from your customers about their backlogs and Multi-Family that would suggest that this slowdown is kind of coming around that time or anything on the timing there, or is that more just kind of a — kind of high-level expectation at this point?

Dave Rush: Yes. We are seeing evidence from our customers that at the tail end of this year, there’s going to be a lot of supply that comes online all at around the same time. And that in a typical year would have to be digested before a lot of these other new projects come online. That’s one factor. The other factor is the cost of capital. And being able to make sure that the rents that they’re going to generate versus the cost of capital, that equation has to work out exactly right as well. And until some of that — or some of that glut of openings that comes online at the end of the year, it gets digested. Those kind of dynamics have a little bit of time to work themselves out. So, what we’re hearing is there might be a little bit of a delay in the first and second quarter and then things start picking back up again.

The problem, as you know, is these projects are so long in time from plan to execution that we feel like there’s going to be a lag in the first half of next year. But overall, we believe the Multi-Family will be a great segment for us to be in, and it will be a temporary scenario, not necessarily something long term that we got to worry about.

Trey Grooms: Right. Got it. Okay. And then, Peter, you mentioned you’re expecting gross margins to moderate through the year. Sorry if I missed this, but you’re calling out 33% to 35% for the year. You’ve been running at the 35% range. So, are you seeing any change or any more normalization in the margin thus far in the third quarter, or is it still kind of holding in at that high end of the range for now?

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