Ceragon Networks Ltd. (NASDAQ:CRNT) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Ronen Stein: I think, I did not make the exact comment like you got it. I think that we do expect to grow next year as well, organically setting aside Siklu’s contribution. I think we can get to high single digit, maybe touch 10%, but let’s not forget that this year is a year of very, very strong demand where we started with a relatively low baseline in 2023. So all-in-all, I think we can be in high single digit growth touching 10%, maybe slightly below. And that’s in terms of organic growth.

Alex Henderson: Looking at the fourth quarter, just to nail it down a little bit, you talk about $23 million in OpEx, which is a pretty good increase sequentially and year-over-year, quite a substantial increase. I assume that some of that’s in the sales and marketing. I assume some of it’s in the R&D line for the new products. Is it reasonable to think that the gross margins can be robust enough in 4Q to allow you to produce close to that 10% operating margin again in the quarter, or is that stretching?

Doron Arazi: You want to take it, Ronen? Please go ahead.

Ronen Stein: Yes, we do believe that this investment is important. And as I mentioned, primarily in the sales and marketing, we feel that in order to achieve our target in growing in the specific segments of private networks and small to medium service providers, we have to invest and to use our profitability right now in these quarters for some investment to the future. So there may be some fluctuation in the profitability in the operating profit percentage from revenues, but as we don’t know exactly the gross margin that is expected, hopefully we will not be much less than the current operating profit.

Alex Henderson: All right, I’ll see the floor and go back into the queue.

Doron Arazi: Thank you, Alex.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our next question today comes from the line of [Indiscernible]. Please go ahead.

Unidentified Analyst: Good morning, thank you. And I just want to echo Alex’s sentiments as well, and wishing you and your families all the best in safety. I wonder if he, thanks. You guys talked about the marketing efforts on, to reach out to expand your business with private networks and smaller customers. Could you talk about, are you adding personnel there? Are there other sort of more temporary expenses that you’ll be incurring in the near term, or it would be additional personnel and thus therefore more permanent addition to the sales and marketing level? Thank you.

Doron Arazi: Yes, Roman [Ph], thanks for this question. It’s basically the combination. First of all, we have kind of beefed up our sales force in North America primarily, that is focusing on this private network segment. So that’s one thing for us to stay. And obviously, as these guys start bringing business, it will also help us to grow our booking and obviously the revenue. The second part is more of a variable part. It’s an investment in marketing. Let’s not forget that Ceragon is very, very well-known brand in the T1, T2 operators across the world. We are just building the brand in the private networks and the smaller players. And that requires certain marketing investments. Now, this could be up and down depending on campaigns, depending on the marketing strategy. So that is the part that is more of a variable expenditure.

Unidentified Analyst: Okay, and just on the geographic focus standpoint, you’ve obviously made some penetration in North America with the private networks. Looking forward, do you perceive continued penetration in North America, expansion into Europe potentially? What are some of the geographic regions you want to target there? Thanks, Doron.