Custom Truck One Source, Inc. (NYSE:CTOS) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Chris Eperjesy: Yes. And maybe just one thing to add, Mike, this is Chris. If you look back at last year, well, if you look at our guidance, our guidance range has the potential that we can beat last year both in terms of EBITDA and in terms of revenue. But I would also point out, as you look at the comp year-over-year, we’re comping a Q4 last year that had 30% EBITDA growth, 40% ERS revenue growth and 40% new equipment sales growth. So it’s a pretty big comp that we’re going to have. And then you’ll probably remember last year, in Q4, Ryan had said for a number of quarters in the role that historically, the ceiling we thought for utilization was in the low to mid-80s, and we posted significantly better than that in Q4, intra-quarter and then had 86% utilization for the quarter. And so as you look at the quarter, we’re confident it by far the best quarter we’ve ever had. But we still believe, based on the guidance we gave that we have the potential to beat that.

Mike Shlisky: Got it. I wanted to ask secondly, maybe just real quick footprint update. I want to see how it was going in the new [indiscernible]. A little bit about what the new facility is all about in North Dakota. I’m curious if you had any had near-term impact on utilization or pricing, et cetera, as you try to get into that or expand into that territory or be better and more. Do you have any other plans for new footprint in 2024?

Ryan McMonagle: Mike, again, apologies. I think your questions were around footprint. It was coming through a little bit broken up. But the new production locations that we announced in Union Grove in Kansas City are doing well. The Union Grove facility is online and producing. It is actually producing at incredibly high levels already. So I think that’s been quick to come online and was doing very well. Kansas City construction is proceeding, and I think we’re in a very good spot to begin. We are starting to move into the facility now and will be moved into the facility later this quarter. So I think we’re making good progress on those. And then you’re correct, we announced that we moved into a new location in Williston. We’re excited to have that location in our footprint.

That’s been really to service some of our customers up in that area, and is off to a good start. And then new in 2024, I think we’ve committed to – we have a new location coming in Northern California that will open early in 2024 before we speak again for our Q1 earnings call. And then we have one more location out West that that we’re still finalizing the date that we’ll move into. So those two are on the table. And then there are a few more locations that we’re working on. And some of the markets that we’ve talked about more broadly, they will be ready to share as those leases become firm or if we’re purchasing real estate, as those purchases are completed.

Mike Shlisky: Great. That sounds great. I appreciate the discussion. I’ll pass it along. Thank you.

Ryan McMonagle: Thanks Mike.

Operator: The next question comes from Nicole DeBlase with Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.

Nicole Deblase: Thanks. Good evening, guys.

Ryan McMonagle: Hi Nicole.

Chris Eperjesy: Hi Nicole.

Nicole Deblase: Maybe just starting with TES backlog. Where are lead times today relative to what you would consider normal?

Ryan McMonagle: That’s a great question. In the IR deck, we actually added a table to show kind of backlog in terms of months on hand too, and to show it historically trended. So back in early 2021, we were averaging four to five months of backlog. We’re using kind of an LTM number there to calculate months. Today, we’re at 10 months on hand, and our peak was at just over 12.5 months on hand. So we’re still higher than we’ve averaged historically. And so we’re – candidly, we’re happy to see that it’s kind of getting back to something closer to a normal perspective. But I think in the past, we’ve said somewhere between four and six months, probably feels about right from a normal, if there is such a thing, from a backlog perspective. So we’re still really almost double that from where we sit today.

Nicole Deblase: Got it. Okay. That’s good color. Thank you. And then in the manufacturing business also, are you guys starting to see any sort of cost relief, whether it’s like logistics cost, material cost, anything on the input side? And maybe is that kind of expected into 2024 perhaps?

Ryan McMonagle: We’re seeing a mixed bag when it comes to inflation into our component costs. So still some of our attachment providers and some of our chassis providers are still talking about cost increases heading into next year as we’re having our pricing discussions. But Nicole, you’re right, on the raw material side for some of our manufactured components, we are starting to see a few price decreases. Not meaningful that I would say that we would expect any kind of significant – we think it will be a bit of a cost offset on some of the cost increases that we’re seeing, but we are starting to see in a few areas to have a little bit of a concession from a cost standpoint.

Nicole Deblase: Thank you. I’ll pass it on.

Ryan McMonagle: Thanks Nicole.

Operator: This concludes the question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Ryan McMonagle for any closing remarks. Please go ahead.

Ryan McMonagle: Thanks, everyone, for your time today and your interest in Custom Truck. We look forward to speaking with you on our next quarterly earnings call. And in the meantime, please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions. Thank you again, and have a good night.

Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.

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