Dycom Industries, Inc. (NYSE:DY) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Eric Luebchow with Wells Fargo.

Eric Luebchow: Great. So Steve, your margins have been moving up nicely this year. I know the strong revenue growth and operating leverage has certainly been a big driver of that. But just wondering if you feel like you’re getting better economics or turns on newer contracts you’re signing or renewed based on a fairly tight labor market in still a very high level of demand. Or has there been any pushback from customers on kind of new contract pricing reflecting the new economic reality?

Steven Nielsen: Yes. I don’t know that we have much to add from what we said last quarter, Eric. I mean we’re encouraged with the dialogue that we’re having with customers and really don’t have a whole lot to add on that topic.

Eric Luebchow: Okay, fair enough. And just curious, any update you’re seeing from the cable companies? I know that they’ve been embarking on these mid split upgrades and one of the largest hoping to launch DOCSIS 4.0 as soon as next year. Just wondering if you kind of see a path to returning to growth with cable, particularly with your largest cable company that’s been a little bit softer over the last couple of years.

Steven Nielsen: Yes. We actually did have growth in the quarter with Charter. So that was encouraging year-over-year. And I think what we generally said for all the cable operators is they’re aggressive competitors. They’ve got big plans for their network. They’re primarily addressing increased capacity through technical upgrades. We’re happy to participate in those. But they’ve also said they’ll do that within their normal capital intensity range. So some good opportunities there and working hard.

Eric Luebchow: Great. And I’ll just squeeze one more in, Steve. Just on the cost of capital discussion. Just wondering if you think maybe private capital could provide — help provide a boost to some of the fiber builders. We’ve heard about 2 large carriers potentially assessing JVs. And it seems like that could become another avenue for them to source capital, maybe at more attractive terms in the public market. So just wondering if we can get your thoughts on that.

Steven Nielsen: Yes. I think we’re encouraged anytime we read press reports that our industry or our customers are attracting interest from outside capital. I think fiber has clearly become an asset class that infrastructure funds want to invest in. And so we’re following the reports just like everybody else. And we think they’re encouraging. I think the other source of capital coming in next calendar year, of course, is the federal capital but we’re already seeing from the BEADs plan but we’re also seeing states invest in broadband. We saw good activity with our rural fiber deployments for the electric — the rural electric utility. That was up 53%, almost 8% of revenue. So there’s lots of sources of capital but interest rates are higher and you have to consider that as you look ahead.

Operator: And our next question comes from the line of Brent Thielman with D.A. Davidson.

Brent Thielman: Steve, you’re still experiencing substantial growth despite the issues of labor, sort of availability or access to specialty equipment. I’m just curious how you’re sort of finding ways to navigate around some of these issues and are these sort of less efficient temporary measures that might be weighing on otherwise great margins that you put up today?