Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Michael R. Haack: Yes, Phil, it’s a great question. When I look at it in my comments, I’ll point to some things in the comment is we’re monitoring the near term very closely. As said, we have a great foundation going into this year with it. Demand has been consistently strong with it. However, we do monitor as you guys do, housing starts, everything else with it. Our concern more is around the near term than the midterm or the long term. But right now, demand is strong, and we’re going to be positioning the company that if that does change, we could react quickly to that. But right now, we are producing what we can produce for the near-term demand, and then we’ll see where the market takes us.

Philip Ng: And on that note, Michael, you guys have some of the lowest cost Wallboard facilities out there. If you guys had a pivot on the cost side, what are some of the things you can do just given your low cost profile already?

Michael R. Haack: Yes. So how we run all of our facilities, we monitor each of the facilities. We know which ones — which market it is with it. We’ve been very flexible. With Wallboard it’s not a very cost-intensive input business. We’ve been able to modulate with the demand just by ship structures and everything to be able to satisfy that and not add significant cost to the operation with it. So we watch that closely for each of the markets, each of our plants serve and then we modulate as needed. But right now, where I won’t leave you is demand has been strong. So we’re prepared for those if those happen, but we haven’t implemented those.

Philip Ng: Got you. And just one last quick one for me. So Craig, on the energy front, help us think through the step-up, I guess, for calendar 2023. Because you’re hedged a bit on that gas and then solid fuel prices, I think, for Cement. I think the you have the ability to kind of hold on to prices for a full year, but I think it starts resetting fairly soon. So just give us a little color on how you’re set up currently?

Craig Kesler: Yes. So for fiscal 2024 on the cement side for solid fuels, most of our prices are effectively locked in for the year, albeit at higher prices than where we were this past year. And we have a good hedge position within — for natural gas, again, which is more within the paper and Wallboard segments. And — but we’re not overly hedged. So we are enjoying some of these lower prices and expect to continue to enjoy them at these lower levels.

Philip Ng: Any color on how hedged you are for that gas?

Craig Kesler: It’s around 30% or so as we go into fiscal 2024.

Philip Ng: Okay, great. Thank you guys. Appreciate it.

Operator: The next question comes from Tyler Brown with Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Tyler Brown: Hey, good morning guys.

Craig Kesler: Good morning.

Tyler Brown: Hey, a couple of questions on the Wallboard side, but I got to go back to the Wallboard margins. Can you just help us maybe parse a little more specifically the impact of OCC on that 400 basis points, maybe what percentage of your costs are paper and wallboard and given that OCC prices remain pretty low, and I know there’s a lag, could we see even more help as we kind of move into fiscal Q4?