Genuine Parts Company (NYSE:GPC) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Paul Donahue: And Scot, I would just add to that, that we’re — despite what you may be hearing in the marketplace, the pricing environment overall as it generally has been in automotive is rational, we’re not seeing any huge swings one way or the other. And as you well know, having the product on the shelf and available when the customer needs it is still the primary driver and not necessarily price.

Scot Ciccarelli: Okay. That’s helpful. And then just a follow-up on the industrial side. I mean the comp performance of the industrial piece segment rather has continued to significantly outpace the indexes. It’s historically tracked really over the last, call it, 15 to 18 months. And Paul, I think you’ve mentioned, some of it is kind of the changing business mix that you previously highlighted. Are there other factors we should be thinking about to kind of explain the divergence from, let’s call it, historical trend that we’ve seen?

Paul Donahue: I don’t think so, Scot. I know you and I talked about it on the last call. Look, we’re not totally insulated from the effects of a downturn in PMI or industrial production. But I would tell you, we are a whole lot more confident today given the diversity of our product and our service offering, the end markets we’re servicing, things like EV manufacturing plant. I mentioned earlier, the opportunity with onshore, nearshore and manufacturing coming back to the U.S. So all of that bodes very well for Motion. And we’ve evolved, I guess, Scot — my time here, we’ve evolved from being a — basically a distributor of bearings and industrial supplies to a really world-class industrial solutions provider, one who provides solutions in automation, robotics, conveyance, hydraulics, fluid power.

So look, we’re not totally immune to what’s happening in manufacturing, but I like our business, I like our team and I like our chances. And again, we’re off to another really good start here in Q1.

Will Stengel: Scot, I might just add one other thought, which is the momentum that’s behind the KDG and the Motion combination. We get very active and positive feedback from customers on kind of the breadth and depth of the service offering, the value-add services. And I think that’s really extended the leadership position of the combined business over the last 12 months.

Scot Ciccarelli: Got it. Thanks. Very helpful guys.

Operator: And the next question is from Liz Suzuki from Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Liz Suzuki: Thank you. I was hoping you could just comment a little bit about your leverage ratio, which is a bit below target. Are you kind of holding on to some dry powder so that if attractive acquisitions or buyback opportunities come up, you could act on that opportunity without taking on high rate debt? Or is there some hesitancy maybe about the economic outlook that’s keeping you more conservative on leverage?

Paul Donahue: Liz, you’re exactly right. We’re being a little conservative here. We’re holding some dry powder. Look, we are at 1.7 times, well below our stated range of 2 to 2.5 times. And we like that position. We think that it’s really smart right now in this environment. We’ll look for opportunistic things across the board whether it’s CapEx or M&A. And so we really do think that we’ve been able to work that down post KDG acquisition right after we bought KDG earlier in the year, we were closer to 2. So I think nice performance to work it back down. And look across the landscape or whatever we might see come up. So nothing pressing or imminent, but we just like the financial flexibility that we have with our current cash balance, our total liquidity and being very disciplined across our capital allocation structure.

Liz Suzuki: Got it. Makes sense. Thank you.

Operator: And the next question is from Bret Jordan from Jefferies. Please go ahead.