Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Joe Ritchie: Super helpful. Thank you.

Mark Sheahan: Yes.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Jeff Hammond from KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc.

Jeff Hammond: Hey, good morning. I think in the presentation — you said you changed something in the presentation. I don’t know if you clarify what is changing. I think you said you’re changing from growth in all markets and regions? Maybe just some clarification there.

Kathy Schoenrock: Sure. We are taking out the with growth expected in all segments and the regions and just leaving it to the guidance of full-year growth in the low single-digit range on an organic constant currency basis.

Jeff Hammond: So does that imply that there’s a geography or segment that you’d expect to be down?

Mark Sheahan: It’s just an overall comment. We couldn’t really get real — like I said, we can’t really fine-tune or micromanage where things are going to come from. So we want to make sure that we put that clarification. And there — unfortunately, that little note at the bottom was a carryover from the slide that we had published previously and just didn’t get modified. So I wouldn’t read too much into it. It’s just an unfortunate clerical error. But we’re still really confident in the overall guide of this low-single-digit for now.

Jeff Hammond: Okay, perfect. I think you’ve been mentioning, I think, pretty consistently in process semiconductor and maybe this quarter, just can you just remind us what your focus is there? And then there’s been a lot of — that market has been strong, but there’s been a lot of CapEx cuts and worries around semi. And wondering if you’re seeing any of those cracks? And just maybe even as we go longer term, how you think the Chips Act and some of the longer-term growth kind of plays into that market?

Mark Sheahan: Yes, we like the business. It’s been really strong for us. It’s grown, I think, 10 times, since we bought it. So there’s certainly not much negative to say about it. There is still business happening there. Again, we make these high-purity components and pumps that go into the equipment that’s used to actually manufacture chips. And so if they’re putting in a new fab somewhere, they’re going to need this equipment to go inside of the fab that’s being built. So you’ve got the backlog that was created by all the business that’s happened over the last couple of years. And then now as manufacturers are looking to move locations around the world, that creates opportunities for us to go in and sell them new high-purity equipment.

We bought some other businesses, kind of, around it that do things like heating and then some of the baths that are used to actually house the chemicals before they get pumped and put in. So all in all, we like the space. We’re in a nice niche, and we feel pretty good about it.

David Lowe: And I would just add that in terms of the capital investment spend, the big fab investments that you read about — and actually, we’ve been reading about for a couple of years now, the ones of €˜21 and €˜22, they’re going to play out over the next couple of three years. So there’s some legs in this space because it’s, let’s say, longer cycle than the Graco average.

Jeff Hammond: Okay, thanks.

Operator: Thank you. One moment for your next question. Your next question comes from the line of Thomas Johnson from Morgan Stanley.