HEICO Corporation (NYSE:HEI) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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I think that this is really a reasonable level. And we run the business very much as in the viewpoint of what’s right for our customers and what’s right for the business and the margin just sort of falls out of the end. So I don’t have a way to tell what it’s going to be, but I do feel that these are reasonable numbers going forward.

Peter Arnett: Yes. I appreciate that. And Eric, have you seen any pickup in kind of the wide-body mix yet? And obviously, we’ve seen wide-body traffic starting to materially pick up globally.

Eric Mendelson: Yes, we’ve seen some pickup in wide-body, yes. And everybody anticipates continued strengthening in those markets.

Peter Arnett: Okay. And just one last one, Carlos, on the net leverage kind of jumping up following facility deal. Any thoughts on just deleveraging or where your comfort level is if more M&A is going to be achieved this year. Thanks.

Carlos Macau: Well, we have a pretty full pipeline on M&A, and we’re going to do all the deals that make sense for our shareholders. So if we find transactions that make sense for the company and the shareholders, we’ll find a way to do it. We’ve never really been concerned about a leverage number too much. I think Larry said in the past that we would take on substantial leverage for the fit €“ hike we just haven’t found that animal yet. I mean right now at 1 times levered, I feel like we’re under levered and I’d love nothing more than to find more opportunities to get that leverage number up. However, I do think our culture and our pattern of operations suggests that if we do borrow, we make a hell of an effort to delever quickly. And so as we move forward, outside of use of cash for, let’s say, acquisitions, CapEx and things like that, we will be looking to reduce our credit exposure so that we can reload on other deals as they come in front of us.

Peter Arnett: Appreciate that. Thanks, guys.

Carlos Macau: Thanks Peter.

Operator: Our next question comes from Larry Solow with CJS Securities. Please go ahead.

Larry Solow: Great. Thanks, and good morning, everybody. Congrats on our really good quarter especially

Eric Mendelson: Good morning.

Larry Solow: Great quarter, especially with these adjustments. I guess, Eric, a couple of questions for you first. So the FSG organic revenue growth, 23% this quarter. And I think if you look back last year, I think in Q1, it was somewhere €“ I think it was close to 30%. So obviously, last year was a little bit of easier comp, this year was not. How do you €“ you see ordering patterns and stuff? It feels like are they still building back inventory? Or is this all new sales for you? Just trying to get a little grasp on really an amazing quarter. And pretty considerable outperformance compared to where we were on the top line.

Eric Mendelson: Good morning, Larry.

Larry Solow: Good morning.

Eric Mendelson: Yes, we’re very pleased with the numbers. Actually, our first quarter 2022 organic growth, I think, was 30%. So now we’ve done 25% on top of 30%, which is really quite outstanding. And it’s, frankly, far more than we had internally predicted. Our businesses continue to do very well. And I’ve spoken with our salespeople over the last couple of weeks to understand our sales leadership to understand what’s going on. And they anticipate basically continued strength in the business. I’m reluctant to anticipate growth beyond the level where we are. I mean, we grew 7% from the fourth quarter, just the quarter-on-quarter number top line. I think that we’re running at a really solid rate. And I want to see a few more quarters to really understand where we are.

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