Hubbell Incorporated (NYSE:HUBB) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Christopher Glynn: Thanks for squeezing me in and congrats on rocking start to the year. So just had a follow-up on the accelerated price realization in the quarter, particularly in Utility Solutions. There’s a long-term dynamic where the utilities get rate increases to fund regulatory required CapEx imperative. So, I’m curious you’re talking about expanding capacity a lot there. Is that dynamic starting to shift to you where utilities are kind of goading you in a sense to continue that capacity investment?

Bill Sperry: I would say encouraged, I would use rather than goaded, but we have strong to violent support from them that they’re eager that we do that. I would say, they’re backing that up I think by giving us a little more share in the short term, such that that’s encouraging us further. But for sure, they — there’s even a case where Gerben can tell you, where he wanted Gerben to get into some lines of business that we don’t even have, just because they’re looking for the lead time management to get better and they’re thinking that we could do a better job. And so, yes, there’s a lot of what you’re saying going on.

Gerben Bakker: Yes, absolutely. And the nice thing about our position in this is that, we have direct engagement with a lot of the end users, right? So we have firsthand insights and Bill mentioned an example of a CEO. That actually happened a couple of weeks ago in the conversation, but we have many of these conversations. So our insight into where the demand is up and how sustainable or not that is quite good. And that’s why we’re making the kind of levels of investments that we are right now in that — particularly in the utility business, so.

Christopher Glynn: Thanks, talk soon.

Operator: Thank you. This does conclude the question-and-answer session of today’s program. I’d now like to hand the program back to Dan Innamorato for any further remarks.

Bill Sperry: Dan may be having a technical difficulty. So he would like to close the call and tell you all that he’s going to be around all day and all week to answer questions as you may have them. So, appreciate your interest. Thanks for attending.

Operator: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen for your participation in today’s conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect. Good day.