Installed Building Products, Inc. (NYSE:IBP) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Jeffrey Stevenson: Very helpful. Thank you.

Operator: Our next question is from Dan Oppenheim with Credit Suisse. Please proceed.

Dan Oppenheim: Great, thanks very much and thanks for the comments in terms of your expectations and sort of long term based on sort of under building and such. Just wondering if you think about the acquisitions that you’re looking into dialogue with some of the smaller companies out there, how does your outlook for the coming years in terms of thinking about continued growth in getting back to normalized instructions impact your thoughts and acquisitions that make you look to do more this year in terms if there is a short term slowdown, should we expect you to then sort of think in terms of long term and growth of the acquisition here during ’23? I’m just wondering how you’re looking about that?

Jeffrey Edwards: Well, this is Jeff. We continue as we’ve said in our prepared comments to kind of target at least $100 million dollars a year in revenue acquisition, maybe straight down the fairway in terms of kind of what we’re used to in normal — in terms of products etcetera and acquisitions, but what I would say is, we basically for the most part, we’re buying businesses obviously off of trailing earnings, right, and I don’t think there’s very many contractors out there at this point that are showing numbers that reflect a great deal of weakness. Historically, what I would say from the last time there was any degree of weakness, there’s chances are unless there’s a health issue or something else, none of these sellers are that’s necessarily forced by any means to sell.

They almost never have any debt. They’re not in a tight spot, and if the numbers aren’t where they would like them to be in terms of kind of I don’t have a good profitable year, they’re probably not going to be sellers. So I don’t see is just historically speaking and thinking about what’s coming to get, as picking up a whole lot of bargains. I think it’s going to be very normal in that regard. So, honestly, we’d rather — we like it when the buyer feels good about it. When the seller feels good about the kind of the transaction, and when we feel pretty good about the purchase that usually makes for kind of a more copacetic, smooth transition and go-forward and that would have better business ultimately.

Michael Miller: But I would say that M&A is our number one capital priority. Our balance sheet is such that if there are opportunities beyond $100 million that Jeff referenced in terms of targeted acquired revenue, we will absolutely do those acquisitions. We believe that the current environment, while there is a lot of uncertainty, if we look long term because we’re not buying these businesses for a quarter or for a year. We’re buying them for the long term. We believe fundamentally long term that, new residential construction market in the United States has the backdrop, the demographic backdrop and the fact that we, even with the acceleration that we saw in ’21 and ’22, we have for the past more than the past 10 years underbuilt, housing in this county and fundamentally if we look over the medium to long term, we believe that’s extremely constructive M&A that we’re looking at.

Operator: Our final question is from Jonathan with Truist Securities. Please proceed.