Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript December 15, 2022

Jabil Inc. beats earnings expectations. Reported EPS is $2.31, expectations were $2.24.

Operator: Greetings, and welcome to the Jabil First Quarter of Fiscal Year 2023 Earnings Call. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Adam Berry, Vice President of Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.

Adam Berry: Good morning, and welcome to Jabil’s first quarter of fiscal 2023 earnings call. Joining me on today’s call is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mark Mondello; and Chief Financial Officer, Mike Dastoor. Please note that today’s call is being webcast live, and during our prepared remarks, we will be referencing slides. To follow along with the slides, please visit jabil.com within our Investor Relations section. At the conclusion of today’s call, the entirety will be posted for audio playback on our website. I’d now like to ask that you follow our earnings presentation with slides on the website, beginning with the forward-looking statement. During this conference call, we will be making forward-looking statements, including, among other things, those regarding the anticipated outlook for our business, such as our currently expected second quarter and fiscal year net revenue and earnings.

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These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions involving risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially. An extensive list of these risks and uncertainties are identified on our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2022, and other filings. Jabil disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. With that, I’d now like to shift our focus to our solid quarter. To kick off the fiscal year, the team delivered approximately $9.6 billion in revenue, well ahead of our forecast and at the top end of our guidance range, driven by even better-than-expected revenue in automotive, healthcare and industrial.

All other end markets largely performed consistent to our expectations from 90 days ago. When you put all of this together, at the enterprise level, revenue grew by 12% year-over-year and 7% sequentially. Core operating income during the quarter was $461 million, an increase of 15% year-over-year, representing a core operating margin of 4.8%. This is up 10 basis points over the prior year and in line with expectations. From a GAAP perspective, operating income was $362 million, and our GAAP diluted earnings per share was $1.61. Net interest expense in the quarter came in higher than expectations at $66 million as the combination of higher interest rates and better-than-expected demand drove our working capital needs higher during the quarter.

During the quarter, we also repurchased 2.6 million shares for $161 million. Core diluted earnings per share was $2.31, a 20% improvement over the prior year quarter and at the higher end of our range as core operating income grew much faster than net interest expense. Now turning to the segments. Revenue for the DMS segment was $5.1 billion, an increase of 8% on a year-over-year basis and ahead of our plan from September, while core operating margin for the segment came in at 5.2%, slightly below expectations as upside strength in automotive and healthcare was offset by operational inefficiencies associated with mobility in China. Revenue for our EMS segment came in at $4.5 billion, an increase of 18% on a year-over-year basis, while core margins for the segment was 4.3%, up 50 basis points year-over-year, reflecting solid operational execution on strong revenue growth.

So in summary, another strong quarter is in the books for Jabil. And I know the team here is extremely proud of the strides we’ve made to not only improve our business over the last 10 years but also make it stronger and more resilient. In a moment, I’ll turn the call over to Mark and Mike to provide some additional thoughts on our performance in the quarter and update our outlook for fiscal ’23. And I think you’ll see there’s still so much opportunity as we move into fiscal ’23 and beyond. Thanks for your time today. It’s now my pleasure to turn the call over to Mike.

Mike Dastoor : Thanks, Adam. As Adam just detailed, our performance in Q1 was quite strong. I continue to be extremely pleased with the strength of our business, which delivered double-digit growth in revenue, core operating income and core diluted earnings per share in the quarter. Our diversified portfolio and continued participation in end markets with long-term secular trends was once again reflected in our Q1 performance. I’d now like to walk you through our balance sheet and cash flow performance in the quarter. In Q1, cash flow from operations was $166 million and net capital expenditures totaled $164 million. As a reminder, our customers routinely co-invest in plant, property and equipment with us as part of our ongoing business model.

We often pay for these co-investments upfront, which are then later reimbursed to us by customers. Due to the high dollar value of these co-investments from our customers and how they are reflected on our cash flow statement, it is important to net the two line items shown on the slide to reflect the true CapEx number and what we refer to as net capital expenditures. For the quarter, inventory days came in at 78, down 1 day sequentially on improved working capital management by the team. As a reminder, we offset a portion of our inventory levels with inventory deposits from our customers. Net of these deposits, inventory days were 61 in Q1, also down 1 day from Q4. We continue to be fully focused on bringing this metric down further in FY ’23 as some of the supply chain constraints continue to improve.

We exited the quarter with total debt to core EBITDA levels of approximately 1.2x on cash balances of $1.2 billion. Turning now to our second quarter guidance on the next slide. We expect total company revenue in the second quarter of fiscal ’23 to be in the range of $7.8 billion to $8.4 billion. At the midpoint, this anticipates DMS and EMS revenue to be $4.1 billion and $4 billion, respectively. Core operating income is estimated to be in the range of $347 million to $407 million. GAAP operating income is expected to be in the range of $319 million to $379 million. Core diluted earnings per share is estimated to be in the range of $1.64 to $2.04. GAAP diluted earnings per share is expected to be in the range of $1.44 to $1.84. Interest expense in the second quarter is estimated to be approximately $67 million and for the year to be in the range of $265 million to $270 million, which is higher than we forecasted in September due to more conservative interest rate and working capital assumptions.

The tax rate on core earnings in the second quarter is estimated to be approximately 19%. Moving to the next slide, where I’ll offer an update on the end market demand assumptions that we noted in September. As a reminder, our FY ’23 guidance assumed a moderate economic slowdown and some moderation in growth in the second half of our fiscal year. Based on what we know today, our assumptions from a demand perspective remain largely consistent. Across many of our end markets, demand has been extremely resilient, particularly in areas that continue to benefit from strong secular tailwinds like electric vehicles, healthcare, renewable energy infrastructure 5G and cloud. We continue to expect these secular markets to expand in the pace of an economic slowdown.

At the same time, we also continue to expect some consumer-centric end markets to underperform year-on-year consistent with our thoughts in September. All together, we still expect good growth in FY ’23, as you’ll see detailed on the next slide. Starting with our automotive business, which continues to outperform despite global supply chain issues as the transition to EV accelerates. We’ve seen this rapid acceleration manifest in FY ’23 automotive revenue growth expected to be in excess of 40% year-on-year. We’re also expecting double-digit year-over-year growth in our healthcare business, which continues to benefit from an outsourcing of manufacturing trend and has historically been recession resistant with long product life cycles accretive margins and stable cash flows.

Further, our industrial business is also expected to expand by double digits this year, fueled by growth in clean and smart energy infrastructure as government legislation, such as the Inflation Reduction Act in the U.S. accelerates investment in the space. And in 5G wireless, we continue to expect solid year-on-year growth. Infrastructure rollouts are accelerating, and our localized manufacturing capabilities are leading to growth in other geos such as India. We expect these rollouts to play out over the next several years regardless of near-term economic conditions. Within our cloud business in September, we detailed our plan to shift certain components we procure and integrate from a purchase and resale model to a customer control consignment service model.

This transition, in fact, began in November, which is earlier than our expectations 90 days ago. As a result, revenue would be lower than previously expected as an incremental $300 million of components was shipped to the new model. This is in addition to the $500 million of consignment impact we announced in September. Adjusting for this shift, we expect continued robust unit growth in the cloud space in FY ’23 and beyond. In summary, we feel the outlook for our business is solid and expect demand across many of our end markets to remain strong with year-over-year revenue growth at an enterprise level to be approximately 3% for FY ’23 despite an assumed economic slowdown in the second half of the fiscal year. Now turning to the next slide.

We have intentionally structured our business with the aim of delivering core operating margin expansion, sustainable earnings growth, strong predictable cash flows and shareholder returns. With that in mind, while we continue to expect growth in our business despite recessionary headwinds, we have identified certain cost savings mainly in our SG&A and support organization for the second half of our fiscal year as we continue to look at doing more with less. And noncore expenses associated with our optimization activities will be approximately $45 million, with the benefits expected in the back half of the fiscal year. We anticipate these costs will result in a net benefit to core earnings per share of approximately $0.10 in FY ’23 and $0.20 in FY ’24.

This benefit has been considered in our updated core EPS outlook for FY ’23 of $8.40. We expect the cash outlay associated with our optimization efforts to be incurred over the next two quarters, and we continue to expect free cash flow of more than $900 million in the fiscal year. We expect the momentum underway across our business to continue even in a subdued economic environment and feel the steps we’ve taken to optimize our business are appropriate and make us stronger. I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday. Thank you for your time today, and thank you for your interest in Jabil. I’ll now turn the call over to Mark.

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Mark Mondello: Thanks, Mike. Good morning. I appreciate everyone taking time to join our call today. I’ll begin by saying thanks to our team here at Jabil. Thank you for your attention to detail, and thank you for the way you care for and accept one another. Your attitude is amazing, and your dedication is incredible. With that, let’s move to our next slide. It’s staggering when I think about what our team has built and tailored over the past five to six years. A large-scale portfolio of business sectors, eight discrete yet interwoven sectors, which offer Jabil a high degree of resiliency during times of macro and geopolitical disruption as well as gearing times when we simply welcome the ongoing demands placed on us by our customers.

IN looking at this slide, I think about a world where countless products and a massive number of supply chains need to be created, redesigned or modified, therefore placing Jabil deep in the heart of essential end markets. Before moving to our next slide, it’s worth revisiting the topic that we addressed during our Investor Day event back in September, the topic being the intentional output of the portfolio you see in front of you with the intention being that no single product contributes more than 5% to Jabil’s overall earnings. This result is a good thing. It’s a really good thing, especially when we think about dependability and sustainability. It also shines a bright light on the strategic importance of diversification and scale and the clear impact it has when operating our business.

In recognizing our Q1 results, along with our 2Q guide as detailed by Adam and Mike, combined with a watchful eye on the back half of the year, we find ourselves with an updated financial plan for FY ’23, an outlook which has us increasing core earnings per share to $8.40, an increase of $0.25 from our forecast roughly 90 days ago. In addition, we believe that core operating margin will hold at 4.8% for the year on revenue of roughly $34.5 billion, while free cash flow remains north of $900 million. Integral to this outlook is the fact that our team is doing an exceptional job of proactively managing costs and controlling what they can control in today’s environment. Moving to our next slide. I’ll share thoughts on our path forward. Shown here are fundamental catalysts, which are key to favorable results and future outcomes for Jabil: The unique combination of our approach, structure and experience, our ability to execute, combined with our engineering expertise, financial plans that are grounded in rational assumptions and our commitment to returning capital to shareholders.

And rounding on our path forward, maybe it makes sense to step back a bit and think about the past few years. The data suggests that what we’re doing is working, a testament of just how well our team is managing the business I’d now like to transition from our path to our purpose. Here at Jabil, we’re never confused about our obligation to deliver a fair return to shareholders. With this obligation well understood, and considering the upcoming holiday season, we’re taking a little extra time to heighten our focus on ensuring a meaningful purpose in all we do. We’re encouraging our employees to take a deep breath and a short pause, creating a little time for reflection, reflect on our team, reflect on their personal lives and reflect on giving back to those in need.

And speaking a reflection, when it comes to helping those in need, I’m proud to report that our employees around the world just surpassed 1 million hours of personal volunteer time for calendar 2022. What a positive difference created for so many around the world, so many who need it most. Our team’s effort was extraordinary. And in multiple ways, their effort was life-changing. Here at Jabil, we fully embraced the meaning and importance of carrying a purpose, both at home and in the workplace. And we do so with exceptional conduct and care. I’m just so honored to serve such a strong and steady team. Their approach is responsible and reliable. They value the relationships we have with all of those that we serve. Each day, we welcome the challenges put forth by our customers.

And in doing so, Jabil is making the world just a little bit better. In closing, to all of you here at Jabil, please know that you can be your true self without anxiety or fear recourse each day when you come to work. And to everyone on the call today, I wish you a safe and peaceful holiday season. With that, I’ll now turn the call back over to Adam.

Adam Berry: Thanks, Mark. Operator, we’re now ready for Q&A.

Q&A Session

Operator: Our first question is coming from the line of Steven Fox with Fox Advisors.

Steven Fox: Two questions, if I could, please. First, on inventories, Mike. A little bit of improvement there quarter-over-quarter and it looks like you were able to get more components on the auto side. I wonder how close we are to just sort of calling spring in terms of normalizing inventories during the course of the next 12 months. And then I had a follow-up.

Mike Dastoor: Hey, Steve. Yes, so the inventory days that we just printed 61 days, down 1 day from Q4. A normalized run rate, Steve, would be around that 55, 57. That’s what I expect. Not anytime soon, but that is the ultimate sort of aim. I do expect that 61 days to continue to go down to that 58, 59 level. There will be quarterly nuances, timing nuances, et cetera. But overall, the trend would be in the downward direction, particularly with the supply chain constraints easing, as you mentioned.

Steven Fox : That’s helpful. And then as a follow-up, I was wondering if you could talk a little bit more of some of the stuff you’re doing on the energy infrastructure side. It seems to be supporting some good growth in industrial from the standpoint of how the new program backlog looks, what your right to play in those markets, whether it’s increasing and where you’re seeing production interest.

Mark Mondello : Steve, that’s an area of our business. As you know, it’s embedded in our industrial business. We don’t tend to break out all the individual products. But in terms of overall energy management, clean energy, et cetera, that’s an area where, if you take a look at our overall industrial growth, I would say that the growth rate of that component of our industrial business is greater than most of the other industrial business. So whether it be solar, whether it be off-grid battery storage, whether it be new efficiency of off-grid power generation, mobile power generation, it’s an area that’s, from a strategy standpoint, very important in the next three to four years of the overall industrial business. I’d equate it — I don’t know that the growth will be as secular as maybe EVs. But five, six years ago, when we made decisions to go hard into the EV market and move a lot of our resources that way, you could think of it a bit the same in terms of our overall industrial business.

That part of our industrial business is getting a lot of attention.

Steven Fox : Any skill set you would point out as to why you guys are winning in that segment in particular?

Mark Mondello : Yes. You’re welcome. I guess I’d make a general statement and a specific statement. I think one of the interesting characteristics of Jabil is to be really effective in this business over the long term, I think scale matters. And then in one of the slides that we just indexed through, if you look at the overall portfolio today that make up the $34 billion, $35 billion of revenue, the balance of the portfolio is substantial. And so again, coming back to your specific question, when I think about the markets that you’re referring to, A, we’ve got a whole set of engineering staff that are, let’s just say, expert in that area. But much like all of our businesses, they also have a vast pool of engineering resources in other sectors that they also get to confer with and talk to and think about being creative in terms of overall solutions in the industrial space. And I think that makes a big difference.

Operator: Our next question is coming from the line of Jim Suva with Citi.

Jim Suva : You mentioned a little bit of manufacturing challenges with the DMS segment. I assume that has to do with the COVID closures and things. Can you just update us as we sit here now around December 15? Have those kind of been back to normalized? Are there still inefficiencies going on? Or any changes in how we should think about those efficiencies and inefficiencies?

Mark Mondello : Hey, Jim. I think for the quarter, so if we backward look to September, October, November with the kind of zero COVID policy, everything that was in the media around China and then kind of our exposure to that and our experience with that, in very round numbers, I would say that the kind of overall China COVID activities probably impacted Q1 by about $10 million, give or take. As you’ve seen recently, and maybe you’re referring to this with some recent changes around the zero COVID policy, we’ll continue to manage that in much the same way, being very careful, practical, thoughtful in terms of managing China coming out of a zero COVID policy. We’ve been doing that around the world since January of 2020. I think our protocols around the world and in China are kind of best-in-class.

And I think protocols and processes aside, Jim, I give a huge amount of credit to our leadership team and our supervisors on the ground in China. We have a fabulous relationship with our people and our employees, and that in and of itself makes a huge difference. So anyway, that’s our intent.

Jim Suva : And then as a follow-up on a different topic, you mentioned some more consigning. That was kind of the same customer? Or is it expanding more or the relationship getting deeper? Or is it kind of getting broader for the consignment? I’m just kind of curious, it seems like to me, I should think about the consignment as a good thing for like more sticky business and sticky relationships.

Mark Mondello : Yes. I’m not going to get into customer-specific. I think when it comes to parts of our cloud business, Jim, we’ve been very, very consistent. And I don’t know the first time we came out on a call and started talking about our entry into the cloud business based on our right to play and the solutions that our team wanted to bring forward. But what we talked about maybe back in 2018 and through 2019 and even through 2020 and COVID and on and on and on, we’ve been extremely consistent with the fact that our value proposition in that area of our business is very geocentric and very asset-light. And said differently, we do a very good job of aligning variable costs with the puts and takes of the revenue. This is nothing more than that continuing.

And the team has done an absolutely fantastic job of growing that business. I think on one of the slides again that we showed, you can see our cloud business or let’s just say, cloud and 5G is now $6 billion, give or take. So I think that’s a proxy for how successful they’ve been. And again, we’ll continue, and our intent is to continue to run that an asset-light way.

Mike Dastoor: And Jim, if I could just add, I think when we gave guidance in September, our assumption was that the consignment would start sometime in March. We actually managed to get it done far earlier in November. So you’re seeing an earlier impact of this consignment piece showing up in our — a little bit in Q1 but mainly in Q2.

Operator: Our next question is coming from the line of Shannon Cross with Credit Suisse.

Shannon Cross : I wanted to understand a little bit more about the decision to reduce costs. I understand there’s continued productivity improvements that you can do. But I’m wondering sort of what you saw out there that led you to do this? And how much of it is proactive versus changes you’ve already seen in customer behavior? And then I have a follow-up.

Mark Mondello : I think it’s a natural decision. We — the world is, I don’t know if I use the word difficult, but let’s just, for lack of a better word, things are a bit choppy right now, a little bit difficult. And whether it’s running our business in each sector of our business, in a different way based on what customers need, whether it’s our execution, whether it’s overall cost management, I think when we sat here in August, September, and we’re taking a hard look at the year. Our belief is that we should be maybe a bit more cautious to the back half of the year as we sit today. So Mike and I got together with our leadership team, and I’m really pleased with the outcome. And by the way, this was a hard press by the overall team.

We’re just being proactive in terms of largely in terms of overhead costs and maybe costs that sit on top of the factories. I think that Mike said in his prepared remarks. And I think one thing I think it’s worth differentiating, being proactive in the methods in the way we’re being proactive in terms of cost management is, to me, way different than say writing off or writing down assets. It’s really about taking a look at the business, being aggressive and proactive and then being sure that shareholders get a very fair return on that in short order. And I think Mike in his prepared remarks somewhere said on our cost management and the charge we took in the quarter, investors will get about a dime back at the back half of this year. But more importantly is, is I think the payback for ’24 and into perpetuity will be $0.20, $0.25.

So I think it’s good use of our effort and nice returns for shareholders.