Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:KEYS) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Atif Malik: Hi. Thank you for taking my question. The first one for Satish, you guys are seeing stability in 5G market maybe restocking in China smartphones. And it sounds like you’re optimistic about second half of next year. Is it possible for you to provide us a few milestones on the next 5G standards and maybe earlier rollout of 60 that we should be looking forward to for next year?

Satish Dhanasekaran: Yes. Thank you. I think at the highest level, the things, that I watch for are the continued progression, the smartphone industry is making in inventory reductions, right, that’s been talked about for chips and final device form factors. So that’s one thing we watch. Obviously, when we think about the 5G standards progression, what we’re seeing so far is increased interest from customers in Open RAN, even in our 5G business this year, Mark and team have added new customers to our already strong mix of installed base customers. So our leadership position continues to remain strong and we’re continuing to remain differentiated with our portfolio, which is very broad and cares to the need of the entire ecosystem.

The area that has also gained a lot of importance, as we went through the last year, has been the non-terrestrial networks so the satellite cases with 5G. And we’re also seeing some interesting new use cases associated with Release 17 and the research interest across the globe to build organic IP in what comes beyond 5G has already kicked off and Keysight continues to play an early role in partnering with these customers. So when we look at our investment priorities. Yes, we’re investing in R&D, but and we’re focused on that — focusing that investment around these next-generation themes, which will continue to enable us to be strong and grow the business over the long run at the rates that we’ve put out at the Investor Day.

Atif Malik: Great. And then a follow-up for Neil. Neil, you talked about orders down high single-digits, in the January quarter because of EISG being down more than historical average. And you’re pointing to an April quarter revenue trough because of ESI seasonality. Should we be thinking about orders recovering in the April quarter or coming down with that revenue decline?

Neil Dougherty: On Core Keysight, we would typically see a sequential increase, as you move from Q1 to Q2. I think we’ll need to wait for some time to pass, but to give you a sense of how that increase is going to compare to historic norms. But typically, you would see a Q1 to Q2 increase. And I think based on everything we see at this point, that’s what we expect.

Atif Malik: Great. Thank you.

Neil Dougherty: Thank you.

Operator: Our next question comes from Matthew Niknam with Deutsche Bank. Please proceed.

Matthew Niknam: Hey, guys. Thank you for taking the questions. I have one follow-up to a prior question and one other one for Neil. In terms of the follow-up. So we’re talking about a softer than seasonal outlook for Core Keys, stripping out that 60-ish million from ESI in fiscal 1Q. Is that primarily EISG i.e. are their expectations for more relative stability to sustain in comms and some of the strength to persist in ADG? So more just sort of unpacking that outlook for fiscal 1Q, across the segments? And then maybe for Neil, you’re talking about CapEx of about $150 million. I think at the Analyst Day, it was around a $225 million mark for fiscal ’24. I’m just wondering what’s changed?

Mark Wallace: Yes. So on the first question regarding the seasonality, I think you have it mostly right. I think we’re experiencing incremental softness in EISG and then a lot of that is in China and Asia. And that’s what we’re attributing to the slightly expected higher seasonal decrease for Q1. And then the second.

Neil Dougherty: Yes. On the CapEx, I mean, obviously, the business has been softer this year than we expected. And so when you think about investments in capacity and those types of things, we have either canceled in many cases or delayed other programs in response to the current macro environment, which is resulting in the reduced expectations for CapEx going forward.

Matthew Niknam: Great. Thank you, both.

Neil Dougherty: In ’24. You’re welcome. Thank you.

Operator: Our next question comes from Tim Long with Barclays. Please proceed.

Tim Long: Thank you. Two, if I could. First, on the Wireline side, could you talk a little bit more specifically about optical kind of what you’re seeing there? Where are we in cycle, it’s been a little bit more challenged with some of the companies in the ecosystem. So if you could just talk about what you’re kind of seeing on the physical test side, as well as Ixia. And then, just the second one on the Defense Automation business. It seems to be continuing rolling along really strong. Could you talk a little bit about sustainability of that kind of defense line, over the next multiple quarters? Thank you.

Satish Dhanasekaran: Yes. Thank you. Sure. I’d say we’ve always believed that strategically, having both the physical and protocol and having a leadership position across both is an advantage, and we’ll see that play out at this point, especially as the challenges migrate between SerDes and the Optical side and the Electrical side and our ability to connect the dots for our customers is an advantage for us, and we’re able to monetize the advantage. I would say 400 gig Ethernet still continues to be the predominant investment standard with customers shifting priority to 800 terabit and beyond, from a research perspective or development perspective, and we’re able to engage across that entire life cycle. Which has caused the sequential uptick we see.