Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Robert Stallard : Just a couple of quick follow-ups here. First of all, given the share price performance year-to-date, have you seen any sign from Leonardo that they might be interested in maybe bringing down their stake and realizing some cash here? And then secondly, again, this might be for Bill actually. On capital deployment, what sort of M&A opportunities are you seeing out there in this defense environment?

William Lynn : Sure, Rob. Thanks for the question. On Leonardo, I think probably the best thing for me to do is point you to Leonardo is going to have their earnings call a week from today. And so I think that, that’s the place to look for an update on any update they might have on their plans. On capital deployment, we’re actively looking — we’re focused on the 4 market areas that we have with force protection, network computing, advanced sensing, electric power and propulsion. We’ve seen opportunities in all of them, and we’ve pursued some to further steps, but we’re not at this point in a position to move or announce on anything. And I would say the valuations are still fairly elevated, which is — doesn’t mean we can’t move, but we do have — we have fairly strict financial criteria as well as strategic criteria. So it’s going to be a process that’s going to take months through ’24. So is the time line we’re looking at for these kinds of examinations.

Operator: Okay. At this time, I see no further questions. So I will turn it back to Steve for closing remarks.

Stephen Vather : Thank you. And thank you all for tuning in this morning and your continued interest in DRS. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any follow-ups. And we look forward to speaking with you all again very soon. Enjoy the rest of your day.

Operator: Thank you. This concludes today’s conference. You may disconnect now. Thank you for your participation.