Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS) Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Steven Fox: Hi, good morning. I had two questions. First off, you mentioned on the semi-cap side that you are not only winning new programs, but you are seeing your funnel expand at the same time. I think that was the only area where you said that this quarter. You called out some growth that’s benefiting from new programs, et cetera. It seems like you have a lot of momentum there. But my question is, I was wondering, if you could sort of right size us on where you are seeing the most success on semi-cap, why you’re taking share? Is anything changing in the supply chain? Because I know at times, you compete with EMS companies, but there is also sort of Tier 1, Tier 2 players to semi-cap guys that do some of the stuff you do. So sort of what’s changed maybe over the last couple of years, as the industry has gone through this downturn for you guys? Thanks. And then I had a follow-up.

Todd Kelsey: Sure. So I’ll take this, Steve. It’s Todd. So from a semi-cap standpoint, and this goes with the new wins as well, too. We basically play across the entire spectrum within semi-cap, or semi manufacturing in the process, as well as test and back-end. So that’s a significant piece of business for us as well. The reason we are taking share is execution. I mean, our team performs incredibly well from a standpoint of quality and delivery within that market space. We ship finished systems. So I think, our capabilities are outstanding within the space, and that’s recognized by our customers. And I would say we are kind of playing across the technology spectrum, as well as memory and logic. Another big play for us within semi-cap is our engineering capabilities. So we are able to bring a lot of technology into our offering for our customers.

Steven Fox: Great. That’s helpful. And then just secondly, Pat, you mentioned improved productivity. Can you just put a little color around that? Where are you seeing the benefits right now? And what kind of initiatives are helping productivity maybe in the future? Thanks.

Pat Jermain: Yes. Maybe I’ll start, and then Oliver could jump in. It is really across all of our regions. We have seen productivity improvements. In Europe, we’ve secured some new wins. So leveraging our capacity better, is benefiting our gross margin within Europe. Same can be said for AMER, where we are increasing capacity and utilization with some of the new program ramps that are going in. So Oliver I’ll let you add anything else from a productivity standpoint that you’re seeing.

Oliver Mihm: Yes. I’ll add two things, Pat. Thanks. First, just in terms of utilization, I will note that our Bangkok site broke even in fiscal second quarter. So that is good news. And as those program ramps continue to approach full volume production, that profitability will obviously improve — continue to improve. And then specifically, internally we’ve something that we measure called transformation costs, essentially the cost required to transform raw materials to finished product. And we’ve got laser focus on improvement goals, by site. It is something that we think is really important for us as a business, and so that will continue to drive additional benefit as well.

Pat Jermain: Yes. And one of those areas would be around quality and scrap and seeing scrap expense coming down with improved quality that we’re having. And that’s just one example of the focus on transformation costs that Oliver mentioned.

Steven Fox: Great. That’s all super helpful. Thank you.

Pat Jermain: Thanks, Steve.

Operator: Thank you so much. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Anja Soderstrom with Sidoti. Your line is now open.

Anja Soderstrom: Hi, thank you for taking my questions. I also have two questions here. In terms of the funnel contraction for the quarter. How should we think about that? Is there a lumpiness there? Or how should we think about that going forward?

Oliver Mihm: Yes. I’ll answer that, Anja, this is Oliver. As I consider the fund on the whole, the first thing I’ll point out is we do not manage that the quarterly boundaries. So there is typical ebb and flow, and that’s just a natural part of the process. I will also reflect on the fact that we’ve had a number of quarters of really strong wins recently that contributed to that funnel pulling back. And then the other thing, I will point out is we continue to still have a larger number than typical of large opportunities in our funnel. And then as during our prepared comments, we also track internally and something we don’t publish what we would call our unqualified early-stage funnel and multiple of our sectors have specifically pointed out that they see a lot of strength there. And so that — then gives us optimism that the funnel is going to backfill nicely.

Anja Soderstrom: Okay. Thank you. And then I just want some clarification on Pat’s comments around the free cash flow and the CapEx spend being pushed out and are you pulling back on that. Is that just a matter of that being pushed out into later this year? Or are you getting softer on your CapEx spend [once] (ph) you see softer growth ahead?

Oliver Mihm: No. I think some of it, Anja, is just timing between quarters and when some of it hits. And I’d say, we typically come into a quarter thinking we are going to spend a lot more than we typically do, and that’s a quarterly trend we have seen for several quarters. I am keeping the CapEx spending at $100 million to $120 million this year. So that’s consistent with last quarter. I started the year — I think, at $110 million to $130 million. So it’s come down a little bit just based on our needs this year, but still pretty consistent with what we expected a quarter ago.

Pat Jermain: Yeah. And what I’d add too, Anja is that, as we are very optimistic in our growth potential for fiscal 2025. So we’re not backing off from an investment standpoint at all.