Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRL) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRL) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript February 28, 2023

Operator: Greetings. Welcome to Sterling Infrastructure’s 2022 Fourth Quarter and Year-End Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. And all participants are in a listen-only mode. There are accompanying slides on the Investor Relations section of the company’s website. Before turning this call over to Joe Cutillo, Sterling’s Chief Executive Officer, I will read the safe harbor statement. Some discussions made today may include forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from these statements made today. Please refer to Sterling’s most recent 10-K, 10-Q filings for a more complete description of risk factors that could affect these projections and assumptions.

The company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Please note that management may reference EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, adjusted earnings per share on this call, which are all financial measures not recognized under U.S. GAAP. As required by the SEC rules, regulations, these non-GAAP financial measures are reconciled to their most comparable GAAP financial measures in our earnings release issued yesterday afternoon. I will now turn the call over to Mr. Joe Cutillo. Thank you, sir. Please go ahead.

Joe Cutillo: Thanks, Sherry. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining Sterling’s fourth quarter and full year 2022 earnings call. It’s hard to believe this is my sixth year-end earnings call as CEO of Sterling. It’s always fun to reflect back on all the accomplishments and see the transformed company that is stronger than ever. These accomplishments are a tribute to our people, our culture and our strategy. Without the best people in the industry, delivering the Sterling way, none of this would have been possible. The only thing that excites me more are the opportunities we have ahead of us. But before we discuss that, I’d like to talk about the results and the accomplishments of the fourth quarter and the full year.

In addition, I’ll talk about our current markets and our 2023 outlook. Unless otherwise stated, all numbers discussed today will be for continued operations. In 2022, we continue to be one of the safest work environments in our industry. We won two National Safety Awards and our largest transportation business went the entire year without a recordable or lost-time incident. Our employees’ commitment to keep each other safe, along with the continuous training that takes place is really paying off. We continue to look for innovative ways to get even better with the use of new proactive indicators and artificial intelligence. Our journey will never stop until everyone goes home safe every day. 2022 marked another year of significant progress in our journey to become a leading infrastructure service provider.

For the year, our e-Infrastructure segment grew 93%. Approximately one third of this growth was organic and two third of this growth was from the acquisition of Petillo. E-infrastructure is now 51% of our total revenue and 66% of our total segment operating income. It remains our fastest-growing and highest-margin segment. The strong demand for data centers, distribution centers and the reemergence of U.S. manufacturing has enabled us to end the year with record backlog. Our Building Solutions segment continued to deliver strong results, even with a second half decline in the residential market. On just over 1% total revenue growth, Building Solutions delivered a 12% increase in operating income versus prior year. This increase was driven by our team’s continued focus on price and productivity.

20% of our segment operating income outcomes for Building Solutions. Favorable market conditions and margin improvements continued in our Transportation segment throughout the year. The combination of higher quality work and the continued shift away from low bid to alternative delivery projects delivered a 34% improvement in operating income on 14% less revenue. A major contributor to the revenue drop was a conscious shift of transportation resources to perform higher-margin commercial and e-infrastructure work in the Rocky Mountains. Another strategic accomplishment in this segment was the divestiture of our 50% owned venture in California. The risk return ratio of the market, coupled with our 50% ownership stake made this a nonstrategic asset.

At year-end, our combined backlog in Transportation was up 19%, and the margins in backlog increased 200 basis points versus year-end prior year. Our Transportation segment that represents 14% of our segment operating income. For the quarter, our consolidated revenue was up 26%. Our gross profit was up 31% and our net income was up 80% versus prior year. For the full year, our revenue grew 25%. Our gross profit improved 35% or 110 basis points and is now at 15.5%. Our operating income was up 49%. Our net income increased 54% and our earnings per share were up 49%. In addition, we generated $219 million of cash from operations and finished the year with $182 million of total cash on the balance sheet, up over $120 million from prior year. These results are incredible when you consider the challenges we had overcome with inflation, the supply chain and the declining residential market.

We entered 2023 with a combined backlog of $1.69 billion, up 25% over December 2021. And the margin in our combined backlog improved 160 basis points. As we look forward to 2023, the strong market conditions in e-infrastructure and Transportation Solutions, coupled with our margin improvements and year-end backlog enables us to forecast another record year for Sterling. Based on the midpoints of our 2023 guidance, our revenue will grow 10.2%, our net income will improve 10.6%, and our earnings per share will increase 8.4%. Our full year guidance range for 2023 are follows: Revenues will be between $1.9 billion and $2 billion; net income will be between $104 million and $110 million; our earnings per share will be between $3.33 and $3.35; and our EBITDA will be between $220 million and $235 million.

With that, I’d like to turn it over to Ron to give you more details on the quarter and the full year. Ron?

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Ron Ballschmiede: Thanks, Joe, and good morning. I am pleased to discuss our record fourth quarter and full year performance. Our updated Investor Relations slide presentation has been posted to our website and includes additional financial details to help further understand our 2022 results. The presentation also provides additional modeling considerations, which underpin our 2023 revenue and earnings guidance. As you may recall, we closed on the Petillo acquisition on December 30, 2021, resulting with the inclusion of Petillo’s financial results for all 2022. Additionally, on November 30, 2022, we sold Sterling’s 50% ownership interest in Myers for $18 million. We received $12 million of cash in early January 2023 and will receive the balance over the next few years.

The divestiture is consistent with our strategy of reducing our portfolio of low bid, heavy highway projects in order to increase Sterling’s margins and reduce risk. The financial operating results of Myers have been presented as a discontinued operations for 2022 and prior periods. For the year ended December 31, 2022, we reported net income from discontinued operations of $9.7 million, consisting of an after-tax gain of $13.2 million from the sale which was partially offset by a tax loss from operations of $3.5 million. Now let me take you through our financial highlights, starting with our backlog metrics. At December 31, ’22, our backlog totaled $1.414 billion, up $86 million from the beginning of the year. The gross margin of this backlog was 14.3%, a 170-basis point improvement over the beginning of the year.

A higher portion of e-infrastructure backlog and increased transportation backlog margins drove this improvement. Unsigned low-bid Awards at the end of 2022 totaled $275 million, an increase of $23 million, an increase from $23 million at the beginning of the year. We finished the year with a combined backlog of $1.689 billion, a $339 million increase over 2021. Our gross profit in combined backlog was 14.2% compared to 12.6% at the beginning of the year. Our full year 2022 book-to-burn ratios were 1.06 times for backlogs and 1.22 times for combined backlogs. Revenue for the fourth quarter was $488 million, up $93 million over 2021. Our full year 2022 revenues totaled $1.769 billion, up $355 million from 2021. As a result of our strong backlog and opportunities in our e-infrastructure and transportation markets, our 2023 revenue guidance range is $1.9 billion to $2 billion.

Moving to our segments. Our current quarter e-infrastructure revenues were $247 million, an increase over the prior year quarter of $120 million. Full year e-infrastructure revenue was $905 million, an increase of $437 million over 2021. The year-over-year revenue increase included $289 million from the late 2021 acquisition of Petillo, and e-infrastructure organic growth of $148 million. Including the Petillo acquisition, on a pro forma basis, 2022 organic revenue growth was 32% and 35% for the fourth quarter and full year, respectively. The e-infrastructure organic growth reflects the continuing strong demand for data centers, distribution centers, warehouses, and more recently, new manufacturing opportunities across our expanding footprint.

Transportation revenues were $127 million in the current quarter, a decrease of $23 million or 15% from the prior year. Full year transportation revenues were $542 million, a decrease over the prior year of $85.6 million or 14%. The revenue decline was driven by a shift of transportation resources to perform additional higher-margin commercial and e-infrastructure work and due to the timing of the execution of our backlog. Consistent with our strategic intent, low bid heavy highway work declined by approximately $10 million year-over-year. The current year quarter of Building Solutions revenue was $75 million, a decrease over the prior year quarter by $4 million. The full year of Building Solutions revenues were $232 million, an increase of $4 million over the prior period.

Building Solutions revenue increases were partially driven by higher demand in the multifamily market, partially offset by a decline in single-family housing as ownership became less affordable due to increasing interest rates and inflation. Current quarter consolidated gross profit was $69 million, an increase of $16 million over the prior year quarter. Gross margin increased to 15.4% or 60 basis points over the comparable period. Full year consolidated 2022 gross profit was $275 million, an increase of $71 million over 2021. That provided for gross margin increase to $15.5 million — 15.5% or 113 basis points over 2021. Both the fourth quarter and full year gross margins were at record levels. This consolidated margin increase reflects the increased mix of revenues from our higher-margin e-infrastructure segment and increased margins from both our Transportation and Building Solutions markets.

Our gross margin improvements were negatively impacted by continuing supply challenges and inflationary pressures, which primarily impact our e-infrastructure and Building Solutions segments. General and administrative expense was flat in the quarter compared to the prior year and increased $17.3 million to $86.5 million for the full year. Over 70% of this increase was attributable to Petillo acquisition with a balance driven by inflation and higher revenue-related incremental costs. We continue to expect our full year G&A expense to be approximately 5% of revenues. Operating income for the fourth quarter was $37 million, an increase from $20 million for the prior year quarter. Current quarter operating margin increased to 8.3% compared to 5.6% in the prior year quarter.

For the full year, 2022 operating income was $159.9 million, reflecting a $52.9 million increase over the prior year. Our full year operating margin increased to 9% compared to 7.6% in the prior year. Both fourth quarter and full year operating margins were at record levels. Our effective income tax rate for the 2022 fourth quarter and full year was approximately 34% and 30%, respectively. We expect our full year 2023 effective income tax rate to be 28% to 29%. The net effect of all these items resulted in a fourth quarter net income of $20.2 million or $0.66 per share and 2022 full year net income of $96.7 million or $3.16 per share. Our net income guidance is $104 million to $110 million for 2023, and our earnings per share guidance is $3.33 to $3.53 per share.

Our fourth quarter EBITDA totaled $49 million — $49.9 million, an increase of 78% over the prior year quarter. Full year 2022 guidance totaled $208.7 million, an increase of 51% over the prior year period. As a percent of revenues, EBITDA improved to 11.1% of revenue for the quarter, up 7.9% — up from 7.9% in the prior year quarter. For the year, EBITDA improved to 11.8% of revenue as compared to 9.8% in 2021. We expect our 2023 EBITDA to be in the range of $220 million to $235 million. Cash flow from operating activities in 2022 was a very strong $219 million compared to $158 million for the prior year. The current quarter 2022 cash flow from operations was $88.5 million. Our strong third quarter and fourth quarter cash flows totaled $185 million and allowed us to more than recover from a slow cash generation in the first half.

The 2022 cash flow fluctuations were principally driven by significant organic growth from our e-Infrastructure segment as well as improved margins from each of our other sectors. Cash flow from investing activities, including — included $56 million of CapEx, $18 million related to the Arizona residential slab acquisition and $16 million related to the disposition of Myers. The CapEx reflects the higher e-infrastructure Solutions activities, including the impact of the Petillo operations. Our cash flow from financing activities was a $33 million outflow, which included $23 million related to scheduled debt payments. Finally, the diversity and strength of our portfolio of businesses, our strong liquidity position consisting of $182 million cash at the end of the year and are comfortable 1.9 times EBITDA leverage.

We are well preferred to take advantages of additional opportunities in 2023 and beyond. Now I’ll turn it back over to Joe.

Joe Cutillo: Thanks, Ron. As we look at 2023 and beyond, we believe our e-infrastructure segment will remain our fastest growing, highest margin segment for the next several years. Data center activity remains strong and the need for data management continues to grow. If you step back and think of it, data collection technology is integrated in everything we use. Our homes, our cars and our phones are all being one link control system. Every time a new product comes out, it’s more about the ancillary tech features than the products itself. This pace will only increase as we bring on new technologies and integrate artificial intelligence. E-commerce distribution center growth remained solid as big name retailers build out their networks to compete with Amazon.

The reemergence of U.S. manufacturing is happening faster than we anticipated. The largest near-term opportunities are around the production of electric vehicles and the batteries for these vehicles. The size and scope of these facilities make them a perfect fit for our strengths and our services. As we look forward, data centers, e-commerce, distribution and manufacturing will provide us with strong growth opportunities for the next three to five years. We will continue to look for acquisitions in this segment and add to further capabilities or geographic coverage. Building Solutions remains our second highest margin and operating income segment. We continue to see good growth in the multifamily space as first-time homes become less affordable.

On the residential front, we have seen continued growth in the Houston market and slowdowns in both the Dallas and Phoenix markets. We believe the markets in Dallas and Phoenix will remain slow in the first half of 2023. We see this slowdown as an opportunity to pick up additional resources and market share. The need for first-time homes is strong, but affordability remains a challenge. To help counter this, builders are taking actions to offset both cost and interest rates. We believe we’ll begin seeing a positive impact of these actions late in the second quarter or early third quarter 2023. Historically, we’ve come out of downturns with larger market share and stronger positions than we’ve gone into them. We continue to look for adding additional services and capacity in 2023 if the right opportunity presents itself.

Our Transportation segment is now seeing strong momentum from the infrastructure build. We continue to improve our margins by focusing on alternative deliveries highway, aviation and rail. In addition, the increased bid activity enables us to be even more selective in 2023. As we go forward, the strategy will remain the same, focused on reducing risk and improving margins with managed revenue growth. In addition, we will continue to evaluate opportunities to ship resources from transportation to our e-Infrastructure and Building Solutions segments and geographies outside their existing footprints. 2022 was a great year. In 2023 is positioned to be even better. We have built a proven platform of diverse infrastructure services that deliver today and could be expanded upon in the future.

We’ve come a long way as a company, but are still in the early innings of what we can do. It is really exciting and an honor to be leading this great company and this amazing team. With that, I’d like to turn it over for questions.

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Q&A Session

Operator: Thank you. Our first question comes from Brent Thielman with D.A. Davidson. Please proceed.

Brent Thielman : Hey, great. Good morning, Joe, Ron. Congrats on a great year. I guess first question, just with respect to the guidance for 2023. Wondering if you can provide anything more specific in terms of the expectations for the three businesses. Joe or Ron, I mean, I guess, in particular, be curious how you’re thinking about Building Solutions over the course of the year. I think I heard you say you thought maybe more positive impacts coming in the second half, but if you could provide anything more of that, that would be helpful.

Joe Cutillo: Yeah, you want to give some of the detail. But let me give you a kind of a high level. We certainly — we saw the slowdown in the third and fourth quarter last year. It looks like it’s, I’ll call it, stabilize to a degree coming into the first quarter. And we’ve really seen the builders take — they took a lot of actions, but they didn’t really take a lot of the actions until we saw more of them starting to hit in the fourth quarter. And some of those are around buying down plants, giving discounts at homes. But where we think some of this will also start to kick in is the next homes that they’re getting ready to build, they’re either taking a little less of the frills out of the homes or downgrading the appliances.

They’re doing several things to take significant cost out. And if you think of it, those homes won’t start hitting the market until second and third quarter of this year. And we think the combination of those things really get people back. And one of the things that builders keep telling us is the traffic is down, but the hit rate is up significantly. So the people coming in are buying homes, and there’s still a lot of demand. Ron, do you want to give some more detail on them?

Ron Ballschmiede: Sure. So with that, on the residential side, certainly in the first half, so we wouldn’t expect growth. We’d expect some smaller decline kind of reducing first quarter to second quarter is as we see a level now are improving at some point in time. So I think full year, our crystal ball says kind of a push in revenues for the year. That looks like it will continue to be helped by multifamily housing and improve in our major markets. Interestingly, Houston has held up very well.

Joe Cutillo: Houston is still growing. Yeah, we haven’t seen a decline at all in Houston. It’s one of the few markets in the U.S. that really hasn’t seen the decline across it. So that certainly helps. And we’re hoping we can allocate more resources to that market.

Ron Ballschmiede: From the e-infrastructure side, we’re expecting a very solid year with nice growth. You’ve seen a couple of press releases in the last six months for what I’ll call the EV world. Those are large projects, relatively quick book and burn, meaning that average for that — that sector is less than a year on average compared to less than two years between one and two on the transportation side. So we expect some maybe even low double-digit revenue growth for that segment. Really depends on how fast we can move up and get going on these jobs, but it’s very strong. And then on the Transportation side, we’ll be up low single digits. I think that’s consistent with our plan. A couple of variables in there. We have a large design build in our unsigned.