Stoneridge, Inc. (NYSE:SRI) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Q – Justin Long: Thanks and good morning. Maybe I’ll start with one on the refinancing announcement that just hit. And I know you talked about that a little bit, Matt. And it sounds like the rates and covenants are fairly similar. But is there any additional color you can provide in interest expense expectations in the fourth quarter, and moving into next year? And can you comment on this refi being included in the guidance you just provided?

Matthew Horvath: Yes, the refinance — and thanks, Justin, thanks for the question. The refinance is included in the guidance we just provided. I wouldn’t expect much incremental interest expense in the fourth quarter relative to prior expectations. The pricing grid for the refinancing is very similar, only slightly higher than our prior facility, which given the market is a really great outcome for the company. The covenants and all of the — really all of the general terms and conditions are very similar to our existing facility. So, I would not expect much change this year. Going forward, because the pricing grid is only slightly higher than where we are now. We expect, obviously, with continued earnings expansion and that continued growth.

I would expect that interest expense would at worst remain relatively stable to where we are now. With the opportunity to improve that as we as we improve cash flow, particularly focus on networking capital improvement and turning that into cash. And of course, the earnings power we expect next year. So, we’re really excited to announce the refinancing. It allows us to really focus on the performance of the business going forward. Gives us plenty of liquidity to fund the growth that we need going forward, all while really limiting any incremental interest expense going forward here.

Justin Long: Okay, great. That’s helpful. And then, maybe, Jim, I’ll shift to you for my next question. I think one of the most impressive things about this quarter was the fact that revenue was down by a pretty substantial amount on a basis. But margins were up sequentially. So, as we look forward, how much of a remaining opportunity do you see from what I would define as self-help margin improvement? I know you’re expecting revenue to get better next year, but let’s play out a scenario where the macro deteriorates and revenues kind of more stable. How much additional runway do you see for margin expansion from things that you can control?

Jim Zizelman: Well, first off, good morning, Justin. Thanks for the question. And let me just first start by summarizing how do we get here? And we had a very significant focus on material cost reduction. And as I’ve been saying for the last few months we’ve been very strongly focused on operational excellence. And that’s both in the manufacturing plant as well as throughout all the supporting functions within the company upstream of the manufacturing plant. Not just efficiency, but also process and control in the organization. And so, we’ve made some great progress here. But I have to say that we’ve only gotten started, right? This is really the beginning of the journey here to drive continued excellence and continued improvement.

So, there is certainly more to come from that perspective from inside of Stoneridge. And some of the margin expansion that we talked about today comes from a continuous application of those methodologies throughout the company. So, we’re quite optimistic that we’re going to see more from it.

Justin Long: Okay, great. And last one for me, I wanted to ask about MirrorEye. It was helpful to get the outlook or preliminary outlook for 2024. But could you share your base expectation for MirrorEye revenue in 2023? I think you had talked earlier this year about $60 million in revenue. I’m just curious if that’s changed and then maybe you could give some color on the visibility you have to that ramp and MirrorEye next year as well?