Alex Shen: I can always figure something out. But again, this is not a singular transaction. This is a relationship that spans decades. So really, if a customer would do such a thing as to try to force us into not meeting expectations any longer in the defense industry, that would be they would not be operating in a manner that they should be. It shouldn’t happen that way.
Kris Tuttle: Got it. Got it. I appreciate that additional color about how the business works. So thank you very much for that. And congratulations again.
Alex Shen: Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] The next question is coming from Greg Schlatter, Greg is a Private Investor. Your line is live Greg.
Greg Schlatter: I just have a real simple question. As you speak about delivering on your customer expectations on a daily basis, and over the past 10 years, you’ve not really delivered on any shareholder expectations in the sense that you’re managing profit and then earnings per share. Do you think that will ever occur as you build out and talk about your great pipeline being built out. Are you pricing stuff at a profit? I know it takes one or 2 two years to deliver it, but what were you doing one or two years ago. Just a little curious on how long shareholders are going to go without seeing any type of positive EPS.
Alex Shen: Sir, I don’t think I have an answer to your question. I don’t know how long. I don’t really understand how to answer the question. I do understand that we need to maintain our backlog. I do understand that we need to maintain our customer confidence. And I do understand that we are meeting customer expectations.
Operator: Thank you. And the next question is coming from Ross Taylor from ARS Investment Partners. Ross your line.
Ross Taylor: Thank you. Real quick. With regard to Ranor, you’ve come off what were some pretty strong revenue and margin — operating margin numbers a couple of quarters ago. In each of the last two quarters, you’ve cited mix. Could you talk to us about whether that mix is the result of old contracts? Is it the result of first items being worked on? Or is it other issues? And when do we see the mix getting more favorable or getting us back to where we were, which is mid- to high 30s in operating margin.
Alex Shen: Well, the mix that we’re referring to is the profitability mix that’s different with each type of part number or type of part numbers in the category. It’s a different set of part numbers that have less profitability that we are — seem to have — the timing is collapsing into the same reporting quarter, Ross. So when you have things with high profit all collapsing in the same quarter, profitability goes up. If a large number of them have relatively lower profitability, yet still profitable, collapse in the same quarter. profitability will decrease.
Ross Taylor: When we look at the operating profit margin for Ranor, back when you had your strong quarter, a couple of quarters ago, you were asked if you thought that was a sustainable number was kind of a one-off. And you did not indicate it was a one-off number. Should we expect a sustainable number over time because I understand the business is lumpy. Should we expect that number to be in that kind of mid- to high 30s over time as opposed to what we’ve seen in the last couple of quarters.
Alex Shen: Well, certainly, I aim for higher. I can’t really control some of the timing of when these occur.
Ross Taylor: But generally, overall, I’m getting the timing issue. If we look at this thing and we say, okay, fine, the life of these programs because these are long-life programs, the two you’re working for in Ranor are programs that run 10 to 20-years by build. When we were looking back at that, should we expect to stay — if we add up the entire — the revenue base out of Ranor, should we see an operating margin in that mid, upper-30s range that we were achieving before the last couple of quarters? Or do you expect that low-30s or lower is going to be the sustainable number? Your previous comments indicated you thought you could do mid upper 30s and sustain it.
