TPI Composites, Inc. (NASDAQ:TPIC) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Morgan Reid: Got it. Very helpful. I will take it offline. Thank you.

Bill Siwek: Yes. Thanks Morgan.

Operator: Your next question will come from Pavel Molchanov with Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Pavel Molchanov: Yes. Thanks for taking the question. So, I know you are not giving kind of formal 2024 guidance at this stage, but I think you mentioned that you are not expecting a growth year. So, just zooming in on that from the $1.5 billion in 2023 total top line, flattish, down, what kind of magnitude?

Bill Siwek: I would say flattish to slightly down.

Pavel Molchanov: Okay. That’s clear. And the trajectory quarter-to-quarter kind of more back-end weighted, because 2023 has been like the opposite, you started higher and ended lower.

Bill Siwek: I would say it’s probably more back end because of the transitions and start-ups that we will have in the first half of the year.

Pavel Molchanov: Okay. Absolutely clear. A follow-up question on the preferred, you said that, at this stage, per the agreement from 2 years ago, you will be moving to a cash dividend starting next year. Are you in talks with Oaktree about amending that, in other words, prolonging the payment-in-kind arrangement?

Bill Siwek: I would tell you, we are right in the middle of very constructive discussions with Oaktree about providing us with more flexibility next year. Let’s leave it at that.

Pavel Molchanov: Okay. Thanks very much.

Bill Siwek: Thank you, Pavel.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our next question will come from Jeff Osborne with TD Cowen. Please go ahead. Mr. Osborne, you may be muted.

Jeff Osborne: Sorry about that. You folks walked through on the call all the cash flow issues that won’t repeat themselves next year and putting aside the Oaktree dividend. Can you walk through what the uses of cash will be next year, especially in the first half? I imagine there is some potential CapEx. Maybe you can give us an update on the Newton facility and then just how we should think about cash burn through the first half of the year in particular when things might be a bit more challenge?

Ryan Miller: Yes. I think the first half, to your point, is going to be a period of time when they are going to be a bit more challenged. The good news, what I will tell you, is our customers have been much more amiable to providing us funding to help with those start-ups and transitions than they have in the past. So, we are feeling pretty good about where we are at right now with our plan. I do think that you are probably going to see our low watermark for the cash performance happen in the first half as we are going through those transitions. But we are getting subsidized by our customers, so that will help out a fair amount. We are already this year starting to spend some CapEx dollars, and you saw a little bit of a tick up this quarter.

You will see that continue next quarter. Probably the first one out of the gate is going to be the – what we announced last quarter with the Juarez facility, where GE is going to be producing their workhorse blade. We will be starting up that facility. And then we have a couple of other transitions that will be going on where we are going from shorter blades to longer blades. So, this is all good stuff. I mean, for us, we need to go through these in order to get to where we want to go to the $2 billion plus in sales as we get to full rate. But the first half will be, I think at the low watermark for cash for us just because of those. And it’s not just the transitions, it’s the slowdown in sales and dollars coming in that you get when you are going through a decommissioning process of the old lines and everything.