Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Mark Hartman: Yes, so I’ll take the last one. Yes, I will take the last one first and then we’ll work back through the other pieces. So the revenue profile, pre COVID for us, in our guidance that’s not the levels that we’re actually at. So no, I guess would be the answer to that based on the sales guidance that we have as we’re kind of moving through the year like Chip mentioned, we’ll be aligned to Airbus and Boeing build rates as we kind of move throughout the year. And that’s what we’re anticipating as I mentioned, we’ll be fully capacitized for that to hit those levels. On the commercial aftermarket side of the business, as Chip mentioned, the inputs in for repair and as I mentioned a little earlier, the aircraft that are flying have higher Woodward content now that they did pre pandemic.

So that’s a positive for us. And helps us on the aftermarket side. Initial provisioning continues on the LEAP engine side of the business. We aren’t anticipating significant initial provision in China as part of our guide. And so, that’s we’ve talked previously over the last year or two that was a watch item for us and with where the situation is, we’re not anticipating a significant initial provision in China. But we still have other airlines taking initial provisioning units, either because they’re expanding their route structure or because it’s a new airline increasing their MAX or 320neo aircraft. So that’s what’s really driving a lot of the aftermarket side of it is really just the usage in the flying aircraft today have a lot more Woodward content on than they had pre pandemic.

On the other side of the aerospace is the defense side. We’ve talked about stability there other than the guided weapons, we have seen on the guided weapons the last couple years, some decreases primarily related to the JDAM program that’s generally stabilized now. So generally on the defense side, we’re generally stable. The defense aftermarket side, we’ve been impacted by the supply chain and labor disruption there. The demand has been strong and we have not been able to get the product out. As we were mentioning, we would anticipate that some of that would be improving as we go into the second half of the year. And that’s what we’d look for on the defense aftermarket side to have a little bit of growth there based on our improving operational capability.

Chip Blankenship: Yes, just to add that, I think, some of that range there on growth, the 14% and 19% depends on how well we do burning down the past dues. So it may not link exactly to demand. The demand is strong and it’s kind of on us and our ability to deliver the output.

Unidentified Analyst: Understood. Thank you. And then, if I could just sneak one more in here, Chip, kind of just bringing your new perspective to Woodward here. I guess, what’s your view of the current portfolio today? Do you see anything non-core at the moment, or are you pretty content with the portfolio kind of as you see it today? Thank you.

Chip Blankenship: I think from the macro perspective, I really like the portfolio of products that we have, the current set of products as well as those in the new product development pipeline. So very pleased with the overall product strategy and the execution and the vision of the commercial team to get these products on the right platforms on both the industrial and the aerospace side of the house. And frankly, there’s work to do at the lower granular level of the product portfolio that I was referring to earlier in terms of looking at the health and profitability as well as demand for certain SKUs that we carry and maybe moving customers along to the newer generation of products and things of that nature. There’s a €“ there’s some good work to be done there that will improve our ability to support customers and our profitability. So work to be done at the granular level, but overall, the macro, really like what I see.