Earnings Call
DNOW Inc. (DNOW)
Earnings Call Transcript - DNOW Q2 2021
Operator, Operator
Welcome to the Second Quarter 2021 Earnings Call. My name is John, and I will be your operator for today's call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. I will now turn the call over to Vice President, Marketing and Investor Relations, Brad Wise. Mr. Wise, you may begin.
Brad Wise, Vice President, Marketing and Investor Relations
Good morning and welcome to NOW Inc.'s second quarter 2021 earnings conference call. We appreciate you joining us, and thank you for your interest in NOW Inc. With me today is David Cherechinsky, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Mark Johnson, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. We operate primarily under the DistributionNOW and DNOW brands, and you'll hear us refer to DistributionNOW and DNOW, which is our New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol, during our conversation this morning. Please note that some of the statements we make during the call, including the responses to your questions, may contain forecasts, projections, and estimates, including comments about our outlook for the Company's business. These are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the US federal securities laws based on limited information as of today, which is subject to change. They are subject to risks and uncertainties and actual results may differ materially. No one should assume that these forward-looking statements remain valid later in the quarter or later in the year. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason. In addition, this conference call contains time-sensitive information that reflects management's best judgment at the time of the live call. I refer you to the latest forms 10-K and 10-Q that NOW Inc. has on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, for a more detailed discussion of the major risk factors affecting our business. Further information as well as supplemental financial and operating information may be found within our earnings release, on our website at ir.dnow.com, or in our filings with the SEC. In an effort to provide investors with additional information relative to our results as determined by US GAAP, you'll note that we also disclose various non-GAAP financial measures, including EBITDA, excluding other costs, sometimes referred to as EBITDA, net income, excluding other costs and diluted earnings per share, excluding other costs. Each excludes the impact of certain other costs and therefore have not been calculated in accordance with GAAP. A reconciled of each of these non-GAAP financial measures to its most comparable GAAP financial measure is included in our earnings release. As of this morning, the Investor Relations section of our website contains a presentation covering our results and key takeaways for the quarter. A replay of today's call will be available on the site for the next 30 days. We plan to file our second quarter 2021 Form 10-Q today, and it will also be available on our website. Now, let me turn the call over to Dave.
David Cherechinsky, President and CEO
Thanks Brad. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. The second quarter marked another strong quarter for DistributionNOW. From a top-line perspective while global rigs in the quarter were unchanged compared to the same quarter in 2020, our revenues grew 8%. Sequentially, global rigs increased 2% and our revenues grew 11%. Gross margins on the back of 1Q '21 record highs and against our expectations of a modest contraction due to increased project activity and downward pressure from Canadian breakup, gross margins, again reached a new high of 21.3%. It's easier to grow revenues by conceding price. It's harder to grow the business and improve gross margins at the same time. Yeah, we did so for a second consecutive quarter. Moreover, 2Q 2021 marks the third sequential quarterly market expansion since the 3Q 2020 bottom where US rigs had declined by two thirds from the first quarter of 2020. The spending discipline exhibited by our customers, which limits their purchases and in turn our revenue opportunities in the short term, also moderates the extreme volatility we experienced through the cycles. Customer spending restraint curbs the feast or famine shocks our industry has experienced historically, enabling better inventory management and reduced product obsolescence inevitably resulting from the wild swings that a lack of spending discipline creates. In 2020, our push was to recompose the company amid the steep decline in market activity. While we have work left to do to align our cost structure to our strategy and to the market, the focus in 2021 is prioritized around revenue retention, market share gains and market diversification and inorganic expansion. We believe the restraint exhibited by public operators lays the groundwork for expanded domestic rig activity for 2022 as EMP balance sheets improve this year, providing more opportunity to finance capital investment. This environment sets up well for DNOW if demand continues to recover. As part of the end market diversification strategy, we are tapping into municipal water and mining customers while targeting growing markets like carbon capture, renewable energy and hydrogen tied to a shift in capital investments towards the energy transition movement. We are designing for the future fueled by a strong balance sheet. We are leveraging technology, application know-how and streamlined supply chain and technical process workflow to enhance our solutions and drive incremental sales of the products we offer to achieve levels of differentiation in the market. We are focused on delivering value to our customers and applying inventive solutions while diversifying our end markets. Now to a regional look, in the US, revenue was up $44 million sequentially or 17%. US energy revenue increased sequentially due to increases in drilling and completions activity. We expanded sales with EMP operators driven by growth in spending by some of our largest customers and due to rigs being added by private operators. Notably, revenue gains with private EMPs outpaced sequential rig conditions for public companies as most publicly traded operators held to their capital discipline. In the Rockies area, we expanded our relationship with an independent energy company that uses CO2 captured from industrial resources that would have otherwise been vented into the atmosphere. In the DJ Basin, we expanded PBF market share with a regional independent on new facility construction projects and in the Bakken, we provided PBF for several new tank battery builds for an Oklahoma based independent oil producer. Other key wins included growing sales with the large regional operator in West Texas providing PBF material for multiple projects and maintenance on a variety of facilities centered around tank batteries. In the Northeast, we delivered line pipe orders to regional gas utility customers, as well as PBF for wellhead hookups to gas operators in the Ohio valley region. In the Midstream sector, we provided valve solutions for a large regional petroleum products pipeline, leveraging a new valve supplier partnership, targeting midstream liquids applications. In South Texas, we saw sequential growth from public and private EMPs as activity ramped up producing orders for PBF per tank batteries and flow lines, while midstream companies acquired line pipe for gathering lines and actuated valves and fittings for transmission tie-ins. In the Southeast, we secured line pipe orders from an offshore marine transportations and logistics company, as well as provided fiberglass pipe for flow lines to a Haynesville shale operator. We captured revenue gains with our large integrated supply customers, revenue was driven by increased winterization projects in the Bakken, plant turnarounds, day-to-day business associated with drilling programs, increased level of central tank battery builds and large line pipe orders for gathering systems. For work-over rigs, our work-over trailers enabled our customers to maximize inventory availability and eliminate downtime associated with stock-outs while using our mobile app to acquire MRO products that deliver cost savings and efficiency gains for the operator. At US Process Solutions, revenue expanded sequentially with increased completions activity from drilling operations and duct draw downs, yielding higher demand for our fabricated engineered equipment packages, in addition to pump packages for fluid handling. We are seeing an increase in customer interest in order wins for our fabricated equipment solutions. Activity in the quarter was primarily focused in oil producing regions, while diversified end market business was captured in the midstream and municipal water markets. Key wins included 15 production separators and vessels for the Powder River basin for a large independent EMP operator and multiple air compressor units as operators seek to eliminate the bending of gas from direct gas compression, replacing old compressors with much lower emission compressed air systems in an effort to support their ESG initiatives relating to lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Our investment in Digital Solutions is bearing fruit; using our eSpec engineered equipment configuration and budgeting tool, we were able to successfully secure an order for 90 air compressor units from a large independent EMP operator. eSpec enabled a richer contextual discussion with the customer providing enhanced configuration and pricing options that added value through a compressed sales order cycle. On the Package Pumping unit side, we were successful in a variety of applications, including water handling, transfer and treatment applications for non-oil and gas markets related to waste management and industrial water treatment. In the renewable space, we provided pumping solutions to geothermal power plants and also expanded into the recreational market where we delivered water handling equipment for snowmaking applications at ski resorts. And we deployed our pumping rental fleet assets for a regional operator in the Midland Basin used to protect child wells while parent wells are drilled to mitigate the subsurface communication. With increasing flows of produced water, we expect operators to continue to turn on pump rental services to support the disposal capacity increases. As completions grow and saltwater disposal activity increases, the deployment of DNOW's mobile horizontal pumps will ensure the operational support that's needed when disposing of newly produced fluids. In Canada, the second quarter revenue was $51 million, a sequential decrease of $7 million or 12% better than what we normally experience. Leveraging a new supplier relationship strengthened our value proposition in several focus areas for pipe fittings and flanges or PFF or a sourcing strategy that resulted in several key project wins. Building on the success of our sourcing initiatives, we established a new partnership on valves that increased our market competitiveness in several material types that produced wins during the quarter. This success is a direct result of strategic sourcing. We're being selective and partnering with top-tier suppliers to drive market share gains. During the quarter, we extended a two-year PFF agreement with a top 20 Canadian customer expanding the agreement to now include valves. Another project win during the quarter included large actuator valves from an EPC for a major operator used in the bitumen extraction process in the oil sands market. With one of our top customers, we expanded market share in our artificial lift product line and captured a variable frequency drive automation project for our automation product line. We continue to capture market share through leveraging our service model and tactical application support with EPCs, notably one in a large PFF project for an operator with whom we hadn't historically participated in their day-to-day business. Furthermore, we renewed a key fiberglass pipe contract with a top customer and delivered flow lines and tie-ins to an oil gas operator's mature oil assets. For international in the second quarter, international revenue was up $2 million to $53 million, an increase of $2 million or 4% from the first quarter, primarily from increased project activity. In addition to DNOW growing revenue, 11% in the quarter, our gross margins improved sequentially 50 basis points to 21.3%. This increase was primarily from inventory charges declining sequentially from $5 million in the first quarter to $1 million this quarter, partially offset by lower product margins due to product mix and increased transportation costs. Inventory charges in general vary as a product of many factors, including customer demand changes both in volume and preference, the incline or decline in the market, specification changes on available products and actions taken to adjust our business model to support current and future activity. We continue the evaluation of our products and locations to align with the changing market conditions and our customer preferences, which could impact the level of inventory WSA headwind from the non-recurrence of the first quarter $2 million bad debt credit from the collected aged receivable with the remaining balance of the increase, primarily driven by the resumption of certain discretionary costs and the reduction in COVID related government subsidies. The second quarter government subsidies, which totaled approximately $1.5 million, are expected to continue their phase out through the second half of the year. This marks the fourth consecutive quarter we've improved our WSA as a percent of revenue. Considering this and other actions underway, we expect WSA to remain relatively flat into the third quarter. As we continue to streamline our organization and invest in our strategy. Operating profit was breakeven in the second quarter as we realized favorable year-over-year operating margin flow throughs across all three segments driven by improved gross margins and our lower cost structure. Sequentially, the US delivered 23% incremental flow-through to operating margins and a $3 million operating loss in the second quarter. In the second quarter of 2021, the International segment reported $1 million in operating profit or 2% and Canada delivered $2 million in operating profit or 4% of revenue despite facing the customary seasonal breakup headwinds. The GAAP net loss for the second quarter was $2 million or a loss of $0.02 per share. On a non-GAAP basis, net income, excluding other costs was nil or zero per share. Non-GAAP EBITDA excluding other costs was a positive $6 million or 1.5% for the second quarter of 2021. And we reported $6 million of depreciation and amortization in the period and expect similar levels in the third quarter. At the onset of the pandemic, we swiftly identified and implemented the initiatives focused on transforming our operating model and maximizing customer service. The results of these actions can be recognized today in our financial performance as DNOW delivered 2Q EBITDA flow throughs year-over-year of 70% as we delivered 8% higher revenue year-over-year while reducing WSA over 12%. Now to move to the balance sheet at the end of the second quarter, we have a net cash position of $293 million down $81 million from March driven by the $90 million cash payment for our second quarter acquisition. Our debt position remained at zero and included zero draws in the quarter. Total liquidity, which is calculated as total availability from our undrawn credit facility, plus cash on hand was $528 million as of June 30, 2021. Accounts receivable ended at $271 million, an increase of $26 million from the first quarter, and inventory ended at $250 million substantially unchanged from the first quarter, with inventory turns reaching five times a quarterly best. Our accounts payable ended the second quarter at $217 million and as of June 30, 2021, working capital excluding cash as a percentage of our second quarter annualized revenue was 12.3%, with some of the working capital reduction attributable to the estimated fair value of contingent consideration which is subject to change. We do expect this working capital ratio to revert some as we intentionally add working capital to grow the business. Our focus on working capital efficiency is reflected in a new quarterly best cash conversion cycle of 71 days. The primary driver for efficiency gains over the year has been increased inventory turns that helps minimize the cash needed to fund our sequential revenue growth of 11%. Free cash flow in the period was $7 million reflecting net cash provided by operating activities of $8 million reduced by $1 million in capital expenditures. When looking back over the last two years, we've generated approximately $350 million in free cash flow and we will continue our commitment to balance sheet management, make investments in good inventory, pursue strategic acquisitions, and maximize assets held to fuel the future. Our team is focused on profitable market share gains. We're actively deploying technology to augment labor content, automating and digitizing processes and reducing infrastructure costs. We are intent on continuously developing a more agile business and increasing productivity. We continue into 2021 with optimism for the future and we possess the talent, resources and fortitude to grow our bottom line and create sustained value for our customers and shareholders. With that, I'll turn the call back to Dave.
Mark Johnson, CFO
Thank you, David and good morning, everyone. Total revenue for the second quarter of 2021 was $400 million, an 11% increase over the first quarter outperforming our guided range of mid to high single-digit percentage growth. The US revenue for the second quarter 2021 was $296 million, up $44 million or 17% from the first quarter on increased drilling and completions activity. Our US energy centers and process solutions revenue were up 16% and 23% respectively with US energy center's revenue contributing approximately 80% of total US revenues in the second quarter, relatively in line with the first quarter levels. Moving to the Canadian segment, Canada revenue for the second quarter of 2021 was $51 million down $7 million or 12% from the first quarter due to seasonal breakup. International revenue was up to $53 million, an increase of $2 million or 4% from the first quarter, primarily from increased project activity. In addition to DNOW growing revenue 11% in the quarter, our gross margins improved sequentially by 50 basis points to 21.3%. This increase was primarily from inventory charges, declining sequentially from $5 million in the first quarter to $1 million this quarter, partially offset by lower product margins due to product mix and increased transportation costs. Inventory charges in general vary as a product of many factors, including customer demand changes both in volume and preference, the incline or decline in the market, specification changes on available products and actions taken to adjust our business model to support current and future activity. We continue the evaluation of our products and locations to align to the changing market conditions and our customer preferences, which could impact the level of inventory WSA headwind from the non-recurrence of the first quarter $2 million bad debt credit from the collected aged receivable with the remaining balance of the increase, primarily driven by the resumption of certain discretionary costs and the reduction in COVID-related government subsidies. The second quarter government subsidies, which totaled approximately $1.5 million, are expected to continue their phase-out through the second half of the year. This marks the fourth consecutive quarter we've improved our WSA as a percent of revenue. Considering this and other actions underway, we expect WSA to remain relatively flat into the third quarter. As we continue to streamline our organization and invest in our strategy. Operating profit was breakeven in the second quarter as we realized favorable year-over-year operating margin flow-throughs across all three segments driven by improved gross margins and our lower cost structure. Sequentially, the US delivered 23% incremental flow-through to operating margins and a $3 million operating loss in the second quarter. In the second quarter of 2021, the International segment reported $1 million in operating profit or 2% and Canada delivered $2 million in operating profit or 4% of revenue despite facing the customary seasonal breakup headwinds. The GAAP net loss for the second quarter was $2 million or a loss of $0.02 per share. On a non-GAAP basis, net income, excluding other costs was nil or zero per share. Non-GAAP EBITDA excluding other costs was a positive $6 million or 1.5% for the second quarter of 2021. And we reported $6 million of depreciation and amortization in the period and expect similar levels in the third quarter. At the onset of the pandemic, we swiftly identified and implemented the initiatives focused on transforming our operating model and maximizing customer service. The results of these actions can be recognized today in our financial performance as DNOW delivered 2Q EBITDA flow-throughs year-over-year of 70% as we delivered 8% higher revenue year-over-year while reducing WSA over 12%. Now to move to the balance sheet at the end of the second quarter, we have a net cash position of $293 million down $81 million from March driven by the $90 million cash payment for our second quarter acquisition that we discussed on our last call. Our debt position remained at zero and included zero draws in the quarter. Total liquidity, which is calculated as total availability from our undrawn credit facility, plus cash on hand was $528 million as of June 30, 2021. Accounts receivable ended at $271 million, an increase of $26 million from the first quarter, and inventory ended at $250 million substantially unchanged from the first quarter, with inventory turns reaching five times a quarterly best. Our accounts payable ended the second quarter at $217 million and as of June 30, 2021, working capital excluding cash as a percentage of our second quarter annualized revenue was 12.3%, with some of the working capital reduction attributable to the estimated fair value of contingent consideration which is subject to change. We do expect this working capital ratio to revert some as we intentionally add working capital to grow the business. Our focus on working capital efficiency is reflected in a new quarterly best cash conversion cycle of 71 days. The primary driver for efficiency gains over the year has been increased inventory turns that help minimize the cash needed to fund our sequential revenue growth of 11%. Free cash flow in the period was $7 million reflecting net cash provided by operating activities of $8 million reduced by $1 million in capital expenditures. When looking back over the last two years, we've generated approximately $350 million in free cash flow and we will continue our commitment to balance sheet management, make investments in good inventory, pursue strategic acquisitions, and maximize assets held to fuel the future. Our team is focused on profitable market share gains. We're actively deploying technology to augment labor content, automating and digitizing processes and reducing infrastructure costs. We are intent on continuously developing a more agile business and increasing productivity. We continue into 2021 with optimism for the future and we possess the talent, resources and fortitude to grow our bottom line and create sustained value for our customers and shareholders.
David Cherechinsky, President and CEO
Thank you, Mark. Now a bit on our DigitalNOW initiatives are impacting our business. In order to manage the scale of transactions and capture efficiencies across the procure to pay cycle, we offer our customers and suppliers a digital solution for catalogue browsing, transacting sales orders, purchase orders, and invoices across the procure to pay process. Many of these processes are unique to the customer's ERP procurement system or involved third-party middleware vendors, demonstrating the flexibility and tailored solutions our DigitalNOW platform provides our customers. During the second quarter of 2021, 43% of our SAP transactions are digital. We are leveraging technology to drive increased efficiencies across our business for our employees, customers, and our suppliers. And as incremental transactions and revenue are captured and processed, they provide an increase in employee productivity and system efficiencies. We continue to increase adoption across our digital platform by adding new customers during the quarter. During our last few earnings calls, you've heard us talk about eSpec and eTrack tools. As a refresher, eSpec helps customers select, configure, and create budgetary prices for 10 unique power service fabricated engineered equipment packages. Our tool automatically generates a real-time budgetary estimate plus a detailed working bill of material, which is used to produce a formal quote. Last quarter, we introduced eTrack our asset tracking that simplifies operator's asset management processes by geo-locating an asset, accessing specifications and engineered drawings, compliance certifications and provides the ability to view maintenance and service work history information. For our customers, eTrack improves asset transfer timeliness and accuracy, while the inventory report facilitates asset audits. This simplifies our customer's inventory control process, makes cycle counting easier and enables the tracking of assets in and out of holding yards as they become working assets. eTrack provides DNOW with the platform that enables our sales and operations teams, the ability to expand and extend value to our customers within our materials management programs, improving our efficiency, expediting future service requests and enabling parts orders to expand after-market sales. During the second quarter, we onboarded multiple EMP operator customers by identifying and logging hundreds of assets. Going forward, all engineered equipment packages shipped from our U.S. process solution locations will be equipped with eTrack, giving customers the ability to more effectively manage their assets. By using our eTrack mobile app, customers have the ability to create service work orders and order parts through our shop.dnow.com e-commerce platform. And as a final note, eTrack provides customers with a historical repository of asset record-keeping thus leveraging technology combined with our engineered products, the aftermarket service, and e-commerce platform for the life cycle of the asset. And now our view of the third quarter, looking ahead, fundamentals in our business continue to improve with oil in the $67 range as global rig counts and completions are expected to grow. The summer launch in North America usually sets up the third quarter to be our most active quarter of the year. The impact on oil and gas demand due to the COVID Delta variant brings a degree of uncertainty, as more stringent actions are taken to contain the spread. In the U.S., EMP companies could continue to add rigs, increase completions and draw down ducks. The growth in rigs driven by private operators expands the market for our products as we look to grow sales related to flow lines, gathering lines, and tie-ins. Demand for PBF in our fabricated and packaged engineered process solutions offerings increases as incremental production drives tank battery construction and increased saltwater disposal capacity. With the pullback in production throughout the pandemic, producers have seen mid-stream takeaway capacity open up, therefore delaying large capital transmission projects that would add incremental takeaway capacity. Canada has emerged from break-up and rigs are expected to grow sequentially at the current oil price. We have observed an increase in activity with several projects related to energy transition in the form of carbon capture and CO2 pipelines. We are working with our customers as they evaluate and budget carbon capture type projects to support their net zero carbon emission goals. Internationally, there are some causes for caution as countries grapple with an acceleration in Delta variant COVID cases. Economic growth in most countries could be metered as public officials consider more stringent lockdowns that will drive less consumption of energy. As OPEC plus manages supply additions over the near term and spare capacity returns to pre-COVID levels over the next year, we see a structurally supportive macro environment, depending on the pace of economic recovery. Taking this into account, our view is that revenue in the third quarter will grow in the mid-single-digit percentage range sequentially. Further, we expect to see sequential 2Q to 3Q 2021 EBITDA to revenue incrementals to be at the lower end of our historical 10% to 15% flow-through range. As we expect gross margin compression in 3Q as inventory and freight charges may be higher than the second quarter and projects will serve as a pricing headwind in 3Q. With regards to mergers and acquisitions, working capital discipline continues to provide flexibility as we evaluate the list of opportunities in our pipeline. After two acquisitions closed so far this year, our position remains strong with total liquidity ending the first half at $528 million, including $293 million in cash, zero debt, which provides maneuverability in the evolving energy space. We remain focused on M&A as a lever for inorganic growth, targeting accretive margin businesses that provide non-commoditized solutions that fit within our strategy. We continue our active engagement with several potential targets and are forging for opportunities. We are focused on strengthening our Process Solutions product lines by adding companies which expand customer appeal, create competitive advantage, differentiation and build barriers to entry for DNOW. Furthermore, we are evaluating businesses that help diversify our end markets to provide greater market differentiation for the company. In closing, I'd like to thank our employees and acknowledge their hard work, their dedication to serving our customers and supporting our key suppliers for making safety a priority and for their perseverance that has enabled the bright future that lies ahead. We remain focused on generating greater operating efficiencies while enhancing our differentiated offering to customers. Our size and scale strengthen our value proposition that customers can depend on as they navigate industry consolidation, supply disruptions, and the energy transition. With that, let's open the call up for questions.
Operator, Operator
And our first question is from Jon Hunter from Cowen.
Jon Hunter, Analyst
I'm doing well. Thank you. My first question is about the revenue progression into the third quarter and then the fourth quarter, particularly regarding the U.S. What are your revenue expectations in the U.S. for the third quarter compared to your expectations for completions? Additionally, as we approach the fourth quarter, it appears that EMPs have maintained a disciplined approach to capital spending this year. What are your expectations regarding a seasonal decline in the fourth quarter?
David Cherechinsky, President and CEO
In the third quarter, we are collecting feedback from our customers regarding their expected spending. We anticipate a seasonal increase as previously discussed. Based on their forecasts, we expect spending to be in the low to mid-single-digit range for our customers overall. We aim to gain more traction with private EMP companies, which have been a significant focus for us as they are increasing their rig counts and completing more projects. This area is a priority for us to capture market share from both traditional lower and higher potential clients, particularly since we have historically targeted larger customers. Regarding the fourth quarter, it is difficult to predict. We typically experience a slowdown in the fourth quarter, particularly in December, and it is hard to assess the impact this year. While we've observed a steady increase in rig counts, we've also noticed delays in product availability, especially in the pipe sector, which may coincide with the usual seasonal drop we expect due to the potential unavailability of pipe, a crucial product line for us at this time. Therefore, we’re not providing guidance for the fourth quarter right now as there remains considerable uncertainty related to COVID and its effects, and results could vary depending on multiple factors.
Jon Hunter, Analyst
Understood. Thanks, Dave. And shifting to margins, I understand there are some headwinds in the third quarter in terms of supply chain and perhaps some inflationary cost pressure. So I'm curious as we look into the fourth quarter and perhaps into 2022 if you're able to quantify how much of a headwind those types of things are to third quarter, and then as we look into next year, what's a more normalized type gross margin level we should be thinking about once these things are past us?
David Cherechinsky, President and CEO
Okay. So in the short term, we're seeing the biggest influencer in gross margins for us over the last five quarters has been inventory charges. Now those tend to be higher in a downturn, which we are out of, and lower in a recovery, which we're in. So in the first quarter, as Mark had said, we had $5 million in inventory charges in the second quarter. They dropped quite a bit to the first quarter. That all depends on the timing of purchases, customer kind of product preferences, obsolescence, damaged products, etc. That's the number one impact. Freight has been a big impact in the second quarter and it probably won't continue into the third. I don't expect that to be a permanent impact. I do believe as a company, we're much more thoughtful about product acquisition by the inventory risk about having what the customer needs, but not getting too heavy into speculative purchases. So I think over time and into 2022, we'd see inventory charges, which like I said, was a big part of our gross margin variability, being fairly low, especially compared to 2020, especially compared to that. So one thing that's been a positive for us in the last few quarters inventory charges coming down, I expect that to persist. Freight charges, which were high in the second quarter, I expect that to continue into the third, maybe throughout the rest of the year, but that will ease and that will, I believe correct itself. In terms of product margins, which is the main driver for gross margins, we remain very resilient across our product lines, including pipe. Now pipe is growing as a percent of our activity and expect it to grow into the third quarter as we see more projects and pipe is a lower margin project product relative to valves and fittings, etc. So those are kind of the puts and takes. In terms of where we would be next year, again, not guiding to 2022, but this 20.5 plus range is a good bet and maybe it could be better than that. We continue our process, which we've done for years now, where we focus on higher margin businesses, customers, product lines, etc. that continues. The acquisitions we made this year will have margins in excess of what we normally experience. The acquisitions we do later in the year should we be successful, will continue that pattern. So high grading gross margins is a big focus around here. Exiting low margin products, disfavoring them is part of that process as well. So I see more upside in terms of gross margins, Jonathan.
Jon Hunter, Analyst
Thanks for that. I'll turn it back.
Doug Becker, Analyst
Thanks. Just following on one question about gross margin, as revenue starts to approach $2 billion, the changes you're doing in terms of mix and the efficiencies is a 22% gross margin unrealistic off of a $2 billion revenue base?
David Cherechinsky, President and CEO
Well I don't think it's outrageous. I think it's plausible. I think there are many things that would impact that. But we're at 21% and like we alluded to in our opening comments, we do expect a little downward pressure in the third quarter because of the very low inventory charges. But 22% is within the realm of possibility, of course. And again, I said, we're very particular about, and if you look at the trend of gross margins for DNOW over the last few years, bringing that number up, focusing on higher margin activity and intentionally not focusing in low margin stuff, and we need to do that because we still need to pull costs out of the business and Mark alluded to that as well. So I do think 22% is in the realm of possibility and it's a target for us for sure.
Doug Becker, Analyst
Yeah. That makes sense. And how does that play into the M&A opportunities obviously looking for margin accretive, but any particular areas of focus?
David Cherechinsky, President and CEO
The companies we are considering are primarily assessed based on their earnings potential. It is possible to have a business with lower gross margins yet still achieve strong EBITDA, and we remain open to such opportunities. While these could impact gross margins, I believe all the deals we're evaluating have gross margins that exceed our current levels. Although EBITDA percentages are a key factor, our focus remains on higher margin products, which we see as essential for both organic and inorganic growth strategies.
Doug Becker, Analyst
Okay. And then just another really strong quarter on managing working capital, last quarter you were talking about trying to keep networking capital as a percent of revenue closer to 15% came in at 12.3% this quarter, how much of that was a function of maybe delays receiving some of the inventory? And should we still be thinking about inventory growing $30 million to $40 million over the course of the year?
David Cherechinsky, President and CEO
I mentioned in my opening comments that a small part of the situation is due to inventory delays, though it's not a significant factor. Looking back at our experience in 2020, our EBITDA for the year was minus $57 million, which was the worst year in our history, and we incurred over $54 million in inventory charges. This highlights the need to be strategic with our inventory. Mark mentioned earlier that we achieved a five turn in the first quarter, which we have never done before. We are focused on maintaining high margins and strong turns, and we believe we were able to meet customer needs in the second quarter without significant issues related to delayed goods receipts. However, we expect some delays to start affecting us in the third quarter as we are experiencing longer shipping times for some of the pipe we ordered, which could negatively impact our projected growth in the latter half of the year. We might experience some challenges with pipe, but less so with other product categories. Regarding our working capital revenue, it stands at 12% or 12.3%, with a working capital turn of 8%. We anticipate some improvement as we are collecting our bills quickly and negotiating longer payment terms with our suppliers while managing inventory better than we have historically. I still believe targeting 15% to 20% for working capital revenues is a reasonable range.
Operator, Operator
Yes, you're back.
David Cherechinsky, President and CEO
Okay. So I think I answered that last question. Sorry. We had some technical difficulties. Did you have any other questions Doug?
Doug Becker, Analyst
No problem. So just wanted to tie a bow on that 15% to 20% of revenue is still a reasonable target going forward.
David Cherechinsky, President and CEO
I believe so.
Adam Farley, Analyst
Good morning. This is Adam Farley on for Nathan.
David Cherechinsky, President and CEO
Good morning, Adam, or good evening wherever you might be.
Adam Farley, Analyst
Good morning out here in Denver back on to the group margins and pricing, how accepting is the market of price increases associated with inflation? And do you think higher prices have impacted demand at all?
David Cherechinsky, President and CEO
Well, here's what we're seeing so far. Our customers like we talked about, talked about exhaustedly are very focused on cash maximization and that includes price of goods. So we are getting pushback from customers on increasing price. We are seeing that. Now, so far, we've been able to push customers to substitutes which might enable us to capture the sale and to keep them interested in that transaction, but we are seeing some customers push back. As lead times expand, we'll see less of that resistance from customers because they'll be more interested in getting the product than paying a few pennies more than they had historically, but there is a little pressure along those lines.
Adam Farley, Analyst
Okay. That makes sense. Turning over to the WSA spend, I believe you gave us a run rate outlook for 2021, but maybe longer term, how do you expect expenses to layer back in with growth?
David Cherechinsky, President and CEO
So in the short term, so in 2020, we were very focused on resizing the business in a market that had shrunk by 70% in five months and you talk about the metaphor catching a falling knife and how difficult that is. We believe we caught that knife and I sat up two or three quarters ago that we're going to be circumspect. We're going to be thoughtful. We're going to be careful to preserve our position in the market when you reduce your workforce by 45%. And when you close 50 branches out of 250 branches, you forego revenue opportunity. So right now we're focused primarily on growing the business, taking market share and making smart inorganic purchases and workforce. Secondarily, over a period of time realize and are focused on modernizing our branches, relying more so on central distribution where we can push more volume across fewer people with better flow-throughs and better WSA, but over time, that WSA number needs to come down relative to the current level of revenues. So it's not just WSA needs to come down as a percent of revenue. The absolute value needs to come down all other things equal. So, in the coming quarters, we're still working on, I call it a migration to a centralized model. I call it migration because it takes some time. And so we'll see those numbers come down in the future, but they won't. Like Mark said, we expect them at least for the third quarter to be about worth where they were in the second.
Operator, Operator
And we have no further questions at this time. I'll turn the call back over to David Cherechinsky, CEO and President for closing statements.
David Cherechinsky, President and CEO
I want to thank everyone for joining us today. I apologize for the technical issues. But we look forward to seeing you in a few months and have a great quarter.
Operator, Operator
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.