Earnings Call Transcript - TTMI Q1 2023

Operator, Operator

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the TTM Technologies First Quarter Fiscal 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. During today's presentation, all parties will be in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, the conference will be open for questions. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded today, May 3, 2023. Sameer Desai, TTM's Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations, will now review TTM's disclosure statement.

Sameer Desai, Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations

Thanks, Sheri. Before we get started, I would like to remind everyone that today's call contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements related to TTM's future business outlook. Actual results could differ materially from these forward-looking statements due to one or more risks or uncertainties, including the factors explained in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements are based on management's expectations and assumptions as of the date of this presentation. TTM does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any of these statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or other circumstances, except as required by law. Please refer to the disclosures regarding the risks that may affect TTM, which may be found in reports on Form 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, the registration statement on Form S-4 and the company's other SEC filings. We will also discuss on this call certain non-GAAP financial measures such as adjusted EBITDA. Such measures should not be considered a substitute for measures prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP, and we direct you to the reconciliation of non-GAAP to GAAP measures included in the company's press release, which was filed with the SEC and is available on TTM's website. We've also posted on our website a slide deck that we will refer to during our call. I would now like to turn the call over to Tom Edman, TTM's Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead, Tom.

Thomas Edman, CEO

Thank you, Sameer. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for our first quarter fiscal year 2023 conference call. I'll start with a review of our business highlights from the quarter and discuss our first quarter results, followed by a summary of our business strategy. Todd Schull, our CFO, will then provide an overview of our Q1 2023 financial performance and our Q2 2023 guidance. We will open the call for your questions afterward. The quarter's results can be viewed on Slide 3 of the investor presentation on TTM's website. In the first quarter of 2023, revenues fell short of the guided range due to softened demand in our commercial markets and supply chain challenges that hindered our ability to meet strong demand in the aerospace and defense sector. Nevertheless, due to an improved product mix and effective cost controls, non-GAAP EPS remained within the guided range. Demand in our aerospace and defense market continues to be robust, evidenced by a record backlog, although this is countered by weaker demand in our commercial sectors. Looking ahead to Q2, inventory adjustments and demand softness in our commercial markets persist, but to a lesser degree, leading to stabilizing bookings, albeit at low levels. The aerospace and defense market now accounts for 40% of our revenues. I would like to provide a strategic update. TTM is on a path to transform our business to be less cyclical and more differentiated. Over the past several years, we have consistently emphasized adding value to the product solutions we provide, particularly in the aerospace and defense arena. In 2018, we acquired Anaren, which expanded our product portfolio into highly engineered RF components and subassemblies, enhancing our RF engineering capabilities. In 2022, we acquired Telephonics, which builds on Anaren and our customer-driven culture, further strengthening our engineering and manufacturing disciplines. The addition of Telephonics allows us to offer more advanced engineered system solutions and expands our presence in the surveillance and communications markets, while reinforcing our capabilities in radar systems. As a result of these strategic moves, over 50% of our aerospace and defense revenues now come from engineered and integrated electronic products, with PCBs contributing less than 50% to the overall total. Another significant aspect of our differentiation strategy is the ongoing construction of a new advanced and highly automated PCB manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia. This decision responds directly to our customers' growing concerns regarding supply chain resiliency and the need for advanced multilayer PCB sourcing options outside of China. The new facility will support customers in our commercial markets, including networking, data center computing, medical, industrial, and instrumentation. We are making progress on this facility, having already hired over 50 engineers, most of whom are currently receiving training in our facilities in China. Lastly, I want to update you on our manufacturing footprint consolidation. We previously announced our decision to close three small manufacturing facilities to enhance total plant utilization, operational performance, customer focus, and profitability. PCB operations in Anaheim and Santa Clara, California, and Hong Kong will be consolidated into our remaining facilities. These closures are expected to improve facility and talent utilization across our operations, leading to better profitability. We remain on track to close the Hong Kong facility by the end of Q2 and the two North American facilities by the year's end. Our customers have been supportive of this consolidation, and we anticipate retaining most of the business associated with these facilities. We also completed the sale of our Shanghai backplane assembly facility at the end of March. This facility generated approximately $45 million in revenue in 2022, but contributed a minimal amount to operating income. We are pleased to have found a suitable buyer, DBG Technology Co., Ltd, which specializes in assembly work and aims to grow the customer base for this facility. Now we'll review our end markets, which are detailed on Page 4 of the earnings presentation on our website. The aerospace and defense sector accounted for 43% of total first quarter sales, compared to 30% of Q1 2022 sales and 40% of sales in Q4 2022. Much of the year-on-year growth stems from the inclusion of Telephonics. Excluding this impact, our Q1 aerospace and defense revenues grew organically by 7% year-on-year. We continue to experience a favorable defense climate, with our aerospace and defense program backlog standing at $1.38 billion, which includes Telephonics. This strong demand in the defense sector is supported by positive momentum in defense budgets, our strategic program alignment, and key bookings for ongoing franchise initiatives. During the quarter, we received substantial bookings for key programs, such as the scalable agile beam radar for F-16 fighter jets and the SPY-7 radar for Japan's Aegis system equipped vessel. While the demand outlook remains positive, we are facing supply chain challenges due to its complexity, with many smaller organizations struggling to meet lead time requirements for us and our customers. We anticipate making steady progress in this area throughout 2023 and expect Q2 sales from this market to comprise about 45% of our total sales. Regarding the defense budget backdrop, the administration revealed preliminary details of the fiscal 2024 President's budget request in early March, which includes a 3% increase over fiscal 2023 enacted funding. During the quarter, President Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a $50 million partnership to enhance advanced packaging for semiconductors and printed circuit boards in North America. Additionally, the White House invoked the Defense Production Act to cover PCB manufacturing and advanced packaging production capability. These initiatives highlight the critical role of the printed circuit board industry in the aerospace and defense supply chain and the growing necessity for supply chain resiliency. We will continue collaborating with our customers to ensure that our leadership position in North American PCB production meets their current and future demands. The medical industrial instrumentation end market contributed 19% of our total sales in the first quarter, down from 21% in the previous year and 17% in Q4 2022. Several customers have been reducing inventory and quick-turn business. The instrumentation segment is also closely tied to the semiconductor capital equipment market, which is facing weakened demand. For the second quarter, we anticipate that medical industrial instrumentation will represent 18% of revenues. Automotive sales accounted for 17% of total sales in Q1 2023, compared to 20% in the year-ago quarter and 16% in the fourth quarter of 2022. The decline in automotive was attributed to inventory adjustments and semiconductor shortages affecting OEM production, as well as fewer working days due to the Chinese New Year. We expect our automotive business to contribute 18% of total sales in Q2. Networking comprised 11% of revenue in Q1 2023, down from 13% in both Q1 2022 and Q4 2022, as customers focus on managing inventory levels. In Q2, we expect this market to account for 8% of revenue since the revenues from the sold Shanghai BPA facility are no longer included in this sector. The Shanghai BPA contributed around $8 million of revenue to this end market in Q1 2023. Data center computing represented 10% of total sales in Q1, compared to 16% in Q1 2022 and 14% in Q4 2022. The weaker performance in this area was mainly due to inventory management at our data center customers amidst ongoing issues in the semiconductor market. We expect revenues from this sector to stabilize at approximately 11% of second quarter sales. Next, I’ll share some details from the first quarter, which are also available on Page 5 of our earnings presentation. Our advanced technology and engineered products business, which includes HDI, rigid-flex, RF subsystems and components, and engineered systems, accounted for about 41% of our revenue. This is up from approximately 33% in the same quarter last year and 39% in Q4. We are actively pursuing new business opportunities and increasing customer design engagement activities to capitalize on our advanced technology and engineered products capabilities in new markets. PCB capacity utilization in Asia Pacific was at 52% in Q1, compared to 78% in the same quarter last year and 69% in Q4. Overall PCB capacity utilization in North America was at 39%, down from 49% a year ago and 41% in Q4. It’s worth noting that we update our utilization calculation methodology annually, which may result in restated figures for previous years and quarters for comparative purposes. The decline in Asia Pacific utilization was driven by reduced production volumes and fewer working days due to the Chinese New Year holiday, while the lower year-on-year rate in North America was a result of added plating capacity and a higher mix of advanced technology products that require less plating. Our top five customers accounted for 36% of total sales in Q1 2023, the same percentage as in Q4 2022. One customer made up over 10% of sales in the quarter. At the end of Q1, our 90-day backlog, excluding Telephonics, was $429.1 million, down from $605.3 million at the end of the first quarter last year. Including Telephonics, our backlog at the end of Q1 was $482.2 million. Our book-to-bill ratio, with Telephonics included, was 0.82 for the three months ended April 3, demonstrating stronger aerospace and defense bookings offset by weaker commercial bookings. Our aerospace and defense bookings also have longer shipping times compared to commercial bookings. As we approach Q2, we’re observing continued softness in our commercial markets with bookings stabilizing at lower levels. On the aerospace and defense side, we remain focused on making gradual improvements in shipments as we collaborate with supply chain partners to address bottlenecks and leverage an improving labor market. I am confident that with the dedication of our employees, we can navigate these challenges as we progress through 2023. Meanwhile, I want to express my gratitude to our employees for their continued contributions to TTM and our vital mission of fostering innovation for our customers. Now, I’ll turn it over to Todd to discuss our financial performance for the first quarter.

Todd Schull, CFO

Thanks, Tom, and good afternoon, everyone. I'll be reviewing our financial results for the first quarter that were included in the press release distributed today as well as on Slide 6 of our earnings presentation that is posted on our website. For the first quarter, net sales were $544.4 million compared to $581.3 million in the first quarter of 2022. The year-over-year decrease in revenue was due to declines in our commercial markets, partially offset by the inclusion of Telephonics, as well as organic growth in our aerospace and defense end market. GAAP operating loss for the first quarter of 2023 was $3.5 million and compares to operating income of $25.9 million in the first quarter of 2022. On a GAAP basis, net loss in the first quarter of 2023 was $5.8 million or $0.06 per diluted share. This compares to GAAP net income of $17.2 million or $0.17 per diluted share in the first quarter of last year. The remainder of my comments will focus on our non-GAAP financial performance. Our non-GAAP performance excludes M&A-related costs, restructuring costs, certain noncash expense items such as amortization of intangibles and stock compensation, gains on the sale of property, and other unusual or infrequent items. We present non-GAAP financial information to enable investors to see the company through the eyes of management and to facilitate comparison with expectations in prior periods. Gross margin in the first quarter was 17.1% and compares to 15.9% in the first quarter of 2022. The year-on-year increase was due to the inclusion of Telephonics, favorable foreign exchange, and product mix, partially offset by less premium revenue and production inefficiencies. Selling and marketing expense was $20.6 million in the first quarter or 3.8% of net sales versus $17.6 million or 3% of net sales a year ago. First quarter G&A expense was $32.1 million or 5.9% of net sales compared to $29.8 million or 5.1% of net sales in the same quarter last year. The year-over-year increases were due primarily to the addition of Telephonics. In the first quarter of 2023, R&D expense was $6.8 million or 1.3% of revenues compared to $5.3 million or 0.9% in the year ago quarter. Our operating margin in Q1 was 6.1%. This compares to 6.8% in the same quarter last year. Interest expense was $12.1 million in the first quarter compared to $10.8 million in the same quarter last year. During the quarter, there was a negative $0.9 million of foreign exchange impact below the operating line. Government incentives and interest income more than offset this, resulting in a net $1.2 million gain or $0.01 positive impact to EPS. This compares to a $1 million gain or $0.01 impact on EPS in Q1 of last year. Our effective tax rate was 17% in the first quarter, resulting in tax expense of $3.8 million. This compares to a rate of 15% or a tax expense of $4.5 million in the prior year. First quarter net income was $18.6 million or $0.18 per diluted share. This compares to first quarter 2022 net income of $25.3 million or $0.24 per diluted share. Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter was $58.5 million or 10.7% of revenue, compared with first quarter 2022 adjusted EBITDA of $62 million or 10.7% of revenue. Depreciation for the quarter was $4 million. Net capital spending in the quarter was $30.7 million. Cash flow from operations was a very strong $55.1 million or 10.1% of revenue, in line with our target of 10%. Free cash flow was also very good at $24.4 million or 4.5% of revenue. Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the first quarter of 2023 were $417.5 million, inclusive of $40.3 million from the proceeds of the sale of the property associated with our Shanghai EMS facility and partial proceeds from the sale of our Shanghai backplane assembly facility. Our net debt divided by last 12 months EBITDA was 1.4%, below our targeted range of 1.5x to 2x. During the quarter, we entered into an interest rate swap for $250 million of our variable debt, effectively fixing the interest rate for that amount of debt at 6%. Given our strong balance sheet and cash flow, our Board of Directors has authorized a new $100 million stock buyback program, and we are also evaluating options for the refinancing of our Term Loan B that matures in the third quarter of 2024. I'd now like to turn to our guidance for the second quarter. Given the continued softness in commercial markets, we project total revenue for the second quarter of 2023 to be in the range of $530 to $570 million and non-GAAP earnings to be in the range of $0.17 to $0.23 per diluted share. I would also like to point out that Q2 guidance does not include $8 million of revenue and $0.4 million of operating profit generated in Q1 from the Shanghai backplane assembly facility. The EPS forecast is based on a diluted share count of approximately 106 million shares, which includes the dilutive securities such as options and RSUs. We expect that SG&A expense will be about 10% of revenue in the second quarter, and R&D will be about 1.3% of revenue. We expect interest expense to total approximately $11.1 million. Finally, we estimate our effective tax rate to be between 15% and 19%. To assist you in developing your financial models, we offer the following additional information. During the second quarter, we expect to record amortization of intangibles of about $16.5 million, stock-based compensation expense of about $5 million, noncash interest expense of approximately $0.5 million, and we estimate depreciation expense will be approximately $23.8 million. Finally, I'd like to announce that we'll be participating in the Barclays Leverage Finance Conference on May 23, the Stifel Cross Sector Insight Conference on June 7, and the UBS Industrials Conference on June 8. We will also be hosting an Analyst Day on May 31 at our Telephonics facility in Farmingdale, New York. That concludes our prepared remarks, and now I'd like to open the line for questions.

Operator, Operator

Our first question will come from William Stein with Truist Securities.

William Stein, Analyst

I'm hoping you can quantify lead times in the aerospace defense end market. I think we've seen ever higher backlog in this business. I think based on current revenue, it looks like you got about 1.5 years of backlog, assuming it's all sort of deliverable ASAP. It's probably a bit more stretched out than that. I imagine you have some blanket orders that are much further out, but still, it's a ton of backlog relative to your revenue. You must be having some pretty meaningful supply chain constraints, I assume. I'm hoping you can quantify that for us, tell us where the biggest problems are and explain whether the Defense Production Act helps in some way.

Thomas Edman, CEO

Thank you for the question, Will. When examining lead times, it's important to differentiate between printed circuit boards and what we classify as integrated electronics, which now makes up over 50% of our aerospace and defense business. While there are still some challenges in the printed circuit board area, the main issues are found in the integrated electronics segment, which encompasses assembly, RF subassembly work, microelectronics, and completed systems. This is where we are experiencing the most significant supply chain challenges. The backlog we have can be viewed as having an 18-month to two-year timeline for most of that program backlog to ship, particularly focusing on improving lead times in the integrated electronics sector. Due to the complexity of system builds, lead times are increasingly variable, making it difficult to provide precise estimates. Major primes in the industry are facing similar supply chain issues, largely due to smaller suppliers that have been struggling post-COVID with labor shortages and now rising interest rates, as well as financing and cash flow challenges. Overall, there are numerous factors affecting the supply chain, especially concerning smaller organizations.

William Stein, Analyst

In their case, are we talking about semiconductor devices that you're waiting on? Where we've heard about supply constraints for a couple of years now, but they seem to be getting much better? Or is it something else? Does it not relate to devices?

Thomas Edman, CEO

Yes. So there's still some bottlenecks related to analog semiconductors. If you think about some of the systems that we're building, they're relying on older designs, particularly as you get into the service side of the business. So certainly there, we still have issues with some of the analog semiconductor supply. It's much broader than that, though, as you get into some of our suppliers who are dealing with power supplies and older parts that they are just having a tough time requalifying for. They continue to run into just a number of challenges. So I would put analog semiconductor as still a challenge. It's much broader than that when it comes to the defense supply base, and a lot of this ties to just smaller enterprises that have been struggling for several years now.

William Stein, Analyst

If I can squeeze one more in, Tom. I appreciate the time you're taking. Can you quantify the timing of the Penang facilities coming online? And what happens to your China footprint once the Penang facility does come online?

Thomas Edman, CEO

We are currently in the process of completing the Penang building. Equipment deliveries will begin in the third quarter, and we expect to start initial qualifications in the fourth quarter, marking the beginning stages of production. The facility is projected to ramp up throughout next year, with the goal of reaching close to full production by the fourth quarter of next year. Regarding our China facilities, some existing programs will transfer, but the majority of what our customers have planned for Penang consists of new programs. These will primarily focus on standard and high technology board production, which is needed for data center computing and certain medical industrial applications. We are also considering an automated production line. This opportunity is relatively limited at the moment and currently represents a minor portion of our business. However, we've been in discussions with our customers about leveraging this automation to meet their technology needs in the high technology and standard technology sectors, which will mainly serve to supplement our revenue with only a slight transfer of existing business.

Operator, Operator

And that will come from the line of Griffin Boss with B. Riley Securities.

Griffin Boss, Analyst

So first one for me, given the remarks on the percentage mix between PCB revenue and designed and engineered products, can you remind us how you account for all of the RF engineering and related revenue generated from what your Anaren and Telephonics acquisitions were? And then as that relates to the PCB and F&S operating segments?

Thomas Edman, CEO

Okay. Yes. That goes into the PCB segment. Yes. So F&S segment really is the commercial component production that we do, that portion of the production from Anaren. The balance of what is Anaren and Telephonics, legacy Telephonics, and our assembly operations are really what I talked about earlier when I mentioned the non-PCB portion of our aerospace and defense business.

Griffin Boss, Analyst

And then so shifting gears on Slide 16 of the investor presentation that was published earlier today, so not the earnings one. That Slide 16 listed, I think, some 40 of the 180-plus defense programs you are on. Could you share what are perhaps maybe the top 5 or 10 of these programs and where you think you're generating the most bookings from?

Thomas Edman, CEO

Yes, I believe you have a solid list of some of the key programs. Let me discuss the critical overall programs for TTM. Today, we talked about the SABRE program for the F-16, and we are also engaged with the F-35. We have significant involvement in radar programs related to both SPY 6 and SPY 7. SPY-6 is a particularly important program that we announced recently. We are also part of the low-tier air missile defense system program, which is crucial for us. Moving to our Telephonics radar business, we primarily focus on helicopter platforms, including those from Sikorsky, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing, all of which are highly significant for us. In terms of larger content programs, we generally expand our involvement in radar-related projects. We expect to have a greater share of printed circuit board content in some of the other programs mentioned in that list.

Griffin Boss, Analyst

And then just last one for me. Apologies if I missed this in the prepared remarks, but can you discuss the number and value of automotive design wins in the quarter?

Thomas Edman, CEO

Sure. Yes. No, I had not mentioned it this quarter, but let me get you that. We actually had a really strong quarter in terms of automotive design wins. We won a total program value of about $267 million. To give you a year-on-year comparison, that compares to about $66 million last year and $279 million in Q4. To put this into real perspective, all of 2022, we won $530 million. So really strong positioning in the first quarter on these large programs that positions us well as these programs tend to become production of record go into production approximately 6 months to a year after we have the win. So really strong program wins this quarter. Thank you for asking.

Operator, Operator

Thank you One moment for our next question. And that will come from the line of Jim Ricchiuti with Needham & Co.

Jim Ricchiuti, Analyst

I apologize for missing part of the opening presentation and some of the Q&A, but my question is about the aerospace and defense business, Tom. There are your own supply chain challenges as well as those faced by the PONs. I’m trying to understand your perspective on A&D for Q2. As we look beyond Q2 into the second half of the year, you have your own forecast. What is your confidence level that things will unfold as expected, considering the ongoing supply chain issues affecting both you and your customers?

Thomas Edman, CEO

Right, right. I agree with you, Jim. That's a critical question. Our focus here is going to be on a sequential improvement as we manage the supply chain. We've added to that with the Telephonics business and the complexity there. The piece that is challenged, if you will, on the supply chain side has certainly grown. Post that acquisition, we have a plan to continue to work on sequential improvements as we go through the course of this year. Frankly, I think some of the issues will move into next year as well. We are going to be focused on sequentially attacking this and improving. The good news is that the labor markets have improved, impacting North America PCB production and helping us there. It was also helping to use at least one pain point on the integrated electronics side of the business. To give you a perspective, again, yes, Asia weakness plays into this as well. About 58% of our revenues this quarter came from North America production, 42% from Asia. If you remember, you can almost flip that script if you went back a year ago in terms of revenue split. North America is improving for us. It's just that has tended to be towards PCB. We don't have supply chain issues there. It's really now about integrated electronics and the focus that we're putting on that organization, and there is a lot of focus in terms of improving and working with our vendor base to provide more predictability as they deliver into our requirements.

Jim Ricchiuti, Analyst

Follow-up question relates to the commercial business. I think I heard you mention some stabilization. I'm curious about the broader commercial business; where do you see more certainty from your perspective, and where do you see less certainty in regard to some of those verticals?

Thomas Edman, CEO

We began to observe some stabilization towards the end of the quarter regarding the bookings environment. Can you describe the overall markets, their positioning, and your outlook as we enter the next quarter? In aerospace and defense, our focus is primarily on execution, as this segment constitutes about 40% of our revenue and we have a backlog in place. The automotive sector falls into a similar category. Previously, I mentioned anticipating a decline of approximately 7% in auto sales due to factors associated with the Chinese New Year. With consistent demand, we expect recovery, and indeed, that's what we are witnessing. So, the automotive sector remains strong, particularly when comparing expectations to Q3 and Q4 levels versus Q2. The industrial sector is also performing well. Altogether, these segments account for roughly 73% of our business. Conversely, we are closely monitoring the medical sector, where stringent inventory controls are in place, although we expect underlying demand to surface. We hope to see improvement in this area, potentially beginning in the next quarter or as we progress into Q3 and Q4, which represents about 5% of our revenue. To address your question about weaker sectors, we observe a need for improvement in our data center and semiconductor markets. Our data center computing segment continues to be weak, and networking remains significantly down year-on-year, even when excluding Shanghai BPA. Instrumentation, particularly in the semiconductor capital equipment market, represents about 22% of our revenue and currently shows notable softness. We anticipate potential improvements in these markets by Q3 and Q4, though the semiconductor side may extend into next year. The data center segment might see some enhancement as the year progresses. That summarizes my current perspective on the markets.

Operator, Operator

I'm showing no further questions in the queue at this time. I would now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Tom Edman for any closing remarks.

Thomas Edman, CEO

Sure thing. First of all, I wanted to thank everyone for joining the call. I wanted to highlight a few points. This is a critical transition year for us. We're seeing an improvement in labor markets in North America. That's a positive. We still have to work through those supply chain issues that we addressed in the call. In Asia Pacific, we are focused on a flexible response, taking advantage of market share gain opportunities here as we're in a soft period, looking to see improvement as we go forward. The third area of focus is Penang and the Penang ramp. We remain focused on here in 2023. I do want to highlight that we continue to generate very strong cash flow and that our debt ratio right now is at about 1.4x, so actually below our target range. I look forward to seeing many of you at our Analyst Day on May 31. Again, I wanted to thank you for joining our call. Take care.

Operator, Operator

Thank you all for participating. This concludes today's program. You may now disconnect.