Dycom Industries Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
November 21, 2023

There are 10 speakers on the call.

Operator

Welcome to the Dycom Industries Inc. 3rd Quarter Fiscal 20 24 Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question and answer Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Mr.

Operator

Stephen Nielsen, President and Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead, sir.

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for attending this conference call to review our Q3 fiscal 2024 results. Going to Slide 2. During this call, we will be referring to a slide presentation, which can be found on our website's Investor Center main page.

Speaker 1

Relevant slides will be identified by number throughout our presentation. Today, we have on the call Drew DeFerrari, our Chief Financial Officer and Ryan Urness, our General Counsel. Now I will turn the call over to Ryan Urness.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Steve. All forward looking statements made during this conference call are provided pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward looking statements include all comments reflecting our expectations, assumptions or beliefs about future events. These forward looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from current projections. Including those risks discussed in the company's filings with the U.

Speaker 2

S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward looking statements are made solely as of the original Broadcast date of this conference call and we assume no obligation to update any forward looking statements. Steve?

Speaker 1

Thanks, Ryan. Now moving to Slide 4 and a review of our Q3 results. As we review our results, please note that in our comments today and in the accompanying slides, We reference certain non GAAP measures. We refer you to the Quarterly Reports section of our website for a reconciliation of these non GAAP to their corresponding GAAP measures. In addition, the impacts of the change order and the closeout of several projects Increased contract revenues by $26,500,000 during this quarter.

Speaker 1

After the impacts of certain other costs, All of these items contributed $23,600,000 to both gross margin and adjusted EBITDA. As a result, reported gross margin was increased by 1.6% and reported adjusted EBITDA was increased by 1.8%, both as a percentage of contract revenues. On an after tax basis, these items contributed approximately 17,500,000 to reported net income or $0.59 per common share diluted. Now for the quarter. Revenue increased year over year to $1,136,000,000 an increase of 9%.

Speaker 1

Organic revenue grew 4.6%. As we deployed gigabit wireline networks, wirelesswireline converged networks and wireless networks, this quarter reflected an increase in demand from 4 of our top five customers. Gross margin was 22% of revenue, increased 358 basis points compared to the Q3 of fiscal 2023. General and administrative expenses were 7.7% of revenue And all of these factors produced adjusted EBITDA of $166,800,000 or 14.7 percent of revenue and earnings per share of $2.82 compared to $1.80 in the year ago quarter. Liquidity was ample at $464,100,000 And finally, during the quarter, we completed the acquisition of Bigum Cable Construction.

Speaker 1

Now going to Slide 5. Today, major industry participants are constructing or upgrading significant wireline networks across broad sections of the country. These wireline networks are generally designed to provision gigabit network speeds to individual consumers and businesses either directly or wirelessly using 5 gs technologies. Industry participants have stated their belief that a single high capacity fiber network can most cost effectively deliver services to both consumers and businesses, enabling multiple revenue streams from a single investment. This view is increasing the appetite for fiber deployments, And we believe that the industry's effort to deploy high capacity fiber networks continues to meaningfully broaden the set of opportunities for our industry.

Speaker 1

Increasing access to high capacity telecommunications continues to be crucial to society, especially for rural America. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes over $40,000,000,000 for the construction of rural communications networks in unserved And underserved areas across the country under the BEED program. This represents an unprecedented level of Support and meaningfully increases the rural market that we expect will ultimately be addressed. States are progressing through their requirements submit their BEED initial proposals by the December 27 deadline. As of last week, 55 of 56 states and territories have commenced The planning process with 2 having completed 7 of 8 steps required before commencing spending and 19 completing 5 of 8.

Speaker 1

Once all 8 steps are completed, a state can request 20% or more of its allocated funding. In addition, substantially all states have commenced programs that will provide funding for telecommunications networks even prior to the initiation of funding under the Infrastructure Act. We are providing program management, planning, engineering and design, Aerial, underground and wireless construction and fulfillment services for gigabit deployments. These services are being provided across The country in numerous geographic areas to multiple customers. These deployments include networks consisting entirely of wired network elements in Converged wirelesswirelinemultiuse networks.

Speaker 1

Fiber network deployment opportunities are increasing in rural America as new industry participants to emerging societal initiatives. We continue to provide integrated planning, engineering and design, Procurement and Construction and Maintenance Services to several industry participants. Macroeconomic conditions, including those Packing the cost of capital may influence the execution of some industry plans. In addition, the market for labor remains tight in many regions around the country. Automotive and equipment supply chains remain challenged, particularly for the large truck chassis required for specialty equipment.

Speaker 1

Prices for capital equipment continue to increase. It remains to be seen how long these conditions may persist. We expect demand may fluctuate less amongst customers as increases in the cost of capital slow. For several customers, the pace of deployments is increasing into next year, including for those customers whose capital expenditures are more heavily weighted towards the first half of calendar year twenty twenty three. For these customers, we are pleased that some activity may already be increasing.

Speaker 1

We are encouraged by recent longer term industry financings. These financings have expanded the pool of capital available to fund future industry growth. Within this context, we remain confident that our scale and financial strength position us well to deliver valuable service to our customers. Moving to Slide 6. During the quarter, revenue increased 9%.

Speaker 1

Our top 5 customers combined produced 54.4 percent of revenue, decreasing 8.8% organically. Demand increased from 4 of our top 5 customers. All other customers increased 29.8 percent organically. Lumin was our largest customer 15.5 percent of revenue or $187,600,000 Lumin grew organically 47.1%, Excluding operations sold to Brightspeed from the year ago period, this was our 7th consecutive quarter of organic growth with Lumin. AT and T was our 2nd largest customer, 12.8 percent of total revenue or 145,100,000 Revenue from Comcast was $111,200,000 or 9.8 percent of revenue.

Speaker 1

Comcast was DICOM's 3rd largest customer and grew organically 2.2%. Verizon was our 4th largest customer at $104,800,000 or 9.2 percent of revenue, Verizon grew 10.3% organically. And finally, a customer who has requested their name not be disclosed was our 5th largest customer at 69,800,000 6.1 percent of revenue. This customer grew 94.9% organically. This is the 19th consecutive quarter where all of our other customers in aggregate excluding the top five customers have grown organically.

Speaker 1

It is the Q1 in 20 years where our top five customers have represented less than 55% of total revenue, an encouraging sign of increasing customer breadth and opportunity. Of note, fiber construction revenue from electric Utilities was $98,900,000 in the quarter. We have extended our geographic reach and expanded our program management and network planning services. In fact, over the last several years, we believe we have meaningfully increased the long term value of our maintenance and operations business, A trend which we believe will parallel our deployment of gigabit wireline direct and wirelesswireline converged networks as these as those deployments Now going to Slide 7. Backlog at the end of the 3rd quarter was $6,613,000,000 versus $6,207,000,000 at the end of the July 2023 quarter, an increase of $406,000,000 Of this backlog, approximately $3,831,000,000 is expected to be completed in the next 12 months.

Speaker 1

Backlog activity during the Q3 reflects solid performance as we booked new work And renewed existing work, we continue to anticipate substantial future opportunities across a broad array of our customers. During the quarter, we received from AT and T construction and maintenance agreements in Wisconsin, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia from Frontier, a fiber construction agreement for Ohio for charter Construction agreements in California, Ohio and New York various Rural Fiber Construction Agreements in Arizona, Illinois, Kansas, Arkansas, Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia and various utility line locating agreements in Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia. Headcount was 15,401. Now I will turn the call over to Drew for his financial review and outlook.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Steve, and good morning, everyone. Going to Slide 8, contract revenues were $1,136,000,000 and organic revenue increased 4 point 6%. Revenue from our recently acquired business was $45,200,000 in the current period. Adjusted EBITDA was $166,800,000 or 14.7 percent of contract revenues compared to $114,600,000 or 11 percent of contract revenues in Q3 2023. The impacts of the change order And the closeout of several projects increased contract revenues by $26,500,000 in Q3 'twenty four.

Speaker 2

After the impacts of certain other costs, these items contributed $23,600,000 to both gross margin and adjusted EBITDA. As a result, reported gross margin was increased by 1.6% and reported adjusted EBITDA was increased by 1.8%, both as a percentage of contract revenues. On an after tax basis, these items contributed approximately $17,500,000 to reported net income or $0.59 per share. Compared to Q3 'twenty three, gross margins increased 358 basis points, resulting from the 160 basis point impact of the change order in the closeout of several projects and from improved operating performance. G and A expense was 7.7 percent of revenue compared to 7.6% in Q3 2023.

Speaker 2

Net income was $2.82 per share compared to $1.80 per share in Q3 last year. The increase in earnings reflects higher adjusted EBITDA and higher gains on asset sales, partially offset by higher depreciation and amortization, stock based compensation, interest expense and taxes. Going to Slide 9. Our financial position and balance sheet remains strong. We ended Q3 with $500,000,000 of senior notes, dollars 319,400,000 of term loan and $154,000,000 of revolver borrowings.

Speaker 2

Cash and equivalents were $15,700,000 and liquidity was ample at 464,100,000 Our capital allocation prioritizes organic growth followed by M and A and opportunistic share repurchases within the context of our historical range of net leverage. Going to Slide 10. Cash flows used in operating activities were $37,300,000 in Q3 to support organic growth. The combined DSOs of accounts receivable and net contract assets were 121 days, an increase of 10 days sequentially. Capital expenditures were $57,000,000 net of disposal proceeds and gross CapEx was $67,200,000 During Q3, we acquired Bigum Cable Construction for $122,900,000 net of cash and debt amounts.

Speaker 2

Going to Slide 11. Each year, our January quarterly results are impacted by seasonality, including inclement weather, fewer available workdays due to the holidays, reduced daylight work hours, as well as the restart of calendar payroll taxes. These and other factors may have a pronounced impact on our actual results for the January quarter. As we look ahead to the 4th Quarter ending January 27, 2024, we expect organic revenues to be in line with Q4 of last year. In addition, we expect approximately $50,000,000 of contract revenues from our recently acquired business.

Speaker 2

We also expect non GAAP adjusted EBITDA Additionally, we expect $6,800,000 of total amortization expense, dollars 15,100,000 of net interest expense, a 26% effective income tax rate and 29,700,000 diluted shares. Now I will turn the call back to Steve.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Drew. Moving to Slide 12. This quarter, we experienced solid activity and capitalized on our significant strengths. 1st and foremost, we maintain significant customer presence throughout our markets. We are encouraged by the breadth in our business.

Speaker 1

Our extensive market presence has allowed us to be at the forefront of evolving industry opportunities. Telephone companies are deploying fiber to the home to enable gigabit high speed connections. ROLA Electric Utilities are doing the same. Dramatically increased speeds for consumers are being provisioned and consumer data usage is growing, Wireless construction activity in support of newly available spectrum bands continues this year. Federal and state support for rural deployments of communications networks is dramatically increasing in scale and duration.

Speaker 1

Cable operators are increasing fiber deployments in rural America. Capacity expansion projects are underway. Customers are consolidating supply chains, creating opportunities for market share growth and increasing the long term value of our maintenance and operations business. As our nation and industry navigate economic uncertainty, we remain encouraged that a substantial number of our customers are committed to multiyear Capital Spending Initiatives. We are confident in our strategies, the prospects for our company, the capabilities of our dedicated employees and the

Operator

And our first question will come from Adam Thalhimer from Thompson Davis. Your line is open.

Speaker 3

Hey, good morning, Steve and Drew. Great quarter.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Adam. Good morning. Hey,

Speaker 4

Steve, did I hear you say at a

Speaker 3

high level, it feels like the Like concerns around cost of capital are easing?

Speaker 1

Yes. I think what I would say, Adam, is if we Roll it back a year ago, I don't think people anticipated the significant as significant an increase in interest rates. I think that's basically baked into people's outlooks today and because they have a clearer view and less uncertainty about Where that is and perhaps where it may be in the future, hopefully lower, that things just feel better.

Speaker 3

Okay. And then is Big M cable performing better than Expectations $50,000,000 of revenue in the winter quarter seems significant. I wonder if you acquired that while they also had a program ramping up?

Speaker 1

Well, look, we were pleased with their performance in the October quarter. They came in a little bit better than what we expected When we talked in August, the momentum in the business continues. I think the one thing to keep Mine is their service territory is primarily Southeast, so somewhat less seasonal, not totally immune to seasonal effects, Certainly, probably a little bit less than if they were in Minnesota. Okay.

Speaker 3

And you're probably going to punt on this, but for modeling purposes, I'm curious where the change order closeout revenue had an impact by customer.

Speaker 1

Good prediction, Adam. We're not going to break it down by customer, but I think what we would say is that we've been working through Closing out a large customer program that's been a challenge and that as we close it out, We think we're going to hopefully we're going to perform better and hopefully we're going to see less volatility.

Speaker 3

Great. Congrats again.

Speaker 1

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. And our next question will come from Brent Thielman from D. A. Davidson, your line is open.

Speaker 2

Hey, thanks. Good morning. Great quarter as well. Hey, Steve. Gross margin was still up 200 basis points without the called out change order and closeouts this quarter

Speaker 1

Brett, we're having a little difficulty hearing you, if you could speak up a little bit. How's that? Much better. Yes, Brent, go ahead.

Operator

Thank you. And it looks like Brent is actually disconnected. So we will move on to our next question. One moment please. And our next question will come from Frank Louthan from Raymond James.

Speaker 5

Great. Thank you. Couple of quick questions. What are you seeing on from preorders and so forth from the B programs? Any color there?

Speaker 5

Anyone feeling confident about that? And then, not sure if you'll go into Detail, but Lumin had said they intend to sort of flat line their fiber overbuild at the current rate. If you were that's obviously ramped as the year has gone on. What would you consider to be sort of a normalized level of business for them if they were keeping it relatively flat with this year?

Speaker 1

Back to Bede, we're having lots of conversations with customers about the demand for resources that Bede will create. I think it's a little premature to get into details. Only a couple of states have kind of navigated their way all the way through the initial process, but it's certainly a topic for conversation. I think the other thing that I would add more broadly about government funding is we continue to see more Federal and state dollars committed to the space. I'm sure you're following this enhanced ACAM program where it looks like the FCC is going The fairly substantial amount of capital, something like $17,000,000 $18,000,000,000 into At least what we've seen is something like 6,000 or 7,000 additional homes.

Speaker 1

So I think there's Lots of opportunity on the federal and state side, not only with BEA, but more broadly. And then I guess what I would say with Lumin and we're not going to go into detail with any particular customer, but based on What they've said publicly in our activity levels, we feel good about next year. There'll be plenty to keep us busy Uncurred planned.

Speaker 5

Fair enough.

Speaker 6

All right. Thanks, Steve.

Operator

Thank you. And our next question will come from Alex Waters from Bank of America. Your line is open.

Speaker 6

Hey, good morning, Steve and Drew. Thank you guys for taking the questions. Maybe just the first one, with the $26,500,000 of the Kind of one time revenue bump, any puts and takes you can provide? And was it a specific customer? Could you give us a little bit more color there?

Speaker 6

And then maybe just looking into 2024, I think Frontier noted CapEx spend kind of 1 half weighted. Should we expect that as well from some of the other customer conversations you've been having?

Speaker 1

Yes. Alex, with respect to the change order, we're not going to provide any detail by customer other We're pleased that we're working through closing out projects on a large program. And I guess what I would focus on is if you exclude the effect of that activity, We're still at, call it 12.9 percent EBITDA margins, a place where we haven't been in a long time. And we feel good about that trend continuing as we close that program out. And as I said earlier, hope the results get better And less volatile.

Speaker 1

I think when we get into timing of CapEx by quarter or by year, I

Speaker 2

think every customer is a

Speaker 1

little bit different. They have A little bit different. They have different seasonality in their business. Where we work for them seasonally can be a little bit different. And I'm not sure I would extend one customer's comments to more broadly for the entire industry.

Speaker 1

We see plenty of things to do next year,

Speaker 6

all year. Okay, thanks.

Operator

Thank you. And our next question will come from Alex Sreedle from B. Riley Securities, your line is open.

Speaker 4

Thanks. Very nice quarter, Steve. Couple of quick questions.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Alex.

Speaker 4

A lot of equipment vendors have seen anticipate a notable decline in Demand for fiber and conduit products, some of it's obviously likely due to channel inventory corrections. Are you seeing any kind of softness out there that kind of reconciles with what the equipment vendors are saying? And if not, Sort of what's your take on that?

Speaker 1

Alex, it's a hard one. We certainly pay attention to what goes on that space. I think your suspicion that it's largely channel related makes sense. I mean, one of the interesting and notable numbers for this quarter As if you exclude a couple of customers who were more front half loaded this year and you pull them out of this quarter and the year ago quarter, Everybody else was up 30% organically. And that everybody else is $900,000,000 $950,000,000 of revenue.

Speaker 1

So I think we're seeing a pretty broad level of activity. Clearly the pandemic changed order patterns for equipment. And I guess the good news for us is we don't import labor, so we don't have to figure out what's stuck in the logistics supply chain like they do.

Speaker 4

And then on a kind of apples to apples basis or comparable basis, sort of excluding maybe A large program that may have been completed now. How do you think about profit margins today? Obviously, your guidance is very strong in the upcoming quarter as it relates to profit margins year over year. Is that sustainable? And can we grow from that level?

Speaker 1

I think Alex, another interesting number is if you look at our trailing 4 quarters EBITDA, it's at 11.9%. We have talked for a number of years about getting back to what we had said is a long term average. We're through it. And I think as we've said before, we're not aspiring to be average. So we're going to keep working On improving margins, there's always things that we can do better.

Speaker 1

There's always new opportunities. And I think that again, if you look at the demand backdrop, and maybe take a longer view, it's interesting that As a public company, sometimes we get lots of and we ourselves think about the business a little bit short term. But if you take a longer view and go back 10 years ago to the 4 quarters ended October of 2013, The company had less than $1,800,000,000 of revenue and right at $200,000,000 of EBITDA. And for this most recent 4 quarters, It's over $4,100,000,000 of revenue and almost $500,000,000 of EBITDA. And the EBITDA grew faster than the revenue, which Would tell you that margins can grow over time when we take a longer view.

Speaker 3

Thank you very much.

Speaker 7

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. And our next question will come from Eric Liubco from Wells Fargo. Your line is open.

Speaker 8

Thanks. Good morning, everyone. Steve, you touched a little bit on this in the transcript and you talked about this. You had 2 of your Large telco customers that had pulled forward CapEx in early calendar 2023. And you mentioned you saw some telcos that were starting to see some signs of I'm ramping.

Speaker 8

Maybe you could talk about the timing of that. Do you kind of see the Q3 numbers as effectively the bottom and you see activity levels picking up Into next year or is it still a little bit tough to predict with those two customers that we've talked about the last couple of quarters?

Speaker 1

Yes, I won't speak specifically to those 2 customers, but I would tell you that we see indicators Growth into next year already in the business that we're only halfway through the quarter, but we're seeing projects that are getting released That have in service dates next year. So I think we feel good about that. And again, I think in an environment where people may not like exactly the absolute level of work Cost of capital is, but they have a pretty good idea of what it is and what it's going to be and some hope that it may Decline over the next 12 months, I think they're feeling good about plans for next year.

Speaker 8

Okay. Appreciate that. And also wanted to touch on, I know you don't typically speak about specific customers, but you had a big increase in revenue from Charter. I assume the majority of that was from the Biggum Cable acquisition, but maybe you could talk about opportunities for that customer above and beyond Acquired revenues in terms of they have a large RDOF program that they're building out in rural America over the next couple of years and they seem to be ramping up CapEx. Is that A customer that we think you have future growth opportunity with above and beyond the Bigham transaction.

Speaker 8

Thanks.

Speaker 1

Yes. On an adjusted basis, Eric, so excluding the acquired revenues, the growth with Charter was Just over 97%. So we're certainly executing well in both the legacy business and the acquired business. We're working hard to meet their expectations and they have some big plans.

Speaker 8

Okay, good to hear. Thanks, Steve.

Operator

And our next question will come from Avi Jaroslawitz from UBS. Your line is open.

Speaker 7

Thank you. Good morning, guys. On for Steve Fisher. So you said that as the cost of capital stops Increasing so much that you're expecting that the CapEx plans are going to fluctuate less. Can you remind us if that's something that you're Hearing from customers themselves or just based on your experience?

Speaker 1

I think it's primarily based on our experience, But I think when people set budgets, like they did last year and then, for whatever reason rates Increased more than maybe some expected or certainly, was at the higher range of expectations, so that makes a tougher year. I think in those in that climate, Avi, if you have better weather and you get a little bit ahead of Budget, you probably have to work yourself back to the budget line just because costs are a little bit higher on the capital side. I think In the current environment, I think people have a good handle on how to budget. I think they're expecting less volatility around cost Capitalum, so I think there's more confidence, as they move into next year, as they execute their plans. Now, there's no guarantees, But I think when we highlighted this issue last year, I think we more or less had a view that was borne out by how the year played out And we're feeling good about the view that we have now.

Speaker 7

Got it. Okay. Appreciate that. And then in terms of what you're seeing in the supply chain and labor force, so continued to call out Limited equipment availability, has that actually been a constraint on growth or a generalized risk statement? How should we think about that?

Speaker 7

And I guess also on your how's the ability to ramp up labor then?

Speaker 1

Yes, I think it's a generalized risk. We have been We have done a good job of managing through that risk. So I wouldn't say that we've been constrained. That may not be true for everybody in our industry. And right now as of the end of October, we have a little over $100,000,000 worth of equipment on order and we'll be pleased When it comes in and we continue to place new orders, so that we can support the growth in the business that we see.

Speaker 7

Got it. Appreciate it. Thanks.

Operator

Thank you. One moment please. And our next question will come from Alan Mitrani from Sylvan Link Asset Management. Your line is open.

Speaker 9

Hi, thank you. Can you give us a sense of where CapEx will be In the next for the rest of the year and into next year gross in that?

Speaker 1

Yes. Alan, on a gross basis, it was a little over $60,000,000 in the quarter. Now we had a good quarter for proceeds, so it was less than we expected on a net basis. It's a little bit hard for us to Forecast based on timing, we have a lot on order. But I would say, Alan, it's probably somewhat less than what our original expectation was for the year, Not because we don't need it, but we're taking it in as quickly as we can get it.

Speaker 9

And where do you think gross CapEx could be for the next year in terms of growth How much Bingham might you might need to upgrade some of their CapEx?

Speaker 1

Yes. I don't see anything beyond what our historical relationships have been. If we can grow faster, we'll buy more.

Speaker 9

Can you talk about Thank you, hi Priya. Can you talk about you seem very confident about the government programs, I guess, that are coming in finally after The normal bureaucratic delays, is that what's lending giving you a lot of confidence in terms of the outlook going forward Besides the customers obviously getting used to the cost of capital and just sort of adjusting.

Speaker 1

I mean, Alan, I think what I'd start with is we have The impacts of earlier vintage federal programs that are impacting the business today, such as RDOF, ARPA and CARES Act. We have state broadband funds that are separate and apart from federal dollars that are in And so we continue to see we see bead and other programs as a continuation of an increasing trend, Not necessarily as a new trend in and of themselves. I mean, this is a big movement. There's lots of capital being deployed. Sometimes we'll work for customers where a single project will have a state funding source and a federal RDOF source.

Speaker 1

And in fact, one of our customers, just relayed on a recent earnings call that above and beyond What they had originally identified for eligible passings, which for this customer was about $1,100,000 for RDOF, they had Found 300,000 adjacent passings that were enabled by the RDOF program. So I don't know if you call that federal, State private capital, it just is up into the right for rural broadband.

Speaker 9

Are you able to tell how much of your current revenues or incremental revenues are related to some of these programs? Or does it come through just general and the season other work, so it's hard to tell.

Speaker 1

It's a mix, Adam, excuse me, Alan. It's a mix. Some we can see, some the customers won't tell us and we'll just see it flow through the actual MSA that we have with that customer.

Speaker 9

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. And I am showing no further questions from the phone lines. I'd now like to turn the conference back over to Stephen Nielsen for any closing remarks.

Speaker 1

Well, we thank everybody for your time and attendance this holiday week and wish you all and your families Happy Thanksgiving And we'll talk to you at the end of February. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a wonderful day.

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Key Takeaways

  • Dycom reported Q3 fiscal 2024 revenue of $1.136 billion (+9% YoY), with gross margin at 22% (+358 bps), adjusted EBITDA of $166.8 million (14.7% of revenue) and EPS of $2.82 vs. $1.80 a year ago.
  • Backlog climbed to $6.613 billion, up $406 million year-over-year, with $3.831 billion expected to convert to revenue in the next 12 months.
  • Demand grew from four of the top five customers, while the top five comprised less than 55% of total revenue for the first time in 20 years and all other customers rose 29.8% organically.
  • The acquisition of Bigum Cable Construction closed in Q3, contributing $45.2 million in revenue and expected to add approximately $50 million in Q4 contract revenues.
  • Industry tailwinds remain strong, driven by the $40 billion+ BEAD program and other federal/state broadband funds, even as labor markets stay tight and equipment supply chains face challenges.
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Earnings Conference Call
Dycom Industries Q3 2024
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