Quanta Services Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
May 2, 2024

There are 14 speakers on the call.

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the Quanta Services First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Kip Rupp, Vice President, Investor Relations.

Operator

Thank you. You may begin.

Speaker 1

Thank you, and welcome everyone to the Quanta Services Q1 2024 earnings conference call. This morning, we issued a press release announcing our Q1 2024 results, which can be found in the Investor Relations section of our website at quantaservices.com. As highlighted in our earnings release this morning, we have recently updated our earnings call format and supplemental materials. Shortly after the release of our Glance results this morning, we posted our Q1 2024 operational and financial commentary and our 2024 outlook expectations summary on Quanta's Investor Relations website. While management will make brief introductory remarks during this morning's call, the operational and financial commentary is intended to largely replace management's prepared remarks, allowing additional time for questions from the institutional investment community.

Speaker 1

Additionally, we no longer have a slide presentation to accompany this call as the information that has historically been included in the presentation can now be found in our operational and financial commentary. Please remember that information reported on this call speaks only as of today, May 2, 2024, and therefore, you are advised that any time sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of any replay of this call. This call will include forward looking statements intended to qualify under the Safe Harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including all statements reflecting expectations, intentions, assumptions or beliefs about future events or performance or that do not solely relate to historical or current facts. You should not place undue reliance on these statements as they involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict or beyond Quanta's control, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied. We will also present certain historical and forecasted non GAAP financial measures.

Speaker 1

Reconciliations of these financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included in our earnings release and operational and financial commentary. Please refer to these documents for additional information regarding our forward looking statements and non GAAP financial measures. Lastly, if you would like to be notified when Quanta publishes news releases and other information, please sign up for e mail alerts through the Investor Relations section of quantaservices.com. We also encourage investors and others interested in our company to follow Quanta IR and Quanta Services on the social media channels listed on our website. With that, I'd like to now turn the call over to Mr.

Speaker 1

Duke Austin, Quanta's President and CEO. Duke? Thanks, Kit.

Speaker 2

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Quanta Services' Q1 2024 earnings conference call. This morning, we reported our Q1 2024 results, which included double digit growth in revenue, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted earnings per share and strong cash flow, demonstrating an overall good start to the year. Total backlog at quarter end was 29,900,000,000 dollars which we believe reflects the value of our collaborative client relationships and evidences the momentum we see for 2024. Utilities across the United States are experiencing and forecasting meaningful increases in power demand for the first time in many years, driven by the adoption of new technologies and related infrastructure, including artificial intelligence and data centers as well as federal and state policies designed to accelerate the energy transition and policies intended to strategically reinforce domestic manufacturing and supply chain resources. With the complexities of the power grid and the significant upgrades and enhancements required to facilitate load growth, our collaborative solution based approach is valued by our clients more than ever.

Speaker 2

We continue to look forward to the realization of our multiyear strategic initiatives and the goals we expect to achieve in this and the coming years. We are positioning Quanta for decades of expected necessary infrastructure investment and believe our service line diversity creates platforms for growth that expand our total addressable market. Our portfolio approach and focus on craft skilled labor is strategic a strategic advantage that we believe provides us the ability to manage risk and ship resources across service lines and geographies, which is increasingly important as the energy transition accelerates. We believe our diversity and portfolio approach has also improved our cash flow profile and positions us well to allocate resources to the opportunities we find most economically attractive and to achieve operating efficiencies and consistent financial results. I will now turn the call over to Jayshree Desai, Kona's CFO, to provide a few remarks about our results and 2024 guidance, and then we will take your questions.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Jayshree.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Duke, and good morning, everyone. This morning, we reported 1st quarter revenues of $5,000,000,000 net income attributable to common stock of $118,400,000 or $0.79 per diluted share and adjusted diluted earnings per share of 1.41 dollars Adjusted EBITDA was $387,300,000 or 7.7 percent of revenue. Of note, we generated healthy cash flows in the 1st quarter with cash flow from operations of $238,000,000 and free cash flow of $181,200,000 both setting 1st quarter records. This earnings and cash flow performance allowed us to end the Q1 with ample liquidity and a balance sheet that supports both our organic growth expectations and the opportunistic deployment of capital to generate incremental returns for our stockholders. To that end, year to date, we had acquired 4 companies for aggregate consideration of approximately $500,000,000 This morning, we also provided an update to our full year 2024 financial expectations, which calls for another year of profitable growth with record revenues and opportunity for double digit growth in adjusted EBITDA, adjusted earnings per share and free cash flow.

Speaker 3

We believe our expectations demonstrate the strength of our portfolio approach to the business, our commitment to our long term strategy, favorable end market trends and our competitive position in the marketplace. Additional details and commentary about our 2024 financial guidance can be found in our operational and financial commentary and outlook expectation summary, both of which are posted on our IR website. With that, we are happy to answer your questions.

Operator

Operator? Thank you. We will now be conducting a question and answer session. Thank you. Our first question comes from the line of Jamie Cook with Credit Suisse.

Operator

Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 4

Hi, good morning and congrats on the quarter. I guess just two questions, one shorter term, one longer term. Jayshree, could you just talk a little bit about the renewable margins? I think they fell a little short relative to expectations and how any color, I guess, behind that. And then I guess the second question would be for Duke, just a longer term question.

Speaker 4

Obviously, lots of talk throughout the past couple of months on AI data centers, etcetera. If you could just talk to just because you're so close with and how that impacts, I guess, grid load growth. If you could just talk to what you're hearing from your customers in terms of how they're going to approach this, how you think about CapEx trends accelerating, just any color around how Quanta would be positioned there? Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Amy. Welcome back.

Speaker 5

Thank you, Jackie. I'll

Speaker 2

take margin question. I think from our standpoint, when we look at the segment, Renewables segment, we had some series of projects there that a series of work, call it 5% of the portfolio on the solar wind side that just didn't perform, didn't execute to where we should have executed at and what we expect from ourselves and what our customers expect. So look, it's a small piece. We grew the business. I can make tons of excuses on not.

Speaker 2

We own it. We didn't execute like we should. And the rest of the portfolio really is the majority, the vast majority of the jobs, of the projects, of everything we're doing there is exceeding expectations. We expect that to continue. Growth creates some inefficiencies and we showed up.

Speaker 2

So we got to fix it. And it's not something that it's later stage in the projects. And so I'm not concerned. It's just part of it. I mean, Q1, seasonality and everything else, a little bit of noise shows up.

Speaker 2

But all in all, I think the segment is performing nicely. What we see in the future looks great. The backlog is certainly accelerating in the Renewables segment. So we're excited about what we see going forward. We are executing for how many people we've put in the field and what we've added to this segment.

Speaker 2

I feel real good about it. You do invest in growth. It has some inefficiencies as you move forward and showed up. So I think all in all, we like what we see. As far as data centers, I think the macro demand of electricity is obviously moving up.

Speaker 2

Anytime you have demand, it's great for the business, it's great for our customers. If you go back, you roll it back, call it 9 months ago, we knew some data center demand, but nothing like we saw show up in January, February, March. It caught me off guard a little bit to see the amount. You're talking one customer is talking 100 gigs. So when you start talking about 1 customer with 100 gigs, it's just it's mind blowing in my mind to think about the amount of electricity necessary and primarily wanting renewables.

Speaker 2

So both sides of the business, both T and D and our renewable business stand to gain quite a bit and our customers as well. But it's not easy from a rate base. It's not easy to deal with those kind of things showing up at your doorstep, when you're trying to plan for 30 years and you build out a huge power plant and it's gone in one day. So I think from our the planning piece of the business is difficult. It is certainly showing up.

Speaker 2

It's certainly pressing us, our customers, everyone to plan better and to think longer term. We're trying to put a 4 decade, 3 decade type build in 90 day windows. It doesn't work. It's a very long term build here. I think the company is set right in the middle of it.

Speaker 2

I like where we sit from the ancillary piece of data centers. I like we're talking to hyperscalers. We're talking to all of them about how we can help benefit and collaborate with our clients and them to get power sources and certainly in demand. It's a unique time. It's exciting.

Speaker 2

We're excited about it. We're excited to work with our clients and they expect a lot of us. We just need to deliver and execute.

Speaker 4

Okay. Thank you. I'll get back in queue.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Andy Kaplowitz with Citi. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 6

Good morning, everyone.

Speaker 2

Good morning.

Speaker 6

Duke or Jayshree, can you give us a little more color into electric power? What happened in the quarter and going forward? Revenue was, as you know, down just a little bit, but margin was quite a bit higher than you forecast and I think quite good for a seasonally weak Q1. You didn't change your expectation for the segment for the year, but maybe you could talk about your confidence that distribution focused revenue does improve in the second half And does the higher margin Q1 signal the potential for margin upside in the segment?

Speaker 2

Sure. So a little bit, I think this is something we've talked about the portfolio and combining electric power and renewables together. And so I want to go through that a little bit. If you look at the electric business, which is transmission, substation and distribution, and you look across the segments, So the segments are delineated today, which is causing some when you print the numbers, it doesn't look like what the business is from those three things. So, an electric work type, it's up over 5% in the quarter.

Speaker 2

That's because pieces of the business is over in Renewables segment and pieces of it are in the Electric segment. But the business itself together is up 5.3%. So it's just the way the segments look. You've got to combine them. It's got to look like a portfolio.

Speaker 2

The delineations are causing some number print. It doesn't look like where the business is at. So I wanted to explain work type, which is electric, substation, distribution and transmission are up 5.3% in the quarter. And our backlog is almost flat. Yes, I think the backlog of the business and what we see, there's timing, there's MSA timing, it's early, it's the Q1.

Speaker 2

We fully expect to be at record levels. The bigger projects, the renewal projects are complicated. It take a long time to negotiate. We're not going to press negotiations against a 90 day print. It just doesn't make sense for us.

Speaker 2

So we'll be patient. We're not concerned. We see an outstanding we were just talking about load growth. Anytime you got more load, you got more business. It's simple when you think about it.

Speaker 2

So more demand, more business. We see more demand than we've ever seen. And so I just I feel good about it. As far as margins, the electric print, we operated great even in the down. So we've always said that you can operate in double digits, doesn't matter what the revenue is.

Speaker 2

That's what we're really trying to drive is the EPS and those margins. So in that segment, I thought we had a nice farm well in this segment. And like where we're going, I think there is opportunity. We it's early. We're not going to change guidance in 90 days.

Speaker 2

So it looks good. We have lots of opportunity. I would say we have more upside than we do downside on a go forward basis in the segment.

Speaker 6

Very helpful. And maybe just a follow-up on your commentary. Last quarter, you mentioned sort of the better visibility around large transmission projects. You just talked about MSAs in answering my question. So just the conviction level in sort of the backlog increase.

Speaker 6

Again, I know it doesn't happen in the quarter, it happens over the year. But is it more base business you think that grows or larger project business that grows in 2024, is it both?

Speaker 2

I think the back half of 2024, your distribution business starts to become increasingly I would say, you'd start booking more work, you start to see your MSAs, your crude counts move up again. There is some shift in the transmission on versus distribution in certain areas, the Southeast and places where what's happening is you're seeing data centers show up, you're seeing the demand show up on the transmission side, and you've already got your capital out, if you're a utility customer. So you have to build the transmission, and you're going to pull capital off the distribution systems a bit and move it into the transmission systems. It's fine that we're that's why we're diversified. That's why the company sits where it sits.

Speaker 2

We're able to be nimble and move. It's not an issue, but it does show up. And your MSA work on the distribution side is softer than normal. And that's we talked about that in the Q4 where we're working 40, 50 hours versus 70. I think that's still the case.

Speaker 2

I do believe as you move into the later part of the year, you're going to start seeing us work more, I'm inclined to say, more 60, 70 hour weeks. And our headcount is still almost 54,000, which is up 4,000 year over year. I feel highly confident that, as EV starts to penetrate to the West, that's moving up already and the EV kind of moves across. There's we've got to build infrastructure and certainly, we see it showing up in certain areas.

Speaker 6

Helpful color. Thanks, Steve.

Operator

And our next question comes from the line of Neil Mehta with Goldman Sachs. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 7

Yes. Good morning, Duke and team. I wanted to take a few moments to talk about some of the M and

Speaker 6

talk to us a little bit about what excites you about what you added to your portfolio? Talk to

Speaker 7

us a little bit about what excites you about what you added to your portfolio and how does this all fit into the strategy?

Speaker 2

We acquired Sherman Riley, which was blocks and pullers. If you're in the business, you're in the crafts, you grew up with Sherman Riley as part of the ecosystem that's been in the business since 1927. It's something that I think from our standpoint, our people in the field, they deserve the product, the safe, the training that they have, what they do with the pullers and tensioners and the things that they have, the R and D that they put in, into it coupled with what we're trying to accomplish, It's compelling for us. There's a lot of wire, talked about being pulled. There's new conductors out.

Speaker 2

There's lots of technology that we believe we can bring to market here. And lastly, I'm concerned with the capacity. We're always concerned with supply chain capacity. It's something that I believe is very specialized. Needs to be safe.

Speaker 2

We need to protect our people a bit and make sure it's in good hands. And a lot of our clients use the pullers as well in their internal resources. It's certainly something that we value and we're real proud to have that piece of business. As far as the divestiture, the divestiture is basically an oil and gas legacy business that we've had since probably 2015 or before. And certainly something that we've looked at for a long time to say this is not something that we're going to invest in.

Speaker 2

It's better off in other people's hands. It's international. The company has made the decisions not to go into international, not to go international at this point. So it's something that need to be divested and someone will do great. The management team is fantastic.

Speaker 2

The new owners will be happy with the business.

Speaker 7

Thanks, Duke. And the follow-up is just on the Sunsea project. Obviously, it's a very important project for the company. Just give us the latest temperature or latest progress report there and anything we should be watching out for whether it's some of the litigation stuff or just in terms of managing through execution challenges that inevitably happen with big projects?

Speaker 2

No, Sunfinity is doing great. We're doing well. I think the team had a great plan. We put it together. All I see is good things coming out of that.

Speaker 2

We're progressing nicely. No issues on permit. I don't think there would be, but there's no issues there. Big to long line, it could be noisy here or there, but I'm not seeing anything on that, but really good production, safety is great, hand in hand with the client. So I continue to like that project.

Speaker 2

We're early in it, opportunities to release contingencies as we go through it. So I really believe that it's going to be nice and I actually wish I was running it. So it's a fun one.

Speaker 7

Thank you, sir.

Operator

And our next question comes from the line of Brian Brophy with Stifel. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 8

Yes, thanks. Good morning. Just continuing the conversation on the low growth discussion around data centers, We've seen some pretty eye popping estimates in terms of what that may mean. You alluded to some of that earlier in your comments. Just curious how you're thinking about the industry's capacity to meet some of these demands and what that might mean ultimately for your pricing and margins?

Speaker 2

Again, it's more utilization and returns for us when you start looking at pricing. When we think about it, we need to execute, we need to execute in double digit platforms that we've talked about over time. And I think it's more of that than it is some kind of pricing pressure. But I do think what we see is it's so unique and tech really, really wants it now. They've got money, they want to pay for it.

Speaker 2

It's just regulatory. How do you set rates that are fair, that are for everyone else. And it's starting to get you can see it's starting to get figured out across the country of how to accommodate loads that we're seeing, but it's not going to happen overnight. We if you want renewable resources as well, it's another complication when you start to talk about it. We were already fuel switch and now we're fuel switch and doubling load in 90 days, it seems like.

Speaker 2

But in general, I would say that load is real. It's coming and people are paying for it. It creates demand across renewables and our electric segment. We need a robust grid. The cheapest one of generation is transmission.

Speaker 2

It always will be. So I like what we've said is, we can help. We certainly, we talk about a solution based approach. If there's ever been a solution based approach that's going to work, it will be within this because it's complicated on how to get renewables to load sources. And you're seeing power plants, nuclear power plants get bought really with the whole power plant going towards data centers.

Speaker 2

So, never thought we would see that in my life time. And now we're seeing it show up. And I just it's creating some unique circumstances across the country. And it's not only in Virginia, it's across every single customer we have that the 3 megs, 4 megs show up. And it's tomorrow.

Speaker 2

They want tomorrow, and they want it in a renewable state. So I like it. I like where we sit. We can certainly help. We can certainly sit on both sides of that.

Speaker 2

And I like what we can accomplish. Just got to plan more, plan better, both on distribution and on transmission and collaborate with the client. The better we serve the customer, the better the company will do.

Speaker 8

That's great. Thanks. And I guess one other one, I think the DOE announced some permitting reform, some grid capacity transmission lines, streamlining some of the environmental reviews here a few days ago. Curious how impactful you think that might be?

Speaker 2

It's incrementally helpful, especially out West, but still states, state policies, state regulations, PUCs, commissions, we've got to get our head around the fact that load is significantly higher and we've got an investments grid. It's we're late already. We're behind, I believe. And so we need to catch up and we need to make sure that this transition doesn't it's like sitting on a track or the train come back. You've got to invest in infrastructure.

Speaker 2

The more modern infrastructure is, rates go down on an NPV basis when you look on a go forward. So investment now pays off for the next generation. So you just have to invest in it. And I think that's the case today, and we need to keep going.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Marc Bianchi with TD Cowen. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 9

Hey, thanks. The first one I wanted to ask was on related to this load growth outlook with the data center stuff that everybody been talking about, what role do you see for gas fired generation? And how is your business exposed to that if perhaps some of that occurs behind the meter at the customer site?

Speaker 2

I mean, I do think gas generation is going to play a role, always have, and to some degree here in this transition. They still want renewables. Data centers want renewables. You're going to have to balance the load. Batteries aren't coming fast enough.

Speaker 2

So you're going to have to balance the load with natural gas. But the problem I see is a lot of gas fired is coming on into play. If you talk about a gig, 2 gigs, 3 gigs, 4 gigs of gas fired generation, you're still off 96 gigs. So you can't build enough generation, enough renewable generation for what we see coming. So I do believe that you need to balance the load, and it will help.

Speaker 2

Batteries are coming along. But I still if you try to build a piece of pipe in this country to feed the natural gas system, therein lies the problem. I hear it. I mean, I see it. I see 10, 12 gas fired generation plants being proposed.

Speaker 2

I still don't know how we're going to get the piece of pipe to it to feed

Speaker 7

them. Yes. Yes.

Speaker 10

Okay. Thanks for that.

Speaker 2

Sorry, Duke, go ahead. That's it.

Speaker 9

Okay. Thanks. The other question I had was on the renewable margin progression. So if I look at where sort of the second quarter is discussed to be maybe just below 8% and then you're going to be double digits in the back half. Can you talk about what's driving the conviction in that improvement?

Speaker 9

And then also, I think in the past you talked about some contingency release that would come later on in the project timeline. I'm curious where you are with that in the back half of this year.

Speaker 3

Yes. Thanks for the question. Yes, we are seeing that progression. We do believe that as these projects progress across some various risks and contingencies, we'll be able to release some of that in the back half. The segment is more than just solar wind.

Speaker 3

There's a lot of transmission substation work. All of that is going to see a big acceleration we believe in the back half. And so that will fall in the margins of better cost absorption and contingency releases can be obtained.

Speaker 2

And I do think the conviction has history and the history of both companies, both segments, we've operated in double digits, we're well below that. The growth is pressing a bit. We went through the jobs. Most of when we talk about where we had some degradation of margins. The degradation, it's new people and new roles.

Speaker 2

And so some of that shows up and we've got to do a better job making sure that we educate and train our field leadership at times. And so that said, we went through the projects. We feel good. We're 50, 60 type renewable type jobs that are out there today and the bread and butter. So for us, we're looking at it, we're looking at backlog.

Speaker 2

We see a nice runway, decade runway here. So I really feel comfortable that we've invested in the right spots and that year is intact, in fact, with opportunity still in it. Yes, we're not pleased with the quarter by any measures. And I can promise you the leadership in the field is not pleased. So we expect a lot out of ourselves.

Speaker 2

Our customers expect a lot out of us. And even in the good times, we're running it pretty hard. So we've made the necessary changes to make sure that not only that we perform at the double digit type level, but also that we don't let it drag on or we don't it doesn't catch us by surprise or anything like that. We see it and we saw this early and we made some adjustments. We won't be able to operate these contingencies on a few projects.

Speaker 2

We're talking 5% out of the whole thing and probably like, I don't know, I think it was like $15,000,000 or something like that and maybe within the operations. So and have opportunities to operate through at a very, very high level on the rest of them. So I feel really good about it. I feel good about the year and next year and the next and on and on.

Speaker 9

Great. Thanks so

Speaker 6

much.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Justin Hauke with Baird. Please proceed with your

Speaker 5

question. Yes, thanks. So that the renewables margin progression is what I was going to ask about too and I think we've covered some of the thematic questions here. So I had a couple of numeric ones. I guess, first, just on the M and A, given that there's a lot of moving pieces here, both new additions and divestitures.

Speaker 5

Can you give us some context of what the net kind of revenue contribution from that is for the year in terms of your guidance? And then also is the $500,000,000 that you talked about, is that inclusive of the proceeds from the divestitures you announced?

Speaker 3

Yes. Hi, Justin. So I would say the revenue inorganic revenue contribution from the deals we did in the second half of last year as well as the announcements this year contributes around $500,000,000 to $600,000,000 I'd tell you the 2 recent acquisitions, the revenue contribution there pretty much is offset by the divestiture of the oil and gas business. So we're still around $500,000,000 to $600,000,000 and EPS contribution around $0.15 to $0.20

Speaker 5

Okay, great. So that's not changed in net versus what you had before. Okay. And I guess the second question again, sorry, it's a numeric one, but we've covered some of the other grounds. Just on the other income line, it was $25,000,000 seemed a little high.

Speaker 5

Yes. Yes.

Speaker 2

What was that? Yes.

Speaker 3

So that is we had the sale of an investment in a pipeline, the gain on that, so which we did adjust out of EBITDA and adjusted EPS. So that's the biggest factor in that $25,000,000 You also had some gains on our deferred comp, but that gets offset in SG and A. So the real impact is around that gain around the pipeline which we backed out

Operator

in EBITDA.

Speaker 5

Great. Okay. That's helpful. Thank you very much.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Gus Richard with Northland Capital. Please proceed with your question. Yes.

Speaker 11

Thanks for taking the question. When I think about the data centers, typically chip companies run their roadmap until they hit a wall. Typically, it's the scale of the infrastructure or a power constraint in the chip. And AI is about to have a huge shift from training, which is very power intensive to inference, which basically reduces the power consumption by 10%. I've seen this over the last 30 years where these guys change their minds like they change their socks.

Speaker 11

And I'm just kind of wondering, maybe I'm wrong, but if all of a sudden the load demand from AI drops significantly and these guys change their plans, what happens?

Speaker 2

I mean, we had a great business prior to the AI coming in, that we see fuel switching, we see EV penetration, we see renewables, fuel switching from coal. This is additive. And look, I you can't you're 24 months out, 36 months out today if you say, go. So no one's going to go and that's why you're seeing exactly what you're seeing. Everyone's saying, why are we going to build this infrastructure?

Speaker 2

Why are we going to build the generation unless someone guarantees the load? So yes, I agree with you. That's why every utility, every customer we have is making sure that the other side, the party on the other side is signing up for load growth that's sustainable to pay the investment. Or if not the ratepayer pays it. I mean, that's your dilemma.

Speaker 2

And I agree with you. That's why you're stalling again instead of going forward as fast as you can because everyone's got to get that right, including tech.

Speaker 11

Okay, got it. Thanks for that. I appreciate it. And then the second question I've got, I've been reading about, reconduction of transmission lines, particularly in Europe. And I was wondering, is that a way to at least mitigate some of the construction on the grid and reduce the need for new routes?

Speaker 11

Is that something people are considering and sort of how would that impact your business?

Speaker 2

Yes. I mean, look, we've reconductored my career. And the new high density wires, they run hot, they work in certain areas, it's helpful. But what I would say is, what makes it easier, better, you're still a rebuild basically. You're just in the corridors that exist today.

Speaker 2

So yes, we can. We can even do it in energized state. We're doing 2 50 miles now energized while the line is hot and reconductoring, which is we're specialized in it, we train in it. So it's certainly an advantage to the company. We spent tons of R and D here.

Speaker 2

We'd like the conductor. We certainly have installed plenty of the high density conductor, and we like it. So I think in general, yes, it makes sense. Technology will be a piece of this. It will.

Speaker 2

And I when you look at the learning machines and you look at everything we see from a power demand, AI is a piece of it. But the on shoring, the chips, the Amazon centers that are fully electric, you can't imagine all the things that are drawing load right now. And it's in my mind, we talked about data centers, I don't know, 4 years ago and said it would be a big push. But we had no idea that AI would come in as well. And I just think as you move forward, if you haven't used AutoPilot or ChatGBT, try it.

Speaker 2

That ain't going anywhere. That's fantastic. I love it. It's great. And I think the country is moving that direction and it's certainly demand there and the chips and everything else we do on any given day.

Speaker 2

Even if you reduce power, it's kind of like appliances, we were going to get great things out of appliances, what we did for about 3, 4, 5 years, and it helped us with load growth. We had negative load growth for a long time. You have positive load growth throughout the country for the most part, just in general. And so now when data shows up, more significant than anyone thought, myself included.

Speaker 11

Got it. Thanks so much. Appreciate it. Sure.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Alex Rygiel with B. Riley Securities. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 7

Thank you. A very nice quarter. First question here, cash flow in the quarter was very strong yet. I don't believe you changed your full year guide. Are you incrementally more confident with the high end of your range now?

Speaker 7

And has your view on uses of free cash flow changed at all? And I have a follow-up.

Speaker 3

Yes. So free cash flow, I think just sitting here in the quarter, we did have a good free cash flow quarter, pleased with that. But it's early. We think it's prudent given that our typical profile is the first half of the year tends to be cash flow neutral or slightly negative with most of the free cash flow coming in, in the Q4. We still think that's where we need to sit right now.

Speaker 3

There is opportunity to be at the high end of that range. But I think the range where we are today is where we should be.

Speaker 2

Alex, too, I would say the business itself, we set out to change some of the cash flow profiles of the business. I think we've done a nice job for maternal invested capital. When you look at the returns, the way we calculate them, certainly moving up in the business, even when the margins are a little softer, the returns are fantastic. It's certainly generating in the Q1, typically, we'll be talking about a large free cash was bad, and we had growth in the business, we had growth in headcount and free cash generation. So I really like what we said.

Speaker 2

I know everyone's hesitant to say that the business has fundamentally changed, DSO has fundamentally changed. I think they have. And I think it gives us more flexibility. We've always talked about the free cash and how we deploy it is something that we as the team have to make sure that we continue to deploy capital in the proper way that we have in the past to create the outcomes that we have in the past. So I think our ability to look at M and A, to look at buybacks, to look at everything that we do and be opportunistic, certainly the free cash generation gives us more opportunity.

Speaker 7

And then secondly, I don't think we've touched on telecom or industrial on the call here. Any notable movements there either in the quarter or for the remainder of the year?

Speaker 2

We bought the Environmental Solutions provider. It's fitting in really nicely. We really like the synergies we're picking up there on the industrial side. So like the business is performing well. Telecom had a nice quarter, but parity to the electric segment a little better.

Speaker 2

And then we also added some backlog there. I like the business long term. Certainly, the data centers, the other part of the data centers is still going to have to put fiber in. And I see fiber data center to data center. And they can't really say, I want to go to this hub or that hub at this point because they're everywhere.

Speaker 2

So you're going to start building on all fiber to feed it at some point. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Sangeeta Jain with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 12

Yes. Thanks so much for taking my question. I know we've discussed data center dynamics a lot on this call, but I was just wondering, Duke, if there is a way for you to engage directly with data center companies, whether it's for substation build out or some behind the meter solutions, something aside from your leverage to the grid?

Speaker 2

I mean, we talk to them all the time. I do think there's opportunities to help and collaborate with them. Look, our job, we support our clients and our clients are talking to them as well. So it's just a it's something that we balance between the grid, what their demands are, try to help on both sides of that. I do believe that as we move forward, as you see the company move forward, the demand of tech on the grid and how they deploy it, where they deploy it, where they build, what they build.

Speaker 2

Certainly, we want to be right in the middle of it, and we want to sit with them and understand what they're trying to accomplish. It allows us to facilitate it. So I look, it's something that the company we've talked to them a lot. Our PTT business, the transformer business is certainly something that they value a lot. They want the transformer.

Speaker 2

They want and they want them now. So I think those things are bode well for us and our ability to communicate and talk about power consumption with tech is something that we can help our clients with ourselves.

Speaker 12

Great. And if I can follow-up with 1 on MSAs. Is there anything particularly different this time around on MSA timing than in past years that's causing this exceptionally slow start to the year?

Speaker 2

I don't know. I don't feel like it's slow. I feel like we're doing great. It's still bouncing on distribution system, which we said in the past. Like I said, we're up 5.3% on transmission distribution substations if you look at some look at the delineations of the segments as a whole.

Speaker 2

So I feel like we're starting nicely. Our backlog is down in the UI on big pipe, which is fine with me. If you take out big pipe and you add renewables and you add electric, you're up, your backlog is up. So yes, there's a lot of opportunity. The negotiations are taking longer.

Speaker 2

In some cases, MSAs, you're looking at, you're trying to see how many people you have on the system today and the way we calculate it. But I continue to see our MSAs get renewed. There is some timing. There always will be. They're 5 years, 3 years, 2 years, and they cycle in and out.

Speaker 2

And you could be in year 4 of a $2,000,000,000 MSA that's going to renew for 5 years. And when it renews, $2,000,000,000 in the backlog. So it just takes it gets a little lumpy in some of the MSA work and it's going to continue that way. But the overarching business and the way that we stack on the larger projects, programs, builds, when that stack starts, it just continues to move on. The industry stalled a bit trying to make sure that the demand for data centers and the demand for what we're talking about is real.

Speaker 2

And that so it did stall a bit on some of these larger projects because they're not big enough. So what you're doing is going, uh-oh, I was going to build this, now I've got to double the size of what we're trying to accomplish. And so yes, it's taken a little bit longer. And I do think the industry is going to have to think a little bigger and a little faster.

Speaker 12

Great. Thank you so much.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Michael Dudas with Vertical Research Partners. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 13

Yes. Good morning, Kip, Jayshree, Dupe.

Speaker 10

Good morning.

Speaker 3

Good morning.

Speaker 13

So you mentioned in your comments during the call and your prepared remarks about the importance of investing into the business. I just wanted to get a check on relative to the growth you're seeing, we've been talking so much demand growth here in this call, but over the next 3 to 5 years and where you are today on staffing, Are there a lot what are the challenges to kind of meet get the bodies and get the capacity to meet the seems like sustainable and extraordinary growth over the next several years? Where do you are you in fairly good shape? Or is there a lot more work to do?

Speaker 2

Yes, Mike, I think the company has done a nice job investing in craft, certainly, which is what we're known for and core to us. I do think when you we saw some of it show up in the solar business in the quarter where we had some growth and significant growth. And so it does at times, that growth, you're investing in growth, you're going to make sure that you can maintain the productivities. And if you move geographies, that you can maintain the type of productivities that we expect, and we expect high levels. And we've got to make sure we're looking back in the operations and helping make the young ones and the young people that are in the business go forward.

Speaker 2

As far as and we are, and we have great programs, and we get into the field. And there's not replacing your footprints in the field with something on a piece of paper is a fallacy. It doesn't work. So that footprint in the field, the people that mentor our management teams are paramount. And so we work hard on that.

Speaker 2

We work hard on that execution and it continues to get better and better. So as far as getting people in the business, look, we haven't had the problem yet, from the standpoint of craft and we've done a good job. I think the down kind of a slowdown in distribution allows us to take a breath and actually gain market share. So I like it. I like what we said.

Speaker 2

And sometimes, what I call a hard 12 months, it makes us you hone your skills. And I like it a little tough. It separates us. And I think we've done whatever is showing up today, we did 12 months ago. Whatever shows up next year, we did 12 months ago.

Speaker 2

So I think in general, our ability to look forward and see, the business allows us to really invest in crafts long term and our people long term and we're doing that. We're hiring people for the future now. We're stating where the puck is going. I like it. And so I think we have no issues in craft at this point being able to hire, train, maintain.

Speaker 2

We just got to do it at the production levels we expect. Excellent, too. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Chad Dillard with Bernstein. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 10

Hi, good morning, everyone.

Speaker 6

Good morning.

Speaker 10

So, Duke, you were talking about how utilities are shifting CapEx from distribution to transmission. Just trying to get a better sense for how that impacts Quanta's business. I think you may have talked about better market share on transmission, but any sense on just like how to think about it from like a margin standpoint, from a utilization standpoint? And then secondly, based on your conversations with utilities, is it the case that like some of the work that was pushed out for 24, is that actually get like stacked on to 25 because we'll be a little bit more able to change your CapEx plan a little bit further out?

Speaker 2

Yes. I mean, I think we've heard most of our customers, I'll go backwards on that. Most of our customers maintain their capital guides and some increase. I still you got a backdrop of anything we're saying. You can look at the capital spends and what the customer is saying.

Speaker 2

I think, honestly, you'll start to see them raise capital again. I don't see any way around it. I think capital is going up, not down. And over the next whenever they talk about their next 5 years, you can see capital plans go up, has to, underneath the demand. And so I we're talking about getting more usage out of the grid.

Speaker 2

Even if you get more usage out of the grid, capital is going on. So I do think there's some things you can do from technology, but it's incidental compared to what you see from a demand side. So both of those things are going to happen. As far as distribution, I mean, I think it's just we're kind of it's status quo, which we expected more growth out of it. And not all customers, I want to be clear on this, not all customers are going down on distribution.

Speaker 2

Some in the Southeast, a few here or there to shift capital over into transmission. So in some areas, that's the case. Some areas, distribution is the same or moving up. You got storm hardening, you got fire hardening, all kinds of different things also going on. And the everyday grid depreciates every given day.

Speaker 2

Poles rot, things it's always been that way, and that's still ongoing with everything else that's going on. So the maintenance of the grid stays in place. And so that but the capital is required to maintain, the capital required to necessary infrastructure for electric vehicles. I mean, I think the pause and somewhat pause and delay a bit in electric vehicle penetration, although it's penetrating nicely. It's certainly something that we're watching.

Speaker 2

And I think that we've always said that would be a 3, 4 decade type penetration versus overnight. It was not going to happen by 2,030. We thought 2,050, 2,040. And I think that's the case. And the distribution is just a longer build, but it's much, much bigger even in transmission, just longer.

Speaker 2

And so I like them both. It's going to show up over time and it just gives the company time. It's technical and gives the company time to really think about those resources and how do we resource these things as they come about. Got it. That's helpful.

Speaker 2

And I'd like to go back to

Speaker 10

the 2 comments you made. So earlier in the Q and A, you talked about, seems like a really strong uptick on the data center side in January through March. And then you just talked about whatever you do today began 12 months ago. So just trying to think through like when we should start seeing a lot of the work tied to data centers, just kind of like work through, if you could kind of like provide us with like an expected cadence on that?

Speaker 2

I mean, I think we see a lot of plans today on large scale, hyperscale, that load's got to go to them and that planning process, we do a lot of system planning. And that system planning process is probably as robust today as it's ever been on the transmission load side of the business. We got to get the distribution business a little better, and we got to talk to regulators and talk to them about what we're seeing and making sure that the consumer is not paying for the data center demand. So I think that's the bigger thing, the affordability. Natural gas is down, interest is kind of flat, so it's helping the consumer at the bill level.

Speaker 2

And so that's a good thing. If natural gas stays down and we can get some interest, kind of where it's at or even less, it bodes well. And I think you'll see the capital plans and everyone get their head around it. I'm looking at the calls as well. I mean, everyone's got equity plans now.

Speaker 2

And if we didn't see that show up until this quarter, we're starting to see people issue equity and debt against the builds that are coming. It's necessary, and we start to see that show up. And I think the business, you can see where the planning is coming into place and how quickly things move against equity and debt at a utility level. So we see a lot. We're excited about it.

Speaker 2

And I do believe it's not just something that you can't go, oh, we're going to build this and they're going to not pay for it. I think this is real. I do. I think the demand is real. Even if it's half what everyone is saying, it's more than we're talking about now.

Speaker 2

So that's the beauty of it. You hedge it down and it's still huge. So I like it. And I think we sit in a really good spot here and we're starting to see those investments show up. It will be like what you see today a little better, but the 24 month planning cycle is ongoing and utilities today are planning for the future.

Speaker 2

So I think every single quarter you'll see the progression and it just stacks. And we always thought that these bigger programs, these bigger things would stack on the business long term and your base would continue to move up kind of double digits and that's what we see. Great. That's helpful. Thank

Operator

you. Thank you. In the interest of time, we ask that you please limit your questions to one question. Our next question will come from the line of Brett Castelli with Morningstar. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 7

Yes, hi. Thank you. I just wanted to ask within renewables, can you parse out your expectations for new orders between wind and solar for the full year of 'twenty four and any thoughts relative to 2023 between the technologies there? Thank you.

Speaker 2

I mean, I would just say like we've talked about growing double digits and we're growing double digits plus ED in wind and solar, well beyond that. But I would say we're comfortable with double digit growth in those businesses. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Avi Jaroslawich Jaroslawitsch with UBS. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 2

Hey, good morning, guys. Thanks for taking the question. So recently we've seen some more federal support coming out for permitting, but also some lower capital intensity type of opportunities within transmission. Also, what also, what kind of visibility to bookings you have within those transmission projects? I want to make sure I understand the question.

Speaker 2

It's a little spotty on my side here. As far as permitting, I mean, I think state permitting in general is fine. It's more about the regulatory process than it is a permit in my mind. I don't think I caught the rest of the question here.

Speaker 3

He's asking about innovation around good?

Speaker 2

Yes. I was just asking, like We're seeing some innovation. Sorry about that. My apologies. We're seeing some innovation throughout the year.

Speaker 2

I think you'll continue to see it. There's things going on. But it's incidental, really. I mean, it's good. It will help.

Speaker 2

But the demand is such that we'll continue to see mine build out. We always go back and look at Europe and what's going on there. A lot of innovation in Europe. It's 3 times the corridor we have here. And the cheapest form of moving about generations transmission, you still need it's still the cheapest form today and it will be tomorrow and the next day.

Speaker 2

So I do think that the builds and the multi year builds are there. You have to balance the load. So you're seeing some equipment come in and syncopasors, things like that, that are coming into the business that allow some balance. You're starting to see that show up from an equipment standpoint. We'll install it.

Speaker 2

There's software out there that's helping some on a distribution level, transmission level. But it's I still think even with innovation, we got a long way to go in infrastructure. Great. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Kevin Gainey with Thompson, Davis and Company. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 7

Good morning, everyone. I just wanted to maybe touch on the equity income at Electric Power in the guidance raise there. How should we think about that? What's driving that? And then maybe the cadence as we go throughout the year?

Speaker 3

Yes. The increase there was primarily driven by our Puerto Rican entity, our JV, Luma. There was a favorable tax ruling that allowed for us to be able to the tax rate has dropped significantly. And so you're seeing around $6,000,000 improvement over the year as a result of that ruling.

Speaker 7

Perfect. Thank you.

Operator

And our next question comes from the line of Gene Ramirez with D.

Speaker 2

A. Davidson.

Speaker 11

This is John for Brent Thielman. I want to ask a question about the underground gas utility portion of the segment. Are you guys seeing any utilities pullback on at all on network investments and reliability upgrades?

Speaker 2

No. I think to the contrary, having the investments necessary there and methane releases, things of that nature, when you start looking at natural gas systems, they're more valuable today because they're not building as much new system. I mean, there's considerable amount of new systems being built, but in certain areas where you're replacing cast iron and other lines with polyethylene and more you're building a modern network. That's certainly there and will continue to be there. We see uptick in the business, not a downtick.

Speaker 2

Thank you. Sure.

Operator

Thank you. We have reached the end of our question and answer session. I would now like to turn the floor back over to management for any closing comments.

Speaker 2

Yes, I want to thank the 53,000 800 people out in the field that pay our paychecks and do what they do every day in inclement weather. We can't say enough about their performance and the safety and the things that they do on a daily basis. Our field leadership is the best in the world. Management team that we have here is certainly something that we're extremely proud of. We're proud of where the company is going and we thank you for participating in the call today.

Operator

This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

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Earnings Conference Call
Quanta Services Q1 2024
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