RCM Technologies Q1 2024 Earnings Report

RCM Technologies EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $0.53
• Consensus EPS: $0.51
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$0.02
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

RCM Technologies Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $71.94 million
• Expected Revenue: $72.27 million
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$330.00 thousand
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

RCM Technologies Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q1 2024
• Date: 5/8/2024
• Time: N/A
• Conference Call Date: Thursday, May 9, 2024
• Conference Call Time: 11:30AM ET

RCM Technologies (NASDAQ:RCMT) (NASDAQ: RCMT) is an information technology consulting firm that specializes in delivering secure, enterprise-level technology solutions. The company’s core offerings include IT infrastructure design and integration, data center modernization, cloud migration and management, cybersecurity services, and digital collaboration platforms. RCM Technologies serves clients across federal and commercial markets, tailoring its services to meet the strict security and compliance requirements of government agencies as well as the performance and scalability needs of private-sector organizations.

Founded in the mid-1980s and headquartered in Dresher, Pennsylvania, RCM Technologies has built a reputation for end-to-end project delivery, from initial assessment and design through implementation and ongoing managed support. Its expertise spans network engineering, systems integration, application development and managed services, enabling organizations to modernize legacy environments, enhance operational efficiency and strengthen security postures. The company maintains strategic partnerships with leading technology vendors to ensure clients gain access to cutting-edge tools and platforms.

Over its history, RCM Technologies expanded its footprint through both organic growth and selective acquisitions, extending its service capabilities and geographic reach within the United States. The firm has supported a range of government entities, including defense, intelligence and civilian agencies, as well as Fortune 500 companies in industries such as finance, healthcare and manufacturing. In September 2021, RCM Technologies was acquired by Presidio, a global digital services and solutions provider, further integrating its expertise into a broader portfolio of enterprise IT offerings.

RCM Technologies Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Consolidated gross profit rose 7.1% year-over-year to $20.4 million, adjusted EBITDA increased 11.1% to $6.8 million and adjusted EPS grew 30.4% to $0.53, with guidance for low double-digit EBITDA growth in FY 2024 and upside in Q4.
• Healthcare delivered solid double-digit top-line growth excluding a nonstrategic long-term care client, and the K-12 division onboarded 5 new districts with 12 more in late-stage talks—each expected to add over $300 K—setting up reaccelerated H2 growth.
• Life Sciences & Data Solutions saw renewals double year-over-year, with rising demand in HCM, life sciences and Puerto Rico offerings and expanded data management, ERP solutions and organizational change management teams.
• Energy Services achieved double-digit revenue and EBITDA growth in Q1, is investing in client development across the US, Puerto Rico and Europe for the net-zero electrical grid transition, and reorganized EPC and transmission line operations to meet rising market demand.
• Management aims to improve cash flow by reducing DSOs from 93 days toward the low-70s by Q3, projecting combined Q2–Q3 cash from operations to exceed twice Q1 levels.

Presentation

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the RCM Technologies first quarter earnings update. I will now turn the program over to RCM management.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. This is Kevin Miller, Chief Financial Officer of RCM Technologies. I am joined today by Bradley Vizi, RCM's Executive Chairman. Our presentation in this call will contain forward-looking statements. The information contained in the forward-looking statements is based on our beliefs, estimates, assumptions, and information currently available to us, and these matters may materially change in the future. Many of these beliefs, estimates, and assumptions are subject to rapid changes. For more information on our forward-looking statements and the risks, uncertainties, and other factors to which they are subject, please see the periodic reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K that we file with the SEC, as well as our press releases that we issue from time to time.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

I will now turn the call over to Bradley Vizi, Executive Chairman, to provide an overview of RCM's operating performance during the quarter.

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

Thanks, Kevin. Good morning, everyone. As discussed in our prior call, the first quarter concluded as expected, with a seasonally slow start in January and acceleration as we moved through the quarter. Our breadth of focus is both widening and deepening throughout the organization, with all teams executing on current initiatives while seeding new initiatives to propel growth well into the future. Further galvanizing the strength of the platform, we have introduced the Shared Services team, whose mandate is to help streamline the strategic focus of our groups, strengthen collaboration, and enhance communication about the RCM platform. Throughout the month, we will launch a much improved digital initiative highlighting the mission-critical work of each of our groups and helping distinguish us as what I believe to be a one of, one of a kind platform in the marketplace.

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

Without further ado, I will get into updates on the progress of each of our teams, starting with Healthcare. The Healthcare division started 2024 with a continued emphasis on its core. Excluding business we consider to be non-strategic, primarily consisting of a slow-paying, long-term care facility client, we made the decision to reduce. Healthcare demonstrated solid double-digit top-line growth year over year. As we finish lapping the bulk of this headwind in Q2, we anticipate a re-acceleration of growth in the second half for Healthcare. This progress is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the team. Our K-12 education business, one of our key focus areas, continues to strengthen. We are confident about the potential of five new school districts already onboarded and 12 more in the final stages of negotiation.

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

Each anticipate to generate revenue in excess of $300,000. Also of note, there are 11 new districts toward the late stages of the sales cycle that show promising contribution in the 2024-2025 school year. Our expansion efforts to grow our client base nationwide continues to yield substantial results. We are leveraging our leadership position in K-12 staffing to capture new opportunities and strengthen our advantage. As we continue to execute our strategy, we are confident in our ability to deliver sustained value and growth to our shareholders. Transitioning to Life Sciences and Data Solutions. First quarter results demonstrated continued progress in executing against our strategy to pursue project, solution, and managed service solutions client engagements. Our renewal business doubled year-over-year.

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

We have seen increased demand for our services in Life Sciences, HCM, and Puerto Rico Solutions, and our pipeline continues to grow quarter-over-quarter. Our customers have challenged us to expand our services in HCM with the introduction of direct, white glove, and post-implementation support. We have expanded our data management team and built a dedicated ERP Solutions team. We have broadened our program practice team by introducing a robust series of organizational change management services that will enhance all of our solution practices. As we look toward the remainder of 2024, we continue to see strong momentum in the business. Energy Services closed the first quarter of 2024 with strong results, delivering double-digit forecasted revenue and EBITDA increases. Client development continues to be an area of investment for us, given the technical success of several marquee projects within the industry.

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

To say it differently, widely followed technical success is conducive to growth, and we are highly focused on leveraging our momentum in the marketplace. During Q1, Energy Services invested in client development in the Northeast and Midwestern United States, Puerto Rico, and Europe, building partnerships for the Net Zero transition and modernization of the electrical grid. Also of note, organizational changes have strengthened the EPC and transmission line business to capitalize on increasing market demand. We believe that the foundation is set for Energy Services to provide a material economic contribution to RCM in 2024 and well into the future. Within our Process Industrial group, RCM Thermal Kinetics continued execution efforts for multiple equipment contracts in the zero-carbon chemical manufacturing sector. The Thermal Kinetics office has also won new Engineering business in Q1 related to ethanol plant expansion and optimization studies.

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

The Thermal Kinetics team feels that this is a strategic area of focus as production plants try to reduce their carbon footprint and are incentivized by state and federal governments to do so. In addition, a large Engineering order related to an SAF production plant was also received in Q1. The new Thermal Kinetics testing lab was at 100% utilization through Q1, 2024. Client interest in the facility continues, and we anticipate utilization of the lab will continue through 2024. The team remains focused on the continuation of its emergence as a market leader in responsible and sustainable chemical process design. The Aerospace and Defense Group had mixed results in Q1, 2024, due to a lull in workload in our aftermarket segment during January and February. However, EBITDA for the division still grew year-over-year. The Engineering piece of the business is thriving, executing with three new clients in Q1, 2024.

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

There are RFIs, RFQs, and MSAs in process, most including Engineering and aftermarket services, with two new OEMs in vertical lift and land vehicles, three new Tier One manufacturers in power supplies, inverters, electronics, and aerospace components, and one new air mobility client throughout the Aerospace and Defense division by the end of Q2, 2024. Our strategy to continue to drive and expand our model-based expertise, digital conversion, and software and systems expertise throughout the organization and customer base has resulted in continuing inquiries and partnership opportunities throughout the quarter. Our new service offering, which revolves around solving quality and production issues within our clients' supply bases, continues to grow with interest and engagement throughout our client base. This expertise is also attracting new client interest. We will continue to expand our reach with these clients and prioritize these engagements in 2024.

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

Our project and program management additions in our Engineering and aftermarket sectors are instituting welcome changes with the entire team, excited and engaged. We have already seen quantifiable results from the Program Management Office stemming from the team's exceptional efforts. I will return the call to Kevin to discuss the Q1, 2024 financial results in more detail.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

Thank you, Brad. Regarding our consolidated results, consolidated gross profit for the first quarter of 2024 grew by 7.1% as compared to 2023, from $19.0 million to $20.4 million. Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter grew 11.1%, from $6.1 million to $6.8 million. Adjusted diluted EPS for the quarter, for the first quarter of 2024, grew by 30.4% from $0.41 to $0.53. As for segment performance, in the first quarter of 2024, Engineering gross profit grew by 27.1%. Life Sciences and Data Solutions gross profit grew by 7.9%. Healthcare gross profit was down 2.4%. However, if we remove the impact of COVID from the comparable first quarter in 2023, we estimate that 2024 revenue grew by about 7.3%.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

If we remove the impact of COVID and the deliberate reduction in services to a large, long-time, and slow-paying long-term care facility, we estimate that 2024 grew by about 12.8%. School revenue of $31.9 million for the first quarter of 2024 grew by 19.1% after removing COVID revenue from the first quarter of 2023. As for the remainder of fiscal 2024, we continue to anticipate that we will see at least low double-digit, consolidated, Adjusted EBITDA growth as compared to fiscal 2023, with a similar quarterly cadence to EBITDA when compared to fiscal 2023. We also believe that there is significant upside to the fourth quarter with such a robust school pipeline, starting in the 2024-2025 school year. This concludes our prepared remarks. At this time, we will open the call for questions.

[Operator]

Yes, and with that, ladies and gentlemen, please press star one on your telephone keypad if you would like to ask a question. That is star one on your telephone keypad if you would like to ask a question. And, first up, it looks like we have Bill Sutherland. Your line is now open.

[Bill Sutherland, Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Thank you. Hello, gentlemen. Nice quarter, and very impressive in terms of some of the new business you've got lined up here. The healthcare side is you've got five districts that are onboarded, so they will impact the 2024-2025 year, right, Kevin?

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

So far.

[Bill Sutherland, Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Yeah, I didn't. It might be my phone. Didn't quite hear it.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

Yep.

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

Yeah, yeah, Bill, I'll go ahead and take that one. I think Kevin might have been on mute. We're having audio difficulty here. Yeah, we have, you know, five that we're highly confident on, already executed. You know, quite a few in the pipeline that are very much advanced. I think the figure is 11 or so that are pending execution and, you know, roughly the same amount that we believe should get there. So, you know, I think in aggregate, you know, something around, you know, kind of the hot, the 30 mark that we think is have quite a bit of potential.

[Bill Sutherland, Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Hey, Brad, while you've got the mic, can you just provide a little more color on the, I think you said expanding services, this is Life Sciences, expanding services in the HCM part of it?

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

Mm-hmm. Yeah. So, you know, two of our strongest practices in that business or in that division are Life Sciences and HCM, as you're aware. And we've had quite a bit of success in HCM the last couple of years, and been embraced, you know, by some of our clients here. And, you know, naturally, when that happens, you know, when you are successful with them with one particular need, you know, you're at the front of the queue with respect to, you know, ancillary opportunities, right? And opportunities to build on the business that you've worked with them to build.

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

So, you know, it's very much, you know, along the lines of what we look for in terms of, you know, identifying strategic clients, putting our energy into them, doing well for them, and then ultimately that leading to incremental opportunities. So again, you know, benefiting from, you know, our growth, right, in terms of our ability to deliver value to them, as well as their growth. You know, that particular market is very robust.

[Bill Sutherland, Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

In engineering, just one other one. You mentioned aerospace, you know, picking up at, coming out of 1Q. Is this a, is this a sort of a slow ramp, do you think, or... Because you did mention 3 new clients starting up. Just trying to get a feel of the cadence for Aero this year.

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

Kevin, do you wanna speak to cadence, or you want me to take this one?

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

Yeah, yeah, you can go ahead.

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

Yeah.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

Can you hear me up on the line?

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

Yeah, yeah, on the aerospace front, you know, that group has done quite a bit of work in terms of optimizing their business mix and positioning the portfolio for the long term. You know, basically to deliver good returns and, and, and higher margins. You know, making good strides on the engineering front, you know, really solid success, as I alluded to in the prepared remarks. And aftermarket, there was a bit of a lull that is picking up, you know, particularly with some, you know, larger POs that are crystallizing this quarter. As well as, you know, new clients that, you know, started small naturally, and again, you know, as we continue to deliver for them and gain their trust, they reward us with more work.

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

So, you know, when you look at, you know, the combination of those two, we have, you know, much higher expectations in the second half than, you know, what we saw, you know, in the first four months of the year.

[Bill Sutherland, Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Just one more, Kevin, let you take a victory lap here on the cash in the quarter, and you mentioned continued improvement. Is there any kind of dimension you want to put on that?

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

Well, we, you know, quite frankly, you know, we expect Q2 and Q3 to be better than Q1 in terms of cash flow from operations. How much better remains to be seen, but I'll be very disappointed if we don't have... You know, when you add up Q2 and Q3, and I don't care if it, you know, a lot of it comes in Q3 versus Q2 or whatever, but when you add up those two, you know, they should be a lot more than two times Q1. And if not significantly higher, I'm going to be very disappointed with the cash flow. So-

[Bill Sutherland, Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

It's not just, it's just not time, and it's not only timing. You're also just making progress in terms of some of the working capital impacts.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

It's everything, you know, it's everything. It's, it's gonna be obviously it starts with having, you know, a good, good net income, you know, especially, you know, after considering seasonality, managing the working capital right up and down the balance sheet. Obviously, the biggest one is receivables, and, you know, we expect our receivables to be down at the end of Q2, and, from where they ended at Q1 and, down even further, I think, into Q3. You know, based on what I'm seeing, you know, in the receivables right now, you know, we're making some progress in terms of getting them to a level that is more acceptable than where they are today.

[Bill Sutherland, Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Yeah. Remind us about... Well, first off, what was the DSO in the quarter? And then remind us kind of where you want to get.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

Well, it's 93. Long term, I'd like to be in the low 70s. That may be a little too optimistic over the next two quarters, but we need to first, you know, get it to 85, and then get it to 80, and then get it to 75.

[Bill Sutherland, Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Mm-hmm.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

And, you know, we're just gonna keep working to get it down. Obviously, there are always factors that influence that. You know, sometimes we do take on, you know, high-margin clients that maybe have a little bit slower profile. And, you know, sometimes when you're working with, like, big, you know, like, big companies-

[Bill Sutherland, Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Big school districts.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

It...

[Bill Sutherland, Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Yeah.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

Well, school districts, you know, school districts are interesting. You know, they pay quickly, but sometimes there are just a lot of administrative hoops you need to jump through.

[Bill Sutherland, Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Right.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

So that causes some significant fluctuations. You know, and we've seen quarters where our school DSOs are incredibly pristine, and then we've seen other quarters where they're just a little bit higher.

[Bill Sutherland, Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Yes.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

But, you know, the good, the great thing about the schools is, you know, they pay, and they pay quickly.

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

They will pay.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

-once they approve invoices.

[Bill Sutherland, Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Yeah.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

And once the POs get all tied up in a bow and on somebody's desk. So the schools historically pay pretty well. It's just up to us to do a little bit better job of getting through some of the administrative sort of traps that are out there.

[Bill Sutherland, Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Right.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

But yeah, we're excited because, you know, I can see on our two largest clients that we're gonna be in really, really good shape, you know, on those receivables over the next two quarters.

[Bill Sutherland, Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Sounds good. Thanks, guys.

[Operator]

Okay. Next up, we have Alex Rygiel. Your line is now open. Alex, your line is now open. Perhaps you have us on mute?

[Alex Rygiel, Senior Managing Director at B. Riley Financial]

I did. I apologize for that. Brad and Kevin, nice quarter here. Quick question, as it relates to the robust school pipeline and the potential for the fourth quarter upside, when do you think you're gonna have good visibility on this?

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

Well, it will certainly be better the next time we talk in early August. You know, and it will have better visibility in terms of the contracts that we have in place, right? We'll probably have a feel for some of them in terms of what kind of revenue they're gonna generate, you know, out of the chute. And then, obviously, you know, we won't really have a feel for, you know, how much revenue all of the schools are gonna generate until we get, you know, to, like, sometime into September, October, 'cause it just, you know, sometimes this, you know, schools kind of surprise you in terms of, you know, when you first ramp up with them, sometimes in a good way and sometimes in a bad way.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

But, you know, we've got so many new schools that we think we're gonna have for next year that, you know, Brad and I are sitting here going, "Well, you know, at least a few of them are gonna pop and come in as pretty good clients, you know, right from day one." And then the others will work, you know, to get them to be significant clients later on in the year or, you know, 2025, 2026. But, you know, we've not had a pipeline like this that I, you know, of new schools that I can remember, frankly, ever in the history of the company. So that's exciting.

[Alex Rygiel, Senior Managing Director at B. Riley Financial]

And when you sign up and execute on these new contracts with the schools, can you address if there's any sort of margin headwind maybe in the first 90 days of that new contract or if there's a notable receivables headwind?

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

Not -- Well, certainly, I certainly don't feel like there's any receivables headwind. Sometimes when we get into a new school client, every school, you know, has, can have, like, quirky administrative procedures in terms of getting POs approved and getting invoices approved and getting time sheets approved and IEPs approved. So sometimes, you know, when you find, when it takes a little while to get the cadence down of the administrative burdens that are at a particular school. So sometimes they're slow paying in the beginning until we sort of really, you know, work through everything that they need. But we typically, you know, the schools always pay. And really, there's no one school where, like, they're gonna take a long time to pay.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

The only time they take a long time to pay is if there's some administrative stuff you need to get through. So that doesn't, that doesn't concern me at all. But in terms of the, you know, revenue, you know, you just don't know for sure until you get in there and start working it. And you don't really know the gross margin until you get in there and start working it as well. But we believe that, you know, the schools that we're gonna be adding should all have pretty similar margin profiles to what we have right now. And we don't see that. You know, sometimes you might need to put a few people in there at a little bit lower margin to really impress them and get the contract rolling.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

But we're not typically right now, we're not really seeing a lot of headwinds as far as the margins are concerned for schools.

[Alex Rygiel, Senior Managing Director at B. Riley Financial]

And then more broadly, across all three of your business segments, are there any other kind of sizable contracts that are nearing conclusion or you're contemplating or have recently sort of walked away from that are worth discussing?

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

Well, there is a large healthcare client that, that Brad mentioned, you know, that's a long-term care facility that, you know, is mostly funded by Medicaid, that just is really slow paying. We always get paid by them. You know, they're a 20+ year client. We've never had a write-off. But, you know, it just doesn't, it just doesn't make sense to service them at the level that we were servicing them in 2022 and 2023 because of the, you know, because we just don't want that much capital tied up in, in one client. It's not really a risk in terms of payment, but it's just, it's just a pure capital allocation decision that, you know, Brad and I decided we gotta, we gotta sort of slow this down a little bit.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

It hurts in the short term, but it's the right decision long term. But as far as, you know, major contracts, I mean, you know, we don't really talk too much about that because, you know, we just don't wanna talk about a big contract we said we're gonna win and then not win it. But, you know, the pipeline and the backlog is strong across all the divisions. And, Brad, I don't know if you want to add something to that, but-

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

... Yeah, I know, Alex, to put a fine point on it, I think that, you know, there's always gonna be some of our project orientation, you know, to the business. You know, but with respect to potential, you know, headwinds of projects, basically kind of, you know, ending, there's nothing really on the horizon, you know, that we're aware of, that, you know, we don't think we're gonna grow right through. You know, just the biggest headwind, as we mentioned, Kevin reaffirmed, was in healthcare, and I think we're gonna be largely through that at the end of this quarter.

[Alex Rygiel, Senior Managing Director at B. Riley Financial]

I'm gonna end with the capital allocation question here. Clearly, your cash flow outlook is very positive. Balance sheet's really strong. Don't believe you bought any shares back in the quarter, but could you talk about how you're thinking about prioritizing buybacks versus acquisitions?

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

Yeah, just, just to be clear on that, Alex, and you'll see, when the Q is filed here, we bought 200,000 shares in the quarter. You know, and-

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

In Q2.

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

Yeah. And look, you know, as the cash starts to come in here over the next couple quarters, you know, we should pretty much be de-levered at that point or getting really close to it. And you know, look, we're gonna be opportunistic and, you know, we're just fine and comfortable, you know, carrying around a little bit of cash for a period of time. And when the right opportunity presents itself, that meets our, you know, return profile, we're, you know, we're gonna be quick to move. That being said, you know, we are looking at a couple bolt-ons we're very intrigued by, that we think that we can add significant value to. And you know, the chemistry is certainly right, you know, with the sellers.

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

So, you know, when they fit that profile with respect to, you know, a technical capability in a very attractive, you know, growing segment of the market, you know, that we can put, you know, our half behind, you know, in terms of, you know, sales horsepower, recruiting horsepower, right? And everything else that comes with the platform. So, you know, we're, we're a little closer, you know, there, but, you know, perhaps there's more to talk about, you know, in August on, on one of those.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

That's great. Thank you very much. Nice quarter.

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Oh, I'm so sorry. I was on mute there. Ladies and gentlemen, just as a quick reminder, you can press star one on your telephone keypad if you would like to ask a question. Again, that is star one on your telephone keypad, if you would like to join the question queue. But next up, we have Ben Andrews.

[Ben Andrews, Portfolio Manager and Analyst at Andrews Capital Management]

Hey, good afternoon.

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

Hi, Ben.

[Ben Andrews, Portfolio Manager and Analyst at Andrews Capital Management]

Two questions, please. Hey, when I look at the healthcare year-over-year, it looks like gross margin went down a little bit. So the accounts that you're calling that are slow-paying, they're also high-margin business?

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

No, they're, they're right around, you know, right around the normal margin. You know, the, the main reason for, you know, the downturn in the margin, frankly, was we had a pretty big increase to some of our employment taxes in New York.

[Ben Andrews, Portfolio Manager and Analyst at Andrews Capital Management]

Mm.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

That's sort of the biggest hit that we took in Q1. We had a pretty big increase. You know, that will run through, and then you just have normal noise and mix shift in the margin, but, you know, that you're gonna see. But there's nothing other than that, that issue in Q1 that I would say is, you know, impacting the year-over-year comparison. And keep in mind that Q1 of last year was pretty high margin, you know, compared to its historic margins.

[Ben Andrews, Portfolio Manager and Analyst at Andrews Capital Management]

Yeah. Okay. And then this might be intertwined with that question as well, but regarding accounts receivable, for a long time now, many years, it seems that you guys get it together, and then it spins out of control, then you get it together, and then it, you know, spins out of control. Is that indicative of that client, or is that indicative of the, you know, the, the revenue split on, on the type of clients you have? Why is that?

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

Yeah, I think the, the you know, best way I can explain it, Ben, is there's just, you know, particularly in the schools, we do run into some administrative, you know, issues from time to time, especially with our biggest clients. And, you know, we've, we've had a lot of quarters in a row, you know, excluding the last couple, where we had outstanding DSOs for those two clients, and we'll, we'll get it back, you know, to a better level. And then there's always gonna be, you know, noise in terms of, you know, in terms of some of the clients that you're working with, in terms of... Especially on the project side, right? Because, you know, a lot of times you can't get paid until the project's finished. There's certain milestones built in.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

So there's always going to be, you know, some fluctuations in terms of, you know, in terms of the AR. I think that if you look, if you sort of looked at this company over, like, a 12-year period. We don't have some of the issues that we've had in the prior years in terms of, like, some of the, I don't want to use the word systemic, but there were some issues where we just were not as diligent, and not as really focused on AR as we should be, to be really honest. And I think that discipline and that focus is 100% here today, and it's been here for a while.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

I don't think that if you look out over the next three or four years, that you're gonna see the kind of fluctuations that you've seen, you know, five years ago. But we do have a couple of, you know, couple of areas that we need to work on right now, and that's what we're focused on.

[Ben Andrews, Portfolio Manager and Analyst at Andrews Capital Management]

Mm-hmm. Okay, well, that's good to hear. Hopefully, you know, we'll see that going forward, kind of an ongoing lower DSO. And, and-

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

Yeah, and we will absolutely get them down. The only thing I would add to that also is, you know, we're very, very focused on, obviously, cash flow, return on equity, you know, like, so if we have a client that we know is going to be 90 days or 120, and a lot of these big companies, you know, it's 90, 120, or, you know, there's eight companies behind us that will take the business.

[Ben Andrews, Portfolio Manager and Analyst at Andrews Capital Management]

Right.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

We're pretty careful about how we select those companies, and we also need to make sure that, you know, if we're gonna have high DSOs with a client, that the, you know, the juice is worth the squeeze, right? We're gonna make sure that we get a good margin from that client to make sure that that capital allocation is worthwhile. So we spent a lot of time looking at this, and we spent a lot of time thinking about it very, very carefully.

[Ben Andrews, Portfolio Manager and Analyst at Andrews Capital Management]

Right, and that's why I'm asking this, because it clearly looks like it has. Well, I know it's happened before, and I'm just trying to understand your customer base more.

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Ben, I'd also pair that, and just to again put a fine point on what Kevin said is, you know, we look at DSOs in the context of overall returns on capital, right? So again, you know, if a client's gonna pay as a you know 50% gross margin, right, but they wanna pay in 90 days, and we feel it's absolutely good credit, you know, great. You know, and so we try to be, you know, pretty holistic in the way we look at our client base. But also, you know, kind of a subtle thing here is, you know, we're scaling a services platform, right?

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

I mean, you know, and naturally, that mix, you know, as you scale any business, you know, especially one that, you know, has a diverse set of project activity like ours, it start to normalize. So you can get some gyrations, you know, from even just a couple of flare-ups or, you know, maybe one flare-up and one miscut off. You know, and on, you know, furthermore, on the administrative front, you know, when we talk about administrative issues, right, they can be pretty fundamental. You know, say, you know, we have, you know, a school client that ends up being a great client, but actually onboarding them, you know, is pretty, I would say, you know, labor and intellectually intensive.

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

You know, and when you have that in place and that rhythm, right, and then all of a sudden, you might have some turnover on their side. So the next person that comes in, right, you know, there's a little bit of a learning curve on that side, you know, on their side again, right? In terms of picking up their their own system, right? So that could slow things down a little bit. So there's just some natural things that just happen. And as a whole, we view this, you know, long term as opportunity, because anytime you have a, you know, a pinch point with a client, right, or, or, you know, a challenge, right, in terms of, you know, how is this getting to a point in steady state where they're a great client, right?

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

That ultimately is an opportunity, right, to help them resolve a pinch point. So now, instead of, you know, just being a vendor, you're a partner, right? And, and you become a little bit more sticky, with respect to, that partnership.

[Ben Andrews, Portfolio Manager and Analyst at Andrews Capital Management]

Thank you, Brad. If I look at earnings in the quarter, I was impressed. I mean, when you back out the gain on sale, like $400,000 from last year, clearly your EBIT went up more than I thought it was gonna go up to, and definitely more than the street analyst thought. And you did it with, you know, the healthcare engine not really running this quarter, or being masked by stuff falling off. So how should I look at that type of margin looking out over a few quarters, you know, when these schools and, you know, possibly aerospace, you know, clients are coming on?

[Ben Andrews, Portfolio Manager and Analyst at Andrews Capital Management]

Should you maintain relatively the same margin or could we see, you know, nice growth like we did year-over-year in Q1 or even better?

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

Well, on a sequential basis, Ben, I expect it to improve on a sequential basis. You know, I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that we're gonna see, you know, a catapult in gross margin from Q1, but we should see improvement as we move through the quarters. I mean, you know, when we start running through 100% of unemployment expenses for a lot of our employees, you know, that alone will bring up the margins, you know, 50 basis points. You know, we should see some improvement as we go through. You know, we had really good margins last year, so I, you know, I don't know how we're gonna compare year-over-year. You know, but I would also stress that Brad and I-...

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

While gross margin is incredibly important and something we really focus on, we focus on growing gross profit dollars, you know, and getting return on those gross profit dollars. So, you know, if it makes sense to sort of do a large deal for a 22% margin or a 20% margin, that's not gonna have a lot of SG&A, you know, a lot of direct SG&A, you know, we'll do that. But as we look at the business today, I do expect to see some sequential improvements in gross margin for all three of the businesses.

[Ben Andrews, Portfolio Manager and Analyst at Andrews Capital Management]

Okay. Well, well, excellent. Well, hopefully the world realizes the work you've done, and you've turned RCM back into a growth company again. And, I don't know, I guess buying it, you can kind of get a double whammy. You can get that growth and, your, the stock is clearly trading at a, at a market multiple or well below a market multiple now, on valuation-wise. So let's see. So thank you for everything. I appreciate it.

[Kevin Miller, CFO at RCM Technologies]

No problem.

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

Thank you, Ben. We appreciate it, Ben. Thank you.

[Operator]

All right, gentlemen, at this time, there are no further questions in queue, so I can remind participants one final time. If you would like to get in a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Again, that's star one on your telephone keypad. All right, at this time, I'm seeing no further questions in queue.

[Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President at RCM Technologies]

Thank you for attending, RCM's first quarter conference call. We look forward to our next update in August.

[Operator]

With that, ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude your call. You may now disconnect your lines, and thank you again for joining us today.

Participants

Executives

• Brad Vizi, Executive Chairman and President
• Kevin Miller, CFO

Analysts

• Alex Rygiel, Senior Managing Director at B. Riley Financial
• Ben Andrews, Portfolio Manager and Analyst at Andrews Capital Management
• Bill Sutherland, Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company