REX American Resources Q2 2025 Earnings Report

REX American Resources EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $0.35
• Consensus EPS: $0.22
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$0.13
• One Year Ago EPS: $0.26

REX American Resources Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $148.16 million
• Expected Revenue: $146.00 million
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$2.16 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

REX American Resources Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q2 2025
• Date: 8/27/2024
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Tuesday, August 27, 2024
• Conference Call Time: 11:00AM ET

REX American Resources (NYSE:REX) is a renewable fuels company that produces and markets ethanol and related coproducts. Its operations are focused on the conversion of corn into fuel-grade ethanol, distillers grains used primarily as animal feed, and corn distillers oil, which can be used in animal feed and renewable-fuel applications.

The company owns and operates, or holds interests in, ethanol production facilities located in the Midwestern United States, including facilities in states such as Illinois and South Dakota. Through these operations, REX serves the domestic renewable fuels and agricultural markets and participates in the broader U.S. ethanol supply chain.

REX American Resources was formerly known as REX Stores Corporation and historically operated in retail before transitioning its business toward ethanol production and renewable energy. The company is headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, and is led by Stuart A. Rose, who serves as chairman and chief executive officer.

REX American Resources Q2 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• REX delivered 8% higher gross profit in Q2 2024 versus Q2 2023 and improved net income per share by over 35% year-over-year and 20% sequentially.
• Construction of the carbon capture and compression facility is delayed by Illinois’ CO₂ pipeline moratorium, with EPA draft permit now expected by year-end and final approval in Q2 2025.
• The One Earth Energy ethanol plant expansion to 175 million gallons per year remains on track for Q1 2025, with permitting to boost capacity to 200 million gallons requiring no additional capital spend.
• REX ended Q2 with a $346 million cash and short-term investment position, no bank debt, and $91 million invested year-to-date in carbon capture and ethanol expansion projects within the original budget.
• Management expects Q3 results to exceed Q2 performance, citing favorable corn input prices, a strong Midwest harvest outlook and a 36.5% year-over-year rise in ethanol exports.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good morning, and welcome to the Rex American Resources second quarter 2024 conference call. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded, and at this time, all participants are on listen-only mode. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Doug Bruggeman, Chief Financial Officer of Rex American. Please go ahead.

[Douglas Bruggeman, CFO at REX American Resources]

Good morning, and thank you for joining Rex American Resources Q2 2024 conference call. We'll get to our presentation and comments momentarily, as well as your questions, but first, I will review the safe harbor disclosure. In addition to historical facts or statements of current conditions, today's conference call contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements reflect the company's current expectations and beliefs, but are not guarantees of future performance. As such, actual results may vary materially from expectations. The risks and uncertainties associated with the forward-looking statements are described in today's news announcement and the company's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company's reports on Form 10-K and 10-Q. Rex American Resources assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.

[Douglas Bruggeman, CFO at REX American Resources]

I'd now like to turn the call over to our Executive Chairman, Stuart Rose.

[Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman at REX American Resources]

Good morning, and thank you again to everyone for joining us. During the second quarter, Rex American Resources made excellent progress on the three goals for the remainder of the year that I laid out in our last call. As a reminder, these were: to continue profitable operations, to complete the construction phase of our One Earth carbon capture and compression facility, and to complete the capacity expansion of our One Earth Energy ethanol production facility to 175 million gallons per year and move toward the planned further permitting of the facility to 200 million gallons. To the first goal, we were entirely successful. Rex had very profitable operations relative to the prior year's comparable quarter. Our team produced strong gross margin in the second quarter, improved by 37% over the first quarter and by nearly 8% over second quarter 2023.

[Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman at REX American Resources]

Net income per share also improved more than 20% over the first quarter of 2024 and more than 35% over second quarter 2023. While we have our eyes on the future, we continue to emphasize our core business of ethanol production, which has allowed us to accomplish three goals, as well as produce consistent, industry-leading results for our shareholders. The success of this core business has allowed us to grow without burdening the company with any debt. Our team executes at a high level every day, and I want to say thank you to them for their efforts this quarter. On the second goal, to complete construction, the capture and compression portion of our One Earth Energy CCS project in Gibson City, Illinois, we continue to make progress. Zafar will discuss this project in detail later in the call.

[Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman at REX American Resources]

Our third goal, to complete construction of the One Earth Energy ethanol production capacity expansion to a hundred and seventy-five million gallons per year to prepare for further permitting production levels of two hundred million gallons per year, is on track for the first quarter of 2025. This expansion will further improve our ability to realize strong returns. We are very excited for the expansion and what it means for our business. We are making progress on all of our goals and in preparing Rex American to have success both now and over the long term. I'd now like to turn things over to our CEO, Zafar Rizvi, to give further updates on our One Earth Energy, CCS, and ethanol production capacity expansion projects.

[Zafar Rizvi, CEO at REX American Resources]

Thanks, Stuart. Our carbon capture and sequestration project in Gibson City, Illinois, continues to progress. You can see updated picture of the carbon capture and compression portion of the facility in our second quarter investor presentation, which was posted to our website this morning. Due to regulatory action by the state of Illinois, which, in July, imposed a moratorium on the construction of CO2 pipelines, we have adjusted our construction schedule for the initial portion of the project. We believe this is the most prudent path from both an operational and financial perspective. Operationally, completing the capture and compression facility later in the year will mean a shorter period between completion of the construction and testing of the portion of the facility, which will require utility interconnection that is planned to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2025.

[Zafar Rizvi, CEO at REX American Resources]

From a budgetary perspective, taking a more measured approach to construction allow us to more closely monitor our spending without incurring potential extra costs to meet the accelerated deadline. Given the new permitting reality, we are confident that pursuing the several ongoing portion of this project in this way is the right path. While pipeline permitting in Illinois is being worked out, our Class VI injection well permit application with U.S. EPA is still in process, and we anticipate a draft permit being issued by 2024 calendar year-end. On the timeline currently estimated by the EPA itself, we would then anticipate final approval of the project in the second quarter of 2025.

[Zafar Rizvi, CEO at REX American Resources]

As a reminder, as of last quarter, Rex had secured easement for enough of the subsurface area to allow us the capacity to sequester all of our carbon emission on the One Earth Energy plant for the next fifteen years, and also secured easement from our neighboring farmers for well number one and two, which will allow us to completely avoid the use of eminent domain in eventual construction of our carbon delivery pipeline. The expansion of our One Earth Energy ethanol facility, hundred and seventy-five million gallons per year of production, is on track for completion in the first quarter of 2025. Final testing and commissioning depends on the completion of the electric interconnection from our local utility.

[Zafar Rizvi, CEO at REX American Resources]

After necessary emission certification from the increased production levels, we then expect to begin the planned further permitting of the One Earth ethanol facility to allow it to produce 200 million gallons per year. This additional permitting is the only step necessary to allow for the expanded capacity to 200 million gallons, as no additional construction or capital spending is expected. This 25 and eventual 50 million gallon per year expansion in production capacity, added on to our current highly efficient and profitable facility, we expect will enable us to expand our already stand out profitability in our core ethanol business line. As of quarter end, we have invested approximately $91 million into the One Earth carbon capture project and associated ethanol production capacity expansion.

[Zafar Rizvi, CEO at REX American Resources]

Spending for the carbon capture and sequestration project stood at $49.1 million as of second quarter end, while expenditure on the ethanol expansion stood at $41.7 million as of the same date. This is compared to total combined budget amount of $165-$175 million for both the CCS project and ethanol production expansion at Gibson City. I would now like to hand the call to our CFO, Doug Bruggeman, to discuss our operational and financial results. Doug?

[Douglas Bruggeman, CFO at REX American Resources]

Thanks, Zafar. I'll begin with our operational results. Rex ethanol sales volume during the second quarter 2024 was 65.1 million gallons, a reduction of approximately 6% versus second quarter 2023 sales volume of 69.1 million gallons. Average selling price for our consolidated ethanol volumes was $1.79 per gallon for the second quarter, compared to $2.42 per gallon in the second quarter of 2023. Dry distillers grain sales volume during the second quarter of 2024 totaled 132,850 tons, a 6% decrease over second quarter 2023 volumes. Average selling price for DDGs were $164.45 per ton for the second quarter 2024, compared to $226.48 per ton in the second quarter of 2023.

[Douglas Bruggeman, CFO at REX American Resources]

Modified distillers grain sales volumes were 17,650 tons in the second quarter 2024, compared with approximately 10,610 tons in the second quarter of 2023. Average selling price for modified distillers grain was $63.61 per ton for the second quarter. The average selling price for the modified distillers grain in the second quarter of 2023 was approximately $103. Corn oil sales volumes in the second quarter 2024 were approximately 20.2 million pounds, compared to 20.7 million pounds sold in the second quarter of 2023. The average selling price for Rex's corn oil product was $0.43 per pound for the second quarter 2024, compared to $0.55 per pound in the second quarter of 2023.

[Douglas Bruggeman, CFO at REX American Resources]

Gross profit for the second quarter 2024 was $19.8 million, versus gross profit of approximately $18.4 million for the second quarter of 2023. The 8% increase in gross profit was achieved despite lower average selling prices for all products, which was more than offset by lower corn and natural gas input prices. Our selling, general, and administrative expenses decreased to $6.4 million for the second quarter of 2024, versus $8.6 million in the second quarter of 2023. The decrease was primarily due to the expensing of executive stock grants in the prior year, which did not recur this year. Interest and other income totaled $4.4 million in the second quarter of 2024, compared with approximately $3.3 million for the second quarter of 2023.

[Douglas Bruggeman, CFO at REX American Resources]

This reflects higher balances and better earnings on our cash and short-term investments. Income before taxes and non-controlling interest for the second quarter of 2024 was approximately $19.5 million, an increase of more than 21% over the second quarter of 2023. Net income attributable to Rex shareholders for the second quarter was $12.4 million, compared to $9.1 million in the second quarter of 2023. On a per-share diluted basis for the second quarter of 2024, this amounts to seventy cents per share of net income, compared to fifty-two cents per share in the second quarter of 2023. We ended the second quarter with total cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments of $346 million, compared with $378.7 million as of January 31, 2024.

[Douglas Bruggeman, CFO at REX American Resources]

The uses of cash during the first half were primarily related to our ongoing construction projects at the One Earth Energy facility. Rex American also ended the quarter without any bank debt. I'd now like to turn the call back to Zafar.

[Zafar Rizvi, CEO at REX American Resources]

Thank you, Doug. I would now like to give some color around how we see market progressing through the remainder of the year. For the third quarter, we are off to a strong start, and we expect to see the same corn market drivers that were supportive to this point in the year continue to play out. With this, we expect to see the result of the third quarter exceeds those of the second quarter of this year. Additionally, we believe increasing ethanol exports, which on a volume basis, was 36.5% higher through June than at the same point last year, according to the USDA, have had a positive impact across the industry. As far as corn inputs, at the current time, we are looking toward harvest and what is expected to be a bumper crop.

[Zafar Rizvi, CEO at REX American Resources]

For corn in the Midwest, crop conditions near our two consolidated plants are expected to be strong. We are anticipating that robust harvest, coupled with the current corn in the farm inventories, will lead to a continued favorable corn input pricing. Above all, we are focused on profitability over product pricing or production numbers, as evidenced by our improved gross margin performance this quarter, despite lower ethanol pricing and volume sold. It is this focus and the people in our plants who live it every day, that continue to make us the successful, profitable company we are. Now, I would like to open things up to the questions. Operator?

[Operator]

Thank you. We will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you would like to remove yourself from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up the handset before pressing the star keys. One moment, please, while we poll for questions. Our first question comes from the line of Jordan Levy with Truist Securities. Please proceed with your que-

[Jordan Levy, VP and Equity Research Analyst at Truist Securities]

Morning, all, and thanks for all the updates. I just wanted to talk first on the carbon capture sequestration side of things. You know, you guys did a good job calling out in the press release, kind of the various external forces that, you know, you have to think through when you're going through this process. But maybe just help us think about in the event and in the timeframe that, assuming you do get the permit approval that you need, can you just talk to the timeline around the build-out of the pipeline and then any remaining necessary equipment at that point?

[Operator]

Zafar?

[Zafar Rizvi, CEO at REX American Resources]

Yes. I think if you look at that information which we provided, the EPA permit is expected to be in sometime in second quarter of 2025. But in the meantime, our construction is in full swing. We are already taking care of it, carbon sequestration facility, which will be approximately by the end of this year, depending on the utility connection, interconnection with to provide that utility to the CCS and also to ethanol facilities. So once we have this utility received, and then construction of the One Earth Energy ethanol facility is completed, we're going to concentrate on ethanol facility to be start as soon as possible. As you know, One Earth Energy has produced over the last fifteen years, I can say with confidence, not a single year they lost that money.

[Zafar Rizvi, CEO at REX American Resources]

And that ethanol plant location is very important to us, and that facility will produce much better profit margins moving forward once we complete that facility. And the second, we will certainly continue to do construction work and try to reach as soon as possible, when we'll receive all these permits, and then ICC permit and other permits as we receive, and construction will be completed, and once the electric connection is connected, we will start the testing. So I will say sometime, probably, once we receive the permit from EPA, we will start the construction of the well. So we will say probably sometime August or September next year, we should be in operation. But that's just expected to, depending on all of those permits we receive. Otherwise, you know, we are waiting for all those permits, so.

[Zafar Rizvi, CEO at REX American Resources]

But it depends on the permits. But facilities-

[Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman at REX American Resources]

Jordan. Jordan, to further answer your question, the biggest delay is in receiving permits. That's. We call it a pipeline, but it's really just a three- or four-mile connector, the pipe itself. But we have to wait for Illinois to give us a permit on that, which is not easy. But building the pipeline and building the hole itself are not nearly as time-consuming as waiting for these permits. And that's, I think, was your question, is once we get the permits, how long will it take? That will not be nearly as long as waiting for the permits, and Zafar gave you a pretty good time schedule of that. But what we hope is that-

[Jordan Levy, VP and Equity Research Analyst at Truist Securities]

Yeah, absolutely. No, I appreciate all those details, and certainly you all have been, you know, done an impressive job with how much you've been able to get done on your own, and now just waiting on the pipelines. And maybe just a clarifying question. Once you on the-

[Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman at REX American Resources]

The pipeline may not be the... There's more than the pipeline. We're also waiting on the EPA, which is-

[Zafar Rizvi, CEO at REX American Resources]

EPA, yeah, EPA permit.

[Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman at REX American Resources]

Which is the other issue.

[Zafar Rizvi, CEO at REX American Resources]

Exactly.

[Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman at REX American Resources]

And a lot of local permits, too. There's lots of permitting involved there.

[Zafar Rizvi, CEO at REX American Resources]

I think the main thing, which I really wanted to emphasize, is the ethanol facility itself does not need any pipeline, and we are in full swing on the construction of the ethanol facilities from 150 million to 175 million, and then move toward 200 million gallon facility. That should be completed by the first quarter of 2025, depending on our utility providing the electric connections. Once that facility is completed, we will be able to produce ethanol at that kind of rate. As you know, our core business is very important to us, and we have produced great result on our core business.

[Zafar Rizvi, CEO at REX American Resources]

One Earth Energy is the star student of all of our facilities, and we hope that that will continue to produce that profit as it's produced from the last fifteen years.

[Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman at REX American Resources]

One other thing-

[Jordan Levy, VP and Equity Research Analyst at Truist Securities]

Absolutely.

[Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman at REX American Resources]

that Zafar is not mentioning, Jordan, is we hope that by, with the... And we are, it's our hope and our plans that the construction to expand our plants will also lower our CI score. We have not been told how to measure CI score exactly by the federal government, but we, but depending on, how they measure it, we hope that that in itself will lower our CI score, the construction.

[Jordan Levy, VP and Equity Research Analyst at Truist Securities]

Yeah. That's actually a good segue to my follow-up question, which is just gonna be, Stuart, Zafar, your thoughts going into the election with kind of some of the main guidance items still outstanding for as it relates to CCUS and ethanol. Just wanted to get your high-level thoughts there.

[Zafar Rizvi, CEO at REX American Resources]

Stuart?

[Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman at REX American Resources]

My opinion is it's a bipartisan carbon capture was a bipartisan issue, and I don't think that one party or the other will affect the current law. What happens if there are some proposals out there to extend certain things, and that may be affected by one party or the other. I think it's a good thing the Democrats nominated a Minnesota person for vice president. He certainly is from a farm state, from an ethanol state, and understands the issue, but otherwise, I don't think that it really, one party or the other, is really taking a firm stand on expanding the CCS tax credit amounts that are out there.

[Jordan Levy, VP and Equity Research Analyst at Truist Securities]

Absolutely. Thank you all so much, and nice job with the continued strong results.

[Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman at REX American Resources]

Thank you, Jordan.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Pavel Molchanov with Raymond James. Please proceed with your question.

[Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman at REX American Resources]

Hi, Pavel.

[Pavel Molchanov, Managing Director at Raymond James]

Yeah, thanks for taking the question. So even with, or I suppose, particularly with the slowdown in carbon capture construction, you are gonna be stockpiling even more cash on the balance sheet beyond the sizable amount that you already have. What is the kind of allocation, what's the current priority for using the, you know, $350 million of cash that you already have and, you know, even more that you're gonna be putting on?

[Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman at REX American Resources]

First priority is the carbon capture and expansion of the Gibson City plant. Second priority is possibly looking at expansion of our South Dakota plant. That's a possibility, especially if we can lower our carbon capture score and get some tax credits. That would be a possibility. We're always looking for acquisitions. We've looked at a couple this year. They weren't for us, but you never know what's gonna come up. We would consider stuff related to the tax credits and related to energy outside of ethanol, but nothing's come along that we think is better than ethanol, so we're stuck to our field.

[Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman at REX American Resources]

And the last thing that we've been really good at over the years, and you never know where the stock market is. We didn't buy shares this quarter, but over the years, we're probably the buyback kings in percentage of shares bought back... and we're really, and we know what we're doing there, and we buy on dips, which is important. We don't just buy because to lower the share count, and we don't buy at the stock highs. We buy low to protect our shareholders when the stock's down, and that's been very successful strategy for us, and that's still there. We still have buyback authorization, but we have not used it. We did not use it in the last quarter.

[Pavel Molchanov, Managing Director at Raymond James]

What's the latest on your thinking about sustainable aviation fuel?

[Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman at REX American Resources]

Zafar?

[Zafar Rizvi, CEO at REX American Resources]

I think for that, we have to have low-carbon fuel produced. We believe that we certainly will need carbon sequestration for that location. And also, as you know, there's no clear guideline for 45Z at this time. So once the 45Z clear guideline is issued, then we can certainly look into it. But at this time, we certainly believe that we need to further reduce our CI score so that we can qualify for 45Z tax credit, and then move toward SAF.

[Pavel Molchanov, Managing Director at Raymond James]

Got it. Thank you very much.

[Zafar Rizvi, CEO at REX American Resources]

Thanks, Pavel. Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Chris Sakai with Singular Research. Please proceed with your question.

[Chris Sakai, Research Analyst at Singular Research]

Yes, hi. I have a question on capital expenditures. How are you doing compared to your budgeted amount for capital expenditures?

[Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman at REX American Resources]

Zafar?

[Zafar Rizvi, CEO at REX American Resources]

I think we are at this time, we are right on track.

[Chris Sakai, Research Analyst at Singular Research]

Are you seeing any possible need for more to spend more there?

[Zafar Rizvi, CEO at REX American Resources]

No, not at this time, but as you know, it depends on inflation factor in the future. But at this time, we do not see any major increase. The main things we have seen is delay in receiving a lot of components, equipment and components, of electric components. That is causing some delay of our completion of these facilities, but we are overall on right on budget.

[Chris Sakai, Research Analyst at Singular Research]

Okay, thanks. And then, have you seen any weather-related issues over the last quarter?

[Zafar Rizvi, CEO at REX American Resources]

No, we have not seen any major weather-related issue. There was some issue in South Dakota area, where there was a heavy rain and there was some railroad track was washed out for few days, but not a major problem.

[Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman at REX American Resources]

We are expecting very good crops this year.

[Zafar Rizvi, CEO at REX American Resources]

Correct. Yes, the crops are very expected, very good, not only in Illinois. Illinois is expecting the bumper crops, which will be record crops this year. And at the same time, South Dakota is at 73% excellent to good crop progress, which is also near record crops for that area.

[Chris Sakai, Research Analyst at Singular Research]

Okay, great. Thanks.

[Zafar Rizvi, CEO at REX American Resources]

Thank you, Chris.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Jordan Levy with Truist Securities. Please proceed with your question.

[Jordan Levy, VP and Equity Research Analyst at Truist Securities]

Hey, guys, just a follow-up for me. Zafar, I think you mentioned, or Stuart, maybe it was you on Pavel's question, the potential for a NuGen expansion at some point in the future. Maybe just talk to what you'd need to see, whether it relates to Summit or something else there, in order to kind of warrant that investment.

[Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman at REX American Resources]

At this time, Summit, the investment would not be because of the Summit pipeline. It may be later, but at this time, South Dakota has, in my opinion, some eminent domain issues. And so if we were to invest in the next year, it would not, so being in the Summit pipeline will be an advantage, we hope someday. But we would just do it because it would be more efficient to have a larger plant. And if the corn supports it, we would consider it. That's the biggest issue, is always corn and whether a bigger plant would raise the corn prices. We have to be very careful on that.

[Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman at REX American Resources]

The third thing is we do not have the 45Z regulations, but if we can lower our CI score below 50, there are some tax credits involved. So simultaneously, as we did in One Earth, we will. If we do invest to make and expand that plant, we will make sure that we're doing it to bring our CI score, or try our best to bring our CI score down at the same time. Again, we don't know the regulations. They've not come out with what even defines your CI score, but that would be... The bigger goal is just bring it down and maybe get it below 50 without the pipeline. And then when the pipeline comes in, we would qualify. We would probably qualify for...

[Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman at REX American Resources]

Or, and when it does start capturing our CI, too, we would follow. We would qualify for 45Q or 45Z.

[Jordan Levy, VP and Equity Research Analyst at Truist Securities]

Thank you, Stuart.

[Operator]

Thank you. We have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. I'll now turn the call back over to Stuart Rose for closing remarks.

[Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman at REX American Resources]

All right. I'd like to thank everyone for listening. Again, corn crops are good right now. As Zafar said, we're running at a rate currently better than the second quarter. Things seem to be going, moving along with our carbon capture project. We have great plants, great locations, but the biggest thing that we have and the reason we're ahead of most people in carbon capture and doing better than virtually everyone in ethanol is we feel we have the best people in the industry, and that includes our CEO, and it includes the people that work for him all the way down the line. We have very, very good people, and that's really what separates us. Again, thank you for listening, and we'll talk to everyone next quarter. Bye.

[Operator]

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

Participants

Executives

• Zafar Rizvi, CEO
• Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman

Analysts

• Chris Sakai, Research Analyst at Singular Research
• Jordan Levy, VP and Equity Research Analyst at Truist Securities
• Douglas Bruggeman, CFO at REX American Resources
• Pavel Molchanov, Managing Director at Raymond James