ASGN Inc (ASGN) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the ASGN Inc. Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎參加 ASGN Inc. 2023 年第二季度收益電話會議。 （操作員指示）謹此提醒，本次會議正在錄製中。

It's now my pleasure to introduce your host, Kimberly Esterkin, VP, Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.

現在我很高興向您介紹主持人，投資者關係副總裁金伯利·埃斯特金 (Kimberly Esterkin)。謝謝。你可以開始了。

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us today for ASGN's Second Quarter Conference Call. With me are Ted Hanson, Chief Executive Officer; Rand Blazer, President; and Marie Perry, Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝你，接線員。下午好，感謝您今天參加 ASGN 第二季度電話會議。與我在一起的有首席執行官特德·漢森 (Ted Hanson)；蘭德·布拉澤，總裁；和首席財務官瑪麗·佩里。

Before we get started, I would like to remind everyone that our commentary contains forward-looking statements. Although we believe these statements are reasonable, they are subject to risks and uncertainties, and as such, our actual results could differ materially from those statements. Certain of these risks and uncertainties are described in today's press release and in our SEC filings. We do not assume any obligation to update statements made on this call. For your convenience, our prepared remarks and supplemental materials can be found in the Investor Relations section of our website at investors.asgn.com.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒大家，我們的評論包含前瞻性陳述。儘管我們認為這些陳述是合理的，但它們存在風險和不確定性，因此，我們的實際結果可能與這些陳述存在重大差異。今天的新聞稿和我們向 SEC 提交的文件中描述了其中的某些風險和不確定性。我們不承擔更新本次電話會議中所做聲明的任何義務。為了您的方便，我們準備好的評論和補充材料可以在我們網站的投資者關係部分找到，網址為investors.asgn.com。

Please also note that on this call, we will be referencing certain non-GAAP measures, such as adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income and free cash flow. These non-GAAP measures are intended to supplement the comparable GAAP measures. Reconciliations between GAAP and non-GAAP measures are included in today's press release.

另請注意，在本次電話會議上，我們將參考某些非 GAAP 指標，例如調整後 EBITDA、調整後淨利潤和自由現金流。這些非公認會計準則衡量標準旨在補充可比較的公認會計準則衡量標準。今天的新聞稿中包含了公認會計原則和非公認會計原則措施之間的調節。

I will now turn the call over to Ted Hanson, Chief Executive Officer.

我現在將把電話轉給首席執行官特德·漢森 (Ted Hanson)。

Thank you, Kim, and thank you for joining ASGN's Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. Before we begin our discussion today, I want to note that we are excited to officially welcome Kim to the ASGN team as our new Vice President of Investor Relations, we are happy to have her on Board to work closely with our investors and analysts. So let's turn to the quarter.

謝謝 Kim，也感謝您參加 ASGN 的 2023 年第二季度收益電話會議。在我們今天開始討論之前，我想指出，我們很高興正式歡迎 Kim 加入 ASGN 團隊，擔任我們新任投資者關係副總裁，我們很高興讓她加入董事會，與我們的投資者和分析師密切合作。那麼讓我們轉向本季度。

ASGN's performance for the second quarter of 2023 was in line with our expectations with results above the midpoint or slightly ahead of our guidance ranges. The performance we saw in April continued throughout the quarter particularly in relation to the more discretionary and cyclical portions of our business. While our commercial consulting and countercyclical Federal Government revenues continued to grow as anticipated. Second quarter 2023 revenues of $1.1 billion were above the midpoint of our guidance range.

ASGN 2023 年第二季度的業績符合我們的預期，高於中點或略高於我們的指導範圍。我們在四月份看到的業績在整個季度中持續存在，特別是與我們業務中更具自由裁量權和周期性的部分相關。與此同時，我們的商業諮詢和反週期聯邦政府收入繼續按預期增長。 2023 年第二季度收入為 11 億美元，高於我們指導範圍的中點。

During the quarter, based on growth of our high-end higher-value consulting work, Consulting revenues reached a total of 53% of consolidated revenues, up from 45% in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA margin for the quarter improved sequentially to 12% above the top end of our guidance range. As anticipated, we benefited from typical seasonality in the second quarter, growth in our high-margin commercial consulting revenues, our variable cost structure and effective expense management. This margin growth was partially offset by declining revenues in our more discretionary services. Nevertheless, the long-term margin profile of our business remains intact as we continue moving forward toward a more consultative model.

本季度，基於我們高端高價值諮詢工作的增長，諮詢收入總計佔合併收入的 53%，高於去年同期的 45%。本季度調整後 EBITDA 利潤率環比提高至比我們指導範圍上限高出 12%。正如預期的那樣，我們受益於第二季度的典型季節性、高利潤商業諮詢收入的增長、可變成本結構和有效的費用管理。這一利潤率增長被我們更多自由裁量服務的收入下降所部分抵消。儘管如此，隨著我們繼續朝著更具諮詢性的模式邁進，我們業務的長期利潤狀況保持不變。

With that as a background on our consolidated results, I'd like to turn to our operating segments. As we review our quarterly segment performance, 3 themes will be consistent throughout: first, macro conditions remain difficult for our more cyclical and discretionary services; second, our commercial and federal consulting businesses continue to grow and solid bookings were a highlight of the quarter; third, our business stabilizers, including our strong and diversified U.S.-focused customer base and our variable cost structure provides support throughout market cycles.

以此作為我們綜合業績的背景，我想談談我們的運營部門。當我們回顧季度分部業績時，有 3 個主題始終如一：首先，宏觀條件對於我們更具週期性和自由裁量性的服務來說仍然困難；其次，我們的商業和聯邦諮詢業務持續增長，穩定的預訂是本季度的一大亮點；第三，我們的業務穩定器，包括我們強大且多元化的以美國為中心的客戶群以及我們的可變成本結構，為整個市場週期提供了支持。

So let's discuss our segment performance. I'll begin with our largest segment, Commercial, which predominantly services large enterprise and Fortune 1000 companies. Commercial Segment revenues declined by 4.6% for the quarter on a tough year-over-year comparison. As anticipated, revenues for this segment benefited from strength in our consulting business, which was offset by declines in the more discretionary areas of our services, including creative digital marketing and permanent placement, along with certain portions of IT staffing.

那麼讓我們討論一下我們的部門表現。我將從我們最大的部門——商業部門開始，該部門主要為大型企業和財富 1000 強公司提供服務。本季度商業部門收入同比下降 4.6%。正如預期的那樣，該部門的收入受益於我們諮詢業務的實力，但被我們服務的更自由裁量領域的下降所抵消，包括創意數字營銷和永久安置以及某些部分的 IT 人員配置。

For the quarter, commercial consulting revenues increased approximately 26% year-over-year and were up 14% organically. Bookings of roughly $357 million translated to a book-to-bill of 1.3x for the quarter and 1.2x on a trailing 12-month basis. Of the consulting work won during the quarter, we saw a nice contribution of new wins and project extensions with bookings weighted more heavily towards renewals of existing projects.

本季度，商業諮詢收入同比增長約 26%，有機增長 14%。約 3.57 億美元的預訂量意味著本季度的訂單出貨比為 1.3 倍，過去 12 個月的訂單出貨比為 1.2 倍。在本季度贏得的諮詢工作中，我們看到了新勝利和項目擴展的巨大貢獻，其中預訂更傾向於更新現有項目。

Our Mexican Delivery Center remains an important part of our consulting growth, providing strong technical capabilities at competitive rates. We've been seeing increased usage of our Mexican Delivery Center, which now has a significantly larger workforce than when we first acquired it through our Intersys acquisition in 2019. Our Mexican Delivery Center supports the execution of our work and helps us respond to our clients' cost reduction goals, while at the same time, supports the expansion of our Commercial Segment margins.

我們的墨西哥交付中心仍然是我們諮詢業務增長的重要組成部分，以具有競爭力的價格提供強大的技術能力。我們看到墨西哥交付中心的使用率不斷增加，與我們2019 年通過Intersys 收購首次收購該中心時相比，該中心現在的員工數量顯著增加。我們的墨西哥交付中心支持我們的工作執行並幫助我們響應客戶需求' 降低成本的目標，同時支持擴大我們商業部門的利潤。

Turning to our vertical performance, in times of challenging macro conditions, our industry diversified commercial client base provides balance and protection on the downside. We saw growth in 2 of our 5 Commercial Segment industry verticals in the second quarter. Consumer & Industrial was our fastest-growing vertical with strong year-over-year growth in the consumer staple, industrial and utility sectors. Health care also improved and was up low single digits, driven by growth in provider accounts.

談到我們的垂直業績，在充滿挑戰的宏觀環境下，我們行業多元化的商業客戶群提供了下行的平衡和保護。第二季度，我們的 5 個商業細分行業垂直領域中有 2 個實現了增長。消費品和工業是我們增長最快的垂直行業，消費品、工業和公用事業領域同比增長強勁。在提供商賬戶增長的推動下，醫療保健也有所改善，並出現低個位數增長。

In terms of declines, Business and Government Services was down low double digits, with growth in aerospace and defense, offset by a pullback in business services. Financial Services was down mid-single digits year-over-year but grew in certain sectors, including wealth management and big banks. Technology, Media and Telecommunications or TMT accounts were down double digits due to a decline in both technology and telecommunications. Even with these decreases in revenues, our strong commercial consulting bookings showed that our clients continue to invest in IT projects.

就跌幅而言，商業和政府服務業出現低兩位數下滑，其中航空航天和國防業有所增長，但被商業服務業的下滑所抵消。金融服務業同比下降中個位數，但某些行業有所增長，包括財富管理和大型銀行。由於科技和電信業務雙雙下滑，科技、媒體和電信（TMT）賬戶出現兩位數下降。儘管收入有所下降，但我們強勁的商業諮詢預訂量表明我們的客戶仍在繼續投資 IT 項目。

AI work, in particular, has become one of our fastest-growing service areas across our Commercial Segment. Our generative AI revenues are still very small, but there is an expectation of revenue growth if these technologies mature, and more use cases are adopted. In the near term, our supporting solutions in cloud, cybersecurity and data and analytics will service the foundation that ultimately fuel AI usage by our clients. So we are taking to market our multilayer enterprise road map that will make new AI technologies possible.

尤其是人工智能工作，已經成為我們商業部門增長最快的服務領域之一。我們的生成式人工智能收入仍然很小，但如果這些技術成熟並採用更多用例，收入預計會增長。在短期內，我們在雲、網絡安全以及數據和分析方面的支持解決方案將為最終推動客戶使用人工智能奠定基礎。因此，我們正在將我們的多層企業路線圖推向市場，這將使新的人工智能技術成為可能。

For instance, in the second quarter, we won an AIML contract to support our Fortune 500 communications company looking to drive product innovation and enhance their customer experience. Our team conducted a baseline analysis of the client's customer data and then built a predictive model to direct its online sales actions. By designing, testing and training a suite of models on this predictive framework, ASGN was able to improve our client system responsiveness while maintaining its data security.

例如，在第二季度，我們贏得了一份 AIML 合同，以支持我們的財富 500 強通信公司尋求推動產品創新並增強客戶體驗。我們的團隊對客戶的客戶數據進行了基線分析，然後構建了預測模型來指導其在線銷售行動。通過在此預測框架上設計、測試和訓練一套模型，ASGN 能夠提高我們的客戶端系統響應能力，同時保持數據安全。

We were also engaged by a Fortune 500 media company to provide a road map and plan to facilitate the company's journey towards automation by developing a plan of action to automate repetitive employee tasks such as copying data and prefilling forms, our client will save time and money by enabling its employees to focus on more strategic tasks.

我們還受一家財富500 強媒體公司委託，提供路線圖和計劃，通過制定行動計劃來自動化重複性員工任務（例如復制數據和預填寫表格），以促進該公司的自動化之旅，我們的客戶將節省時間和金錢使員工能夠專注於更具戰略性的任務。

At the same time, we are automating our clients' processes, we're using AI to help with ASGN's project management. In June, our own GlideFast launched AgileGenius, an integration with ServiceNow that automates key aspects of agile project setup and work allocation. We anticipate AgileGenius will significantly increase our speed to manage our internal IT projects and give us added insight to service clients with this new technology.

與此同時，我們正在自動化客戶的流程，我們正在使用人工智能來幫助 ASGN 的項目管理。 6 月，我們自己的 GlideFast 推出了 AgileGenius，它與 ServiceNow 集成，可自動執行敏捷項目設置和工作分配的關鍵方面。我們預計 AgileGenius 將顯著提高我們管理內部 IT 項目的速度，並通過這項新技術為我們的客戶服務提供更多見解。

Let's turn now to our Federal Government Segment, which provides mission-critical solutions to the Department of Defense, the intelligence community and federal civilian agencies. Federal Segment revenues for the quarter were up 9.8% year-over-year, primarily driven by the contribution of Iron Vine acquisition and were up 7.7% sequentially. Contract backlog was over $3.1 billion at the end of the second quarter or a healthy coverage ratio of 2.6x, the segment's trailing 12-month revenues.

現在讓我們轉向聯邦政府部門，該部門為國防部、情報界和聯邦民事機構提供關鍵任務解決方案。本季度聯邦部門收入同比增長 9.8%，主要得益於 Iron Vine 收購的貢獻，環比增長 7.7%。截至第二季度末，積壓合同超過 31 億美元，覆蓋率達到 2.6 倍（該部門過去 12 個月的收入）。

New contract awards were approximately $390 million, which translates to a book-to-bill of 1.2x for the quarter and 0.9x on a trailing 12-month basis. While protest activity remains high, and is causing delays in the start of new projects, we are not experiencing any pullback on active contracts due to the mission-critical nature of our federal government work.

新合同金額約為 3.9 億美元，這意味著本季度的訂單出貨比為 1.2 倍，過去 12 個月的訂單出貨比為 0.9 倍。雖然抗議活動仍然很高，並導致新項目的啟動延遲，但由於聯邦政府工作的關鍵任務性質，我們的有效合同並未出現任何縮減。

In the second quarter, we saw considerable wins and increased demand for our managed cybersecurity, cloud and ServiceNow solutions. For instance, we want to recompete digital modernization contract to provide advanced geospatial analytics to the United States Postal Service. As part of this contract, these ECS will be introducing AI tools that improve operational efficiency and effectiveness while reducing costs. We also secured 2 enterprise IT contracts, 1 with the U.S. Navy to support its public safety network and another project with the FBI to provide data center services.

在第二季度，我們取得了巨大的勝利，對我們的託管網絡安全、雲和 ServiceNow 解決方案的需求也有所增加。例如，我們希望重新簽訂數字現代化合同，為美國郵政服務提供先進的地理空間分析。作為該合同的一部分，這些 ECS 將引入人工智能工具，以提高運營效率和有效性，同時降低成本。我們還獲得了 2 份企業 IT 合同，其中一份與美國海軍簽訂，旨在支持其公共安全網絡，另一份與 FBI 簽訂，旨在提供數據中心服務。

Our Federal Government Segment was awarded several new task orders under our Department of Homeland Security adapts vehicle to expand digital modernization, architecture, and cloud and Chief Technology Officer services. Further, we won an AIML contract for a classified customer to support this customer's open source and intelligence goals. Speaking specifically about AI, ASGN has been an active player in providing artificial intelligence capabilities to the federal government for many years from 2019 to 2022, ECS was the #1 contractor for AI spend according to the Federal Procurement Data System. We've built in-house procurement, development and testing capabilities to bring the latest commercial AI technologies and solutions online for sensitive government missions. These efforts will provide us with the key qualifications needed to secure a new AI work in the future.

我們的聯邦政府部門獲得了國土安全部授予的幾項新任務訂單，調整車輛以擴展數字現代化、架構、雲和首席技術官服務。此外，我們還為一家機密客戶贏得了一份 AIML 合同，以支持該客戶的開源和情報目標。具體來說，從 2019 年到 2022 年，ASGN 多年來一直是向聯邦政府提供人工智能能力的積極參與者，根據聯邦採購數據系統，ECS 是人工智能支出排名第一的承包商。我們建立了內部採購、開發和測試能力，為敏感的政府任務提供最新的商業人工智能技術和解決方案。這些努力將為我們提供未來新的人工智能工作所需的關鍵資格。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Marie to discuss the second quarter results and our third quarter 2023 guidance.

接下來，我將把電話轉給 Marie，討論第二季度業績和我們 2023 年第三季度的指導。

Thanks, Ted. It's great to speak with everyone this afternoon. As Ted noted, our results for the quarter were in line with our expectations. Second quarter revenues of $1.1 billion were down 1% year-over-year on the heels of another difficult comparison of more than 17% growth in Q2 of 2022. That withstanding, with April performance serving as a basis for our Q2 estimates, revenues were toward the high end of our guidance range.

謝謝，特德。今天下午能和大家交談真是太好了。正如特德指出的，我們本季度的業績符合我們的預期。第二季度收入為11 億美元，同比下降1%，此前與2022 年第二季度超過17% 的增長進行了另一次艱難的比較。儘管如此，以4 月份的業績作為我們對第二季度預測的基礎，收入接近我們指導範圍的高端。

Revenues from our Commercial Segment were $811.3 million, down 4.6% year-over-year. Revenues for Commercial Consulting, the largest of our high-margin revenue stream, totaled $281.1 million, up 26.5% year-over-year. Excluding the $27.7 million contribution from our GlideFast acquisition, Consulting revenues grew 14.1% year-over-year. As expected, offsetting this growth in Consulting was year-over-year decline in Assignment revenues, predominantly our more discretionary permanent placement and creative digital marketing services as well as a portion of our IT staffing. With that said, Assignment revenues declined 15.6% as compared to prior year period. Revenues from our Federal Government Segment were $319.6 million, up 9.8% year-over-year including $25.2 million contribution from our Iron Vine acquisition.

商業部門的收入為 8.113 億美元，同比下降 4.6%。商業諮詢是我們最大的高利潤收入來源，其收入總計 2.811 億美元，同比增長 26.5%。不包括收購 GlideFast 帶來的 2770 萬美元貢獻，諮詢收入同比增長 14.1%。正如預期的那樣，分配收入的同比下降抵消了諮詢業務的增長，主要是我們更自由裁量的永久安置和創意數字營銷服務以及部分 IT 人員配置。儘管如此，轉讓收入與去年同期相比下降了 15.6%。聯邦政府部門的收入為 3.196 億美元，同比增長 9.8%，其中包括收購 Iron Vine 帶來的 2520 萬美元收入。

Turning to margins. On a consolidated basis, gross margin was 28.9%, down 120 basis points over the second quarter of last year. The year-over-year compression in gross margins was mainly related to business mix, including a slightly higher mix of revenues from our Federal Government Segment, which carries lower gross margins than commercial revenues and a lower mix of creative digital marketing and permanent placement revenues, which have higher gross margins.

轉向邊緣。綜合毛利率為28.9%，比去年第二季度下降120個基點。毛利率的同比壓縮主要與業務組合有關，包括聯邦政府部門的收入組合略高，其毛利率低於商業收入，以及創意數字營銷和永久安置收入的組合較低，其毛利率較高。

Gross margin for the Commercial Segment was 32.2%, down 90 basis points year-over-year primarily due to a smaller contribution from our more discretionary and cyclical permanent placement and creative digital marketing revenues as noted. Gross margin for the Federal Government Segment was 20.5%, also down 90 basis points year-over-year. Last year benefited from certain higher-margin firm fixed price programs.

商業部門的毛利率為 32.2%，同比下降 90 個基點，主要是由於我們更具自由裁量性和周期性的永久安置和創意數字營銷收入的貢獻較小。聯邦政府部門的毛利率為20.5%，也同比下降90個基點。去年受益於某些利潤率較高的公司固定價格計劃。

SG&A expenses for the second quarter were $210.5 million, down 4.5% year-over-year due to effective expense management and lower incentive compensation expense. SG&A expenses also included $1.1 million in acquisition, integration and strategic planning expenses that we do not include in our guidance estimates. As expected, interest expense increased year-over-year related to rising interest rates, which impact only a portion of our debt. As a reminder, over half of our debt is fixed at below market rates. Amortization of intangible assets was higher due to our recent acquisitions.

由於有效的費用管理和較低的激勵薪酬費用，第二季度的銷售、管理和行政費用為 2.105 億美元，同比下降 4.5%。 SG&A 費用還包括 110 萬美元的收購、整合和戰略規劃費用，但我們並未將其包含在我們的指導估算中。正如預期的那樣，由於利率上升，利息支出逐年增加，這僅影響我們的部分債務。提醒一下，我們一半以上的債務固定利率低於市場利率。由於我們最近的收購，無形資產攤銷較高。

Income from continuing operations was $60.1 million, adjusted EBITDA was $135.2 million, and adjusted EBITDA margin was 12%. Adjusted EBITDA margin surpassed the top end of our guidance range for the quarter and improved 110 basis points sequentially due to typical second quarter seasonality, effective expense management, lower incentive compensation and continued growth in our commercial consulting business.

持續經營收入為 6010 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 1.352 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 12%。由於第二季度典型的季節性因素、有效的費用管理、較低的激勵薪酬以及我們商業諮詢業務的持續增長，調整後的EBITDA 利潤率超過了我們本季度指導範圍的上限，並連續提高了110個基點。

At quarter end, cash and cash equivalents was $93.8 million, and we had full availability under our $460 million senior secured revolver. Free cash flow for the quarter totaled $101.3 million up 27.3% from the second quarter of 2022. With strong free cash flow generation and full availability under our revolver, we have ample dry powder to make strategic acquisitions. Given the limited acquisition opportunity at present, we deployed $57.6 million in cash on the repurchases of 836,257 shares on an average price of $68.95 per share.

截至季度末，現金和現金等價物為 9,380 萬美元，我們的 4.6 億美元高級擔保左輪手槍擁有充足的可用資金。本季度自由現金流總計 1.013 億美元，較 2022 年第二季度增長 27.3%。憑藉強勁的自由現金流生成和左輪手槍的全面可用，我們有足夠的干粉進行戰略收購。鑑於目前收購機會有限，我們動用了 5,760 萬美元現金，以每股 68.95 美元的平均價格回購了 836,257 股股票。

Turning to our guidance. Our financial estimates for the third quarter of 2023 are set forth in our earnings release and supplemental materials. These estimates assume 62.5 billable days in the third quarter, which is 1.5 fewer days than the prior year period and 0.75 days, less than Q2 of 2023. Estimates also include $25.2 million in anticipated revenues from Iron Vine.

轉向我們的指導。我們對 2023 年第三季度的財務預測已在我們的收益發布和補充材料中闡述。這些估計假設第三季度的計費天數為 62.5 天，比去年同期減少 1.5 天，比 2023 年第二季度減少 0.75 天。估計還包括 Iron Vine 的預期收入 2520 萬美元。

We expect macro conditions to again be challenging in Q3 for the Commercial Segment, which includes both assignments and consulting services, partially offset by growth in Federal Government Segment. In addition to the difficult year-over-year comparison in commercial consulting, we do face changes in the pace of work, stretching project duration.

我們預計第三季度商業部門的宏觀環境將再次面臨挑戰，其中包括任務和諮詢服務，但部分被聯邦政府部門的增長所抵消。除了商業諮詢方面難以進行逐年比較之外，我們還面臨著工作節奏的變化，項目持續時間的延長。

With this background, for the third quarter, we are estimating revenues of $1.10 billion to $1.12 billion. We are estimating net income of $56.4 million to $60.4 million and adjusted EBITDA of $130 million to $135.5 million. We are expecting gross margin will decline year-over-year due to business mix, similar to more recent trends, including a greater mix of federal work and continued softness in our assignment work.

在此背景下，我們預計第三季度的收入為 11.0 億美元至 11.2 億美元。我們預計淨利潤為 5640 萬美元至 6040 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 1.30 億美元至 1.355 億美元。我們預計，由於業務組合的原因，毛利率將同比下降，這與最近的趨勢類似，包括聯邦工作的更多組合和我們的任務工作的持續疲軟。

It's important to keep in mind that while a leading indicator on the downside, permanent placement and creative digital marketing have historically seen more sustained rallies once the economy improves. In the meantime, while the economy remains challenged, we will continue to leverage our variable cost structure and proactively manage our expenses to support our adjusted EBITDA margins. With these efforts, we believe we can sustain the adjusted EBITDA margin achieved in Q2.

重要的是要記住，雖然領先指標處於下行趨勢，但從歷史上看，一旦經濟好轉，永久安置和創意數字營銷就會出現更持續的反彈。與此同時，儘管經濟仍然面臨挑戰，我們將繼續利用我們的可變成本結構並積極管理我們的費用，以支持我們調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率。通過這些努力，我們相信我們能夠維持第二季度實現的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率。

Thank you. I will now turn the call back to Ted for some closing remarks.

謝謝。現在我將把電話轉回給特德，讓他發表一些結束語。

Thanks, Marie. As we conclude, I want to bring us full circle to where our discussion began. Macro conditions remain challenging, but our business is performing to expectations. With our strategic decision to increasingly focus our efforts on high-end, higher-value IT consulting services and solutions, we are shaping and evolving our operations for success.

謝謝，瑪麗。在我們結束時，我想讓我們回到討論開始的地方。宏觀環境仍然充滿挑戰，但我們的業務表現符合預期。我們的戰略決策是越來越將精力集中在高端、更高價值的 IT 諮詢服務和解決方案上，我們正在塑造和發展我們的運營，以取得成功。

Our business stabilizers support our resilient operating model. And those stabilizers, combined with our ability to adapt and evolve with our clients' needs will drive our performance going forward. As we weather the current environment, ASGN remains committed to achieving further growth and development. Our ongoing progress will not only be demonstrated by our solid financial performance. It also will be gauged by the impact we have on the communities in which we live and work.

我們的業務穩定器支持我們彈性的運營模式。這些穩定因素，再加上我們適應客戶需求並不斷發展的能力，將推動我們的業績不斷向前發展。在我們度過當前環境的同時，ASGN 仍然致力於實現進一步的增長和發展。我們不斷取得的進步不僅體現在我們穩健的財務業績上。它還將根據我們對我們生活和工作的社區的影響來衡量。

With that in mind, I am pleased to note that in June, we published our fourth annual ESG report. As a people business, environmental, social and governance initiatives are part of ASGN's core DNA. We have made great headway since embarking on our ESG reporting journey. I want to thank our entire team for your continued commitment toward creating a more sustainable future for all of our stakeholders. I also want to thank all of our employees for your efforts this past quarter. You continued to put our clients' teams first, and this is evident in our results. Thank you again for joining our second quarter call. We will now open the call to your questions. Operator?

考慮到這一點，我很高興地註意到，六月份，我們發布了第四份年度 ESG 報告。作為一家以人為本的企業，環境、社會和治理舉措是 ASGN 核心 DNA 的一部分。自踏上 ESG 報告之旅以來，我們取得了巨大進展。我要感謝我們的整個團隊持續致力於為所有利益相關者創造更可持續的未來。我還要感謝我們所有員工在上個季度所做的努力。你們繼續將我們客戶的團隊放在第一位，這在我們的結果中顯而易見。再次感謝您參加我們的第二季度電話會議。我們現在將開始電話詢問您的問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question is from Maggie Nolan with William Blair.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題是瑪吉·諾蘭和威廉·布萊爾提出的。

Ted and Marie, in your prepared remarks, you said the macro remains difficult, particularly for discretionary services. Can you compare the current state of the environment to when you last reported earnings?

特德和瑪麗，在你們準備好的發言中，你們說宏觀經濟仍然困難，特別是對於全權委託服務而言。您能否將當前的環境狀況與上次報告收益時進行比較？

Yes. Well, good question, Maggie. I think results would tell you, and we said in our prepared remarks that following kind of the March downturn, what we saw during April when we reported last quarter and what we saw play after that in June -- May and June was a pretty steady marketplace for us if you look at our revenues per billable day.

是的。嗯，問得好，瑪吉。我認為結果會告訴你，我們在準備好的發言中說過，繼3 月份的低迷之後，我們在4 月份報告上季度時所看到的情況以及我們在6 月份之後看到的情況- 5 月和6 月是相當穩定的如果您查看我們每個計費日的收入，就會發現我們的市場。

So I think what we're expecting in Q2 is in our guidance, and as Marie mentioned, more of the same there with a slight weakness in Commercial, offset by growth in Federal. I just don't -- and I'll let Rand jump in here, but I think clients remain very cautious. And I think you can even tell, if you look at our bookings for the quarter, I mean, one of the things that we saw were, especially in Commercial, more bookings in the last month of the quarter than in the first 2 months of the quarter.

因此，我認為我們對第二季度的預期是在我們的指導中，正如瑪麗提到的，更多的是相同的商業輕微疲軟，被聯邦的增長所抵消。我只是不這樣做——我會讓蘭德介入，但我認為客戶仍然非常謹慎。我想你甚至可以看出，如果你看看我們本季度的預訂量，我的意思是，我們看到的一件事是，特別是在商業領域，本季度最後一個月的預訂量比本季度前兩個月的預訂量要多。該季度。

And again, I think that clients are just wary, if you will, about their business and how it's performing and protecting their bottom line and being very careful about when they sign up for new work or extended work. Rand, anything you'd add to that?

再說一遍，我認為客戶只是對他們的業務以及業務的表現和保護他們的底線持謹慎態度，並且在簽約新工作或擴展工作時非常小心。蘭德，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

I think you hit it all, Ted. Maggie, I would just say we see the client is cautious in their spend and that started in that second dip in the first quarter that Ted had referred to in March. And we've seen it throughout the second quarter and expect it to be the third.

我想你已經成功了，特德。瑪吉，我只想說，我們看到客戶對他們的支出持謹慎態度，這種情況從特德在三月份提到的第一季度的第二次下降開始。我們在第二季度就看到了這種情況，預計第三季度也會如此。

And the bookings coming late in the quarter is indicative of they're very thoughtful about what they're going to do in terms of new work and current work where they can stretch it out or just do it a little slower pace I think we're seeing that, and we support that. I mean I -- we get where they're coming from. So cautious is the best word I think we can put to it.

本季度末的預訂表明，他們對新工作和當前工作的計劃非常深思熟慮，他們可以延長工作時間，或者放慢節奏，我認為我們”我們看到了這一點，我們支持這一點。我的意思是——我們知道他們來自哪裡。我認為我們可以用“謹慎”來形容它。

Yes. Maybe one other data point, Maggie, just to support that is we're seeing a really high utilization of our Mexican Delivery Center. And we mentioned that in our prepared remarks. And part of that is we have great technical skills and muscle in that operation, but it comes at a lower price point. And I think you can see clients thinking about how do I continue this work, but do it in a more cost-effective way. So that's not totally unlike where we were in the -- coming out of the first quarter, but you've seen it very clearly here in the second and into the third.

是的。也許另一個數據點，Maggie，只是為了支持這一點，我們看到我們的墨西哥配送中心的利用率非常高。我們在準備好的發言中提到了這一點。部分原因是我們在該操作中擁有出色的技術技能和實力，但價格較低。我認為你可以看到客戶在思考我如何繼續這項工作，但以更具成本效益的方式進行。所以這與我們在第一季度的情況並不完全不同，但你在第二季度和第三季度中已經非常清楚地看到了這一點。

Okay. Ted and Rand, my follow-up would be understood on the macro. And I also heard it throughout your prepared remarks that there are some catalysts here and some interesting developments, and AI is obviously a notable one in that respect. So within that context, do you think that, that could become a catalyst for the M&A pipeline at all? Are you looking at any interesting assets to help you build out capabilities in that area given that you are already seeing some traction with clients?

好的。特德和蘭德，我的後續行動將在宏觀上得到理解。我還從你準備好的發言中聽到，這裡有一些催化劑和一些有趣的發展，而人工智能在這方面顯然是一個值得注意的發展。那麼在這種背景下，您認為這是否會成為併購渠道的催化劑？鑑於您已經看到了客戶的一些吸引力，您是否正在尋找任何有趣的資產來幫助您增強該領域的能力？

Yes. Rand, do you want to take that?

是的。蘭德，你想接受這個嗎？

Well, I think the answer to your question is yes. We definitely have AI on our radar screen technologies like Snowflake, ServiceNow, and Microsoft and Amazon cloud capabilities. They're all key technologies. And Maggie, the only thing I would say is you hear a lot today from the tech companies, don't discount the work in cloud. You can't have AI unless you have a good set of data.

嗯，我認為你的問題的答案是肯定的。我們的雷達屏幕技術上肯定有人工智能，比如 Snowflake、ServiceNow 以及微軟和亞馬遜的雲功能。都是關鍵技術。 Maggie，我唯一要說的是，你今天從科技公司那裡聽到了很多，不要低估雲中的工作。除非你有一組好的數據，否則你不可能擁有人工智能。

And so the cloud and its ability to harness data, put it in one place is still, as we've said for a number of quarters, still in the middle innings and then the analysis of that data, the purifying of that data, it's not just having data, it's having good data. Otherwise, your AI is making trend predictions and other predictions based on what I call crappy data.

因此，正如我們在幾個季度中所說的那樣，雲及其利用數據並將其放在一個地方的能力仍然處於中間階段，然後對數據進行分析，對數據進行淨化，這是不僅僅是擁有數據，而且是良好的數據。否則，你的人工智能就會根據我所說的蹩腳數據做出趨勢預測和其他預測。

So it's a combination between the foundation piece, which we said in our remarks, as well as real use cases for AI. And is it a propellant for our future? We expect so. And if you look at our bookings, I think Ted mentioned, we had more AI bookings in the second quarter than we've had in the previous 3 quarters. So -- but the cloud work, the data work still goes on and it's probably the strength of our service at this point.

因此，它是我們在評論中所說的基礎部分與人工智能的實際用例之間的結合。它是我們未來的推進劑嗎？我們預計如此。如果你看看我們的預訂，我想特德提到，我們第二季度的人工智能預訂比前三個季度還要多。所以，但是雲工作、數據工作仍在繼續，這可能是我們目前服務的優勢。

Our next question is from Jeff Silber with BMO Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自 BMO 資本市場的 Jeff Silber。

In your prepared remarks, you mentioned something about the change in the pace of work stretching project durations, specifically on the consulting business. Can we just get a little bit more color? Is that something that you didn't see last quarter that you're seeing now?

在您準備好的發言中，您提到了工作節奏的變化，延長了項目持續時間，特別是在諮詢業務方面。我們可以多一點顏色嗎？這是您上個季度沒有看到但現在看到的嗎？

I think -- look, I think we've seen it a little, and we're seeing a little bit more, Jeff, is maybe the best way to say it. It's a way for clients to stick with things but lower their burn rate. And said they'll say, look, this doesn't have to get done in the next 3 months, it can be done in the next 6 months, right? And so that allows them to stick with it, spend less, obviously, that affects our revenues in the short run, not in the long run, but in the short run, as our burn rates are slightly slower.

我想——看，我想我們已經看到了一點，而且我們看到的更多了，傑夫，這也許是最好的表達方式。這是客戶堅持做事但降低燒錢率的一種方式。並說他們會說，看，這不必在未來 3 個月內完成，可以在未來 6 個月內完成，對嗎？因此，這使他們能夠堅持下去，減少支出，顯然，這會在短期內影響我們的收入，不是長期的，而是短期的，因為我們的燒錢速度稍微慢一些。

So again, I think it goes back to the things that we spoke about in a second ago, which is just clients are looking at a way to optimize their spend when there's different ways for them to do that, where do they have work done, what deployment model do they access, when do they start? Do they wait a little bit longer to start something maybe? Do they burn it a little slower, if you will? And I think all that ends up being tools for them to try to manage their expense.

再說一次，我認為這又回到了我們剛才談到的事情，那就是客戶正在尋找一種方法來優化他們的支出，而他們有不同的方法可以做到這一點，他們在哪裡完成了工作，他們訪問什麼部署模型，何時開始？他們可能會等待更長的時間才開始做某事嗎？如果你願意的話，他們會燒得慢一點嗎？我認為所有這些最終都會成為他們管理開支的工具。

Okay. That's really helpful. My follow-up just has to do with your own internal head count. I'm just curious on a net basis, are you adding? Are you subtracting? And if so, where are the changes?

好的。這真的很有幫助。我的後續行動只與您自己的內部人數有關。我只是對網絡感到好奇，你要添加嗎？你在做減法嗎？如果是這樣，變化在哪裡？

Yes. So we don't release our head count numbers, but I can just tell you to give you color around it, we're letting natural attrition work, which is a part of our model. We always discuss that as a part of the business stabilizers inside of our business. So our head counts are naturally trending down just based on what our natural attrition rates are.

是的。所以我們不會公佈我們的員工人數，但我可以告訴你給它一些顏色，我們讓自然損耗發揮作用，這是我們模型的一部分。我們總是將其作為我們業務內部業務穩定器的一部分進行討論。因此，我們的員工數量自然會根據我們的自然流失率而下降。

In some areas where there's opportunity, we're coming back behind that and investing and in other areas where we think it's further out until we get a return on that, we're letting that attrition work. So on a net basis, we're trending down, but there are some areas that require investment, and we're addressing those.

在一些有機會的領域，我們會重新投入並進行投資；而在其他領域，我們認為在我們獲得回報之前還需要進一步投資，我們會讓這種消耗發揮作用。因此，從淨值來看，我們呈下降趨勢，但有些領域需要投資，我們正在解決這些問題。

Our next question is from Tobey Sommer with Truist Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自 Truist Securities 的 Tobey Sommer。

I wanted to ask a question about ECS, which is kind of -- I know we've talked about protests and maybe bids submitted and not getting adjudicated quickly. But the book-to-bill is stubbornly pinned below 1 for a while. Do you feel like you're at a point yet where you need to take some measures to do something differently to try to spur that into a more positive direction?

我想問一個關於 ECS 的問題，這有點——我知道我們已經討論過抗議，也許投標已提交但沒有很快得到裁決。但訂單出貨比在一段時間內頑固地固定在 1 以下。您是否覺得自己已經到了需要採取一些措施做一些不同的事情以試圖推動事情朝著更積極的方向發展的時候了？

Yes. Well, look, Tobey, I think we would agree with you. I mean our target is to have a book-to-bill that's above 1.0, and it's been kind of stubbornly low here. We're making investments, for sure, in our business development and capture activities. I think that's definitely an area where it's going to help us in the future.

是的。好吧，托比，我想我們會同意你的觀點。我的意思是，我們的目標是讓訂單出貨比高於 1.0，但這裡的出貨比一直很低。當然，我們正在對業務開發和捕獲活動進行投資。我認為這絕對是未來對我們有所幫助的領域。

We're getting more bids out on the street. We have more work out for bid than we've ever had, which I think is positive. And we hope that we're on the front end here with this quarter of seeing better conversion of those bids into 1 work. We've got a quarter now that's above 1, pretty substantially at 1.2, and we need to build on that. So we would -- we see it the same way. We're shooting for a book-to-bill that's above 1.

我們在街上收到了更多的出價。我們的申辦工作比以往任何時候都多，我認為這是積極的。我們希望本季度能夠看到這些投標更好地轉化為一件作品。現在我們有四分之一的數據高於 1，基本上達到 1.2，我們需要在此基礎上繼續努力。所以我們會以同樣的方式看待它。我們的目標是訂單出貨比高於 1。

Could you put me -- put some more flesh around the added investments in the increased number of bids? Any way to quantify that to give us a sense for the order of magnitude of changes across those dimensions?

您能否對增加的投標數量中增加的投資進行更具體的說明？有什麼方法可以量化這一點，讓我們了解這些維度上變化的數量級嗎？

Well, I mean, probably, Tobey, what I would say is a bigger business today. I mean, ECS was a $570 million business when we bought it in 2018. It's a great organic growth. We've added some acquisitions. Today, at over $1 billion in revenues, we have to bid on bigger pieces of work. And to do that, it takes a more sophisticated bid and capture mechanism. And so that's where our investment in that business is going. It's our #1 priority, if you will. And so that starts with putting more qualified and bigger bids to work in the marketplace and then being able to close those.

好吧，我的意思是，托比，我想說的是今天的生意更大了。我的意思是，當我們在 2018 年收購 ECS 時，它的業務價值為 5.7 億美元。這是一個巨大的有機增長。我們增加了一些收購。如今，收入超過 10 億美元，我們必須競標更大的工作。為此，需要更複雜的出價和捕獲機制。這就是我們對該業務的投資的方向。如果您願意的話，這是我們的第一要務。因此，首先要在市場上進行更合格、更大規模的出價，然後才能完成這些出價。

Okay. And then within the commercial consulting space, what you're hearing from customers? How would you characterize demand in your book-to-bill, if you think of project size? Is there any difference in what you're seeing if you bifurcate and sort of pick up maybe a dollar value of mid-single-digit million or low single-digit million and think about it as smaller projects versus larger ones?

好的。然後在商業諮詢領域，您從客戶那裡聽到了什麼？如果您考慮項目規模，您會如何描述訂單到賬單的需求？如果你分叉並選擇一個價值中個位數或低個位數的項目，並將其視為較小的項目與較大的項目，你所看到的有什麼不同嗎？

Rand, do you want to take that one?

蘭德，你想拿那個嗎？

Yes, there's no question, if you look at over time and even in the recent quarters, the things we book are now well into the 7 figures. And every quarter, they move up a bit. I think clients are getting more confident and comfortable with our work and where we can contribute and extending that work out for a longer period of time.

是的，毫無疑問，如果你觀察一段時間，甚至最近幾個季度，我們預訂的東西現在已經達到了 7 位數。每個季度，他們都會上升一點。我認為客戶對我們的工作越來越有信心，也越來越舒服，我們可以做出貢獻，並將工作時間延長到更長的時間。

But I think most of the work we do book is still about a 12-month duration work. So some of it is expansion. A lot of the existing work in this past quarter, I think Ted featured, we had a lot of existing work move forward -- carryforward, if you will, in our bookings, a little less in new work, which is not like the previous quarters. But when you have that existing work turning over, it generally gets a little larger as we go, Tobey.

但我認為我們所做的大部分工作仍然是為期 12 個月的工作。所以其中一些是擴展。我認為特德強調了上個季度的很多現有工作，我們有很多現有的工作向前推進——如果你願意的話，在我們的預訂中，新工作會少一點，這與之前的不同宿舍。但是當你把現有的工作翻過來時，它通常會隨著我們的進展而變得更大一些，托比。

And just a question, last one for me. On the new work being a little smaller and more renewals. Was that a -- did that represent a surprise in a change? And would you say that is reflective of something a reticence at the customer? Or is that just bounce around quarter-to-quarter and not much more to glean from the change?

只是一個問題，這是我的最後一個問題。新作品規模更小，更新更多。這是否代表著變化中的驚喜？您是否認為這反映了客戶的沉默？或者只是按季度反彈，並沒有從變化中獲得更多信息？

Well, Ted, I'll take the first shot at that and then you can come in. I say Tobey, it does bounce around a little bit quarter-to-quarter relative around a 50-50 split between existing and new, but I think it reflects the cautiousness of our clients. Keeping some work going, stretching it out is part of your playbook.

好吧，特德，我會首先採取行動，然後你就可以進來了。我說托比，它確實在季度與季度之間有所反彈，現有的和新的之間的比例約為50- 50，但我認為這反映了我們客戶的謹慎態度。繼續做一些工作，並擴展它是你的策略的一部分。

New work, they're being very judicious about it. It has to move. We've always said IT spend moves with earnings, okay? Not with employment data, with earnings. And when that happens, they're going to take steps to protect their earnings as well. And if they can stretch out where there is some work, they're going to have to start new, they're going to be cautious about that.

新作品，他們對此非常明智。它必須移動。我們總是說 IT 支出隨收入變化，好嗎？不是就業數據，而是收入數據。當這種情況發生時，他們也會採取措施保護自己的收入。如果他們可以在有工作的地方擴展，他們將不得不重新開始，他們會對此保持謹慎。

So I don't think it's unanticipated by us in this most recent quarter. If it went to 80-20 one way or another, Tobey, that would be a surprise. But when it's in a close proximity to each other, not as alarming, more reflective of the cautious nature of client spending as Ted commented on.

因此，我認為我們在最近一個季度沒有預料到這一點。托比，如果比分是80-20，那將是一個驚喜。但當兩者距離很近時，就不那麼令人擔憂了，更多地反映了特德評論的客戶支出的謹慎本質。

Our next question is from Heather Balsky with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Heather Balsky。

I guess, I first wanted to ask about the consulting business. You spoke earlier about the extending burn rate. I'm curious if you're seeing any other change in behavior in your consulting business, whether it's reflecting shifting in demand for the type of projects? And are you seeing any trade down from some of the bigger consulting firms to your business?

我想，我首先想問的是諮詢業務。您之前談到了延長燒錢率。我很好奇您是否在諮詢業務中看到了任何其他行為變化，這是否反映了項目類型需求的變化？您是否看到一些較大的諮詢公司對您的業務進行了交易？

Rand, do you want to take that?

蘭德，你想接受這個嗎？

Well, I'll start. I think we've commented on this a little bit, Heather. The stretch out of where current work that's ongoing is just a matter of being prudent from a client point of view and protecting their own business and their own earnings, I believe -- we believe.

好吧，我要開始了。我想我們已經對此進行了一些評論，希瑟。我相信，我們相信，當前正在進行的工作的延伸只是從客戶的角度謹慎行事並保護他們自己的業務和他們自己的收入的問題。

We're seeing a little bit more now bookings around and work around existing work and extension of that work and a slight modification to that work. Not as much new work, but still a nice amount of new work being added in. Most of the new work is around the data, the data foundations and structures and some AIs, which we've pointed out.

我們現在看到更多的預訂和圍繞現有工作以及該工作的擴展以及對該工作的輕微修改的工作。沒有那麼多新工作，但仍然添加了大量新工作。大多數新工作都是圍繞數據、數據基礎和結構以及我們已經指出的一些人工智能。

I don't know that there's anything other than what you'd anticipate a company doing in support of their own business. I mean, even look at ourselves, we're still dealing with new technologies and trying to modernize our IT framework to support our business. And we're -- we've not cut back on IT spending, but we haven't gone out and tried something new right away until we know that we've got our path forward going.

我不知道除了你期望公司為支持自己的業務而做的事情之外，還有什麼其他的事情。我的意思是，即使看看我們自己，我們仍在處理新技術並嘗試實現 IT 框架現代化以支持我們的業務。我們並沒有削減 IT 支出，但我們也沒有立即嘗試新的東西，直到我們知道我們已經找到了前進的道路。

So I don't think they're behaving any different than we would or that we expect. Did that answer your question or help...

所以我認為他們的行為與我們的行為或我們的預期沒有任何不同。這回答了你的問題還是有幫助......

Yes. Yes, that was really helpful. And a follow-up question, you talked about sort of new opportunities and changes in technology, another AI question, which is I'm curious, I know it's very early days, but when you think of AI and generative AI and the opportunity at hand. I think we've all been trying to get a sense of how much spending could happen to invest in that type of technology.

是的。是的，這確實很有幫助。後續問題，你談到了技術方面的新機遇和變化，另一個人工智能問題，我很好奇，我知道現在還處於早期階段，但是當你想到人工智能和生成式人工智能以及機會時，手。我認為我們都一直在努力了解投資此類技術可能需要花費多少資金。

Do you have some perspective on the TAM or the relative size of the TAM compared to some of your other end markets? And within that, you talked about that you need the cloud capabilities. Do you see that expanding the TAM for cloud?

與其他一些終端市場相比，您對 TAM 或 TAM 的相對規模有什麼看法嗎？其中，您談到您需要雲功能。您認為雲的 TAM 擴展了嗎？

Ted, I'll start if you want me to start. Yes, we think, first of all, there'll be more spend in the data foundation world, that's cloud, data analytics, that's business intelligence, that sort of thing. There's definitely going to be more spend in AI because the use cases are growing. In fact, some of the use cases we've mentioned are talking about the customer experience. That seems to be what we've seen in the first.

特德，如果你想讓我開始，我就開始。是的，我們認為，首先，數據基礎領域將會有更多的支出，即云、數據分析、商業智能等。由於用例不斷增長，人工智能方面的支出肯定會增加。事實上，我們提到的一些用例正在談論客戶體驗。這似乎就是我們首先看到的。

It's kind of counterintuitive a little bit to us that maybe there aren't some other use cases that are getting what I call a priority. But -- and by the way, we talked to Gartner about this. I think they would highlight the same thing. Use cases tend to be focused around the customer experience as well as management operational control of the business.

也許沒有其他用例獲得我所說的優先級，這對我們來說有點違反直覺。但是——順便說一句，我們與 Gartner 討論了此事。我認為他們會強調同一件事。用例往往側重於客戶體驗以及業務的管理運營控制。

So do we think this is the beginning of a major spend? There's a lot of talk out there about it. There's a lot of investments in AI in the big technology companies. Even the existing technology companies are reramping their platforms for supporting AI and better retrieving and archiving and processing data.

那麼我們認為這是重大支出的開始嗎？對此有很多討論。大型科技公司對人工智能進行了大量投資。即使是現有的科技公司也在重新調整其平台，以支持人工智能並更好地檢索、歸檔和處理數據。

So do I think there's a lot more spend in these areas, have we taken a moment to say the total addressable market has gone up x billions of dollars. We have not done that yet. But there's no question that it's a major opportunity for all of us in the business community to harness the power of our existing data and use it proactively to support our customers, our supply chain and our ability to manage our businesses.

那麼我是否認為這些領域的支出會增加很多，我們是否花了一點時間說總的潛在市場已經增加了數十億美元。我們還沒有這樣做。但毫無疑問，對於我們商界所有人來說，這是一個重大機會，可以利用現有數據的力量並主動使用它來支持我們的客戶、我們的供應鏈以及我們管理業務的能力。

So there's a return on investment there that's much more measurable than back in the '90s when it was a Year 2K boom, right? And it was more preservation than a return on investment. So I think you're probably reading the same articles we are. Ted, do you have?

因此，那裡的投資回報比 20 世紀 90 年代 Year 2K 繁榮時更可衡量，對嗎？這更多的是保護而不是投資回報。所以我認為您可能正在閱讀與我們相同的文章。特德，你有嗎？

No. I would just kind of echo what you said right upfront, which there's a lot of foundational work here to get ready to really deploy and get a return on all these AI capabilities. And I think that is the spending going to be a factor, for sure, in terms of growth in spending in IT. And I think also pent-up demand here as clients get ready for this, but maybe are holding off just a bit before they really invest in it until we get a little further into whatever this economic situation that we're in here.

不，我只是同意你之前所說的，這裡有很多基礎工作來準備真正部署並獲得所有這些人工智能功能的回報。我認為，就 IT 支出增長而言，支出肯定會成為一個因素。我認為，隨著客戶為此做好準備，這裡的需求也被壓抑了，但在他們真正投資之前，可能會稍微推遲一下，直到我們進一步了解我們所處的經濟形勢。

Can I mention one more thing, Heather and Ted? We've developed what we call AI road maps. We used to have digital road maps. They've now been modified to reflect AI and really helping the client think through what the use cases potentially are, how they would go about it, what technologies are emerging to support that. And there's good discussion around that with our clients. And I think the fact that the clients are also trying to think through this.

我可以再提一件事嗎，希瑟和特德？我們開發了所謂的人工智能路線圖。我們曾經有數字路線圖。它們現在已經過修改，以反映人工智能，並真正幫助客戶思考潛在的用例是什麼，他們將如何去做，以及正在出現哪些技術來支持這一點。我們與客戶就此進行了很好的討論。我認為事實上客戶也在嘗試思考這個問題。

And remember, some of the technology tools are now just being revamped, coming out. Sometimes they don't even have price tags on, on that technology on how to use it. But there's a lot of action and a lot of discussion going on and our road maps at least help us and our team talk to our clients about it.

請記住，一些技術工具現在剛剛被改進、問世。有時他們甚至沒有價格標籤，沒有關於如何使用該技術的信息。但正在進行大量的行動和大量的討論，我們的路線圖至少可以幫助我們和我們的團隊與客戶討論這一問題。

Yes. I was going to say, we're hearing some of the companies we cover talk about the increasing spend on AI. Some have set budget, some have been less specific. So it's just interesting to get some perspective on how big of an opportunity to see.

是的。我想說的是，我們聽到我們報導的一些公司談論人工智能支出不斷增加。有些已經設定了預算，有些則不太具體。因此，了解一下這個機會有多大是很有趣的。

Our next question is from Josh Chan with UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的 Josh Chan。

I wanted to ask one on SG&A. It looks like SG&A declined more than revenue this quarter, which really helped your margin and it looks like that may continue into Q3. So just wondering if you can give some color on what's helping you push the SG&A line a bit lower here?

我想問一個關於SG&A 的問題。看來本季度的 SG&A 下降幅度超過了收入下降幅度，這確實有助於您的利潤率，而且這種情況可能會持續到第三季度。所以只是想知道您是否可以說明一下是什麼幫助您將 SG&A 線推低一點？

Yes. Hi, Josh. So from an SG&A perspective, it's really our business stabilizers at work. So for Q2, we're ending on a cash SG&A at 16.9%, really a combination of expense management and lower incentive comp. And so we talked about the business stabilizers that as our revenue softens, that variable component of our model also flexes as well.

是的。嗨，喬什。因此，從 SG&A 的角度來看，這確實是我們業務的穩定器在發揮作用。因此，對於第二季度，我們的現金 SG&A 率為 16.9%，實際上是費用管理和較低激勵補償的結合。因此，我們討論了業務穩定因素，即隨著我們的收入疲軟，我們模型的可變組成部分也會發生變化。

Okay. And then I guess on the consulting bookings, it's still up this quarter. I know that GlideFast is in there, but could you kind of contrast what seems like a pretty healthy booking for you with sort of the macro narrative that is very cautious? I guess I was just trying to reconcile those 2 things.

好的。然後我想在諮詢預訂方面，本季度仍然在增長。我知道 GlideFast 就在那裡，但是您能否將對您來說似乎相當健康的預訂與非常謹慎的宏觀敘述進行對比？我想我只是想調和這兩件事。

Yes. I would say nothing dramatically different, Josh. I mean we've said a few things here that were just incremental around the edges, a little bit more renewals and extensions than new work. But like Rand said, it kind of moves around every quarter, more bookings came in June, and it didn't come ratably through the quarter, maybe they do some time. Again, that can vary. But I think that's just a signal of cautiousness from clients.

是的。我不會說有什麼顯著不同，喬什。我的意思是，我們在這裡所說的一些事情只是在邊緣增量，比新工作多一點更新和擴展。但正如蘭德所說，每個季度都會發生變化，六月份的預訂量有所增加，但整個季度的預訂量並沒有大幅增加，也許他們有時會這樣做。同樣，這可能會有所不同。但我認為這只是客戶謹慎的信號。

And look, I think we're a great -- for a client who wants to continue to work, not stop, IT projects, continue to get things done, we're a great option, right? We come at it from a little bit different perspective than the big traditional consulting firms. We use our contract deployment, our IT staffing model. So those people are not coming off our bench.

看，我認為我們很棒——對於想要繼續工作而不是停止 IT 項目、繼續完成工作的客戶來說，我們是一個很好的選擇，對嗎？我們的視角與大型傳統諮詢公司略有不同。我們使用合同部署、IT 人員配置模式。所以這些人不會從我們的替補席上下來。

We can very quickly put together custom fit teams with the right industry experience, in the right technologies and mix with it our Mexican Delivery Center capability, and that ends up being a great outcome for the client because it's cost effective and because we've got the technical strength to get the job done. So I think in times like these, we're a great option for the CIOs and CTOs and IT directors who are having to worry about expense, but also know that they need to stick with the things they have in motion.

我們可以非常快速地組建具有適當行業經驗和適當技術的定制團隊，並將其與我們的墨西哥交付中心能力相結合，這最終會給客戶帶來一個很好的結果，因為它具有成本效益，而且因為我們擁有完成工作的技術實力。因此，我認為在這樣的時期，對於 CIO、CTO 和 IT 總監來說，我們是一個很好的選擇，他們不僅需要擔心費用，而且知道他們需要堅持正在進行的事情。

Our next question is from Kevin McVeigh with Credit Suisse.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞士信貸銀行的凱文·麥克維。

Great. And I did a couple of calls. So if you answered this, I apologize in advance. But maybe if we could start with the guidance a little bit, the Q3, it looks like the revenue and the EBITDA, it looks like the EPS looks a little bit better than where the revenue and EBITDA was relative to the Street. Is that maybe some of that expense leverage? And then the acquisition, the $25 million or so, can you help us, was that in the guidance already? Or was it additive to it? And then maybe can you help us understand what the EBITDA impact is from that $25 million as well?

偉大的。我打了幾個電話。所以如果你回答這個問題，我提前道歉。但也許我們可以從第三季度的指導開始，看起來收入和 EBITDA 看起來比收入和 EBITDA 相對於華爾街的情況要好一些。這可能是費用槓桿的一部分嗎？然後是收購，大約 2500 萬美元，你能幫助我們嗎？這已經在指導中了嗎？還是它是附加的？那麼您能否幫助我們了解這 2500 萬美元對 EBITDA 的影響是什麼？

So I'll take that first. So the -- what you're seeing, Kevin, is on the revenue side of things, continued softness in commercial offset by growth in Federal, right? And if you carry that through on a billable day basis sequentially were somewhere to slightly up in the third quarter to slightly down within 1% kind of both ways is what our ranges would give you.

所以我會先採取這一點。所以，凱文，你所看到的是收入方面的情況，商業的持續疲軟被聯邦的增長所抵消，對嗎？如果您按照計費日順序進行計算，則在第三季度略有上升到略有下降 1% 以內，這兩種方式都是我們的範圍給您的。

Our stabilizers business -- stabilizers are working, and so our expense profile is down. And so we think that 12% EBITDA margin range here that we saw in the second and kind of carries into our Q3 guidance is a good target and it's sustainable here as we go forward at these levels based on the top line guide that we gave you and what we expect at the gross margin level. On -- Marie, on the acquisitions, we give the acquisition contribution every quarter, right?

我們的穩定劑業務——穩定劑正在發揮作用，因此我們的費用狀況有所下降。因此，我們認為，我們在第二季度看到的12% EBITDA 利潤率範圍，以及進入我們第三季度指導的內容，是一個很好的目標，並且隨著我們根據我們給您的頂線指南在這些水平上前進，它是可持續的。以及我們對毛利率水平的預期。關於——瑪麗，關於收購，我們每個季度都會做出收購貢獻，對吧？

Correct.

正確的。

So that's not a new deal alleged?

那麼這不是所謂的新交易嗎？

That's not a new deal that's built in the guidance. We have lapped the GlideFast acquisition. So that was done at the 1st of July in the prior year. So we now lapped that. We're not reporting that here in the third quarter. It's in our organic numbers. And we still have a quarter to go on Iron Vine, which was the cybersecurity capability that we bought in the Federal space in October of last year. And so the acquisition number you get there is from the last quarter of our time.

這並不是指南中提出的一項新協議。我們已經完成了對 GlideFast 的收購。這是在前一年的 7 月 1 日完成的。所以我們現在就這麼做了。我們不會在第三季度報告這一點。它在我們的有機數字中。我們還有四分之一的時間來開發 Iron Vine，這是我們去年 10 月在聯邦空間購買的網絡安全功能。因此，您獲得的收購數量是我們上個季度的數據。

Terrific. Any sense of like client conversations, how they've been trending around? Is this some of the -- I don't know if the caution is the right word, but is that kind of trying to manage internal utilization? And then maybe to your point, they come back to the market? Or how should we think about that in terms of phasing, I guess?

了不起。有沒有類似客戶對話的感覺，他們的趨勢如何？這是一些——我不知道這個警告是否正確，但這是否是一種管理內部利用率的嘗試？然後也許按照你的觀點，他們會回到市場？或者我想我們應該如何從階段性角度考慮這個問題？

Rand, trying to have conversations mostly consistent.

蘭德，試圖讓對話基本一致。

Yes. I'm not sure, Kevin, your question more about is that we've -- I mean, we have ongoing conversations, and that's one of our strengths is we have a 25-year history. I mean, we're not as well as many other consulting or services businesses, but we've been around long enough and had very significant footprint in the IT staffing world, which helped us build an intricacy with our client base.

是的。我不確定，凱文，你的問題更多的是我們——我的意思是，我們一直在進行對話，而我們的優勢之一就是我們擁有 25 年的歷史。我的意思是，我們不像許多其他諮詢或服務企業那樣出色，但我們已經存在了足夠長的時間，並且在IT 人員配置領域擁有非常重要的足跡，這幫助我們與客戶群建立了複雜的關係。

And we continue those conversations and we keep our account managers and national account directors out in the marketplace talking to them. That's part of the investment we're not willing to let deteriorate. And yes, I mean, conversations are always there. Some of the conversations now are moving towards what we call this new road map, the AI road map and use cases and what potentially can be done with it. And it's a lot about the foundational pieces that you have to put in place.

我們繼續這些對話，並讓我們的客戶經理和全國客戶總監在市場上與他們交談。這是我們不願讓其惡化的投資的一部分。是的，我的意思是，對話總是存在的。現在的一些對話正在朝著我們所說的新路線圖、人工智能路線圖和用例以及可以用它來做什麼。這與您必須落實到位的基礎部分有很多關係。

Remember also, Fortune 500 companies are -- it's not that they're not early adopters of technology. In some of the sectors, they're not going to be quick to get at it. So early adopters tend to be technology companies in the banks. The later adopters are consumer industrial and health care. And it's interesting enough that that's where we're growing right now with those 2 sectors.

還要記住，財富 500 強公司並不是技術的早期採用者。在某些領域，他們不會很快就掌握它。因此，早期採用者往往是銀行內的科技公司。後來的採用者是消費工業和醫療保健。有趣的是，這就是我們現在在這兩個領域發展的領域。

So the conversation varies depending on the clients aptitude to spend more or whether they have to protect their own earnings or they're cautious or not. Most clients are cautious -- or what I would call prudently cautious. Was there a second part of that question, though, that you were worried about our internal team?

因此，談話會根據客戶增加支出的能力或他們是否必須保護自己的收入或他們是否謹慎而有所不同。大多數客戶都很謹慎——或者我稱之為謹慎謹慎。不過，這個問題的第二部分是否是您擔心我們的內部團隊？

No, not necessarily, Rand, internal, just is the clients kind of manage their internal capacity. Are they at a point where they start to use consultants again? Or are they still kind of managing some of that internal capacity, just given where the macro environment is?

不，不一定，蘭德，內部，只是客戶管理其內部能力的一種。他們是否已經開始再次聘請顧問了？或者，考慮到宏觀環境，他們是否仍在管理一些內部能力？

I don't know, Ted, I'll make a comment, and then you can jump in, Ted. But I mean, we're getting the same reports you're getting as the quarter gets the earnings reports come out. And I would say IT staffing is definitely in negative territory. And -- the good news is our perm placement, some companies -- staffing companies have gotten really hit with that, where our perm placement as a percent of revenue is relatively small, but our perm placement business is definitely down.

我不知道，特德，我會發表評論，然後你可以加入，特德。但我的意思是，我們收到的報告與本季度收益報告發佈時收到的報告相同。我想說，IT 人員配置絕對處於負數區域。而且 - 好消息是我們的燙髮安置，一些公司 - 人力資源公司確實受到了打擊，我們的燙髮安置佔收入的百分比相對較小，但我們的燙髮安置業務肯定在下降。

The IT staffing business is down because it's -- some of it is a little more discretionary, but most of it is stretched out and they're not going to add new people. Consulting is now kind of getting into the territory of, well, let's stretch some of these projects out just a little bit here without losing momentum and see where we are in another quarter. And so we've assumed some of that, I think, in our guidance and what we've given you.

IT 人員配置業務之所以下滑，是因為其中一些業務有點隨意，但大部分都已經捉襟見肘，而且他們不會增加新員工。諮詢現在正在進入這樣的領域，好吧，讓我們在不失去動力的情況下將其中一些項目稍微延伸一下，看看我們在另一個季度的情況。因此，我認為，我們在我們的指導和給你們的內容中已經假設了其中的一些內容。

Our next question is from Mark Marcon with Baird.

我們的下一個問題是馬克·馬爾孔和貝爾德提出的。

On bill rates and bill pay spreads, how would you characterize those both in terms of consulting as well as IT staffing on the Commercial side?

關於賬單費率和賬單支付利差，您如何從商業方面的諮詢和 IT 人員配置方面來描述它們？

I would say very steady, Mark. I mean we're seeing very small incremental up movement in bill rates and in pay rates. We're preserving the margin there and the clients are willing to do that for all the reasons you can imagine in a really good IT labor and tough demand skill sets are still at a premium. So I think you've seen some of the spikes obviously now come out of all of that, but we're seeing really good margin steadiness, if you will, in all of that.

我想說非常穩定，馬克。我的意思是，我們看到帳單費率和工資率的增量變化非常小。我們保留了那裡的利潤，客戶也願意這樣做，原因有很多，你可以想像到，優秀的 IT 勞動力和高要求的技能組合仍然非常寶貴。因此，我認為您現在顯然已經看到了所有這些因素帶來的一些峰值，但如果您願意的話，我們在所有這些因素中都看到了非常好的利潤穩定性。

We continue to see our rate creep up mostly because of our commercial consulting business and that's higher value, higher margin, higher bill rate work, right? So the mix of that with our other business continues to slightly lift our bill rate, which you would expect.

我們繼續看到我們的費率不斷上升，主要是因為我們的商業諮詢業務，這是更高的價值、更高的利潤、更高的賬單費率工作，對嗎？因此，這與我們其他業務的結合繼續略微提高了我們的賬單費率，正如您所期望的那樣。

Right. And then you mentioned the Mexican nearshore capabilities that you acquired through Intersys. How big is that? And how much bigger could it become given that it sounds like it's a really good price value for clients?

正確的。然後您提到了通過 Intersys 獲得的墨西哥近岸能力。那有多大？考慮到這聽起來對客戶來說確實是一個非常好的價格價值，它能變得多大？

Yes. So when we bought Intersys in 2019, they had approximately 100 resources. We've grown that significantly, and we continue to do it because there's such a pull on demand there. So it's a big investment area for us, Mark.

是的。因此，當我們在 2019 年收購 Intersys 時，他們擁有大約 100 個資源。我們已經取得了顯著的增長，並且我們將繼續這樣做，因為那裡的需求有很大的吸引力。所以這對我們來說是一個很大的投資領域，馬克。

And again, we go back and say, clients are looking to leverage that because they want their total cost of ownership of some of these projects that they continue to stick with to have the most productive price point that it can happen. So it makes sense that they would be pulling on that.

再說一次，我們回過頭來說，客戶希望利用這一點，因為他們希望繼續堅持其中一些項目的總擁有成本，以獲得可能發生的最有成效的價格點。因此，他們的推動是有道理的。

Great. I mean do you have excess capacity there? Or are you at capacity and you just needed continue to add capacity?

偉大的。我的意思是你們那裡產能過剩嗎？或者您的容量已滿，而您只需要繼續增加容量？

I mean, we'll -- we always have a little capacity because utilization rates are never 100%. But if we could have another big group of capabilities there and the right skill sets, we could put it to work. So again, it's an investment area. It's one of the areas I called out where while we may [trip] in certain places because demand is not going to be there in the near term. This is one of those areas where we're investing because there's a big opportunity in demand.

我的意思是，我們總是有一點產能，因為利用率永遠不會是 100%。但如果我們能夠擁有另一大群能力和正確的技能組合，我們就可以將其付諸實踐。再說一遍，這是一個投資領域。這是我指出的領域之一，雖然我們可能會在某些地方[旅行]，因為短期內不會出現需求。這是我們投資的領域之一，因為需求中有很大的機會。

Can I add to that real quickly? The Mexican Development center has grown just terrifically and really stepped up. We also have some Indian offshore, which there are certain technologies we're moving towards them, and they're starting to be more productive part of our overall offshore strategy. So I just wanted to mention the Indian side, just not to ignore them, smaller compared to Mexico, but still important and growing a little bit, okay?

我可以快速添加嗎？墨西哥發展中心已經取得了驚人的發展，並且真正取得了進步。我們還有一些印度離岸項目，我們正在向它們發展某些技術，它們開始成為我們整體離岸戰略中更有成效的一部分。所以我只想提一下印度方面，只是不想忽視他們，雖然比墨西哥小，但仍然很重要，而且還在增長，好嗎？

That's terrific. And then in the release, you mentioned that creative and perm placement were down 14% -- or were down 21% and 14% of revenue. How much was perm down versus how much was creative down?

真了不起。然後在新聞稿中，您提到創意和燙髮位置下降了 14%，即收入下降了 21% 和 14%。燙髮下降了多少，創意下降了多少？

So from perm for second quarter. As a percent of total revenue, I mean, the numbers that you gave are really as a percent of commercial. And so as you know, we kind of give it as a percent of total revenues. So in Q2 of 2023, 2.8%.

所以從第二季度的燙髮開始。我的意思是，作為總收入的百分比，您提供的數字實際上是商業收入的百分比。如您所知，我們將其視為總收入的百分比。因此，2023 年第二季度為 2.8%。

That's relative to what a year ago, Marie?

瑪麗，這與一年前相比？

So last year, 2022, it was 4.6%.

所以去年，2022 年，這個數字是 4.6%。

Okay. Great. And then does that imply -- when I go through the math, it seems to imply that IT staffing is down around 14%. Is that correct?

好的。偉大的。那麼這是否意味著——當我進行數學計算時，似乎意味著 IT 人員配備減少了 14% 左右。那是對的嗎？

I'd say low double digit is right, Mark. Maybe not quite that much, but low double digit.

我想說低兩位數是正確的，馬克。也許不是那麼多，但低兩位數。

Okay. And Rand and Ted, you've both gone through multiple cycles. Apex ended up growing during the GFC. How would you characterize what you're seeing today in terms of the macro caution relative to other periods? And what inning do you think we're in, in terms of that potential softening? And related to that is like when we take a look at TMT and Business and Government Services, have they fallen to the point where they should be basing and should stabilize on a go-forward basis? Or is there still further room for contraction. How are you thinking about that?

好的。蘭德和特德，你們都經歷了多個週期。 Apex 最終在全球金融危機期間實現了增長。相對於其他時期的宏觀謹慎，您如何描述今天所看到的情況？就潛在的軟化而言，您認為我們處於哪一局？與此相關的是，當我們看TMT和商業和政府服務時，它們是否已經落到了應該立足並穩定前進的地步？或者是否還有進一步收縮的空間。你覺得怎麼樣？

Well, look, in our third quarter guidance, we've kind of noted that we've programmed a little softness, if you will, in that for the quarter. So to the last part of your question, it could remain the same or get a little weaker.

好吧，看，在我們的第三季度指導中，我們注意到我們在本季度的指導中計劃了一些軟化，如果你願意的話。因此，對於您問題的最後一部分，它可能會保持不變或變得稍弱一些。

And for the first part of your question, Mark, no 2 downturns are created the same. If you go back to the Great Financial Crisis, it was a major event in banking, obviously, credit and other things around that, but there were some industries that were pretty healthy, right? And it was an event that kind of happened there didn't have the long runway of visibility that this downturn has had.

馬克，對於你問題的第一部分，沒有兩次經濟衰退是相同的。如果你回到金融危機，那是銀行業、信貸和其他相關領域的重大事件，但有些行業相當健康，對吧？這是一個發生在沒有像這次經濟低迷那樣長期可見的事件。

And so this one is different in those ways. We've had a long visibility. We've had to watch it all the way through. It's allowed all of us, our clients and us to prepare our businesses for more austere times. And so we've all done that. And so you've seen the enterprise client here react differently than maybe in past downturns in the cycle because of all those reasons.

所以這個在這些方面是不同的。我們已經有很長的能見度了。我們必須從頭到尾看著它。它使我們所有人、我們的客戶和我們自己能夠為更加嚴峻的時期做好準備。所以我們都這樣做了。因此，由於所有這些原因，您在這裡看到的企業客戶的反應可能與過去的經濟低迷時期有所不同。

I think the other thing that is different today is that the way the customer procures staffing is more controllable and transactional than it's ever been. They can immediately -- because of the control they have over these programs when they really want to get protective, they can immediately hit the button and say, "I'm going to get protected here. I'm going to turn down the transaction part of the business, which is the IT staffing part of the business."

我認為今天的另一件事不同的是，客戶採購人員的方式比以往任何時候都更加可控和交易。他們可以立即 - 因為他們對這些程序擁有控制權，當他們真正想要獲得保護時，他們可以立即按下按鈕並說：“我將在這裡受到保護。我將拒絕交易業務的一部分，也就是業務的IT 人員配置部分。”

And so they've been able to come to us for our consulting offering and get around some of those obstacles that keep work going, but they've also had to turn down the transactional piece and they can do it very effectively because of the control they have within these procurement systems. So I'd just say it's a different market, if you will, and they're all different. Rand, anything you'd add to that?

因此，他們能夠向我們尋求諮詢服務，並克服一些使工作繼續進行的障礙，但他們也必須拒絕交易部分，並且由於控制權，他們可以非常有效地做到這一點他們在這些採購系統中擁有。所以我只想說這是一個不同的市場，如果你願意的話，而且它們都是不同的。蘭德，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Well, Mark, if you'll let me, I'll add one thing. I would say in the great financial crisis, it was chaos and nobody knew what was going on exactly and how we're going to come out of it. Today, I think people are cautious, not chaotic. And the spend is cautious, not chaotic. And the rebound when I got to rebound this time versus then or back in '04 or some other downturns we've seen.

好吧，馬克，如果你允許的話，我會補充一件事。我想說，在這場巨大的金融危機中，一片混亂，沒有人知道到底發生了什麼，以及我們將如何走出困境。今天，我認為人們是謹慎的，而不是混亂的。而且支出是謹慎的，而不是混亂的。當我這次反彈時或與 04 年或我們見過的其他一些低迷時期相比時，就會出現反彈。

I like the fact that I think there's a rebound coming somewhere, and there's also propellant. AI and the cloud infrastructure and the foundational tools and the use of technology to propel companies both with the customer and their logistics space and their internal operations, I think, is more acute today than ever before.

我喜歡這樣一個事實：我認為某個地方會出現反彈，而且還有推進劑。我認為，人工智能、雲基礎設施、基礎工具和技術的使用，推動公司與客戶、物流空間和內部運營的發展，在今天比以往任何時候都更加緊迫。

And so I look forward to the rebound because I know it's going to be great. It's a question of getting there, right? And so the Fed, I think, helped today or maybe heard, I don't know. But a lot of this is tied up into that and everybody is looking for signals that everybody thinks way. Okay? But we're still growing revenue, consumer still spending, right? So not quite the chaos we had in '08, '09.

所以我期待反彈，因為我知道這會很棒。這是一個到達那裡的問題，對嗎？因此，我認為美聯儲今天提供了幫助，或者可能聽說過，我不知道。但其中很多都與此相關，每個人都在尋找每個人都思考的信號。好的？但我們的收入仍在增長，消費者仍在支出，對吧？所以不像 08 年、09 年那樣混亂。

And Mark, you've seen this for a while. You know that we're the clients' best opportunity to ramp up quickly into investments that they want to make when they're ready to return to heavy investment levels, right, around the stuff. They have pent-up demand building, the longer we get through this, the more it builds. And then their opportunity to get after it as quickly as possible. They can't do that internally where their most key and strategic mechanism to do that. So I think Rand is 100% right, obviously, on that.

馬克，你已經看到這個有一段時間了。您知道，當客戶準備好返回大量投資水平時，我們是客戶快速增加他們想要進行的投資的最佳機會，對吧，圍繞這些東西。他們有被壓抑的需求建設，我們度過這個過程的時間越長，需求建設就越多。然後他們就有機會盡快抓住它。他們無法在內部做到這一點，因為他們最關鍵和戰略性的機制是這樣做的。所以我認為蘭德在這一點上顯然是100%正確的。

I appreciate that. And in the meantime, you're generating strong free cash flow and preserving the margins, which is a testament to the management skill. with regards to capital allocation, can you talk a little bit about your preference in terms of acquisitions relative to continuing to buy back stock?

我很感激。與此同時，您可以產生強勁的自由現金流並保持利潤，這是管理技能的證明。關於資本配置，您能談談您對收購相對於繼續回購股票的偏好嗎？

Sure. Marie?

當然。瑪麗？

Yes. It's really kind of the similar story that we've been sharing. And so obviously, our desire and our first and best use is M&A. But really, given what we just talked about with the Fed continuing to raise rates, there's really no targets out there or opportunities. And so share repurchase, and you saw kind of the $58 million rounding slightly up in share repurchase for Q2. I think we signaled on some of the conversations that we had that we actually ended up buying more shares earlier on at lower prices. And so you see the average share price that we bought those at. And so we will continue to utilize our free cash flow for share repurchase and continue to look for opportunities for M&A.

是的。這確實是我們一直在分享的類似故事。顯然，我們的願望以及我們的首要和最佳用途是併購。但實際上，考慮到我們剛才談到的美聯儲繼續加息的情況，實際上沒有目標或機會。因此，股票回購，您會看到第二季度的股票回購金額略有上升，約為 5800 萬美元。我認為我們在一些談話中表明，我們實際上最終以較低的價格購買了更多股票。所以你可以看到我們購買這些股票的平均股價。因此，我們將繼續利用自由現金流進行股票回購，並繼續尋找併購機會。

And on the M&A front, Mark, there are attractive future opportunities and now it's the time to plow those. And so we're thinking on our own to make sure we understand what the menu is and target list. We're identifying those opportunities in the market. We're building relationships and doing all the spade work that needs to be done. But Marie is right. And at these levels, our share price has never been more accretive to purchase shares. And so you can see that evidence in our actions during the last quarter.

在併購方面，馬克，未來有很多有吸引力的機會，現在是時候耕耘這些機會了。因此，我們正在自己思考，以確保我們了解菜單是什麼和目標列表。我們正在市場上尋找這些機會。我們正在建立關係並完成所有需要完成的工作。但瑪麗是對的。在這樣的水平上，我們的股價對於購買股票來說是前所未有的增值。因此，您可以從我們上個季度的行動中看到這一證據。

As there are no further questions at this time, I would like to turn the floor back over to Mr. Ted Hanson, CEO, for closing comments.

由於目前沒有其他問題，我想將發言權交還給首席執行官 Ted Hanson 先生，以徵求結束意見。

Thank you, operator, and thank everyone for being a part of our quarterly earnings release and your questions, and we look forward to speaking with you in the next quarter.

感謝運營商，感謝大家參與我們的季度收益發布並回答您的問題，我們期待在下個季度與您交談。

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

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開線路。