ASGN Inc (ASGN) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings and welcome to the ASGN Incorporated third-quarter 2024 earnings call. (Operator Instructions)

歡迎參加 ASGN Incorporated 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。（操作員說明）

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

現在我很高興向您介紹主持人，投資者關係部 Kimberly Esterkin。謝謝。你可以開始了。

Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us today for ASGN's third-quarter 2024 conference call. With me are Ted Hanson, Chief Executive Officer; Rand Blazer, President; and Marie Perry, Chief Financial Officer.

午安.感謝您今天參加 ASGN 2024 年第三季電話會議。與我在一起的有執行長 Ted Hanson；蘭德·布拉澤，總裁；和財務長瑪麗·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.

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有重大差異。

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.

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資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.

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。

Reconciliations between GAAP and non-GAAP measures are included in today's press release. I will now turn the call over to Ted Hanson, Chief Executive Officer.

今天的新聞稿包含了公認會計原則和非公認會計原則措施之間的調節。我現在將把電話轉給執行長 Ted Hanson。

Thank you, Kim, and thank you for joining ASGN's third-quarter 2024 earnings call. Market demand for ASGN services remained stable in the third quarter. Q3 2024 revenues of $1.031 billion were similar to the second quarter and within our guidance range.

謝謝 Kim，也謝謝您參加 ASGN 的 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。第三季ASGN服務市場需求維持穩定。2024 年第三季營收為 10.31 億美元，與第二季相似，在我們的指導範圍內。

In terms of profitability, adjusted EBITDA margin of 11.3%, was at the midpoint of our guidance range and reflects the continued evolution of our business towards higher-end, high-value consulting solutions. IT consulting is now approaching 60% of total revenues.

就獲利能力而言，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 11.3%，處於我們指導範圍的中點，反映了我們業務向高端、高價值諮詢解決方案的持續發展。IT 諮詢目前已接近總收入的 60%。

We had 57.9% of third quarter 2024 revenues in commercial and government consulting, up from 54.5% of revenues in the year ago period. Despite relatively consistent top line results, global economic uncertainty remains. As a result, we have yet to see a meaningful increase in client IT services spending.

2024 年第三季我們的營收中有 57.9% 來自商業和政府諮詢，高於去年同期的 54.5%。儘管營收結果相對穩定，但全球經濟的不確定性仍然存在。因此，我們尚未看到客戶 IT 服務支出有有意義的成長。

This caution, however, is not meant to imply that our commercial enterprise and federal government customers have deviated from their long-term digital transformation path. Rather, our clients know that advancing their IT road map is crucial to maintaining their competitive advantage.

然而，這種謹慎並不意味著我們的商業企業和聯邦政府客戶已經偏離了他們長期的數位轉型道路。相反，我們的客戶知道，推進 IT 路線圖對於保持競爭優勢至關重要。

Strong commercial and government bookings in the third quarter demonstrate the continued need for ASGN's IT services and are a sign of the pent-up demand within our customer base. As we progress through the final quarter of the year and prepare for an improved IT spending environment, we continue to develop our solutions, capabilities in core areas of interest to our Fortune 1000 and federal government clients, including data and analytics, cloud, cybersecurity, and early-on AI applications.

第三季強勁的商業和政府預訂顯示對 ASGN IT 服務的持續需求，也是我們客戶群中被壓抑的需求的標誌。隨著我們在今年最後一個季度取得進展並為改善IT 支出環境做好準備，我們將繼續在財富1000 強和聯邦政府客戶感興趣的核心領域開發我們的解決方案和功能，包括數據和分析、雲、網路安全、以及早期的人工智慧應用。

We are differentiating our business by bringing to bear unique solution capabilities across industry verticals, while at the same time being best adopters of new technologies. I will provide some examples of these efforts as we review ASGN's third quarter segment performance. So let's begin with our largest segment by revenue, commercial.

我們透過在垂直行業中發揮獨特的解決方案能力來使我們的業務脫穎而出，同時成為新技術的最佳採用者。當我們回顧 ASGN 第三季的表現時，我將提供一些這些努力的例子。讓我們從收入最大的部分——商業部分開始。

Our commercial segment services Fortune 1000 and large mid-market companies. Commercial segment revenues for the quarter were driven by growth in our commercial consulting business. Commercial consulting revenues improved 3.9% year over year and were also up 1.2% sequentially. Commercial consulting bookings of $282.5 million, our book-to-bill at 1.1 times on a trailing 12-month basis. Although consulting bookings remain more weighted towards renewals than new work, our new work is growing each quarter.

我們的商業部門為財富 1000 強和大型中型市場公司提供服務。本季商業部門的收入是由我們的商業諮詢業務的成長所推動的。商業諮詢收入年增 3.9%，季增 1.2%。商業諮詢預訂金額為 2.825 億美元，過去 12 個月的訂單出貨比為 1.1 倍。儘管諮詢預訂仍然更傾向於續約而不是新工作，但我們的新工作每季都在成長。

Looking at the total commercial segment, from an industry perspective, we saw year-over-year growth in two of our five commercial verticals. EMT revenues improved 10.9%, compared with the third quarter of 2023, led by double-digit growth in Software and Services and e-commerce. Consumer and industrial accounts are returning to modest growth year over year, driven by double-digit growth in utilities and materials.

從整個商業領域來看，從行業角度來看，我們的五個商業垂直領域中有兩個實現了同比增長。在軟體和服務以及電子商務兩位數成長的帶動下，EMT 營收較 2023 年第三季成長 10.9%。在公用事業和材料兩位數成長的推動下，消費者和工業帳戶逐年恢復溫和成長。

On a sequential basis, we also saw growth in two commercial industry verticals. Consumer and industrial accounts improved low single digits that was driven by growth in consumer staples and materials, which improved mid-single digits sequentially as well as energy and utilities which were up high single digits from the prior quarter.

依序來看，我們也看到兩個商業產業垂直領域的成長。消費者和工業帳戶成長了低個位數，這是由於消費必需品和材料的成長推動了中個位數的成長，能源和公用事業也比上一季成長了高個位數。

The financial services vertical also saw a slight growth sequentially. This modest quarter-over-quarter improvement was driven by regional banks, which improved mid-single digits in insurance services, which improved high single digits from the second quarter. Notably, within financial services, big banks were flat quarter-over-quarter after four consecutive quarters of decline.

金融服務垂直領域也出現了環比小幅成長。這種溫和的季度環比改善是由地區銀行推動的，這些銀行的保險服務實現了中個位數的增長，較第二季度實現了高個位數的增長。值得注意的是，在金融服務領域，大型銀行在連續四個季度下滑後，環比持平。

Although the health care industry vertical remained down year over year and sequentially, within the vertical, health care payers were up mid-single digits from the second quarter. As we continue to mature our consulting practice, we are selectively adding new skill sets to our project teams, including select solution architects.

儘管醫療保健行業垂直行業同比和環比仍然下降，但在垂直行業內，醫療保健支付者較第二季度增長了中個位數。隨著我們諮詢實踐的不斷成熟，我們有選擇地為我們的專案團隊添加新的技能，包括精選的解決方案架構師。

Adding these high-end solution capabilities provides us with the opportunity to strengthen our work and thereby, improve our margins, expand our contract sizes and lengths and enhance the industry vertical performance I just described. We are aligning our solutions architects with services of greatest interest to our clients.

增加這些高端解決方案能力為我們提供了加強工作的機會，從而提高我們的利潤，擴大我們的合約規模和長度，並提高我剛才描述的行業垂直績效。我們正在將我們的解決方案架構師與客戶最感興趣的服務結合。

Solutions that are seeing the most traction of late include application development and modernization, cloud migration and modernization, data platforms and products, and cybersecurity advisory and support. These services are all foundational to realizing the value of generative AI.

最近最受關注的解決方案包括應用程式開發和現代化、雲端遷移和現代化、數據平台和產品以及網路安全諮詢和支援。這些服務都是實現生成式人工智慧價值的基礎。

While there is still much data readiness and infrastructure work that needs to be completed before clients can deploy enterprise-wide applications of Gen AI, they are, however, beginning to implement specific AI models in portions of their organizations by leveraging ASGN's core data and analytics capabilities.

儘管在客戶部署 Gen AI 的企業範圍應用程式之前仍需要完成許多資料準備和基礎設施工作，但他們已開始利用 ASGN 的核心資料和分析在其組織的部分地區實施特定的 AI 模型能力。

Let me provide a few examples. During the third quarter, one of our clients, a Fortune 500 multinational department store, came to our data and AI team looking for a way to improve staff utilization at its global distribution centers. Leveraging machine learning and AI to analyze historical and real-time data, our team built a time series model that can produce a 26-week labor forecast compared to the client's legacy manual staffing model.

讓我舉幾個例子。第三季度，我們的客戶之一，一家財富 500 強跨國百貨公司，來到我們的數據和人工智慧團隊尋求提高其全球配送中心員工利用率的方法。利用機器學習和人工智慧來分析歷史和即時數據，我們的團隊建立了一個時間序列模型，與客戶的傳統手動人員配置模型相比，該模型可以產生 26 週的勞動力預測。

This new model significantly reduces our clients' cost by more accurately forecasting labor demands using internal and industry-wide data. For another client, a Midwest public utility, our data and AI team was brought in to develop an automated solution to verify customer addresses.

這種新模型透過使用內部和全行業數據更準確地預測勞動力需求，顯著降低了客戶的成本。對於另一家客戶（中西部的一家公用事業公司），我們的數據和人工智慧團隊被聘請來開發自動化解決方案來驗證客戶地址。

The new system would need to process large data sets with limited manual intervention. With a focus on automation and scalability, our team built a predictive analytics solution that automated the entire address validation process, thereby reducing manual intervention by 50% and enabling better decision-making, smoother logistics and enhanced customer satisfaction.

新系統需要在有限的人工幹預下處理大型資料集。我們的團隊專注於自動化和可擴展性，建立了一個預測分析解決方案，可自動化整個地址驗證流程，從而減少 50% 的人工幹預，實現更好的決策、更順暢的物流並提高客戶滿意度。

Achieving customer satisfaction is always top of mind. One keyway we are earning accolades from our clients is by providing them with a one-stop shop, onshore and nearshore, for their technical needs. For a large financial advisory client facing data integrity complications, we brought together a team of commercial and government consultants in the US, along with engineers out of our Mexico delivery center to assess our clients' data systems security and accuracy as well as to provide GAAP reporting and other strategies to improve their systems integrity.

實現客戶滿意度始終是首要考慮的事情。我們贏得客戶讚譽的關鍵方法是為他們提供陸上和近岸的一站式服務，以滿足他們的技術需求。對於面臨資料完整性問題的大型財務諮詢客戶，我們召集了美國的商業和政府顧問團隊以及墨西哥交付中心的工程師來評估客戶資料系統的安全性和準確性，並提供 GAAP報告和其他提高系統完整性的策略。

This cross-border cross-segment engagement team combines expertise from application development, data analytics and cybersecurity solutions. This opportunity offers multiple years of expansion work that will deepen our saturation within the client all while increasing our technical qualification.

這個跨境跨部門合作團隊結合了應用程式開發、資料分析和網路安全解決方案的專業知識。這個機會提供了多年的擴展工作，將加深我們在客戶中的飽和度，同時提高我們的技術資格。

Speaking of technical qualifications, we've strengthened our commercial governance, risk and compliance practice, or GRC practice, by joining the strength of our commercial and government cybersecurity resources to support our commercial industry clients.

說到技術資質，我們透過結合商業和政府網路安全資源的優勢來支持我們的商業產業客戶，從而加強了我們的商業治理、風險與合規實踐（或 GRC 實踐）。

In our recent GRC engagement, we offered strategic advisory and engineering talent to help a major financial institution fortify its data security defenses. We also renewed a multiyear partnership with a key health care client, working closely to enhance the cybersecurity framework to comply with industry regulation.

在我們最近的 GRC 活動中，我們提供了策略諮詢和工程人才，幫助一家大型金融機構加強其資料安全防禦。我們也與重要的醫療保健客戶續簽了多年合作夥伴關係，密切合作以增強網路安全框架，以遵守產業監管。

Also in the health care industry, one of the largest public hospital systems in the country turn to our consultants at GlideFast to reimplement their entire instance of ServiceNow. Our team, one that's highly competitive pursued by understanding the challenges and restraints of the system's prior installation and offering the client a shared vision that deliver value across every phase of the project.

同樣在醫療保健行業，該國最大的公立醫院系統之一向我們的 GlideFast 顧問求助，以重新實施他們的整個 ServiceNow 實例。我們的團隊是一個具有高度競爭力的團隊，他們了解系統先前安裝的挑戰和限制，並為客戶提供共同的願景，在專案的每個階段提供價值。

This win reinforces GlideFast positions as an elite ServiceNow provider and our team now has the opportunity for continued client partnership by implementing additional ServiceNow modules as the project matures and progresses. Each of these aforementioned consulting projects illustrates ASGN's unique ability to integrate comprehensive solutions to address our clients' IT needs.

這場勝利鞏固了 GlideFast 作為 ServiceNow 精英提供者的地位，隨著專案的成熟和進展，我們的團隊現在有機會透過實施額外的 ServiceNow 模組來繼續與客戶合作。上述每個諮詢項目都體現了 ASGN 整合綜合解決方案以滿足客戶 IT 需求的獨特能力。

We complement our internal capabilities by partnering with technology industry leaders, such as ServiceNow, Salesforce, Snowflake, Databricks, Microsoft Azure, and AWS amongst others, knowing that being a fast adopter of the latest technological advancement is vital to our success.

我們透過與 ServiceNow、Salesforce、Snowflake、Databricks、Microsoft Azure 和 AWS 等科技產業領導者合作來補充我們的內部能力，因為我們知道快速採用最新技術進步對於我們的成功至關重要。

And as we move with the fast currents of IT, we're strategically positioning ourselves within our clients' organizations, enabling us to grow and expand our relationships over years and decades to come. Let's now turn to our federal government segment, which provides advanced IT solutions to the Department of Defense, the intelligence community and federal civilian agent.

隨著 IT 的快速發展，我們在客戶的組織中策略性地定位自己，使我們能夠在未來幾年和幾十年內發展和擴大我們的關係。現在讓我們來看看聯邦政府部門，該部門為國防部、情報界和聯邦文職人員提供先進的 IT 解決方案。

The Federal segment revenues for the quarter improved 1% sequentially. Net new contract awards were $666.4 million, putting our book-to-bill at 2.1 times for the third quarter, and 0.9 times on a trailing 12-month basis. Contract backlog was over $3.1 billion at the end of the third quarter, or a coverage ratio of 2.5 times the segment's trailing 12-month revenues.

本季聯邦部門營收季增 1%。新合約淨額為 6.664 億美元，第三季的訂單出貨比為 2.1 倍，過去 12 個月為 0.9 倍。截至第三季末，積壓合約超過 31 億美元，覆蓋率是該部門過去 12 個月收入的 2.5 倍。

As is evident from our quarterly book-to-bill the pace of task orders has increased. We began to see this trend in July, at the same time of our second quarter earnings call, and this continued throughout Q3 as we were awarded work under previously won contracts, including several IDIQs. At the same time, past quarter volume increased so too did our recompete win rate, which reached 100% for the quarter.

從我們的季度訂單到帳單可以明顯看出，任務訂單的速度增加。我們在 7 月第二季財報電話會議的同時開始看到這種趨勢，而這種趨勢在整個第三季度持續，因為我們根據之前贏得的合約（包括多個 IDIQ）獲得了工作。同時，上個季度的交易量也有所增加，我們的重賽獲勝率也隨之增加，本季達到了 100%。

By increasing our market focus and rigor, we boosted our win rate and expanded our average deal size. For example, in September, our federal government team was awarded a $528 million, six-year single award data services IDIQ with the Department of Homeland Securities Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency or CISA.

透過提高市場關注度和嚴謹性，我們提高了獲勝率並擴大了平均交易規模。例如，9 月，我們的聯邦政府團隊獲得了國土安全部網路安全和基礎設施安全局 (CISA) 頒發的 5.28 億美元、為期六年的單一獎項資料服務 IDIQ。

Under this new award, a portion of which is included in our third quarter bookings, our team will design, develop and deliver solutions that will standardize the integration of cybersecurity data across dozens of federal civilian executive branch agency. This award is a true testament to our team's exceptional cybersecurity qualifications as well as our long-standing relationship with and institutional knowledge of CISA.

根據這項新獎項（其中一部分包含在我們第三季的預訂中），我們的團隊將設計、開發和提供解決方案，以標準化數十個聯邦民事行政部門機構的網路安全資料整合。該獎項真實證明了我們團隊卓越的網路安全資格以及我們與 CISA 的長期合作關係和機構知識。

Given our partnership with CISA and having passed other prerequisite steps, our team is asked to compete against other companies to deliver CISA, a prototype of cybersecurity threat intelligence platform. This platform will allow civilian agencies, along with state and local governments and critical infrastructure entities to streamline the generation use and sharing of cybersecurity threat intelligence to increase the resiliencies of US national security. By being a part of this important prototype, ECS has the opportunity to assume a key advantage on a large future contract with CISA's Threat Intelligent Enterprise service program.

鑑於我們與 CISA 的合作夥伴關係並通過了其他先決步驟，我們的團隊被要求與其他公司競爭以提供 CISA（網路安全威脅情報平台的原型）。該平台將允許民間機構以及州和地方政府以及關鍵基礎設施實體簡化網路安全威脅情報的產生、使用和共享，以提高美國國家安全的彈性。透過成為這項重要原型的一部分，ECS 有機會在與 CISA 的威脅智慧企業服務計畫簽訂的大型未來合約中佔據關鍵優勢。

During the third quarter, we also won past quarters of a number of previously secured contracts and IDIQs. For premier law enforcement agency, we were awarded our first two task orders, which expanded our current work, providing advanced architecture engineering and operation for the agency's important cybersecurity domain.

在第三季度，我們還贏得了過去幾季的一些先前獲得的合約和 IDIQ。對於首要執法機構，我們獲得了前兩個任務訂單，這擴大了我們目前的工作，為該機構的重要網路安全領域提供先進的架構工程和營運。

For the National Institutes of Health, we won several task orders to support patient-centric solutions and for Veterans Affairs, we won multiple task orders to provide enhanced veterans experience, including supporting key applications used for accessing veterans' health care information. While it took some time to see task orders flow through.

對於美國國立衛生研究院，我們贏得了多項任務訂單，以支持以患者為中心的解決方案；對於退伍軍人事務部，我們贏得了多項任務訂單，以提供增強的退伍軍人體驗，包括支持用於存取退伍軍人醫療保健資訊的關鍵應用程式。雖然任務訂單流轉需要一些時間。

As we predicted, we are gaining traction in our pipeline of new work and recompetes continues to grow. Importantly, our diversified government portfolio of critical customer accounts with national priority, along with our focus on mission-enabling IT solutions, mitigates the potential impact to our business that risk for macroeconomic conditions, geopolitical conditions or the upcoming presidential election may pose.

正如我們所預測的那樣，我們的新工作正在獲得牽引力，而重新競爭的情況也在持續增長。重要的是，我們以國家優先考慮的多元化政府關鍵客戶客戶組合，以及我們對支持任務的IT 解決方案的關注，減輕了宏觀經濟狀況、地緣政治狀況或即將到來的總統選舉風險可能對我們的業務造成的潛在影響。

Before Marie discusses our third quarter results in more detail, I'd be remiss if I did not speak about our growing AIML work for the defense and intelligence community. As one example, in the third quarter, the National Security and Intelligence division provided us with funding for work related to AI-enabled operations and exercises, autonomous systems deployment, AI algorithm, and software deployment and AI-enabled publicly available information tool kits and training programs. ASGN has been a top AIML contractor for the government for many years, and in August, ECS was named a top five federal AIML provider by Deltek for the third year in a row.

在 Marie 更詳細地討論我們第三季的業績之前，如果我不談談我們為國防和情報界不斷開展的 AIML 工作，那就是我的失職。舉個例子，第三季度，國家安全和情報部門為我們提供了與人工智慧作戰和演習、自主系統部署、人工智慧演算法和軟體部署以及人工智慧公開資訊工具包和相關工作相關的資金。 。ASGN 多年來一直是政府頂級 AIML 承包商，8 月，ECS 連續第三年被 Deltek 評為前五名聯邦 AIML 提供者。

While our talented professionals and qualifications are certainly being recognized by the industry, to ensure that we stay ahead of the latest development in AI and Gen AI, we continue to expand our core team of practitioners to provide solution architecture, engineering and business growth forth. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Marie to discuss the third quarter results and our fourth quarter guidance.

雖然我們的才華橫溢的專業人士和資歷無疑得到了業界的認可，但為了確保我們在人工智慧和新一代人工智慧的最新發展中保持領先地位，我們將繼續擴大我們的核心從業人員團隊，以提供解決方案架構、工程和業務成長。現在，我將把電話轉給瑪麗，討論第三季度的業績和我們第四季的指導。

Thanks, Ted. It's great to speak to everyone this afternoon. Third quarter revenues were $1.031 billion, a decrease of 7.7% year over year, but essentially flat to the second quarter. Revenues from the commercial segment were $718.8 million, a decrease of 8.1% as compared to the prior year. As Ted noted, revenues from commercial consulting, the largest of our high-margin revenue streams, totaled $285 million, up 3.9% year over year and up 1.2% sequentially.

謝謝，泰德。今天下午能和大家講話真是太好了。第三季營收為10.31億美元，年減7.7%，但與第二季基本持平。商業部門收入為7.188億美元，比上年下降8.1%。正如 Ted 指出的那樣，來自商業諮詢的收入是我們最大的高利潤收入來源，總計 2.85 億美元，同比增長 3.9%，環比增長 1.2%。

Revenues from our federal governance segment were $312.2 million, a decrease of 6.6% year over year, but up 1% sequentially. As we noted in our second quarter call, the year over year decline in federal segment revenues can largely be attributed to fewer license revenues compared to the prior year.

聯邦治理部門的收入為 3.122 億美元，年減 6.6%，但環比成長 1%。正如我們在第二季度電話會議中指出的那樣，聯邦部門收入的同比下降很大程度上歸因於許可收入與前一年相比減少。

Excluding these licenses, Federal segment revenues improved low single digits year over year. Turning to margins. Gross margin for the third quarter of 2024 was 29.1%, an increase of 20 basis points from the third quarter of last year and at the top end of our guidance range for the quarter.

不包括這些許可證，聯邦部門的收入同比增長較低的個位數。轉向邊緣。2024 年第三季毛利率為 29.1%，比去年第三季成長 20 個基點，處於我們本季指引範圍的上限。

Gross margin for the commercial segment was 32.8%, up 30 basis points year over year, reflecting a higher mix of consulting revenues as well as margin expansion in these revenues. Gross margin for the federal government segment was 20.7%, also up 30 basis points year over year, primarily due to a higher mix of direct labor which is higher margin work, along with lower license revenues mentioned previously.

商業部門的毛利率為 32.8%，較去年同期成長 30 個基點，反映出諮詢收入的更高組合以及這些收入的利潤率擴張。聯邦政府部門的毛利率為 20.7%，也同比增長 30 個基點，主要是由於直接勞動力（即利潤率較高的工作）的組合增加，以及前面提到的許可證收入減少。

SG&A expense for the quarter was $207.5 million, compared to $206 million in the third quarter of 2023. SG&A expense also included $1.1 million in acquisition, integration and strategic planning expenses and a $3.6 million legal settlement accrual, both of which were not included in our guidance estimates. For the quarter, net income was $47.5 million.

本季的 SG&A 費用為 2.075 億美元，而 2023 年第三季為 2.06 億美元。SG&A 費用還包括 110 萬美元的收購、整合和策略規劃費用以及 360 萬美元的法律和解費用，這兩項費用均未包含在我們的指導估計中。該季度淨利潤為 4750 萬美元。

Adjusted EBITDA was $116.9 million, and adjusted EBITDA margin was 11.3%. Turning to free cash flow. Free cash flow for the quarter was $127.9 million, or a conversion rate of approximately 109% of adjusted EBITDA. At quarter end, cash and cash equivalents were $166.6 million, and we had full availability under our $500 million senior secured revolver and our net leverage ratio was 1.9 times.

調整後 EBITDA 為 1.169 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 11.3%。轉向自由現金流。該季度的自由現金流為 1.279 億美元，即調整後 EBITDA 的轉換率約為 109%。截至季末，現金和現金等價物為 1.666 億美元，我們的 5 億美元優先擔保左輪手槍可用，淨槓桿率為 1.9 倍。

Our robust free cash flow provides a strategic advantage that enables ASGN to find key growth initiatives and opportunistically repurchase shares to return value to stockholders, while maintaining a healthy and resilient balance sheet.

我們強勁的自由現金流提供了戰略優勢，使 ASGN 能夠找到關鍵的成長舉措並伺機回購股票，為股東回報價值，同時保持健康和有彈性的資產負債表。

By following a disciplined and balanced approach to capital allocation, we can invest in high-return opportunities and prudently manage our leverage, driving sustainable long-term value to our stockholders. Given the market opportunity, we deployed $95.6 million for the repurchase of roughly 1 million shares at an average price of $92.6.

透過遵循嚴格且平衡的資本配置方法，我們可以投資高回報機會並審慎管理槓桿，為股東帶來可持續的長期價值。鑑於市場機會，我們部署了 9,560 萬美元，以平均價格 92.6 美元回購約 100 萬股股票。

We have approximately $573 million remaining under our $750 million share repurchase authorization. With solid free cash flow generation and total availability under our revolver, we have ample dry powder to make strategic acquisitions when opportunities become more readily available. Turning to guidance.

我們的 7.5 億美元股票回購授權中剩餘約 5.73 億美元。憑藉我們左輪手槍穩定的自由現金流產生和全面可用性，我們有足夠的乾粉在機會變得更容易獲得時進行策略性收購。轉向指導。

Our financial estimates for the fourth quarter of 2024 are set forth in our earnings release and supplemental materials. These estimates are based on current market conditions and assumes 61 billable days in the fourth quarter, which is one more day than the year ago period and 2.5 days fewer than the third quarter.

我們對 2024 年第四季的財務預測已在我們的收益發布和補充資料中闡述。這些估算是基於當前市場狀況，並假設第四季的計費天數為 61 天，比去年同期多 1 天，比第三季減少 2.5 天。

The fewer billable days in the fourth quarter generates a sequential headwind that equates to about 4% of revenue. We expect market conditions and demand for our services in the fourth quarter to be similar to that of the third quarter. While third quarter bookings indicate a solid pipeline of work, we do not anticipate an uptick in our clients' IT spend in the fourth quarter.

第四季計費天數的減少產生了相當於收入約 4% 的連續阻力。我們預計第四季度的市場狀況和對我們服務的需求將與第三季相似。雖然第三季的預訂表明工作量充足，但我們預計第四季度客戶的 IT 支出不會增加。

With regards to EBITDA margin, the fourth quarter typically sees a decrease in margins sequentially due to client furloughs and fewer billable days along with traditional seasonal softness in perm placement revenues. With this background, for Q4 2024, we are estimating revenues of $990 million to $1.01 billion, net income of $39.2 million to $42.1 million, adjusted EBITDA of $103 million to $107 million and adjusted EBITDA margin of 10.4% to 10.6%. Thank you. I'll now turn the call back to Ted for some closing remarks.

就 EBITDA 利潤率而言，由於客戶休假、計費天數減少以及燙髮收入傳統的季節性疲軟，第四季度利潤率通常會連續下降。在此背景下，我們預計2024 年第四季的營收為9.9 億美元至10.1 億美元，淨利潤為3,920 萬美元至4,210 萬美元，調整後EBITDA 為1.03 億美元至1.07 億美元，調整後EBITDA 利潤率為10.4% 至10.6%。謝謝。現在我將把電話轉回給特德，讓他做一些結束語。

Thanks, Marie. Last quarter, I ended our discussion by reviewing ASGN's core values, including our belief in the IT services sector are moved to become more consultative and our focus on supporting large industry-diverse, commercial enterprise and federal government clients. Another core value to include on that same list that hinted at the start of today's call, is being a fast adopter of new technologies to bring to our clients.

謝謝，瑪麗。上個季度，我透過回顧ASGN 的核心價值來結束我們的討論，其中包括我們對IT 服務部門的信念，即變得更具諮詢性，以及我們對支持大型多元化產業、商業企業和聯邦政府客戶的關注。今天電話會議開始時暗示的同一個清單中包含的另一個核心價值是快速採用新技術並為我們的客戶帶來。

A differentiator of our business model, ASGN strategically pivots as technology advances, that we can drive our clients' IT road maps while competitively positioning our own business. AI is undoubtedly a central focus of the IT road map of corporate enterprises and federal agencies alike, making the investment and integration of Gen AI, a top priority for our clients.

作為我們業務模式的獨特之處，ASGN 隨著技術進步而進行策略調整，我們可以推動客戶的 IT 路線圖，同時對我們自己的業務進行競爭性定位。人工智慧無疑是企業和聯邦機構等 IT 路線圖的核心焦點，這使得 Gen AI 的投資和整合成為我們客戶的首要任務。

The global ISG Index, one of the leading sources of market intelligence on the IT and business services sector, anticipates that global spending on Gen AI will increase by 50% in 2025 and represent upwards of 7% of company's total IT spend by year-end.

全球 ISG 指數是 IT 和商業服務領域市場情報的主要來源之一，預計 2025 年全球 Gen AI 支出將增加 50%，到年底將占公司 IT 總支出的 7% 以上。

While leveraging data and AI will enable companies to unlock increased value, before that value can be realized, company tech stacks need to be improved. Businesses must enhance their data management capabilities as well as their cloud and cybersecurity infrastructures in order to fully leverage the benefits of Gen AI across our enterprises.

雖然利用數據和人工智慧將使公司能夠釋放更多價值，但在實現該價值之前，公司的技術堆疊需要改進。企業必須增強其資料管理能力以及雲端和網路安全基礎設施，以便在整個企業中充分利用 Gen AI 的優勢。

With that in mind, there remains a lot of foundational work that needs to be completed for modernizing and cleaning up data lakes and enhancing cybersecurity frameworks, to driving automation and ensuring regulatory compliance.

考慮到這一點，仍然需要完成許多基礎工作，以實現資料湖的現代化和清理、增強網路安全框架、推動自動化和確保監管合規性。

All of these areas are core to ASGN's differentiated service offerings and with strong bookings and a diverse client base across six key industry verticals, ASGN is positioned to take advantage of the opportunities to support our clients' IT road maps now and for many years to come.

所有這些領域都是 ASGN 差異化服務產品的核心，憑藉強勁的預訂量和跨越六個關鍵垂直行業的多元化客戶群，ASGN 能夠利用這些機會來支援客戶現在和未來許多年的 IT 路線圖。

That concludes our prepared remarks. I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to everyone at ASGN for your support this past quarter, your dedication to fostering deep long-standing client relationships is truly commendable and no doubt places us at the forefront of the IT industry.

我們準備好的演講到此結束。我要向 ASGN 的每個人表示衷心的感謝，感謝你們在上個季度的支持，你們對培養深厚的長期客戶關係的奉獻精神值得讚揚，毫無疑問，你們使我們處於 IT 行業的前沿。

Thank you, again, for joining our third quarter 2024 call. Operator, please open the call to questions.

再次感謝您參加我們的 2024 年第三季電話會議。接線員，請打開電話提問。

(Operator Instructions) Jeff Silber, BMO Capital Markets.

（操作員說明）Jeff Silber，BMO 資本市場。

Hey. Thanks so much. This is Ryan on for Jeff. Just curious what you need to see and what trends you are monitoring that would make you more bullish on the IT spending environment and the digital transformation environment ahead?

嘿。非常感謝。這是瑞恩替傑夫發言。只是好奇您需要看到什麼以及您正在監控哪些趨勢會讓您更加看好未來的 IT 支出環境和數位轉型環境？

Thanks for the question. I mean, look, I think in the long term, we're bullish. There's a lot of underpinnings here that are going to be drivers of our business as we help our clients back to the end of the remarks there to drive their IT road maps over a period of time.

謝謝你的提問。我的意思是，我認為從長遠來看，我們是看漲的。這裡有很多基礎，這些基礎將成為我們業務的驅動力，因為我們幫助客戶回到評論的末尾，以便在一段時間內推動他們的 IT 路線圖。

I think in the near term, what we're watching here is just -- again, this is confidence, so that our clients have confidence to begin to invest at more normal levels in their IT needs. And so that's a balance of two things here.

我認為，在短期內，我們在這裡關注的是——再說一次，這是信心，這樣我們的客戶就有信心開始以更正常的水平投資於他們的 IT 需求。所以這是兩件事的平衡。

I think there's -- I think we're making progress. There are some things in the economy overall, like the interest rate cycle, like the elections. Some of the other things going on in inflation and otherwise, that have clients remaining cautious but are beginning to move through and pass some of those things, hopefully, and that's going to create business confidence, and with business confidence will come a heavier investment in their IT road maps and we'll be right there to serve them.

我認為我們正在取得進展。整體經濟中有一些事情，例如利率週期，例如選舉。通貨膨脹等方面正在發生的一些其他事情，讓客戶保持謹慎，但希望開始經歷並通過其中一些事情，這將創造商業信心，而有了商業信心，就會加大對以下領域的投資：他們的IT 路線圖，我們將隨時為他們提供服務。

Great. And then just for the follow-up, do you think the growth trend in commercial consulting has troughed at this point now that you're past the tougher comps from last year? I was just curious how you expect that to trend relative to the core assignment over the next couple of quarters? Thank you.

偉大的。接下來，您是否認為商業諮詢的成長趨勢在這一點上已經觸底，因為您已經經歷了去年更艱難的競爭？我只是很好奇您預計未來幾季相對於核心任務的趨勢如何？謝謝。

Well, I think we're at -- we're at low single-digit growth rates here. It seems over the past few quarters that we are in a stable place quarter to quarter, if you adjust for billing days and those other things. So bookings also remained very solid. We were at 11, I think, here in the last quarter, and that portends growth going forward.

嗯，我認為我們的成長率是低個位數。如果您根據計費天數和其他因素進行調整，那麼在過去的幾個季度中，我們似乎每個季度都處於穩定狀態。因此預訂量也非常穩定。我認為上個季度我們的排名是 11，這預示著未來的成長。

So I think if you look at the metrics around book-to-bill, and you look at the past performance here over several quarters where we've consistently put up single low single-digit growth that -- we're at a place where we can begin to grow at higher rates.

因此，我認為，如果您查看有關訂單出貨量的指標，並查看過去幾個季度的表現，我們一直保持較低的個位數成長，那麼我們正處於這樣的位置：我們可以開始以更高的速度成長。

But that, again, goes back to what we just discussed around our customers and for them to be able to open up and invest more fully in all the things they want to accomplish. So the book-to-bill tells us there's good demand and our pipeline, tells us good demand. So I think it's not if, it's more of a win.

但這又回到了我們剛剛圍繞客戶討論的內容，讓他們能夠開放並更充分地投資於他們想要完成的所有事情。因此，訂單出貨量告訴我們需求良好，而我們的管道也告訴我們需求良好。所以我認為這不是如果，而是勝利。

Understood. Thank you very much.

明白了。非常感謝。

Maggie Nolan, William Blair.

瑪吉諾蘭、威廉布萊爾。

Hi. Thank you. Can you elaborate on what may be different in terms of your strategy when you emphasize the solution architect additions? Is this representing a shift in go-to-market or how you secure and manage talent for your projects?

你好。謝謝。當您強調解決方案架構師的補充時，您能否詳細說明您的策略可能會有所不同？這是否代表著市場進入或您為專案獲取和管理人才的方式的轉變？

Well, I'll let Rand take that. I would call it more of an enhancement, Maggie, than anything else, right Rand?

好吧，我會讓蘭德接受。我更願意稱其為增強，瑪吉，而不是其他任何東西，對吧蘭德？

There's absolutely our go-to-market features, the accounts we focus on the portfolio and the growth in the accounts and the intimacy with the account. Supporting that is an evolution of our solution strength and that evolves as technology and the needs of our clients change, Maggie.

這絕對是我們的市場推廣特徵、我們專注於投資組合的帳戶、帳戶的成長以及與帳戶的親密關係。支持這一點的是我們解決方案實力的演變，並且隨著技術和客戶需求的變化而演變，Maggie。

So for example, AI, we're -- in past quarters was more around governance requirements. And today, as you saw featured in Ted's remarks, we're getting more into actually building algorithms for forecasting, searches and updates, better security and security algorithms.

例如，在過去的幾個季度，我們更多地圍繞人工智慧的治理要求。今天，正如您在 Ted 的演講中看到的那樣，我們正在更多地實際建立用於預測、搜尋和更新的演算法，以及更好的安全性和安全性演算法。

So that just requires continued solution strength in support of that account portfolio. But it's definitely accounts first, solution second, and we have to be good at both.

因此，這只需要持續的解決方案實力來支持該帳戶組合。但絕對是帳戶第一，解決方案第二，我們必須擅長這兩方面。

That's helpful. And then to build on the first set of questions, you alluded to some of this, but maybe I'll just explicitly ask about anything that you can share with us about your expectations for 2025 in terms of that IT spending environment and maybe how you perceive the current client sentiment on 2025 budgets?

這很有幫助。然後，在第一組問題的基礎上，您提到了其中的一些問題，但也許我會明確詢問您可以與我們分享的任何內容，包括您對 2025 年 IT 支出環境的期望，以及您如何了解當前客戶對2025 年預算的看法嗎？

Yeah. Well, I can't really comment on IT spending rates in 2025. But I can tell you that go back to what the first set of questions was, there is good demand, both in our pipeline and in our bookings. So it would portend stronger growth in the future. I think the question is when and how does that develop?

是的。嗯，我無法真正評論 2025 年的 IT 支出率。但我可以告訴你，回到第一組問題，我們的管道和預訂都有很好的需求。因此，這預示著未來更強勁的成長。我認為問題是這種情況何時以及如何發展？

And it's a little early to tell that. But I think the positive news here is that we like what we see in our bookings, and we like what we see in pipeline, and we'll have to keep monitoring this to just begin to see when we can really expect, what I'll call, spending at more normal or higher rates.

現在說這個還為時過早。但我認為這裡的積極消息是，我們喜歡我們在預訂中看到的情況，我們喜歡我們在管道中看到的情況，我們必須繼續監控這一點，才能開始看到我們何時可以真正期待什麼，我'我會打電話，以更正常或更高的利率消費。

Fair enough. Thanks, Ted. Thanks, Rand.

很公平。謝謝，泰德。謝謝，蘭德。

Surinder Thind, Jefferies.

蘇林德·辛德，傑弗里斯。

Thank you. Can you maybe provide some additional color on just the assignment business, maybe any signs of stabilization that you might be seeing there or just the trends there, whether it's within the IT business or Creative Circle? Any color would be helpful.

謝謝。您能否就作業業務提供一些額外的信息，也許您可能會看到那裡的任何穩定跡象，或者只是那裡的趨勢，無論是在 IT 業務還是創意圈內？任何顏色都會有幫助。

Yeah. I mean, I would say generally adjusted for billing days, Surinder, we're seeing stability quarter-to-quarter. That's not new. We saw it develop here in the first part of the year. It's carried through perm placement.

是的。我的意思是，我想說的是，一般會根據計費天數進行調整，蘇林德，我們看到季度與季度的穩定性。這並不新鮮。我們在今年上半年看到了它的發展。它是透過燙髮放置進行的。

It's gotten a little bit weaker. So that part of the assignment business, as we've gotten deeper into the year has gotten a little bit weaker. We expect it to be the same in the fourth just because that's not a strong quarter for that part of the business.

已經有點弱了。因此，隨著今年的深入，作業業務的這一部分變得有點弱了。我們預計第四季也會出現同樣的情況，因為該季度該業務的表現並不強勁。

But look, I think what we're seeing in the consignment business for customers is, again, that's the primary place where they go to control their spending levels. And so they've continued to keep their foot on the break there for a bit here.

但是，我認為我們在客戶的寄售業務中看到的是，這又是他們控制支出水平的主要場所。所以他們繼續在這裡休息一段時間。

And while we're seeing some stability, we're looking for signs that they want to open up spending. Again, this is about IT spending more than anything else, both in the consulting part of the business and in the assignment piece.

雖然我們看到了一些穩定，但我們正在尋找他們想要開放支出的跡象。同樣，IT 支出比其他任何支出都多，無論是在業務諮詢部分還是在任務部分。

That's helpful. And then following up on the idea that this is -- the assignment business is an area where, I guess, clients look for efficiencies. How are you thinking about the staffing model going forward in the context of Gen AI productivity improvements? Is there a risk that maybe clients more aggressively look for solutions there to offset some of the cost, meaning less need for head count from a support perspective relative to historical levels?

這很有幫助。然後跟進這個想法——我想，外派業務是客戶尋求效率的一個領域。您如何看待在 Gen AI 生產力提高的背景下未來的人員配置模式？是否存在這樣的風險：客戶可能會更積極地尋找解決方案來抵消部分成本，這意味著從支援角度來看，相對於歷史水平，對人員數量的需求會減少？

I mean I think always, Surinder, as technologies change, you'll see the clients, the skill sets that they need, change and evolve. Some things will go to legacy. Other things will become more modern and in demand, if you will.

我的意思是，我始終認為，Surinder，隨著技術的變化，您會看到客戶以及他們所需的技能組合發生變化和發展。有些東西將成為遺產。如果你願意的話，其他東西將會變得更現代和受歡迎。

But I think the clients need for talent is still going to be there. Opportunity for us is to deploy some of these next-generation AI opportunities inside of our own business, which we're already doing today in order to make ourselves more productive.

但我認為客戶對人才的需求仍然存在。我們的機會是在我們自己的業務中部署一些下一代人工智慧機會，我們今天已經在這樣做，以提高我們的生產力。

And so I think we'll be doing that on behalf of our customers. But our customers are still going to need both great solutions to their business needs and they're also going to need great technical talent to address all of those opportunities.

所以我認為我們將代表我們的客戶這樣做。但我們的客戶仍然需要出色的解決方案來滿足他們的業務需求，並且他們還需要出色的技術人才來抓住所有這些機會。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Joseph Vafi, Canaccord Genuity.

約瑟夫‧瓦菲 (Joseph Vafi)，Canaccord Genuity。

Good afternoon. Nice to see steady results. I thought we drill down a little bit more in the financial services vertical and maybe the flip like incrementally better there. Was that -- is there anything (technical difficulty) in terms of consulting or assigned or any demand drivers? Or is it (technical difficulty)

午安.很高興看到穩定的結果。我認為我們在金融服務垂直領域進行了更多的深入研究，也許那裡的翻轉會逐漸變得更好。那是——在諮詢、分配或任何需求驅動方面有什麼（技術困難）嗎？或者是（技術難度）

Yes. So Joe, I'm going to let Rand take this one. Rand, Joe is asking about financial services and puts and takes or color on performance there in both consulting and in the assignment part of the business.

是的。所以喬，我會讓蘭德拿走這個。蘭德，喬正在詢問金融服務以及諮詢和業務分配部分的表現和表現或色彩。

Yes. Joe, yes, and you were breaking up there a little bit. But notwithstanding, as you know, this is a big and important sector, not just for us, but for IT spend. So we're buoyed by the fact that the big banks have reported recently some pretty good results. We're happy that the Regional Bank segment, which Ted featured was improving.

是的。喬，是的，你們在那裡有點分手了。但儘管如此，如您所知，這是一個龐大且重要的部門，不僅對我們而言，對 IT 支出也是如此。因此，大型銀行最近報告了一些相當不錯的業績，這一事實令我們感到鼓舞。我們很高興泰德介紹的區域銀行部門正在改善。

I think we're -- well, I know we're penetrating these accounts with now consulting and that the, if you will, the tip of the spear. The staffing thing, I think, is a function of just -- that our thesis is that they feel like they can start spending more money, we'll see higher staffing opportunities, which I think we're at the doorstep, too. I mean we like the sequential numbers we have in some of these segments. We're still year over year down. Ted said in the comments, except for in regional banking.

我認為我們——嗯，我知道我們現在正在透過諮詢滲透這些帳戶，如果你願意的話，那就是矛尖。我認為，人員配備的問題只是——我們的論點是，他們覺得自己可以開始花更多的錢，我們會看到更多的人員配備機會，我認為我們也即將實現這一點。我的意思是，我們喜歡其中一些部分的連續編號。我們仍然逐年下降。特德在評論中表示，區域銀行業除外。

But we want to capture it on both ends, the staffing side and the consulting and the fact that many of these accounts we've now cracked into the resulting side of the business is important to us, and we're watching that very carefully.

但我們希望在兩端、人員配備方面和諮詢方面都抓住這一點，事實上，我們現在已經破解的許多帳戶對我們來說很重要，我們正在非常仔細地觀察這一點。

Great. Thanks for that color, Rand. Hopefully, you can hear me a little better. But -- and then also on it does feel like enterprises do have some budget left over for the year just based on your discussions with them, do you think they just kick the can down the road with that budget for next year? Or do you think there's any chance of any year-end flush year or anything? Or how they're thinking about what's remaining in the budget for this year? Thanks a lot, guys.

偉大的。謝謝你的顏色，蘭德。希望你能更好地聽我說話。但是，根據您與企業的討論，您確實感覺企業今年確實還有一些預算，您是否認為他們只是將明年的預算擱置一旁？或是你認為有可能出現年終紅利之類的情況嗎？或者他們如何考慮今年預算中的剩餘內容？非常感謝，夥計們。

Yeah. Rand, do you want to finish up that one?

是的。蘭德，你想完成那個嗎？

Well, well, listen, in the government, we're seeing some spending and hence, our bookings and our -- some emergence of growth. On the commercial side, listen, I think it's -- I don't know what to tell you, Joe, maybe, Ted, you have some other thoughts, but we don't hear anything from our clients that feel like I have to press now in the last 1.5 months of the year, two months of the year.

好吧，聽著，在政府中，我們看到了一些支出，因此，我們的預訂和我們的——一些增長的出現。在商業方面，聽著，我認為 - 我不知道該告訴你什麼，喬，也許，泰德，你有一些其他的想法，但我們沒有從客戶那裡聽到任何感覺我必須這樣做的事情按現在一年中的最後1.5個月，一年中的兩個月。

I think everybody is assuming there's some things going on in the election, January 1 turns a new page. and off we go. I think they're doing -- if you look at our AI spend, Joe, for example, the character of the work has changed a little bit, which I featured and we featured in Ted's comments.

我想每個人都在假設選舉中會發生一些事情，1 月 1 日將翻開新的一頁。然後我們就出發了。我認為他們正在做——如果你看看我們的人工智慧支出，例如喬，工作的本質發生了一點變化，我和特德的評論中都提到了這一點。

I think they're getting themselves in a position where they're getting a better feel for what they want to do, not just what I call desktop productivity using Gen AI, but rather big-ticket AI. Coming up with the ROI associated with that is also part of the drill that they're going through now. So they're doing the prep work.

我認為他們正在更好地了解自己想做的事情，不僅僅是我所說的使用 Gen AI 的桌面生產力，而是大型人工智慧。提出與之相關的投資報酬率也是他們現在正在進行的演習的一部分。所以他們正在做準備工作。

That's not to mention the data side, which is a tremendous -- that's where all of us are still seeing the bulk of our work in data, data preparation, data validity, data quality, accessibility of data, faster processing of data, mixing internal data with public data and benchmark information is also on their mind. So I think there's a lot on their mind.

更不用說數據方面了，這是一個巨大的方面——我們所有人仍然看到我們在數據、數據準備、數據有效性、數據質量、數據可訪問性、更快的數據處理、混合內部數據方面的大量工作。所以我認為他們心裡有很多想法。

I don't think the spicket to spend has necessarily been turned on. Ted, would you add to that?

我不認為支出的尖峰一定已經開啟。特德，你能補充一下嗎？

No, I think that's perfect.

不，我認為這很完美。

Great. Thanks for that color, Rand. Thanks, everyone.

偉大的。謝謝你的顏色，蘭德。謝謝大家。

Tobey Sommer, Truist Securities.

托比·索默（Tobey Sommer），Truist 證券公司。

Hey. Good afternoon. This is Jasper Bibb on for Tobey. Good quarter for ECS bookings, north of 2 times book-to-bill there. And obviously, you get some seasonal benefit in the third quarter, but just hoping you could expand on what you've done to boost win rates. And then separately, maybe you could clarify how much of the $530 million data services that you mentioned was booked in the third quarter?

嘿。午安.我是托比的賈斯柏‧比伯。ECS 預訂的季度表現良好，是預訂到帳單的兩倍以上。顯然，您在第三季度獲得了一些季節性收益，但只是希望您可以擴大所做的工作以提高勝率。另外，也許您可以澄清一下您提到的 5.3 億美元的數據服務中有多少是在第三季度預訂的？

Yes. So I think this has just been really good, hard spadework and focus on the accounts and the contract opportunities, Jasper, that we've been working on here. We had some nice wins on IDIQ contracts, where we had good client intimacy at the end of '23. Those were slower to pick up, but we knew task orders would be coming out on that. Finally those began to drop, and we're winning our share of that, which is good to see.

是的。所以我認為這真的很好，賈斯珀，我們一直在這裡努力工作，專注於客戶和合約機會。我們在 IDIQ 合約上取得了一些不錯的勝利，在 23 年底我們與客戶建立了良好的關係。這些速度較慢，但我們知道任務訂單將會隨之而來。最後，這些開始下降，我們正在贏得我們的份額，這是很高興看到的。

It was maybe -- it took a little longer to develop all the way into the third quarter here of this year, but that was our expectation. We don't talk about gross to net on contracts. Obviously, you book on a net basis, which you think you have a high probability of working through over the life of the contract, and we're middle of the road or conservative on that.

也許——今年第三季的發展需要更長的時間，但這是我們的預期。我們不談論合約的毛淨值。顯然，您是按淨額預訂的，您認為在合約期間內很有可能完成合同，而我們在這方面持中間立場或保守態度。

And so there's always a certain amount of the total contract value that doesn't get booked. And then in certain situations, if you have a contract that might be a small part of that that's falling off or something that didn't get spent all the way through, you have to realize the net of that as well.

因此，合約總價值中總會有一定數量的資金未被記錄。然後在某些情況下，如果你的合約可能只是其中的一小部分，或者沒有完全花完，你也必須意識到這一點。

So we've done all that. Our bookings presented here are on the net basis. And so that's about all I can say on that.

所以我們已經做到了這一切。我們這裡提供的預訂是基於網路的。這就是我能說的全部。

Okay. That makes sense. Just curious, you've been managing capacity levels in your consulting business as growth has moderated there. I guess, has the mix of personnel that are full time versus temp or maybe based out of your offshore delivery sellers change really in the last couple of quarters?

好的。這是有道理的。只是好奇，隨著諮詢業務成長放緩，您一直在管理諮詢業務的容量水平。我想，在過去的幾個季度中，全職與臨時工或來自離岸送貨賣家的人員組合是否真的發生了變化？

Yes. Rand, do you want to take that? I mean the one thing I'll say, Casper, this is the highlight of our model here that most all of our resources on the consulting work do come on the back of our IT staffing capabilities since that gives us an advantage as our business either slopes up or slopes down in order to deal with maintaining productivity and profitability in that unit. Rand, do you want to talk about that?

是的。蘭德，你想接受這個嗎？我想說的一件事是，Casper，這是我們模型的亮點，即我們在諮詢工作上的大部分資源都來自於我們的 IT 人員配備能力，因為這為我們的業務帶來了優勢向上或向下傾斜，以維持該部門的生產力和盈利能力。蘭德，你想談談這個嗎？

I think, Ted, that's -- Jasper, that says it all. Remember, we're using contingent labor for arms and legs on consulting work. So we don't have an overblown bench that we have to mix and match and reallocate in our professional teams and our leadership team and our SMEs, if you will. The people that are the architects, developers of our methodology are pretty much intact. On the Mexican side, we've been growing throughout all these quarters.

我想，特德，那就是－－賈斯珀，這說明了一切。請記住，我們在諮詢工作中使用臨時工。因此，如果你願意的話，我們沒有一個過度的替補席，我們必須在我們的專業團隊、我們的領導團隊和我們的中小企業中進行混合、匹配和重新分配。我們的方法論的架構師和開發人員幾乎完好無損。在墨西哥方面，我們在這些季度中一直在成長。

So -- and now, as you know, we've also started some Indian offshore pointed directly towards ServiceNow, which is a capability that we've come into, and it's been more in a growth mode than not. So I think you get it right. When you have this model, this is a hallmark of our model. We use contingent labor and from our point of view, it's working very well.

所以，現在，如您所知，我們還啟動了一些直接針對 ServiceNow 的印度離岸業務，這是我們已經具備的功能，而且它更多地處於增長模式。所以我認為你說得對。當您擁有這個模型時，這就是我們模型的標誌。我們使用臨時工，從我們的角度來看，它運作得很好。

If I could slip one more in here at the end. Maybe following up on a prior question. Just hoping you could stratify what you're seeing for demand in (inaudible) relative to Creative Circle and assignment? Thanks.

如果最後我能再在這裡放一張就好了。也許是在跟進之前的問題。只是希望您能夠對您所看到的（聽不清楚）相對於創意圈和作業的需求進行分層？謝謝。

Yeah. Again, Jasper, I'll just go back and say that this has been fairly consistent. Although our creative digital marketing unit, if you go back into '23 was the first to fall because it's the most sensitive to discretionary spend. It's been as stable as the rest of our assignment business here over the previous few quarters.

是的。Jasper，我再說一遍，這相當一致。儘管我們的創意數位行銷部門，如果你回到 23 年，是第一個倒下的，因為它對可自由支配支出最敏感。在過去的幾個季度裡，它與我們這裡的其他外派業務一樣穩定。

Okay. Thanks for taking my question.

好的。感謝您提出我的問題。

Kevin McVeigh, UBS.

凱文麥克維，瑞銀集團。

Great. Thanks so much. The 1 million shares repurchased in the quarter, is that a way to think about what the quarterly cadence should look like? Or just any thoughts on that or just -- congratulations on that, by the way.

偉大的。非常感謝。本季回購的 100 萬股，是不是可以這樣思考季度節奏應該是什麼樣子？或者只是對此有任何想法，或者只是——順便說一句，恭喜你。

Yeah. So to think about our share repurchase, our strategy is really to use the free cash flow we generate in the quarter to show (technical difficulty) around M&A. So that is probably the right way to think about it.

是的。因此，考慮到我們的股票回購，我們的策略實際上是利用本季產生的自由現金流來展示併購（技術難度）。所以這可能是正確的思考方式。

Look, I think, Kevin, that we call that as we go. M&A opportunities have been less. So obviously, we've been working diligently through free cash flow each quarter on our authorization, we'll just have to keep our eyes on that as things develop and see if our posture changes at all. But that's obviously our approach. You know that it's been that for a long time here.

聽著，我想，凱文，我們就這樣稱呼它。併購機會較少。顯然，我們每個季度都在根據授權努力利用自由現金流，隨著事態的發展，我們必須密切關注這一點，看看我們的態度是否會改變。但這顯然是我們的方法。你知道這裡已經有很長一段時間了。

That's helpful. And then just, Ted you mentioned this earlier, but just to follow up. The Gen AI opportunity internally, where are you through that process? And does it vary on the federal side as opposed to commercial as opposed to more the traditional assignment business? Just any thoughts around that.

這很有幫助。然後，特德，您之前提到過這一點，但只是為了跟進。內部的 Gen AI 機會，您在這個過程中處於什麼階段？與商業方面和傳統的派遣業務相比，聯邦方面是否有所不同？只是對此有任何想法。

Yeah. Rand, do you want to take that one?

是的。蘭德，你想拿那個嗎？

Well, Kevin, are you asking our internal deployment of AI inside our business? Or are you talking about just generally providing an AI solution to our client base?

凱文，您是在問我們企業內部人工智慧的部署嗎？或者您是在談論一般性地為我們的客戶群提供人工智慧解決方案？

Internal, internal.

內部的，內部的。

Well, the internal -- the AI deployment is happening in both our federal and commercial and where we can, it will benefit both sides. So for example, our cybersecurity AI, which continues to be enhanced internally is provided by ECS for the entire of ASGN. So it supports both the commercial and the government business.

嗯，從內部來看，人工智慧的部署正在我們的聯邦和商業領域進行，只要我們能做到，它將使雙方受益。例如，我們的網路安全人工智慧不斷在內部增強，是由 ECS 為整個 ASGN 提供的。因此它支持商業和政府業務。

We have new proposal development teams at qualification creation capability, which is being spearheaded by our government team, which will be used and is being used by our commercial teams. In the recruiting area, we use AI to support mixing and matching our searches for the right candidates and building pipeline of different skill bases that's being used more predominantly on our commercial side but being benefited (technical difficulty)

我們擁有具有資格創建能力的新提案開發團隊，該團隊由我們的政府團隊帶頭，我們的商業團隊將使用並正在使用該團隊。在招聘領域，我們使用人工智慧來支援混合和匹配我們對合適候選人的搜索，並建立不同技能基礎的管道，這些基礎主要用於我們的商業方面，但從中受益（技術難度）

So those are just examples. Our employee center is, again, shared technology across government, commercial and where we can use AI to help respond or anticipate questions and respond to them, whether it's about benefits or other things as being shared. So does that give you a sense?

所以這些只是例子。我們的員工中心再次是跨政府、商業的共享技術，我們可以使用人工智慧來幫助回答或預測問題並做出回應，無論是關於福利還是其他共享的事情。那麼這給你一種感覺嗎？

Very helpful. And then, I guess, just philosophically, the expense savings, does that go to reinvestment back in the business or to shareholders? I mean that may be a little bit early, but just any thoughts around that.

非常有幫助。然後，我想，從哲學上講，節省的費用是否會用於再投資於企業或股東？我的意思是，這可能有點早，但只是圍繞這一點的任何想法。

Yeah. This is part, Kevin, of just being more productive as a business, right? I mean I think as we -- our strategy is that as we evolve our business to be more consultative, obviously, we're trying to drive both higher growth rate, a higher gross margin profile and a higher EBITDA margin profile. And some of that will come in the value proposition of the work we do down to the EBITDA line (technical difficulty) others has to come from being more productive.

是的。凱文，這是提高企業生產力的一部分，對吧？我的意思是，我認為我們的策略是，隨著我們的業務發展變得更具諮詢性，顯然，我們正在努力推動更高的成長率、更高的毛利率和更高的 EBITDA 利潤率。其中一些將體現在我們所做工作的價值主張中，具體到 EBITDA 線（技術難度），其他則必須來自於提高生產力。

And so I think these things in AI but contribute to providing better services to whoever our constituent is internally in these areas, to having a foundation of AI learning that we can then translate to our customer and then yes, being able to translate some of those savings and productivity to the bottom line to go together with all the rest of it.

因此，我認為人工智慧中的這些東西有助於為這些領域內部的任何人提供更好的服務，建立人工智慧學習的基礎，然後我們可以將其翻譯給我們的客戶，然後是的，能夠翻譯其中的一些內容節約和生產力與利潤相結合，與其他所有因素相結合。

So there's a lot of ends to meet here, but we are where our customers are with these things, where piloting. We're trying things. Some things are going into production, other things we're having to work through further. We're having to think about our own data and security and all the different things they are. So I would say in many ways, we're right where they are.

因此，這裡有很多目標需要滿足，但我們就在客戶所在的地方，在哪裡進行試點。我們正在嘗試一些事情。有些事情正在投入生產，有些事情我們必須進一步解決。我們必須考慮我們自己的資料和安全性以及它們的所有不同的東西。所以我想說，從很多方面來說，我們和他們一樣。

Very helpful. Thank you.

非常有幫助。謝謝。

Mark Marcon, Baird.

馬克馬爾孔，貝爾德。

Hey. Good afternoon, everybody. On M&A, how are you -- what opportunities are you seeing? Is the pricing getting a little bit more reasonable? I mean, we take a look at your balance sheet, leverage is well controlled. Free cash flow continues to be really strong. Have the prices become more reasonable at this point? Or how are you thinking about that?

嘿。大家下午好。在併購方面，您感覺如何—您看到了哪些機會？定價是不是變得更合理了？我的意思是，我們看看你的資產負債表，槓桿控制得很好。自由現金流仍然非常強勁。現在價格是否變得更合理了？還是你怎麼想的？

Well, Mark, there's probably not enough data points out there to say that pricing is becoming more reasonable. There's enough data points to say, there's fewer transactions going on. Look, we note there's some -- there's a little pick up here and things going on in the M&A market. Most of what we're seeing are small things. They may be more about delivery.

馬克，可能沒有足夠的數據表明定價正在變得更加合理。有足夠的數據點表明，正在進行的交易正在減少。看，我們注意到有一些——併購市場出現了一些回升以及正在發生的事情。我們看到的大部分都是小事。他們可能更關心交付。

They may be non-US focused, but there are some small things getting done. I don't think, generally, there's nothing going on to say there's a new data point on valuations and that sellers are really willing to come off of the type of assets that we would be looking for. But we're seeing a little bit more flow through the pipeline. And so we'll -- we continue to work through those.

他們可能不關注美國，但也完成了一些小事。我認為，總體而言，沒有任何證據表明估值出現了新的數據點，賣家真的願意放棄我們正在尋找的資產類型。但我們看到管道中的流量增加。因此，我們將繼續努力解決這些問題。

We agree with you, the balance sheet is in great shape, where we got some cash on the balance sheet in addition to be modestly leveraged on that basis. And so -- and we also know exactly what we're looking for. So we're in the market calling through opportunities for those things. But it's a -- we're just -- it's a little bit of a process here for lack of a better word.

我們同意你的觀點，資產負債表狀況良好，除了在此基礎上適度槓桿化外，我們還在資產負債表上獲得了一些現金。所以——我們也確切地知道自己在尋找什麼。因此，我們正在市場上尋找這些東西的機會。但這是一個——我們只是——因為沒有更好的詞來形容，這只是一個過程。

All right. Appreciate that. And then on the federal government side, I mean, congratulations on the wins and the 100% on the recompete. When do you think these wins would convert to revenue? How should we think about that?

好的。很欣賞這一點。然後，在聯邦政府方面，我的意思是，祝賀您取得勝利並在重賽中取得 100% 的成績。您認為這些勝利何時會轉化為收入？我們該如何思考這個問題？

And what should investors think about just in terms of the election? Obviously, nobody knows exactly who's going to win, but how would you advise investors to think about how the government business is going to perform over the next year?

就選舉而言，投資人應該考慮什麼？顯然，沒有人確切知道誰會獲勝，但您如何建議投資者考慮政府業務明年的表現？

So two good questions, Mark. I think on the first one, these wins are slowly contributing to revenue here in the fourth, but I wouldn't say materially. So I expect most of the contribution from the various wins that we announced in the third quarter to have a bigger impact on 2025 than they will on the fourth quarter.

這是兩個好問題，馬克。我認為在第一個方面，這些勝利正在慢慢地為第四個方面的收入做出貢獻，但我不會說實質的話。因此，我預計我們在第三季宣布的各種勝利的大部分貢獻將對 2025 年產生比第四季更大的影響。

As it relates to the election, I mean I think it's the thing that everybody is watching, especially enterprise customers in federal and in commercial. But you can see in federal, it didn't slow anything down during the quarter.

由於它與選舉有關，我的意思是我認為這是每個人都在關注的事情，尤其是聯邦和商業領域的企業客戶。但您可以看到，在聯邦方面，本季並沒有放緩任何步伐。

I think the industry overall is going to have a strong third quarter in bookings leading up to the election. And I think in the commercial enterprise space, while customers are focused on things like the regulatory environment and the M&A environment and where it's -- where our policy is going to be, there's definitely a pent-up demand around IT spending.

我認為整個行業在選舉前的第三季預訂量將會強勁。我認為在商業企業領域，雖然客戶關注的是監管環境和併購環境以及我們的政策所在，但 IT 支出肯定存在被壓抑的需求。

And I don't think one party or the other, we don't think is really going to change customer posture on spending on key IT initiatives. So while it's a little bit slow as we go here through the end of this year, I expect when there's better confidence among our customers and some of these things that are unknowns are water under the bridge, you'll see them offer that confidence, begin to spend more on a lot of these key initiatives.

我認為任何一方都不會真正改變客戶在關鍵 IT 計劃上的支出態度。因此，雖然今年年底我們的進展有點慢，但我預計，當我們的客戶之間有更好的信心時，並且其中一些未知的事情已經過去了，你會看到他們提供這種信心，開始在這些關鍵措施投入更多資金。

That's great. And then with regards to -- on the commercial consulting side on IT, I know it's still relatively early days, but you have talked a lot about how much you're doing in terms of helping clients clean up the data in preparation for bigger AI initiatives.

那太棒了。然後，關於 IT 商業諮詢方面，我知道現在還處於相對早期的階段，但您已經談了很多關於幫助客戶清理資料為更大的人工智慧做好準備方面所做的工作倡議。

Is there any way to quantify like what you're doing on the consulting side that would be either data in -- data cleanup, data restructuring in order to take advantage of AI and then how much you're actually doing in actual AI assignments at this point?

有沒有什麼方法可以量化你在諮詢方面所做的事情，即數據清理、數據重組，以便利用人工智能，然後你在實際的人工智能任務中實際做了多少工作這一點？

Yeah. So I'll let Rand take that. We're not releasing bookings or revenue in the AI or AI-enabled category, but Rand can give us some color and speak to data specifically, Rand?

是的。所以我會讓蘭德接受。我們不會發佈人工智慧或人工智慧支援類別的預訂或收入，但蘭德可以給我們一些顏色並具體談論數據，蘭德？

Yeah, Mark, I'm kind of smiling. It's a good question. We definitely -- we break it into two categories, what we call AI or pure AI and AI extended. So we know when we're doing work that supports AI implementation in the future, if you will, and we know the difference between that and what we call pure AI applications today. We, I think, as Ted featured in the opening remarks, we're seeing AI still a small percent of our total revenues.

是的，馬克，我有點微笑。這是一個好問題。我們當然將其分為兩類，即所謂的人工智慧或純人工智慧和擴展人工智慧。因此，我們知道我們將來何時開展支援人工智慧實施的工作（如果您願意的話），並且我們知道它與我們今天所說的純人工智慧應用程式之間的區別。我認為，正如特德在開場白中所強調的那樣，我們看到人工智慧仍然只占我們總收入的一小部分。

The data side and the work we're doing on the data side is a much larger stock part of our revenues. But we definitely watch both, and we need to tour ourselves to make sure that we cannot just prepare data, qualify data, bridge data but actually get it effective use for the client as AI applications come in.

數據方面以及我們在數據方面所做的工作是我們收入中更大的庫存部分。但我們肯定會關注這兩方面，我們需要自我審視，以確保我們不能只是準備數據、限定數據、橋接數據，而是隨著人工智慧應用程式的出現，真正讓客戶有效地使用它。

So we're very mindful of the question you asked. We have a way of measuring that in terms of revenue booked and we're -- it's slowly moving the way it should.

所以我們非常重視你所提出的問題。我們有一種方法可以根據預訂的收入來衡量這一點，而且我們正在慢慢地以應有的方式發展。

That's great. Thank you.

那太棒了。謝謝。

Thank you. And we have reached the end of the Q&A session. I would now like to turn the floor back to Ted Hansen for closing remarks.

謝謝。問答環節已經結束。現在我想請特德·漢森（Ted Hansen）發表閉幕詞。

Great. Well, thank you, operator, and thank you, everyone, for participating today. We look forward to being with you in the first quarter of 2025 to talk about our fourth-quarter results. Have a great day.

偉大的。嗯，謝謝運營商，也謝謝大家今天的參與。我們期待在 2025 年第一季與您一起討論我們的第四季業績。祝你有美好的一天。

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

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與。