Comfort Systems USA Inc (FIX) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the third-quarter 2024 Comfort Systems USA earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Julie Shaeff, Chief Accounting Officer. Please go ahead.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 Comfort Systems USA 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。現在我想將會議交給今天的發言人、首席會計官 Julie Shaeff。請繼續。

Thanks, Michelle. Good morning. Welcome to Comfort Systems USA's third-quarter 2024 earnings call. Our comments today as well as our press releases contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the applicable securities laws and regulations. What we will say today is based on the current plans and expectations of Comfort Systems USA. Those plans and expectations include risks and uncertainties that might cause actual future activities and results of our operations to be materially different from those set forth in our comments.

謝謝，米歇爾。早安.歡迎參加 Comfort Systems USA 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。我們今天的評論以及我們的新聞稿包含適用證券法律和法規含義內的前瞻性陳述。我們今天要說的是基於美國舒適系統公司目前的計劃和期望。這些計劃和預期包括風險和不確定性，這些風險和不確定性可能導致我們未來的實際活動和營運結果與我們的評論中所述的存在重大差異。

You can read a detailed listing and commentary concerning our specific risk factors in our most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, as well as in our press release covering these earnings. A slide presentation is provided as a companion to our remarks and is posted on the Investor Relations section of the company's website found at comfortsystemsusa.com.

您可以在我們最新的 10-K 表格和 10-Q 表格以及涵蓋這些收益的新聞稿中閱讀有關我們特定風險因素的詳細清單和評論。幻燈片簡報作為我們的評​​論的配套提供，並發佈在該公司網站的投資者關係部分，網址為：comfortsystemsusa.com。

Joining me on the call today are Brian Lane, President and Chief Executive Officer; Trent McKenna, Chief Operating Officer; and Bill George, Chief Financial Officer. Brian will open our remarks.

今天和我一起參加電話會議的還有總裁兼執行長 Brian Lane；特倫特·麥肯納，營運長；和財務長比爾·喬治。布萊恩將開始我們的演講。

Okay. Thanks, Julie. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our call. Today, we are reporting record earnings and extraordinary cash flow, as our teams continued great execution for our customers. We earned $4.09 per share this quarter, up 40% from last year. Our Electrical segment achieved unprecedented margins and Mechanical margins continued to be strong. Operating income is 50% higher than even our strong third quarter last year.

好的。謝謝，朱莉。大家早安，感謝您加入我們的通話。今天，我們報告了創紀錄的盈利和非凡的現金流，因為我們的團隊繼續為客戶提供出色的執行力。本季我們每股收益 4.09 美元，比去年增長 40%。我們的電氣部門實現了前所未有的利潤率，而機械部門的利潤率則持續保持強勁。營業收入比去年強勁的第三季高出 50%。

Backlog continues far above last year as bookings were strong, even though we burned through work at a record pace. Same-store quarterly revenue was higher by 18% and revenue was up 23% year-to-date. Entering the fourth quarter, same-store backlog is 21% higher than it was at this time last year and we are experiencing exceptional strength in our pipelines.

儘管我們以創紀錄的速度完成了工作，但由於預訂量強勁，積壓量仍遠高於去年。同店季度營收成長 18%，年初至今營收成長 23%。進入第四季度，同店積壓訂單比去年同期增加了 21%，我們的通路正經歷非凡的實力。

We are in the fortunate position of being able to choose the work we take. Given these strong conditions and the confidence we have in our unmatched workforce, we expect continued strong results in the fourth quarter and in 2025.

我們很幸運能夠選擇我們所從事的工作。鑑於這些強勁的條件以及我們對無與倫比的員工隊伍的信心，我們預計第四季和 2025 年將繼續取得強勁業績。

Cash flow surpassed any previous quarter, and that extraordinary cash flow is both a great base for continued investment and a clear indicator of strong underlying trends in our execution, customer relationships and prospects. We also increased our quarterly dividend by $0.05 to $0.35 per share. This increase reflects our continuing strong cash flow and our commitment to reward our shareholders.

現金流量超過了以往任何一個季度，非凡的現金流量既是持續投資的良好基礎，也是我們執行、客戶關係和前景方面強勁潛在趨勢的明確指標。我們也將季度股息每股增加 0.05 美元至 0.35 美元。這一成長反映了我們持續強勁的現金流以及我們回報股東的承諾。

I will discuss our business and outlook in a few minutes, but first, I will turn this call over to Bill to review our financial performance. Bill?

我將在幾分鐘內討論我們的業務和前景，但首先，我會將這個電話轉交給比爾，以審查我們的財務表現。帳單？

Thanks, Brian. Good morning, everyone. Our third-quarter results are remarkable with quarterly EPS exceeding $4 per share for the first time ever. Margins continue to improve, and we had further SG&A leverage and we enjoyed over $300 million in operating cash flow. This quarter, we also achieved $238 million in quarterly EBITDA, a 53% increase over this quarter last year. Our newest companies continue to exceed expectations. Third quarter revenue was $1.8 billion, an increase of $434 million or 32% compared to last year.

謝謝，布萊恩。大家早安。我們第三季的業績非常出色，季每股收益首次超過 4 美元。利潤率持續提高，我們的 SG&A 槓桿率進一步提高，營運現金流超過 3 億美元。本季度，我們也實現了 2.38 億美元的季度 EBITDA，比去年本季成長 53%。我們最新的公司繼續超出預期。第三季營收為 18 億美元，比去年增加 4.34 億美元，成長 32%。

Our Mechanical segment revenue increased by 39%, benefiting from recent acquisitions, modular expansion and substantial organic construction and service growth. Electrical segment revenue increased by 8%, and overall, same-store revenue increased by 18% or $241 million, with the remaining $193 million increase resulting from acquisitions.

我們的機械部門收入成長了 39%，受益於最近的收購、模組化擴張以及顯著的有機建設和服務成長。電氣部門營收成長 8%，整體同店營收成長 18%，即 2.41 億美元，其餘 1.93 億美元的成長來自收購。

Through nine months, our same-store revenue has grown by 23% from the same period last year. We are facing tougher revenue comparables in the next few quarters and currently, we estimate that our fourth quarter of 2024 revenue increase will be comparable to this quarter. We also expect revenue will continue to rise in 2025, most likely by high single or low double-digit percentage growth.

過去 9 個月，我們的同店營收比去年同期成長了 23%。未來幾季我們將面臨更嚴峻的營收可比性，目前，我們估計 2024 年第四季的營收成長將與本季相當。我們也預期 2025 年營收將持續成長，最有可能實現高個位數或低兩位數百分比成長。

Gross profit was $382 million for the third quarter of 2024, a $104 million improvement compared to a year ago. Our gross profit percentage grew to 21.1% this quarter, compared to 20.1% for the third quarter of 2023. Quarterly gross profit percentage in our Electrical segment increased to 23.9% this year, compared to 19.4% last year, and margins in our Mechanical segment were roughly flat at 20.3%.

2024 年第三季毛利為 3.82 億美元，比去年同期增加 1.04 億美元。本季我們的毛利率成長至 21.1%，而 2023 年第三季為 20.1%。今年，我們電氣部門的季度毛利從去年的 19.4% 增加到 23.9%，機械部門的利潤率基本上持平，為 20.3%。

EBITDA increased by over 50% to $238 million this quarter, from a strong $156 million in the third quarter of 2023. Same-store EBITDA increased by over 30%. And even without recent acquisitions, our EBITDA exceeded $200 million. EBITDA margin for the first nine months is 12.2%, a result of excellent execution by our workforce and strong demand in the markets we serve. Trailing 12-month EBITDA exceeds $770 million.

本季 EBITDA 成長超過 50%，達到 2.38 億美元，較 2023 年第三季的 1.56 億美元強勁。同店 EBITDA 成長超過 30%。即使沒有最近的收購，我們的 EBITDA 也超過了 2 億美元。前 9 個月的 EBITDA 利潤率為 12.2%，這得益於我們員工的出色執行力以及我們所服務的市場的強勁需求。過去 12 個月的 EBITDA 超過 7.7 億美元。

Margins are at all-time high levels, and given ongoing strong demand, we expect that our EBITDA margins for the remainder of 2024 and into 2025 will continue in the strong ranges we have achieved over the last several quarters. SG&A expense for the quarter was $180 million, or 9.9% of revenue, compared to $143 million or 10.4% of revenue in the third quarter of 2023. The investments that we have made, including investments through SG&A are paying off.

利潤率處於歷史最高水平，考慮到持續強勁的需求，我們預計 2024 年剩餘時間和 2025 年的 EBITDA 利潤率將繼續保持在過去幾季實現的強勁範圍內。本季的 SG&A 費用為 1.8 億美元，佔營收的 9.9%，而 2023 年第三季的 SG&A 費用為 1.43 億美元，佔營收的 10.4%。我們所做的投資，包括透過 SG&A 的投資正在獲得回報。

Our operating income increased from $135 million in the third quarter of 2023 to $203 million for the third quarter of 2024, an increase of 50%. With improved gross profit margins and favorable SG&A leverage, our operating income percentage increased to 11.2% this quarter, from 9.8% in the prior year. Through 9 months, we achieved a noteworthy operating income percentage of 10.1%. Our year-to-date tax rate was 21.6%. We estimate that the full year 2024 tax rate will be in the 21% to 22% range.

我們的營業收入從2023年第三季的1.35億美元增加到2024年第三季的2.03億美元，成長了50%。憑藉毛利率的提高和有利的 SG&A 槓桿，本季我們的營業收入百分比從上一年的 9.8% 增加到 11.2%。在 9 個月的時間裡，我們實現了 10.1% 的顯著營業收入百分比。我們年初至今的稅率為 21.6%。我們預計2024年全年稅率將在21%至22%範圍內。

After considering all these factors, net income for the third quarter of 2024 was $146 million or $4.09 per share, and that's a 39% improvement from last year. Free cash flow for the first nine months of 2024 was $572 million. We continue to benefit from advanced payments as operating cash flow continues to exceed our earnings by about $340 million on a trailing 12-month basis. So we are well ahead of earnings in collecting our cash.

考慮到所有這些因素後，2024 年第三季的淨利潤為 1.46 億美元，即每股 4.09 美元，比去年增長 39%。2024 年前 9 個月的自由現金流為 5.72 億美元。我們繼續受益於預付款，因為過去 12 個月的營運現金流繼續超過我們的收入約 3.4 億美元。因此，我們在收回現金方面遠遠領先於獲利。

We increased the pace of our share repurchases in the third quarter and have now returned $42 million to shareholders in 2024 by retiring over 130,000 shares. As we began the year, our cash balances exceeded our total debt by $161 million. With our remarkable cash flow, and even after our share repurchases and funding hundreds of millions of dollars to purchase two great new companies, our cash now exceeds debt by $347 million.

我們在第三季加快了股票回購的步伐，目前已透過回購超過 13 萬股股票，在 2024 年向股東返還 4,200 萬美元。今年年初，我們的現金餘額超出了總債務 1.61 億美元。憑藉我們驚人的現金流，即使在我們回購股票並斥資數億美元收購兩家偉大的新公司之後，我們的現金現在仍然超過債務 3.47 億美元。

That's all I've got, Brian.

這就是我所擁有的一切，布萊恩。

All right. Thanks a lot, Bill. I am going to discuss our business and outlook. Backlog at the end of the third quarter was $5.7 billion, a large year-over-year increase in a modest sequential decline. Since last year, our backlog has increased by $1.4 billion or 32%. On a same-store basis, our backlog is now $900 million higher than it was this time last year. We are entering the fourth quarter of 2024 with 21% more same-store backlog despite our strong revenue growth.

好的。非常感謝，比爾。我將討論我們的業務和前景。第三季末的積壓訂單為 57 億美元，較去年同期大幅成長，但較上季略有下降。自去年以來，我們的積壓訂單增加了 14 億美元，即 32%。以同店計算，我們的積壓訂單比去年同期增加了 9 億美元。儘管營收成長強勁，但進入 2024 年第四季度，我們的同店積壓訂單仍增加了 21%。

Our revenue mix continues to trend towards data centers, chip fabrication, battery plants, life science and food. Industrial customers accounted for 60% of total revenue in the nine months of 2024, and they are major drivers of pipeline and backlog. Technology, which is included in industrial, was 32% of our revenue, a substantial increase from 21% in the prior year. Institutional markets, which include education, health care and government are also strong and represent 23% of our revenue. The commercial sector is active.

我們的收入組合繼續向資料中心、晶片製造、電池廠、生命科學和食品發展。工業客戶佔 2024 年 9 個月總收入的 60%，是管道和積壓訂單的主要驅動力。工業中包含的技術占我們收入的 32%，比前一年的 21% 大幅增加。包括教育、醫療保健和政府在內的機構市場也很強勁，占我們收入的 23%。商業領域活躍。

But it is smaller -- but it is a smaller part of our business at about 17% of revenue. Most of our service revenue is for commercial customers. So the share of our construction revenue, that is commercial, is now relatively small. Construction accounted for 84% of our revenue with projects for new buildings representing 57% and the existing building construction 27%. Project pipelines remain at unprecedented high levels.

但它規模較小——但它只占我們業務的一小部分，約佔收入的 17%。我們的服務收入大多來自商業客戶。因此，我們的建築收入（即商業收入）所佔的份額現在相對較小。建築業占我們收入的 84%，其中新建築項目佔 57%，現有建築項目佔 27%。專案儲備仍保持在前所未有的高水準。

We include modular and new building construction and year-to-date modular was 17% of our revenue. Service revenue was up 7% this quarter and was 16% of total revenue. Service is a reliable source of profit and cash flow and is on track to exceed $1 billion in revenue for 2024.

我們包括模組化和新建建築，今年迄今為止，模組化占我們收入的 17%。本季服務收入成長 7%，佔總收入的 16%。服務是利潤和現金流的可靠來源，預計到 2024 年收入將超過 10 億美元。

As noted earlier, we are entering the fourth quarter with a backlog that is 21% higher on a same-store basis than at this time last year. And we have a superb team working hard for our customers every single day. Thanks to the dedication and hard work of our employees across the country, we are positive about our ongoing projects.

如前所述，當我們進入第四季時，同店積壓訂單比去年同期增加了 21%。我們擁有一支優秀的團隊，每天都在為我們的客戶努力工作。感謝全國各地員工的奉獻和辛勤工作，我們對正在進行的專案持積極態度。

I want to close by thanking our over 18,000 employees for their hard work and dedication. I'll now turn it back over to Michelle for questions. Thank you.

最後，我要感謝我們 18,000 多名員工的辛勤工作和奉獻精神。我現在將其轉回給米歇爾詢問。謝謝。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Adam Thalhimer , Thompson Davis.

亞當·塔爾希默、湯普森·戴維斯。

Hey, good morning, guys. Congrats on another strong quarter. So you guys typically burn backlog in the summer, build it in the winter. I'm curious if you think we could hit a new record backlog over the next couple of quarters?

嘿，早上好，夥計們。祝賀又一個強勁的季度。所以你們通常會在夏天燃燒積壓的訂單，在冬天建造它。我很好奇您是否認為我們可以在接下來的幾季創下新的積壓記錄？

I'd be surprised if one of the next two quarters that doesn't happen. There's really, the demand -- we could book so much work if we could -- if we were willing to and could take it. So the challenge for us right now is having really disciplined project selection.

如果接下來的兩個季度中的一個沒有發生，我會感到驚訝。確實有這樣的需求——如果可以的話，我們可以預訂這麼多的工作——如果我們願意並且能夠接受的話。因此，我們現在面臨的挑戰是進行真正嚴格的專案選擇。

Yeah. Adam, to follow up on that, it's coast-to-coast. So we're seeing a lot of good opportunities still with no letup in sight. So we're pretty confident going forward into 2025.

是的。亞當，跟進一下，這是從東海岸到西海岸。因此，我們看到了很多良好的機會，而且仍然沒有停止的跡象。因此，我們對 2025 年充滿信心。

Okay. And then Brian, I wanted to ask you about your comment on Electrical margins, which I think you said unprecedented. I'm curious where you think those shake out long term? Is there like a specific project that's driving the really high margins this year? Or if you think that that group, this is just what they can achieve over time?

好的。然後布萊恩，我想問你對電氣利潤的評論，我認為你說的是史無前例的。我很好奇你認為這些長期影響會在哪裡？今年是否有一個特定的項目推動了真正的高利潤？或者，如果您認為該群體隨著時間的推移，這正是他們能夠實現的目標？

Well, first things first, our Electrical companies are just doing a superb job and the work they're finding the markets are good. But as always, it comes down to execution usually, and we're just executing at a really high level. We are really fortunate to have the companies we have in the markets they are in.

嗯，首先，我們的電氣公司做得非常出色，而且他們發現市場的工作也很好。但與往常一樣，這通常歸結為執行，而我們只是在非常高的水平上執行。我們真的很幸運能夠在他們所在的市場擁有我們的公司。

Those margins, as we said, are unprecedented. But I would think, at least for a while, the characteristics are still good for the margins to stay strong, but they are really performing at a very high level. It is very impressive, and it's -- and it's each one of our electrical companies, Adam. Thanks for noticing.

正如我們所說，這些利潤是前所未有的。但我認為，至少在一段時間內，這些特徵仍然有利於利潤率保持強勁，但它們的表現確實處於非常高的水平。這是非常令人印象深刻的，而且是我們每一家電氣公司，亞當。感謝您的關注。

Great. Okay, I'll turn it over. Thanks, guys.

偉大的。好的，我去翻一下。謝謝，夥計們。

Alex Dwyer, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Alex Dwyer，KeyBanc 資本市場。

Good morning, Brian, Bill and Julie. Thanks for taking my questions. So I guess first question on modular. I know the last expansion kind of came with more automation and higher roofs and I think this is the big focus for the team to drive efficiencies. Can you just kind of expand on what exactly you're working on in these efficiency initiatives next year for modular? Is this mainly happening in Houston? Or is it in Greensboro or is it kind of spread across both?

早上好，布萊恩、比爾和朱莉。感謝您回答我的問題。所以我想第一個問題是關於模組化的。我知道最後一次擴建帶來了更多的自動化和更高的屋頂，我認為這是團隊提高效率的重點。您能否詳細介紹一下明年在這些模組化效率計畫中所做的具體工作？這主要發生在休士頓嗎？還是在格林斯博羅還是在兩者之間傳播？

It's 100%, both in Texas and North Carolina. We're building up quite a fleet of robots. They are doing a really -- they're reconfiguring even incremental new space with bigger cranes, really changing the workflows in ways that we think are advantageous that the new space allows us to change.

在德克薩斯州和北卡羅來納州，這一比例都是 100%。我們正在建立一支相當多的機器人隊伍。他們正在做一項真正的工作——他們正在用更大的起重機重新配置甚至增量的新空間，以我們認為新空間允許我們改變的有利方式真正改變工作流程。

But we have a new customer in modular that is starting to get -- really order quite a bit of product. And that's given us an opportunity to sort of both design something and sort of design the way we manufacture it, having learned a lot of lessons. And obviously, we're working with our existing customers to do the same thing. So our goal is to just get better and better. And I wouldn't bet against our guys.

但我們有一個模組化的新客戶，他們開始訂購相當多的產品。這讓我們有機會既可以設計一些東西，也可以按照我們製造它的方式進行設計，並學到了很多教訓。顯然，我們正在與現有客戶合作做同樣的事情。所以我們的目標是變得越來越好。我不會打賭我們的球員。

Got it. That's very interesting. And then there's a lot of talk about liquid cooling in the industry, which I guess is going to be needed in addition to air cooling for these new data centers coming up. I know you guys have a lot of experience in installing liquid cooling systems already. But is there anything that changes going forward when we get to these new AI data center builds as liquid cooling is increasingly implemented in these projects? Just any thoughts there would be helpful.

知道了。這很有趣。然後業界有很多關於液體冷卻的討論，我認為除了空氣冷卻之外，這些即將出現的新資料中心還需要液體冷卻。我知道你們在安裝液體冷卻系統方面已經有很多經驗了。但是，隨著這些專案中越來越多地實施液體冷卻，當我們建造這些新的人工智慧資料中心時，未來會發生什麼變化嗎？只要有任何想法都會有幫助。

The density of the new stuff is amazing. Like just -- like when you look at the -- like the big pipe welds in the shop, there are far more connections up and down the pipe because you're putting more chillers per -- sort of per building per square foot. And it's just -- it's density.

新事物的密度是驚人的。就像當你看到商店裡的大管道焊接時，管道上下有更多的連接，因為你在每平方英尺每棟建築中放置了更多的冷水機。這就是密度。

Things are happening to be designed really with an eye towards reducing distances because the amount of copper that's going in is just so expensive that things -- in the past where you'd say, oh, it's okay for this to be 90 feet from that. Now you want it to be 15 feet from that because you're going to have 10times as much copper in between the two spots. So it's really been changing.

事情的設計確實著眼於縮短距離，因為使用的銅量非常昂貴，以至於過去你會說，哦，這個距離那個 90 英尺是可以的。現在您希望距離為 15 英尺，因為兩個點之間的銅量是原來的 10 倍。所以它確實一直在改變。

Liquid cooling is just -- the heat transfer happening in liquid is primarily what we've always done. We've never really been a source for air cooled -- the kind of air-cooled rooftop data centers that people build because we have more of a pipefitting expertise.

液體冷卻只是－液體中發生的熱傳遞是我們一直以來所做的主要工作。我們從來沒有真正成為風冷的來源——人們建造的那種風冷屋頂資料中心，因為我們擁有更多的管道安裝專業知識。

But it's definitely -- I don't think any of the new data centers that are being built for the -- for any hyperscalers or anybody who's interested in AI are air cooled. And then inside of liquid cooling, now it's just how close can you get the heat transfer to where the heat is being shed off of the chip. And it's kind of an all of the above strategy, right?

但我不認為任何為任何超大規模企業或任何對人工智慧感興趣的人正在建造的新資料中心都是空氣冷卻的。然後在液體冷卻內部，現在的問題是熱量傳遞到晶片散熱位置的距離有多近。這是上述所有策略的一種，對嗎？

Used to think it was exciting when we could bring the liquid up under the racks and then it was exciting when we brought it into the racks and now you bring it into the box, and they're designing chips for there to be contact. The cool liquid, not direct, but near direct contact. It's just about every way of doing it.

曾經認為當我們可以將液體帶到架子下面時令人興奮，然後當我們將其放入架子中時令人興奮，現在你將其放入盒子中，他們正在設計用於接觸的晶片。涼爽的液體，不是直接接觸，而是接近直接接觸。幾乎所有的方法都可以做到這一點。

People are -- other than immersion, which I think is still a challenge. I think every way of doing it. People are just employing an all of the above strategy. And the good news for us is no matter how you do it, you got to have the cooling, right? And to do that, you have to have pipes and chillers and electrical switch gear. So I don't know, it's a great trend for us.

除了沉浸感之外，我認為這仍然是一個挑戰。我想盡一切辦法。人們只是採取了上述所有策略。對我們來說，好消息是無論你怎麼做，你都必須有冷卻，對吧？為此，您必須擁有管道、冷卻器和電氣開關設備。所以我不知道，這對我們來說是一個很好的趨勢。

And the demand for data center stuff, I mean, it's really becoming more than talk. Like there's data centers now in states that we never -- it never occurred to us that there would ever be data centers in. So the demand there is really extraordinary.

我的意思是，對資料中心產品的需求真的不僅僅是說說而已。就像現在在我們從未有過的州有資料中心一樣，我們從來沒有想過會有資料中心。所以那裡的需求確實非比尋常。

Thank you. I'll turn it over here.

謝謝。我會把它翻過來的。

Julio Romero, Sidoti & Company.

胡里奧·羅梅羅，西多蒂公司。

Julio. Thanks. Hey, good morning, everyone. So I appreciate you guys providing preliminary sales thoughts for 2025 of the high single-digit to low double-digit percentage growth. Just wanted to get your thoughts on what it would take for margins to continue to expand, would the conditions that are allowing you to execute and achieve these high margins have to kind of sustain? Would they have to get better? Just any thoughts there.

胡里奧.謝謝。嘿，大家早安。因此，我感謝你們提供 2025 年高個位數到低兩位數百分比成長的初步銷售想法。只是想了解您對利潤率繼續擴大需要什麼的想法，允許您執行並實現這些高利潤率的條件是否必須維持？他們必須變得更好嗎？只是有任何想法。

Well, if you look at the margins, we've got -- I probably have said this every quarter for the last few, there are record levels for us. It's a combination of pricing is always and executing and we're executing really at a high level. But it's -- but it's a long process to get these margins, right? It starts with developing the workforce we have, applying technology and innovation that works for us, and we got a great team that Trent's leading on those efforts.

好吧，如果你看一下利潤率，我們的利潤率——我可能在過去幾個季度每個季度都說過這樣的話，我們的利潤率達到了創紀錄的水平。這是定價和執行的結合，我們的執行水準確實很高。但獲得這些利潤是一個漫長的過程，對吧？首先是發展我們現有的員工隊伍，應用適合我們的技術和創新，我們擁有一支由特倫特領導的優秀團隊來完成這些工作。

And using things such as BIM, prefabrication, et cetera, and then managing the risk that we have in our projects, which we spend a lot of time training our people on. So the results is, one number, we talk about here, but it's a lot of work that goes into it. And we will probably stay around this ballpark as long as I think as the market state is good, and we continue to stay focused on our execution.

使用 BIM、預製等技術，然後管理專案中的風險，我們花了大量時間培訓員工。所以結果是，我們在這裡討論的是一個數字，但需要做很多工作。只要我認為市場狀況良好，我們就可能會留在這個大致範圍內，並且我們將繼續專注於我們的執行。

Okay. And you mentioned mitigating risk and project selection is a big part of that. You're in a position where you can kind of afford to be picky. Just if you could speak to what factors within projects help them rise to the top of your selection list?

好的。您提到降低風險和專案選擇是其中的重要組成部分。你所處的位置可以讓你變得挑剔。您是否可以談談專案中的哪些因素可以幫助它們躋身您的選擇清單之首？

Well, if you look at any contract, it's -- when you have too much work is when you get in trouble, not too little. So no, we're really looking at work in locations around the offices that we have, usually for a customer we worked that for a long time. We know them. It's work we've done for a while, and we're good at. It lets you stay and those key metrics, there's others, but if you keep yourself in that wheelhouse, usually work out pretty well on a long-term basis.

好吧，如果你看一下任何一份合同，你會發現——當你的工作太多時就會遇到麻煩，而不是太少。所以不，我們實際上是在我們辦公室周圍尋找工作，通常是為我們工作了很長時間的客戶。我們認識他們。這是我們已經做了一段時間的工作，而且我們很擅長。它可以讓你留下來，那些關鍵指標，還有其他指標，但如果你讓自己保持在那個駕駛室裡，通常從長遠來看效果會很好。

Yes. I mean I think an interesting major consideration for a lot of our business development people and really our leadership at a field level right now is what jobs will be good for the people, right? Because does it have -- is the location good for our people? Does it have a GC that runs a good job? And does it make people's lives miserable?

是的。我的意思是，我認為對於我們的許多業務開發人員以及我們目前在現場的領導力來說，一個有趣的主要考慮因素是哪些工作對人們有利，對嗎？因為這個位置對我們的人民有利嗎？它有一個運作良好的 GC 嗎？它會讓人們的生活變得悲慘嗎？

Is there parking? Is there a place to get lunch? Are the other contractors on the job, people that we work with frequently because our people know them. And they're -- it's a better world, a better life for them to be around the people that they know. And then, of course, hugely important are these existing customers who have been good to us in the past and who we can be good to now and we can succeed with based on a history of track record.

有停車位嗎？有地方吃午餐嗎？工作中的其他承包商是我們經常合作的人嗎，因為我們的員工認識他們。對他們來說，和他們認識的人在一起，世界會更美好，生活會更美好。當然，非常重要的是這些現有客戶，他們過去對我們很好，現在我們可以對他們好，並且根據歷史記錄，我們可以與他們取得成功。

And then finally, what is the amount of gross profit sort of for the amount of labor that we have to commit, right? Ultimately, we use -- people used to talk about gross profit per hour worked. Sometimes now you think more in terms of gross profit per $100 of labor.

最後，我們必須投入的勞動量對應的毛利是多少，對嗎？最終，我們使用——人們過去常常談論每小時工作的毛利。有時現在您更多地考慮每 100 美元勞動力的毛利。

But I think that's where we look for profitability. It's not really gross profit percentage because not all jobs have the same amount of -- the same cost of goods sold, the same mix of material and things that go through them. And so I think it's people first, partner second, profit third. But they're not independent variables. They're highly dependent variables. And the ones that are best for any of the three are probably best for the other two.

但我認為這就是我們尋求盈利能力的地方。這並不是真正的毛利百分比，因為並非所有工作都具有相同的數量——相同的銷售成本、相同的材料和經過它們的東西的組合。所以我認為首先是人，其次才是合作夥伴，第三是利潤。但它們不是自變數。它們是高度依賴的變數。最適合這三個中任何一個的可能也最適合另外兩個。

And you know, Julio, on top of all this, you got to make sure we can do it safely. Protect health and welfare of our folks that are doing the job. So we spend a lot of time focused on, obviously, projects, acquiring and executing them.

你知道，胡里奧，最重要的是，你必須確保我們能夠安全地做到這一點。保護我們從事這項工作的人員的健康和福祉。因此，我們顯然花了很多時間專注於專案、獲取和執行它們。

Understood. Appreciate the color. I'll pass it on.

明白了。欣賞顏色。我會把它傳遞下去。

Josh Chan, UBS.

喬許陳，瑞銀。

Hi, good morning, Brian, Bill, Julie. Maybe sticking with a question on the field. In the last couple of years, you've done a great job kind of driving productivity gains in the field. I know that everybody has been really busy. So could you just talk to your ability to kind of further drive field productivity and how you feel about that going forward?

嗨，早上好，布萊恩、比爾、朱莉。也許會在現場提出一個問題。在過去幾年中，您在推動該領域生產力提高方面做得非常出色。我知道大家都很忙。那麼您能否談談您進一步提高現場生產力的能力以及您對此有何看法？

I'll say, I think a big source of -- so we're really being held by technology. One really salient way the technology helps is, as your drawings get better, your performance gets better. Your opportunity to prefabricate things even to maybe modularize things at various levels gets better.

我想說，我認為一個重要的來源是——所以我們確實被科技所控制。這項技術的一個真正重要的幫助方式是，隨著您的繪圖變得更好，您的表現也會變得更好。您預製事物甚至可能在不同層面上模組化事物的機會變得更好。

But frankly, really good drawings allow you to avoid rework. The other thing that I think is really gratifying and amazing at Comfort is our ability to keep people in a place and at a time when they can continuously work in a productive way.

但坦白說，真正好的圖紙可以讓你避免返工。我認為 Comfort 真正令人欣慰和驚奇的另一件事是，我們能夠讓人們在一個可以持續高效工作的地方和時間工作。

So utilization is really the magic key to outcome -- to financial outcomes for us and having people on jobs where they can be productive because it's a well-run job, but also having the ability to level load the work you do. And one of the things that is really helping us with that is our company is working together.

因此，利用率確實是結果的神奇關鍵——對我們來說是財務結果，讓人們從事可以提高工作效率的工作，因為這是一項運作良好的工作，但也有能力平衡你所做的工作。真正對我們有幫助的事情之一是我們公司正在共同努力。

So if a job has an air pocket or if a job -- if there's a good opportunity, we -- our company's ability to share workforce can really help us level load and utilization is -- and frankly, just when you're busy, your opportunity to have high levels of like utilization, effectiveness per hour worked is just -- it's really good.

因此，如果一份工作有空缺，或者如果一份工作——如果有一個好的機會，我們——我們公司共享勞動力的能力確實可以幫助我們平衡負載和利用率——坦率地說，就在你忙碌的時候，你有機會獲得高水準的利用率和每小時工作效率，這真的很好。

Josh, one thing I talked about Trent and his team a minute ago, one thing that group is really helping us with is that there's a lot of technologies rolling through construction right now. Their ability to filter them and see which ones we can apply in the field to make us more efficient, productive and safe has been a huge help to us. And they've done it -- just continue to do an outstanding job helping our folks on job sites and service calls in particular. So I really want to tip my hat to those folks, they're doing a hell of a job for us.

喬什，我一分鐘前談到了特倫特和他的團隊，該團隊真正幫助我們的一件事是，現在有很多技術正在建設中。他們能夠過濾這些資訊並查看我們可以在現場應用哪些訊息，從而使我們更加高效、高效和安全，這對我們來說是一個巨大的幫助。他們已經做到了——只是繼續出色地幫助我們的工作人員，特別是在工作現場和服務電話上。所以我真的想向這些人致敬，他們為我們做了非常出色的工作。

Thank you. That's really a great color. Bill, you mentioned the balance sheet. And obviously, you guys have done really good with M&A over time. Could you just talk to the uses of cash from here, especially when free cash flow generation has been stronger than historical? Thank you.

謝謝。這真是一個很棒的顏色。比爾，你提到了資產負債表。顯然，隨著時間的推移，你們在併購方面做得非常好。您能否從這裡談談現金的使用，特別是當自由現金流的產生比歷史水平更強時？謝謝。

So we did -- I noted that we picked up our share repurchases in the third quarter. That's a combination of really fantastic cash flow. And a lot of confidence about our prospects going forward. I think our first use of cash is always going to be great companies, but in a really disciplined way. And so far, whenever we've had cash, we've been able to find great opportunities to bring additional workforce, people, businesses, customer relationships into Comfort Systems, which is a really great place to be a contractor.

所以我們做到了——我注意到我們在第三季進行了股票回購。這是非常出色的現金流的結合。對我們未來的前景充滿信心。我認為我們首先使用現金的總是偉大的公司，但要以一種非常嚴格的方式。到目前為止，只要我們有現金，我們就能找到絕佳的機會，將更多的勞動力、人員、業務、客戶關係帶入 Comfort Systems，這對承包商來說是一個非常好的地方。

Great. Thank you for the call and good luck for the rest of the year.

偉大的。感謝您的來電，並祝福您今年餘下時間一切順利。

Brent Thielman, D.A. Davidson.

布倫特·蒂爾曼，D.A.戴維森。

Hi, thanks. Good morning. Brian, Bill, I guess, when I go through the different end markets, the manufacturing vertical was sort of the one that, I guess, of real size have been taken a step back relative to last year and maybe even next to the second quarter. And what are you seeing in that area in particular? Is it your view this is just sort of timing related? Anything to say around the opportunity pipeline in that vertical?

你好，謝謝。早安.布萊恩，比爾，我想，當我瀏覽不同的終端市場時，我想，製造業垂直市場的實際規模相對於去年甚至可能在第二季後退了一步。您在該領域特別看到了什麼？您認為這只是與時間有關嗎？關於該垂直領域的機會管道有什麼要說的嗎？

So for the -- as far as the opportunity goes, the opportunity is very strong, especially in food. And frankly, pharma is very, very strong. I will say the trend you saw this year was really a movement towards a choice being made to move towards some data center work by a couple of our largest industrial subsidiaries because it was the best work available, and that was their best opportunity to give their guys good work to work on and make the most money.

因此，就機會而言，機會非常大，尤其是在食品領域。坦白說，製藥業非常非常強大。我想說的是，今年你看到的趨勢實際上是我們的幾個最大的工業子公司做出選擇轉向某些數據中心工作的運動，因為這是可用的最好的工作，這是他們給予他們的最佳機會。

So that -- we could switch to manufacture. Our guys get to pick and choose right now. So when you see movements between those major segments, it's a reflection of choices that are being made and customers that are sort of giving us terms that we find to be attractive.

這樣我們就可以轉向製造。我們的人現在就可以挑選。因此，當你看到這些主要細分市場之間的變動時，這反映了正在做出的選擇以及客戶給我們提供的我們認為有吸引力的條款。

Okay. And I think you guys have sort of a level of visibility, especially on some of these larger kind of multiphase projects or maybe you don't have a signed award, but you're sort of in the seat for future phases. Can you talk around that? Is that partially what's giving you the confidence to say this demand environment isn't really fading? Is it something else?

好的。我認為你們有一定程度的知名度，特別是在一些較大型的多階段項目中，或者也許你們沒有簽署獎項，但你們在未來的階段中佔據了席位。你能談談這個嗎？這是否是讓您有信心說這種需求環境並未真正消退的部分原因？難道是別的什麼？

Yeah, Brent, absolutely right on the money. And even before that, right, in terms of us assisting general contractors and customers when they're looking at their jobs in the early phase, down to award. And a lot of these projects get awarded in phases now, right. Maybe 5%, 10%, 20% that goes into backlog at that pace. So you're right on the money. And that's why we're really upbeat about next year because we know it's in our pipeline. It's in our soft backlog, and we're in good shape right now.

是的，布倫特，絕對正確。甚至在此之前，就我們而言，當總承包商和客戶在早期階段考慮他們的工作時，我們會為他們提供協助，直到授標。現在很多這樣的專案都是分階段授予的，對吧。也許有 5%、10%、20% 的訂單會以這種速度進入積壓狀態。所以你的錢是對的。這就是為什麼我們對明年非常樂觀，因為我們知道它正在我們的籌備中。它在我們的軟積壓中，而且我們現在狀況良好。

Yeah. And we're in budget meetings right now, including this week. And the percentage of our work that's negotiated is much higher right now. It's always been high, and it's higher than ever. And so some of that -- there's a lead time. They release you to do a certain amount of work early on because you're -- it's just -- you're just one company working with another company.

是的。我們現在正在召開預算會議，包括本週。現在我們協商的工作比例要高得多。它一直很高，而且比以往任何時候都高。所以其中一些——有一個交貨時間。他們讓你儘早完成一定程度的工作，因為你只是一家公司與另一家公司合作。

There aren't other factors involved. So there's not necessarily as much of an award moment. There's just moments when the scope gets to where it needs to go and you sign a piece of paper that meets our financial accounting rules definition of backlog. But there is -- there really is plenty of work to do.

沒有其他因素參與。所以不一定有那麼多頒獎時刻。有時，當範圍到達需要的地方時，您簽署了一張符合我們財務會計規則對積壓工作定義的文件。但確實還有很多工作要做。

Yeah. That's helpful. I guess just on the cash flow, I mean, obviously, extraordinary here. Are the terms that you're getting I guess, under these new contracts confined to a particular group of customers? Or are you really able to negotiate some favorable terms across the board? I'd just be curious around that.

是的。這很有幫助。我想就現金流而言，我的意思是，顯然，這裡非常出色。我想，根據這些新合同，您獲得的條款是否僅限於特定的客戶群？或者你真的能夠全面談判一些有利的條件嗎？我只是對此感到好奇。

So without -- so there is -- certainly, for example, we've talked about how in modular, there are upfront payments sometimes for work that won't be performed right now until 2026. That's considerable. But I would say, in virtually all of our businesses, we -- because when you have the ability to pick and choose work, you pick and choose based on pricing, based on the things I talked about relating to your people earlier, but payment terms are important, right?

因此，沒有——所以有——當然，例如，我們已經討論過在模組化中，有時要為 2026 年之前不會執行的工作進行預付款。這是相當可觀的。但我想說，在我們幾乎所有的業務中，我們——因為當你有能力挑選工作時，你會根據定價進行挑選，基於我之前談到的與你的員工相關的事情，但付款條款很重要，對嗎？

Every contract has a schedule of values. And sometimes there are large customers who would rather give you better payment terms if they can then give you even more money in profit. I don't know. And at some point, there are trade-offs there. But without a doubt, this is true. By the way, this has been true forever in the construction industry. Whenever you have -- you're in a position to have bargaining power, your cash flows get better because you get better schedules of values, of course, right? Everything is traded. The other thing --

每份合約都有一份價值表。有時，有些大客戶寧願給你更好的付款條件，如果他們可以為你帶來更多的利潤。我不知道。在某些時候，需要進行權衡。但毫無疑問，這是事實。順便說一句，這在建築業一直都是如此。只要你有——你有議價能力，你的現金流就會變得更好，因為你得到了更好的價值表，當然，對嗎？一切都可以交易。另一件事--

And Bill, I know you're -- yeah, go ahead.

比爾，我知道你——是的，繼續吧。

The other thing I'll say is customers, and this is in -- Brian has a quote in the press release that alluded to this, customers are just more willing to pay you when they're interested in not just making sure you finish the current job, but that you take the next job from them. And you'd be surprised how much of an effect that can have.

我要說的另一件事是客戶，這是——布萊恩在新聞稿中引用了一句話，提到了這一點，當客戶感興趣而不僅僅是確保你完成任務時，他們更願意付錢給你。你會驚訝地發現它能產生如此大的影響。

And Bill, I know you're adamant that this can't continue on forever, but if you looked at the contracts you're signing today, I mean are those terms as favorable as they were 12 months ago, such that you could still continue to see the sort of free cash conversion?

比爾，我知道你堅持認為這種情況不能永遠持續下去，但如果你看看你今天簽署的合同，我的意思是這些條款和 12 個月前一樣優惠，這樣你仍然可以繼續看到那種免費現金轉換嗎？

Yeah. So we're not signing any work today that's worse than the work we've signed, were signing last year. And as far as how long this goes, there's two answers to that question. There's the immediate what do you actually see know about has holes being dug in the ground. That's never been better. That's really, really good, right?

是的。因此，我們今天不會簽署任何比去年簽署的工作更糟糕的工作。至於這種情況會持續多久，這個問題有兩個答案。您實際上看到的直接訊息是在地面上挖洞。這從未如此好過。這真的非常非常好，對吧？

We have more visibility than we've ever had. There's never been a time when in October of 2024, we would have been talking about having work in 2026. This is new for us. But also, the underlying, it is very plausible that the things that are being built like the chip fabrication factories and the data centers and the pharma, which is just starting, it is very, very plausible to me that, that has many, many years to run.

我們比以往任何時候都擁有更多的知名度。從來沒有一次在 2024 年 10 月的時候，我們會談論 2026 年的工作。這對我們來說是新的。而且，從根本上講，晶片製造工廠、資料中心和製藥廠等正在建造的東西才剛剛開始，這對我來說非常非常合理，有很多很多運作多年。

And some of this new business is incremental. It's not as if just because we've decided in the United States even before the CHIPS Act that we needed to build a bunch of chip fabrication. It's not as if the things Comfort Systems USA was building before stopped. It's not as if people stop putting mayonnaise on their sandwiches and stopped feeding their dogs pet food and stopped needing hospitals. The Baby Boomers are still aging.

其中一些新業務是增量業務。這並不是因為我們在《晶片法案》出台之前就在美國決定需要建造大量晶片製造工廠。Comfort Systems USA 之前建造的項目並沒有停止。這並不是說人們不再在三明治上加蛋黃醬、不再餵狗寵物食品、不再需要醫院。嬰兒潮世代仍在老化。

So these are all incremental sources of demand. And after 15 years of headwind from offshoring, having the United States be such a favorable destination for capital is really helpful if you -- if what you do for a living is deploy and form capital.

所以這些都是增量需求來源。經過 15 年的離岸外包逆風之後，如果你以部署和形成資本為生，那麼讓美國成為如此有利的資本目的地確實很有幫助。

Excellent. Sorry, just last question. Again, I know you've wanted to take some time to absorb the Summit transaction, looks like that's going really well among the others you've done. Obviously can't time when deals happen. But maybe more a question just around the -- given the strength of the industry, your own business, the multiples you're seeing out there for potential transactions dramatically changed from maybe what you've talked about in the past?

出色的。抱歉，只是最後一個問題。再說一次，我知道您想花一些時間來吸收高峰會交易，看起來在您所做的其他交易中進展非常順利。顯然無法確定交易發生的時間。但也許更多的問題是——考慮到行業的實力、你自己的業務，你看到的潛在交易的倍數與你過去談論的可能發生了巨大的變化？

Multiples -- people talk about multiples. But a far, far more potent variable when you're thinking about what you're paying for something is what you're multiplying by. So what the reliable source of cash flow that you're buying will be, what the earnings of what you're buying will be. I think that multiples are very, very strong when you compare them or there are people who are willing to pay a lot, a high multiple for certain things if you look at a multiyear trailing average. But I think ultimately, the people who sell to us, the ones that we want to buy, they really understand the nature of our business.

倍數——人們談論倍數。但當你考慮為某物支付的費用時，一個更有效的變數是你所乘的金額。那麼，您所購買的可靠現金流來源是什麼，您所購買的產品的收益將會是多少。我認為，當你比較它們時，或者如果你看看多年的追蹤平均值，有些人願意為某些事情付出很多，高倍數，那麼倍數是非常非常強大的。但我認為最終，那些賣給我們的人，那些我們想買的人，他們真正了解我們業務的本質。

And so far, I think so far, we've been able to get deals that what we think are the same, at very, very reasonable multiples of what the future of these businesses look like. That's why I think we're good at acquisitions. I think we have a really, really, really good insight into the businesses we're buying and what they're really worth.

到目前為止，我認為到目前為止，我們已經能夠獲得我們認為相同的交易，其價格是這些企業未來的非常、非常合理的倍數。這就是為什麼我認為我們擅長收購。我認為我們對我們正在購買的企業以及它們的真正價值有非常非常非常好的洞察力。

And so certain businesses, it's one of the reasons we've been moving towards these industrial complex companies for a long time, I think we just really believe that they have an embedded advantage that's very valuable right now. So I know that was not a very -- that didn't answer your question on the basis you wanted it, but it answered your question on the basis that I think is the most important way to think about it.

因此，對於某些企業來說，這是我們長期以來一直轉向這些工業綜合體公司的原因之一，我認為我們真的相信他們擁有目前非常有價值的內在優勢。所以我知道這不是一個非常--沒有根據您想要的方式回答您的問題，但它根據我認為是思考問題的最重要方式回答了您的問題。

I think pricing is very reasonable, especially when you consider a lot of people who look at pricing trends over 10 or 12 years in our industry, they forget that corporate tax rates dropped not that long ago. And so when you buy these companies, you're getting a whole different amount of free cash flow than you were getting.

我認為定價非常合理，尤其是當你考慮到很多人關注我們行業 10 或 12 年的定價趨勢時，他們忘記了企業稅率不久前下降了。因此，當你購買這些公司時，你獲得的自由現金流量與你之前獲得的完全不同。

When you bought -- it used to be, if I -- if we bought a company, we got to keep $0.60 of every dollar they earned. Today because they give us tax deductible goodwill, our acquired companies have a lower effective tax rate than our existing business, we're keeping well over $0.80 of every dollar. So if you break all of that together, I think pricing is pretty good. And I think you're seeing that in sort of the value accretion that these wonderful companies have been able to accomplish for us.

當你買——過去是這樣，如果我——如果我們買了一家公司，我們必須保留他們賺到的每一美元的 0.60 美元。如今，由於我們收購的公司為我們帶來了可免稅的商譽，因此我們的有效稅率低於我們現有的業務，我們每美元保留了 0.80 美元以上。因此，如果你把所有這些放在一起，我認為定價相當不錯。我認為您已經看到了這些出色的公司為我們實現的價值增值。

I appreciate all the context. So, best of luck. Thanks guys.

我很欣賞所有的背景。所以，祝你好運。謝謝你們。

Adam Thalhimer, Thompson Davis.

亞當·塔爾希默、湯普森·戴維斯。

Thanks, guys. I was just curious on the data centers, the total addressable market for Comfort. As these guys start talking about 1, all the way up to 5-gigawatt data centers. As the data center gets bigger, does that increase your TAM?

謝謝，夥計們。我只是對資料中心感到好奇，這是 Comfort 的整個潛在市場。當這些人開始談論 1 至 5 吉瓦資料中心時。隨著資料中心變得越來越大，您的 TAM 會增加嗎？

So every data center that we build today has way more content for us, the dollars for the same -- for the same sort of piece of land are much, much higher. As far as the addressable market, I don't really think there is an addressable market in the sense that, oh, there's X out there to be done. I think that what is out there to be done in the area of data centers is what can be done.

因此，我們今天建造的每個資料中心都為我們提供了更多的內容，而同樣的土地——同樣的土地——的價格要高得多。就潛在市場而言，我真的不認為有潛在市場，因為，哦，還有 X 件事要做。我認為資料中心領域能做的就是能做的。

And what can be done will be less than they're hoping to do but they'll size -- they're going to build as much as they can. It's -- it's sort of -- think about it like chip speed. There is not an amount of compute they want and then they'd be done. There's not a size of a data lake that they want and then they'll just be happy and done. There's two things they want. They want as much compute and as much data as they can get, and they want to make very certain that the other people that they compete with don't have more than they do.

能做的事情將比他們希望做的要少，但他們會擴大規模——他們將盡可能多地建造。這有點像晶片速度。他們不需要大量的計算，然後就可以完成。資料湖的大小不是他們想要的，然後他們就會很高興並完成。他們想要兩件事。他們希望獲得盡可能多的計算和數據，並希望確保與他們競爭的其他人擁有的數據不會比他們多。

Okay. The other question I've been getting is on -- I'm still getting a question on uses of cash. If you -- because you guys are at a record amount of net cash --

好的。我收到的另一個問題是——我仍然收到關於現金使用的問題。如果你－因為你們的淨現金金額創歷史新高--

So am I.

我也是。

Just curious if that makes buybacks more attractive?

只是好奇這是否會讓回購更具吸引力？

We are definitely prepared to buy shares on dips. We always have been and we buy -- we started for the first time ever, like this quarter, we increased our share buyback in the third quarter without a dip. Now it then went up by more, so we ended up getting a ton of shares in the low $300s and it looked like a good deal. But when we were buying them, we were buying them at all-time highs. So we have a lot of confidence that we have an ability to run a good business for some years to come.

我們絕對準備逢低買入股票。我們一直在購買——我們有史以來第一次開始，就像本季一樣，我們在第三季增加了股票回購，沒有下跌。現在它又上漲了更多，所以我們最終以 300 美元的價格買到了大量股票，看起來很划算。但當我們買進它們時，我們是在歷史高點買的。因此，我們非常有信心，我們有能力在未來幾年內經營良好的業務。

We have the dividend a little bit this quarter too, $0.05 so.

我們這個季度也有一點股息，大約是 0.05 美元。

But it's not going to use the free cash flow now.

但它現在不會使用自由現金流。

No. But I'm just trying to help you out, Adam, what you know.

不。但我只是想幫助你，亞當，你所知道的。

I appreciate that. I think I'm all set. I'm going to get it out quickly.

我很欣賞這一點。我想我已經準備好了。我要盡快把它拿出來。

So every year, we know that we have cash and we have the goal to deploy it in the companies that we have conviction have fantastic workforces. So far, we've succeeded. I think our pipeline is very good, mainly because Comfort's reputation as a place to be is very good.

因此，每年，我們都知道我們擁有現金，我們的目標是將其部署到我們確信擁有出色員工隊伍的公司中。到目前為止，我們已經成功了。我認為我們的管道非常好，主要是因為 Comfort 作為一個地方的聲譽非常好。

So I like our chances of deploying that cash. But I will say, like some of our competitors or some of our comparables, if we don't find stuff that we have conviction around, we won't do deals. We will not be hurried. We won't do deals that we don't have belief in. So I'm optimistic, but I will say disciplined first.

所以我喜歡我們部署這些現金的機會。但我想說，就像我們的一些競爭對手或一些可比公司一樣，如果我們找不到我們確信的東西，我們就不會做交易。我們不會著急。我們不會做沒有信心的交易。所以我很樂觀，但我首先要說的是自律。

I look forward to seeing what you do this winter. Thanks, guys.

我期待著看到你今年冬天做什麼。謝謝，夥計們。

Josh Chan, UBS.

喬許陳，瑞銀。

Hey, guys. Just a quick clarifying question. When you guys say margins stay around current levels, it's still within the context that there's seasonality to your margins in Q3 and possibly Q2 is usually the high quarter and Q1, Q4 are lower. Is that a fair characterization at least on the EBITDA level?

嘿，夥計們。只是一個快速澄清的問題。當你們說利潤率保持在當前水準附近時，仍然是在第三季度利潤率存在季節性的背景下，可能第二季度通常是最高季度，而第一季和第四季度較低。至少在 EBITDA 層面上這是一個公平的描述嗎？

Yeah. And it's especially true for Q1s. Our Q1s are notably lower than our other three quarters. The other three, it is absolutely the case, 18 out of 20 years, Q4 is going to go down from Q3, not -- but -- 20 out of 20 years Q1 margins are going to be lower because of just the volumes, the opportunity for that utilization I was talking about. We don't -- in the summer, we have more service and service pushes up your gross profit margins as the highest gross profit margins in our business. So there's a bunch of things that keep it being less seasonal than it used to be, but for sure, still seasonal.

是的。對於 Q1 來說尤其如此。我們的第一季明顯低於其他三個季度。其他三個，絕對是這樣，20 年中有18 年，第四季度將比第三季度下降，而不是——而是——20 年中有20 年第一季利潤率會更低，因為僅僅是銷量、我所說的利用機會。我們沒有——在夏天，我們有更多的服務，服務會推高你的毛利率，成為我們業務中毛利率最高的。因此，有許多因素使得它的季節性不如以前，但可以肯定的是，仍然是季節性的。

Right. That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. Thanks for clarifying that, Bill. Have a good weekend guys.

正確的。這很有意義。是的。感謝您澄清這一點，比爾。祝大家週末愉快。

Thank you. I would now like to hand the conference back over to Brian Lane for any closing remarks.

謝謝。現在我想將會議交還給布萊恩·萊恩（Brian Lane）發表閉幕詞。

Okay. In closing, I really want to thank all our employees again. Our folks continue to deliver for our customers with a good quality product that we do safely and efficiently. As you can tell, we're very excited closing out the year and optimistic about 2025. Thanks, everyone, for joining our call. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and look forward to seeing you soon. Thank you.

好的。最後，我真的要再次感謝我們所有的員工。我們的員工持續安全且有效率地為客戶提供優質產品。如您所見，我們對今年的結束感到非常興奮，並對 2025 年感到樂觀。謝謝大家加入我們的電話會議。希望大家度過一個愉快的週末，並期待很快見到您。謝謝。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與，您現在可以斷開連接。大家，祝你有美好的一天。