Gibraltar Industries Inc (ROCK) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings and welcome to Gibraltar Industries' third-quarter 2024 financial results conference call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

歡迎參加直布羅陀工業公司 2024 年第三季財務業績電話會議。（操作員指示）謹此提醒，本次會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Carolyn Capaccio with Alliance Advisors IR. Thank you. You may begin.

現在我想將會議轉交給主持人、Alliance Advisors IR 的卡洛琳·卡帕喬 (Carolyn Capaccio)。謝謝。你可以開始了。

Thanks, Rob. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. With me on the call is Bill Bosway, Gibraltar Industries' Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer; and Joe Lovechio, Gibraltar's Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝，羅布。大家早安，感謝您今天加入我們。與我一起參加電話會議的是直布羅陀工業公司董事長、總裁兼執行長 Bill Bosway；和直布羅陀財務長喬·洛夫奇奧(Joe Lovechio)。

The earnings press release that was issued this morning as well as a slide presentation that management will use during the call are both available in the investors section of the company's website, gibraltar1.com. Gibraltar's earnings press release and remarks contain non-GAAP financial measures. Tables of reconciliation of GAAP to adjusted financial measures can be found in the earnings press release that was issued today.

今天早上發布的收益新聞稿以及管理層將在電話會議期間使用的幻燈片演示文稿均可在該公司網站 gibraltar1.com 的投資者部分獲取。直布羅陀的收益新聞稿和言論包含非公認會計準則財務指標。公認會計原則與調整後的財務指標的調節表可以在今天發布的收益新聞稿中找到。

Further, please note that adjusted results exclude the net sales and operating results of the Japan Renewables business that was sold on December 1, 2023. Also as noted on slide 2 of the presentation, the earnings press release and slide presentation contain forward-looking statements with respect to future financial results. These statements are not guaranteed the future performance and the company's actual results may differ materially from these anticipated events, performance, or results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

此外，請注意，調整後的業績不包括 2023 年 12 月 1 日出售的日本再生能源業務的淨銷售額和營運表現。另外，如簡報投影片 2 所述，收益新聞稿和投影片簡報包含有關未來財務表現的前瞻性陳述。這些陳述不保證未來的業績，公司的實際結果可能與這些前瞻性陳述明示或暗示的預期事件、業績或結果有重大差異。

Gibraltar advises you to read the risk factors detailed in its SEC filings, which can also be accessed through the company's website.

直布羅陀建議您閱讀其向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中詳細說明的風險因素，該文件也可以透過該公司的網站存取。

Now I'll turn the call over to Bill Bosway. Bill?

現在我將把電話轉給比爾·博斯威。帳單？

Thanks, Carolyn. Good morning, everyone. And thank you for joining our call today.

謝謝，卡洛琳。大家早安。感謝您今天加入我們的電話會議。

First, this morning, we did issue a press release announcing that James Metcalf has joined the Board of Directors for Gibraltar. Jim brings significant experience to Gibraltar. given his successful tenure as both a public company Chief Executive Officer as well as a Board member and we are excited to have Jim join our team and be part of Gibraltar's future.

首先，今天早上，我們確實發布了一份新聞稿，宣布詹姆斯·梅特卡夫已加入直布羅陀董事會。吉姆為直布羅陀帶來了豐富的經驗。鑑於他作為上市公司執行長和董事會成員的成功任期，我們很高興吉姆加入我們的團隊並成為直布羅陀未來的一部分。

Secondly, I'd like to introduce Joe Lovechio, who joined our team in August as our new Chief Financial Officer. And Joe will present our financial results today. As we announced earlier this year, after 20 years with Gibraltar, Tim Murphy will retire in early 2025. Tim and Joe are working closely together to ensure a smooth transition. And as Joe continues to accelerate through his learning curve and spend time in the field with each of our businesses, Tim continues to lead a number of important initiatives across the organization we plan to complete prior to his retirement early next year.

其次，我想介紹 Joe Lovechio，他於 8 月加入我們的團隊，擔任我們新任財務長。喬今天將介紹我們的財務表現。正如我們今年早些時候宣布的那樣，在為直布羅陀效力 20 年後，蒂姆·墨菲將於 2025 年初退休。蒂姆和喬正在密切合作，以確保順利過渡。隨著喬繼續加速學習曲線並花時間在我們每項業務的現場，蒂姆繼續領導整個組織的許多重要舉措，我們計劃在他明年初退休之前完成。

So I will start with an overview of third-quarter results. And then Joe and I will provide both a financial and operating update and a closer look at what's happening in our markets. Then I will walk you through our 2024 outlook and then we'll open the call for your questions.

因此，我將首先概述第三季的業績。然後喬和我將提供財務和營運方面的最新情況，並仔細研究我們市場上發生的情況。然後我將向您介紹我們的 2024 年展望，然後我們將開始電話詢問您的問題。

So let's turn to slide 3 titled third-quarter 2024 review. Our third-quarter results were within the revised range we announced on October 11. Consolidated net sales on an adjusted basis were down 6% with revenue in the renewables and residential businesses down in the quarter, partly offset by significant growth in agtech which was up 34%. On an adjusted basis, operating income decreased 13.6%, EBITDA 11.7%, and EPS 7% with the renewables business having a sizable impact on our overall margin performance.

讓我們轉向標題為 2024 年第三季回顧的幻燈片 3。我們的第三季業績處於我們 10 月 11 日宣布的修正範圍內。調整後的綜合淨銷售額下降了 6%，本季再生能源和住宅業務的收入下降，但部分被農業科技的顯著成長（成長 34%）所抵消。調整後，營業收入下降 13.6%，EBITDA 下降 11.7%，每股收益下降 7%，再生能源業務對我們的整體利潤表現產生了相當大的影響。

In fact, during the quarter, excluding the renewables business, the rest of our portfolio performed relatively well and collectively delivered operating income improvement of 9.3% or 170 basis points, EBITDA improvement of 7.8% or 170 basis points, and EPS improvement of 18.2% while sales were down approximately 2%. We generated $65 million in operating cash flow and $59 million in free cash flow during the quarter as well.

事實上，在本季度，除再生能源業務外，我們投資組合的其餘部分錶現相對較好，營業收入總體提高了9.3% 或170 個基點，EBITDA 提高了7.8% 或170 個基點，每股收益提高了18.2%而銷售額則下降了約 2%。本季我們也產生了 6,500 萬美元的營運現金流和 5,900 萬美元的自由現金流。

Backlog for the quarter was down approximately 15% again driven by the solar industry challenges facing our renewables business, which I will discuss when I review the solar market situation. Agtech backlog was down slightly from last year's level, which is related to the timing of signing contracts before quarter end. But the number and value of customer approved projects in the pipeline for signature remains very robust.

由於我們的再生能源業務面臨太陽能產業挑戰，本季的積壓訂單再次下降了約 15%，我將在回顧太陽能市場狀況時討論這個問題。農業科技積壓訂單較去年水準略有下降，這與季度末之前簽署合約的時間有關。但客戶批准的待簽署項目的數量和價值仍然非常強勁。

Infrastructure backlog increased over last year and quoting activity also remains very active in this segment. Overall, while fighting through the ongoing solar industry challenges, we are managing the rest of the portfolio relatively well and we carry this momentum into the fourth quarter. If you consider the midpoint of our-full year guide and compare it with our year-to-date results, you'll see a plan in Q4 for us to deliver relatively flat sales and improve year-over-year margin performance, despite anticipated ongoing challenges continuing in the solar industry and with our renewables business.

基礎設施積壓訂單比去年增加，該領域的報價活動也仍然非常活躍。總體而言，在應對太陽能產業持續面臨的挑戰的同時，我們對其餘投資組合的管理相對較好，並將這一勢頭延續到第四季度。如果您考慮我們全年指南的中點並將其與我們今年迄今的業績進行比較，您會發現我們在第四季度的計劃是實現相對持平的銷售並提高同比利潤表現，儘管預期太陽能行業和我們的再生能源業務持續面臨挑戰。

So let's dive into the business segments and I'll hand it over to Joe.

那麼，讓我們深入探討業務領域，我將把它交給喬。

Thanks, Bill, and good morning, everyone. I'm excited to be here with the Gibraltar team. I've been introduced to some of you and I look forward to working with all of you.

謝謝比爾，大家早安。我很高興能和直布羅陀團隊一起來到這裡。我已經被介紹給你們中的一些人，我期待與你們所有人一起工作。

Let's start with residential on slide 4. Net sales for the residential segment decreased by $15.3 million or 6.7% driven by a residential market that continues to be soft, both for repair and new construction markets. Adjusted operating and EBITDA margins expanded 110 and 120 basis points respectively, driven by a healthy list of 80/20 initiatives, solid productivity improvements, effective supply chain, and price/cost management. We'll continue to drive participation across both geographic and market expansion initiatives and execute well in today's market environment.

讓我們從幻燈片 4 上的住宅開始。由於住宅市場修繕和新建市場持續疲軟，住宅領域的淨銷售額下降了 1,530 萬美元，即 6.7%。在一系列健康的 80/20 計劃、紮實的生產力改進、有效的供應鏈和價格/成本管理的推動下，調整後的營運利潤率和 EBITDA 利潤率分別擴大了 110 和 120 個基點。我們將繼續推動跨地域和市場擴張計劃的參與，並在當今的市場環境中良好執行。

So let's move to slide 5 and we'll take a look at the residential market as well as our expansion initiatives and our recent new product launches. Starting with the market, as we described in our pre-earnings release on October 11, the end market remains soft as reflected by our big box retail customer point of sales data as well as our industry data. Existing home sales continue to be slow in most markets. Home prices remain high. And interest rates, which have recently picked up, are keeping some potential home buyers on the sidelines.

那麼，讓我們轉到第 5 張投影片，我們將了解住宅市場以及我們的擴張計劃和最近推出的新產品。從市場開始，正如我們在 10 月 11 日的預收益發布中所描述的，終端市場仍然疲軟，這從我們的大型零售客戶銷售點數據以及行業數據中可以看出。大多數市場的現房銷售持續緩慢。房價仍居高不下。最近的利率上升也讓一些潛在的購屋者保持觀望。

Specific to the roofing market, US roofing shingle shipments decreased approximately 2%. When you exclude the Texas market, which was up 20% -- almost 21% of the quarter and represents approximately 20% of the US shingle market, the rest of the US was down 6%. Also impacting our revenue in the quarter, were delays in participation gain awards with customers. As mentioned in our last call, with a slower market, the transition to new suppliers can be impacted by the speed at which incumbent inventory is sold through the market. As an example, we were impacted by approximately $4 million during the quarter, but we expect this to correct itself over the next couple of quarters.

具體到屋頂市場，美國屋頂瓦出貨量下降約2%。如果排除德州市場（該市場在本季成長了 20%，幾乎成長了 21%，約占美國木瓦市場的 20%），那麼美國其他地區則下降了 6%。影響我們本季收入的還有客戶參與獎勵獎勵的延遲。正如我們在上次電話會議中所提到的，隨著市場放緩，向新供應商的過渡可能會受到現有庫存通過市場銷售的速度的影響。例如，我們在本季度受到了大約 400 萬美元的影響，但我們預計這種情況會在接下來的幾個季度中自行糾正。

Nonetheless, we continue to pursue market expansion and are launching new locations during the current quarter and in Q1 2025. And they will provide presence in the Mountain West and Mid-Atlantic and West coast regions. We'll reveal these specific locations in the markets they serve once they are up and running.

儘管如此，我們仍繼續尋求市場擴張，並在本季和 2025 年第一季開設新地點。他們將在西部山區、大西洋中部和西海岸地區開展業務。一旦它們啟動並運行，我們將公佈它們所服務的市場中的這些具體位置。

On the new product front, we launched two new products in the third quarter and are set to launch our newly designed patented pipe boot flashing in the current quarter. Pipe boot flashings are typically fitted over a pipe or furnace exhaust vent located on your roof and the purpose is to create a watertight seal to prevent moisture leaking through your roof. This is a highly competitive offering that addresses over $100 million of addressable market in the US and we are very excited to bring it to the market.

在新產品方面，我們在第三季推出了兩款新產品，並計劃在本季推出我們新設計的專利管靴防水板。管道引導防水板通常安裝在屋頂上的管道或爐排氣口上，目的是形成防水密封，以防止濕氣通過屋頂洩漏。這是一款極具競爭力的產品，可滿足美國價值超過 1 億美元的目標市場，我們非常高興能將其推向市場。

Let's now shift over to renewables.

現在讓我們轉向再生能源。

So on slide 6, adjusted net sales for renewables decreased $17.5 million or 17.2%. And the business continues to be impacted by the ongoing effects of trade and regulatory dynamics. As a result, the pace and consistency of demand continues to be a challenge for the industry, but we expect demand to improve as the second DOC investigation comes to conclusion early in 2025.

因此，在投影片 6 中，調整後的再生能源淨銷售額減少了 1,750 萬美元，即 17.2%。該業務繼續受到貿易和監管動態的持續影響。因此，需求的速度和一致性仍然是該行業面臨的挑戰，但我們預計，隨著美國商務部的第二次調查將於 2025 年初得出結論，需求將會改善。

Backlog was similarly impacted by these headwinds and was down approximately 24% in the third quarter. Adjusted operating and EBITDA margins decreased 1,040 and 970 basis points respectively as a result of lower volume trade and regulatory disruption in the launch and learning curve of our 1P tracker.

積壓訂單同樣受到這些不利因素的影響，第三季下降了約 24%。由於貿易量減少以及 1P 追蹤器的推出和學習曲線中的監管中斷，調整後的營運利潤率和 EBITDA 利潤率分別下降了 1,040 和 970 個基點。

So guys, we have two slides, I want to share with you, on our renewal situation. Let's move to slide 7 and we'll go through the 1P tracker launch.

各位，我們有兩張投影片，我想與你們分享關於我們的續約情況。讓我們轉到投影片 7，我們將介紹 1P 追蹤器的啟動。

Our 1P tracker launch continues to gain traction across a widening range of customers. And since Q4 of 2023, we've booked over 340 megawatts across 64 different projects with 18 different customers. We're also engaged in designing or quoting over 100 -- 1.6 gigawatts of opportunities mostly for community and solar applications, both medium and small sizes -- sorry, medium, small, and large sizes.

我們推出的 1P 追蹤器繼續受到越來越多客戶的青睞。自 2023 年第四季以來，我們已為 18 個不同客戶的 64 個不同專案預訂了超過 340 兆瓦的電量。我們也參與設計或引用超過 100 個（1.6 吉瓦）的機會，主要用於社區和太陽能應用，包括中型和小型 - 抱歉，中型、小型和大型。

Pictures in the right -- upper right-hand corner of the chart is recently -- a recently completed TerraTrak for Foxglove just under 100 megawatts in size. As well as shown in the bottom-right hand corner of the slide, we just started the first TerraTrak project on pile foundations for Enersys, a 3 megawatt field. So having a tracker solution available with either pile or screw foundations, opens up more geographic markets for us as foundation preferences vary by region, type of soil, or in some cases, general topography.

右圖－圖表的右上角是最近為 Foxglove 完成的 TerraTrak，大小略低於 100 兆瓦。如幻燈片右下角所示，我們剛剛為 Enersys（一個 3 兆瓦的發電場）啟動了第一個樁基 TerraTrak 專案。因此，擁有適用於樁基礎或螺旋基礎的追蹤器解決方案，可以為我們開闢更多的地理市場，因為基礎偏好因地區、土壤類型或在某些情況下的一般地形而異。

Our launch learning curve continues to accelerate with additional improvement coming with our supply chain as suppliers ramp volumes, improve on time delivery, and our internal process of scale to effectively support our field operations team and customers while we navigate through the current industry dynamics, which brings me to our next slide, an update on the US solar market. So let's turn to slide 8.

隨著供應商增加產量、提高準時交貨率以及我們內部規模流程的進一步改進，我們的發布學習曲線繼續加速，以在我們應對當前行業動態的同時，有效地支持我們的現場運營團隊和客戶，這接下來是我們的下一張幻燈片，美國太陽能市場的最新情況。讓我們轉到幻燈片 8。

Today, I want to talk specifically to the active AD/CVD investigations. First, if you recall in conjunction with the first Department of Commerce AD/CVD investigation, the administration issued a Presidential Proclamation allowing solar panels to enter the US duty free for a period of two years.

今天，我想專門談談正在進行的 AD/CVD 調查。首先，如果您還記得在商務部首次反傾銷/反補貼調查時，政府發布了一項總統公告，允許太陽能電池板在兩年內免稅進入美國。

This proclamation expired on June 3, 2024, and the industry was effectively given six months or until December 3, 2024, to install panels that were imported while the proclamation was in effect or be charged with additional duties as determined by the outcome of the first DOC investigation, which calls for both anti-dumping and countervailing duties.

該公告於2024 年6 月3 日到期，該行業實際上有六個月的時間或直到2024 年12 月3 日，以安裝在該公告生效期間進口的面板，否則將根據第一個公告的結果徵收額外關稅。

Additionally, this August, the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee filed critical circumstances allegations with the US Department of Commerce regarding surging solar imports during the two-year Presidential Proclamation from Chinese-based companies working through Vietnam and Thailand, two of the five countries found to be attempting to avoid duties during the first DOC investigation.

此外，今年8 月，美國太陽能製造貿易聯盟委員會向美國商務部提出了危急情況指控，稱在為期兩年的總統公告期間，中國公司在越南和泰國（這五個國家中的兩個國家）開展業務的太陽能進口量激增。

A critical circumstances finding can result in retroactive duties being imposed on panels that entered the country up to 90 days before the preliminary determinations were made in the first DOC investigation and the industry is still awaiting the outcome of this process.

如果發現關鍵情況，可能會導致對在美國商務部第一次調查做出初步決定之前 90 天內進入該國的面板徵收追溯性關稅，業界仍在等待這一過程的結果。

Secondly, a second AD/CVD complaint was filed in April of this year alleging illegal trade practices by Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam asking the Department of Commerce and the US International Trade Commission to apply new tariffs both for anti-dumping and countervailing duties to imported solar cells and modules imported from these countries.

其次，今年4月提出了第二份反傾銷/反補貼投訴，指控柬埔寨、馬來西亞、泰國和越南的非法貿易行為，要求商務部和美國國際貿易委員會徵收新的反傾銷和反補貼關稅對從這些國家進口的太陽能電池和組件徵收關稅。

Department of Commerce made a preliminary determination for the anti-dumping on October 1 and final determinations are expected by December 16. For countervailing duties, Department of Commerce made a preliminary determination on July 18 and a final determination on October 1. The US International Trade Commission made preliminary determinations for anti-dumping on June 10, and a final determination is expected January 30. For countervailing duties, a preliminary determination was also made on June 10, and a final determination is expected November 15.

商務部於10月1日作出反傾銷初裁，預計12月16日作出終裁。反補貼稅，商務部於7月18日作出初裁，並於10月1日作出終裁。美國國際貿易委員會於6月10日作出反傾銷初裁，預計1月30日作出終裁。反補貼稅，也於6月10日作出初步裁定，預計11月15日作出終裁。

Finally, issuance of orders for the anti-dumping investigations are expected February 6, 2025, and for the countervailing duty investigations, November 22, 2024. So as you might expect, right now, solar developers continue to deal with these pretty big unknowns and moving targets, installation mandates, investigation outcomes, critical circumstances rulings, accurate module cost availability, and administrative requirements that come with all the above.

最後，預計 2025 年 2 月 6 日發布反傾銷調查令，於 2024 年 11 月 22 日發布反補貼稅調查令。因此，正如您所預料的那樣，太陽能開發商現在繼續應對這些相當大的未知因素和移動目標、安裝要求、調查結果、關鍵情況裁決、準確的組件成本可用性以及上述所有內容所帶來的管理要求。

These trade issues intended to protect the most -- the domestic solar industry are serving to pull focus and make the business environment much more complex. And frankly, than it needs to be. That being said, once the industry gets past the December 3, 2024, deadline and understands the final rulings from the second AD/CVD investigation, which is due in Q1 2025, we expect customers will turn to a more normal business cadence and pace.

這些旨在保護國內太陽能產業的貿易問題正在吸引人們的注意力，並使商業環境變得更加複雜。坦白說，這比需要的要多。話雖如此，一旦行業過了2024 年12 月3 日的最後期限並了解了將於2025 年第一季度進行的第二次AD/CVD 調查的最終裁決，我們預計客戶將轉向更正常的業務節奏和節奏。

In the interim, we will continue to support customers, accelerate TerraTrak launch further, and to stay focused on optimizing our profitability and operating performance. With that, let's move on to agtech.

在此期間，我們將繼續為客戶提供支持，進一步加速 TerraTrak 的推出，並繼續專注於優化我們的獲利能力和營運績效。說到這裡，讓我們繼續討論農業科技。

So moving to slide 9, agtech adjusted net sales increased $10.6 million, up 34%, driven by the acceleration of project starts in our produce segment where we have designed and constructed growing facilities for strawberries and lettuce production. Third-quarter backlog decreased 3%, which is related to the timing of anticipated project bookings for which design work has been completed.

因此，轉到幻燈片9，agtech 調整後的淨銷售額增加了1060 萬美元，增長了34%，這得益於我們的農產品部門項目啟動的加速，我們在該部門設計和建造了草莓和生菜生產的種植設施。第三季積壓訂單減少了 3%，這與設計工作已完成的預期項目預訂時間有關。

Segment adjusted operating and EBITDA margins expanded 450 and 410 basis points respectively driven by volume, solid project management execution, favorable product mix shift, and 80/20 initiatives. We expect margins to continue to improve through the end of the year.

在銷售、可靠的專案管理執行、有利的產品組合轉變和 80/20 計畫的推動下，部門調整後的營運利潤率和 EBITDA 利潤率分別擴大了 450 和 410 個基點。我們預計到今年年底利潤率將持續改善。

Let's move to slide 10. As expected, momentum in the agtech business is accelerating as new projects, particularly in our produce business, have started and are in process. We expect this momentum to continue as we secure additional projects in both '24 and 2025.

讓我們轉到投影片 10。正如預期的那樣，隨著新計畫（特別是我們的農產品業務）的啟動和實施，農業科技業務的勢頭正在加速。隨著我們在 24 年和 2025 年獲得更多項目，我們預計這種勢頭將持續下去。

And consumer demand for locally grown, high-quality fresh fruits and vegetables continues to drive investment in grow capacity, which is really needed to keep pace with requirements from both food retailers and food service providers. And I'll tell you what the most exciting thing is about this industry for both today and its future, it is effectively sold out. And the produce grown in these facilities in North America represents only 2% to 3% of the total produce grown, whether grown indoor or outdoor in North America.

消費者對當地種植的優質新鮮水果和蔬菜的需求繼續推動對種植能力的投資，這確實需要跟上食品零售商和食品服務提供者的要求。我會告訴你這個行業在今天和未來最令人興奮的事情是什麼，它實際上已經賣完了。而北美這些設施種植的農產品僅佔北美種植總農產品的 2% 至 3%，無論是在北美室內或室外種植。

So the industry has significant growth runway in its future. And obviously, we're very excited to be part of it. Let me give you two current project examples on the left. We are just completing the fifth phase of seven phases with Boemberry Farms which grow strawberries. Boemberry is effectively the largest CEA strawberry facility in the world, spanning 120 acres and designed to grow 12.5 million pounds of strawberries annually.

因此，該行業未來擁有顯著的成長跑道。顯然，我們很高興能參與其中。讓我在左邊給您舉兩個當前的專案範例。我們剛完成與種植草莓的 Boemberry 農場的七個階段中的第五階段。Boemberry 實際上是世界上最大的 CEA 草莓工廠，佔地 120 英畝，設計每年種植 1,250 萬磅草莓。

This is a turnkey operation with the structure and 20 plus subsystems designed and/or integrated, manufactured, constructed, and installed by Prospiant , our brand in the market. Contract value of phase five is approximately $25 million, and we will start and complete phase six in 2026 and phase seven in 2020 -- sorry, phase six in 2025 and phase seven in 2026.

這是一項交鑰匙工程，其結構和 20 多個子系統由我們在市場上的品牌 Prospiant 設計和/或整合、製造、建造和安裝。第五階段的合約價值約為 2500 萬美元，我們將在 2026 年開始並完成第六階段，並於 2020 年完成第七階段——抱歉，第六階段於 2025 年，第七階段於 2026 年。

On the right is a new $35 million-plus project with Kingsone Farms, where we are designing, manufacturing, and constructing the first fully automated purpose-built facility for lettuce. Phase one, which starts this quarter and phase two span 13 acres for a planned annual production of 21 million heads of lettuce. The site, when additional phases are completed, will span at least 40 acres with an additional production of over 60 million heads of lettuce.

右邊是與 Kingsone Farms 合作的一個耗資 3500 萬美元以上的新項目，我們正在該項目中設計、製造和建造第一個全自動生菜專用設施。第一階段將於本季啟動，第二階段佔地 13 英畝，計畫年產 2,100 萬顆生菜。當其他階段完成後，基地將佔地至少 40 英畝，額外生產超過 6000 萬顆生菜。

We have a number of produce and commercial projects in the active design phase and expect additional signings this quarter and flowing into 2025. As well, we continue to apply 80/20 and further optimize our operating systems and facilities with the intent to consistently deliver higher margins, going forward.

我們有許多生產和商業項目處於積極設計階段，預計本季將有更多簽約，並持續到 2025 年。此外，我們繼續應用 80/20 並進一步優化我們的作業系統和設施，以期持續提供更高的利潤。

Now let's move on to our infrastructure business.

現在讓我們繼續我們的基礎設施業務。

Moving to slide 11, infrastructure segment sales decreased $1.8 million or 7.2%, reflecting the comparison against the timing of a large project last year. Backlog increased 3% with demand and quoting at robust levels, supported by continued investment at the federal and state levels, participation gains, and new products we have introduced.

轉到投影片 11，基礎設施部門的銷售額下降了 180 萬美元，即 7.2%，反映了與去年大型專案的時間相比。在聯邦和州層級持續投資、參與收益以及我們推出的新產品的支持下，需求和報價保持強勁水平，積壓訂單增加了 3%。

Segment adjusted operating and EBITDA margins each improved 230 basis points, driven by product line mix, new products, 80/20 initiatives, and continued strong execution. We expect continued strength in orders and sales and margin expansion in 2024.

在產品線組合、新產品、80/20 計畫和持續強勁的執行力的推動下，部門調整後的營運利潤率和 EBITDA 利潤率分別提高了 230 個基點。我們預計 2024 年訂單和銷售將持續強勁，利潤率將擴大。

Let's move to slide 12 to discuss our balance sheet and cash flow. At September 30, we had cash on hand of $229 million and $395 million available on our revolver. During the quarter, we generated $65 million in cash from operations, from net income plus cash generated from working capital of approximately $20 million. Our free cash flow generation for the quarter was 16.4% of sales, and we continue to expect 2024 free cash flow to be approximately 10% of sales for the year.

讓我們轉到投影片 12 來討論我們的資產負債表和現金流。截至 9 月 30 日，我們手頭現金為 2.29 億美元，左輪手槍可用現金為 3.95 億美元。本季度，我們從營運中產生了 6,500 萬美元的現金，其中包括淨利潤加上約 2,000 萬美元的營運資金產生的現金。我們本季的自由現金流量佔銷售額的 16.4%，我們繼續預期 2024 年自由現金流量將佔全年銷售額的 10% 左右。

Also, during the quarter, we used $9 million to repurchase approximately 139,000 shares of common stock at an average price of $64.45 per share. At quarter end, we had approximately $80 million or roughly 40% remaining under our $200 million stock repurchase authorization. Our revolving credit facility remains untapped, and we remain debt free.

此外，在本季度，我們使用 900 萬美元以每股 64.45 美元的平均價格回購了約 139,000 股普通股。截至季末，我們的 2 億美元股票回購授權中剩餘約 8,000 萬美元，約 40%。我們的循環信貸額度尚未利用，而且我們仍然沒有債務。

We expect to generate strong solid cash flow for the remainder of the year. Our capital allocation priorities for 2024 are to continue to invest in our organic growth and operating systems for scale with capital expenditures between 1% to 2% of sales. We continue to be active in our pipeline of high-quality M&A opportunities. We have discussions in process and our strong balance sheet provides flexibility. We think there is a higher probability in the near term in the residential and agtech segments.

我們預計今年剩餘時間將產生強勁且穩健的現金流。我們 2024 年的資本配置優先事項是繼續投資於我們的有機成長和規模化營運系統，資本支出佔銷售額的 1% 至 2%。我們繼續積極尋找高品質的併購機會。我們正在進行討論，我們強大的資產負債表提供了靈活性。我們認為短期內住宅和農業科技領域出現的可能性較高。

Finally, we plan to continue to opportunistically return value to shareholders through the approximately $80 million remaining authorized under our repurchase program, funded by cash generated from operations, and the use of our revolver depending on timing of any M&A or repurchases.

最後，我們計劃透過回購計畫下剩餘的約 8,000 萬美元授權，繼續機會性地向股東回報價值，這些資金來自營運產生的現金，以及根據任何併購或回購的時間使用我們的左輪手槍。

Now I'll turn the call back to Bill.

現在我將把電話轉回給比爾。

So let's move to slide 13 and we'll review our 2024 guidance. As mentioned earlier, we are reconfirming our recently updated outlook. While we are dealing with some end market challenges, particularly in the solar industry, we expect to deliver solid performance in Q4 and earnings growth for the year. We expect consolidated net sales to range between $1.31 billion to $1.33 billion compared to $1.36 billion on an adjusted basis.

讓我們轉到投影片 13，我們將回顧 2024 年的指導。如前所述，我們正在重新確認我們最近更新的前景。雖然我們正在應對一些終端市場挑戰，特別是在太陽能產業，但我們預計第四季將實現穩健的業績，並實現全年獲利成長。我們預計合併淨銷售額將在 13.1 億美元至 13.3 億美元之間，而調整後的淨銷售額為 13.6 億美元。

GAAP operating margin is expected to range between 10.8% and 11% and an adjusted operating margin is expected to range between 12.4% and 12.6% flattish against last year. Adjusted EBITDA margin is expected to range between 15.3% and 15.5%.

GAAP 營業利潤率預計在 10.8% 至 11% 之間，調整後營業利潤率預計在 12.4% 至 12.6% 之間，與去年持平。調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率預計在 15.3% 至 15.5% 之間。

EPS expectations are, on a GAAP basis, between $3.57 and $3.71 at the midpoint of this range, up modestly compared to $3.59 in 2023. And adjusted between $4.11 and $4.25, up 1% to 4% compared to $4.09 in 2023. We continue to expect free cash -- 2024 free cash flow of approximately 10% of sales.

根據 GAAP 計算，每股收益預期為 3.57 美元至 3.71 美元，處於該區間的中點，較 2023 年的 3.59 美元略有上升。並在 4.11 美元至 4.25 美元之間調整，較 2023 年的 4.09 美元上漲 1% 至 4%。我們仍然預期自由現金——到 2024 年自由現金流將佔銷售額的 10% 左右。

As for an update on our 2025 objectives, our long-range planning and budgeting processes are now in process and we will share our 2025 plan early next year during our Q4 earnings call. In closing, as I mentioned earlier in the call, we are not -- we were not able to overcome all the solar industry challenges in Q3, but the rest of the portfolio executed well, improving adjusted operating income 9.3%, EBITDA 7.8%, and EPS 18.2%.

至於我們 2025 年目標的最新情況，我們的長期規劃和預算流程目前正在進行中，我們將在明年初的第四季財報電話會議上分享我們的 2025 年計畫。最後，正如我之前在電話會議中提到的，我們無法克服第三季度太陽能行業的所有挑戰，但投資組合的其餘部分執行良好，調整後營業收入提高了 9.3%，EBITDA 提高了 7.8%，每股收益18.2%。

Our teams are going to continue to remain proactive. We're going to work through these respective headwinds. We continue to drive performance and expand our participation with existing and new customers. I do want to express my appreciation to everyone in each of our operating businesses and to our corporate team for remaining resilient and focused on executing our playbook.

我們的團隊將繼續保持積極主動。我們將努力克服這些各自的阻力。我們繼續提高績效並擴大與現有和新客戶的參與。我確實想向我們每個營運業務中的每個人以及我們的公司團隊表示感謝，感謝他們保持彈性並專注於執行我們的行動手冊。

Now, let's open up the call and we'll take your questions.

現在，讓我們開始通話，我們將回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Dan Moore, CJS Securities.

（操作員指令）Dan Moore，CJS 證券。

Hey. Good morning, Bill. Good morning, Joe. First of all, quickly, welcome to Joe and a quick thanks to Tim for all the efforts, obviously, over the last multiple years. Greatly appreciated.

嘿。早安，比爾。早安，喬。首先，歡迎喬，並感謝蒂姆在過去幾年中所做的所有努力。非常讚賞。

Thanks, Dan.

謝謝，丹。

Start with resi maybe, can you break down the 7% decline in revenue between price and volume? And further, what's your sense of how much of the volume decline represents true end market demand versus perhaps customers destocking inventories as we head into yearend with election uncertainty, et cetera?

也許從 Resi 開始，你能分解價格和銷售之間 7% 的收入下降嗎？此外，您認為銷售量下降有多少代表了真正的終端市場需求，而在我們進入年底、選舉不確定等情況下，客戶可能會減少庫存？

Yeah. Dan. I'd say it's all volume there. There really wasn't a lot of price impact in the quarter for overall business. And when you look at it by -- you break it down by MSA by region, it really does vary a lot. So you kind of build up from that perspective.

是的。擔。我想說的是，所有的音量都在那裡。本季整體業務確實沒有受到太大的價格影響。當你按照 MSA 按地區進行細分時，你會發現它確實存在很大差異。所以你可以從這個角度來建構。

As I mentioned, Texas was up 20%. In terms of pricing, that's not a big market for us per se. But states like Florida were down 20%. Where you find a lot of shingle usage, let's say, over a million squares in the quarter, those states for the most part were negative with the exception of Texas. So it's a regional thing and I think it's how well you're positioned in each of those states for that given time period.

正如我所提到的，德克薩斯州上漲了 20%。就定價而言，這對我們本身來說並不是一個大市場。但像佛羅裡達這樣的州則下降了 20%。在你發現大量木瓦使用的地方，比如說，本季超過一百萬平方米，這些州除了德州外，大部分都是負值。所以這是一個區域性的事情，我認為這取決於在給定的時間段內你在每個州的定位如何。

Now, so I think it's flowing consistently with what we see from the end market. Now from the point of sales perspective that we get from that media feedback again, those point of sales, that data does also vary regionally as you might expect where stores in certain states are having different experiences than they are in other states.

現在，我認為它的流動與我們從終端市場看到的情況一致。現在，從我們再次從媒體回饋中獲得的銷售角度來看，這些銷售點數據也因地區而異，正如您可能期望的那樣，某些州的商店與其他州的商店有不同的體驗。

So I don't think it's been a destocking effort at all from Q2 through Q3. I think that settled in and corrected itself. As we enter Q4, we're going into a normal seasonal pattern. So you'll see volume shift down as they normally would. I just think once it got corrected, it's kind of stayed where it is. And that's reflected in the point of sales information that data we're seeing as I shared earlier.

因此，我認為從第二季到第三季根本不是去庫存的努力。我認為這已經解決並自我糾正了。當我們進入第四季時，我們將進入正常的季節性模式。因此，您會看到音量像平常一樣下降。我只是認為一旦它得到糾正，它就會保持原樣。這反映在我們之前分享的銷售點資訊中。

Helpful. And the margin performance in resi obviously continues to remain impressive, given the top line softness. Was there any benefit from mix in the quarter? Is it all pretty much reflective of operating efficiencies, cost controls, et cetera?

有幫助。鑑於營收疲軟，再生矽的利潤率表現顯然仍然令人印象深刻。本季的混合有什麼好處嗎？這一切是否都很大程度上反映了營運效率、成本控制等？

Yeah, a lot of 80/20. People ask this every day, when you're going to run out of that and we just don't because it's a combination of -- your expectations go up, you've got to get a little bit better, and our team is continuing to find 80/20 initiatives, and those result in better operating performance through productivity and general execution. So it's mostly that.

是的，很多80/20。人們每天都會問這個問題，當你將要耗盡它時，我們只是不這樣做，因為這是一個組合 - 你的期望上升，你必須變得更好一點，而我們的團隊正在繼續尋找80/20計劃，這些計劃透過生產力和一般執行力帶來更好的營運績效。所以大部分都是這樣。

We've stayed laser focused on price/cost management. Supply chain is doing a really good job. Doing a lot of interesting things, I think, on that front. Staying in the business, if that makes sense for us. We got out of some business last year in certain regions that didn't make sense for us. So I would just say the playbook has continued -- that we've demonstrated the last few years, we'll continue to do that.

我們一直專注於價格/成本管理。供應鏈做得非常好。我認為在這方面做了很多有趣的事情。留在這個行業，如果這對我們有意義的話。去年我們在某些​​地區退出了一些對我們來說沒有意義的業務。所以我只想說這個劇本還在繼續——我們在過去幾年裡已經展示了這一點，我們將繼續這樣做。

But clearly, some of the expansion initiatives I referenced that will be coming here shortly will help us go into next year to drive some growth on top of the market regards to whatever the market does. So we're excited about the things that we're doing and expect it to read through more and more as we get through the end of this year and into next year in our residential business.

但顯然，我提到的一些擴張計劃很快就會到來，這將有助於我們進入明年，無論市場做什麼，在市場之上推動一些成長。因此，我們對我們正在做的事情感到興奮，並希望隨著今年年底和明年住宅業務的發展，我們會越來越多地了解它。

Excellent. Maybe one more [impacting Q] with a couple of parts on agtech. Maybe just talk about what impacted the timing of orders as we exited the quarter. And then bigger picture, we're now at a $40 million-plus quarterly run rate. You mentioned some of the big projects that are coming, given the increases and backlogs and orders, we've seen. Where can that get to over the next four to six quarters? Are we trending toward, you know, $50 million-plus? And maybe just talk about your capacity to handle potential more significant growth in that business? Thank you again.

出色的。也許還有一個[影響Q]，其中包含一些關於農業科技的部分。也許只是談談當我們退出本季時影響訂單時間的因素。從更大的角度來看，我們現在的季度運行率超過 4000 萬美元。您提到了一些即將到來的大型項目，考慮到我們已經看到的增加、積壓和訂單。在接下來的四到六個季度裡，情況會是如何？你知道，我們是否正朝著 5,000 萬美元以上的方向發展？也許只是談談您處理該業務潛在的更顯著增長的能力？再次感謝您。

Yeah. No, I think, directionally, you're right and us going more in that direction towards a bigger number than what we're showing right now with the projects that we have and the projects that we anticipate signing, I think it'll be good momentum through 2025 as it relates to just the projects themselves.

是的。不，我認為，從方向上來說，你是對的，我們會朝著比我們現在所展示的項目和我們預期簽署的項目更多的方向前進，我認為這將是到2025 年，勢頭良好，因為這僅與項目本身有關。

If you recall last quarter, we did some $90 million of new signings. $40 million of that was supposed to happen in the previous quarter. Got pushed 30 days just for stuff -- these things move around because of the size of the projects and a little bit of that is going on right now. But we really feel good about -- with all the work that we've been -- that we've done, the design contracts that have been improved. The projects we expect to sign more of those in Q4 and continue in Q1 next year.

如果您還記得上個季度，我們的新簽約金額約為 9000 萬美元。其中 4000 萬美元本應發生在上一季。僅僅因為一些事情就被推遲了 30 天——這些事情會因為專案的規模而移動，而且其中一些事情現在正在進行。但我們確實對我們所做的所有工作以及我們所做的設計合約的改進感到滿意。我們預計第四季將簽署更多項目，並在明年第一季繼續進行。

So that's going to drive our momentum and our run rates better than what you'll see. Where we'll land in 2024 -- 2025 will be higher run rates across the board for the year as a result.

因此，這將比您所看到的更好地推動我們的動力和運行率。因此，我們將在 2024 年和 2025 年實現全年全面更高的運行率。

Julio Romero, Sidoti & Company.

胡里奧·羅梅羅，西多蒂公司。

Thanks. Hey, good morning, everyone. Following up on Dan's -- hey, good morning. Just following up on Dan's question about residential. It sounds like some of the volume declines you saw in the quarter were across some broader geographies except for Texas. Maybe if you could speak to where you're seeing some of the participation gains that are being delayed because of customers flushing out existing inventory. And then secondly, how much of a dollar impact have you seen from that issue in October to date?

謝謝。嘿，大家早安。跟進丹的——嘿，早安。只是跟進丹有關住宅的問題。聽起來您在本季度看到的一些銷量下降是在除德克薩斯州之外的一些更廣泛的地區發生的。也許您可以談談您所看到的一些參與收益因客戶清空現有庫存而被推遲的情況。其次，到目前為止，您從 10 月的問題中看到了多少美元影響？

Yeah. So I mentioned in the call in the quarter, it's about $4 million of revenue. It's with a couple of customers. I don't necessarily want to say that out loud because I'm not entirely sure it's been communicated with the incumbent. Yeah, but those are specific to two initiatives that one is, I would say, more of a national initiative and one is more of a regional initiative. But they're in the core business of ventilation and some trims and flashing.

是的。所以我在本季的電話會議中提到，收入約為 400 萬美元。和幾個顧客在一起。我不一定想大聲說出來，因為我不完全確定是否已與現任者進行了溝通。是的，但這些具體針對兩項舉措，我想說，一項更多的是一項國家舉措，一項更多的是一項區域舉措。但它們的核心業務是通風以及一些裝飾和防水板。

And just to clarify, the $4 million, if that was for the third quarter or is that quarter to date Q4?

澄清一下，400 萬美元是指第三季還是第四季至今？

For the third quarter. Sorry. Yeah. You'd ask -- did you ask year-to-date through for the first three quarters?

對於第三季。對不起。是的。你會問——你是否詢問了今年迄今為止的前三個季度的情況？

No, I was asking if quarter-to-date in October you've seen, you know, some kind of dollar impact.

不，我問的是，從 10 月至今，您是否已經看到某種美元影響。

Oh, sorry. Now you're asking in Q4, if that's starting --

哦，抱歉。現在你在第四季問，是否開始--

Correct.

正確的。

Yeah, yeah. So we expect to see some of that. Again, it's timing as we roll out each of the individual locations so you -- as you know, there's branches involved. So as those branches, each roll out, it'll start to -- we'll start to see that flow through. It'll be branch by branch and it'll accelerate out of Q4 into Q1 as well. So yeah, we're starting to see some of that pick up a little bit and so we're excited to finally get that going.

是啊是啊。所以我們期望看到其中的一些。再次強調，現在正是我們推出每個單獨地點的時機，因此您——如您所知，涉及到分支機構。因此，當這些分支每一個推出時，我們將開始看到這種流動。它將逐個分支，並且也會從第四季度加速進入第一季。所以，是的，我們開始看到其中一些有所回升，所以我們很高興最終能實現這一目標。

Okay. That's helpful. And then just as a refresher, how do you guys define participation gains just as a refresher for all of us here? Like, do you find it as just winning shelf space? In your words, I guess. how would you define participation gains?

好的。這很有幫助。然後，作為回顧，你們如何定義參與利益，作為我們所有人的回顧？例如，你覺得這只是為了贏得貨架空間嗎？用你的話來說，我猜。您如何定義參與效益？

A couple ways to think about it. If you have an existing customer, you're actually taking on business from an existing product line that you did not necessarily have that region or that MSA and now you've won that business from somebody else. And that tends to be what most people look at as participation on existing product line basis. And that could be a customer that you're working with and you have a portion of their business in a certain region and you've been awarded another region or another set of stores.

有幾種思考方法。如果您有現有客戶，那麼您實際上正在從現有產品線接手業務，而您不一定擁有該地區或 MSA，現在您已經從其他人那裡贏得了該業務。這往往是大多數人所認為的基於現有產品線的參與。這可能是與您合作的客戶，您在某個地區擁有他們的部分業務，並且您被授予了另一個地區或另一組商店。

Also with existing customers, it may be that you're getting into a product line that you haven't historically been in. And that's another way to drive participation. The third is just expanding into geographies and we do that either through organic or inorganic activities. So as an example, if you recall, when we acquired Quality Aluminum Products, it brought us into the Upper Midwest or Great Lakes region with Michigan, where we didn't really have much presence. And so being able to serve that business from far distance isn't the most optimal thing.

此外，對於現有客戶，您可能正在進入以前從未涉足過的產品線。這是另一種推動參與的方式。第三個只是擴展到地域，我們透過有機或無機活動來做到這一點。舉個例子，如果你還記得，當我們收購優質鋁製品公司時，它把我們帶入了密西根州的中西部上游或五大湖地區，在那裡我們並沒有太多的業務。因此，能夠遠距離為該業務提供服務並不是最理想的事情。

But that brought us two things. That brought us expansion into Michigan, Pennsylvania, et cetera, where we weren't necessarily serving because of transportation costs. But it also helped balance us with bringing more wholesale business to the business, which also can be a positive mix for us in some cases as well. So it's a -- there's a multi-front effort going on in terms of how we think about attacking each of these opportunities at the MSA level.

但這為我們帶來了兩件事。這使我們擴展到密西根州、賓州等地，但由於運輸成本的原因，我們不一定在這些地區提供服務。但這也有助於平衡我們為業務帶來更多批發業務，這在某些情況下對我們來說也可能是一個積極的組合。因此，就我們如何考慮在 MSA 層面抓住每一個機會而言，我們正在進行多方面的努力。

And so it's geographic expansion. It's existing customer expansion. It's new customer expansion. It's channel mix expansion. And all wound up together and it's a combination of doing it organically as well as through acquisitions.

所以這是地理擴張。這是現有客戶的擴展。這是新客戶的拓展。這是通路組合的擴展。所有這些都結合在一起，這是有機地和透過收購相結合的結果。

Super. That's really helpful there. I appreciate that guys. And then maybe just last one for me is just on the renewables segment. In the past, you guys have done a little bit better segment margins there in the past, even in quarters where you've had volume declines and volume challenges. Can you maybe just talk about this quarter and maybe why margins were hindered a little bit aside from volume deleverage?

極好的。這真的很有幫助。我很欣賞這些人。對我來說，也許最後一個就是再生能源領域。過去，即使在銷量下降和銷量挑戰的季度中，你們也取得了更好的細分利潤率。您能否談談本季以及為什麼除了數量去槓桿化之外，利潤率還受到了一些阻礙？

Yeah. No, it's a good question, and the reality is we are in the middle of launching a brand-new product at a time that took off quicker than we thought. And this is not an excuse, I mean, so please don't take it that way. But for launching new product, the delivery mechanism around that product, the operating system for that -- operations aspect of launching that new product a little different than what we grew up with when we did fix tilt racking system.

是的。不，這是一個很好的問題，現實是我們正在推出一款全新產品，其發展速度比我們想像的要快。我的意思是，這不是藉口，所以請不要這樣認為。但對於推出新產品來說，圍繞該產品的交付機制、作業系統——推出新產品的營運方面與我們成長過程中修復傾斜貨架系統時的運作方式略有不同。

So going through that learning curve has been more challenging than we thought because when you launch a new product, you go through your standard things and your checklist and you get it out there. When you launch a new product and you've got a December 3 deadline with a customer that's pulling projects in or pushing projects out or doesn't know exactly what they're going to do versus a bit of a normal environment, it gets a little bit more challenging for us and we've basically -- how to cut our teeth in the new product launch in a tough market situation that has an interesting dynamic.

因此，經歷這個學習曲線比我們想像的更具挑戰性，因為當你推出新產品時，你會仔細檢查標準的東西和清單，然後把它拿出來。當你推出一款新產品，並且你的截止日期是 12 月 3 日，而客戶正在拉動項目或推出項目，或者與正常環境相比，不確切知道他們要做什麼時，它會得到一個對我們來說更具挑戰性，我們基本上已經解決瞭如何在嚴峻的市場情況下推出新產品，並具有有趣的動態。

So not that it was a perfect storm, but the team has really fought through that quite well. And that's -- a big piece of that is the drag on margins has a lot to do with the launch of a tracker in a less efficient way than it than we expected it to be a lot because of ramping up suppliers quicker than we asked our suppliers to do initially as well as trying to navigate through the dynamics of schedule changes, et cetera, et cetera with our customers that are dealing with things I described earlier. So it's kind of a combination of all that.

所以這並不是一場完美的風暴，但團隊確實很好地度過了難關。這其中很大一部分是對利潤率的拖累，這與追蹤器的推出有很大關係，其效率低於我們的預期，因為供應商增加的速度比我們要求的要快。事情以及嘗試與正在處理我之前描述的事情的客戶一起應對時間表變化的動態等等。所以這是所有這些的結合。

But like you said, we have more work to do in the launch. We're getting better. We feel good about -- honestly, we feel really good about what we've put in place, how we're taking tracker to the market. The operating delivery model is, I think, much more well-baked now than it was nine months ago when we first started. So there's a lot of things that we've done, I think, to shore up.

但正如您所說，我們在發布過程中還有更多工作要做。我們正在變得更好。我們感覺很好——老實說，我們對我們所採取的措施以及我們如何將追蹤器推向市場感到非常滿意。我認為，現在的營運交付模式比九個月前我們剛開始時成熟得多。因此，我認為我們已經做了很多事情來支撐。

So as we come out of this year, we're ready to accelerate accordingly with all the infrastructure things to put in place for this launch. And hopefully, we get a little bit better cadence and pace in this industry. So it always makes it a little bit easier when you're trying to launch something but also put it in the ground, right? So you remember half of what we do or 40% of what we do is installing this new product launch. So that disruption can be a little bit impactful on the margin side, and obviously, it has been. And we're working hard to rectify that. And that's kind of what we've been dealing with.

因此，當我們今年結束時，我們已準備好相應地加速為本次發布準備的所有基礎設施。希望我們在這個行業能獲得更好的節奏和節奏。因此，當您嘗試發射某些東西但又將其埋入地下時，它總是會讓事情變得更容易，對吧？所以你還記得我們所做的一半或 40% 是安裝這個新產品的發布。因此，這種破壞可能會對利潤方面產生一些影響，顯然，確實如此。我們正在努力糾正這一問題。這就是我們一直在處理的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Walt Liptak, Seaport Research.

（操作員指示）Walt Liptak，海港研究中心。

Hey, good morning, everyone.

嘿，大家早安。

I wanted to ask about the renewables business. And thank you for doing slide 8. And I wonder if you could -- I think you made a comment in there that the solar business you thought was going to return to normal in early December. And I wonder if you could just talk a little bit about your confidence level in that because from, I think, our experience, the last couple two, three years, normal has been this volatility around the duties and tariffs and customs and regulations. So what gives us the confidence that things can be back to normal? What are you hearing from your customers?

我想問一下再生能源業務。感謝您製作幻燈片 8。我想知道您是否可以 - 我想您在那裡發表了評論，您認為太陽能業務將在 12 月初恢復正常。我想知道你是否可以談談你對此的信心水平，因為我認為，根據我們的經驗，過去兩三年，圍繞關稅、關稅、海關和法規的波動是正常的。那麼是什麼讓我們有信心事情可以恢復正常呢？您從客戶那裡聽到了什麼？

Yeah. Well, I actually think it's a combination of two things when you think about the next two quarters. One is the December 3 date deadline. So the most simplest way to think about it, everyone's trying to figure out how to navigate through this December 3 deadline. And if you get done before that, great. And then after December 3, there's an additional cost to the panels -- to somebody, whether it's the import of record or the developer or whomever that is tied to the DOC investigation number one as well as the DOC investigation number two final findings.

是的。嗯，實際上，當你考慮接下來的兩個季度時，我認為這是兩件事的結合。一是 12 月 3 日截止日期。因此，最簡單的思考方式是，每個人都在試圖弄清楚如何度過 12 月 3 日的最後期限。如果你能在那之前完成，那就太好了。12 月 3 日之後，專家小組需要支付額外費用，無論是進口記錄、開發商還是與 DOC 第一項調查以及 DOC 第二項調查最終結果相關的任何人。

So as I was trying to describe earlier is if you get your panels installed, then you avoid having to pay any duties that were the result of the first DOC investigation. If you don't get your panels installed by December 3, then you're going to be subjected to a higher cost because there'll be some type of duty, whether it's for anti-dumping or countervailing duties applied to that panel that was imported into the US over the last two years.

因此，正如我之前試圖描述的那樣，如果您安裝了面板，那麼您就無需支付美國商務部第一次調查所產生的任何關稅。如果您在 12 月 3 日之前沒有安裝好面板，那麼您將面臨更高的成本，因為將會有某種類型的關稅，無論是針對該面板徵收的反傾銷稅還是反補貼稅。到美國。

And so the reason that the final determinations are important, the issuance of these orders which are going to be out in February-- March time frame is that'll give our customers clarity as to what the actual costs are or what they're going to have to pay for the panels that they're using.

因此，最終決定很重要，這些訂單的發布將在二月至三月的時間範圍內發布，因為這將使我們的客戶清楚地了解實際成本是什麼或他們將要做什麼必須為他們使用的面板付費。

And so that's why there's two elements of this. So December 3 isn't a panacea of, hey, things are going to get better. It's a step that our customers have to go through. And then the second step is they need these final determinations from the Department of Commerce in US, ITC, to understand what the cost will be for the panels that are here in the country that they can deploy.

這就是為什麼這裡有兩個要素。所以 12 月 3 日並不是萬靈藥，嘿，事情會變得更好。這是我們的客戶必須經歷的一步。第二步是他們需要美國商務部 ITC 的最終決定，以了解他們可以部署的國家的面板成本是多少。

Then the third element of this is -- tied up in this is we will have a final ruling on critical circumstances as I referenced earlier in that same time frame. So the thought is that unless there's some other legal challenge somewhere from somebody, the industry should be through the AD/CVD impacts of both investigations, the critical circumstances, et cetera, by the end of first quarter.

第三個要素是——與此相關的是，正如我在同一時間範圍內早些時候提到的那樣，我們將對關鍵情況做出最終裁決。因此，我們的想法是，除非有人提出其他法律挑戰，否則該行業應該在第一季末之前完成兩項調查、關鍵情況等對 AD/CVD 的影響。

And so really there's a couple of quarters ahead of us still that we're dealing with and that's how we plan the business, going forward. So we'll continue to navigate through it, work on the things I mentioned earlier, but it's not going to be cleared up in December. It's -- that's one step. The second step is getting the final rulings in place. And that will be, I think, a breath of fresh air.

因此，我們確實還有幾個季度需要應對，這就是我們未來規劃業務的方式。因此，我們將繼續解決這個問題，處理我之前提到的事情，但它不會在 12 月解決。這是——這只是一步。第二步是做出最終裁決。我想，這將會是一股新鮮空氣。

So my confidence level on that not happening - These are dates that are published by the government. They're supposed to have to hit these dates, their mandate. So there should be clarity around the dates that we referenced. And the last one that's out there really is that February 6, 2025, is the date. I just added 30 days to it because I'm sure there's a little bit unknown here. But that those are the two things to think about relative to the next two quarters for the industry.

所以我對這種情況不會發生的信心水平 - 這些是政府公佈的日期。他們應該必須遵守這些日期和他們的任務。因此，我們引用的日期應該是清晰的。最後一個確切的日期是 2025 年 2 月 6 日。我剛剛添加了 30 天，因為我確信這裡有一點未知。但這是該行業未來兩個季度需要考慮的兩件事。

Okay, great. And a couple of questions off of that one. Your renewables business, the [community] solar markets have grown at nice double-digit rates when there weren't all these obstacles -- regulatory obstacles in the industry. Are we thinking that we get back to that? What's the addressable market do you think?

好的，太好了。還有幾個問題。當沒有所有這些障礙——行業的監管障礙時，你的可再生能源業務，[社區]太陽能市場已經以兩位數的速度增長。我們是否認為我們會回到那個狀態？您認為潛在市場是什麼？

Yeah. Well, we're going to talk more about that in our 2025 plan. But in general, the enthusiasm for the market is still very positive. I think there are a lot of folks that are -- you think about the industry association, the folks that have gathered the data, working with manufacturers, and publishing data around market projections for the last 10 years. How do they feel about the next couple of years? I think, still very positive and there's a huge backlog of interconnection agreements that exist in the US that totals about 1.5 terawatts worth of energy production, most of which is earmarked for solar production. That's equivalent to the today's existing production grid in the US across the entire US.

是的。好吧，我們將在 2025 年計劃中詳細討論這一點。但整體來說，市場的熱情還是非常正面的。我認為有很多人——你想想行業協會，他們收集了數據，與製造商合作，並發布了過去 10 年市場預測的數據。他們對未來幾年有何感想？我認為，仍然非常積極，美國存在大量積壓的互連協議，總能源產量約為 1.5 太瓦，其中大部分指定用於太陽能生產。這相當於當今美國整個美國現有的生產網格。

So clearly, people are buying land and/or they're applying for these interconnection agreements for solar and a little bit of wind as well, but mainly, solar. So it tells you that people still have great optimism, the need for electrifying the country, and the capacity required to do that is still out there. And there's all kinds of -- as you know, electrification in this is going on, so the grids have got to catch up. The interconnection -- the interconnectivity agreements have to be improved. That all is about connection to the utility and the transmission lines. That stuff has to catch up. And I think people feel like -- look, there's a couple years of slowing because of that and you see some of the other folks in the industry that have talked a lot about that where project schedules are moving to the right a bit and that's a lot associated with these things that we think are going to be cleared up.

很明顯，人們正在購買土地和/或他們正在申請這些太陽能和少量風能的互連協議，但主要是太陽能。所以它告訴你，人們仍然非常樂觀，對國家電氣化的需求以及實現這一目標所需的能力仍然存在。正如你所知，電氣化正在發生，因此電網必須跟上。互連－互連協定必須改進。這一切都與公用設施和輸電線路的連接有關。那東西必須跟上。我認為人們感覺——看，因此有幾年的放緩，你會看到業內的其他一些人已經談論了很多關於項目進度稍微向右移動的問題，這是一個我們認為與這些事情相關的很多事情將會得到解決。

So as AD/CVD clears itself and then you start working on these interconnectivity agreements and some other supply chain issues that things like large transformers, as those things start to get a little better, you're going to see the industry, I think, start to accelerate, maybe not at the 15% or 20% growth rates we saw but a healthy clip, for sure. So, we expect that as well. But we're going through that same analysis now to see, is there anything that is structurally different in the end market itself. And our initial conclusion is we still think it's a healthy end market opportunity.

因此，隨著 AD/CVD 自行清除，然後你開始處理這些互連協議和其他一些供應鏈問題，例如大型變壓器，隨著這些事情開始變得更好，我認為，你將看到這個行業，開始加速，也許不是我們看到的15% 或20% 的成長率，但肯定是一個健康的成長速度。所以，我們也期望如此。但我們現在正在進行同樣的分析，看看終端市場本身是否有結構上的差異。我們的初步結論是，我們仍然認為這是一個健康的終端市場機會。

So more to come on that. But it's a -- I would say it's a real-time analysis as we're trying to navigate through everything we just talked about, just like everyone else in the industry. You're trying to project things for '25, '26 from an end market perspective. There's a timing element for some of these things that I don't think anyone has a specific date that they can count on. But generally speaking, it feels like we come out of second quarter -- first quarter next year, AD/CVD will be behind us. And then some of these other issues we talked about, I know, people are working diligently on them as well.

所以還有更多的事情要做。但這是——我想說這是一個即時分析，因為我們正在嘗試瀏覽我們剛才討論的所有內容，就像行業中的其他人一樣。你正試圖從終端市場的角度來預測 25 年、26 年的情況。其中一些事情有一個時間因素，我認為任何人都沒有可以指望的具體日期。但總的來說，感覺我們已經走出第二季度——明年第一季度，AD/CVD 將成為過去。然後我們談到的其他一些問題，我知道，人們也在努力解決這些問題。

So that was a long answer to your question. I apologize.

這是對你問題的一個很長的回答。我道歉。

I appreciate the answer. And maybe just one more follow on to it. So in the fourth quarter and first quarter for renewables, it sounds like we're going to be operating at this lower level of revenue and operating margin. Is that right?

我很欣賞你的回答。也許還有一個後續。因此，在再生能源的第四季度和第一季度，聽起來我們將在較低的收入和營業利潤率水平上運作。是這樣嗎？

Yeah, I think that's a fair assessment. And remember too, we go into Q1, that's always our lowest volume quarter anyway because of seasonality. But generally speaking, yeah, I think what we've assumed and built into our guide is that the renewables business continues to deal with what it's dealing with. Obviously, we're going to work hard to improve as best we can on that. But we feel good about our ability to continue to make money and so forth. But I do think it's going to be a bit suppressed until we get through these final issuance of orders from the AD/CVD investigations.

是的，我認為這是一個公平的評估。還要記住，我們進入第一季度，由於季節性原因，這始終是我們銷售最低的季度。但總的來說，是的，我認為我們在指南中假設並納入的是再生能源業務繼續處理它正在處理的事情。顯然，我們將盡力在這方面做出改進。但我們對自己繼續賺錢的能力感到滿意等等。但我確實認為，在我們完成 AD/CVD 調查的最終命令之前，它會受到一些壓制。

Dan Moore, CJS Securities.

丹摩爾，CJS 證券。

All right. Thanks, again. Maybe one more renewables. It might be just longer term when you think about the path back to sustained and consistent double-digit operating margins. Once we get through these things, is there anything you can do in terms of nature of the contracts to share some of the pain of customers and projects are delayed? Or is it just kind of the nature of the business that will be bouncing between mid- to high-single-digit and mid-teens margins depending on where we are in the period of demand, going forward? Thanks, again.

好的。再次感謝。也許還有一種再生能源。當你考慮到恢復持續穩定的兩位數營業利潤率的道路時，這可能只是一個長期的問題。一旦我們解決了這些問題，就合約性質而言，您能做些什麼來分擔客戶和專案延遲的一些痛苦嗎？或者這只是業務的本質，它將在中高個位數和中位數利潤率之間反彈，具體取決於我們在需求時期的位置，未來？再次感謝。

Yeah, Dan, I think it's -- a couple years ago, maybe four years ago when this journey started with UFLPA, there was a lot around contracts that were unfavorable to different parts of folks in the value chain. I think that's less of an issue today. It's not an issue that we're taking all of it and our customers are not seeing a similar type of result. They are also going through a similar challenge. I suspect most of them are private companies. So I don't have good insight into exactly how they're feeling, but it has been a very inefficient, complex situation for everyone to deal with. And I don't think we're taking on the burden solely by ourselves showing up in our financials.

是的，丹，我認為是 - 幾年前，也許四年前，當 UFLPA 開始這段旅程時，有很多合約對價值鏈中不同部分的人不利。我認為今天這不再是個問題。我們採取了所有這些措施，而我們的客戶沒有看到類似的結果，這並不是問題。他們也正在經歷類似的挑戰。我懷疑其中大多數是私人公司。所以我不太清楚他們的感受，但對每個人來說，這都是一個非常低效、複雜的情況。我不認為我們只是透過自己的財務表現來承擔這一負擔。

Listen, some of what I described earlier is a little bit self-inflicted. We got to be better at what we're doing and how we're launching and the team's working diligently at that. And that'll help us get better in this volume environment.

聽著，我之前描述的一些事情有點是我自己造成的。我們必須在我們正在做的事情以及我們如何啟動方面做得更好，並且團隊正在為此努力工作。這將幫助我們在這個數量環境中變得更好。

If you think about the second half of last year, I think, we generated margins 13%, 14%. So we absolutely have the capability. And I think we're in a much better position, believe it or not, to do it today -- deliver that today than we would have been four years ago. The difference, I think, now is we've launched a new product in a pretty difficult market situation, which I think made things a little bit more complex for us.

如果你想想去年下半年，我想我們的利潤率為 13%、14%。所以我們絕對有這個能力。我認為，不管你信不信，我們今天的處境比四年前好得多，今天就能做到這一點。我認為，現在的差異是我們在一個相當困難的市場情況下推出了一款新產品，我認為這讓我們的事情變得更加複雜。

So we'll work through that. I think we've been pretty good at demonstrating we can operate in some pretty tough environments. But it's probably -- this is probably the most challenging time, I think, in industry with a series of unknowns across these various things we talked about. And I didn't throw anything in there about an election.

所以我們會解決這個問題。我認為我們非常擅長證明我們可以在一些非常艱難的環境中運作。但我認為，這可能是業界中最具挑戰性的時期，我們討論的各種事情有一系列未知因素。我沒有在其中添加任何有關選舉的內容。

The election itself hasn't had any impact on the industry up to this point per se. But I do think there are people wondering what that's going to mean. And there's a little bit of pause associated with that. But most of what we've described today has nothing to do with the coming election. It has everything to do with the unknowns and the moving targets that people are dealing with.

到目前為止，選舉本身尚未對產業產生任何影響。但我確實認為有人想知道這意味著什麼。與此相關的還有一點停頓。但我們今天描述的大部分內容與即將到來的選舉無關。它與人們正在處理的未知因素和移動目標密切相關。

So yeah, do I think this is a business that can run 15% consistently? Absolutely. And I think we'll demonstrate that. I mean, think of the size of the business today versus where we thought it would be. It's not as large. And even last year, it was not, yet we were able to demonstrate pretty good margin performance. So I have confidence in our team to be able to do that, for sure, going forward. We just need some cadence and pace. Our customers need cadence and pace. And I think everyone can perform a little bit differently.

是的，我認為這是一家可以持續運作 15% 的企業嗎？絕對地。我想我們會證明這一點。我的意思是，想想現在的業務規模與我們想像的規模。它沒有那麼大。即使去年並非如此，但我們仍能展現出相當不錯的利潤率表現。因此，我對我們的團隊充滿信心，他們一定能夠做到這一點，並繼續前進。我們只需要一些節奏和節奏。我們的客戶需要節奏和節奏。我認為每個人的表現都可以有所不同。

Not an excuse for us. I would never tell you that that's someone else's fault. It's still our responsibility at the end of the day to get it done. So that's how I think about it.

不是我們的藉口。我永遠不會告訴你那是別人的錯。歸根結底，完成它仍然是我們的責任。這就是我的想法。

We have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. I'd now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Bosway for closing comments.

我們的問答環節已經結束。我現在想將電話轉回博斯威先生以徵求結束意見。

Well, listen, I appreciate Walt, Dan, and Julio for joining us today and asking the questions spot on. I appreciate that.

好吧，聽著，我感謝沃爾特、丹和胡里奧今天加入我們並現場提出問題。我很欣賞這一點。

Coming up, we do plan to present at the BOA Clean Energy Symposium and the CJ S Winter Conference as well. And we have a number of other investor events planned.

接下來，我們也計劃在 BOA 清潔能源研討會和 CJ S 冬季會議上進行展示。我們還計劃舉辦許多其他投資者活動。

So thank you. Thanks again for joining us today as well as your support and look forward to catching up with you after our full-year report. Take care. Thank you.

所以謝謝你。再次感謝您今天加入我們以及您的支持，並期待在我們的全年報告後與您聯繫。小心。謝謝。

This includes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and we thank you for your participation.

這包括今天的會議。此時您可以斷開線路，我們感謝您的參與。