Q2 2022 Ufp Industries Inc Earnings Call

July 21, 2022

Yeah.

The conference will begin shortly to raise your hand during Q&A you can dial stuff.

[music].

Okay and thank you for standing by welcome to the UFP Industries, Inc. Q2, 2022 earnings conference call and webcast. At this time all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speaker's presentation. There will be a question and answer session to ask a question. During this session you will need to press star one.

On your telephone please be advised that today's conference is being recorded I would now like to hand, the conference over to your speaker today, Mr. <expletive> Garcia, Vice President of Communications and Investor Relations. Please go ahead Sir.

This conference call is available simultaneously in its entirety to all interested investors and news media through a webcast at USPI Dot Com. A replay will also be available at that website before I turn the call over to Matt <unk>, Let me remind you that today's press release and presentation include forward looking statements as defined in the private Securities Litigation Reform Act of nine.

295. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the company's expectations and projections. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to those factors identified in the press release and the filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission now I would like to turn the call over to Matt massage.

Thank you <expletive> it's a beautiful day in USB and we are keeping the sunny side up.

Many pundits are turning to music off but our team said don't stop the party.

The team has been working day and night to post more incredible results and continued to turn on the record machine with new sales and profit records for the quarter.

Net sales for Q2 were $2 9 billion with units up a modest 3%.

Net earnings were $203 million for the quarter and diluted EPS was $3 23 a share.

These results were delivered in a rapidly falling lumber market, which in the past would have impacted overall performance much more negatively.

Instead these results demonstrate the resilience of our diversified business model as well as the skill experience and dedication of our teammates and the UFP family of companies.

I want to thank them all for the spectacular performance and congratulate them on their achievements.

At the same time some of you are telling US don't look back just tell us about the future of.

Ill queue up that song in a bit but first let's review the performance and outlook by segment.

We'll start with construction.

The business unit had strong order files through the balance of 'twenty, two and most of the markets we supply components.

North East market has softened somewhat due in part to out migration from that stake.

The site built group benefited in Q2 from market tailwind, which resulted from strong demand and lack of available supply.

Looking ahead multifamily orders are still strong and the markets. We serve as owners and developers are bullish on the outlook for the balance of 'twenty, two and 'twenty, three and they're taking advantage of the softening market pricing for materials.

Our forward outlook and site built is based in part on the latest predictions of actions by the Federal Reserve, which show increasing rates through Q1 of 2023 and surprisingly enough rate declines in Q3 or Q4 of 2023.

While we favor a patient wait and see approach for three to six months after each rate change to allow the impact of the move to be absorbed the current dialogue does not exhibit patients or acumen.

As a result, we expect single digit percentage declines in housing starts over the next two years.

With our business model and our geographic locations, which tend to be in areas, where long term growth as expected. This level of activity will still result in very good performance in our cycle business.

Factory built is strong and the affordability of that factory built homes provide makes it an attractive option in a rising interest rate an inflationary environment.

People still need homes in mobile and modular are great entry level options as well as move up options.

RV has seen a significant slowdown although it is not a large percentage of our factory build business.

Factory built did suffer some margin erosion in Q2 of certain variable priced items declined during the quarter.

The outlook remains positive, though as manufacturers look to expand production of lower priced units.

And the concrete forming area, we continue to expand our geographic presence and move to convert sticks and panel sales to designed manufactured and assembled form sales.

Variable price products saw margin compression in the concrete forming market as well during the quarter and should normalize during Q3.

And we have not yet seen any significant activity from infrastructure spending.

Commercial construction has worked very hard to improve and theyre heading on a good path towards our overall return targets.

There still remains some supply issues domestically with highly custom products the supply chain for imports from Asia has improved from earlier this year.

They have additional opportunities for improvement too as they rationalize product mix and ensure that they receive the appropriate value for the services they provide.

They plan to operate a functional capacity during Q3 to meet their customer orders.

Moving to retail solutions are retail customers continue to see solid demand after a slow start to the spring in the northern markets.

Year over year Comparables were generally better in June as the professional contractors remain busy.

The decorators business units has seen lead times for wood plastic composite returned to normal pre pandemic levels and inventories throughout the channel are back to normal levels as well.

We are operating to wood plastic composite operations at approximately 70% to 75% of capacity, which in total is still is above the 2019 levels.

On the other hand, we continued to experience lengthy lead times and unmet demand for our mineral based composite products such as decorators voyage.

We increased our capacity by approximately 66% on an annualized basis compared to last year and are still operating at a full capacity today.

We expect to complete our equipment installations and ramp up for our goal of a 100% cap capacity increase over 2020 by year end 2022.

And we continue to see buyers moving away from traditional higher and wood products, primarily cedar in Redwood and making the jump into our mineral based composites.

Our certified professional installers continued to be our best brand advocates as they have become the primary driver of increased demand we continue to see here.

And we are also excited to see the continued growth and the impact from our ultra aluminum and Cedar poly acquisitions earlier this year.

And outdoor essentials, the customer inventories have normalized seasonally after being higher than needed and most of Q2 due to customers' concerns on freight and supply chain issues.

Our Haven line of lawn and garden products is gaining momentum too and will be followed by several other new products as we expand our tool free offering.

We have had to increase prices in this market to reflect the higher input costs and they've been working with our customers to better communicate our value proposition to the consumers.

And the Hampshire, Inc business unit, a craft stores and mass merchandise customers dramatically slowed their orders in Q2.

Some customers are down as much as 80% due to excess inventory in the channel.

Most of the large craft customers have a 60 day lead time. So we have started to see order volume improvement.

And pro with lead times have also decreased the demand for our products is normalized of pre pandemic levels and supply has been able to catch up.

We faced a falling lumber market the majority of the quarter with inventory needed for the traditional seasonal buildup.

Our fire retardant product profile Fr continues to expand distribution is and is picking up share in the market.

We expect the lower price level for the consumer and a solid backlog of outdoor projects will favor pro would performance compared to Q3 2021.

Situation is similar at Sunbelt, the rapid decline in the market while similar in scope to 2021 did not impact sunbelt as badly as a year ago. Nevertheless, sunbelt at approximately $9 million of lower of cost or market adjustments in Q2.

The continued improvement of their purchasing programs as well as a more dynamic pricing model will improve bottom line performance.

It also may be necessary to eliminate business, which does not meet our return targets as we try to improve our overall performance.

The industrial segment continues to perform well.

As pallet, one execute this strategy to improve sourcing manufacturing and is expanding geographically within the USP footprint.

The recent combination with Dempsey forest products provides additional opportunity to create efficiencies in the supply chain.

And structural packaging, our national sales team continues to gain business and drive more sales with national accounts.

We also continue to convert more commodity business to value added, including designed engineered and mixed materials manufacturing.

Enhancing our proprietary strip pack product is a good example of unique solutions that we provide for our customers.

Our agricultural business is also gaining share as the cost of alternative petroleum based products increases.

Looking ahead, some customers' businesses have slowed somewhat while others remained strong.

We are gaining customers as well as gaining efficiencies in manufacturing.

The supply chain overall is improving which helps reduce lead times.

Our outlook remains positive given our very diverse end markets and the industrial space, which provides great stability.

And UFP packaging, we have also seen a slight weakening in demand as these end markets generally mirror, our overall customer mix and industrial.

We still see strong growth opportunities in this business unit and we will continue our search to grow new products and opportunities.

In the International group, our operations in Australia, and India are improving nicely coming out of the pandemic.

Mexico has continued to perform well with the parts of the business tied to housing related products facing similar challenges going forward.

Europe , and the Middle East performance are lagging and not up to our standards.

On the sourcing side, our international team continues to battle shipping costs, while finding valuable resources in other parts of the world.

As we look at purchasing and transportation, we expect a more stable and normal lumber and panel market in the back half of 2022.

Our internal transportation costs have increased due to fuel and labor cost increases.

And third party trucking availability is improving but potential rate decreases are being offset by higher fuel prices.

We expect trucking availability to remain good but we also do not expect significant rate reductions.

As we look at our inventories overall, they are higher than we would like and we will be reducing them during the back half of the year as supply and transportation concerns are expected to be alleviated.

However, rail has been and will likely continue to be a concern through the third quarter and through year end.

Labor and equipment shortages that plague the carriers, which have created pressure for users like USP <unk>.

Caused us to pay a higher freight costs by using trucks rather than railcars.

On new products the new.

New product sales for the quarter were $180 1 million and our $347 7 million year to date.

In our continuing effort to innovate we are seeing new products come through the innovation accelerator and we are exploring intellectual property technology and process improvement acquisitions adventures through our new innovation fund, which is designed to get new products at an earlier stage of development and enable faster commercialization and scaling.

Yeah.

Because of our commitment to continue to find better products and processes and ensure a stronger piece of the value chain. We have to continue to develop intellectual property and disrupt our businesses before others do.

As a result, we expect to invest up to $100 million over the next several years to find more new and unique products and develop a long term robust pipeline, which will deliver results over a three to seven year period from the time of investment.

Labor has and continues to be an issue for our industry.

In some markets it remains very tight while in others. It is loosening somewhat however.

However, with more reasonable takeaway, we have generally been able to manage this better internally than in previous quarters.

Wages and benefits have increased significantly and we intend to continue our fall and spring bonus programs for our hourly teammates.

Regardless of the hurdles we face over the next few years, we will face them head on and keep our focus on protecting and enhancing long term shareholder value.

Effective allocation of capital is a cornerstone.

We prioritize capital on growth, creating long term value and providing a solid return to our shareholders.

Our growth capital is directed to strategic acquisitions, new products and services expansionary and efficiency capital expenditures.

We have plenty of acquisition targets in the pipeline, but we'll keep our disciplined approach and adjust our model consistent with our view of the future.

We had a great supply of dry powder, and a strong balance sheet, which enables us to take advantage of opportunistic situations as they occur in the targeted runways.

In addition to new products and services in all business units, we see opportunities with our industrial growth as we pursue our goal of being the global packaging solution provider.

We will continue to scale, our recent acquisitions across our network as well as finding new products and M&A.

Throughout our business unit footprint.

Our return on capital to shareholders stage, three forms share repurchases cash dividends an increase in share value.

In addition to the share repurchases during the quarter, we believe that consistent and growing dividends adds value to our shareholders and are pleased to report that the board again authorized a dividend of <unk> 25 per share payable on September 15 to shareholders of record on September one.

And while the demand for capital is high throughout the organization, we will remain thoughtful in our approach and stay true to our return on investment focus.

Now I'll turn it over to Mike Cole to share more information.

Thanks, Matt and good afternoon, everyone.

Our consolidated results. This quarter are highlighted by a 3% unit sales growth, including 2% organic over record volumes last year.

92% adjusted EBITDA growth.

EBITDA margin expansion of 130 basis points to 11%.

Trailing 12 months return on invested capital of 29% and a strong balance sheet with net debt to trailing 12 month EBITDA less than two times and liquidity over $1 1 billion.

Now I'll walk through the financial statements for the quarter in more detail starting with our sales by segment.

Sales to the retail segment decreased 11% and consisted of a 5% decrease in selling prices a 2% decrease in the transfer of certain sales to our construction segment as we continued to align business optimally in our segments.

In organic unit decline of 5%.

In unit growth from acquisitions of 1%.

The organic unit decline as experienced in nearly all of our retail business units as a result of.

A difficult year over year to Q2 comparison with last year's strong results.

As you May recall orders were exceptionally strong in Q2 last year as customers stopped inventories anticipating strong consumer demand.

When that level of demand didn't fully materialize order slowed significantly in Q3.

This year, we've seen more steady order flow and register sales of our customers and are optimistic our unit sales comparisons next quarter will be more favorable.

Cumulatively since 2019, our retail unit sales have increased organically by 15%.

Sales to the industrial segment increased 11%, which was driven by selling price increases as we continue to improve our value added product mix.

Execute value based selling initiatives and maintained pricing discipline.

Our unit sales from acquisitions increased 1%.

Consistent with our discussion last quarter organic unit growth was flat due to capacity constraints, including the availability of labor and long lead times on equipment as we continue to be selective in the business. We take in order to focus on higher margin value added products.

Execution of the sales strategy again resulted in tremendous improvement in our gross profits, which I'll review shortly.

The components of our change in organic unit volumes includes market share gains associated with $17 million in sales to new customers.

$24 million of sales to new locations of existing customers and $20 million of new product sales.

Demonstrating the balance of our organic growth channels.

These gains were offset by the intentional loss of unit sales on less profitable accounts.

Customer demand is beginning to show signs of softening in the industry that we've been able to mitigate through these market share gains.

Finally, our sales to the construction segment increased 32% consisting of a 15% increase in selling prices, 2% growth due to the transfer of business from retail and 15% organic unit growth.

Organic unit growth was driven by a 63% increase in commercial of 35% increase in concrete forming and 16% in factory built housing.

Capacity constraints in our sites business unit have been a challenge so we focused on being selective in the business, we take to maximize profitability.

Order files and backlogs of business remain elevated and our commercial concrete forming and factory build business units within sight of demand in our mid Atlantic, Texas, and Colorado, Colorado regions remain healthy while the northeast is beginning to show signs of softening to pre pandemic levels.

Multifamily demand in the regions. We serve also remains strong.

Moving down the income statement, our second quarter gross profits increased by $82 million or 20% and significantly outpaced or a 3% increase in unit sales as our profit per unit improved.

By segment constructions gross profit increased by $93 million or 69% led by a $73 million increase in site built.

And the $11 million increase in factory built and an $8 million increase in our commercial business unit.

Value added products have increased to 75% of total sales this year from 68% last year.

Industrial's gross profit increased by $28 million or 21%, primarily due to our value added selling initiatives and more favorable changes in product mix, including new products value added products have increased to 71% of total industrial sales this year from 64% last year.

Retail decreased decreased by $49 million or 40% for the quarter.

The decrease was primarily driven by our pro would sunbelt in retail building building products business units totaling $47 million the.

The products sold in these business units are based on a variable price tied to the lumber market, which dropped from its 2022 peak of over $300 at the end of March two under $600 at the end of June .

This also resulted.

And a lower of cost or net realizable value reserve that we recorded at the end of June totaling $9 million.

In July prices have stabilized you might recall that last year lumber prices rose to over $500.

By the end of May drop to approximately $1100 by the end of June and continued to fall to under $400 by the end of August .

Given our current inventory positions and the timing of the lumber market declines. We believe we are well positioned to show a favorable improvement in our gross profits next quarter.

Continuing to move down the income statement, our SG&A expenses, excluding bonus expense increased by $30 million, including nearly $4 million from recently acquired businesses.

Remaining increase primarily consisted of a $10 million increase in sales incentives a $9 million increase in bad debt expense, a $6 million increase in wages and benefits and a $3 million increase in travel costs.

These increases were offset by a $6 million decrease in our accrued bonus expense for the quarter.

The decrease in the current year is due to modifications made to reduce the size of the incentives earned under the under our bonus plan.

Summit goal of our plan is to make sure our incentives are appropriate alright, our incentives appropriately reward our employees and are aligned with results that drive shareholder value.

The new plan modifications, resulting in lower bonus rate when higher levels of pre bonus operating profits are achieved while still rewarding growth and return on investment.

We've made other changes as well to make sure bonuses continued to be more broadly allocated to a greater number of employees to foster the teamwork our culture encourages these.

These modifications resulted in a $17 million adjustment to our bonus expense to reduce our bonus expense.

Our year to date accrued bonus expense is now recorded at 17, 5% of pre bonus operating profit historically under the old plan provisions bonus expense was approximately 20% of pre bonus operating profit.

Sequentially, our SG&A decreased from $220 million in Q1 to nearly $215 million in Q2, primarily due to lower bonus expense offset by increases in bad debt expense and sales incentives.

Finally, our operating profits increased nearly $49 million driven by a $66 million increase in construction, a $15 million increase in industrial and a $38 million decrease in retail.

Acquisitions contributed $2 5 million to the increase in our operating profits.

Moving on to our cash flow statement, our net cash flows from operations for the year to date was $90 million and consisted of net earnings and noncash expenses of $475 million compared to $328 million last year, and a $385 million increase in net working capital since the end of last year compared to <unk>.

$444 million increase in the prior year.

Looking forward, we anticipate converting the $385 million increase in net working capital to cash during the back half of the year, assuming lumber prices remain at those normalized levels and our business follows a more normal seasonal pattern.

We measure our cash cycle to assess our working capital management and an increased to 51 days this year, which is consistent with our historical trends, but three days higher than last year, primarily due to an increase in our days supply of inventory.

Our investing activities for the year included capital expenditures totaling $72 million, including expansionary and efficiency capex of $35 million.

Extended lead times on most equipment in rolling stock may cause us to fall short of our plan of $175 million to $225 million of Capex for 2022 as delivery of these items could get pushed to 2023.

And we invested $39 million on previously announced acquisitions.

Finally, our financing activities for the year included $28 million of dividends and $91 million of share repurchases.

With respect to our capital structure and resources at the end of June our total debt net of cash was only $191 million compared to $1 billion in trailing 12 months EBITDA and $2 3 billion in equity.

And our total liquidity was over $1 1 billion, consisting of surplus cash of $438 million and availability of $536 million under our revolving credit facility and $500 million under a shelf agreement with certain lenders.

I'll finish up with comments about our capital allocation plans the strength of our cash flow generation and conservative capital structure provides us with plenty of capital to grow our business and also return to shareholders.

We continue to pursue a balanced and return driven approach across dividends share buybacks capital investments and M&A.

Specifically our board just approved another quarterly dividend of <unk> 25, a share representing a year over year increase of 67%, reflecting confidence in our future business outlook, we continue to consider our payout ratios and yield when determining the appropriate rate and are pleased to once again raise our year over year dividend.

So far for the year, we repurchased one 2 million shares of our stock at an average price of $77. We have remaining authorization to repurchase up to an additional $1 4 million shares through the balance of the year and we'll continue to do so at times when the price hits, our pre established target.

Moving on to growth.

The low end of our targeted Capex range of $175 million now appears more likely due to the extended lead times I mentioned earlier.

Priority continues to be given the projects that enhance the working environments of our plants take advantage of automation opportunities and drive strategies that have long term growth potential of new and value added products.

Notable projects include investments to expand the capacity of our decorators business unit expand UFP edge geographically enhanced automation and expand the capacity of our machine build pallet and other structural wood packaging operations enhanced automation and expand the capacity of our site built operations, including geographically.

And expand our transportation fleet to meet our customers' needs.

Lastly, we continue to pursue a healthy pipeline of acquisition opportunities of companies that are a strong strategic fit and enhance our capabilities, while providing higher margin.

Return and growth potential.

So all I have on the financials Matt.

Thank you, Mike now I'd like to open it up for questions.

Thank you as a reminder to ask a question you will need to press star one on your telephone please standby, while we compile the Q&A roster.

And our first question will come from Keith <unk> with BMO capital markets. Please go ahead.

Thank you and congratulations on another strong quarter for.

So the SPT.

Thank you Katie first question.

Starting with the retail segment.

If I look at the southern yellow price.

Yellow pine price fell quite sharply in the second quarter, you went on a year over year basis was down quite a bit.

The oil prices were down only 5% in the segment can you talk about what you guys are doing differently. So it wasn't in the past.

See you.

And some of the closer.

Correlation with what's happening on the lumber side.

Yes, that's a good question Keith I don't know that I can give you a ton of color on that specific.

Pricing discipline or if theres something that specifically has changed I know, how we purchase lumber and how we manage our inventories has definitely improved over the period of time, but.

I think there is also a lag in the market and there are some other things that may be impacting that.

Percentage, you're referring to I think it's a more difficult calculation to acute and last year, you had prices running for much of the quarter.

Dropping then in June and this this year.

Yeah.

Prices started out more elevated and then and then declined obviously through the quarter. So I think in the timing of sales and the timing of the market movements is probably not giving you as clean and look at that is as in the past and the business does become a little less weighted toward lumber the more we accomplish growing the other value added parts of our business and do more.

<unk> added just generally.

As more fixed pricing.

That's part of the reason why that disconnect is starting to occur.

Okay. That's helpful.

Mark I'll have Mike doesn't doesn't that mean that you will see.

More of an impact of this volume price in the third quarter I know you talked about having positive year over year kind of performance in this segment.

But when I think about Q3 versus Q2.

At a high level, how would you have us think about that.

Well I think what I would probably do Keaton is take a look at things.

Units like pro Wood, and Sun belt, and I think the best way to look at it as year over year comparisons.

We expect that given similar demand profiles Q3 should should yield better results in 2022 than it did in 2021.

That's probably the biggest area of the rest of the business units are maybe a little more disconnected as Mike said from the lumber market.

And Keith I guess, maybe adding on to that.

The lower of cost or market write down that we did this year, which was $9 million that basically got our inventories were cost obviously was.

Above market they got it in line with market.

Now prices have stabilized in July and to the extent they stay there.

That positions us really well to make a good margin on those sales going forward last year was the opposite.

We lost about $25 million in operating profit I think which is something I've never seen before but thats what occurred last year because that drop in the market occurred in July and in August and we were selling into a dead downmarket.

Two straight months and so it's very different dynamics in and we feel that positions us really well to show a gross profit improvement in retail in Q3, it pretty strongly.

So again I'm not trying to put too fine a line on that but yes you are.

Lumber prices, but if prices were to stay where they are on the lumber side and the demand profile does not change too dramatically.

Q2 be better than Q2.

It's tough to say at this point, yes.

Yes, because yes.

We took it up for <unk> for retail, which I assume is what your question related to yes, yes, because the impact of selling into that down market throughout Q2 was.

Painful.

Yeah.

And I see that in the change from Q1 to Q2.

Yes, Okay. That's helpful I'll jump back in the queue. Thank you.

Thanks Keith.

One moment for our next question that will come from the line of Stanley Elliott with Stifel.

Hey, guys. Thank you very much for taking the question.

Matt you guys have done a nice job of kind.

Mixing up the business of walking away from less profitable business and being more selective.

If we do see it a marketing softening generally speaking is there enough runway for you all to continue that trend and being more selective so that the.

Actual impact on the margins should be negligible maybe even.

See some further improvement.

Yes, I guess, what I would say Stanley is without knowing specifically what margins you're referring to I think there still is.

A fair amount of runway for us to grow and our conversion from more commodity type sales to more value added sales.

And so that will improve generally the overall value, we provide and the margin should improve with it.

I just would caution you from comparing overall margins versus specific products or specific products that we're selling now at a low margin they're in a blended rate in total.

So it may not have the same corollary effect that youre talking about.

That sounds fair switching gears to the Cedar poly recycle.

Is this all playing for internal use do you guys see this more as a margin play.

More of a material available.

Ability to play in.

I guess, a follow up we've heard nice things about decorators in the marketplace.

I'm, assuming this is going to be size. So you can continue to grow with that product.

With that product.

Yes, I think as obviously at the time of acquisition. It was not fully dedicated to decorators I think it is sized properly and we want to continue to grow it and create more opportunities there it will definitely enhance and make our operations more efficient.

We will reduce our cost and from a long term perspective wed like it to be capable of handling all of the decorators needs but.

That's quite a ways down the path.

And then lastly on the M&A environment with lumber prices kind of having settled out a little bit.

You have some of the seller expectations kind of settled out as well is it still kind of a disconnect just curious kind of hello.

The aggressive you all are interested in being in the back half of the year, what the M&A environment.

Yes ill just kind of give you the broad picture I think Mike can chime in with a lot more detail that I have we still want to make sure we're hitting our ROI targets. When we look at transactions and we try to use normalized numbers as opposed to what I'll call peak numbers of the past year or so.

So with that in mind, we will be diligent and dedicated and hopefully we'll be able to put things together to sellers that I've talked to still have high expectations, but maybe they are willing to to come down from them. What are you seeing Mike.

Yes, I think the pipeline is probably a little slower than it's than it's been in the past when we've.

In bidding.

Proposals that we've been.

Part of maybe a few maybe maybe fewer bidders than what we've seen in the past so a little less competitive.

Even though the pipeline might be a little slower we have lots of opportunities, though because we have so many different business units that have.

Great opportunities for them to grow in their runways.

And like Matt said, we're being very careful.

Valuation just relative to what could be peak performance.

We are looking at normalized and multiples off those numbers.

Perfect guys. Thanks for the time and the best of luck.

Thank you.

Thank you one moment for our next question.

That will come from the line of Kurt Yinger with D. A Davidson. Please go ahead.

Great. Thank you and good afternoon, Mike.

Hi, Kurt.

I just wanted to follow up on Ken's question was kind of aimed at the retail segment, but I wanted to kind of talk about construction and industrial and I mean, it's striking to me given what lumber has done on kind of a year over year basis, Youre still getting kind of double digit positive price impact there and I understand lumber isn't the full story.

But I don't think we've really seen it kind of dis disconnected in the past and so I guess the question is can the pricing you've achieved and those businesses kind of sustain even in a more normalized lumber environment.

Or is there, maybe some timing issues or anything else going on there.

Yes, so I think they are probably.

Two different stories, so I would probably point to construction and say your instincts are absolutely correct. I think there is some benefit of timing in both lumber market and pricing and agreements and otherwise.

So that there was a very good tailwind in Q2 that I don't think continues on in a normalized situation.

Think.

By the same token I would say that we have improved that business and the team that's running say build in particular in particular is getting more efficient.

And given the size and scope of their business.

Should be able to have better than I'd say historical margins, but certainly theres a lot of tailwind effect in Q2.

On the other hand, industrial I think is probably.

Much more close to what I would call a normalized situation.

And so there may be some adjustment, but not like construction and I think you can probably look to historical and industrial plus some for their efficiencies and how they've expanded and how they've driven more value to the business as opposed to what I'd call the commodity sticks and panels, which were a much bigger portion of the business <unk>.

Years ago.

<unk>.

I think thats the way I would describe it Kurt.

Okay.

That makes complete sense and I mean.

It kind of rolls into my next question then should we think about how you frame that in terms of.

Maybe the construction segment seeing some normalization, but industrial being fairly sustainable is that a fair way to think about the margin profiles of those businesses as well.

Yes that would be my expectation.

Perfect Okay.

And then just on the site business.

You talked about backlog still being extended.

While starts are pulled back we still have kind of a record number of homes under construction you talked about multifamily still being pretty strong is that something that you think could help potentially smooth the demand profile for kind of your residential exposed businesses or.

Should we think of kind of single family starts still being the best proxy.

No I think your instincts are good there Kurt yes, I would say the multifamily definitely does move it out and it's been much more resilient than I thought it would have probably when I talk to you a few years ago I would have told you. It only had a few year run, but it seems to be much stronger than it might have a lot to do with the affordability question an issue I think.

The other thing that I would keep in mind is that.

If youre looking at National Statistics on starts and permits in.

Those areas.

I would encourage you to look more regional to where our facilities are because we don't necessarily mirror the national trends there but.

Overall multifamily will definitely help smooth it out and to help with any future capacity challenges.

Right, Okay that makes sense.

Just one last one.

On the retail side and within kind of the repair and remodel exposed areas.

Was hoping you could talk a bit about what you've seen from the DIY and do it for me kind of over the course of the quarter and as you speak with your home Center partners are you hearing any caution in terms of them, perhaps taking a harder look at inventory levels and looking to get more conservative or.

Do you think we've seen that largely play out.

Yes.

<unk>.

I can't tell you, specifically, which customers, but I can tell you that they all seem to be very comfortable with where inventory levels are.

There is different different retailers that I know arent in different markets different things, but.

The pro demand is still very very strong and so the retailers are seeing that.

And I think they feel very comfortable with where they are at least in our products.

And the building product space.

No.

Very comfortable is lower than it was in terms of demand from the peak of that.

<unk>, but it's still very good relative to 2019.

Got it okay, well I appreciate all the color and I'll turn it over.

Thank you Sir.

Thank you one moment for our next question now.

It will come from the line of Julio Romero with Sidoti <unk> Company. Please go ahead.

Hey, good afternoon, thanks for taking my questions.

Hi.

Just wanted to kind of stay on the site build section.

Any way you could expand on the demand within the quote unquote healthy region mid Atlantic, Texas, Colorado are they kind of seeing the generally the same level of healthy demand same extended lead times or is there any variance within those three.

Yes, what I would tell you is Texas is still very strong in the mid Atlantic.

<unk>.

Strong as well just slightly maybe less strong, but still very high capacity utilization and as both Mike and I called out the northeast is probably the area where it's weaker.

And.

Particularly upstate New York.

<unk>.

I think that the way that I would look at it today Julio probably are closer to the New York situation than I am.

Yes that makes sense.

Just my other question is just really on working capital. If you could just talk about how you.

I expect that to trend for the remaining of the year.

Yeah, I'll, let Mike do that I think he has been doing a good job of building a stockpile.

Yes.

Like I mentioned in my comments, we working capital is up since year end $385 million.

Very confident that will turn into cash in the back half of the year.

Working capital has been pretty consistent.

They supply or excuse me David.

Cash cycle around 50 days.

Low <unk> anyway, and up 15% of sales so it's.

Hi, now, but lumber prices have been high in <unk>.

The seasonally busiest time of the year so.

Very confident that that will turn into cash back half of the year.

Great. Thanks, very much for the color I'll hop back in queue. Thanks.

Thanks Sheila.

Thank you as a reminder, if you have a question. Please press the Star then one key one moment for our next question.

That will come from Jay Mccanless with Wedbush Securities. Please go ahead.

Hey, Thanks for taking my questions.

Thank you Matt.

On your comment about being able to increase value add.

If you look this quarter.

Mike said construction was 75% value add industrial was 71%.

Much further can those percentages go do you think just with the products you have.

And the customers you have right now.

Yes, that's a fair question I would say.

The site built space in any kind of have to go through it by business unit to because they are quite different I would say on the concrete forming side as I mentioned in my remarks, there is.

Very long runway I would say there are probably somewhere in the 20% to 30% range of true value add.

So they have a long ways to go there's opportunities within the factory built as well.

Site built I think most of what we do is value add there so probably less of a less of a runway so to speak.

And then on the industrial side again, it's a conversion over from sticks and panels to more of our design engineered and manufactured packaging solutions. So we still think there's a lot of runway there too.

To me at my goal is to get as close to a 100% in industrial as we can.

And then.

When you talked about the geographic.

Dispersion and thinking about.

The areas, where you guys have your presence.

Typically the South region is that census declines is like 60% to 65% of the starts and how much of your footprint.

Foot print.

And construction would you say is inside that those states that make up that 65%.

That's a good question and I can't give you an answer to that Jay because I, just don't know that but maybe we can circle back with that one.

Okay.

And then I guess the other question I had is.

Are there other opportunities when you look at Cedar Poly are.

What type of acquisition runway do you have for that type of businesses.

Industry or a subset of that industry, but it's starting to grow and I know several of your competitors.

Have a pretty high percentage of recycled material going into their into their composite boards, but is there opportunity for <unk> to eventually make.

Maybe not segment, but to add on more businesses and get larger and that recycled space.

Yes, absolutely I think and it's.

There are some other opportunities not just with what I'll call poly, but also with some of our core.

Materials.

And I think Thats one of the things our innovation group is working on.

I can't really talk much about it at this point, but.

Very good instincts on that Jay we will definitely want to expand that.

It not only makes sense from a recycling and environmental standpoint, but it makes a lot of really good business sense for us. So we'll continue to invest and try to drive that and grow it and scale it.

Okay, alright, thanks for taking my questions.

Thank you one moment, Sir our next question.

And that will come from the line of Reuben Garner with the benchmark company. Please go ahead.

Thank you good evening guys.

Hi, Reuben.

Couple of.

I think more clarification questions in retail than anything else.

Can you walk me through so you said that Youre decorators voyage.

Product line I think.

Voyage, but it was.

Capacity was up 66% year over year, and Youre still running full but the decorators brand overall was down.

9% or are you seeing most of the decline and maybe you said it and I just misheard you, but are you seeing most of the decline in some of the accessory type.

Alex is that railing.

Yes products or is it the other wood plastic composite.

Yes, I think.

Ill give a clarification.

I used an additional word in there the 66% was an annualized number but not all 66% of that was in place for the entire year so far.

So within a quarter, it's not going to be that but by the end of the year. We will have all of the 100% that we had originally talked about having in and that'll be done. So for next year that should be all fully functional.

So that's part of it the other part of it is.

And again, it's always tough to look at that.

The decorators product line in a quarter, we vacuum because for example, a lot of it depends on when our customers want to take their inventories, sometimes it's Q1, sometimes it's Q2, sometimes it's in between.

So I think I would encourage you to probably look at.

Year over year kind of numbers, maybe as opposed to just the quarter number but.

That 66% I didn't want it to be a head fake but thats the 60 annualized piece there.

Got it.

And then.

Just another clarification what was the June comment about comps and I guess, what im getting at and I think it was a retail comment but I'm curious if you guys. What your thoughts are on how much of it.

So like <unk> for instance, I think volume has been down on very difficult comparisons for the last few quarters.

I think we're speculating there was a lot of pull forward potentially with the shutdowns and the early COVID-19 phases like when do you think we get to the point that we start to return to growth or do you think that the more recent maybe declines are more driven by the consumers got more on its plate with inflation in.

Other expenses and that sort of thing I guess, if you could just kind of give.

Give your thoughts on all that.

Yes, I think Thats, a really good question Ruben and I think what happened is that it.

And Mike alluded to this before the shift in the marketing or excuse me the market value of the materials.

As a little bit earlier, this year and I think it's more fully baked in.

Through Q2 in 2022 than it was in 2021.

I think my view would be going forward from the end of Q2 is probably the more appropriate way to look at it going forward and we still see a good strong demand and as I mentioned, not maybe as great as it was in 'twenty or 'twenty, one, but still well above 2019.

<unk>, which is what we kind of signaled earlier in the year as well so from our standpoint, there should be a more normalized market scenario and again <unk> been around the industry long enough to know the jumps in lumber pricing and the fluctuations being so wide and so quick over the last couple of years.

<unk> have made it tough to kind of figure what normal is but I think we're kind of getting there.

Got it perfect. Thanks, guys. Congrats on the strong results and good luck going forward.

Thanks, Kevin.

And speakers I'm showing no further questions in the queue. At this time I would now like to turn the call back over to you for any closing remarks.

As Steve jobs once said the most important part of innovation is being able to tell the story and I believe the USP story is very compelling.

We have a 67 year history of earning great returns for shareholders our.

Our diverse end markets and balanced business model provide protection from market fluctuations and also reduce the impact of a single market challenge.

We have steadily moved up the value chain with new products and services and more efficient operations utilizing automation.

Our goal is to continue to expand innovation and move further up the value chain.

We continued to transform from a product seller to a solutions provider.

And we focus on helping ease of customer challenge in problem by providing a solution, which is a better value for the customer and for us.

Our long term target is to consistently exceed an adjusted EBITDA margin of 10%.

And our recent performance provides a blueprint, which proves our target is achievable.

To reach this goal, we will continue to improve as an innovator and we will keep playing offense.

Could go into more detail on the story. However, our audience includes some who may use that information for other reasons.

It is in fact, the double edged sword of the public market.

<unk> of the public market soared.

I want to say, hi to Mark and Hank and Chris and hope you're enjoying the call today.

What should this story mean to our investors and potential investors, including all of our teammates who are shareholders.

That even if a temporary market downturn occurs USP as an excellent value.

We appreciate your belief in us and we will continue to prove that we are more valuable than the market recognizes today. Thanks.

Thank you and have a great rest of your day.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation you may now disconnect.

During Q&A you can dial stolen.

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Okay, and thank you for standing by and welcome to the USPS Industries, Inc. Q2, 2022 earnings conference call and webcast. At this time all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speaker's presentation. There will be a question and answer session to ask a question. During this session you will need to press star.

One on your telephone please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

I'd now like to hand, the conference over to your Speaker today, Mr. <expletive> Gauthier, Vice President of Communications and Investor Relations. Please go ahead Sir.

Welcome to the second quarter 2022 conference call for UFP industries, holding the call today are CEO , Matt <unk> and CFO , Mike Cole, Matt and Mike will offer prepared remarks, and then the call will be opened for questions. This conference call is available simultaneously in its entirety to all interested investors and news media.

Through our webcast at USPI Dot Com a replay will also be available at that website before I turn the call over to Matt <unk>, Let me remind you that today's press release and presentation include forward looking statements as defined in the private Securities Litigation Reform Act of $19 95. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially.

<unk> from the company's expectations and projections. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to those factors identified in the press release and the filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission now I would like to turn the call over to Matt Lasalle.

Thank you <expletive> it's a beautiful day USP and we are keeping the sunny side up.

Many pundits are turning to music off but our team said don't stop the party.

The team has been working day and night to post more incredible results and continues to turn on the record machine with new sales and profit records for the quarter.

Net sales for Q2 were $2 9 billion with units up a modest 3%.

Net earnings were $203 million for the quarter and diluted EPS was $3 23 a share.

These results were delivered in a rapidly falling lumber market, which in the past would have impacted overall performance much more negatively.

Instead these results demonstrate the resilience of our diversified business model as well as the skill experience and dedication of our teammates and the UFP family of companies.

I want to thank them all for the spectacular performance and congratulate them on their achievements.

At the same time some of you are telling US don't look back just tell us about the future.

I will queue up that song in a bit but first let's review the performance and outlook by segment.

We'll start with construction.

The <unk> business unit had strong order files through the balance of 'twenty, two and most of the markets we supply components.

North East market has softened somewhat due in part to out migration from that stake.

The site built through benefited in Q2 from market tailwind, which resulted from strong demand and lack of available supply.

While we favor a patient wait and see approach for three to six months after each rate change to allow the impact of the move to be absorbed the current dialogue does not exhibit patients or acumen.

As a result, we expect single digit percentage declines in housing starts over the next two years.

Factory built is strong and the affordability of that factory built homes provide makes it an attractive option in a rising interest rate an inflationary environment.

People still need homes in mobile and modular are great entry level options as well as move up options.

RV has seen a significant slowdown although it is not a large percentage of our factory build business.

Factory built did suffer some margin erosion in Q2 as certain variable priced items declined during the quarter.

The outlook remains positive, though as manufacturers look to expand production of lower priced units.

And the concrete forming area, we continue to expand our geographic presence and move to convert sticks and panel sales to designed manufactured and assembled form sales.

Variable price products saw margin compression in the concrete forming market as well during the quarter and should normalize during Q3.

And we have not yet seen any significant activity from infrastructure spending.

Commercial construction has worked very hard to improve and theyre heading on a good path towards our overall return targets.

Are there still remains some supply issues domestically with highly custom products the supply chain for imports from Asia has improved from earlier this year.

They have additional opportunities for improvement too as they rationalize product mix and ensure that they receive the appropriate value for the services they provide.

They plan to operate a functional capacity during Q3 to meet their customer orders.

Moving to retail solutions are retail customers continue to see solid demand after a slow start to the spring in the northern markets.

Year over year Comparables were generally better in June as the professional contractors remain busy.

The decorators business unit has seen lead times for wood plastic composite returned to normal pre pandemic levels and inventories throughout the channel are back to normal levels as well.

We are operating the wood plastic composite operations at approximately 70% 75% of capacity, which in total is still is above the 2019 levels.

On the other hand, we continued to experience lengthy lead times and unmet demand for our mineral based composite products such as decorators voyage.

We increased our capacity by approximately 66% on an annualized basis compared to last year and are still operating at a full capacity today.

We expect to complete our equipment installations and ramp up for our goal of a 100% cap capacity increase over 2020 by year end 2022.

And we continue to see buyers moving away from traditional higher and wood products, primarily cedar in Redwood and making the jump into our mineral based composites.

<unk> certified professional installers continued to be our best brand advocates as they are.

The primary driver of increased demand, we continue to see here.

And we are also excited to see the continued growth and the impact from our ultra aluminum and Cedar poly acquisitions earlier this year.

And outdoor essentials, the customer inventories have normalized seasonally after being higher than needed and most of Q2 due to customers' concerns our freight and supply chain issues.

Our Haven line of lawn and garden products is gaining momentum too and will be followed by several other new products as we expand our tool free offering.

We have had to increase prices in this market to reflect the higher input costs and they've been working with our customers to better communicate our value proposition to the consumers.

And the hand print business unit at Kraft stores and mass merchandise customers dramatically slowed their orders in Q2 some.

Some customers are down as much as 80% due to excess inventory in the channel.

Most of the large craft customers have a 60 day lead time. So we have started to see order volume improvement.

And pro with lead times have also decreased the demand for our products that normalized pre pandemic levels and supply has been able to catch up.

We faced a falling lumber market the majority of the quarter with inventory needed for the traditional seasonal buildup.

Our fire retardant product profile fr continues to expand distribution and is picking up share in the market.

We expect the lower price level for the consumer and a solid backlog of outdoor projects will favor pro would performance compared to Q3 2021.

Situation is similar sunbelt the rapid decline in the market while similar in scope to 2021 did not impact sunbelt as badly as a year ago. Nevertheless, sunbelt at approximately $9 million of lower of cost or market adjustments in Q2.