Aviat Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVNW) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Pete Smith: Yeah. So we think North America right, our business is project based, right? North America’s growth was a little muted this quarter. But we see that the backlog of almost double-digits versus the same period point in time last year. And well, so we have a backlog that’s increasing. We have, I would say, longer projects. Our North America business has dominated by private networks, which we haven’t seen any slowdown. So we read the headlines like everybody else. So we’re hard pressed to say that there is a macroeconomic impact to the North America or the overall Aviat business. And the growth in Q2 is really a project timing impact rather than something in the macro.

Erik Suppiger: Very good. Thank you very much.

Operator: Thank you. One moment for our next question. And our next question comes from the line of Tim Savageaux from Northland Capital. Your question, please.

Tim Savageaux: Hi. Good afternoon and congrats on the results. When I stay with North America, I think another feature of the quarter is Verizon making the 10% customer list, which I think is — when the last time that happened was, but feel free to let me know and is that indicative? And I guess I asked this question both from a North American and global perspective. I mean, do you see 5G backhaul here. Obviously, you’ve got the Bharti deal ramping taking a greater role in terms of driving the company’s growth throughout the balance of the year or short term than your other growth drivers and we know that Bharti is a Huawei replacement win? What’s driving the strength at Verizon? And then I have a follow-up.

Pete Smith: Yes. So we looked a little bit about Verizon. They’ve been a long-term customer of Aviat, and they’ve typically been right under the $0.10 threshold. And we see overall connectivity driving be up at Verizon. And it’s a combination of LTE, LTE Advanced 5G. So that drives the need for more mobile backhaul to fixed wireless access transport. So we see all of those trends, then we like all of our growth drivers, 5G private networks and all broadband. And — but right for the next couple of quarters, I think our growth is going to be driven by 5G. And we have the kind of running dialogue about when is RDOF going to have an impact, and we think the recent developments with point in the back half of the calendar year 2023.

So we think our guidance would probably factors in 5G over the next couple of quarters. And as we start to think about a guide for fiscal year ’24, we will see the impact of rural broadband and the funding, which is perhaps more definitive than I have to.

Tim Savageaux: Duly noted. And you mentioned a bunch of numbers there that I want to go back through because I think they’re probably pretty interesting. Was the $60 million, is that the estimate of the opportunity for share gain over a certain period of time? I think you mentioned with regard to your big competitor and then you went through, I think, some bookings and revenues recognized $19 million and $8 million, respectively. I’d just love to get a sense of how significant a piece of that, the India business is versus what you’re seeing globally?

Pete Smith: So I would say that’s a really good way for it to get us to back out the India business. So I would say the India business of that the revenue is over half. So to kind of put it in the ballpark, it’s over half. But it’s not over its let’s say, maybe 25% of the funnel. And the reason I make that statement is that the funnel is a mosaic of opportunities where we’re not just dependent on taking share from one or two accounts. We see that these restrictions are having a broader impact, and we’re getting looks at customers that historically we have. Is that helpful?

Tim Savageaux: Got it. So the funnel was the $60 million, correct?