Clearfield, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLFD) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Ryan Koontz: It’s great color. Thanks. And on the cable front really nice pickup this quarter there obviously, how would you characterize that the split between drivers behind fiber to the home versus more of the active cabinet DAA type deployments.

Cheri Beranek: Right. With the community, the biggest portion of that is still Tier 2 cable TVs going to fiber-to-the-home. And that is the smaller regional cable providers who are committed to fiber-to-the-home. But there’s a growing amount of revenue coming from more of the larger cable operators looking to reduce the size of their serving area by penetrating their fiber deeper and increasingly using our active cabinets.

Ryan Koontz: Got it. And then, maybe a question for Dan here on the gross margin compared, can you help us understand on an organic basis — how Clearfield organic compared sequentially there on the Clearfield margins?

Dan Herzog: Yes. So Clearfield, organic would be just under for the quarter, just under 42%.

Ryan Koontz: Okay.

Dan Herzog: So, maintain pretty good steady.

Ryan Koontz: Yes. That’s great. That’s awesome. And as we think about next year, Cheri relative to the nice guide you laid out there, how should we think about your OpEx plans? And sounds like some you have some pretty aggressive hiring plans in different areas. Should we think about the model remaining pretty consistent with what you’ve communicated before in terms of your OpEx approach around the 50% range?

Cheri Beranek: Right. Yes. That’s absolutely — exactly what we’re targeting.

Ryan Koontz: That’s it. Super thanks. Okay, back in the queue.

Operator: Thank you. . Our next question will be from Greg Mesniaeff of WestPark Capital. Please go ahead.

Greg Mesniaeff: Thank you for taking my question and congrats on a great quarter and the guide. Question on your customer profile. Are you seeing any growing interest from larger carriers for your products? And part two of that question would be, are any of your larger mainstream competitors starting to sniff around in the smaller tier market that you are dominating in?

Cheri Beranek: If you look at some of the material that I guess I call your attention to, I think it’s Slide four or nine, I think, shows some of the increase in regard to our national carrier business and how it relates to our overall growth, national carrier, the big guys increased 100%, from 12 million to 25 million, for the period, and represents about 6% of our business. And I think, one of the things that was crucial to our product line and our positioning in the marketplace is that while our product — while our initial solutions were used by small carriers, it was because that was our target at the time that we started the company, where the product lines are meant to scale to the largest of networks and are effectively used in many of them.

In regard to community broadband, our larger competitors have always been part of the community broadband initiatives. However, they were using products and continue to use products that are more designed for larger, more density cities and communities rather than for the diversity of networks, and the lack of density, in more rural markets, and so as a result, our products continue to have that competitive advantage.

Greg Mesniaeff: Thank you for that color. And just a quick numbers question. Did you disclose, what are the DSOs in the quarter sales outstanding?

Dan Herzog: We didn’t disclose those will come out in our K, but they increased this year, or I’m sorry, this, this quarter here to around — I think it’s around 50.

Greg Mesniaeff: Great. Thank you.

Dan Herzog: You are welcome.

Operator: Thank you. Next question will be from Tim Savageaux of Northland Capital Markets. Please go ahead.