Constellium SE (NYSE:CSTM) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Bill Peterson: Yes. And is there any difference between sheet versus extrusions?

Jean-Marc Germain: Oh, yes. So we are a little bit more quickly exposed to extrusion than we are to sheet because the sheet – when the extrusions products, typically, most of them go directly on the car as it is assembled and so the delivery point to the assembly line, whilst the sheet goes through a stamping and other – and/or other processes before it gets on the car. So there’s a little bit of a lag here.

Bill Peterson: Okay. Okay. Makes sense.

Jean-Marc Germain: So it’s a matter of weeks, not months. Yeah, go ahead.

Bill Peterson: Okay. Okay. Great. Yes. And the next question on aerospace. You pointed out the demand outlook remains strong. I’m thinking you guys typically have a good line of sight in the commercial production rates in advance. But we also heard from Boeing this morning that they plan to increase 737 production by year-end as well as 787 production. Would you say that – would you say this is already anticipated? Or would you say that you could even see acceleration in your business or demand pull-through and potentially margin benefit as a result of increased production.

Jean-Marc Germain: No. I think typically, this is not new news for us. We – the parts we make takes between six months and two years during the time we ship them and the time they are on an aircraft that’s going to fly. So we’ve got quite a bit of visibility, as you said, and we – this is not new news to us. So we feel very comfortable about the strength of the business in this year and going into next year and even 2025. If anything, we see a little bit of hiccups in the supply chain, but there’s plenty of parts that go into making an aircraft and some of these parts, not our aluminum, but are a little bit challenged in terms of the suppliers being able to ramp up the desired levels that the OEMs are communicating to the supply chain. So if anything, we see maybe a little bit of a holdback in some pent-up demand building up for ’24 and ’25.

Bill Peterson: Okay. Thanks for the color. Let’s hope that Q3 marks the trough for especially packaging shipments, but look forward to watching the progress.

Jean-Marc Germain: Thank you.

Operator: And the next question goes to Corinne Blanchard of Deutsche Bank. Corinne, please go ahead, your line is open.

Corinne Blanchard: Hi, good morning, Jean-Marc and Jack. Maybe the first question, could you – so you maintained the EBITDA guidance. Could you walk us through maybe the key take and put to see a downside risk to the guidance, meaning like what would it take to see a mid or like a very low end of the guidance range for 4Q?

Jean-Marc Germain: We – Corinne. Good morning. We do not see a risk to our guidance. I mean we are 10 months into the year. We’ve got pretty good line of sight. There is this UAW uncertainty, but it’s not, as I said earlier, such a big amount. So no, we feel like our balance is – our guidance is quite balanced. Jack, anything you want to add?

Jack Guo: Yes. So, good morning, Corinne. So I think we’re confident about meeting our full year guidance. And if you kind of just think about some of the drivers, if you look at the end market, aerospace will continue to outperform. For automotive, there will be some impact from the UAW strike in North America and a little bit slower growth in Europe. But still, the market is generally healthy and doesn’t change the fundamentals in the automotive market. For Can, so can stock actually has been running at a pretty stable level. Our overall packaging business was adversely impacted by the specialty packaging mix within the packaging portfolio, but can stock has been more stable, and we’re cautiously optimistic there. And then, obviously, industrial specialties business, we’ll continue to see some weaknesses, especially in Europe.