Digi International Inc. (NASDAQ:DGII) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Ron Konezny: Yes, again, good questions, Harsh. We are largely complete with the Ventus integration. We do have one big milestone which is converting their ERP and CRM to the company’s systems, which will improve €“ which will conclude about the middle of this calendar year. But that’s in good shape. There is a great team that’s well underway in implementing that. The international expansion is very similar to SmartSense and that we have some larger customers that are asking us in particular for European presence and that’s a great, great way for us to enter those markets. Part of the experience of being a Ventus customer is making sure that you have that excellent uptime, which includes making sure we have the people, the inventory, the processes and systems.

And so we want to pace that really with the implementation of our ERP and CRM integration middle this year. So that’s definitely an opportunity. Lastly, we are always looking for opportunities to grow inorganically. We have a robust pipeline out there. We €“ as you know, we are focused on integration execution, reducing our leverage. And so that remains the priority, especially though maybe slowing down, but rising rates environments. We think it’s important to delever and prepare ourselves. We are biased towards potentially fewer bigger deals than smaller deals. And so those can take a little longer to curate and get the confidence that we are the best owner and operator of those businesses.

Harsh Kumar: Fair enough, guys. Thank you so much.

Ron Konezny: Thanks, Harsh.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question or comment comes from the line of Mike Walkley from Canaccord Genuity. Your line is open, Mr. Walkley.

Mike Walkley: Great. Thanks, Ron. Congratulations to you and the team on the progress towards your three 100 goals. Here I want to focus on, can you update us just on the business model transitions away from one-time hardware sales to the stronger mix of recurring revenue? How should we think about the pace of this journey and impact if any to near-term growth rates and product sales such as cellular routers and gateways from a more recurring revenue mix?

Ron Konezny: Yes. Good morning, Mike. Good question. It’s a tremendous imperative for the business. We are being very, very, I think considerate and thoughtful in making sure that we generate an incredible customer experience. And it starts with our processes with our systems we are going through very deliberate stages of piloting with our channel partners who are a critical part of the success of these programs. And there is some system enablement that we are doing and we are going through, if you will, a crawl walk and run phase that will gain momentum as we pace through this fiscal year. We expect really to began fiscal €˜24 at that run stage where in particular with routers, but other parts of our businesses as well, being really fully committed to that experience and that solution that has the strong attach rates.

Mike Walkley: Great. That makes sense to look on that transition. And Jamie, just a question for you with the strong backlog, you built up a lot of inventory this quarter, any thoughts in kind of working capital and how this might impact stronger free cash flow as the year progresses we are going to keep inventory at these levels? Do you think that kind of burns down over time as you ship against the backlog?

Jamie Loch: Yes, morning, Mike. I do think the inventory will burn down. But I think we are also trying to be optimistic where €“ while we are seeing improvement, there still is some constraints out there. And so when opportunities to especially in the component side present themselves for us to be able to deploy our capital that way and really secure that that forward-looking revenue that’s coming out of the backlog, we are going to take advantage of that. So, I would tell you that over the course of time inventory clearly will come back down to normalized levels. Does that happen in say, one quarter or two quarters? That’s hard to tell because you are still a little bit blind on certain areas. And so when all of a sudden, an opportunity arises, we’ll go through an evaluation period to decide and sometimes your buying components knowing that you still don’t have that proverbial golden screw.

And so you know that it’s going to sit in inventory for a quarter or even two quarters. So, I do think it comes down, but I think inventory will most likely, it could bob and weave a little bit as those opportunities present themselves, but we evaluate that as they come forward.

Mike Walkley: Right. Makes sense. Then one last question and I’ll pass the line. Ron, you talked in the past just about strong demand trends when you left on the table. Are you seeing anything in terms of demand patterns from your customers or is demand still just too strong? It’s really just supply that’s keeping your guidance kind of in that low-teen or just over 10% range?

Ron Konezny: Yes, it’s really the availability of supply that’s been governing our performance much more so than demand. We have got strong demand. The backlog stretches up mainly the next four quarters, but in some cases actually goes well into fiscal €˜24 for those that really want to ensure their delivery of products. And what’s nice is we are seeing not just good contributions geographically, but across different verticals whether it be as we talked about earlier, the food vertical for SmartSense, EV charging, renewables has been a strong segment, medical device has been a strong segment, data center, retail. So it’s nice to see a balanced tack if you will.

Mike Walkley: Great. Thanks for taking my questions and congrats on the strong start to the fiscal year.

Ron Konezny: Thank you.

Jamie Loch: Thanks Mike.