Fabrinet (NYSE:FN) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Seamus Grady: Hi, Mike.

Michael Genovese: Hi. Can you give us any commentary at all on performance breakout between 400G and 800GB datacom or new programs versus existing older programs? Is there any color we could get there?

Seamus Grady: Well, in general, we break out 400 gig and above, which, of course, at this point is a pretty large category. And at some point, we may want to revise how we do that. But for now, it’s really everything in that 400 gig and above category. So, 400 gig inside the data center, 400 ZR, DCI, 800-gig, AI, everything really in that 400 gig and above category, but the growth has been coming from primarily the higher speed, newer programs, older programs, and let’s call it traditional datacom products have not been as strong especially at the lower speeds, 100-gig, and the like. The growth for us, certainly, we don’t speak for the whole industry, but for us the growth that we’ve seen has been primarily on the higher speed, newer programs, mainly focused around these newer AI applications, 800 gig being the biggest driver for us there.

Michael Genovese: Perfect. Maybe I’d follow-up on that question, because I thought that the color you gave about telecom and DCI driving less, a decline in telecom, but less than expected, I mean, that was a great color. So, maybe comparing how telecom came in to how the older datacom programs, I mean, was there any surprise on the upside there, or did it behave, or downside, or did it behave as expected?

Seamus Grady: I think the traditional — we call it traditional datacom, I think, behaved pretty much as expected. Newer datacom has been just very strong, but for us it’s expected, I think, at this point. And then, like I said earlier, the strength in DCI was maybe a little bit of a surprise. We had expected telecom to be down. If you just took the guidance from our customers going into the quarter, and you just straight line that, we should have been down double-digits, probably 12% to 15% in telecom. Instead, we were down about 6%, so down a lot less than we thought we would be, again, primarily driven by DCI. So, even though it’s in telecom, it’s driven by the datacenter expansion that’s going on everywhere.

Michael Genovese: Got it. Okay, great. And then, finally for me, just could you, maybe Csaba or both of you, talk about just the decision to not buy back stock in the quarter and kind of going forward? What you’re thinking about with buybacks?

Csaba Sverha: Hi Mike, this is Csaba. Last quarter, as I mentioned in our prepared remarks, we didn’t buy anything back. We have, obviously, an OMR opportunity in the open window. In addition, we have a 10b5 plan in place. The 10b5 plan is rule-based and subject to certain prices. Obviously, it didn’t trigger last quarter. But, obviously, we are still committed to return surplus cash to our shareholders. So, obviously, we are revisiting the 10b5 plan from time-to-time. And subject to the new pricing and the market conditions, we will make amendments. And we continue to be committed to return the surplus cash we generate to shareholders.

Michael Genovese: Excellent. Great. Well, thanks for letting me ask the questions. I appreciate it.

Csaba Sverha: You’re very welcome, Mike. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] One moment for our next question. And our next question is going to come from the line of Tim Savageaux with Northland Capital Markets. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Tim Savageaux: Hey, good afternoon and congrats on the results. A couple of questions, you previously described the AI connectivity opportunity, I think, at 800-gig or maybe just in general as in very early stages and a very large opportunity. Actually, maybe missing a few varies there.

Seamus Grady: Yes, I think at 1.5 maybe said very twice and got pulled off; very, very early stages.