Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Jeffrey Powell: Well, I’d say specific to the fourth quarter, Larry, I’m not sure how you define that. We — basically the guidance we gave last quarter, we indicated that we expected bookings in the third and fourth quarter to kind of be — mirror what we saw last year in the third and fourth quarter. So I think — we think right now it looks like it’s going to be relatively flat. I will tell you that when you’re dealing in the economy right now with all the puts and takes, it’s particularly hard to figure out what demand is, in particular the timing on it, Larry. The customers are being cautious. So looking for more visibility. The Fed today is going to, I guess, make an announcement that may impact their thinking a little bit.

So, I would say, these times are more uncertain than we normally see just because of where we are in this economic cycle, and kind of the interest rate environment. But generally speaking, we think that it’s going to be fairly flat with last quarter and really with last year.

Lawrence De Maria: That’s on the orders, right [Multiple Speakers]

Jeffrey Powell: That’s on the orders, yeah.

Lawrence De Maria: Yeah, exactly. And — okay. That’s very helpful. Thank you. And, well, just to clarify there — and obviously, one would assume that there is much more price — there is more price in these orders. So is it fair to say that more price and lower volume as we exit the year? Or maybe that’s worth discussion, but I think it is.

Jeffrey Powell: Well, as you know, we really work hard to try to contain our cost maximize our value to our customers. There are times and there were times during the last probably 18 months, where we have had to pass some price increases on, because the cost increases were just so significant. But we always work hard to really try to reduce our costs, so that we maximize the value for our customers. Clearly, if you look at our margins they stayed pretty flat, which would tell you that our divisions did a good job of staying in front of the inflationary pressures and we’re able to kind of maintain kind of a flat performance, which is what we’re shooting for. And so, there is some — certainly some price increases that have stuck, some input cost has started to come down, but if you look at our margins, it would tell you that we just kind of stay kind of even with what was going on from a cost standpoint.

Lawrence De Maria: Perfect, thank you. And then my other question bigger picture, international paper obviously shutting down large portion, I think 10% of their installed base. So there’s some pulp and paper mothballing going on and closures. So can you speak to the direct impact to your business, if you’re seeing it yet, how material that could be for 2024? So just kind of help us contextualize some of those bigger events that are happening and drill it down into what it means for your performance as you think about it. Thanks.

Jeffrey Powell: Well, I’ll open up on that one very specific to the most — I’d say most recent IP announcement. When I look across the operation that they’re going to be closing there, Kadant isn’t doing a lot of business in those mills. Some of that was on the pulp side, not much in the way of activity for us there. On the other — on the containerboard side, those — we do business in those mills, but they haven’t been very big for us.

Michael McKenney: So we don’t — and of course some of that production will get shifted to their more efficient mills. And so, we don’t think that that particular announcement will show up in our numbers in any material way.