Masco Corporation (NYSE:MAS) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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PRO being one, PRO paint, investing in high growth markets for us. We’ve talked about how successful we’ve been in China and in Europe. We continue to do that. And then, of course, the core business here in North America. So, hopefully that gives you an idea about our perspective and why our guidance is what it is. And how this business is ready to do what I think is most important in these times of volatility and that is to adapt to changes as they come.

Michael Rehaut: Great.

Operator: Our next question comes from Stephen Kim with Evercore. Please go ahead, Stephen.

Stephen Kim: Yes, thanks very much guys. And again, John, I’m sure you’re going to get a lot of this, but it’s been a pleasure and best of luck. First question for you, I guess, sort of at a high level. I understand that certainly things are uncertain and you don’t want to lean too much, I suppose, on your outlook for later in FY ’23. But you did provide a — some commentary about a quarterly cadence, which I found very helpful. I was curious as to whether when you said that you anticipate that the sales growth and the margins would improve quarter-by-quarter as you make your way through 2023, is it your sense that by the time you get to the end of the year, we could actually be looking at some positive comparisons on the top-line and then certainly on the margin as well?

John Sznewajs: So, Stephen, yes, the guidance that we gave in terms of the cadence, obviously, we said Q1 is going to look a lot like Q4 of last year. So — and then what we said, from there, operating margins should expand on a year-over-year basis each quarter thereafter. To your question on whether we should see positive sales comps by year-end, just given the double-digit decline, the approximately 10% decline that we’re expecting in sales for the year, it’s hard to say how Q4 is going to develop at this point. But at this stage, I probably wouldn’t count on positive comps in Q4.

Stephen Kim: Okay. That’s helpful. Thanks for that. And then, just a sort of a broader question about your expectations. Obviously, 4Q came in a little bit lighter than I think you were expecting. What’s interesting to me is the timing of when you provided that commentary or outlook, was right about when mortgage rates were peaking in the U.S. And I would say, in general, since late October, there’s kind of been a growing sense in the U.S. housing market that perhaps we’ve at least — we can see where the bottom is, we — January was actually surprisingly strong. I know you’re going to say one month doesn’t a quarter make and all that, but if you could just sort of comment a little bit as to what it is that worsened in your — worsened relative to your expectations despite the fact that maybe the housing market, which is sort of the leading indicator perhaps, looks like it’s actually gotten better?

John Sznewajs: Yes. Maybe, Stephen, I’ll start off and maybe, Keith, you can chime in. So, I know you’re (ph) things off the housing market, I just want to remind everyone on the call that the housing — the new construction market really doesn’t impact us all that much. It’s about 10% of our revenue. But what we look at in the fourth quarter with our demand that we are seeing and also how the consumer is behaving, that’s what really kind of drove us to the guide that we’re giving right now. The other thing I would say, as you think about 2023 and think about some of our businesses, Keith in his prepared remarks talked about how our spa business, which has been a strong growth engine for us during the pandemic, and its backlogs are now down to more normalized levels.

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