MYR Group Inc. (NASDAQ:MYRG) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Richard Swartz: I would say, our markets are strong in what we’re looking at. Again, as we said before, our backlog is always going to be lumpy. We’re not trying to sign a contract and get it forced into our backlog for quarter end so we can report something higher. We want to make sure we have the right contract in place and with higher interest rates and some of the terms and conditions we push for. Sometimes it takes a little longer to push a contract forward or for them to get their budgets approved. But from a visibility standpoint, very strong market out there going forward.

Brian Russo: Okay. And then lastly, the operating cash flow relative to free cash flow, it looks like your — you have a free cash flow outflow for the first nine months of the year. And I’m just wondering, I suppose that means we should see quite a meaningful improvement in free cash flow in the fourth quarter to kind of match generally your historical trends.

Kelly Huntington: Sure, I’ll address that one, Brian. So part of the negative free cash flow is the higher CapEx this year, which really aligns with the growth we’re having, particularly on the T&D side of the business, as that is the more asset intensive side of the business. So we do expect that to be a way that will continue to support our growth, is investing in fleet and equipment. So that’s one aspect. The other is on operating cash flow and some of the dynamics I talked about in response to Justin’s question, which really comes back to project timing, being a big driver of that. So we do expect there are some retainage balances that we’ll bill and collect starting here in the fourth quarter, but some of that will also push into the first part of next year. So, we do expect that that will normalize over time, but that is — it is a bit of an ebb and flow tying back to project timing.

Brian Russo: Okay, great. And then just lastly, you mentioned Texas and California as big markets on the transmission side. Are you seeing any movement or increased activity with utility transmission projects tied to the MISO Tranche 1 projects?

Tod Cooper: Yes, I’ll take that, Rick. Yes, we are. Actually, we’ve been bidding a few of those projects over the past year and there’s three of them out right now and we’re seeing more in the future. So that activity is picking up. And right now, like I said, we’re pretty optimistic about where we stand in our capabilities and that we’re aligned pretty well with a lot of those clients who are existing MSA partners. So that activity is picking up. And I think I’ve mentioned in the past, Brian, that we’re going to have that kind of spread out evenly from 2024 through 2029 on the construction side of things.

Brian Russo: Okay, great. Thank you very much.

Richard Swartz: Thanks, Brian.

Operator: Thank you. Please standby. [Operator Instructions] Okay. I’m showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the call back to Rick Swartz, President and Chief Executive Officer of the MYR Group. Please go ahead.

Richard Swartz: To conclude, on behalf of Kelly, Tod, Don and myself, I sincerely thank you for joining us on the call today. I don’t have anything further, and we look forward to working with you going forward and speaking with you again on our next conference call. Until then, stay safe.

Operator: Thank you for your participation in today’s conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.

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