PC Connection, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNXN) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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Thomas Baker: And so Adam, what I would say is, clearly, Q1 didn’t meet expectations. And I think the results in Q1 are going to show themselves in the full year results. So I think you’re probably looking at low single-digit in — low single-digit growth in GP this year, because Q2 is looking maybe a little bit weaker than we had expected as well when we started out the year. So I think those are going to carry through. In terms of what changes that, A lot of it comes back to this cycle of devices. And if we see a spike in device sales, although probably a little lower margin, that volume does help us out a lot. NetComm had a pretty weak quarter this quarter for us. If that comes back, and we think it will in the back half of the year, that will obviously be a little more accretive. So that’s kind of how we’re thinking about it now. It’s pretty murky still.

Timothy McGrath: Yes. In terms of specific product categories, as I’m sure Adam, the whole AI ecosystem is going to be very good for our server category later in the year, endpoint AI-enabled PC or endpoint device category and our storage category. And right now, cloud and cybersecurity on the software side have been strong, so good margin players. So what we really need to see through the balance of this year is that endpoint device adoption start to pick up. And we’re confident that it will — even if they’re not AI PCs in the early months, still Windows 11 and the benefits that are offered there along with an aging PC installed base are pretty good reasons for our customers to start to move and to start to get their application supported.

Adam Tindle: Okay. That’s very helpful. Tim, I think in the prepared remarks, you — obviously, AI is a huge topic for everybody. And you mentioned Microsoft Copilot that seems to be the one that most investors are really focused on as sort of a leading product that’s kind of leading the charge in AI. Just wonder on that type of a product specifically, if you could cover what does that mean for a reseller in terms of a Copilot license? And how are the economics similar or different to the reseller versus a traditional EA or ELA?

Timothy McGrath: Yes. Thanks. So for Copilot, there is a monthly fee and there’s a pretty good ecosystem around that, again, as we help our customers. We’re running it internally now. Many of our customers are running it as well. In fact, our Copilot ales have been strong. They have had a very good quarter for Copilot. And that is an ongoing annuity stream. Now as the next-gen PCs are available, we do expect that Copilots will continue to be adopted at an accelerated rate because you’ll be able to run Copilot on your individual system in a secure environment without necessarily having diverse out to a cloud so that we’ll be more secure and more contained and we expect that will drive some volume. But the difference is on the commission side and the revenue side, are that today that really will be an ongoing annuity as the customer continues to adopt versions.

Adam Tindle: Okay. Was that any sort of a factor in the software revenue decline? I know you talked about revenue and gross profit dollar being a big difference in software. I guess maybe just a little bit more color on that trend, whether it relates to this for something different and should that continue?

Thomas Baker: Yes. I think there’s a couple of things in there, Adam. Certainly, that contributed to the margin. But there’s a couple of other things in there. Last year at this time, we had some very large deals go through that were recorded on a gross basis, believe it or not. So that’s why when you look at it, we had a pretty significant drop in revenue, but a really nice increase in gross profit. And it just has to do with the nature of the deals that are going through that particular quarter. You get a couple of $20 million, $30 million deals, it does move the needle.

Operator: This concludes the question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn it back to Tim McGrath for closing remarks.

Timothy McGrath: Well, thank you, Marvin. I’d like to thank all of our customers, vendor partners and shareholders for their continued support. And once again, our coworkers for their efforts and extraordinary dedication. I’d also like to thank all of you listening to the call this afternoon. Your time and interest in Connection are appreciated. Have a great evening.

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

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