PC Connection, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNXN) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Thomas Baker: Yes. So I’ll tell you, so your conclusion, I think, it’s correct based on what we see now about sequentially, gross profit probably is down a little bit. In terms of demand, the falloff we just saw in December kind of continued through. And what we’re seeing is the categories that are strong for us, Software as a Service. We’ve done very well with NetCom in the category Adam, that continues to just push and push the end-point devices. We’re just not seeing the buying patterns start to reemerge there yet.

Timothy McGrath: Yes. I would echo that. We continue to see growth in advanced technology. AI is a driver of additional infrastructure. As you know, Adam, so really storage server hybrid solutions. There’s still a lot of discussion there. Software has been very strong, and NetCom for us continues to be strong. We know that’s not necessarily the case across the landscape. But the question really becomes when will the device refresh start to kick in. And we know that it will. We just don’t know the starting point.

Adam Tindle: Okay. Yes. That’s fair. And I guess maybe that will be a hard follow-up question to ask, but I’ll ask it anyway, Tom. As you think about the rest of the year in the shape of 2024, based on that Q1 outlook, it’s kind of flattish on a gross profit dollar basis year-over-year. I don’t see a meaningful improvement in the year-over-year comparisons. I just wonder how you might think about gross profit dollar growth and earnings growth or EBIT growth, whichever one you are most focused on for the rest of the year and for full-year of 2024. Do you think this is going to be sort of a low to mid-single digit gross profit dollar growth and a little bit higher on earnings? Or what are you thinking for 2024 overall?

Thomas Baker: Try not to get myself into trouble here. I think probably what we’re going to see, Adam, is the gross profit dollar growth in the low to mid-single digits. That’s kind of what we’re thinking about for the balance of the year. We remain focused on the operating expenses and SG&A. So hope some of that — more than that gross profit increase should flow to the bottom line. At this point, we just had our sales meeting last week, and I had a lot of talk to a lot of partners, and everybody is still a little bit fussy about the last half of the year, it seems. So it’s hard to get too prescriptive when the whole industry, I think, is kind of feeling the same way.

Adam Tindle: Yes. That’s fair. I think we’re all kind of in the same boat. Just I guess, maybe lastly, Tim, any notable trends that you would highlight by segment? I mean we just kind of look at like the public sector growth, for example, is a little bit challenged in Q4, but I know that can be very project oriented. Not sure if that’s more of a trend. So any trends that you’re seeing by segment in Q4? And as you think about 2024, if you want to parse out enterprise versus smaller business versus public sector and the trends that you’re seeing broadly would be helpful. Thanks.

Timothy McGrath: Sure. It’s a great question. So when you think about the business, you’re absolutely right with public sector. Our federal business was down, and that is large project dependent, and we’re confident that that will come back just based on the large projects that are in the funnel and the forecast. And we are seeing a little more consistency with BSG, our Business Solutions Group. But we do predict that a number of our large enterprise customers will be bringing back their large project rollouts. Again, the timing, as we have said, is a little uncertain, but we are thinking that enterprise growth will return probably more towards the second half. But we think exit the year, that could be the growth leader for the company.

Adam Tindle: Got it. Thank you.

Timothy McGrath: Thank you.

Operator: And thank you. And I’m showing no further questions. I would now like to turn the call back over to Tim McGrath for closing remarks.

Timothy McGrath: Thanks, Justin. 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. Have a great evening.

Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

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