Yellow Corporation (NASDAQ:YELL) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Operator: The next question comes from Scott Group with Wolfe Research. Please go ahead.

Scott Group : Hey, thanks, afternoon, guys. Can you give us an update on where you are on the terminal count? Where do you think you’ll be end of the year and then any CapEx guidance in case I missed it?

Darren Hawkins: Scott, this is Darren. As of today we’re at 308. When we are complete with phase two, we will be 200 and mag.

Dan Olivier: Yes, jump in and get on the CapEx. Good afternoon. We start with 2022 total CapEx came in at 192 million. We did have about $14 million or so related to tractors that carried over into 2023, just based on timing and deliveries. Those would have been delivered as expected, we would have been within that 210 to 230 million guidance range we provide on the third quarter call. For 2023, we aren’t quite in a position yet where we feel comfortable providing full year CapEx guidance. Once we get through the completion of phase two and maybe have somewhat of a clearer picture of the economic environment, we’ll have a better line of sight as to what our €˜23 requirements will be specifically for equipment.

Scott Group: Okay, just taking a step back, obviously, last year, a lot of price gave up a lot of volume. What’s the plan this year? Are we hoping to regain volume? Can we keep pushing price? We have to give up a little price to get some volume back? What do we have to go to market?

Darren Hawkins: Yes. This is Darren. And we continue to prioritize yield. As I said in the script, we’re finding the yield equation across LTL to be strong and certainly to cover the cost and the inflationary costs we’ll continue to prioritize that. The one Yellow efforts are truly about a growth story. We’ve got capacity in this network, as we eliminate the redundancies in phase two. We will be poised and ready when the demand cycle changes. When I think about what’s going on in America right now, with the infrastructure investments, the number of the 600,000 jobs that are going to be involved in that be in direct competition for driving jobs. I think we’ve got an opportunity to see demand exceed capacity, and Yellow will certainly be ready for that, while also protecting our value proposition by holding the line on price.

Scott Group: I think after today, earlier, there is some concerns about the competitive dynamic, maybe some guys going after share with national carriers. Are you seeing anything that troubles you from a competitive dynamic right now?

Darren Hawkins: Our contract renewals in January I was pleased with where they landed. We’ve been, we took our general rate increase back in October. I was glad to see other carriers be around that 6% range is that typically sets the pace for the larger contract negotiations. I’m encouraged with what I’m seeing from the Yellow perspective. And I haven’t seen predatory pricing that has me concerned.

Scott Group: Good. And then just last thing, can you just remind us just in this environment what are the covenants we should just be keeping an eye on?

Darren Hawkins: Yes, the only covenant we have right now Scott is LTL $200 million of EBITDA.

Scott Group: And does it stay there? Or does it step up at some point?

Darren Hawkins: No, it stays at 200.

Scott Group: Can you feel how we I guess we’ll need to start growing EBITDA from where we are Q4, Q1 run rate to maintain that, but hopefully we can stick it’s better and we can start getting back to those run rates.

Darren Hawkins: I think sure.

Scott Group: Okay. Great. Thank you guys. Appreciate your time.

Operator: The next question comes from Jeff Kauffman with Vertical Research Partners. Please go ahead.