Custom Truck One Source, Inc. (CTOS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

For joining us here at the Leveraged Finance Conference. Very happy to be hosting Custom Truck One Source again this year. Really appreciate we have Ryan McMonagle, CEO; and Chris Eperjesy, the CFO. They're going to do a quick sort of introduction to the company, and then I'll do some guided Q&A. And if people have questions in the audience, feel free just to raise your hand. Ryan and Chris, really appreciate your participation and coming -- meeting us here in Florida, not bad coming from the [indiscernible] North.

No, it's much warmer, much warmer.

Great. Thanks, James, for having us. And as James said, we'll do a quick intro and then, obviously, happy to just do -- jump into Q&A as well. So -- but we love telling the Custom Truck story and I think when we really talk about Custom Truck, it really is this idea of being a leading integrated provider of specialty equipment, right? And so we talk a lot about what does it mean to have a one-stop shop, and to us, that means -- we'll talk about it, but that we rent and sell equipment. And so we think there's a lot of magic in being able to do both. We think it's a lot of why we've been able to grow. In the middle, you'll see kind of our LTM numbers as of Q3, up to over $1.8 billion now of revenue, more than $433 million of EBITDA, and those are up meaningfully from when we became public or when Platinum put the 2 businesses together back in April of 2021. One of the things that I think is really important to talk about are the end markets that we serve. So we say there are really favorable tailwinds in those end markets. You can see that about 65% of our business comes from T&D from the utility end market and then about 20% of our revenue comes from infrastructure more broadly. So we're really proud of that. And I think as you get to know us, you'll see that we've done a very good job of integrating the businesses together. We think there are more opportunities to focus on operational execution as well. And we think there's a lot on the footprint as well. You can see it on the top right, we're 35 locations today in some really big open areas when you look in the Pacific Northwest and down in the Southwest as well where we know that we can grow. Q3 was a great quarter for us. It's -- we just reported a few weeks ago, it was 21% revenue growth. So revenue in the quarter was $434 million and 9% EBITDA growth, so just over $100 million of EBITDA in the quarter, and we're seeing good growth across all of our business segments. So ERS was up 12% and TES segment, which is our sales business, was up 33%, and we saw backlog grow. So backlog was up 10% versus Q3 of last year as well. So a big part of the story is the supply chain is improving. So we are seeing supply chain improve, certainly on the chassis side of the house and also on the attachment side of the house. And I think it's why we've been able to grow both our rental fleet and our sales business as well. We've had good success with some of our capital projects that we announced at the beginning of this year. Union Grove is complete and is fully up from a production standpoint and Kansas City will come online later this year. So -- and then the last thing I'll point is that we've -- we're really proud of how we've managed the balance sheet, and Chris will talk about it in more detail. But it's been now 10 quarters in a row of driving leverage down. So we're at 3.3x leverage, down from 4.6x when we became public. We'll talk -- I'll just talk a minute about the end markets. I said that 85% of the business comes from T&D and from infrastructure. We are still very bullish kind of on the macro tailwinds in both of those end markets. So T&D is 65% of our revenue, and we're still seeing very good tailwinds there. We talked a little bit in the Q3 call about some short-term impact that we're seeing. We think that will continue to resolve itself this quarter and into the beginning of next year. So still have a very bullish call on T&D as an end market. And the same is true on infrastructure, so we are seeing a lot of demand both the sales side and rental side when it comes to infrastructure. Rail and telecom are 2 other areas that we focus. Each of those are just under 5% of our revenue today. And so we're seeing good demand in both of those end markets as well. We love our customer base. We think we've got -- we serve some of the best customers. We think there's opportunity to continue to grow. Our top customer is just under 4% of revenue and our top 15 customers today account for about 25% of revenue. So really no concentration. You'll see the names on the board, but really the largest players in each of the end markets that we serve. When you think about T&D and infrastructure and so we feel like we've got really good relationships with them and the ability to grow with them as well. So when we talk about the one-stop shop model, it really starts with this idea of integrated production. So on the left, you'll see that we will buy the chassis from the OEM, we'll buy the attachment from the OEM and what we do is we put those units together. And so we think there's a lot of magic in having that integrated production capability. We know that we have a lower cost than if we were buying completed units from some of the other providers out there, and so we think there's a real unit economics advantage when you think about rental economics and the sales gross margin that we realize. And then we like having multiple revenue streams. So as markets move -- whether end markets move or the propensity to rent or purchase changes, we'd like the ability to flex between there, and so we like having multiple revenue streams. And then we're really happy with the ROICs that we generate on selling assets, or kind of the annualized IRR that we're generating on those assets as we sell assets out of the rental fleet. So we think the one-stop shop model really differentiates us. We think it's why we've been able to grow as much as we have. And then I think the last thing I'll hit is just the branch network. So 35 locations today, and as you can see, some real opportunity to expand in the Northwest, in the Southwest. We think the Carolinas are an interesting place to grow, and then to further penetrate kind of New York and New Jersey. So we think there's real opportunities to serve those markets even more and we will continue to do so over the next several years. So with that, I'll turn it over to Chris to talk financials.

Thanks, Ryan. And I'll go over these quick so we can get to Q&A because it's largely just some of the financial results, but as Ryan talked about, we had had pretty consistent growth in both EBITDA and revenue overall this year on a year-over-year basis, revenue up 24%, EBITDA up 15%. I would note, one of the reasons it hasn't flown through is it really is a mix there. So all of end markets -- or all of our segments are actually -- have either expanded or maintained margins year-over-year. It's just a mix, in terms of our TES new equipment business has been seeing significant growth, I think up 33% year-to-date. And that has a slightly lower than average margin. So the mix there is really what's driving that. Continuing to see leverage on SG&A as we grow, about a percentage point improvement there. I'll talk in a second, we have made the decision, given some supply chain constraints that we've experienced over the past couple of years, to increase our inventory as we head into this fourth quarter and into next year to be able to maintain the pace we are on in growth. And so you'll see that we have made that investment in inventory. This just shows you our revenue growth and our EBITDA growth going back to when the deal was done. The deal closed in April of 2021. You'll see EBITDA has grown from $291 million on a pro forma basis to $333 million at the end of the first fiscal year, up $60 million to $393 million last year. And then on a TTM basis, up a further $40 million this year. So a 17% CAGR on EBITDA and 11% CAGR on revenue. These are our reporting segments. Ryan talked a little bit about the different businesses, but ERS, Equipment Rental Solutions, is the business that relates to our core rental business as well as the sale of the assets that come out of the rental fleet and then any related activities. The key metrics that we look at as we monitor that business and we talk about that business quarterly relates to utilization, so what percentage of the fleet is actually out on rent; OEC on rent, so the original equipment cost; and then on rent yield. For the truck and equipment sales business, which is largely the new equipment sales business, we really look at our new sales backlog there. And we're trending at close to 10 months of backlog. We had been as high as 13 months. We think the ideal target is somewhere in the 4 to 6 months. So we were actually happy to see it come down in the quarter, but it continues to be at elevated levels. In terms of balance sheet and CapEx, as Ryan talked about, we have seen 10 quarters in a row where we have delevered. We had talked about a target of getting below 3x by the end of this year. Given the investment in some of the inventory as well as some stock buyback we've done in the last 2 quarters, we pushed that out to mid-next year, but deleveraging continues to be a priority for us. On the top right, that shows our availability on our ABL. So we have a $750 million ABL, approximately $260 million available at the end of the last quarter and just under $300 million of suppressed availability that's available to us if we needed or wanted to upsize that. Lower left, you can see the investment we've made in the rental fleet. And so the top line is the gross rental asset additions, so roughly $300 million year-to-date. We had set a target of close to $400 million for the year in terms of gross. The next line is one of the ways that we fund some of this investment, it's the proceeds from the sales of assets that we're taking out of the rental fleet. And you'll see they are roughly $180 million year-to-date, so net investment in our fleet of $112 million. We've talked about for -- as we grow the fleet, our target this year was to grow on a net basis ROEC by mid- to high single digits. Because there's so much demand for some of the rental assets, we've actually brought that down to a low single digit, but our expectation as we look forward to next year, we'll get back to that pace of growing the rental fleet in that mid- to high single digits. In terms of our outlook, we've -- over the first 3 quarters of the year, we've increased our revenue outlook each quarter, and we've increased our EBITDA outlook twice. And so the most recent outlook we provided is top line growth of 12% to 19%, so $1.76 billion up to $1.87 billion, and then on the bottom line, $425 million to $445 million on EBITDA, so 9% to 13%. And again, the flow-through really is just mix as we've continued to expand margins, in particular on the new equipment side. We have talked a little bit about the fact that this year our overall growth in the net OEC is going to be low single digits versus the original guidance of mid- to high single digits just given the demand we're seeing for used equipment. And with that, I think we can open it up for questions.

Great. Well, I will kick it off. I have a bunch of follow-ups. And if anyone has a question, feel free to just raise your hand. So I think one of the things that I -- one of things I love about this job actually generally is that you get to see so many different things. Custom Truck, obviously, I think relative to the GenRent guys, it's a bit more of like a niche market, but it does strike me that there's a lot of secular tailwinds. Maybe you can just talk about those sort of big -- those like large-scale secular trends, like what is driving demand for this asset class? And like what does that time horizon look like?

Sure. No. And you're right, there are a lot of tailwinds. One of the things we love about the end markets that we serve are the amount of tailwinds, right, that we're seeing. But T&D, there are a couple of things, right? There's a significant investment that's being made just from federal stimulus. So the IIJA and the dollars that have been allocated there, I think, are a very good tailwind that we see. There's just a lot of pent-up demand to continue to improve the quality of the grid, right? I think there's a lot of hardening that has to happen when you think about some of the significant events, whether it's hurricanes in the Southeast or some of what Texas experienced or the fires that have happened out West. And then certainly as you think about electrification, so the electrification of everything, right, I think is a very big tailwind for us. And so it's really the combination of all 3 of those, I think, are why we're so bullish on the upgrades that have to happen to the transmission grid and -- sorry, the new capacity that has to come online for the transmission grid and then the upgrades that have to happen to distribution grid, I think are all significant. So it's why we're so bullish on the end markets that we serve. And we think that's been in the context of some -- supply has certainly constrained our ability to grow. So there's some pent-up demand, too, from just a lack of supply over the last couple of years that we're dealing with also.

And before getting to a few other sort of like industry questions, just on the competitive environment. So obviously, Custom Truck was the combination of Custom Truck and Nesco and went from -- Nesco had been rental-only, went to this integrated model. I think the one large competitor, Altec, has the same go-to-market. What is like -- between the 2 of you, do you have a sense for sort of what your market share is? And then like what does the rest of the market look like?

It's a great question, and Altec is private, so it's tough to get good market share data there. We believe that Altec had the largest fleet. We think now -- largest rental fleet. We think now that Nesco and Custom Truck have come together that our rental fleet is larger. So we think we're the largest rental fleet out there. But that's just thinking about utility rental in particular. And you're right, Altec is a great competitor, has a fully vertically integrated model where they manufacture their buckets and digger derricks as well. We purchase ours from Terex or from Versalift, depending on the application. And so -- and then we also have taken a view of serving a much broader -- having a much broader product offering, too. So when you think about dump trucks and roll-off trucks and service trucks and water trucks and cranes, some of these other product categories are things that we've chosen to differentiate kind of how we go to market and how we take care of our customer as well.

And then, I mean, do you have a sense for like what is the rest of the -- who are your competitors, in -- particularly in the rental space? And are there regional players?

It becomes a very fragmented market very quickly. And so you've got some large regional players who focus on utility rental as well, and then you get into local and mom-and-pop rental operations very quickly. It's a little bit different when you get into some of the other specialty end markets, when you think about things like vac trucks, where there's a bit more of an established market in some areas like vac trucks and some things like refuse that we put in the infrastructure category. So you've got some other large regional or national players in those markets as well.

And then just in terms -- I mean, again, you probably don't love always being compared to the GenRent space, but there's been a long secular shift towards renting over ownership there. Maybe you could talk a little bit, if it's about your end markets, where they stand in that progression and then just more generally about the decision that your customers are making on owning versus renting. Obviously they do a mix of both.

Sure. I'll -- I'll start. But our primary customer are the utility contractors, so a Quanta or a MasTec or an MYR or a Dycom, those types of names, they have a much higher propensity to rent than the IOUs or power producers. So as IOUs outsource more of their work to the utility contractors, we think that kind of the universal rental market -- the universal rental fleet will continue to grow. So we think that's kind of a very good tailwind that certainly the rental side of the business will benefit from. And as we talk to our contractor customers, generally we say that they rent about half of their fleet and they own about half of their fleet, which is why we believe the one-stop shop model is the right way to go to market, to be able to take care of that customer whether they want to buy their equipment or rent their equipment.

Very good. You got my next question there in terms of that vertical integration. So like how -- I guess, how do you balance the rental selling new and then selling used equipment? Are there different channels or different sort of use cases, or is it just sort of equipment specific?

Yes, it's a great question. It's something we debate internally a lot. We've taken -- we've gotten really comfortable with the economics of selling a new truck, and we've gotten very comfortable with the economics of renting a piece of equipment over its useful life. And so we've gotten comfortable with how to price assets into the rental market to deliver the ROICs, right, that we're comfortable delivering and to make sure that we're delivering appropriate levels of gross margin. So we talk about mid-teens gross margins, low to mid-teens gross margins on selling new equipment. And then we talk about annualized ROICs or an annualized IRR in kind of that high teens to low 20s. And so we're really comfortable deploying capital kind of into the rental fleet to do that or to sell an asset. And so we've gotten comfortable that way. And then we think about selling used equipment as just another lever to be able to maximize return on capital for us. And so we'll obviously take assets out of the rental fleet once they've kind of come to the end of their useful life or when we think it's the opportunity to maximize the residual value of those assets. And then we also will have -- our customers will often ask if they can buy the asset from us. And so when it makes sense, we'll sell the asset to them as well.

And just staying on that -- this sort of mix of sales versus rentals, I think as you highlighted, sort of sales grew pretty dramatically this year, I guess it outgrew rental. I think part of that was the supply chain issues you talked about catching up, which we've seen in a lot of product categories. At a certain -- look, when you think about the business longer term, do you -- would you expect those 2 categories to grow roughly at the same rate? Or does 1 category grow faster than the other as sort of run rate?

Yes. It's -- that's where I'd say I think the beauty of the one-stop shop model plays, is that it seems like there's times when rental accelerates more and there's times when sales accelerates more. And so that's like -- that's why we like being able to serve both. As the rental fleet now is at the size that it is at almost $1.5 billion, it's obviously harder or requires a significantly more capital. So there's a capital allocation question in there, too, to be able to grow kind of at the pace of growth that we've seen on the sales side. So because the fleet is the size that it is, we don't think there's a -- it would be very challenging to grow the fleet at 30% or what we've seen on the sales side of the business so far this year just because of the amount of capital that that would require. But we think there will be times and certainly in history, I would say there were times when rental grows faster and the pace of sales slows down as well, which is why we like the one-stop shop model.

On the selling used equipment business, what's like -- is there like an average age -- I'm sure it differs by equipment type significantly? But like -- how do you think about sort of the average age of like where you think -- start to thinking about selling an asset? And what are the channels for -- are there well developed channels or is it more selling to the customer that might be using that equipment?

It's -- the average age, I think the average age of equipment is just under 5 years, is what we've sold so far this year. But you've got a mix in there, right? So you've got some customers who want to buy out a piece of equipment that maybe they've had on rent for 2 years, and then you've got some decisions where we're making intentional decisions that may be a bucket truck or digger derrick is 7 years or 8 years old and it's time to sell that asset. And so you've got kind of 2 streams inside of there that we work on managing through. And I would say it depends on the type of equipment that we're selling. So some pieces of equipment do have a developed second use or third -- third user of that equipment. And so that's where we like to be able to sell those assets retail as well. And so we know who those customers are and we'll sell directly into those customers. And then we will use auction or wholesale opportunities to sell when it makes sense or when we think that's kind of the best way to maximize the value of the piece of equipment.