PACCAR Inc (PCAR) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning. I'm Mark Pigott, Executive Chairman of PACCAR. I would like to call the 2024 Annual Meeting of PACCAR stockholders to order. To begin, please note the meeting protocol set forth in the back of your program. Congratulations to all PACCAR employees for achieving the best results in PACCAR's history. Record revenue, record net profit and record number of trucks produced as well as the excellent results of PACCAR Parts and PACCAR Financial were well received by our shareholders and our customers. To all of our employees, thank you for your dedication, ingenuity and hard work that has enabled the company to grow and prosper for 119 years. I'm proud of you. The following individuals have been appointed to serve as inspectors of election; Jake Civitts, Cassie Lee, Elizabeth Mugowodzeri for PACCAR and Jennifer Leno for Equiniti. The voting polls will close at 10:50 a.m. If you haven't voted and you need a voting form, please raise your hand, and the ushers will provide you one. The Corporate Secretary advises me that we do have a quorum for this meeting, with approximately 90% of the shares eligible to vote represented by proxy. You know the house lights up a little bit. I'd like to recognize the company's independent auditing firm, EY. Heath Cruikshank and Mary Fentress, PACCAR's Global Coordinating Audit Partner and Senior Audit Manager. Thank you. I'd like to introduce the directors of the company. Please stand as your name is read. Dame Alison Carnwath, Senior Adviser, Evercore Partners; Frank Feder, former Chief Executive Officer, Alcoa Latin America; Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR; Kirk Hachigian, retired CEO and Chairman of JELD-WEN; Barbara Hulit, retired CEO and President, Advanced Healthcare Solutions; Rod McGeary, former Vice Chairman, KPMG Consulting Group; Cynthia Niekamp, Retired Senior Vice President, Automotive Coatings PPG Industries; John Pigott, Partner, Beta Business Ventures; Ganesh Ramaswamy, Executive Vice President, Baker Hughes Company; Mark Schulz, President and Chief Executive Officer, M.A. Schultz & Associates and PACCAR's excellent Lead Director; Greg Spierkel, former Chief Executive Officer, Ingram Micro; and I too am a Director. Will the Secretary please officially place a nomination for the directors were standing for election.

Mr. Chairman, the Board of Directors of PACCAR Inc. has placed in nomination, the 12 individuals named in the proxy statement dated March 20, 2024. Thank you.

Thank you, Mike. In addition to the election of the Board of Directors and the other matters described in your proxy statement, there is one stockholder proposal on the agenda. Stockholder proposal regards a report on climate-related policy engagement is a sponsor of the proposal and attendance. If you are, please raise your hand. Right here. There's somebody, here we go, when you to get you a microphone. When we get you the mic, please state your name and the stockholder you represent. In the interest of time and consistent with the meeting protocol, please limit your comments to 2 minutes. Thank you.

William Hsu, Calvert Research and Management. Good morning, Calvert and the New York City Pension Fund submitted Proposal 6. The proposal requests that PACCAR's Board of Directors annually evaluate and report on whether, and if so, how the company's lobbying and policy influence activities align with the goals of the Paris agreement, and how the company plans to mitigate the risk represented by any misalignment? According to PACCAR, it is a leader in developing the transportation industry's most important technologies. The company says that these investments will ensure that PACCAR customers have a suite of zero-emission transportation solutions that will help them reach their environmental and operational goals. While we applaud these public commitments to innovation and sustainability, we know that PACCAR has lobbied against the very same regulations and rules that would accelerate their path to net zero. Investors want PACCAR's actions to match its public commitments. Last year, we asked PACCAR to be more transparent about its lobbying activities and nearly a majority of investors supported our shareholder proposal. However, the company decided not to make responsive changes to its disclosure. In fact, the Board has chosen not to engage with proponents when asked. If PACCAR truly believes in aligning its strategy with its stated climate goals, then why would the Board allow management to undermine progress with contradictory political practices, especially when many of their peers are using their influence to lobby for transition supportive legislation. We believe that PACCAR's political activities risk undermining the company's long-term success. Companies whose climate commitments are aligned with their public policy activities, will be better positioned to be the net zero economy winners of the future. We urge the Board to head the clear investor call for transparency and accountability, and thank shareholders for their continued support of this resolution.

Thank you. PACCAR shareholders can be proud of the company's excellent environmental leadership. I think a quick 5-minute walk around this auditorium shows you our environmental leadership. The Board of Directors recommends a vote against Item 6 as set forth on Page 46 of your proxy statement. This morning, we have 3 presentations. I will discuss the company's 2023 record financial results and major events that occurred during the year. Preston Feight, PACCAR's Chief Executive Officer will discuss how PACCAR's Truck, Finance and Parts organizations delivered record results last year as well as review the company's exciting investments in new products and technologies. Harrie Schippers, PACCAR's President and Chief Financial Officer, will review PACCAR's strong balance sheet, PACCAR Financial Services segment and review our first quarter results. Trucks move 75% of all the goods in the regions in which we operate. PACCAR business segments are commercial vehicles, financial services, aftermarket support, powertrain and information technology. Each makes a valuable contribution to the company's success. PACCAR is celebrating 119 years of success this year and has delivered an impressive 85 consecutive years of profitability. PACCAR is 1 of only 13 public companies in the Fortune 500 that have delivered over 8 decades of consecutive profitability. Wow. PACCAR set many records in 2023, achieving record revenues of $35 billion, a record net income of $4.6 billion. Other notable highlights from last year include generating $4.2 billion of operating cash flow, and achieving a record $15.9 billion in stockholder equity. PACCAR is an A+ credit rating from Standard & Poor's. The company has increased its regular quarterly dividend by 7% per year on average for the last 10 years, and the company has paid a dividend every year since 1941. Shareholders enjoyed excellent returns of 55% last year as well as a record special dividend of $3.20 in January this year. That's a lot, folks. This slide highlights PACCAR's results for the last 20 years and illustrates how the company has performed in all phases of the economic cycle. As you look at this slide, it's impressive to note that PACCAR has emerged stronger and achieved higher levels of revenue and profitability in every business cycle. PACCAR has grown due to the contribution of its excellent employees, customers and dealers, by being an innovation leader in the premium segment of our industry. A steady investment throughout the years has positioned the company with industry-leading vehicles, world-class aftermarket programs and superb technology such as connected truck and e-commerce customer platforms. PACCAR Parts celebrated 50 years of operations in 2023. PACCAR Parts has 19 distribution centers worldwide and is building another center in Germany that will open later this year. This slide illustrates the growth of $100 invested in PACCAR stock, the S&P 500 and our peer index over the last 5 years. PACCAR has outperformed both indices during that time frame. A lot of companies would like to have these slides. Preston and team, you are doing a great job. Shown here are the truck markets for the U.S. and Canada, Europe and South America. Both the U.S. and Canada Class 8 truck market and the European truck market are expected to be in the range of 250,000 to 300,000 vehicles. South America's heavy-duty truck market is projected to be in the range of 115,000. Congratulations to Kenworth and Peterbilt for achieving Class 8 market share of 29.5% last year. Customers recognize the industry-leading quality and low total cost of ownership of Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks. Pictured are the new Kenworth W-900 and the Peterbilt Model 589 right on the other side of that curtain. Kenworth and Peterbilt achieved medium-duty market share of 14.5% last year, and pictured are the Kenworth T280 and the Peterbilt 536. In Europe, DAF achieved market share of 15.6% last year. DAF Trucks launched their new medium-duty XB model and open its new electric truck assembly factory. DAF Trucks are now being sold in Mexico, complementing our Kenworth products to provide the most complete product range in the market. DAF Brazil celebrated its 10-year anniversary and achieved record market share of 10.2% last year. DAF Brazil is exporting trucks to Chile, Peru and Colombia. As you know, PACCAR has supported local communities by donating over $240 million to hospitals, schools and social services for over 100 years. I'm proud of the company's proactive and generous donations that are delivering important benefits in the regions, which our employees live and work. Thank you. Now I'd like to introduce Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer of PACCAR.

Thank you, Mark. Good morning, everyone. So in the past few years, PACCAR has introduced a comprehensive portfolio of new trucks. These include new Peterbilt and Kenworth medium-duty vehicles, new Peterbilt and Kenworth flagship, Class 8 trucks and the new generation DAF product line. All of these vehicles are creating excellent performance for our customers and our shareholders. PACCAR's global team created these trucks using advanced engineering tools and builds them in our state-of-the-art factories, while the sales, financial services and parts teams provide complete transportation solutions to our customers all around the world. I'm so proud of everyone at PACCAR and the record-setting performance in 2023. It's truly a wonderful team. Thanks to each of you. Much appreciate it. So this year, I would also like to recognize one special person, Renee Mellinger. Renee is our PACCAR Corporate Events Manager, and Renee has been with PACCAR for 39 years. So she's been responsible for managing all of the events around the company, our management meetings, obviously, this event as well. In fact, this is Renee's 35th year, putting together this great meeting for us all. 35 years, pretty impressive. So Renee, wow. Just a sincere thank you for your great work, your friendship, your beautiful spirit. Wonderful person. Thank you. Shown here are the new Kenworth T680 and the medium-duty T280. The T680 on the left provides customers with best fuel economy and most elegant styling. The new medium duty shown on the right provides 3-person seating and excellent visibility. And together, these trucks create a lineup that is the choice of customers and drivers all across the country. Here are the new medium and heavy-duty Peterbilt trucks. The medium duty on the left provides Peterbilt dealers and customers a brand-new lineup of Class 5 through 7 products that offer class-leading performance and visibility and operating cost. The Peterbilt Model 579 on the right features advanced aerodynamics, industry-leading fuel efficiency, beautiful styling and best-in-class LED forward lighting. And pictured here, as noted earlier by Mark, right over there, is PACCAR's newest truck, the new Peterbilt Model 589 that began production in January of this year. This truck features a sheet metal hood, classic styling, a wider cab, and in its first year of production is already proving to be a great success in the market. Pictured here are the New Generation of DAF trucks. On the left are the XF, XG and XG plus that were named the International Truck of the Year for 2022. The new XF also received the Green Truck award for 2023, which is the most fuel-efficient truck. And on the right is the XG, which won the International Truck of the Year for 2023. These new DAF trucks deliver a 10% improvement in fuel economy as well as a more spacious interior and excellent styling. PACCAR is a leader in developing zero emissions vehicles, were selling 8 different battery electric vehicles in the heavy and medium-duty markets. On the bottom right is a rendering of PACCAR's joint venture, commercial vehicle truck battery factory that will begin construction in Mississippi this quarter. These products reinforce PACCAR's environmental leadership as well as its investment in the future. PACCAR's heavy-duty market share has grown over the past 20 years. In South America, including Brazil, share has grown to 9.4%. In Europe, share is 15.6%. In Australia, it's grown to 25.5%. And in the United States and Canada, heavy-duty share is now at 29.5%. PACCAR's strong financial performance for the last 20 years is highlighted here. In the top left, the average annual revenue growth of 8% reflects the increasing market share as well as record aftermarket parts sales and financial services results. Net income in the top right has grown 11% per year. This reflects increased profits from each PACCAR division. Total asset growth of 7% per year in the bottom left reflects the strategic investments that PACCAR has made in its products and its facilities. And shown in the bottom right, a substantial portion of the earnings have been reinvested in the business, increasing stockholders' equity by 8% per year to a record $15.9 billion. PACCAR's annualized stockholder return compares favorably to other Northwest companies as well as the S&P 500. And over the last 20 years, PACCAR has achieved an annual return of 13% compared to 9.7% for the S&P 500 and is providing excellent performance for our shareholders. I like that chart. PACCAR invests around the world. Shown on the top row, we have upgraded and increased the capacity in our engine factories. We invest in new clean diesel engines. We increased build capacity at our medium-duty factory in Ste-Thérèse. PACCAR Parts has started construction on a new parts distribution center in Germany. On the bottom row, we're equipping our factories with self-guided vehicles. PACCAR is a market leader in autonomy and zero emissions vehicles. And we've introduced our connected vehicle platform, PACCAR Connect. Over the past 5 years, PACCAR has invested $4.8 billion in new products, facilities and technologies. PACCAR Parts and our dealers support our customers around the world. PACCAR has 19 distribution centers in 10 countries shown by the yellow dots. PACCAR Parts delivered over 3 million shipments to Kenworth, Peterbilt and off-dealer locations in 2023. In 2013, PACCAR Parts' global revenue was $2.8 billion. By 2023, it had increase of $6.4 billion. This over 100% increase has occurred due to growth in Europe, North America, South America and the rest of the world. In 2023, PACCAR Parts achieved record pretax profits of over $1.7 billion. Over the past 20 years, pretax profits have grown at an average rate of 14% per year. In 2023, Kenworth, Peterbilt and DAF dealers invested over $790 million to provide our customers with world-class support. Shown here are 4 new dealerships that opened last year in Arizona, Montana, Brazil and France, beautiful facilities. And PACCAR is an environmental leader and is committed to CO2 emissions reduction targets that align with the Paris Climate Agreement. S&P Global has ranked PACCAR in the top 16% of machinery companies. In the bottom left, the new DAF XF was recognized as the most fuel-efficient truck in Europe. And PACCAR received an excellent rating from CDP or the Climate Disclosure Project, which places PACCAR in the top 6% of more than 21,000 participating companies. I agree. PACCAR is leading the industry in zero emissions, has created a global connected services platform to create new revenue streams, has established ourselves as a partner of choice for autonomous vehicle development and has invested in advanced truck manufacturing technologies. PACCAR is creating the trucks and transportation solutions that will drive the world to a better future. Thank you. I'd now like to introduce Harrie Schippers, PACCAR President and Chief Financial Officer. Harrie?

Thanks, Preston. PACCAR's Excellent credit rating of A+ reflects 85 consecutive years of profitability, a strong balance sheet and excellent cash flow. PACCAR is an elite group of companies together with Microsoft, Costco and Toyota, and is in the top 3% of the over 1,000 U.S. nonfinancial companies rated by Standard & Poor's. PACCAR's high credit rating supports the profitable growth of our financial services business. All of PACCAR's truck competitors are publicly traded on the stock markets. PACCAR's net profit as a percent of revenues shown in green, is best-in-class. This reflects the premium value of PACCAR's products and exceptional operating efficiency. PACCAR achieved an industry-leading after-tax return on revenues of 13.1% in 2023. PACCAR's return on invested capital was a best-in-class 38% last year. This reflects our strong working capital management and prudent investments for the long term. PACCAR has maintained an excellent balance sheet for 119 years. Our consistently strong cash position of more than $8.6 billion at the end of last year and zero manufacturing debt has positioned us well to invest during all phases of the business cycle and pay dividends to our stockholders. Stockholders' equity increased to a record $15.879 billion. The company's balance sheet is a pillar of strength. PACCAR's stockholders' equity of $15.9 billion at the end of 2023 was 141% higher than in 2013. The $10.8 billion of the equity is invested in our manufacturing and aftermarket parts business. The remaining $5.1 billion is invested in financial services. PACCAR's financial strength enables the company to invest in new products and provides the foundation to support our long-term growth initiatives. In 2023, the company generated excellent operating cash flow of $4.2 billion. The strong cash flow enables the company to invest in new products and services and pay dividends to our stockholders. PACCAR's regular dividend, shown in green, totaled $545 million last year. Total dividends declared, which includes year-end dividends shown in red, were $2.2 billion. PACCAR has declared $10.5 billion in dividends during the last decade. PACCAR Financial services facilitate the sale of PACCAR vehicles by offering financial products to customers and dealers in 26 countries on 4 continents highlighted in green. Our 20 PACCAR financial locations are shown by the red dots, and are strategically located to provide excellent service to local markets. PACCAR Financial earned $540 million in pretax profit last year. Total assets increased to $21 billion. PACCAR Financial provided financing for 24% of the new Kenworth, Peterbilt and DAF trucks sold last year. Dealers and customers also appreciate our industry-leading technology and full line of financial products. PACCAR sold 12,500 used trucks worldwide in 2023. Selling premium used trucks is an important element of PACCAR Financial's business. PACCAR Financial has a network of 13 used truck sales centers. The PACCAR Financial Europe portfolio reached a record 65,900 trucks and EUR 4.8 billion in assets at the end of last year. PACCAR Financial Europe provides wholesale financing to 176 DAF dealers and operates in 19 European countries. The PACCAR leasing fleet increased to 44,000 vehicles last year. PacLease has a service network of 632 locations in 6 countries, including operations in Europe and Australia. Assets totaled $3.3 billion last year. I'm pleased to present the excellent first quarter results. Total PACCAR revenues were $8.744 billion. In the first quarter this year, net income was $1.195 billion with earnings per share increasing to $2.27. Thank you.

Great slides. With the company Secretary, please present the results of the stockholder voting.

Mr. Chairman, A preliminary report of the inspectors of election indicates that, on Item 1, stockholders approved the election of the 12 nominees for director. On Item 2, stockholders approved the restricted stock and deferred compensation plan for nonemployee directors. On Item 3, stockholders approved an advisory resolution on executive compensation. On Item 4, stockholders approved an advisory vote on the ratification of the company's independent auditors. On Item 5, stockholders voted on an advisory basis to have future votes on executive compensation annually. On Item 6, stockholders rejected the proposal regarding a report on climate-related policy engagement. Thank you.

Thank you, Mike. Meeting is concluded. We have 4 videos today. The first video highlights PACCAR's global success due to excellent customer service and technology innovation. The second video shares the story of our Dynacraft division, which supplies our truck factories. Third video celebrates DAF's record year in 2023, and the fourth video captures the excitement of our Kenworth and DAF dealer in New Zealand. [Presentation]

At this time, I'm pleased to answer your questions. I think those videos say it all. Thanks for being at the PACCAR Annual Meeting. See you next year.