Richardson Electronics, Ltd. (NASDAQ:RELL) Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Richardson Electronics, Ltd. (NASDAQ:RELL) Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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Richardson Electronics, Ltd. (NASDAQ:RELL) Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript January 11, 2024

Richardson Electronics, Ltd. isn’t one of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds at the end of the third quarter (see the details here).

Operator: Good day, and thank you for standing by and welcome to the Richardson Electronics Earnings Call for the Second Quarter of Fiscal Year 2024 Conference Call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. After the speakers’ presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Edward Richardson, CEO. Please go ahead.

Edward Richardson: Good morning and welcome to Richardson Electronics conference call for the second quarter of fiscal year 2024. Joining me today are Robert Ben, Chief Financial Officer; Wendy Diddell, Chief Operating Officer and General Manager for Richardson Healthcare; Greg Peloquin, General Manager of our Power & Microwave Technologies Group, which includes Green Energy Solutions; and Jens Ruppert, General Manager of Canvys. As a reminder, this call is being recorded and will be available for playback. I would also like to remind you that we will be making forward-looking statements. They are based on current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties. Therefore, our actual results could be materially different. Please refer to our press release and SEC filings for an explanation of our risk factors.

Financial results for the second quarter of the fiscal year 2024 fell short of our expectations. Economic conditions, rising interest rates, higher inventory levels and a lagging economy in China negatively impacted customer demand for our products. As we operate over the near term with a more uncertain economic climate, we remain focused on pursuing our long-term growth strategies. These strategies position the business to take advantage of large, rapidly growing global opportunities. The expertise of our management team is a significant asset during this period, as we have successfully navigated difficult economic periods throughout our history. This is exactly why we maintain a strong balance sheet with access to additional sources of capital if necessary.

We've also made the strategic decision to maintain stable levels of manufacturing employees and salespeople as many of the green energy solutions and semiconductor equipment customers expect demand to recover in calendar 2024. Therefore, maintaining continuity in our manufacturing team is important to ensure we can quickly adapt to increased orders and grow market share. Unfortunately, profitability was impacted in the second quarter as our gross margin reflects the under-absorption in our factory. Within our healthcare business, we made some changes to improve inventory and focus on strategic objectives which Wendy will tell you about shortly. Overall, the team continues to do an excellent job managing expenses, we're focused on driving efficiencies, [which] (ph) simultaneously position the company for future growth.