Sentiment Analysis of the earnings transcript to help figure out if there are any bullish or bearish sentiments that could be gathered from it. We're doing ML and AI based analysis on the earnings call to get some more insights.
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| As you can see from the map, we're only offering enterprise services in approximately 30 metros concentrated in the Southeast, which has very favorable demographics |
| And so, but as we sit here today, I think the dividend just underscores the board's confidence in the future of the business |
| We think we got a good value, and we think they also got a good value |
| And we don't give guidance on bookings, but we're showing a nice uptick in growth for bookings for the year |
| We have a very predictable step down in capital spending, as Paul mentioned, in the coming years, and so the dividend is as much about the future as it is the here and now, and that confidence remains strong |
| I mean, we still feel strongly about the intrinsic value of our business all parts of it |
| And we think that's ultimately good and underscores the recurring nature of our business |
| It's something that we thought was an attractive long-term, could be an attractive long-term addition to our capital structure |
| As an asset-rich company with one of the largest fiber portfolios in the country, Uniti is uniquely positioned to benefit from M&A trends that continue to highlight the value of quality fiber assets, including wholesale and fiber-to-the-home |
| So, we were very happy about that |
| Uniti had another solid year of performance in 2023, with our core recurring strategic fiber business growing at a healthy 5%, while consolidated net success-based capital intensity continues to decline, ending the year at 34% |
| Our local brand is very strong in this region, helping to contribute to industry-leading enterprise churn of around 0.7% |
| And as we've mentioned before, we own dark metro fiber in about 300 markets nationwide, which represents terrific capital and margin-efficient growth potential for enterprise, wireless backhaul, and small cells |
| We continue to believe that the wireless carriers will eventually need to identify these non-NFL markets, and Uniti is well-positioned for that growth in the future |
| Having an owned national network is a meaningful competitive advantage for Uniti, and our ability to deploy dark fiber and wave services present Uniti with the unique low-risk growth opportunity with minimal competition |
| We had a healthy level of bookings in 2023, and the interest in our network remains robust as our sales funnel remains very strong and underscores the growing demand for fiber |
| Turning to slide 12, our growth capital investment program continues to provide positive results for Uniti |
| But when you look at the value of our assets, when you look at our ability to execute on our strategy and we think continue to put up industry leading results both on mid-single-digit growth and just continuing to perform through both through all macroeconomic conditions |
| And so, that's a nice opportunity for us there |
| So, more of a bespoke deal and speaks to just us having good relationships with the infrastructure investor space as we've had for many years and we were able to put together a nice bespoke transaction that worked for both parties |
| Paul will elaborate further on this, but it's an exciting development which reinforces that fiber truly is a mission-critical communication asset |
| As I will cover in more detail shortly, our 2024 outlook reflects the robust trends we continue to see in our recurring business, the planned exit from most one-time equipment sales, and the impact from the recently announced ABS bridge financing and asset sales |
| And we got really good feedback from that |
| And I think if you look at our portfolio, we're very happy with how all of those transactions have performed on a consolidated basis for us with the benefit of hindsight |
| But I can tell you, our funnel for the year is very robust |
| So, that basically solidified our viewpoint that we wanted to add ABS to our capital structure on a long-term basis |
| So, we felt like it could be a really good addition to our overall long-term capital structure going forward |
| We accomplished this while continuing to demonstrate the resiliency of our core recurring Fiber business, with top line growth of 5% in 2023, including Uniti Leasing lease up, and Uniti Fiber enterprise and wholesale growth of 20%, 15%, and 9%, respectively, with continued declining capital intensity |
| We think that's been a good transaction for both companies |
| Our anchor plus lease-up model is working, driving cumulative cash flow yields today of 25%, a more than 3.5 times increase from the anchor yield of these projects |
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| Revenue and adjusted EBITDA during the quarter were lower than expected due to the timing of onetime equipment sales |
| As an example, approximately 6 million of contracted equipment sales that were expected to be realized in the fourth quarter of 2023 have slipped into 2024 largely due to delayed USAC funding |
| So, I'm not at all concerned about the lower bookings number in the fourth quarter given the demand that we've got staring us in the face, looking into 2024 |
| And so, when you tie that to our funnel for the year, yes, bookings look low in the fourth quarter, and they are just empirically relative to some of the previous quarters |
| However, non-recurring revenue is expected to be significantly lower in 2024 when compared to the prior year due to exit of most onetime equipment sales and substantially lower ETL fee revenue as a result of working through essentially all of the Sprint-related churn in 2023 |
| As expected, non-recurring revenue was lower in 2023 versus 2022 due to lower ETL fee activity primarily related to fewer lit and dark fiber disconnects from the Sprint T-Mobile merger, and to lower one-time equipment sales |
| And then, just the second question is on the lighter bookings in the fourth quarter |
| The remaining towers that we've sold less competitive, just substantially fewer towers and very little revenue and EBITDA associated with them, frankly |
| So, that has also led to some volatility |
| Despite the small contribution to profitability, the unpredictable nature of the business regularly contributes the majority of volatility we see in our quarterly earnings, including the most recent third and fourth quarters |
| So, if our comments and the prepared remarks seems muted, that was probably intentional because the demand that we're seeing today, both today and in the future, are tremendous |
| As Kenny already discussed, given the low margin and tough-to-predict nature of one-time equipment sales, we have made the conscious decision not to actively pursue these types of sales going forward |
| You mentioned that wholesale could be lumpy |
| And 11% decrease from levels in 2023 and represents a capital intensity of 36%, down from 40% in 2023 |
| As an example, even though wireless carriers have recently been spending less as a collective group than they have in past years, the decline is offset by other buyers such as hyperscalers, internet providers, and fiber-to-the-home providers |
| And your comments seem a little more gated or measured on the excitement |
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