Quad/Graphics, Inc. (NYSE:QUAD) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Quad/Graphics, Inc. (NYSE:QUAD) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Quad/Graphics, Inc. (NYSE:QUAD) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript February 21, 2024

Quad/Graphics, Inc. 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 morning, and welcome to the Quad's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Conference Call. During today’s call all participants will be in a listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions]. A slide presentation accompanies today's webcast and participants are invited to follow along, advancing the slides themselves. To access the webcast, follow instructions posted in the earnings release. Alternatively, you can access the slide presentation on the Investors section of Quad's website under the Events and Presentations link. [Operator Instructions]. Please note, that this event is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the conference over to Katie Krebsbach, Quad's Investor Relations Manager. Katie, please go ahead.

Katie Krebsbach: Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. With me today are Joel Quadracci, Quad's Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Tony Staniak, Quad's Chief Financial Officer. Joel will lead today's call with a business update, and Tony will follow with a summary of Quad's fourth quarter and full year 2023 financial results, followed by Q&A. I would like to remind everyone that this call is being webcast and forward-looking statements are subject to safe harbor provisions as outlined in our quarterly news release and in today's slide presentation on Slide 2. Quad's financial results are prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. However, this presentation also contains non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, adjusted diluted earnings per share, free cash flow, net debt and debt leverage ratio.

We have included in the slide presentation reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to GAAP financial measures. Finally, a replay of the call and the slide presentation will be available on the Investors section of quad.com shortly after our call concludes today. I will now hand over the call to Joel.

Joel Quadracci: Thank you, Katie. And good morning, everyone. Beginning on Slide 3, I am pleased to report we delivered solid 2023 results, meeting our guidance across all metrics. Our results included adjusted EBITDA above the midpoint of our guidance range, and adjusted EBITDA margin consistent with 2022, despite an 8% decline in annual net sales, created by a significant postal rate increase that was well above the rate of inflation, ongoing economic uncertainty, especially in early 2023 and the impact of elevated interest rates on the financial services sector, leading to reduced direct mail budgets. I will share our share more detail on our net sales breakdown shortly. We ended 2023, with strong free cash flow, that was near the high end of our guidance range, and used our cash generation to further strengthen our balance sheet, reducing our net debt leverage to two times, our lowest leverage levels since 2017.