TrueBlue, Inc. (NYSE:TBI) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript - Page 4 of 7 - InvestingChannel

TrueBlue, Inc. (NYSE:TBI) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Derrek Gafford: No, nothing really lumpy out there. From a cash flow perspective, and a use of capital perspective, investing back in the business. That has been our priority, both from an operating expense perspective, use of capital as well as from a CapEx perspective, largely in technology. So the company is still very focused on digitally transforming the business. There’s a lot that we have to be excited about there and some improvements that are being made and more to be done in the future there. So we’re going to stay true to those. That doesn’t mean we might trim some of that back going into next year, depending on what conditions look like. Outside of that, our next favorite spot is, in returning capital back to shareholders.

We think that the prices for the stock have been pretty advantageous this year. We bought about — we look at this both in total dollars and as a percentage of market cap. And so this year, we bought back about 5% of the market cap. That’s pretty much in alignment with where we’ve been in most years. We still want to keep that balance sheet really strong. As you know, we’ve got a lot of operating leverage in this business, which is great when revenue is on the way up. In more challenging times, that operating leverage works against us. And it’s important for us to not have financial leverage on top of negative operating leverage. So we’re going to stay disciplined on that part. That’s — we’re not ruling out any more share repurchases, just kind of giving you some thoughts about it.

From an acquisition perspective, that is something we’re taking a look at in the future. We’ve talked about tuck-ins in the RPO space. Really the main priority right now, though, is just running the business, recovering the business, business development from a staffing perspective and RPO perspective, less focus on acquisitions at the current moment.

Marc Riddick: Okay. Great. And then the last thing I’d be remiss if I didn’t sort of ask about the announcement that came out after the close on the addition of the Chief People Officer. So I was wondering if you could maybe shed a little light on that and talk a little bit about that.

Taryn Owen: Sure. Thank you, Marc. This is Taryn speaking. I would just say, overall, I’m incredibly impressed with the support and strength of our leadership team overall. And certainly glad that you saw the announcement regarding our new Chief People Officer, Greg Netolicky, joined us today, actually, it’s his first day. He brings to us outstanding experience in all aspects of HR, so really looking forward to the contribution he’ll make to us as we move forward here.

Marc Riddick: Right. Thank you very much.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Mark Marcon with Baird. Please proceed with your question.

Mark Marcon: Good afternoon and let me extend my thanks to Derrek. It’s been great working with you over the last 20 years, Derrek. So really appreciate everything that you’ve done. Can you talk a little bit about the PeopleScout business? There’s commentary with regards to — some clients have been pulling back, some are pulling resources in-house. Can you talk a little bit about like — what percentage of the clients are just pulling back their volumes versus what percentage are bringing things in-house? And — can you also describe what are you seeing in terms of new RFPs and any line of sight in terms of decisions that could be coming up? And how you’re thinking about win rates and your competitive position in that particular space?

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