Perficient, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRFT) Q3 2022 Results Conference Call October 27, 2022 11:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Jeff Davis - Chairman and CEO

Paul Martin - CFO

Tom Hogan - President and COO

Conference Call Participants

Mayank Tandon - Needham

Surinder Thind - Jefferies LLC

Jonathan Lee - Morgan Stanley

Puneet Jain - JP Morgan

Vincent Colicchio - Barrington Research

Maggie Nolan - William Blair

Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q3 2022 Perficient Earnings Conference Call. [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, Chairman and CEO, Jeff Davis. Please go ahead.

Jeff Davis

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. With me on the telephone today is Paul Martin, our CFO; Tom Hogan, our President and COO. I’d like to thank you again for your time this morning. We have about 10 to 15 minutes of prepared comments, after which we’ll open up the call for questions.

Before I proceed, Paul, would you please read the safe harbor statement?

Paul Martin

Thank you, Jeff, and good morning, everyone. Some of the things we will discuss in today’s call concerning future company performance will be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the securities laws. Actual results may materially differ from those discussed in these forward-looking statements, and we encourage you to refer to the additional information contained in our SEC filings concerning factors that could cause those results to be different than contemplated in today’s discussion.

At times during this call, we will refer to adjusted EPS and adjusted EBITDA. Our earnings press release including a reconciliation of certain non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable financial measures prepared in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or GAAP, is posted on our website at www.perficient.com. We have also posted a slide deck, which includes a reconciliation of certain non-GAAP guidance to the most directly comparable financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP on our website under Investor Relations.

Jeff?

Jeff Davis

Well, thanks, Paul. It’s good to be with you today as we discuss our third-quarter performance and our continued growth and profitability. Adjusted earnings per share increased 26% during the period with revenue up 18%. North American average bill rates were up 4.4% year-over-year, accelerating to an all-time high. Gross margin also reached an all-time high at 40.1% or 41.3% on an adjusted basis. The pipeline remains strong, in fact, larger than ever, and we’re pursuing several 8-figure deals. And now we are seeing a modest increase in sales cycles with some customers deliberating a little longer given the macroeconomic inputs. But because our work primarily involves mission-critical projects in which enterprises must invest and do prioritize, we’re not overly concerned at this point.