BlueLinx Holdings Inc. (NYSE:BXC) Q4 2022 Results Conference Call February 22, 2023 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Alexandra Lukacs - Manager of Investor Relations

Dwight Gibson - President and CEO

Kelly Janzen - Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Danny Eggerichs - Craig Hallum

Kurt Yinger - D.A. Davidson

Reuben Garner - The Benchmark Company

Garik Shmois - Loop Capital Markets

Walt Liptak - Seaport Global

Operator

Greetings. And welcome to the BlueLinx Holdings' Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode [Operator Instructions]. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Alexandra, Manager of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Alexandra Lukacs

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. And welcome to the BlueLinx Holdings' fourth quarter and full year 2022 earnings call. Presenting today are Dwight Gibson, President and CEO of BlueLinx; and Kelly Janzen, our Chief Financial Officer. Our fourth quarter and full year news release and Form 10-K were issued yesterday after the close of the market, along with our webcast presentation. These items are available in the Investors section of our Web site, bluelinxco.com. We encourage you to follow along with the detailed information on the slides during our webcast. Today's discussion contains forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ significantly from those forward-looking statements due to various risk and uncertainties, including the risks described in our most recent SEC filings. Today's presentation includes certain non-GAAP and adjusted financial measures that we believe provide helpful context for investors evaluating our business. Reconciliations to the closest GAAP financial measure can be found in the appendix of our presentation. At the conclusion of our prepared remarks, we will open the line for questions.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Dwight.

Dwight Gibson

Thanks, Alexandra, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us on the call today. Over the past year, our team has built BlueLinx into a stronger, more profitable and more resilient business. We have transformed our balance sheet with leverage under 1 times and total liquidity of $645 million. Despite the soft and market environment, we are positioned to continue to execute our strategy, which includes growing our higher value specialty product sales, driving operational excellence across our business, fortifying our balance sheet while investing in profitable growth, and building a strong team that is committed to driving a high performance culture and generating long term value. In 2022, favorable market conditions combined with these strategic priorities contributed to us achieving one of the best annual financial performances in our history, in terms of net sales, earnings per share, adjusted EBITDA and operating cash flow, even as market conditions began to decline late into the year. For the fiscal year 2022, we delivered $4.5 billion in sales and $296 million in net income. This translated into adjusted EBITDA of $478 million, a new record, and more than $32 in diluted earnings per share on an adjusted basis. We also generated a record $400 million in operating cash flows, of which approximately $170 million was allocated during the year to acquire Vandermeer Forest Products for $67 million, make capital investments that improve the effectiveness for our distribution facilities and fleet, and acquire 9% of our outstanding shares under our share repurchase programs.