Northwest Natural Holding Company (NYSE:NWN) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call February 23, 2024 11:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Nikki Sparley - Director, Investor Relations

David Anderson - Chief Executive Officer

Brody Wilson - Chief Financial Officer, Vice President, Treasurer and Chief Accounting Officer

Conference Call Participants

Selman Akyol - Stifel

Operator

Hello and welcome to today's NW Natural Holdings Company Q4 2023 Earnings Call. My name is Bailey, and I'll be your moderator for today. All lines will be muted during the presentation portion of the call, with an opportunity for questions-and-answers at the end. [Operator Instructions]

I would now like to pass the conference over to our host today, Nikki Sparley, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Nikki Sparley

Thank you, Bailey. Good morning, and welcome to our Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. As a reminder, some things that will be said this morning contain forward-looking statements. They are based on management's assumptions, which may or may not occur. For a complete list of cautionary statements, refer to the language at the end of our press release. We expect to file our 10-Q later today.

As mentioned, this teleconference is being recorded, and will be available on our website following the call. Please note, these calls are designed for the financial community. If you are an investor and have additional questions after the call, please contact me directly at 503-721-2530. News media may contact David Roy at 503-610-7157.

Speaking this morning are David Anderson, Chief Executive Officer; and Brody Wilson, CFO, Vice President, Treasurer and Chief Accounting Officer. David and Brody have prepared remarks and then will be available along with other members of our executive team to answer your questions.

With that, I will turn it over to David.

David Anderson

Thanks Nikki, and good morning and welcome everybody. I'll start today by walking through 2024 guidance and priorities and then I'll turn to a few comments about 2023 before I hand it over to Brody to cover the financials in more detail. And finally, I'll wrap up the call with an update on our strategic priorities.

Turning to 2024, as you know, earnings growth is not always linear, and in certain years the focus will be on investments and initiatives that set the stage for future growth, and quite frankly, 2024 is such a year for us.

While we continue to maintain strong credit ratings, a solid balance sheet, and long-term earnings growth outlook of 4% to 6%, our earnings guidance for 2024 reflects a combination of lag, related to our capital investments and inflationary pressures that we are experiencing simultaneously. I'll describe these two factors in more detail.