WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) Q3 2024 Earnings Conference Call October 31, 2024 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Scott Gaffner – Senior Vice President-Investor Relations
John Engel – President and Chief Executive Officer
Dave Schulz – Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Nigel Coe – Wolfe Research
Sam Darkatsh – Raymond James
David Manthey – Baird
Deane Dray – RBC Capital Markets
Christopher Glynn – Oppenheimer
Ken Newman – KeyBanc Capital Markets
Patrick Baumann – JPMorgan

Operator

Hello, and welcome to WESCO's 2024 Third Quarter Earnings Call. I’d like to remind you that all lines are in a listen-only mode throughout the presentation. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded.

I will now hand the call over to Scott Gaffner, SVP, Investor Relations, to begin.

Scott Gaffner

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Before we get started, I want to remind you that certain statements made on this call contain forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance, and by their nature, are subject to uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially. Please see our webcast slides and the company's SEC filings for additional risk factors and disclosures. Any forward-looking information speaks only as of this date, and the company undertakes no obligation to update the information to reflect changed circumstances.

Additionally, today, we will use certain non-GAAP financial measures. Required information about these measures is available on our webcast slides and in our press release, both of which are posted on our website, wesco.com.

On the call this morning, we have John Engel, WESCO's Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Dave Schulz, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

I'll turn the call over to John.

John Engel

Thank you, Scott. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our call today. We had a strong close to our third quarter with sales up slightly versus the second quarter, and this came in at the high end of our outlook range. Accelerating momentum and double-digit sales growth in our data center business was the primary driver. The continued weakness in utility and broadband offset what would have been a return to organic growth in the quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA margin was flat sequentially and better than the expectations reviewed during our Investor Day last month, and this was driven by an increase in gross margin. Dave will provide more details on this later in the call along with our outlook for the fourth quarter.