Q3 2023 Avnet Inc Earnings Call
Participants
Joseph Burke; VP of Treasury & IR; Avnet, Inc.
Kenneth A. Jacobson; Controller, Principal Accounting Officer & CFO; Avnet, Inc.
Philip R. Gallagher; CEO, Member of Executive Board & Director; Avnet, Inc.
Joseph Michael Quatrochi; Senior Equity Analyst; Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Research Division
Matthew John Sheerin; MD & Senior Equity Research Analyst; Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, Research Division
Melissa Ann Dailey Fairbanks; Research Analyst; Raymond James & Associates, Inc., Research Division
Ruplu Bhattacharya; Director & Research Analyst; BofA Securities, Research Division
Presentation
Operator
Welcome to the Avnet Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2023 Earnings Conference Call. And I would now like to turn the floor over to Joe Burke, Vice President of Treasury and Investor Relations for Avnet. Thank you, sir. You may begin.
Joseph Burke
Thank you, operator. Earlier this afternoon, Avnet released financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2023. The release is available on the Investor Relations section of the company's website. A copy of the slide presentation that will accompany today's remarks can be found via the link in the earnings release as well as on the IR section of Avnet's website.
Some of the information contained in the news release and on this conference call contain forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Such forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of performance, and the company's actual results could differ materially from those contained in such statements. Several factors that could cause or contribute to such differences are described in detail in Avnet's most recent Form 10-Q and 10-K and subsequent filings with the SEC. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this presentation, and the company undertakes no obligation to publicly undertake -- update any forward-looking statements or supply new information regarding the circumstances after the date of this presentation.
Today's call will be led by Phil Gallagher, Avnet's CEO; and Ken Jacobson, Avnet's CFO. With that, let me turn the call over to Phil Gallagher. Phil?
Philip R. Gallagher
Thank you, Joe, and thank you, everyone, for joining us on our third quarter fiscal year 2023 earnings conference call. I am pleased to share that we delivered another quarter of solid financial results, which exceeded the top end of our sales and earnings guidance. More importantly, we achieved these results despite the market uncertainty and macro headwinds affecting certain areas of our business.
In the quarter, we grew sales 3% year-over-year in constant currency, and we delivered adjusted earnings per share of $2, which is our fifth consecutive quarter of adjusted earnings per share of $2 or greater. We continue to manage our operations with a sharp focus on efficiency. That, coupled with a stronger-than-expected performance in Europe and the Americas, enabled us to achieve a 5% operating margin in our Electronic Components business and a 4.8% operating margin for Avnet overall.
During the quarter, we saw sales growth in the Americas and EMEA regions, offset by a sales decline in Asia. The decline in Asia was due to the expected seasonal impact from the Lunar New Year holiday and from an overall slowdown in demand in certain Asian markets. From an overall demand perspective, in the quarter, we saw continued strength in key vertical segments, most notably, industrial, transportation and defense aerospace.
Demand signals continue to realign globally, resulting in lead times trending down on several component categories. However, we continue to see constraints and shortages on other products such as high-end MCUs, power and MOSFETs. Lead times for these constrained categories have improved but more modestly than other categories. Overall, semi lead times are above pre-pandemic levels, and IPD lead times are modestly above pre-pandemic levels.
The pricing environment remained stable during the quarter. At the beginning of the quarter, we still saw a handful of suppliers raise prices, primarily due to the higher input costs for the components. As a result of the current demand of lead time conditions, our book-to-bill ratio remains below parity in all regions at levels similar to last quarter, and our backlog remained relatively consistent with the end of last quarter.
Inventory levels remain elevated across the supply chain and our inventory increased in the third quarter as well. Our customers' inventory levels are elevated due to a combination of softer demand in certain areas and overall market conditions as it relates to component availability. They continue to seek certain key constrained parts that are needed to complete their end products. As a result, we are managing through adjustments to our backlog.
While cancellation rates are up, they're still within our normal range. We remain confident in the quality of our inventory and are working to improve turnover and to ensure the inventory on hand is aligned to the near-term sales outlook. So with that, let me turn to the highlights for our business.
Our Electronic Components business sales grew 4% year-over-year in constant currency, which led to EC delivering a 5% operating income margin. Our targeted margin is above 5%, so we are pleased that EC achieved this milestone this quarter as it demonstrates our ability to continue to drive operating leverage as we focus on top line sales growth.
I am particularly pleased with the Americas team delivering another solid quarter of sales and operating income. Our Americas business delivered the highest level of operating income margin in the past several years. The EMEA region delivered its second consecutive record sales quarter and our Asia business was able to maintain their operating margin despite the seasonally lower sales.
Asia has been impacted by reduced demand in verticals like consumer and communications. We saw overall softness in key markets like China, leading to quarter-over-quarter sales declines, which we expect to continue for at least the next 2 quarters. We achieved another quarter of record revenue and gross profit dollars for demand creation, further proof of the value we provide to our customers and supplier partners despite the mixed market conditions.
Demand creation and customer expansion remain critical to us as well as our supplier partners. Just a few weeks ago, I was able to meet with leaders of 3 of our top 10 suppliers. And one of the first things I wanted to discuss was demand creation and how Avnet can continue to help them grow their sales and increase their customer accounts.
The success of our engineering teams and the digital design tools have been key to improving our margins, particularly in the Americas and EMEA regions. Roughly 1/3 of our revenues come from demand creation. And this strategic priority is one of the elements that should enable us to achieve our higher margin goals in the medium term.
Now let's turn to our Farnell business. Farnell's sales increased 9% sequentially and 1% year-over-year in constant currency. Farnell's operating margins held steady sequentially at 9% during the quarter and were down year-over-year primarily due to the expected unwinding of pricing premiums as certain components become more available. Overall, Farnell continues to be our highest margin business, and we expect the operating margin to expand as supply constraints on single-board computing devices ease in the first half of our fiscal 2024.
To be clear, there continues to be a healthy backlog for single-board computers and when the semi-electronic components become more available to complete their production, we expect to begin to realize improved sales as we move into the September quarter. We have made substantial investments in Farnell's inventory offerings over the past 3 years and plan to make additional investments where we see the potential for accelerated growth and a solid return.
Our Farnell inventories have increased nearly 50% in the past year as Farnell has expanded its line card, replenished inventory levels and continue to focus on both on-the-board and off-the-board growth opportunities. Farnell's e-commerce business mix continues to improve with 56% of Farnell's total sales and 74% of total orders placed through their e-commerce platform.
We remain excited about Farnell and continue to see opportunity to leverage Farnell's and Electronic Components unique and synergistic collaboration, which is a key differentiator for Avnet. Our near-term milestone is driving Farnell to over $2 billion of annual sales at double-digit operating margins.
While we are pleased with the sales and earnings results for our third quarter, we are closely monitoring market conditions and the impact of component lead times on our backlog and inventory levels as products become more available. We also continue to manage through the impact of inflation and higher interest rates on our overall business, which we have successfully done over the past few quarters.
In the same way that demand outstrip supply over the past 2 years, supplier product has begun to exceed overall demand. Our current view supported by our supply chain industry tracking metrics as that we are experiencing an inventory correction, that will take a few quarters to play out. As we manage through this correction phase, we will continue to work with both our supplier partners and customers to regulate incoming orders and prioritize getting the right inventory levels to support sales and improve our turns.
Although the market correction is underway, we are not overly concentrated to any supplier end market. We continue to believe that due to our balanced line card, combined with the diverse end markets we serve, we are well positioned to outperform the overall components market to gain market share and expand operating margins when market conditions normalize.
With that, I'll turn it over to Ken to dive deeper into our third quarter results.
Kenneth A. Jacobson
Thank you, Phil. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for your interest in Avnet. With another quarter of year-over-year sales and operating income growth, we believe our third quarter financial performance demonstrates further progress toward achieving our medium-term financial targets, led by the 5% operating income margin achieved in our Electronic Components business.
Our sales for the quarter were $6.5 billion, modestly higher year-over-year and exceeding the top end of our guidance range. In constant currency, sales growth was 3% year-over-year. On a sequential basis, sales were down 5% in constant currency, which is lower than our historical seasonal trend of sequential sales growth.
Sales grew year-over-year, led by EMEA with nearly 10% growth and the Americas with 5% growth. This sales growth was offset by a decline in Asia of 10%. In constant currency, year-over-year sales grew 15% in EMEA, 5% in the Americas and declined 8% in Asia.
From an operating group perspective, Electronic Component sales grew 1% year-over-year or 4% in constant currency. Quarter-over-quarter, Electronic Component sales were 6% lower in constant currency. Farnell sales declined 3% year-over-year, but were up 1% from the prior year in constant currency and 9% higher sequentially in constant currency. Excluding sales of single-board computers, Farnell sales grew 2% year-over-year in constant currency.
For the third quarter, gross margin of 12.5% improved 79 basis points quarter-over-quarter and was relatively flat year-over-year. The sequential improvement in gross margin was primarily due to higher gross margins across all of our regions and from the seasonal shift in sales mix from Asia to the Western regions experienced every third quarter.
We continue to maintain discipline around SG&A expenses as adjusted operating expenses were $497 million for the quarter, down 2% year-over-year and up 3% sequentially. Foreign currency negatively impacted operating expenses by $12 million in the third quarter as compared to the second quarter. As a percentage of gross profit dollars, adjusted operating expenses were 61% in the quarter, 138 basis points lower than a year ago and 41 basis points lower than last quarter.
For the third quarter, we reported record adjusted operating income of $315 million, which increased 4% year-over-year and grew more than 2x greater than sales in constant currency. This is the ninth consecutive quarter of operating income growth exceeding our sales growth by more than 2x.
Our adjusted operating margin was 4.8% in the third quarter, which improved 15 basis points year-over-year and improved 36 basis points quarter-over-quarter. By operating group, Electronic Components operating income was $305 million, up 15% year-over-year. EC operating margin was 5%, up 64 basis points year-over-year and up 34 basis points quarter-over-quarter. All 3 EC regions saw year-over-year operating margin expansion, led by our EC Americas business, which expanded operating margin by more than 80 basis points.
Farnell operating income was $41 million, down 41% year-over-year. Farnell operating margin was 9% in the quarter, down 589 basis points year-over-year but held steady quarter-over-quarter. Farnell operating margin continued to be impacted by the expected unwinding of pricing premiums experienced due to component shortages and from unfavorable changes in foreign currency exchange rates. During the quarter, the Farnell operating margin was also impacted by certain nonrecurring expenses recognized in the quarter.
Farnell continues to be the highest margin business within Avnet, and overall operating margins continue to benefit from our focus on their growth and continued investment in their inventory, systems and distribution centers. We expect Farnell operating margins to remain at similar levels for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023, with improvements in operating margin beginning when certain components impacting the completion of single-board computers become more available.
Turning to expenses below operating income. Third quarter interest expense of $72 million increased by $46 million year-over-year and $13 million quarter-over-quarter, primarily due to a combination of increases in interest rates and from higher average borrowings to support working capital increases. This increase in interest expense negatively impacted adjusted diluted earnings per share by $0.37 year-over-year.
Our adjusted effective income tax rate was 24.5% in the quarter. Adjusted diluted earnings per share were $2 for the quarter, which decreased 7% year-over-year but were flat quarter-over-quarter. Differences in foreign currency exchange rates negatively impacted adjusted diluted earnings per share by $0.09 year-over-year.
Turning to the balance sheet and liquidity. During the quarter, working capital increased by $232 million, including a $381 million increase in inventories. Foreign currency negatively impacted the increases in working capital by $62 million overall, of which $45 million impacted inventory. As a result of this working capital increase, working capital days were 96 days for the quarter, which increased 12 days quarter-over-quarter. Our inventory days increased by approximately 9 days and our receivable days increased by approximately 2 days quarter-over-quarter.
Our inventories grew during the quarter, and as Phil mentioned in his remarks, this is consistent with the broader trend across the supply chain and our customers. The quality and freshness of our inventory continues to be good. Consistent with last quarter, inventory turnover slowed in the third quarter as customers request for rescheduling of product shipments continued as customers managed through their own inventory and production timing challenges.
Our return on working capital continues to be more than 2x greater than our cost of capital, however. In the third quarter, we generated $18 million of cash from operations, and we expect to generate positive cash flow from operations in the fourth quarter. Our debt decreased by approximately $80 million. We ended the quarter with a gross leverage of 2.3x, which was an improvement from the second quarter. At quarter end, we had approximately $750 million of available committed borrowing capacity and our teams continue to work on selling inventory on hand and collecting receivables to provide additional liquidity.
With regard to our capital allocation, in the near term, we continue to prioritize the needs of our business, including working capital and capital expenditures. During the third quarter, cash used for capital expenditures was $26 million. For the long term, we remain committed to our road map of delivering a reliable and increasing dividend and share repurchases to increase our shareholder value when we believe our shares are undervalued by the market, which continued to be the case in the third quarter.
In the third quarter, we paid our quarterly dividend of $0.29 per share or $27 million. We have $319 million left on our current share repurchase authorization as we enter the fourth quarter. Book value per share improved to approximately $50 a share or a sequential increase of approximately $2 a share due primarily to our strong earnings for the quarter.
Turning to guidance. For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023, we are guiding sales in the range of $6.1 billion to $6.4 billion and adjusted diluted earnings per share in the range of $1.60 to $1.70. Our fourth quarter guidance is based on current market conditions and implies a sequential sales decline of 1% to 6%. This guidance assumes below traditional seasonality in sales across all regions. This guidance also assumes similar interest expense compared to the third quarter, an effective tax rate of between 22% and 26% and 93 million shares outstanding on a diluted basis.
In closing, I want to thank our team for delivering another solid quarter of year-over-year operating income growth and margin expansion. Our team continues to deliver great results while demonstrating our value to our customer and supplier partners.
With that, I will turn it back over to the operator to open it up for questions. Operator?
Question and Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) And our first question comes from the line of Ruplu Bhattacharya with Bank of America.
Ruplu Bhattacharya
Phil, last quarter, you had expected in 3Q, both Europe and Americas revenues to be flat to slightly down sequentially, but they grew. So what was better than expected, which products or which verticals came in better than you had thought? And then when you look at the demand environment today versus 90 days ago, do you think that the demand is -- the end markets are stronger or weaker? And can you talk about the pricing environment? I mean, as things are -- as the lead times are coming down, are you seeing any change in pricing?
Philip R. Gallagher
Yes. Thanks, Ruplu. I appreciate that. We'll start with Europe and Americas. It was really not any one vertical, it's a few we talked about. I mean, automotive or transportation continues in our world to be very good. I always say transportation, that includes your e-bikes, cars, trucks, everything, right, and industrial. The industrial market has held up frankly probably a little bit stronger than we had anticipated this time last -- a quarter ago. So it's really those 2.
And then, of course, in more Americas centric, the defense and aerospace has been really positive for us. So there are a handful of verticals, and it's pretty -- like I said, it's pretty broad across the regions. So real positive. On the pricing trends, we're kind of holding on right now. So we touched on that in the script briefly. Actually, in the beginning of the quarter, we had a handful of suppliers that actually raised prices. I think they went upwards of 15% to 20%, still uncertain. Again, this was key with certain technologies, not everything, right, because the input costs are still there. But other than that, I would say, the pricing environment right now is relatively stable.
And on the overall question on demand environment, how do I see it going forward? Well, we got some typical seasonality coming into play a bit with the quarter. But I would say, kind of steady. Look, we know there's inventory out there and some buildups in all the verticals to some degree. But right now, I would just say, steady, just kind of -- it's holding on right now and thus, the guidance that we gave for our June quarter. It's a very mixed bag out there, Ruplu.
Ruplu Bhattacharya
Okay. Yes. No, thanks for the detail there, Phil. Let me ask Ken something on inventory. So it looks like sequentially, inventory was up 8%. Was there some timing issue, I think, you talked about? So when we think about inventory, working capital and free cash flow, I mean, what are -- what's your near-term target in terms of cash conversion cycle? And how should we think about free cash flow going forward?
Kenneth A. Jacobson
Yes. I think that obviously, with the inventory up, the working capitals are higher than we'd like. We'd like to get that back down into the 80s and the low 80s. I would say, part of it is timing. There was some stuff that we received at the end of the quarter, but a lot of it is stuff we received during the quarter and weren't able to ship out.
So I wouldn't say there's one particular fact. I mean, about 10% or so is foreign currency, 10% is Farnell and the 80% is really the bulk of the EC business across the board between all regions. And so looking at -- into next quarter, we expect inventory to be flattish. We still think it's going to take a couple of quarters to really get through the inventory levels being elevated.
Ruplu Bhattacharya
Got it. And Ken, if I can squeeze one more in real quick. So the core components margins, even on sequentially $200 million lower revenues, it grew to 5%, so 30 basis points sequentially. So in present performance, can you help us break that down to how much was because of mix versus volumes versus pricing? And as we think about this going forward, I mean, do you think that this level is sustainable or at what revenue levels can this margin level of 5% be sustainable?
Kenneth A. Jacobson
Yes. I think we need to have in the mid-$6 billion to make the 5% sustainable. I will say, as we kind of look out there, we don't really foresee sales in any quarter dropping below $6 billion or really operating margin dropping low 4% as we currently see it. But getting into the current quarter, we did have a favorable mix. So about half and half, half of it was a more favorable mix than we thought. But I would point out for EMEA and Americas, it was still below normal seasonal growth.
So although we did better than expected in those regions, coming out of the December quarter, it was still lower in terms of growth rates than we'd expect to see in a normal environment. And the rest was a little bit better margin in each of those regions. So they did drive a better mix. We talked about demand creation. So it's all those things we've been talking about helped to contribute to a little bit higher gross margin in all the regions as well.
Operator
And the next question comes from the line of Melissa Fairbanks with Raymond James.
Melissa Ann Dailey Fairbanks
Congrats on the great quarter and guide. Really nice progress on the margins. It's really good to see in this kind of an environment. I know you're probably tired of talking about it, but I'd like to dig on the inventory levels. Thanks for providing the color on FX impact. I'm curious if price inflation is also impacting the new inventory you're bringing in? You've seen continued price increases in the past quarter. We've heard a few suppliers so far this quarter signal that more price increases are coming.
And then separately, there's a number of suppliers that have been holding inventory back from the channel, including in distribution. As the supply continues to ease, we'd expect these suppliers to begin releasing more inventory. Is there a potential for your inventory levels to continue to rise as this happens?
Kenneth A. Jacobson
Melissa, I'll take the first part. I mean, I think how I'd characterize it, pricing is clearly an impact, not only to the sales growth but also the inventory levels, but I would say, it's more muted than it was a couple of quarters ago. So that's a component. I wouldn't characterize the inventory increase overall, let's say, 80% coming from the core business, I wouldn't characterize, let's say, more than 25% coming from pricing, and you kind of see that in our sales growth as well.
Going back to the question about whether or not inventory levels could rise. I mean, I think we -- that's a possibility. That's what we're aiming to resolve. I would say, it rose more than we expected it to rise coming to this quarter. But what I would say is, if that happens with certain suppliers that are going to give us more inventory because of our demand or our orders, we're working on the other ones, the handful that did contribute to the increase this quarter. So it all kind of puts and takes in the overall kind of ins and outs of inventory.
Philip R. Gallagher
Yes. Thanks, Ken. And Melissa, this is Phil. Thanks for the comments and the questions. On the inventory, I want to reemphasize, it's fresh inventory. It's good inventory. It's not aging. And getting (inaudible), there's a handful of concentration where the inventory has really grown. So it's not across the board, right? So it's not every line or every technology. So it's really, I would say, the classic (inaudible) there with the concentration in a handful.
And then the other thing is we're balancing the customers' requirements. Kind of going back to the previous, how do we see demand and it depends on the vertical, but we're managing the customers, how much can they take? Maybe they might have a little bit too much inventory. So we're trying to manage being in that center technology supply chain, the suppliers and the customers and what the real needs are. And we're in for long haul with these customers. So where they maybe can't take it this quarter, how can they take it next quarter and then maybe we have to extend a little bit of AR as you heard went out a little bit as well. It's all kind of hand-to-hand combat on every one of these deals.
Melissa Ann Dailey Fairbanks
Okay. Great. That's super helpful. Maybe just one really quick follow-up, this might be for Ken. So this is definitely not "normal" cycle because of some of these supply constraints and changing behavior of holding more inventory on the supplier side. Does this potentially change the normal countercyclical pattern of the working capital release in your model?
Kenneth A. Jacobson
I guess, I wouldn't say we see it that way. I think it could take a few more quarters to get that flow going, right? Because typically, that normal seasonality would be sales go down, so therefore my inventory goes down and I collect the receivables from those higher sales, and that's what creates the cash. That still holds true, but the inventory hasn't gone down, right?
We look at more cash when we got this quarter, next quarter, but the key is going to be getting the inventory down to actually create that larger countercyclical effect. So we don't believe it's changed. We have not seen the inventory whereas you've seen in other cycles, the inventory goes down a couple of quarters after the sales go down.
Operator
And the next question comes from the line of Matt Sheerin with Stifel.
Matthew John Sheerin
Yes. Phil, just your comments regarding -- I mean, I think you said that you expect the correction or inventory correction to take a few quarters. And it seems like you're lagging some of your suppliers because your business obviously is holding up. You're one of the few companies within semiconductors that were still up year-on-year. So it seems like you're just getting started here. And in terms of your visibilty and how long that will take, are you expecting sequential or less than seasonal trends, at least through the rest of the fiscal year or the calendar year?
Philip R. Gallagher
Yes. Thanks, Matt. Well, first of all, the seasonal trends and the typical seasonality has kind of been thrown out of the window. So it's tough to -- let me just tell you what we're seeing. And our guide reflects that. And as far as our estimate based on the backlog we have, the inventory we show pipeline coming in and the revenue forecast gave me the fact to say, yes, I think it's about a couple of quarters, maybe it's 2 or 3 quarter kind of burn off. It's just a very different cycle than we've seen before.
And there's so many mixed signals, Matt, I mean, some verticals, i.e., PC consumer are down, mobile and then other ones are up, right? So the industrial continues to be strong or steady and automotive. So it's given us just so many different mixed signals this time, but that's our estimate. We think the demand and what we see in our forecast, we're getting it from our customers, it's going to allow us to 2 to 3 quarter cycle. I think it's correction, Matt, more than a cycle.
Matthew John Sheerin
Got it. And in terms of your own inventory build, is that a function of suppliers may be shipping ahead of their lead times because of their own maybe seeing cancellations from other customers and then you seeing cancellations and pushouts from customers and that's why sort of it's piling up, if you will?
Philip R. Gallagher
Yes, I don't know. I don't think so. I think they're catching up. I mean -- because lead times in many cases, are coming in. So they're catching up to the old promise dates or required dates. We're not -- I mean, I'm really going to emphasize this, as far as -- as noted earlier, have been working with us, they're not shipping early. So we are not taking in products quarters earlier or anything on those lines.
Some of it is just catching up so quickly, then you can't pass it on to the customers because even if they're missing the goals because they can't build it all in a month, right? So they got to plan out their manufacturing if things are coming in quicker than they thought. So it's kind of -- like I said earlier, everyone is a bit of a one-off. But I do not believe that the suppliers want to ship early or are shipping early at this point in time. We're not seeing that.
Matthew John Sheerin
Got it. And I know you're guiding revenues down roughly 4% sequentially. Would you expect all regions to be down sequentially?
Kenneth A. Jacobson
Yes. I mean, I think I would say normally, Matt, Asia would be up a little bit coming off the Lunar New Year, and they're up less than we'd like and then EMEA and the Americas will be down as kind of -- so it's a little bit more unfavorable mix than it was in the third quarter, I would say, with the $6.25 billion.
Philip R. Gallagher
And that's typical in the West, Matt. Europe and America is coming down from the March quarter typically are one of the largest quarters.
Matthew John Sheerin
Okay. And just lastly on that interest expense, which is up obviously significantly year-over-year, and you're still guiding to that $70 million level or so. I would think that, that would be a priority for you in terms of your balance sheet to try to work down those short-term borrowings. Is there a plan there?
Kenneth A. Jacobson
Yes. Matt, I mean, I think that's the priority as cash gets generated, we pay down the debt, and I think we've kind of hit the plateau there with the peak there, the $70 million. But yes, we got to work that down as well. And clearly, you can see the headwind that's created with the EPS, right? Our EPS would be a lot more robust hadn't we had that additional expense to fund the working capital.
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from the line of Joe Quatrochi with Wells Fargo.
Joseph Michael Quatrochi
Yes. My first one, I wanted to ask about the change in collections that you're seeing. I think you talked about that last quarter and maybe referenced it again this quarter. I guess, are you seeing that spread to additional customers? And then kind of coupled with that, were there any sort of change in customer behavior, just given kind of some of the banking issues that we've seen across several of the regional banks?
Kenneth A. Jacobson
Yes. Thanks, Joe. I mean, I think from an overall quality of the receivables and aging receivables, I would actually say, it improved a little bit from the end of December. Part of that blip in December was our customers year-ends and things like that. But I think it's more of the same. It's -- payment terms are stretched out a little bit, but we're collecting. And we don't have any near-term headwinds we're seeing from customers going bankrupt, and that's part of the inventory equation of that. So I think we feel pretty good that we're in a steady state there in terms of collections and we're working with our customers. So we feel good there.
On the banking situation, we were able to -- and congratulations to our treasury team to close a debt deal right before some of that noise happened to give us a little bit more liquidity. We're glad we were able to get in before the noise. We had some customers that have their banking and some of these regional institutions that were impacted. But overall, it's not been an impact to us, I would say.
Philip R. Gallagher
Yes, I just would add on the AR, just -- AR receivables are strategic for us, right? So we knowingly are working with our customers. So there's no real surprises on the AR going out. We're -- as we get the inventory in, if they can't afford to take right now, we'll hold a little bit more or if we ship or if we extended the receivables again. They're all one-on-one conversations with the customers because again, we're in for the long haul, we want to keep them viable and keep them afloat in some cases. So -- but I've been really proud of the credit and collections team. They've done a phenomenal job thus far.
Joseph Michael Quatrochi
Got it. And then just as a quick follow-up, and I apologize if I missed it. You said that total book-to-bill was relatively the same as last quarter. Did that change at all really by region?
Philip R. Gallagher
Not really. It's below parity, Joe, and some of that negative book-to-bill is us moving backlog as well, right? So we're adjusting where suppliers are allowing at and if some of the NCNRs get kind of some relief there, we're managing that as well. So some of that's, I'll call, self-inflicted for the right reasons, right, to get the real -- because suppliers want -- they know what the real pipeline is, too, right? And we want to go to our customers and say, "Hey, do you need this or don't you need?" So most of it's -- or much of it is on our own.
And the other thing is we're not seeing as much in the cancellations. The cancellation rates are pretty much within our range, okay, in that 30% -- 25% to 30% range. We are seeing some pushouts, right, which again is not necessarily a bad thing. But the customers are still reluctant to cancel the backlog, which is interesting.
Operator
Everyone, there are no further questions at this time. I'd now like to turn the floor back over to Phil Gallagher for any closing comments.
Philip R. Gallagher
Yes. Let me just thank everyone for attending today's earnings call and look forward to speaking to you again at our fourth quarter fiscal earnings report in August. Have a great day. Thanks.
Operator
And ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation, and have a great day.
