Doing more and earning better on each one: volume and per-unit economics improving together, from the company's own acti
The model's full reasoning — Q1 2016 call → NOWe need to determine if management conveys both: (1) volume of business rising now, and (2) per-unit economics improving due to company's own changes, presented together as current state. From transcript: Michael Weinstein discusses various regions. He mentions New York business very strong, up 14%. Las Vegas down due to construction. Florida down. He talks about price increases accepted, and they have elasticity. He says "we are finding that we have price elasticity" and "slight increases in menu prices... have been easily accepted and we probably have a little bit more elasticity to make up for these wage increase than we originally thought." That is about raising prices to cover wage increases, not necessarily per-unit economics improving due to operational changes. He also mentions managers working to limit overtime, spread of hours, rescheduling, etc. That is about controlling labor costs. But is that presented as per-unit economics improving? He says "we've been rescheduling people, taking some chances, some service, coordination... we've been trying to invent some new approaches." But then he says "we are finding that we have price elasticity" and "slight increases in menu prices... have been easily accepted" - that is price increases to offset wage increases, not necessarily improving per-unit economics beyond covering costs. The question asks: is the per-unit improvement mainly due to things the company itself did, not price increases passing through costs? Here, the price increases are to cover wage increases, so that is passing through costs. The operational changes (rescheduling, limiting overtime) are attempts to control costs, but are they presented as making each unit more profitable? He doesn't explicitly say margins are improving. He says they are handling wage increases. He doesn't say per-unit economics are getting better. He says they have price elasticity, meaning they can raise prices without losing customers, but that is just passing through costs. The question specifically says: "Answer NO if the per-unit improvement comes chiefly from raising prices to cover inflation, from favorable commodity or market prices the company receives, or from cutting the business back to its best pieces while overall activity declines." Here, the price increases are to cover wage increases (inflation in labor costs).
| Ticker | Company | Call | Date | Call grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CRGO | Freightos Limited | Q1 2024 | 2024-05-20 | C+ |
| WRBY | Warby Parker Inc. | Q1 2024 | 2024-05-09 | A |
| AZEK | The AZEK Company Inc. | Q2 2024 | 2024-05-08 | B+ |
| CTRA | Coterra Energy Inc. | Q1 2024 | 2024-05-03 | A |
| MNKD | MannKind Corporation | Q4 2023 | 2024-02-27 | C |
| LILA | Liberty Latin America Ltd. | Q4 2023 | 2024-02-23 | C |
| DASH | DoorDash, Inc. | Q3 2023 | 2023-11-01 | C+ |
| GRBK | Green Brick Partners, Inc. | Q3 2023 | 2023-11-01 | B |
| BZUN | Baozun Inc. | Q2 2023 | 2023-08-28 | D |
| IMAX | IMAX Corporation | Q2 2023 | 2023-07-26 | B+ |
| DAL | Delta Air Lines, Inc. | Q2 2023 | 2023-07-13 | A |
| GVP | GSE Systems, Inc. | Q1 2023 | 2023-05-15 | D |
| TGT | Target Corporation | Q4 2022 | 2023-02-28 | C |
| CNA | CNA Financial Corporation | Q4 2022 | 2023-02-06 | B |
| SYY | Sysco Corporation | Q1 2023 | 2022-11-01 | C+ |
| TMCI | Treace Medical Concepts, Inc. | Q2 2022 | 2022-08-13 | B+ |
| DM | Desktop Metal, Inc. | Q2 2022 | 2022-08-08 | F |
| FLR | Fluor Corporation | Q2 2022 | 2022-08-05 | D |
| SGRY | Surgery Partners, Inc. | Q2 2022 | 2022-08-02 | B+ |
| UPWK | Upwork Inc. | Q2 2022 | 2022-07-27 | C+ |
| SE | Sea Limited | Q1 2022 | 2022-05-17 | F |
| IRTC | iRhythm Technologies, Inc. | Q1 2022 | 2022-05-07 | C+ |
| ZENV | Zenvia Inc. | Q4 2021 | 2022-03-17 | C+ |
| OOMA | Ooma, Inc. | Q3 2022 | 2021-12-02 | B+ |
| GFS | GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc. | Q3 2021 | 2021-11-30 | A |
| KTB | Kontoor Brands, Inc. | Q3 2021 | 2021-11-04 | A |
| ADSK | Autodesk, Inc. | Q3 2019 | 2018-11-20 | A |
| PRPO | Precipio, Inc. | Q3 2018 | 2018-11-19 | D |
| UMH | UMH Properties, Inc. | Q3 2018 | 2018-11-02 | C+ |
| LRN | Stride, Inc. | Q1 2019 | 2018-10-23 | B |
| AU | AngloGold Ashanti's | Q2 2018 | 2018-08-20 | B |
| TMHC | Taylor Morrison Home Corporation | Q2 2018 | 2018-08-01 | B |
| ORAN | Orange SA | Q2 2018 | 2018-07-26 | B |
| ROP | Roper Technologies, Inc. | Q2 2018 | 2018-07-26 | A |
| HPE | Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company | Q2 2018 | 2018-05-22 | B+ |
| LAUR | Laureate Education, Inc. | Q1 2018 | 2018-05-13 | B+ |
| NOVT | Novanta Inc. | Q4 2017 | 2018-05-12 | B+ |
| FSS | Federal Signal Corporation | Q1 2018 | 2018-05-12 | A |
| BCOV | Brightcove Inc. | Q1 2018 | 2018-04-26 | B+ |
| ALLY | Ally Financial Inc. | Q1 2018 | 2018-04-26 | B+ |
| HLX | Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. | Q1 2018 | 2018-04-24 | B+ |
| TOUR | Tuniu Corporation | Q4 2017 | 2018-03-14 | D |
| UPLD | Upland Software, Inc. | Q4 2017 | 2018-03-08 | C+ |
| INST | Instructure's | Q4 2017 | 2018-02-12 | B+ |
| AVT | Avnet, Inc. | Q2 2018 | 2018-01-25 | B |
| UNH | UnitedHealth Group Incorporated | Q4 2017 | 2018-01-16 | A |
| CPK | Chesapeake Utilities Corporation | Q3 2017 | 2017-11-10 | A |
| HOLX | Hologic, Inc. | Q4 2017 | 2017-11-08 | D |
| RACE | Ferrari N.V. | Q3 2017 | 2017-11-02 | C+ |
| PII | Polaris Inc. | Q3 2017 | 2017-10-24 | C+ |
| IBTX | Independent Bank Group, Inc. | Q3 2017 | 2017-10-24 | A |
| BCE | BCE Inc. | Q2 2017 | 2017-08-05 | B+ |
| CCOI | Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. | Q2 2017 | 2017-08-03 | B |
| LEA | Lear Corporation | Q2 2017 | 2017-07-26 | B+ |
| ABM | ABM Industries Incorporated | Q2 2017 | 2017-06-08 | B |
| BLKB | Blackbaud, Inc. | Q1 2017 | 2017-05-02 | B+ |
| DAN | Dana Incorporated | Q1 2017 | 2017-05-02 | B |
| SHOO | Steven Madden, Ltd. | Q1 2017 | 2017-04-21 | C |
| GPOR | Gulfport Energy Corporation | Q4 2016 | 2017-02-14 | A |
| BP | BP p.l.c. | Q4 2016 | 2017-02-07 | B+ |
| BDC | Belden Inc. | Q4 2016 | 2017-02-02 | B |
| WYY | WidePoint Corporation | Q3 2016 | 2016-11-09 | D |
| SOHO | Sotherly Hotels Inc. | Q3 2016 | 2016-11-08 | D |
| ULBI | Ultralife Corporation | Q3 2016 | 2016-10-29 | C+ |
| NDSN | Nordson Corporation | Q3 2016 | 2016-08-23 | A |
| VRNS | Varonis Systems, Inc. | Q2 2016 | 2016-08-09 | B+ |
| ESE | ESCO Technologies Inc. | Q2 2016 | 2016-05-03 | A |
| INGR | Ingredion Incorporated | Q1 2016 | 2016-05-01 | B+ |
| RCL | Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. | Q1 2016 | 2016-04-29 | C+ |
| CAL | Caleres, Inc. | Q4 2015 | 2016-03-15 | C+ |
| HD | The Home Depot, Inc. | Q4 2015 | 2016-02-23 | A |
| JHX | James Hardie Industries plc | Q3 2016 | 2016-02-19 | B+ |
| HXL | Hexcel Corporation | Q4 2015 | 2016-01-22 | B+ |
SYY · Q1 2023 → YESThe question is whether management conveys TWO improvements happening AT THE SAME TIME: (1) volume of business RISING NOW, and (2) economics or productivity OF EACH UNIT getting BETTER due to company'...YES The transcript shows management describing both rising volume (sales +16.2%, U.S. Foodservice volume +7.3%, local case volume +5.4%, more than 1.4× market growth, net new customer wins) and improving per-unit economics (GP per case grew in all four 5th consecutive quarter; gross profit dollars per case increasing) as already occurring in the current quarter. They attribute the per-unit gains to company actions—strategic sourcing, team-based selling, Sysco Your Way service model, pricing tools, and supply-chain productivity improvements—while also noting inflation pass-through. Management presents these 2 improvements together as the present state of the business (not merely a target), even though OpEx productivity is still below historical levels and expected to improve later in the year. The answer is therefore YES. No other transcript section contradicts the dual improvement being conveyed as current. The question is answered YES.
IMAX · Q2 2023 → YESThe question is whether management conveys TWO improvements happening AT THE SAME TIME: (1) volume of business RISING NOW, and (2) economics or productivity OF EACH UNIT getting BETTER due to company ...YES The transcript shows both volume rising (signings up to 84 YTD vs 47 last year, installations doubled in Q2, box office +8% to $268M, revenue +32%) and per-unit economics improving (gross margins 59%, gross profit +31% with 15% growth 64% margin segment and 42% growth 36% margin segment, SG&A % of revenue down 700 bps to 33%, EBITDA margin 35.4%, driven by mix, profit flow-through, sales/hybrid arrangements, cost discipline, and operating leverage from company actions like programming and system mix). Management presents these as current state, not targets. So the answer is YES. The two improvements are happening simultaneously as described.
NDSN · Q3 2016 → YESThe question is: Does management convey that TWO improvements are happening at the same time: (1) volume of business is RISING NOW, and (2) the economics or productivity OF EACH UNIT are simultaneousl...YES Management describes both rising volume (6% sales growth, 4% organic, strong order rates, 22% backlog increase) and improving per-unit economics (operating margin up 3 points, gross margin up 2 points, incremental margin 77%, driven by volume leverage plus continuous improvement initiatives and the Nord business system) as already occurring in the current quarter. They attribute the per-unit gains mainly to company actions (new products, tiering, Nordson business system, restructuring-enabled improvements) rather than external prices or market conditions. The two improvements are presented together as the present state of the business.