Reordering the pecking order: management describes the company winning on a stage where it used to be too small to play
The model's full reasoning — Q1 2024 call → NOWe need to determine if management describes the company now competing and winning at a level of the market that used to be above it. The key is a change in tier, already real, and early. Scan the transcript for any mention of moving up a tier, competing against larger players, winning business that previously went to bigger/established players, etc. Andy Harmening's opening remarks: "we've generated significant momentum... we've added talented commercial RMs... we've significantly elevated the customer experience... These efforts are driving results... our customer satisfaction scores... J.D. Power named us number one for retail banking satisfaction in the Upper Midwest... colleague engagement... Top Workplaces... we saw positive household growth... we again delivered broad-based loan growth and core customer deposit growth... we are hard at work executing Phase 2... we expect the full impact of these actions in Phase 2 to be realized in the second half of 2024 and into 2025." He talks about adding talent, including "Mike Lemons to our commercial team in Minnesota next month. Mike joins us from Wells Fargo where he spent over 20 years in commercial banking, most recently serving as a division portfolio executive for six states, including Wisconsin and Minnesota." That's hiring from a larger bank, but not necessarily about winning business at a higher tier. He also says: "There is a growing perception in the Midwest that Associated Banc is an employer of choice, and that's both internally and externally." That's about perception. He mentions "we are not looking to just fill seats at Associated. We are looking to add talent." But no explicit statement about moving up a tier in terms of competing for business. Later, in the Q&A, Andy talks about deposit growth: "we expect the vast majority of what we're going to get in deposit growth to come from consumer... we are growing households and getting a higher average deposit amount per household... on mass affluent, we've gotten hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funds from this customer segment... our private wealth team is accelerating its growth... under the leadership of our new Head of Private Wealth...
| Ticker | Company | Call | Date | Call grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SANG | Sangoma Technologies Corporation | Q2 2024 | 2024-02-08 | D |
| PFIE | Profire Energy, Inc. | Q1 2023 | 2023-05-13 | B |
| WD | Walker & Dunlop, Inc. | Q2 2022 | 2022-08-09 | C+ |
| PRIM | Primoris Services Corporation | Q2 2018 | 2018-08-11 | C+ |
PRIM · Q2 2018 → YESThe question is: Does management describe that the company is NOW COMPETING AND WINNING AT A LEVEL OF THE MARKET THAT USED TO BE ABOVE IT? YES The transcript shows management describing exactly this tier shift in the T&D segment: after the Willbros acquisition, the group “has been able to sign new awards with customers that have been hesitant because of previous concerns about their financial viability” and has received work from “some of the largest electrical utilities in the country.” David King notes that the work “outpaces anything he has seen in his 40-plus years,” and Pete Moerbeek adds that the one-year MSA revenue alone is now $1.1 million. Management presents these wins as a direct result of Primoris’s financial strength and parent-company backing, which previously excluded the T&D business from the largest accounts. The commentary frames the development as newly enabled and still early (only one month of T&D performance), satisfying all three required elements: a clear change in competitive tier, real business already won, and contribution still incremental relative to the company’s prior scale.
SANG · Q2 2024 → YESThe question is: Does management describe that the company is NOW COMPETING AND WINNING AT A LEVEL OF THE MARKET THAT USED TO BE ABOVE IT? YES The transcript shows management describing a shift to competing at a higher tier with sophisticated mid-market clients through bundled offerings, illustrated by a recent win with a statewide park department that larger vendors couldn't serve affordably. They explicitly note this represents a change in tier ("the type of client the bundled capabilities of Sangoma can reach ... Sangoma is well positioned to play in both the small market and more sophisticated mid-market") and that it has already produced real results ("this recent win"), while conveying it is early ("there'll be a lag before it delivers material results.
WD · Q2 2022 → YESThe question is: Does management describe that the company is NOW COMPETING AND WINNING AT A LEVEL OF THE MARKET THAT USED TO BE ABOVE IT? YES The transcript shows management explicitly describing a tier shift: from competing "predominantly with the likes of JPMorgan and Wells Fargo" to "going head-to-head with CBRE and JLL," enabled by technology investments that now allow them to "successfully compete against these much larger firms.