Hi, everyone. Good morning, and welcome to the 2024 Industrials Conference with Jefferies. My name is Margot Bellet, and I am pleased to announce Steve Kantor with Investor Relations at VPG. Great. Thank you all, and it's great to be here in New York City. It's a beautiful day. I wanna thank Jefferies for the opportunity to be here and tell you about VPG. Before I do, I just want to remind everybody. I will be making some forward-looking statements, so please read our SEC filings carefully. So at our core, we're a sensor company. I don't need to tell you, sensors are everywhere. They're proliferating. They're in our homes, our cars, our offices, our factories, and we think that trend has a long way to go and a lot of legs, so we'll see even more sensors being developed and deployed. It's a good space to be in. What we do and the value that we create for our customers is really to provide products that help their products become safer, smarter, and more productive. And the way we do that is we focus on really the highest-performing products in our categories. And so in terms of precision, reliability, consistency, these are all key factors of why customers come to us. And the way to think about that, maybe in different terms, is in what's called the data value stream. So the data value stream is simply the process which real-world information like temperature, force, weight, pressure, those are all things that we measure, are digitized, and then that data then becomes analyzed or moves downstream to perform a certain function. So for a critical application, such as safety, where precision, reliability is really important, if you don't get that first step right, everything downstream is really a problem. So what we do is really important to our customers. We've been doing this for a while. We became a public company in 2010. Many of our businesses were actually operating and serving customers well before that with predecessor companies. So, we're very well established, have broad brand recognition in terms of our customers. We operate globally, and we serve a broad cross-section of markets, and we think, as we show on this slide, we think it's probably the most diversified set of end markets of a sensor company, certainly our size. Some of these are what I would think of as industrial kinds of markets that we've been serving for many years, such as industrial weighing, just as an example. In this market, we're selling products that are used to weigh ingredients in a whole variety of manufacturing environments, whether for pharmaceuticals or chemicals or food and beverage. We're involved in part of the steelmaking process, but other markets are clearly more tech-driven, such as test and measurement, where we serve the semiconductor market, some of the leading-edge test equipment and also leading front-end equipment. Also, in that other category, you'll find markets such as medical and consumer, and then other kinds of tech-driven markets. So it's really, this diversity we think is, works to our advantage in terms of consistency, where we're not reliant on a single market. And we do this organized really in three business segments, as I show on this slide: Sensors, Weighing Solutions, and Measurement Systems. The way you can think about this is Sensors are components, Weighing Solutions are modules, so they have some additional componentry, as part of their product, and then Measurement Systems are standalone kind of application system. They do one thing in one set of applications, but they do it really well. We think that these businesses, which each of them have their own, go-to-market strategies, product technology strategies, manufacturing strategies, we think each of these combined give us a nice blend of growth and profitability and resiliency, certainly through cycles. For instance, Sensors segment, we think long term can grow in the mid- to high-single digits with gross margins of around 40%. Weighing Solutions grows a bit slower since they're more industrially focused, growing at GDP plus, but with gross margins approaching that of Sensors. In fact, that's a really good story because just a few years ago, those gross margins were about a half of what they are now. So through our actions, which I'll talk more about in a minute, we've been able to improve those gross margins significantly. And then Measurement Systems growing in the mid-single digits, but with the highest gross margins of our company of 50% plus. So a nice blend for the company. We just came off our second-best year in the company's history in 2023. That followed the best year in the company's history in 2022. Thus far, in 2024, I think we've seen kind of a slower year, certainly slower than we had anticipated going into it. There's really a variety of factors, including just general economic slowdown. Some of the cyclical markets that we address, such as semiconductor equipment and steel, have moved from the bottom end of the low end of the cycle but have not quite fully recovered. And then, we're seeing increased cautiousness on the part of some of our distributors. But really, what's important here on this slide is on the right, which is the three to five-year target for the company. We want to grow the business in the low teens, which is a combination of both organic growth and inorganic growth, about half and half, if you wanted to, you know, use some sort of measure. And if we do that, we think that we can deliver on these financial targets in terms of gross margin, operating margin, and EBITDA margin, all of which we think compare quite well to other sensor companies. In fact, we were asked just on our last earnings call whether or not these targets are still valid. And the answer is absolutely yes. I think we think we have a clear path to getting to these financial metrics. Certainly, we'll need additional revenue, but we've done a lot of work on the cost side, which we think sets us up to really deliver increased profitability as revenues recover. So how do we, though, more big picture, how do we expect to grow organically? And it's really captured on this slide. And in at... You know, historically, VPG has focused primarily on niche markets, which are really good markets where we have number one or number two positions in. But as we think about the what's going on externally with some of the key trends that are driving demand for new kinds of sensors, and as we think about what we've been doing inside the company internally in terms of developing new products and new customers, new markets, we are shifting our focus to really going after larger and faster-growing markets, so moving beyond our niche markets. There's really... This slide really, I think, captures where we think the opportunity set or how we're delivering on the opportunities. On one side, you have what's going on externally. I already talked about the sensors and the proliferation, but there are a number of trends, which I'll talk about in a minute, which are driving opportunities. So externally, we think the environment long term is very positive for us. Internally, we've been doing a lot of work in terms of putting in place the capability to not only meet those larger and faster-growing markets in terms of ability to make product in higher volumes, but we've also been expanding our efforts on business development, we have been streamlining the R&D process to make sure that we're delivering prototypes to customers faster, and then we continue to focus on operational excellence to be able to deliver product in high qualities, but also to deliver them efficiently and produce them efficiently, so the external trends I've highlighted four of them here. You're all very familiar with them: electrification, digital transformation, industrial automation, defense and space technology, but I'll talk a little bit more about each of these in terms of what we're currently doing. Electrification, so for VPG, this is not about EVs, although we do have some plays related to EVs, such as the safety testing of electric vehicles and also the testing of EV batteries. But it really goes beyond that to new kinds of products that are now relying on electric power, where previously they didn't. So just to give you an example, I mentioned our products are used in the safety testing of new vehicles. Our products go into the crash test dummy that actually is collecting data during that test. But we're not just doing that for EVs, we're doing that for cars in general, but also now with electric aircraft, what are called eVTOLs, Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing systems. Now, there are a number of different prototypes being developed by a number of different companies. Whether or not we'll see them flying around here over Manhattan anytime soon remains to be seen, but I can assure you that these are real products that are being tested and, in fact, have generated, you know, a few million dollars of business for us just in the testing of them. But we're also, in terms of, we're on e-bikes to help extend the battery range of e-bikes. There's a lot of other opportunities outside of the electric vehicle that are really requiring our technology. The second trend is industrial automation. It's not a new trend, but it's one that we believe is accelerating, for a few reasons, not the least of which is the pain that the world experienced coming out of the pandemic and the supply chain shortages have really put front and center, in terms of a lot of businesses, the need to make sure that we have sufficient capability to produce product, even if there's labor shortages. So, we see this ongoing trend towards automation. We ourselves are doing that in terms of our factories, incorporating more and more automation. I've highlighted two examples in robotics. Certainly is one, not just the industrial robots, but medical robots and even now, robots in new form factors, such as humanoid robots, and we... I can talk a little bit more about that in a minute. We're also involved with precision agricultural equipment, which is also becoming increasingly automated. Defense and space is not a trend per se, but it's certainly one that is growing in terms of technical development, especially given the conflicts that we're seeing around the world today. We're involved in a number of areas related to defense and space. In terms of space itself, our products are used in terms of the command and control of satellites. We also are involved in the testing of different space rocket systems, such as this re-entry system I'm showing here on this slide. The second picture to the right of that, which shows what looks to be like crash test dummies, these are specialized mannequins that we developed for the U.S. Army to help them develop ways to better protect soldiers during combat. We're involved in a number of missile and defense systems, as well as in the development and design of both commercial and military drones, air, land, and sea. Digital transformation, it really is, you know, a process where we're applying digital technologies to a product or process that may not have needed it before. Consumer electronics is an area that's fairly new, new to us. If you looked at the company five years ago, we did almost zero in consumer, and now that has been one of the most rapidly growing areas for us. We're involved in semiconductor equipment, as I mentioned, both on the test side as well as in the front-end equipment side, and then, we're involved with, you know, supplying products for data center and fiber optics equipment. So that's, hopefully gives you a flavor of some of the trends that we think long term are driving the opportunity set for VPG. But, you know, what are we doing ourselves in terms of how are we capitalizing it, and what is the measure or metrics that are we using to really determine how successful we are? And really, that's. We tried to capture that on this slide, the left-hand slide. There's a number of key competencies that we continue to invest in and develop, such as our innovation using our deep technical experience, so a lot of our sales are technical sale. They're done from engineer to engineer, and so we think that we can leverage that. We're continued to look for M&A. We've done a number of successful deals. We continue to look for that. We think we have the right platform and certainly the balance sheet to do that. Continue to focus on operational excellence, et cetera, but really, what's important is on the right-hand side, these are the metrics that we are using to really assess how successful we are in deploying these different competencies. So it's really about revenue growth, operating leverage, and cash flow, and we believe that if we're successful, and we continue to grow those metrics, that, in turn, creates a lot of value for shareholders. More specifically, I'd say more the near-term priorities, we have really two. One is really focused on organic top-line growth. We've increased our focus on a number of key growth initiatives. I've listed here on this slide, and it may be a little hard for you to see just a portion of the current opportunities or initiatives that we have ongoing. If I were to aggregate these in terms of potential revenue for the company, incremental revenue, we think that these could be contribute you know in the low double digits of millions of dollars of incremental revenue in terms of their potential. I just wanna talk about a couple of these. Certainly, I could spend the whole presentation on each of these, but just a couple of them. So I mentioned robotics as being a key opportunity for us. We're currently working with a leading developer of a humanoid form factor robot. We've already generated several hundred thousands of dollars this year in terms of revenue from for prototypes for that project. And that customer has publicly stated that, you know, they would like to see thousands of robots deployed in their factory by the end of 2025. So if that comes to fruition, and as they finalize the bill of materials, and certainly, it represents a significant potential project for us, and that could be very exciting. We're also just recently had a design-in with a medical robotic company for surgical robots. That's a market that we think also has a lot of legs. And then one more example, which is, you know, further down the list, but ceramics testing. We, in our Measurement Systems business, we have a very sophisticated, sort of high-end tool that's used by R&D engineers and metallurgists to develop new metal alloys. We've now are working on expanding the capability of that to test ceramics. This is a new market for us, adjacent to our current market, which could represent a significant amount of revenue potential for us long term. So, as we think about these in terms of, you know, near-term revenue, probably seeing, you know, modest amounts through 2024. We see that growing as we move through 2025, and we then see it start to accelerate in 2026. On the other side is what we've been doing in terms of our cost structure. We've actually, over the last five years, have made major strides in streamlining our operations, our manufacturing, improving our process yields, increasing our productivity. I'd say the proof point is really in that chart, which shows that we achieved a record gross margin in the first quarter of this year. What's even more significant than the fact that it was a record, it was that we achieved it on more muted revenue, and certainly revenue levels that were well below what we had achieved in terms of peak revenue, quarterly revenue. We think the setup is really here for VPG, that as revenues begin to recover and accelerate, the setup is really there in terms of us to deliver really significant amounts of operating leverage, and that will flow to the bottom line. Hopefully, I've given you a little bit of flavor or introduction to the company, certainly around the opportunity set that we have, the drivers, the macro drivers. Shared with you some examples of key growth opportunities that are incremental that we're working on. We have a solid balance sheet. We're in a net cash position, and really have a great platform, and are very kind of excited about what's ahead for the company. So with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions that anybody may have. ... Thanks. I wonder if you could talk a little bit about your inventory at the distributors and, you know, do you think those get back to sort of pre-COVID levels in terms of days, and what's taking so long? Yeah. So in terms of our distribution channels, about 30% of our sales go through distribution. Another 30% are direct, so where we sell direct to the customer, and the customer uses the product themselves. And then 40% go through OEMs, where our products are designed in. So the distributors, so we experienced, like many other component companies, you know, the end of 2023 and into the first part of this year, some destocking. I would say right now, our inventory levels at our distributors are probably at or near historic lows. But the thing is that they have been very cautious in terms of replenishing them, and that seems to be their current posture. So whereas historically, when they've reached those levels, we would see a kind of acceleration of reordering, we have not seen that. Same is true of the OEMs and the direct, or that you give to distributors? So the question was, you know, what are the trends we're seeing in terms of sales direct to customers. I'd say these are more sector or application specific, so let me give you an example. I mentioned that we serve a segment of the steel market. It's the part of the steel-making process where they're rolling steel into sheets, and so our system is really a productivity system. It enables them to produce these sheets in a uniform and to quality and to spec. But, you know, when the steel market overall is sort of at the bottom end of the cycle, that's when we start to, you know, re-engage with those customers, but we don't see those orders for another six to nine months, and we don't see the shipments for another six to nine months after that, given the long lead times they have. So I would say for the end user customers, I think it depends on the customer. We had in the second quarter, we saw an increase in orders for consumer-related product. That was probably more related to a specific product cycle at a customer, and that's certainly probably we would think of that as an OEM sale. No more questions? Well, great. Again, thank you for your time, and it's always great to be at the Jefferies conference.