Amdocs' CEO Discusses F1Q12 Results - Earnings Call Transcript

Amdocs Limited (

DOX

)

F1Q12 Earnings Call

February 1, 2012 5:00 PM ET

Executives

Elizabeth Grausam – VP, IR

Eli Gelman – CEO

Tamar Rapaport-Dagim – CFO

Analysts

Shaul Eyal – Oppenheimer

Tom Roderick – Stifel Nicolaus

Ashwin Shirvaikar – Citi

Jason Kupferberg – Jefferies & Company

Julio Quinteros – Goldman Sachs

Daniel Meron – RBC Capital Markets

David Kaplan – Barclays

Will Power – Robert W Baird

Arvind Ramnani – UBS

Dan Cummins – ThinkEquity

Suhail Chandy – Wedbush

Presentation

Operator

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Good day, everyone and welcome to this Amdocs First Quarter 2012 Earnings Release Conference Call. Today’s call is being recorded and webcast. At this time, I will turn the call over to Elizabeth Grausam, Vice President of Investor Relations for Amdocs. Please go ahead, ma’am.

Elizabeth Grausam

Thank you, Melanie. Before we begin, I would like to point out that during this call we will discuss certain financial information that is not prepared in accordance with GAAP. The company’s management uses this financial information and its internal analysis in order to exclude the effects of acquisitions and other significant items that may have a disproportionate effect in any particular period. Accordingly, management believes that isolating the effects of such events enables management and investors to consistently analyze the critical components and results of operations of the company’s business and to have a meaningful comparison to prior periods.

For more information regarding our use of non-GAAP financial measures including reconciliations of these measures, we refer you to today’s earnings release which will also be furnished with the SEC on a Form 6-K.

Also, this call includes information that constitutes forward-looking statements. Although we believe the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our expectations will be obtained or that any deviations will not be material. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ from those anticipated. These risks include but are not limited to the effects of general economic conditions and such other risks as discussed in our earnings release today and at greater length in the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2011, filed on December 8, 2011.

Amdocs may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, however the company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. Participating on the call today are Eli Gelman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Amdocs Management Ltd.; and Tamar Rapaport Dagim, Chief Financial Officer. Following our prepared comments, we’ll open the call to Q and A. With that, let me turn the call over to Eli Gelman.

Eli Gelman

Thank you, Liz, and good afternoon to everyone on the call.

Today we are pleased to announce that our first fiscal quarter results were within our guidance for revenue, EPS, and margins. I would like to discuss our business strengths in two distinct parts. First, I would quickly discuss our business with AT&T in light of the termination of the merger with T-Mobile. We expect this topic is at the top of your minds. Second, I would like to discuss the rest of our business. Altogether, we believe trends remains quite healthy for Amdocs.

Starting with AT&T, as we discussed on our last quarterly earning calls in early November, we planned for various scenarios around the pending measures in our outlook for 2012. While we factored in potential for the deal to be delayed or cancelled, to be frank, we were surprised by the timing of the deal termination in mid-December. As a result of this timing, AT&T naturally put certain programs on hold until after the holiday season.

As we speak, we are working with AT&T as the customer is refocusing its aid IT and other priorities. Due to the fact that these discussions are still in progress, the type and level of spending of AT&T is currently one of the largest variables between the low and the high end of our full year guidance range. We expect to have more clarity on this topic next quarter.

Now I’ll turn to the discussion of the majority of our business. We continue to see solid demand trends and strong signings during the first quarter. Let me provide some color on the emerging markets, European and managed services components of our business which continues to be particular in bright spot.

In Q1, our presence and reputation in the emerging markets continued to strengthen after winning several major transformation programs during 2011 and early 2012. This quarter we had especially impressive performance in CALA, our Central and Latin America region, with three strategic wins. These deals spans new and existing customers across the region, both with operating companies that are part of the larger telecom galaxies and with independent operators. We believe these recent wins are another strong proof point that the investment we have been making in the emerging markets are paying off.

In Europe, we are seeing good business traction across diverse array of products and services, including a growing willingness to discuss managed services. We’re mindful – we remain mindful of the macroeconomics and the environment in Europe. But to date, we have not observed a slowdown. As a result, we believe that Europe will continue to be a growth engine for us in 2012.

As for our managed services practice, we had a good quarter in Q1. We announced today that Comcast has signed a multiyear managed services contract with us. This deal increases our visibility with highly strategic customer and creates a stronger foundation for the evolution of our long term relationship. Additionally, we are engaging with Comcast on other new initiatives within our CES portfolio.

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