Thursday, May 16, 2013

Graybar’s Customer Base: Contractors Grow In Importance

As you might know, the average guy/gal CANNOT BUY SHARES in Graybar, the large electrical distributor. However, because the company makes shares available to employees — and many are retained by retirees after they leave the company — SEC rules compel Graybar to file documents that are on a public file (most notably 10-Q statements, quarterly, and an annual 10-K).

Here’s a key table from the most recent 10-K, covering 2012:

 
Percentage of Sale
For the Years Ended December 31,
Class of Customers
2012
2011
2010
Electrical Contractors
46.5%
45.5%
45.2%
Data and Voice Communications
20.4%
20.0%
20.6%
Commercial & Industrial
21.6%
21.6%
19.4%

As you can see, electrical contractors account for nearly HALF of the company’s annual sales.

- – - – -

As the EleBlog’s proprietor is an unabashed fan of Graybar — I’ve written items praising the company as an investment (open – as noted – only to its employees!) — I looked at those numbers and tried to remember what they were a while ago. They seemed HIGH (that is, the % for sales to ECs seemed relatively high).

So I went back, via the SEC’s Edgar website, and looked at previous years. Here’s what it looked like for the year 1999 — a particularly DIFFERENT year, as a lot of “telecom hotels” and buildings we now call “data centers” were being constructed:

CLASS OF CUSTOMERS                    PERCENTAGE OF SALES                                    1999        1998        1997 Electrical Contractors             36.7%       38.2%       38.3% Industrial Plants                  22.2        25.5        29.3 Telecommunication Companies        30.6        28.7        26.1  - - - - -   HOW ABOUT dates someplace in the middle? Here goes --
CLASS OF CUSTOMERS                      PERCENTAGE OF SALES                                  2004           2003           2002 Electrical Contractors            44.5%          41.5%          41.5% Commercial & Industrial           21.5           22.1           22.4 Voice and Data Communications     21.3           22.6           24.5

Source: http://electricalcontractor.com/?p=9617

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