Flex seeing some ‘general weakening in volume outlooks’ in auto

Executives from Flex, while presenting at the Goldman Sachs 2024 Communacopia + Technology Conference, stated in part, according to a transcript of the event, when asked about end-market momentum: “There’s been a little bit of change. When we talked about power and cloud – So that’s our our data center portfolio – We talked about we’ve been very strong. That continues its – it’s very strong. No changes there. No change to the health solutions and consumer markets they’re performing as expected. Non-cloud networking and comms, so nothing touching the cloud. We said that would remain weak. No change there. We’re – I know there’s been some discussions. We’re not really seeing any bounce yet, but we didn’t expect it for the year, where we might be seeing a little bit of change is in auto. We are seeing some general weakening in volume outlooks really even starting in Q3. This is more than just the EV changes that people have seen sentiment get a little sour and EV particularly in North America and some in Europe. I think this is more cyclical driven. I think interest rates are catching up with spending and you’re the expert in here. I think they haven’t cut prices the way they normally do and all those sorts of things. So some inventories backing up. So, no, just change in volumes wise and then in industrial, so core industrial, that includes renewables, maybe just a little softer than we had expected 30 or 40 days ago or whatever. And again, this is looking towards the back half of the year. So there could be some volume pressure there. But I think the important point is, is that given our improving mix and our continued strong cost management that you’ve seen us do for multiple quarters now, don’t expect any pressure on profitability or EPS with that. If that scenario plays out.”