HUBB
#No.
I think everything is tracking right to that actually.
So that's ---+ they compare to last year, but reasonably flat sequentially, quarter over quarter.
One thing that has become interesting is as the business has shrunk, the projects can create some lumpiness that moves things around a little bit.
Versus that used to be when there was more projects out there a little bit easier to predict.
That certainly is our expectation ---+ exactly how you described it.
I don't know of any.
That is set to expire in December, as you know.
Hello, Chris.
I think, Chris, we had a little bit on the light side of industrial, which was a little bit softer, and then I think the pricing on lighting is the other thing you will find creating that.
First of all, it was spread between our resi and C&I product lines, kind of across the whole suite of products there.
And I think it's, from our perspective anyway, more of a like to like phenomenon, Chris.
But remember, Chris, on that like for like, some of that is attributable to product that we said earlier in the year, and even late last year, was product that we identified was way out of line with the market; it was not competitive, which is what prompted us to have to take some more aggressive actions in some of the facilities that were providing those products.
Because our pricing was based on those costs.
We need to be much more aggressive in taking those costs out.
It was really reacting to what was already in place in the market, and certainly not driving and creating the market.
I think the bulk of the difference, especially if you go back to reported, we had some of the expenses that were going into our reclassification, were not tax-deductible last year.
That created an easy compare.
So return to provision items, which are not of the nature you are describing.
There is a little bit, I would say, Chris, of more activity economically in geographies that have some better tax rates.
A little bit of that, I think, can be saved, but the bulk of the change you have seen is more discrete, I would say.
I think we are thinking in the 32% range is a decent operating run rate for us.
I think one of the challenges is the material inflation that we are seeing is a little bit isolated within the steel commodity.
If you look across, at our copper and aluminum and a bunch of the other metals that we buy, we're not seeing that headwind.
I'd frankly like to see a little bit more broad inflation, that would be a better sign to support growth in industrial markets and et cetera.
I think the more isolated the commodity stays in steel, the harder it is to pull price, but there are some products that we have that are most obviously steel.
Think of some of the steel boxes that we do in our rough-in electrical, and Chris, there it is more obvious that is the steel product, and you can ask for some price.
I would rather see a little more broad-based inflation before I think we can start to ask broadly for price.
Good morning, Jeff.
No, I would say, Jeff, that the decrementals we experienced over the last six quarters, has been in the 35% range, which, given that the margins were attractive, has still brought them down.
That being said, the margins are still an attractive part of our portfolio.
It has not dragged it below that.
But decrementals have been what would you would have expected, I would say, rather than worse than you could have imagined.
So price and power was sort of neutral.
Very slightly positive.
I would say neutral, and across all of Hubbell, particularly because of the lighting price, it was negative, half a point, actually a little bit more than that.
I think we have, Jeff.
Our issue, from my perspective, in our volume being a little bit lighter from what we would have expected, and what might be in the market, is really as we work through the service issues that come with some of the restructuring actions and closing facilities, which were more of an impact early in the year, and we've started to work through those.
I think we have got some ---+ when I'm out with customers and some of our newly-signed agents, I hear both the negatives and positives.
I think the trend is all positive and very optimistic.
So I think that's ---+ that seems to be indicative to me that our pricing is right, and we have to make sure we get the product where it needs to be, when it needs to be.
Hello <UNK>, how are you.
Are you saying electric utility.
Yes.
I think I would describe it as stable in totality.
We did see a little bit of transmission strength in the first half of the year that tapered off in the third quarter.
But we also saw some distribution flatness in the first half that started to grow.
Those two seem to be providing this low growth organic out of the utility right now, <UNK>.
I think so.
We are certainly working toward that.
It's a question of whether the headwind can overtake us.
The team is working very hard to get ahead of that.
We have a bit of a head start, I think, with the actions that we've been taking over the last couple years, and that's a mindset that has really gotten into practice.
But those are the things that we can control.
The uncertainty will be the things we cannot control ---+ market demand and pricing ---+ and even pricing, we are going to be as disciplined as we always are, for as long as we can, and we hope that the market continues to be disciplined as well.
Okay.
Good morning.
Certainly, Josh, we have pretty a extensive database of projects and RFPs, and some of those things have multi-year lead times on them.
And so, I would say certainly our conversations with customers have encouragement that there is going to be spending going forward, but it's hard for us to say that there will be some kind of sharp improvement as early as 2017.
But I do think the conversations, the kinds of projects that are being contemplated, are all ---+ suggests a healthy, medium-term outlook for the business.
I certainly look at it in similar terms, namely the longer we fight through it, the better that it is.
And yet, I think our business folks on the power side are still a little bit anxious about that dynamic.
I do agree with you, the longer we fight through, the better.
This concludes today's call.
Thank you for joining us.
<UNK> and I will be available following the call for any other questions you have.
