What “we’re seeing”

Nobody really wants to listen to corporate executives talk for very long.

Sure, every once in a while, they say something interesting. But it’s rate, especially on the conference calls that typically follow quarterly earnings reports.

And even when they have something to say, it’s easy to miss. Because those bits of actual information are usually buried under thick blankets of business school jargon, slippery phrasing, and self-promotional spin.

Lucky for you, dear reader, I’m about to share a secret that I stumbled across during my roughly 15 years of of eavesdropping and eye-skimming the transcripts of these calls.

Simply search for the phrase “we’re seeing ...”

I don’t know why, but those magic words are often followed by a relatively concrete and succinct bit of information, a jewel of clarity amidst an otherwise mealy mouthed morass.

To prove it, I took a quick tour through some of the transcripts that were produced throughout the last few weeks of Q1 earnings season.

So here’s some of what “we’re seeing” — as explained by executives over the last six weeks of earnings reports — arranged thematically for your enjoyment.

“The news right now about the ubiquitous world of chip manufacturing and how AI is driving, not just chip manufacturing, but also data centers. We're seeing that. The CHIPS Act money has now been delivered to the market.”

-Robert Pragada, CEO of engineering firm Jacobs Solutions

“We're seeing very significant momentum and people trying to figure out how to run their generative AI on top of AWS. I mentioned we have a multibillion dollar revenue run rate that we see in AI already. And it's still relatively early days.”

-Andrew Jassy, CEO of Amazon.com

“We're seeing this outsized growth in projects announced, in our negotiations, data centers is obviously one of the big contributors.”

-Craig Arnold, CEO of electrical products firm Eaton Corp.

Where we are seeing some green shoots, and I think this is important, is in AI and in data centers. So, for example, I mentioned Google is building a new facility in Kansas City. It's going to take about 800,000 tons. But it's not just there. I mean, we're seeing it across the Midwest. We're seeing it in Omaha. We're seeing it in Des Moines. And we're going to be a disproportionate beneficiary of that.

-C. Howard Nye, CEO of gravel, asphalt and cement maker Martin Marietta Materials

“We're seeing interest in developing projects that are on a size and scale that presently don't exist, but will be needed for training systems and other things to kind of build out and support the need for all of these foundational models.”

-Joseph Dominguez, CEO of Constellation Energy

“We’re seeing pressure across all consumer groups ...  we’re seeing that behavior quite broadly and we call it value-seeking. People are buying larger sizes. They’re buying smaller sizes, and they’re thinking about the trips they take.”

-Linda Rendle, CEO of Clorox

“In North America, we're seeing increased promotional intensity combined with a significant shift in sales to ... club stores, dollar stores and emerging e-commerce platforms. Lower-income consumers feel pressured.”

-Dirk Van de Put, CEO of snack food giant Mondelez

“As far as the international consumer goes, it's probably more of an emphasis on value than there has been in past quarters. We're seeing the same thing in the US.”

-David Gibbs, CEO of KFC parent Yum! Brands

“Middle-to-lower-income households look like they're becoming more stretched based on all the economic data we're seeing.”

-Michael Hsu, CEO of Kleenex maker Kimberly-Clark

“We're seeing higher engagement across income cohorts with upper-income households continuing to account for the majority of the share gains.”
-John D. Rainey, CFO of Walmart

“We are seeing really great activity across all of the buildings in our D.C. and Northern Virginia portfolio.”

-Jake Stroman, an executive at Boston Properties, an office REIT.

“The rent-versus-own economics that we're seeing today are really unique, not something that we've seen... you're approaching where it's—in some of our markets—two times more expensive to own versus rent.”
-Ben Schall, CEO of AvalonBay Communities, an apartment REIT

“We're seeing record rental rates in some of the bigger markets in the higher quality assets; New York, as an example. We're seeing financial institutions and business services companies, in particular, taking more space. Tech is way down.”

-Robert Sulentic, CEO of commercial real estate brokerage CBRE

“When the EV craze started, right, it looked like demand was going to be well [above] supply. But that was with the early adopters, and they were willing to pay a higher price. What we're finding with being in the marketplace is that EV prices are normalizing, and our early majority customers are not willing to pay a premium. And that's what we're seeing.”

-John Lawler, CFO of Ford

“What seems to be happening is that – unless I'm missing something – the orders for batteries from other auto makers have declined dramatically. So, we're seeing much more competitive prices for cells from our suppliers—dramatically more competitive—than in the past. It is clear that a lot of our suppliers have excess capacity.”

-Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla

“We're seeing some push out on EV, but we are not seeing cancellations of those projects, and it doesn't mean that they've all gone away.”

-Blake Moret, CEO of assembly line company Rockwell Automation

“We're obviously working through the high voltage headwind at the moment. We've seen those schedules come down. But as I talked about in my prepared remarks, we're seeing good hybrid growth. We're seeing the internal combustion volumes come back up.”

-Joseph Massaro, CFO of auto components supplier Aptiv

“We’re seeing more intense price competition than what we expected [in China.] None of that takes away from the long term, but it’s clear that what we had this quarter was tough.”

Laxman Narasimhan, CEO of Starbucks

“Chinese consumers are being very cautious and we're seeing the savings rate really going very high in China."

Ramon Laguarta, CEO of PepsiCo

“Related to the consumer in China, like many others, we're seeing macro headwinds.”

-Joanne Crevoiserat, CEO of luxury handbag maker Tapestry

You see, it works!