We're going to move on. We're delighted to have with us our next company is Leidos. And, from Leidos we have to my right Tom Bell, their CEO, and to his right Chris Cage, who is the CFO. So, Tom, you're a little bit new to Leidos. You've been there about 9 months. So what are your biggest takeaways from that period? What does Leidos need to do to succeed?
Thanks, Cai. It's great to be with you all today and appreciate your interest in Leidos and being here with us. My biggest takeaway from the first nine months is the opportunity that exists within Leidos and the fact that the team rose to the challenge of our first quarter miss with robust performance through the rest of the year. That speaks well to the culture of Leidos, the ability of the team to focus with firm resolve on what's important and to satisfy our customers differentially and therefore our commitments to our investors and analysts. Obviously, we achieved a lot in the first nine months of my tenure here at this company. We've reset the organization to a more efficient, capability-based organization. We've beat all of our numbers.
So while we raised and beat and raised a couple of times through the year, we actually beat the end guidance by a sizable margin. And we returned significant shareholder value and returned capital to shareholders. So very proud of the team's focus on those things. And what was underpinning of all that was discipline, focus, a new level of understanding about how we need to be not only revenue accretive but margin accretive also. And that's really resonating within Leidos. So learning a lot, learning a lot about the culture of Leidos, and very happy with what I see.
So you really reshuffled the cards in terms of the organizational structure. You know, walk us through, like, what are the advantages? You have a lot of disparate businesses in each of the four organizations you now have. What are the advantages of what you did, and what do you hope to accomplish from it?
Thanks, Cai. Yes, we did realign the organization. That's the term I like to use because it wasn't a massive reshuffling. It was more aligning colors on a Rubik's Cube, if you will. So we had parts of the business with the same capabilities serving the same types of missions in different parts of the organization. I think that was brought about by inorganic acquisitions that were made during COVID. And, you know, when you're making inorganic plays during a global pandemic, you just tuck businesses in where they make sense at the time. Well, 2023 was a good year to sort all that out. We went to a very focused, capability-based organization. So the five sectors that I now lead have very specific capability sets and customers that they serve. What will the benefit of that be?
Better efficiency in terms of serving customers with repeatable solutions and better efficacy, able to solve customer problems faster with reuse of products, reuse of tools that have been tried and trued elsewhere, and better customer solutions. Ultimately, in the five sectors that we've set up, we have three services businesses that are two tech-enabled services and mission solutions businesses and one Digital Modernization business. And then we have two platform businesses, our Commercial and International, and our Defense Systems businesses. And so they're very specific around a specific set of customers, a specific set of competitors, different market dynamics, different capital structures that they all require, different investors, and different aspects of what success looks like. But one thing that is true through all of them is cybersecurity, software, artificial intelligence that are key enablers to making them all as successful as they can be.
While they're specific around capabilities, they also have lots of pull-through in terms of the corporate core competencies, or what I like to call golden bolts, that are resident in all of our solutions.
Got it. So you instituted something called Leidos Next to allow faster decision-making and more tightly align the businesses around key technology discriminators. Like, what financial can you sort of directly relate that to financial impact?
We can. Why don't you jump in?
Yeah. So, I mean, first of all, the foundation is the organization structure that Tom just described, right? And as we started to think about what those new organizations are capable of, you know, we communicated expectations for 2024, and we already see opportunities to drive margin uplift in certain parts of the portfolio: our commercial and international organization and our Defense Systems organization. So putting those pieces together the way we have, with an org structure that's tailored to those lines of businesses, is unlocking some potential margin expansion opportunities. Likewise, the other parts of the business we feel like are better positioned in the near term to be our growth catalysts. Health and Civil organization has been growing well, and we see more runway there in our
Then we're looking to the future, and there's a big strategy process that will unfold to unlock the next gear as it relates to growth. Other aspects of Leidos Next, outside of just those lines of business, get to the functional areas. And we've got ambitions as it relates to driving further efficiency inside of Leidos, how we're organized from, you know, spans of control and organizational dynamics, and how we deliver, you know, the internal capabilities around IT and security and real estate with maximum efficiency. So Leidos Next also gets to unlocking value in that part of the portfolio as well.
If you don't mind, I'm going to pile on a little bit, Cai. We're already seeing financial benefits in 2024, but we expect even more in 2025 and 2026. How I know that to be the case is, like all companies that are properly run, we run a multi-year strategy and a nominal annual operating plan a year ahead. And so we had run the numbers for what the business would organically create in 2024 to the old structure, and then we ran it again in the new structure. And happily, the numbers that we are committing to ourselves and the external market are better in the new structure than the old structure.
So that already tells us that it's paying dividends, but then there's extra excitement about the entitlement and the enablement that this is giving leaders to become their biggest, best form of themselves they can be.
So, you know, you inherited a lot of different businesses. One of them, the medical exams business, is kind of like, you know, basically done really, really well, very profitable. But as you look at it, I mean, like, isn't it a bunch of docs in a room, you know? And so it's essentially like a glorified call center with higher margins. I mean, I'm being kind of joking a little bit there. But, you know, is there a real technology input? You did great, I guess, what the VA volume was up 34%, something in the fourth quarter. But is that a business where you can get sustainable competitive advantage?
I think so. I appreciate the provocative way with which you asked the question. Yeah, no, this isn't just a bunch of docs in a clinic around the nation. This is about clinics that serve veterans. But the real enabler and the real moniker of success is how efficiently and effectively you serve those veterans. Little known fact is that when a veteran leaves our clinic, they do a survey on us. They tell the Veterans Administration how well they felt served by the Leidos QTC clinic. So what is it that a veteran wants? He or she wants to get the health care she deserves, but also she wants to do it speedily and with accurate results.
So not only have we deployed technology when it comes to process automation and ensuring that the speed of the service we provide, the whole scheduling of the cacophony of specialists that a veteran might have to see is an algorithm that we run for them, and artificial intelligence. The results that our tests are getting are better because we're matching the personal person who is analyzing the tests with artificial intelligence, and the marriage of the two is getting better clinical results faster with better repeatability. It's more than just a bunch of doctors in a clinic.
Great, great answer. So how are you doing share-wise? Because at one point, the PACT Act came, and then it looked like they're going to bring some more folks in. How are you doing share-wise?
Yeah, I'd say that, you know, obviously, the business has been a standout performer. And you're right. I mean, the Veterans Benefits Administration had the foresight of the demand was going to rise, and so they did recalibrate to make sure that they felt that they had enough providers in the market to meet that demand. And Leidos had always been, we believe, one of the better performers as it relates to timeliness, throughput, customer satisfaction. Things have recalibrated. Our share gains have been strong. Our performance has been strong. We have not yet reached our full potential internationally. That was a new market that we were not in previously. So again, you've got a demand signal that continues to rise. You've got some market expansion possibility as it relates to international.
You've got, you know, an incentive structure that our teams are working hard to optimize because ultimately, it's about meeting the needs of the veterans and getting more of them seen timely. If you do that successfully, it's a win-win for everybody involved. I think the organization is set up for another good year in 2024 in that line of business. We're excited about it.
I would just add, it's because of the technology that we've deployed into the Leidos QTC clinics that the throughput can be faster, and we can take more volume in and satisfy more veterans.
So obviously, PACT Act was a big plus. But is this sort of like a bubble or a wave that goes for two years? Or how do you think about, like, where is this business going to be three to five years?
Yeah, well, I mean, there was always a steady business before the PACT Act came along. So if you recall, if you go back and look at our financial performance, you know, in 2021 and 2022 predating a PACT Act, there was a demand signal here, and this business has only continued to invest in capabilities. And quite honestly, we're looking at how do we extend this capability and these technology innovations to other care delivery opportunities. And the teams have been thinking about that for some time, and that'll be a big part of our strategy dialogue this year.
Terrific. So turning to Dynetics, you know, you've got a company with really unique capability. But in hypersonics, I mean, it looks like they're more of a bridesmaid than a bride. They just sort of haven't really crossed over despite all that great capability. Any thoughts as to why? And, you know, do you need to be a big prime to kind of win that just because you're called Lockheed or something else?
Well, so we're very proud to be the owners of Dynetics, a company with rich heritage in a very important ecosystem of our customers. One of the things that our leader down there, Steve Cook, has done is really partnered with Chris and I to focus Dynetics on specific sub-elements of capabilities that present challenges for our customers but are not crowded space that bigger primes might be interested in. So you mentioned hypersonics. Obviously, IFPC and Enduring Shield is a key part of that. We are in the small satellite payload business there. And those are several of the areas that we think we have unique scientific technical advantage that we can add value to the primes and to the customers who need those solutions. So we're not out for Dynetics to be, you know, we're not going to open up an F-35 line there anytime soon.
We don't want that capital structure. But we've got unique capabilities, wicked smart people, wonderful technology, and we're reshaping that business to be a value add to the ecosystem of primes in a unique way. So I'm feeling very bullish about it, yes. The initial business case for the acquisition hasn't quite panned out the way we expected. It's been a little delayed because of you do hard things. Things take longer. But we're getting traction. We've got the talent down there. We've flooded the zone with really great people, and we're very high on its prospects for the future.
So hypersonics, Enduring Shield, SDA work, the payloads. Which of these things has the best chance of a win? I mean, with decisions coming up this year, so we could really maybe see.
Yeah, I'd say that what we have most line of sight to as far as something that could ramp up more significantly is probably in the IFPC Enduring Shield arena. We're pleased with the team's progress. A lot of hard work went into delivering the first of the development systems, prototype systems, end of last year.
A successful test.
A successful test that accompanied that, right? So those were precursors to getting those now for the Army to execute their testing plan on those vehicles. And so that's going to play out over the next few quarters. But we're very excited and optimistic and have been working back and forth with the customer to position for what does that low-rate and full-rate production follow-on contract look like? And that's something we hope to be able to talk about later this year, about the magnitude of what that volume could look like.
Part of the uplift in 2023 was a pull forward of hypersonic needs into last year. That would have been something we would have been crowing about in the next months. So we've done that early. Now there's a build-out of that and an expectation for successful tests with the Army and an LRIP decision for that.
So, when could we actually see? So, an LRIP decision on Hypersonics, maybe an LRIP decision on Enduring Shield. Like, when could we? Is that second half of that?
Yeah, I think both of those, the hypersonics follow-on vehicle for Common Hypersonic Glide Body and Thermal Protection System could be Q2, could be Q3. Probably the budget, you know, process needs to play out successfully to keep those things on track, but definitely this year. And, you know, similar timeline for Enduring Shield as the testing plan goes successfully. It could be as early as the second quarter, but we're prepared for that to take a little bit longer in the year. But the main goal is to position that as a program that could be ramping for us in 2025.
And the third one, so SDA payloads, is that I assume that's for the Tracking Layer . So we just had Rocket Lab, and they make satellites, and they won Transport. And I said, you're going after Tracking. And they say, yeah, you know, well, we'd need a payload provider. Sierra Space kind of won one of those, but they need a payload. So is that your strategy to basically team up with someone, or are you going after the whole ball of wax?
We plan to be a merchant supplier of the sensors and the payloads to the industry. Right now, we're on orbit in two tranches with different primes at the satellite level. I think that's the right model for us. We've got great technology in the asset itself. We don't want to be beholden to a specific prime when the customer is still, let's call it, shopping their options. And so that's going to be our strategy going forward also.
Got it. So Roger bought the airport security business from L3Harris. And I mean, his argument, when I talked with him about it, was like, we either had to get bigger or get out. And the timing kind of didn't really work out. But does this business really fit with Leidos longer term? Or, you know, and also now that you kind of paired some of its products, what's the outlook for this?
I'll go first, and then I'm going to ask you to chime in, Chris. I think it does fit. And what Roger was referring to, and I think correctly, is, look, we were in the ports and borders security business. Airport security is an adjacency of the same type of technology. And so, yeah, it makes sense to double down in that space because show me a border or an airport that wants to be less secure tomorrow than it is today. Very few. So the logic makes sense. Obviously, the timing was poor through nobody's fault. And yes, we had to take a write-down of some of that business. But we've now got a place to grow from. We've got a new management team in place. They're very excited about infrastructure security and border security.
We're expanding our thoughts about that business from just airport security to infrastructure security because, sadly, almost every place you go into now wants to also be secure and wants to know what's coming in and going out. The seed corn that exists, both from the big ports and border security products we make and the smaller personal and baggage security products we make, is there for us to position Leidos to be a provider of security solutions for infrastructure. We're very excited about that. You want to add to that?
Yeah. And Cai, I mean, as it relates to how does it fit in our portfolio? I mean, the core of what this business is about is algorithms and software. I mean, we wrap a package around that to facilitate scanning people or equipment. But, you know, that's what we're good at. We do those things elsewhere, and we can do them well here. Now, it's more complex than that because you have to manage the supply chain and other aspects to build the physical equipment. But ultimately, it's not a high-volume shop. It's manageable. And we just opened up our new Charleston facility to bring more of that control in-house to Leidos on the final assembly and some of the manufacturing aspects. So we believe it can be a successful part of the portfolio. We did reset expectations. We've taken some actions to right-size the business.
We've taken actions to focus geographically where we want to sell our product lines. We believe all those things will position us to, you know, this will be a transition year. It's not a growth year in 2024, but it's a year that we would expect margins to improve and then ultimately inflect back to a growth posture as we progress into 2025 and 2026.
Got it. So how, what are the, who are the infrastructure targets? Are those sort of like the commercial energy that, you know, business you have?
We'll keep our powder dry on that for right now.
OK.
But there's a couple of pilots that are in process right now, and we're excited about the prospects there.
Got it. So Gibbs & Cox unmanned naval programs, you know, you clearly have a very competitive capability and area of great interest to DOD. Has yet to hit it big. Well, I mean, but, you know, it takes time with things. So what's the plan?
Yeah, so Leidos, Gibbs & Cox is synonymous with naval architecture history and expertise. I mean, it is the gold standard of naval architecture. And so we're very proud that that's part of the Leidos portfolio. Before, it was in a business that didn't have as much synergy as now the sector that is defense solutions. So we've brought together all our defense products and solutions area into one leadership team. And Gibbs & Cox is part of that. So just some months ago, a flotilla of four autonomous vessels, surface vessels, went from San Diego to Sydney and back. Two of those were designed by Gibbs & Cox from the ground up. The autonomy in them, the artificial intelligence in them was all Leidos. And, you know, frankly, that went beyond just navigation. It went to maintenance. It went to overhaul.
It was an autonomous system built from the ground up to demonstrate that autonomy can be real. The Navy was very happy with that. In fact, just this morning, it was featured in a picture on Defense News or Defense One or one of those. And, you know, we're very proud of that. They're very engaged on international frigate programs. I won't mention the country or the name, but big production runs of new frigate programs. And here in the United States, they are, again, the gold standard for naval design for every naval vessel that is being designed. So yes, we're very proud to own it. Now it's in the right home room with the whole system of capabilities. And we look for great things as undersea and above-sea naval warfare takes a next turn.
No, I appreciate all of that. But, like, with Dynetics, do we have any visible targets where we could get a billion-dollar contract or $250 million something, you know, some contract of size that people could say, now, you know, it's really taken off?
Yeah, I don't think there's as much clarity on anything of that size and magnitude in the near-term pipeline. You know, I mean, we've seen medium unmanned surface vessel opportunities, and there's been some challenges there. We've got an unmanned undersea vehicle contract that we're procuring right now, working on. But I wouldn't say the pipeline looks like there's anything of the multi-billion-dollar range, Cai, in the near term.
And when we do, it won't be Gibbs & Cox wins that. You'll see our defense system win this. And Gibbs & Cox is an enabler of that naval architecture. I kind of see it as the same we see as AI. You know, we don't see AI as a market specifically. We don't have customers who want to buy AI from Leidos. But AI is in everything that we do. And Gibbs & Cox, the gold standard of naval architecture, is a core enabler to give us bona fides when it comes to designing and fielding future subsurface and surface naval vessels. And we're very proud to own it.
You used to mention commercial energy. That's in your commercial business. How's that doing? Is that really still growing a lot? Or how?
It's been an excellent performer. And you're right. We talk about it at times. And when we don't, it doesn't mean that it's not having success. It just keeps plugging away. That's another area we're really excited about being fully and they're very excited about being fully unlocked under the commercial international umbrella, right? So double-digit growth last year, double-digit margin performer, room to run, and potential to extend. We've got leading experts in their field as it relates to some renewable energy capability, energy efficiency programs. We can extend some of that, potentially some of our international arena. But there's a lot of growth still with utilities that we've been doing work for here in the States, obviously protecting our critical infrastructure as a priority for the nation. And they play right in that sweet spot.
Yeah, and I'm going to have to bang on on this also, Cai. Sorry. You know, show me a government that isn't talking about energy and energy security. So I love the fact that we're in this business. And I love the fact that we've got a little bit of a jewel here that is in a very key place of the value system of how we help governments make sure their energy grid and their energy security is more secure. For me, though, it's not about paint the world with energy solutions. It's about a more purposeful approach to what does full growth look like? How do we expand from where we are? And as Chris just alluded to, we've launched this strategy thrust in 2024 where each sector is being asked to come to Chris and I and say, what is the full potential of your business?
And what's happening is little businesses like energy that used to be tucked away and had to do with as much as they could with what they had suddenly have much greater assets at their disposal. And so the excitement is, OK, I have this little jewel, but now I've got the resources of Leidos to really come to heel to help me fulfill my ambitions. I have customer pull because governments are spending more on energy security and energy solutions. And now I've got opportunity to really rethink what my adjacencies are and how I grow this more aggressively. So very excited about having this little corner of the universe and the opportunities to grow it.
So if we move to core services, you know, on their quarterly call, Booz and CACI both talked of defense and intel customers moving aggressively ahead on programs. CACI raised their guide. Parsons came out today, big numbers. So beyond the Q4 vigor, I mean, you had good numbers. But I mean, you had great numbers. But the guide was sort of, you know, more or less down the fairway.
Conservative.
Down the fairway. So yeah, so what are you seeing in these areas? You mentioned the word conservative. That always sort of makes me want to say, what's conservative?
Yeah. I'll go first and then kick it to you, Chris. First of all, two of the businesses we've stood up, we're going to report in one segment called National Security and Digital. That's on purpose because if you think about the question you just asked, we are very capable in the national security space, but we aren't penetrated to the greatest extent in every agency. While we had Digital Modernization programs sprinkled around Leidos, we've aggregated them into one business unit so that we can have better replication, better efficiency, and better efficacy of the solutions we're bringing forward. The combination of those two things in serving our intel community is going to be very powerful as we try to take solutions we're doing for intel agencies here and span them to other intel agencies.
We feel as if there's wonderful scope opportunity for us to be of service to more customers in the intel space. We think we can do it at a cost structure that is more advantageous to ourselves and our customers. Chris?
Yeah, and I, Cai, I mean, obviously, you alluded to it. You know, we were proud of both the third and fourth quarter growth momentum that we saw. For us, it was ahead of expectations. And a lot of that was expanding activity within our customers, on-contract growth, we call it. Pivoting to 2024, I mean, we took a point of view that there's risk in the near term until we have some more certainty on the budget. So, you know, if things line up well, we'll see that level of activity and pace continue. But also, our guide this year allows for flexibility for our business leaders to make sure they're focused on the opportunities that have the best bang for the buck for Leidos. You know, just tweaking the portfolio a little bit, right? We've large company have grown and expanded in certain areas.
Some of those were more attractive programs than others. So we just want to make sure that we're keeping an equal focus on the bottom line and the margin targets. So that allows for some degrees of freedom to not pursue all of the work, potentially, that might have led to a more robust growth number, but position that for 2025 as we unveil the strategy process and really more intentionality around where we're going next.
So you mentioned the word conservative, which makes me want to say, like, what's conservative? Where, you know, if you basically I assume you what is it? Basically, promises made, promises kept. If you meet or beat if you beat your guide, what do you think who are the guys that are going to basically do better than your initial commentary was? Because you didn't give specific numbers, but just trends. Who are the guys who are going to really do better? And who are the guys who maybe have to struggle to kind of get home?
Within my portfolio?
Yeah.
Well, I expect everybody in my portfolio to meet their commitments. So promises made, promises kept isn't a philosophy we have at Leidos for just Chris and I. It goes down to each individual accountability. And I mentioned on our call yesterday that the board I recommended and the board approved a new incentive compensation scheme that more tightly aligns our leadership around their personal accountabilities and the company's success. That aligns them to our customers' wants and needs and our shareholders' wants and needs. So the expectation is you've made a commitment to Chris and I about what you're going to deliver when it comes to cash, revenue, and profit. And so you're going to meet those.
But then, as the budget situation clarifies itself and the year unfolds, if election year mayhem doesn't ensue and we have a clear sale to a more normal budget year, then we could see upside. And I would hope that some of those would overperform. Which ones are those? I couldn't tell you right now.
But I mean, you so you gave us qualitative, you know, we should be up, you know, margins down. You didn't kind of give us what the numbers are. But as you look at what the commitments to you are because I assume that's what you aggregated in terms of the guide you gave to the street, which are the areas where you feel there's the best opportunity to outperform? And which are the ones that, you know, you think it's going to be, you know, an OK year, but, you know, just a rough sense? It's a qualitative question.
I would rather stay away from rough qualitative characterization.
I'll only add, because I said it yesterday, so I could say it again, you know, our Health and Civil business would be the one that if, you know, we had expectations were upside, there's some potential there if it were to come to pass. But yeah, we're getting these organizations stood up and up and running. And let's give them some time to see what they're capable of.
I just want to say that if the rest of my leadership is listening, the other four of you don't get a pass.
OK, very good, very good. Roger's strategy was to go after large enterprise IT jobs where scale was a discriminator. You had a couple of big wins. Is that something you intend to push with Digital Modernization? Does the strategy need to be tweaked?
That's exactly what we intend to push with the aggregation of things in the Digital Modernization business. I don't know the reasons for. But when I arrived on the pitch nine months ago, those businesses had been won. But then, instead of scale you use the word scale they had been put in different corners of Leidos. Well, the whole point is Roger was right. Bringing these in and using the scale and the scope and the expertise of Leidos to replicate solutions so that you're not inventing in different silos the same thing you already have somewhere else is the key. So we brought these all in under one sector leader. He's very excited about the promise and the opportunity that we have here. The words I used yesterday was efficiency and effectivity. Or effective, that was it. And that's the key, right?
We should be able to reuse and replicate solutions better. That should give us a distinct advantage in the marketplace because we're not inventing every time for every customer. We're reusing what we already can demonstrate works elsewhere. And therefore, we can have solutions that come to the market faster and serve our customers better. That's the whole core of what Roger had set up. That's the promise that we've aggregated now in the Digital Modernization business. And we have great expectation that our best days are not behind us in winning big gain in that part of the business.
Terrific. So one thing that I've noticed about you guys about the sector is that everybody is talking about hiring, I mean, like, nine, 12 months ago, tough to get people. They're all leaving. And now, basically, everyone's talking about, man, hiring's really kicking it. You know, retention is looking better. Is that the same for you guys?
It is. Like the whole industry, there's still challenges around the highly cleared individuals. That's a subsector of our employee population that is a challenge for everybody. Every trade association that we work with is working with us to work with the government to fix that or at least ease that challenge. But generally, attrition is down. Hiring is up. Our headcount's up to 47,000 productive Leidosians. And, you know, we're not having a challenge with that. At the same time, we almost have an insatiable appetite, right? If you go out on our website right now, there's still hundreds of job openings we seek talent for.
But we're also, I mentioned yesterday on our earnings call, I've challenged the HR team to step back and look at our total value proposition for us as an employer so that we can attract and retain the best of the best employees in the market. I want us to be the employer of choice for top talent. I've challenged my HR team to show me the package that makes that so.
Got it. So if we look at your business, any particularly large upcoming bids we should be on the watch out for? And about recompetes, do you have any big ones coming up?
Yeah, the good news, Cai, is there's not, you know, one of our top 20 programs that is going to end this year that we've got to defend. Now, there are a couple in 2025. But any given year, usually, 20% of the portfolio is in a recompete cycle. So this will be a lower-than-average year, which is great. It puts us more on the offensive. Our teams like to be on the offensive on, you know, how do we see our pipeline shaking up for takeaway opportunities and new business pursuits? So assuming we get the budget settled and there's the award schedule stays on task, you know, there's a lot of exciting things to go after. Less in the multibillion-dollar range, the headline numbers that we've talked about in the past, more that are in the multi-hundred million dollar. And there's a few that are larger than that.
That's a good place to be because your eggs aren't all in one basket. There's plenty of fish to shoot at. Exciting year ahead on the business development front.
Got it. So turn to cash flow. What are the key drivers of your projected 2024 cash flow?
Well, I mean, first of all, really proud of the team internal to Leidos and the performance they delivered last year. We, you know, beat our original cash flow guidance by almost $500 million, right? And that was gains made on just the blocking and tackling of DSO. Performance days to invoice was down. Collections were accelerated with customers just working that every day. And then we made some gains on our supplier payment side, too. You know, so for 2024, it's sustaining those gains that we've made. We're not expecting another step function improvement, per se. But that doesn't mean we're not challenging the team internally to look for those opportunities. It's a year that, you know, this whole Section 174 capitalization is still a net headwind. It's another $60 million of outflow programmed in for 2024. You know, there is some talk about potentially that getting repealed.
We'll see. But our guidance assumes we stay the course there. And there's some modest investments in some new business growth opportunities, nothing outsized, but really gives the team opportunity to go, you know, take on and win that next contract. So, you know, a lot of good blocking and tackling, sustaining our DSOs in that, you know, 56-57-day range would be a great target for us. And, you know, really continue to be a cash machine.
We had Lockheed here before. Jay Malave, we asked him, like, what if the Section 174 tax changes, you know, so they push it out and you basically get the money back? How much of a benefit would that be for you?
Yeah, there's a lot of layers to that. But, you know, headline, it's in the range of a $200 million benefit to us. We've got to get through is it going to be retroactive? So that assumes it is. And so we recover 2022 and 2023 cash tax payments. And then we need the states to follow suit. But if all that lines up and then there's a clear path to go recovering money we've already paid, $200 million of benefit to Leidos, plus we would avoid the $60 million outflow that we talked about initially.
It's a $260 net.
Ish.
Right, OK. And so then, so Tom, now you got $260 million or more dollars. So you're going to buy $500 million in stock. So how should we think about how you think about capital deployment priorities?
Yeah, let's hope we have that problem of all that cash that comes in. At the same time, part of our promises made, promises kept is, obviously, we aren't assuming that in at this point. The plan we have in front of us, as we laid it out to investors yesterday, is even with the $500 million of share repurchases that we plan to do this year, we still have headroom in our budget for great ideas and great business cases. So, you know, while we are undertaking a year of strategy to figure out exactly where we're taking Leidos over the next five years, Chris has opened up headroom for us to deploy capital to great ideas that emerge more quickly. So we're very poised and eager to spend that money on great ideas that organically arise from the organization.
I doubt that means we've got capacity to wisely spend $hundreds of millions more. So in keeping with our expectation that we deploy capital responsibly, you won't see any knee-jerk change in direction. Obviously, cash in the bank earns a little bit more interest than it once did. So it's not a terrible investment. But we'll look at that problem and solve it in line with what we've messaged as responsible capital deployment.
What about M&A?
M&A remains not a focus for me right now. I've got a great business to run, a really good set of people who are excited about unlocking and understanding the organic growth capabilities that exist as part of the strategy process. I'm telling them not to not consider inorganic plays, but bring that forward in a comprehensive, cohesive conversation around where do you want to take this business? What does it take to get there? What's the size of the prize? What's the investment? And what's the how? Organic, inorganic, that'll be in play in time, but not right now.
But that's because you're basically these are new organizations. You want to see how they're functioning, go through all that. But if we look at the sector, I mean, basically, it's a history of M&A. I mean, people grow to get access to a new customer, get a new technology. Most of that's been successful. So is this sort of just for a hiatus for about a year till you kind of figure out who's doing well and what makes sense? And then you might raise the wick on that?
Yeah, you never say it's a hiatus because you never want to say never, right? And so we haven't said we're not. We just said it's not a priority. It will remain not a priority until such time as we have clear strategies that we're invested in mentally and physically. And then we'll invest accordingly.
So we're right at pretty much the end of the hour. So any last thoughts, you know, you might want to leave with people about, as they look at Leidos, what are the things they should take away?
Only to say we've launched a new campaign around brand recognition. It's all about making smart smarter. We hope to help the world come to understand Leidos not just as a funny little company that you struggle to pronounce the name of, but you see it as a company that constantly evolves and innovates to make smart solutions even smarter.
Terrific. Well, thank you for coming. That was terrific.