ATLANTA, Jan. 22, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — DLH Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: DLHC) (“DLH” or the “Company”), a leading healthcare and human services provider to the federal government, will release financial results for the fiscal first quarter ended December 31, 2023 on January 31, 2024 after the market closes. DLH will then host a conference call for the investment community at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time the following day, February 1, 2024, during which members of senior management will make a brief presentation focused on the financial results and operating trends. A question-and-answer session will follow.
Interested parties may listen to the conference call by dialing 888-347-5290 or 412-317-5256. Presentation materials will also be posted on the Investor Relations section of the DLH website prior to the commencement of the conference call. A digital recording of the conference call will be available for replay two hours after the completion of the call and can be accessed on the DLH Investor Relations website or by dialing 877-344-7529 and entering the conference ID 1843140.
About DLH DLH (NASDAQ: DLHC) enhances technology, public health, and cyber security readiness missions through science, technology, cyber, and engineering solutions and services. Our experts solve some of the most complex and critical missions faced by federal customers, leveraging digital transformation, artificial intelligence, advanced analytics, cloud-based applications, telehealth systems, and more. With over 3,200 employees dedicated to the idea that “Your Mission is Our Passion,” DLH brings a unique combination of government sector experience, proven methodology, and unwavering commitment to innovative solutions to improve the lives of millions. For more information, visit www.DLHcorp.com.
INVESTOR RELATIONS Contact: Chris Witty Phone: 646-438-9385 Email: cwitty@darrowir.com
By averting a government shutdown, Congress has avoided rocking both the economy and financial markets. Shutting down federal operations would have created widespread uncertainty and turbulence. Instead, the move offers stability and continuity as the economy faces broader headwinds.
With virtually all government functions continuing normal operations, economic data releases, services, and programs will not face disruptions. Past shutdowns caused delays in economic reports, processing visa and loan applications, releasing small business aid, and more. These disruptions introduce friction that can dampen economic momentum.
Federal employees will continue receiving paychecks rather than facing furloughs. The last major shutdown in 2018-2019 resulted in 380,000 workers being furloughed. With over 2 million federal employees nationwide, even a partial shutdown can reduce economic activity from lost wages.
Government contractors also avoid financial duress from suspended contracts and payments. Many contractors faced cash flow crises during the 2018 shutdown as the government stopped paychecks. Reduced revenues directly hit company bottom lines.
Consumer and business confidence are likely to be maintained without the dysfunction of a funding gap. Surveys showed confidence dropped during past shutdowns as uncertainty rose. Lower confidence can make households and businesses reduce spending and investment, slowing growth.
The tourism industry does not have to contend with closing national parks, museums and monuments. The 2013 shutdown caused sites like the Statue of Liberty to close, resulting in lost revenue for vendors, hotels, and airlines. These impacts radiate through the economy.
Markets also benefit from reduced policy uncertainty. The 2011 debt ceiling showdown and 2018-2019 shutdown both introduced volatility as deadlines approached. Equities fell sharply in the final weeks of the 2018 impasse. While shutdowns alone don’t determine market trends, they contribute an unnecessary headwind.
With recent stock volatility driven by inflation and recession concerns, averting a shutdown provides one less factor to potentially spook markets. Traders never like surprises, and shutdowns heighten unpredictability.
On a sector basis, federal contractors and businesses leveraged to consumer spending stand to benefit most from the avoided disruption. Aerospace and defense firms like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman rely heavily on federal budgets. Consumer discretionary retailers and restaurants avoid lost sales from furloughed workers tightening budgets.
While shutdowns impose only marginal economic impact when brief, longer impasses can impose meaningful fiscal drags. The 16-day 2013 shutdown shaved 0.3% from that quarter’s GDP growth. The longer the stalemate, the greater the economic fallout.
Overall, with myriad headwinds already facing the economy in inflation, rising rates, and recession risks, avoiding a shutdown removes one variable from the equation. While defaulting on the national debt would produce far graver consequences, shutdowns still introduce unnecessary turbulence.
By staving off even a short-term shutdown, Congress helps maintain economic and market stability at a time it’s especially needed. This provides a breather after policy uncertainty spiked leading up to the shutdown deadline. While myriad challenges remain, at least this box has been checked, for now.
Washington braces for its first potential government shutdown under House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s speakership as the fiscal year-end nears on September 30. The high-stakes funding clash represents an early test of McCarthy’s ability to lead a fractious Republican majority.
The face-off caps months of growing friction between McCarthy and the hardline House Freedom Caucus that helped install him as Speaker in January. To gain their votes, McCarthy pledged he would not advance spending bills without “majority of the majority” Republican backing.
That concession has now put McCarthy in a bind as the shutdown deadline approaches without a funding agreement in place. The Freedom Caucus is demanding McCarthy leverage the must-pass spending legislation to cut budgets and advance conservative policies, like defunding the FBI.
However, McCarthy knows Senate Democrats would never accept such ideological provisions. And a prolonged government shutdown could batter the fragile economy while eroding public faith in governance competence.
With only days remaining, McCarthy weighs risky options without easy solutions. Scheduling a vote on a stripped-down continuing resolution to temporarily extend current funding would break his promise to the Freedom Caucus.
Yet refusing to hold a vote risks blame for an unpopular shutdown. McCarthy also considers putting a Senate-passed funding bill to a House floor vote, prompting Freedom Caucus warnings that doing so would incite calls for his ouster.
The Speaker urgently needs to unify Republicans behind a way forward. But McCarthy must balance the Freedom Caucus’ demands against the consequences of failing to avert a shutdown.
Navigating these pressures will test McCarthy’s ability to govern a narrow 222-seat majority. It will also gauge whether he can effectively steer the party into the 2024 elections amid internal divisions.
With only 18% of Americans supporting shutdowns over policy disputes according to polls, McCarthy likely wants to avoid a disruptive funding lapse. A 2013 closure lasting 16 days is estimated to have shaved 0.2-0.6% from economic growth that quarter.
From furloughing 800,000 federal workers to suspending services, even a short shutdown could batter public trust in leadership. The military’s over 1.3 million active duty members would see pay disrupted. National Parks could close, impacting over 297 million annual visitors.
The high-risk brinkmanship highlights the difficulty McCarthy faces satisfying the party’s warring moderate and Freedom Caucus wings. Finding a solution that keeps government open while saving face with hardliners will prove a true test of McCarthy’s political dexterity.
Past shutdowns under divided government have tended to end once public pressure mounted on the blamed party. While Republicans control the House, most fault would land on them for manufacturing a crisis.
Yet McCarthy cannot disregard the Freedom Caucus, whose backing enabled his ascension to power. The days ahead will reveal whether McCarthy has the savvy to extricate the GOP from a crisis partly of its own making.
McCarthy’s handling of the funding impasse will set the tone for his entire speakership. At stake is nothing less than his ability to govern, deliver on promises, and prevent self-inflicted wounds entering 2024.
Investments of Washington’s Powerful Pieced Together
Top federal employees in the U.S. are required to disclose their trading activities. The disclosure must be made within 30 days of executing a transaction. And annually by May 15 of the following year. Over 2500 government officials report transactions each year, often trading in companies that lobby their department for the company’s financial benefit. Where are these disclosures? The government doesn’t maintain a public database of mandatory disclosures. Fortunately, the pieces can be made available and, although a huge undertaking, can be pieced together. The Wall Street Journal did this when they performed their Capital Assets Investigation by analyzing 12,000 federal officials’ financial disclosures. Some may not find the outcome comforting.
How the Investigation Was Conducted
The lack of a central database made this investigation a huge undertaking. The Journal pulled information on about 850,000 financial assets and more than 315,000 transactions of nearly 12,000 officials at 50 federal agencies filed during the five-year period between 2016 and 2021.
The financial publisher compared this data to lobbying reports filed by companies to identify officials who invested in firms seeking treatment that would benefit the companies represented by those agencies (including immediate family members). Journal analysts went as far as cross-referencing reported stock trades with announcements of contracts and regulatory, enforcement, and legal actions.
What Were the Findings
The investigation was immense and tedious, however, it didn’t take much digging to discover transactions and situations that would make the average taxpayer to raise an eyebrow. As a sample, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) let an official own dozens of food and drug stocks on its no-buy list – a top official at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported purchases of oil and gas stocks – a Defense Department (DoD) official bought stock in a defense company several times before the company won new business from the Pentagon.
Drilling a little deeper, the Wall Street Journal uncovered and pieced together thousands of questionable investment situations from a multitude of decision-makers all on the taxpayer payroll.
• While the U.S. government was escalating oversight and review of big tech companies, more than 1,800 federal official’s disclosed owning or trading at least one of four big tech stocks: Meta Platforms (META), Alphabet (GOOG), Apple (AAPL), and Amazon (AMZN).
• Over 60 officials at five agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Justice Department, reported trading stock in companies shortly before their departments announced enforcement actions, such as charges and settlements, against those companies.
• High-ranking public servants in the Office of the Secretary at the Department of Defense reported together owning between $1.2 million and $3.4 million of stock in aerospace and defense companies during each of the five years investigated. Some owned stock in Chinese companies during the period the U.S. was deciding if it should blacklist these companies.
• Over 200 senior EPA officials, nearly one in three, disclosed taking positions in companies that were lobbying the agency. Exposure to these companies by EPA employees and their family members totaled between $400,000 and up to $2 million in shares of oil and gas companies each year between the years investigated.
When financial conflicts clearly were at odds with rules of the various agencies, the rules were often waived for the situation. In most instances, according to the Journal, ethics officials certified that the employees had complied with the rules, which contain several exemptions that provide for situations where officials can hold stock that conflicts with their agency’s function.
The officials, many of which are household names and faces, can influence and financially impact company’s while at the same time making decisions that come to play in the day-to-day lives of citizens. These include public health and food safety, diplomatic relations, weapons systems, medical care, and regulating trade, to name a few. Even in those cases where a rule has not been explicitly violated, or has been waived, the actions violate the spirit behind rules intended to elevate or maintain public trust in government.
Official’s Transactions
There is a running joke that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, or more accurately, her husband Paul Pelosi’s investment picks and timing are so good that he must use a crystal ball. Lawmakers like Pelosi have gotten much more public attention. And activities at the Federal Reserve have recently caused resignations over accusations. But most agencies fly under the radar. The investigation by the Journal is expected to result in a number of WSJ special reports. Each time exposing another area that they want to bring to the public eye.
Congress had long been criticized for not prohibiting lawmakers from working on matters in which they have a financial interest. The rules were tightened in 2012 by the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, passed following a series of Journal articles on congressional trading abuses.
Investigative journalism or watchdog reporting is part of what helps reshape rules that lead to forced integrity and increased trust. American’s should feel confident that approvals, decisions, and all undertakings by those hired to serve the citizenry, put the interest of those funding their paychecks first.
