GE HealthCare Technologies Inc.

Good day and welcome to GE Healthcare's fourth quarter 2023 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1 1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, press star 1 1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker, Carolyn Borders, Chief Investor Relations Officer. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to GE Healthcare's fourth quarter 2023 earnings call. I'm joined by our President and CEO, Peter Arduini, and our Vice President and CFO, Jay Saccaro. Our conference call remarks will include both GAAP and non-GAAP financial results. Reconciliations between GAAP and non-GAAP measures can be found in today's press release and in the presentation slides available on our website. During this call, we'll make forward-looking statements about our performance. These statements are based on how we see things today. As described in our SEC filings, actual results may differ materially due to risks and uncertainties. And with that, I'll hand the call over to Peter.

Thanks, Carolyn. Let me start by providing a few highlights from a successful first year as a public company. I'm proud of how our team's executed to deliver robust financial results with performance that all met or exceeded guidance. In fact, our execution throughout the year allowed us to raise guidance twice. We've continued to increase our R&D investment launching over 40 new innovations tied to our care pathway and digital strategy. As a result of our investments, we estimate that we've gained global market share in equipment in 2023. And once again, we topped the FDA's list of AI-enabled device authorizations with 58, more than any other medtech company. Backlog remains robust, led by an improved capital equipment landscape, And we significantly strengthened our balance sheet as we paid down $1 billion in debt since the beginning of the fourth quarter. Our financial flexibility enables us to drive both organic and inorganic investment, such as the Caption Health and Amactus acquisitions completed in 2023. More recently, we announced our plans to acquire MIM software, which I'll discuss in greater detail later in the call. We continue to build our position as a trusted partner, and here are a few highlights from throughout the year. On the commercial side, we secured multi-year enterprise deals globally with contract values totaling approximately $2.5 billion in 2023, fueling our growth. We also expanded our 40-year relationship with the University of Wisconsin-Madison by entering a 10-year strategic collaboration that goes beyond medical imaging to new frontiers in digital technologies and disease-focused solutions. Separately, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and BARDA, a division within the U.S. Department of Health and Services, are funding programs totaling over $80 million that will allow us to develop new AI applications for ultrasound to benefit patients in low- and middle-income countries and patients with lung pathologies and traumatic injuries. We also announced a collaboration with Novo Nordisk to advance the clinical and product development of peripheral focused ultrasound. We've assembled a strong world-class leadership team. Jason Carl joined us last year and has had an immediate impact. He's had the opportunity to assess our organizational needs, forecasting models, financial systems, and processes and is adding significant strategic and operational value. Similarly, Taha joined us as chief technology officer more than a year ago, and he's been charting our digital future and strategy while building a high performing team of top healthcare technology experts. In 2023, we published our inaugural sustainability report, highlighting our progress and commitment to corporate responsibility and risk management. Lastly, We introduced 2024 guidance today, which Jay will discuss in greater detail. Our outlook reflects an improved capital equipment landscape. It also reflects continued strength on top of two consecutive years of high single-digit organic sales growth. Similar to last quarter, we conducted a survey of a broad set of US customers, which supports our forecast for 2024. Our latest survey showed improved financial optimism and capital budget outlook versus the last survey in October. Global procedures remain strong, which we believe all of this points to a constructive setup for the year. Now I'll pass the call on to Jay to take us through the financials and our business performance, and I'll conclude the call with a discussion around our R&D commitments and the innovation we're delivering for customers. Jay?