CONMED Corporation

After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you'll 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, please press star 1 1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. Before the conference call begins, let me remind you that during this call, management will be making comments and statements regarding its financial outlook, its plans and objectives. These statements represent the forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainties as those terms are defined under the federal securities laws. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements that are not guarantees of future events, performance, or results, the company's actual results may differ materially from its current expectations. Please refer to the risk and other uncertainties disclosed under the forward-looking information in today's press release. as well as the company's SEC filings for more details on the risk and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. The company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements that may be discussed during the call, except as may be required by applicable law. You will also hear management refer to non-GAAP or adjusted measurements during this discussion. While these figures are not a substitute for GAAP measurements, Management uses these figures to aid in monitoring the company's ongoing financial performance from quarter to quarter and year to year on a regular basis and for benchmarking against other medical technology companies. Adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share measure the income of the company excluding credits or charges that are considered by the company to be special or outside its normal ongoing operations. These adjusting items are specified in the reconciliation supporting the company's earnings releases posted to the company's website. With these required announcements completed, I will turn the call over to Pat Beyer, President and Chief Executive Officer, for opening remarks. Mr. Beyer?

Good afternoon and thank you for joining us for ConMed's fourth quarter 2025 earnings call.

With me today is Todd Garner, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. I'll start and provide you with an overview of our fourth quarter and full year results, and then share updates on our strategic priorities. Todd will then take you through the financials and our 2026 guidance in more detail before we open up the call for your questions. Before I dive into the quarter, I'd like to recognize the continued dedication of our global team. Their commitment to our mission, to our customers, and to one another is evident in every part of our company. I'll start by briefly reviewing our fourth quarter and full year results. Total sales for the quarter were $373.2 million, representing a year-over-year increase of 7.9% as reported and 7.1% in constant currency. For the full year, sales were $1.375 billion, representing year-over-year growth of 5.2% as reported. and 5.1% in constant currency. Orthopedic sales increased 12.1% in the fourth quarter and 5.5% for the full year on constant currency basis. In general surgery, sales increased 3.8% in the fourth quarter and 4.7% for the full year in constant currency. Fourth quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.43 grew 6.7% while four-year adjusted EPS of $4.59 grew 10.1%. Earlier this month marked my first anniversary as CEO of ConMed. Over the past year, through extensive discussions with internal and external stakeholders that culminated in a comprehensive portfolio review, my conviction in where ConMed can win has only strengthened. We win where innovation and minimally invasive surgery converge in robotic and laparoscopic surgery and smoke evacuation and in orthopedic soft tissue repair. These are high growth, high margin markets where we are uniquely positioned to lead with our differentiated products and strong commercial teams. As part of that portfolio review, in December we announced the decision to exit our gastroenterology product lines While this creates some near-term earnings dilution, the move aligns with our resources tightly to our strongest growth drivers and is expected to improve our long-term consolidated growth margin profile by approximately 80 basis points once complete. This was a thoughtful and strategic decision that positions ConMed to deploy capital and talent where we create the most value. When I stepped into the CEO role, it was clear that we needed to resolve the supply chain constraints in sports medicine that had weighed on the growth of our orthopedics portfolio. We put the right focus and resources in place, people, planning, and production. We engaged a top tier outside consultant, invested in infrastructure, and are building out a strong operations team. We made meaningful progress in 2025, culminating in our strongest growth quarter of the year in the fourth quarter. We ended the year with our backorder value and number of skews on backorder at a three-year low, and we continued to make additional progress in the first quarter. We are not yet at our goal of operating a world-class supply chain, but we have made significant progress and are at a point where our sales force can once again be proactive with our growth drivers. Looking forward, we view the work ahead across two primary objectives. The first is to stabilize and scale, build reliable, repeatable processes that give us sustainable supply resiliency and enable our teams to be on offense. We have made meaningful progress here. The second, longer term, Objective is to build a high performance supply chain that is agile, data-driven and capable of supporting sustained innovation. Completing the second objective is what we believe will allow us to deliver sustained above market growth in our orthopedic portfolio over time. Now turning to our three high growth platforms. I'll start with AirSeal, our clinical insufflation system used in robotic and laparoscopic surgery. AirSeal was used in approximately 1.6 million procedures in 2025, reflecting its established role in complex surgical cases where the clinical benefit of stable, low-pressure insufflation are most pronounced. Utilization in robotic surgery remains in line with expectations with consistent engagement from surgeons who value its clinical profile. The expansion of the robotics market outside the U.S. and into lower cost settings such as ambulatory surgery centers represents an additional opportunity for AirSeal. These environments are well aligned with the clinical and economic benefits AirSeal delivers, and we expect them to play an increasingly important role in our long-term growth. We continue to see meaningful white space in traditional laparoscopy, In the U.S. alone, there are more than 3 million laparoscopic procedures performed annually, and Ayersfield today is utilized in only about 6 to 7 percent of cases. As we scale our commercial efforts and drive greater awareness of the clinical and economic benefits that mirror what we've demonstrated in robotics, we believe that laparoscopy represents a substantial long-term growth lever. Taken together, these dynamics reinforce our confidence that AirSeal can deliver high single digits to low double digit rate growth over the long term, which is what we saw in both the fourth quarter and the full year 2025. Next, I'd like to turn to Buffalo Filter, which remains one of our most compelling long-term opportunities. Surgical smoke evacuation is now recognized as a billion-dollar-plus potential global market yet is still in the early stages of adoption. Today, 20 U.S. states representing approximately 51% of the population have enacted smoke-free operating room legislation, and we continue to see steady progress internationally, including early momentum across the Nordic countries and Canada. We are also leading the market with product innovation. Our next generation PlumeSafe X5 launched in the first half of 2025 delivers significantly enhanced performance, quieter operation, and faster, more efficient smoke clearance, strengthening our competitive position and expanding the clinical and economic value we bring to customers. Our third high growth platform is BioBrace, which has become a signature element of our sports medicine strategy. BioBrace is now used across more than 70 unique procedures, demonstrating both the breadth of the surgical adoption and the versatility of the technology. Our BioBrace RC delivery system, launched last year, has further strengthened this momentum by making rotator cuff repair more reproducible and expanding our access to a broader set of surgeons. Clinically, the BioBrace platform is backed by a growing body of evidence. Our 268 patient randomized controlled trial remains on track to complete enrollment in 2026, with publication expected in 2027. And as of 2025, the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgery guidelines recommended augmentation for rotator cuff repair. We are also seeing increasing utilization of BioBrace in foot and ankle procedures, where surgeons are recognizing the same benefits in strength, healing, support, and workflow efficiency. We expect this trend to continue as BioBrace becomes further embedded across a wider range of soft tissue repairs, reducing revision rates and promoting faster healing. Turning to the balance sheet, our strong cash engine brought leverage to 2.9 times in the fourth quarter, giving us the flexibility to lean into innovation, growth, and capital returns. As we announced in the third quarter, our board suspended our dividend and approved $150 million share repurchase authorization. Historically, the dividend represented roughly $25 million annually, and deploying at least that level into repurchases equates to approximately 7 cents of EPS in 2026. Importantly, we view this as a minimum, not a ceiling. Taken together, our financial strength, our operational progress, and the potential of our growth platforms gives us confidence in the path forward. Our focus remains clear. Getting ConMed back to above-market growth, we will do this by leaning into our core strengths continuing to normalize supply in sports medicine, operating with discipline and focus, and investing in high growth, high margin platforms. I'm proud of our progress in 2025 and energized by the opportunity ahead. Before I turn the call over to Todd, I want to briefly address the CFO transition we announced earlier this month. Todd and I have been discussing long-term leadership structure and alignment for some time. And together we concluded this is the right moment for both him and for ConMed. Todd will remain CFO through the transition and will then move into an advisory role, ensuring continuity while we complete a comprehensive search for our next CFO. He has been instrumental in strengthening ConMed's financial foundation over the past eight years. And on behalf of our board and our entire leadership team, I want to thank him for his partnership contributions, and unwavering commitment to ConMed. With that, I'll turn the call over to Todd, who will provide a more detailed analysis of our financial performance and discuss our 2026 financial guidance.