Dover Corporation

Good morning and welcome to Dover's first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Speaking today are Richard J. Tobin, President and Chief Executive Officer, Brad Zerpak, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Jack Dinkins, Senior Director, Investor Relations. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answers period. If you would like to ask a question during this time, press star and then the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw yourself, please press star two. As a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, this conference call is being recorded, and your participation implies consent to our recording of this call. If you do not agree with these terms, please disconnect at this time. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Jack Dickens. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Natalie. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our call. An audio version of this call will be available on our website through May 16th, and a replay link of the webcast will be archived for 90 days. Our comments today will include forward-looking statements based on current expectations. Actual results and events could differ from those statements due to a number of risks and uncertainties which are discussed in our SEC filings. We assume no obligation to update our forward-looking statements. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Rich.

Thanks, Jack. Let's go to slide three. First quarter results were in line with our expectations. Strong performance across several of our end markets together with improving order and shipment trends and biopharma components and growth platforms were able to offset the countercyclicality in some of our long cycle portfolio in what was expected to be our toughest comparable quarter this year. It is clear that our operating posture that we took in the second half of 2023 to proactively curtail production has had its intended effect. Customer and channel inventories are now largely in balance with prevailing demand conditions and levels set to normalize lead times. As a result, order momentum in the quarter was strong and broad-based, particularly in our shorter cycle end markets, building off an exit rate from last year and bolstering our confidence for the year outlook. We remain active on capital deployment. During the quarter, we closed two synergistic bolt-on acquisitions that add attractive digital and reoccurring revenue streams, to our retail fueling and car wash platforms. The DeStaco divestiture closed at the end of March as part of our ongoing portfolio evolution. We also launched a $500 million accelerated share repurchase program at the end of February to return excess capital to our shareholders. Our strong cash flow generation, along with the proceeds from the DeStaco sale, provide ample capacity for further capital deployment in 2024. We're off to a solid start to the year, and the setup for the reign of the year is encouraging. Our order rate momentum and healthy underlying demand conditions support the outlook for volume and margin improvement as we progress through the year. We are narrowing our full year adjusted EPS guidance towards the higher end of the range, and we'll continue to evaluate our full year targets as the year progresses, especially if demand trends continue. Let's go to slide four. Revenue was up 1% in the quarter. Bookings were up 3% organically year over year and up 12% sequentially in the quarter, reflecting growing order rate momentum across much of the portfolio. Of note, after seven quarters of bookings decline, as a result of the post-COVID backlogs, we have now seen positive bookings growth in two straight quarters and expect this positive trend to continue for the rest of the year. Segment margins were 19.7, down 30 basis points. We expect to return to positive year-over-year accretion from here on mix and volume leverage. Adjusted EPS was up to $1.95 per share in the quarter, and we are guiding 1% to 3% organic revenue growth and adjusted EPS of $9 to $9.15. for the year 2024. So let's go move on to slide five. Engineered products had a robust quarter, particularly strong volume growth and conversion waste handling, which set an all-time record for first quarter profits and should continue its positive trajectory on strong truck body order momentum and software adoption. Aerospace and defense also posted double-digit revenue growth volumes improved after market on better end market conditions and bookings growth, including in Europe. We expect volumes to remain strong for the segment throughout 2024. Margin performance was solid in the quarter on strong volume conversion, price cost, dynamics, and productivity investments. Clean energy and fueling returned to positive organic growth in the quarter after nine consecutive quarters of flat to negative top line performance driven by the end of the EMV cycle in North America and channel destocking of what is our most heavy distribution exposed segment. Margins were down in the quarter on negative comparable mix, but we expect to see sequential improvement from here and target full year margins up over 23, driven by attractive volume conversion and the benefits from previously enacted cost control measures. Imaging and identification posted a steady quarter with lower printer shipments in Europe and the U.S. largely offset by strong volumes and consumables in aftermarket. We expect top line to return to growth next quarter and to be up for the year. Margin performance was exemplary on cost controls and higher mix of consumables and aftermarket shipments. Constant process was up organically in the quarter on robust volumes and polymer processing and precision components. Order rates for thermal connectors were very encouraging. We are pleased to see biopharma shipments grow year over year with orders gaining further momentum with a book to bill of 1.08 as customer inventories continue to normalize and commercial drug production and new therapy development remain robust. I would like to point out that our biopharma business is nearly all consumable and in the post-pandemic destocking headwinds dissipate. This is mostly driven by biopharma production volumes which are growing. Margins in the segment were down modestly due to strong volumes and polymer processing, which are slightly dilutive to the consolidated segment margin. If order trends hold, we expect margins to be positive sequentially from here. Top line performance in climate and sustainability technologies was down as expected, driven by the expected capital investment slowdown in beverage can making. and the impact of stocking headwinds in the broader HVAC complex, most notably in European residential heat pumps, on our brazed plate heat exchanger business. In contrast, our U.S. heat exchanger business continues to grow in double digits on technology share gains and evolving ed market applications, including data centers. We expect top line to improve as the year progresses with easier comparable performance in the second half of the year and supported by strong volume in CO2 refrigeration systems, which drove the bookings growth for the segment on several key customer build-out wins.