Terex Corporation

A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Neal Frohnapple, Vice President of Investor Relations.

Neal Frohnapple Good morning and welcome to the TAREX first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. A copy of the press release and presentation slides are posted on our Investor Relations at investors.terex.com. In addition, the replay and slide presentation will be available on our website. We are joined by Simon Meester, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Julie Beck, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Their prepared remarks will be followed by Q&A. Please turn to slide two of the presentation, which reflects our safe harbor statement. Today's conference call contains forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks that could cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied. These risks are described in greater detail in the earrings materials and in our reports filed with the FCC. In addition, we will be discussing non-GAAP financial information we believe is useful in evaluating the company's operating performance. Reconciliations for these non-GAAP measures can be found in the conference call materials. Please turn to slide four, and I'll turn it over to Simon Meester.

Thanks, Neil, and good morning. I would like to welcome everyone to our earnings call and appreciate your interest in TARICS. I'd like to begin by thanking all TARICS team members for delivering outstanding performance in Q1. The team executed really well and delivered strong results to start the year with. We increased sales by 5% and expanded operating margins by 20 base points from last year. The company also delivered earnings per share of $1.60 in the quarter and achieved a return on invested capital of more than 27%. These outstanding results demonstrate our ability to execute as the team continues to perform at a high level. Additionally, we're raising our 2024 sales and profit outlook and now expect earnings per share in the range of $6.95 to $7.35. During the quarter, we also continue to advance our strategic initiatives to drive long-term shareholder value. We launched several new products across the portfolio and continue to make good progress ramping up our new facility in Monterey. This new facility continues to absorb more of Genie's global production mix and is expected to improve the segment's through-cycle margin performance. Please turn to slide five. Customer demand remains healthy across most of our businesses, supported by favorable end-market conditions. Our Q1 backlog of $3.1 billion is significantly above historical levels and gives us confidence in the sealed outlook for the remainder of the year. As expected, the backlog continues to moderate from peak levels, which reflects more normal lead times, improving supply chain, and continued efforts by our team members to improve overall throughput. Consolidated bookings in Q1 of more than $1 billion were down from last year which reflects a return to more normal seasonal order patterns combined with softer demand in Europe. In the MP segment, backlog is still above historical norms and bookings increase sequentially from the fourth and the third quarter. Additionally, our AWP backlog now covers the 2024 outlook with our utilities business actively taking orders for 2025. Overall, based on customer feedback, our backlog coverage, our bookings, and leading indicators, we feel confident about raising our 2024 outlook.