Veralto Corporation

Please stand by. Your meeting is about to begin. Good morning, everyone. My name is Beau, and I will be your conference operator this morning. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Viralto Corporation's first quarter 2026 conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during that time, simply press star, then the number one on your telephone. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star 2. I would now like to turn a call over to Mr. Ryan Taylor, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us on the call. With me today are Jennifer Honeycutt, our President and Chief Executive Officer, and Samir Rohan, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Today's call is simultaneously being webcasted. A replay of the webcast will be available on the Investors section of our website later today under the heading Events and Presentations. A replay of this call will be available until May 29th. Yesterday, we issued our first quarter 2026 news release, earnings presentation, prepared remarks, and supplemental materials, including information required by the SEC and relating to adjusted or non-GAAP financial measures. We hope you had the opportunity to review them last night. These materials are available in the investor section of our website, www.virualto.com, under the heading quarterly earnings. Reconciliations of all non-GAAP measures are also provided in the appendix of the webcast slides. Unless otherwise noted, All references to variances are on a year-over-year basis. During the call, we will make forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding events or developments that we believe or anticipate will or may occur in the future. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including those set forth in our SEC filings. Actual results may differ materially from our forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date that they are made, and we do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required by law. With that, I'll turn the call over to Jennifer, who will share a few brief comments before we open the floor to Q&A.

Thanks, Ryan. We are off to a strong start in 2026, reflecting the effectiveness of the Veralto Enterprise System, the essential role of our products and services in customers' operations, and the resilience of our end markets. In the first quarter, we delivered approximately 7% total sales growth and 13% adjusted earnings per share growth, while continuing to invest in commercial execution, productivity, and innovation. Looking ahead, we expect core sales growth to accelerate as the year progresses. Reflecting this momentum and our strong first quarter, we raised our full year adjusted earnings per share guidance to a range of $4.20 to $4.28 per share. Thus far this year, we have invested approximately $1 billion across two strategic acquisitions. in situ in our water quality segment and global vision in our pqi segment and also made opportunistic share repurchases i'm excited to welcome our new associates from these outstanding organizations to veralto additionally we initiated a new cost optimization program designed to streamline our business and enhance operating efficiency These actions underscore the strength of our free cash flow profile and our ability to create shareholder value through multiple disciplined levers. Going forward, our balance sheet remains strong, providing flexibility to pursue additional acquisitions and share repurchases. I'm proud of our team for a strong start to the year and for the actions we've taken to drive growth and continuous improvement as this year progresses and into next year. That concludes my opening remarks, and at this time, we are happy to take your questions.