Enovis - Q2 2023

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good day, and welcome to the Enovis Q2 2023 earnings call. All participants will be in the listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the Star key, followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press Star, then one on a touchtone phone. To withdraw your question, please press Star, then two. Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Derek Leckow, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Derek Leckow (VP of Investor Relations)

Thank you, Darwin. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for our Q2 of 2023 results conference call. I'm Derek Leckow, Vice President, Investor Relations. Joining me on the call today are Matthew Trerotola, Chief Executive Officer, and Ben Berry, Chief Financial Officer. Our earnings release was issued earlier this morning and is available in the investor section of our website, enovis.com. We will be using a slide presentation on today's call, which can also be found on our website. Both the audio and slide presentation of this call will be archived on the website later today. During this call, we'll be making some forward-looking statements about our beliefs and estimates regarding future events and results. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, including those set forth in the safe harbor language in today's earnings release and in our filings with the SEC.

Actual results may differ materially from any forward-looking statements that we make today. The forward-looking statements speak only as of today, and we do not assume any obligation or intend to update them, except as required by law. With respect to the non-GAAP financial measures referenced during the call today, the accompanying reconciliation information related to those measures can be found in our earnings press release and in the appendix of today's slide presentation. With that, let me turn the call over to Matt, who will begin on slide 3. Matt?

Matthew Trerotola (CEO)

Thanks, Derek. Hello, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. We had a strong Q2 with high single-digit organic growth, margin expansion, and good progress against our strategic goals. Before I get into the results, I want to congratulate our team for being recognized by Newsweek as one of the best places to work in America. We have positive energy and momentum in our company and a talented and cohesive global team that gets stronger every day. Let's go to slide 3 and talk about some of the Q2 highlights. We grew organically by 8%, with 17% growth in Recon and 4% growth in PNR. That gives us 9% daily sales growth for the 1st half of the year. We continue to see some market tailwinds on the Recon side. We continue to outperform the market by quite a bit.

We had another strong PNR quarter as well in a healthy market environment. We expanded our adjusted EBITDA margins by 110 basis points, reflecting the mix impact of strong Recon growth, gross margin expansion from our price and productivity progress, and continued moderation of inflation. We recently closed two acquisitions in foot and ankle, and we're also delivering strong growth while scaling the full set of acquisitions we completed in the last few years. Overall, we remain on track for a great 2023, with strong momentum toward our strategic objectives. In Recon, on slide 4, we had high double-digit growth in a U.S. in the U.S., led by over 22% organic growth in knees and hips. Extremities grew 15%, with well above market growth in both shoulder and foot and ankle.

Outside the U.S., we grew over 16% organically in a resilient market. It's still early days, but I'm excited about the international growth opportunity as we leverage our market position and begin to cross-sell our market-leading EMPOWR and AltiVate products in some large markets. We have a strong pipeline of innovation as we continue the U.S. rollout of the EMPOWR Revision Knee and have some key new products launching in shoulder, hip, and our foot and ankle franchise. Turning to slide 5, I want to take a moment to discuss the impact from the key Recon acquisitions we completed in the past few years. We closed Mathys to globalize our surgical business in July 2021, and two years in, things are going very well. We're exceeding our plan and seeing very strong double-digit growth, meaningful EBITDA margin expansion, and good traction on synergies.

We see great opportunities ahead as growth synergies ramp, and we continue to scale the business. There are also a number of other attractive global bolt-on opportunities. In extremities, we built a leading position in foot and ankle that is now growing organically, well into double digits, and has scaled from no profit to double-digit EBITDA margin. With the recent acquisitions, we expect to exit the year at a $100 million global run rate, with a clear path for double-digit revenue growth and strong margin improvement as we continue to scale. In PNR on page six, our 4% organic growth reflects a healthy market environment and solid execution. The business is performing in line with our strategic plan, with the average growth for the past six quarters a bit under 4%.

We have a strong pipeline of innovation for the balance of the year and next year that should support continued growth in this range. We also expect PNR to generate solid cash flow in the second half of the year as we right-size inventory and continue to get the benefits of the productivity muscle we've built with our EGX business system. I'll let Ben take you through the P&L details and our positive guidance update. Ben?

Ben Berry (CFO)

Thanks, Matt. Hello, everyone. I'll start my remarks on slide 7. We are pleased to report Q2 sales of $429 million, up 8% versus prior year. Our growth was fueled by strong demand for our products, solid commercial execution in both of our business segments, and stable market conditions. Our Q2 sales results include a 70 basis point selling day headwind and a 50 basis point positive contribution combined from foreign currency and recent acquisitions. Q2 gross margin was 58%, up 200 basis points. The growth was driven by leverage from higher sales and strong Recon mix. We continue to leverage our EGX business system to capture efficiencies in the supply chain and take ground on price versus cost, which we did again this quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA margin was 15.3%, up 110 basis points. This growth was driven by gross margin expansion and partially offset by growth investments in R&D and other expenses. This builds on a really strong Q1, resulting in a first-half adjusted EBITDA margins up 110 basis points versus the prior year. Q2 effective tax rate was 18%, compared to 9% last year, primarily due to a one-time discrete benefit, lowering the rate in 2022. In April, we executed a cross-currency swap, effectively, effectively lowering our interest rates. This resulted in interest expense of $4 million for the quarter. Overall, we posted strong adjusted earnings per share of $0.61, or 22% underlying growth after normalizing tax and interest impacts from the prior year.

We're very pleased with these results and the momentum we've built through the first half of the year. I'd like to thank everyone at Enovis and all the team members for another quarter of outstanding results. Well done, team. Moving to slide 8, considering our Q2 performance, we are raising our organic sales growth outlook for the year to 7% to 7.5%. As Matt said, the Recon markets continue to be stable, and our PNR business has grown in line with our expected levels. We expect a slightly more difficult prior year comparison in the coming quarters, especially in Q3, but we are confident that our Q2 results will lift the overall growth performance for the year. Full year sales outlook has been updated to include recently announced foot and ankle acquisitions and the current foreign currency rates.

We expect acquisitions to contribute roughly 1% growth for the year, which is 2% in the second half. Based on current FX rates, we expect about 1%-2% sales benefit in the balance of the year as well. We are raising the full year adjusted EBITDA and EPS ranges to reflect our Q2 performance. Our new outlook for adjusted EBITDA is $262 million-$270 million, with adjusted EPS of $2.22-$2.36. We expect to hold the strong margin gains from the first half, while the second half will have some temporary pressure from recent foot and ankle acquisitions and strong Q4 comps. To summarize on slide nine, we had another strong quarter, leading us to, again, raise our full year guidance.

We grew 9% sales per day in the first half, and we remain confident in our strategy and our capability to build a sustainable, high single-digit growth company. We took another step forward in expanding our margins and have a clear plan in place for continued margin growth. We continue to accelerate the company through M&A and have demonstrated strong execution of recent deals. We have a robust funnel and we'll, we'll continue to look for opportunities to further shape the organization in line with our strategic goals. Now we'll move on to Q&A. Darwin, please open the call for questions.

Operator (participant)

We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press Star, then one on your touchtone phone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press Star then two. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. The first question comes from Vic Chopra from Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.

Vikramjeet Chopra (Associate Equity Analyst)

Hey, good morning, thank you for taking my questions. Congrats on a good quarter. I had two questions. First one, you know, one of your competitors said last week that they're seeing an impact on the price increases that they put through in their bracing business. Can you just provide an update on what you're seeing on the customer price increases that you've put through to help battle inflation? Then I have 1 more follow-up.

Matthew Trerotola (CEO)

Hey, Vic, thanks. Thanks for the question. Yeah, I mean, as, as we've shared, you know, previously, you know, we've had, you know, multiple waves of, of price increases on the PNR side, including in, in bracing, and that's, you know, part of what's helping us to have some of the good gross margin traction that, that we've got. And, you know, that's, you know, been some pricing directly into the, the clinics and the channel, and then, and then there's also been some reimbursement increases that have provided some relief as well. We've been working hard to start to pull back some of that inflationary pressure and stay ahead of further inflation.

Vikramjeet Chopra (Associate Equity Analyst)

Great! You know, you had another strong quarter in Recon. I'm just wondering if you can talk about how much benefit you got from backlog recapture in the quarter, and perhaps talk about your expectations for the rest of this year. Thank you very much.

Matthew Trerotola (CEO)

Yeah, thanks, Vic. Yeah, we're, we're certainly pleased with our performance and, and confident that it'll, it'll be, you know, be, you know, very strong share gain within the industry. You know, definitely the whole first half of the year, you know, has been, you know, very healthy in Recon. You know, there seems to be, you know, more capacity for surgery that's enabling surgeons to, to work through, you know, more, some of the backlog and, and show, you know, I think, oversized market growth here this year. There are also, you know, the comps were a little bit softer in the Q1, but even in that Q2 with healthier comps, there was a, you know, some nice tailwind from the very healthy year, this year.

You know, it seems like there's certainly, you know, plenty more opportunity for that, that, you know, kind of backlog-related tailwind to continue, you know, in, in the coming years. But, you know, I think this year, you know, like last year, you know, in the second or the Q3 here, we're, we're seeing a, you know, pretty heavy amount of vacations in, in the elective surgery area. That's something we're certainly hearing about publicly out there. You know, I, I think you'll probably see some of the backlog clear, pause for a little bit as we go through the summer months, and then, you know, opportunity then accelerate through the back of the year.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question comes from Matthew Mishan with KeyBanc. Please go ahead.

Brett Fishbein (Equity Research Analyst)

Hey, guys. Thanks so much for taking the questions. This is Brett Fishbein on today for Matt. I just wanted to ask a question on PNR. Pretty, pretty good trends there, but just curious on, you know, just given how, how strong really the Recon segment has been over the past few quarters and, and the market, if you might start to see a little bit of a lag benefit incremental to the current trend over the next several quarters, and if that could pre-present some upside to the guidance range?

Matthew Trerotola (CEO)

Yeah, thanks, thanks for the question. We're, you know, we're certainly very pleased with the PNR results. You know, that's in a healthy environment. If you remember, the PNR segment we've shared before has a number of different drivers, and, you know, while elective surgery is a portion of what drives the business, you know, it's also, you know, driven by trauma and sports injuries and other elements. So, you know, for sure, here in the first part of the year, we're getting the benefit of some extra, you know, some extra elective surgery volume in that PNR business.

You know, as far as whether there's a lag, you know, I, I think that, you know, that this year inventory is a little tighter, and, and so probably, you know, the extra, the extra tailwind there is being realized, you know, kind of in, in the quarter versus, with a, with a lag. That's why I said, you know, the PNR markets were healthy here in the Q2, and, you know, we, we feel comfortable that we can continue to grow our PNR business within that, you know, you know, within that 3%-4% range for the year, as we've talked about, likely closer to four than three.

You know, the 4+ range that we've been in for the past few quarters is, you know, on the strong side for the, for the PNR markets.

Brett Fishbein (Equity Research Analyst)

All right, appreciate the color. Then just a quick second question here. The international trends, you know, remained really, really positive as well, with 16% organic performance in Recon in 2Q. Just curious if you could bifurcate, like internationally, how much of that performance is attributable to, like, underlying market dynamics versus some of Enovis' efforts around, like, brand expansion and cross-selling efforts in, in Europe? Thanks so much for taking the questions.

Matthew Trerotola (CEO)

Yeah, yeah, you bet. No, we're really pleased with the international results, but, you know, I think it's certainly very common knowledge out there in the industry that there, there are some tailwinds and, and, you know, some countries, like a, like a Germany, where there's, you know, quite a bit of, of tailwind. You know, I would say, you know, we, we shared that, that, you know, Mathys was, you know, about a mid-single digit business historically, and our, our plan was to accelerate that business to at least high single digits and, and really work to push into, into double digits. You know, I, I think that, you know, we, we've seen substantial acceleration of the Mathys business, you know, without the market tailwind, certainly into the high single digits, you know, maybe low double digits.

There's, you know, market tailwind on top of that, that's taken it well into the, into the high teens. The opportunity for us in the coming years is, you know, as the market tailwind subsides, we have a chance to, to ramp that synergy and still remain very confident we can grow that business, you know, in the high single digits. Certainly the potential to grow in the double digits is, is becoming, you know, more promising as we're, you know, getting to see more of the, of the kind of reception we're getting around the world and, and the, you know, capabilities and energy of that team.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question comes from Kyle Rose with Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead.

Kyle Rose (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Great. Thank you for taking the questions, and congrats on a strong quarter. Just, you know, wanted to talk a little bit about M&A, both, you know, historical and then the opportunity moving forward. Obviously, you, you put a lot of focus on the Recon side. Help us understand just how we should think about, you know, the focus of M&A, Recon versus PNR, and then also, you know, just the overall appetite for the org, for, you know, smaller tuck-in deals versus larger, you know, Mathys-sized transformative deals, just particularly given, you know, we're seeing, you know, a persistent higher rate environment here. Just any, any help there would be, would be great. Then number two is just EMPOWR Revision.

Can you remind us where we're at in the rollout there and just, you know, the overall contribution you've seen through the first half of the year? Thank you.

Matthew Trerotola (CEO)

Yeah, thanks a lot, Kyle. M&A, you know, certainly we're, we're, you know, we're really pleased with what we've, we've been able to do as, as we kind of shared some of the highlights here on the call. You know, over the past handful of years, the, you know, the vast majority of our M&A has been done in the Recon space, you know, expanding into attractive adjacent markets and bringing great technologies into the business. We have done, you know, some smaller things on the PNR side that have been very, very constructive shaping deals. You know, the laser acquisition that we made is, is driving some very, you know, very nice growth within our PNR segment.

And our deals have been mostly, small bolt-ons, you know, with, you know, Mathys, sprinkled in as a, a larger strategic bolt-on. You know, the opportunities that we see in the funnel are, you know, similar, to the kind of profile of what we've been doing in, in the, in the past, years. Certainly, you know, more on the Recon side than the PNR side, but, certainly some, you know, good, you know, small opportunities on the PNR side that, that can, can help us to shape that portfolio in a constructive way. You know, certainly more, you know, small, bolt-ons, but, you know, some larger bolt-ons that are, that are good and attractive possibilities as well.

You know, certainly it is a more constructive environment than it was, you know, several years ago for M&A. I mean, very encouraging for us that the deals that we talked about here today on the call were done in a really challenging M&A environment, in terms of, you know, kind of, the, the strength of sellers. Now it's a better M&A environment, and so, you know, we're, we're definitely excited about the capital we have to deploy and the possibilities for what we can do with it. To your second question about EMPOWR, you know, we're extremely excited to have the EMPOWR Revision that it gets us into a, you know, a, you know, substantial portion of, of knee, 15%-20% of that market that we've had really limited participation in, historically.

It's a great product. It's been well received in the market. you know, and the ramp is, you know, gonna be accelerating here in the back half of this year and into next year. The contribution to growth from that, at this point, is, is limited as we've been, you know, step-by-step getting instrument steps, instrument sets out into the market. it'll, it'll add a little bit more in the back half and will be a very strong contributor to growth next year.

Kyle Rose (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Thank you for taking the questions.

Matthew Trerotola (CEO)

Yep.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question comes from Vijay Kumar with Evercore ISI. Please go ahead.

Vijay Kumar (Senior Managing Director and Head of the Medical Supplies & Devices and Life Science Tools & Diagnostics Team)

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my question, and congrats on a good execution here. Maybe my first question here on the guidance, Matt. You know, first half organic was pretty solid, 9%. I think the annual guide update implies maybe a moderation to maybe 6%, 6% and change for the second half. You know, similarly on EPS, you know, you beat the quarter, I think versus Street on by $0.10, but the EPS raised by $0.04. Maybe just talk about the assumptions for back half. Any macro assumptions, or is this just conservatism?

Matthew Trerotola (CEO)

Yeah, thanks for the question. I'll, I'll hit the growth part of it and then let, let Ben talk about the rest. You know, look, you know, from the, you know, from the start of the year, our, our guide has implied a, you know, stronger, stronger first half than second half, based on the, based on the comps. Then, you know, you know, as you've seen, you know, we've had some significant tailwinds in the first half, like, like others have as well, in a, you know, kind of, you know, an extra growth Recon market, around the world. So our, our update to the guide reflects that strong first half.

I think, you know, preserves a, a, you know, a, a perspective that we're gonna have, you know, very tough Q3 comp, and, you know, kind of a, you know, probably a little more vacations in the summer and things, and, and then be able to kind of accelerate through the, through the final quarter of, of the year. Certainly, the overall growth for the year will be in a, in a very strong range, and, will put us in great shape versus our, you know, strategic objective there on the growth front. Ben?

Ben Berry (CFO)

Yep. Hey, hey, Vijay, thanks for the question. As we think about EPS, really what we've done is we've flowed through the operating beat into the back half of the year. If you look at where we kind of came in, in Q2, we had some benefit from the interest rate swaps that I mentioned in my prepared remarks. Also, we executed and completed the foot and ankle acquisition deal to increase our debt levels for the back half of the year. That'll be a bit of an offset to the benefit that we're getting from the interest rate that we saw in the Q2. You factor that in to the back half of the year, that's what the EPS gets a bit normalized.

Vijay Kumar (Senior Managing Director and Head of the Medical Supplies & Devices and Life Science Tools & Diagnostics Team)

Understood. Matt, maybe one on the, the augmented reality, you know, product that you guys... I think that it, you know, it soft launched in first half. Where are we on the launch? Any updates on how we should think about ramp?

Matthew Trerotola (CEO)

Yeah, we, we've been, as, as we've talked about, we've been in a limited launch, getting some great feedback on, on the product. You know, certainly a lot of very positive feedback about the product, but also, you use a limited launch to get feedback about things that, that could be tweaked a little bit to make it even better. You know, we've collected a lot of great, a lot of great feedback. We've been working through implementing those into the product, and, you know, expecting to go to a broader launch, you know, as we work through the balance of, of the year here.

Uh, and, uh, you know, certainly, you know, we've got, uh, very strong knee growth, uh, you know, today, uh, you know, with- without it, uh, and certainly, it'll, it'll, you know, it'll provide, uh, you know, it's something that can be applied to hip and knee, but we think it's really gonna help to fuel our knee growth. And so we've got very strong knee growth.... uh, without it. Uh, and as we bring that product in, you know, that's gonna support continued, uh, very strong knee growth and, uh, also create a recurring revenue stream that'll, you know, start to build from, you know, from a small start, but over time, become a nice, uh, very high margin recurring revenue stream as well.

Vijay Kumar (Senior Managing Director and Head of the Medical Supplies & Devices and Life Science Tools & Diagnostics Team)

Understood. Thanks, guys.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question comes from Joseph Conway with Needham. Please go ahead.

Joseph Conway (Equity Research Associate)

Hi, guys. This is Joseph, on for Mike. Maybe the first one, could you give us any updates that you may have from the FDA on the bone growth stimulator reclassification?

Matthew Trerotola (CEO)

Yeah, there's, there's no new information on, on the bone growth stimulator. And, you know, we, we continue to, you know, to view it, you know, as, you know, unlikely get, that it gets, reclassed. You know, should it get reclassed, there's, you know, there, while there might be some, while there might be some price pressure, there would also be a lot of market opportunity that would open up in terms of the ability to innovate and get new indications in that, in that product. You know, we're constantly prepared for the possibility, but, there's, there's no change in the status at this point.

Joseph Conway (Equity Research Associate)

Okay. Okay, thanks. Then I guess one more: Could you give us an update on, you know, maybe your ASC presence and the strategy with that in the Recon business?

Matthew Trerotola (CEO)

Yeah, sure. you know, ASC continues to be a, you know, great part of our Recon growth story. you know, I think, you know, as we've shared previously, we're, we're around 20% of our, our knees are done in the US, in an ASC environment, which, you know, based on our best info, is probably about 2 times, the percent of the market that's done, in, in that, that setting. So that's been a high, high-growth setting. We also have, you know, continued to shape our offering to be very attractive to that ASC environment between our EMPOWR Knee. That's a great fit for the active patient that's being selected in there.

Our simplified instrument sets and ARVIS, being a, you know, kind of, cost-efficient, space-efficient, time-efficient, enabling technology, that is a great fit for the ASC environment as, as well. So we expect to be able to continue to have good, strong success, in, in that setting.

Joseph Conway (Equity Research Associate)

Okay, great. That's all from us. Thanks. Thanks for taking our questions.

Matthew Trerotola (CEO)

Yep. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Again, ladies and gentlemen, if you have questions, please press star then one. The next question comes from Dane Reinhart with Baird. Please go ahead.

Dane Reinhardt (Equity Research Associate)

Hey, good morning, guys. Just wanted to ask one here, a little bit on the margin front. You know, you talked about kind of the supply chain stabilizing. You've got price helping you a little bit, but as we think about next year, I assume price, you know, won't be as much of a benefactor. What are kind of the tailwinds next year as we think about probably gross and operating margin, especially if you're keeping R&D a bit elevated? Is it really just kind of a mixed story at this point?

Ben Berry (CFO)

We'll definitely get the benefit of the continued shaping that we've done on, on the mix. That's one driver. It'll be another year, as Matt shared in, in the prepared remarks, around the progress that we've made on, you know, some of the recent acquisitions scaling. That continues to, you know, scale as we get into next year, as well. Then, you know, if, if I think about kind of where we are with regards to the, the price cost aspect, we've built a capability in our PNR business now to be able to more consistently, you know, execute price increases. We'll still evaluate our options there to continue to reclaim some of the pressure that came into the system over the last couple years.

Definitely working hard, leveraging our EGX business system to drive productivity in our raw materials and our supply chain, and both kind of, the freight and in and the freight out, capabilities as well. Overall, I would say, you know, we have a lot of levers that we continue to pull to drive our, our margin expansion, and our building blocks are still very much intact in terms of what we've shared with regards to our, you know, greater than 50 basis points expansion year-over-year, which is the mix of Recon, the scaling of acquisitions, and then the operating leverage and scale and productivity of the business system. Those are really the, the, the building blocks, and they still very much remain intact.

Dane Reinhardt (Equity Research Associate)

Gotcha. Very helpful. Okay, then one kind of follow-up on Vijay's question regarding the 1st half, 2nd half phasing. I mean, is there a chance that, given the tougher comps, you think Recon could, you know, maybe slow into the upper single digits as opposed to double digits? Then could you also remind us, are there any selling day impacts in the back half of the year? Thanks.

Matthew Trerotola (CEO)

Yeah. No, I, I think, you know, we, we feel confident we can continue to grow our Recon business in that in that double digits range, even, even, you know, getting into a little bit of a, of a comp, you know, tougher comp range. Yeah.

Ben Berry (CFO)

Yeah. No, no selling day impact in, in the second half. Just another just comment to, to add is, you know, as, as we've brought in or will be bringing in the, the foot ankle acquisitions that we've announced, there'll be a little bit of pressure in the back half of the year for those, as we work to drive the synergies and, and integrate those businesses into, into Enovis. That adds a little bit of back half pressure on the margins as well. As well as, as Matt said, we've got the, the comp, a stronger comp in Q3, that, that we'll be dealing with as well.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Derek Leckow for any closing remarks.

Derek Leckow (VP of Investor Relations)

Thank you, thank you, everyone, for joining us today on the call. We appreciate your interest, and if you have any further questions, please contact me in Investor Relations. Have a great day.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.