Gerald Herman
Analyst · JPMorgan
Thank you, Frank. I'm pleased to join you today and review Bruker's second quarter 2019 financial highlights, which is starting on Slide 12. Bruker's reported revenue increased 10.5% to $490.2 million in the second quarter of 2019, which reflects organic growth of 4.8%. We reported GAAP EPS of $0.23 compared to $0.20 in the second quarter of 2018. On a non-GAAP basis, Q2 2019 EPS was $0.33, an increase of 32% from $0.25 in Q2 2018. Our Q2 2019 non-GAAP operating income increased 25% year-over-year while non-GAAP operating margin of 15% improved 170 basis points year-over-year. This improvement reflects favorable product mix, operational improvements, along with accretive acquisitions and an approximately 40 basis point tailwind from foreign currency translation. We expect this foreign currency impact on operating margin to moderate for the remainder of 2019. Free cash flow in Q2 2019 was an outflow of $7.4 million compared to an inflow of $27.1 million in the second quarter of 2018, reflecting higher working capital and capital expenditures. As of June 30, 2019, we were in a net debt position of $205 million as we deployed cash over the course of the second quarter on acquisitions, capital expenditures, share repurchases and dividends. We ended Q2 2019 with higher working capital balances, reflecting our revenue growth, recent acquisitions, inventory buildup and increased receivables due to shipments late in the quarter. Slide 13 shows the revenue bridge for Q2 2019. As noted earlier, organic revenue growth in the quarter was 4.8%, with 3.4% growth at BSI and an 18.2% organic increase in the BEST segment. We had revenue growth from acquisitions of 8.7% primarily from our Hain, Alicona, RAVE and JPK acquisitions, which was partially offset by a foreign currency headwind of 3%. From a BSI organic revenue growth perspective year-over-year, we saw high single-digit growth in Q2 2019 at BioSpin, which included revenue from a 1.0 GigaHertz NMR system. Our CALID Group posted solid mid-single-digit organic growth in the second quarter, driven by microbiology and life science mass spectrometry. NANO revenue was down mid-single digits in Q2 2019 on an organic basis, with the challenging prior year comparison in semiconductor metrology and softer performance in NANO surface tools while x-ray and NANO analysis tools had solid organic growth. From a geographic perspective, Q2 organic revenue was up modestly in Europe. We had strong growth in North America and Japan. China grew in the mid-single digits, and the rest of the world, other than Latin America, had good results. Slide 14 shows our Q2 2019 non-GAAP results. Q2 2019 non-GAAP gross profit margin of 49.5% increased 190 basis points from 47.6% in Q2 2018. This was driven primarily by favorable mix, operational improvements within our CALID and BioSpin groups and the accretive impact of acquisitions. Q2 2019 operating expenses grew roughly in line with our revenue growth, including expenses related to recent acquisitions, Hain, Alicona, JPK, RAVE as well as our software acquisitions. This resulted in Q2 2019 non-GAAP operating margin improvement of 170 basis points versus Q2 2018, driven by our revenue growth, favorable product mix and the positive contribution of acquisitions and foreign exchange. As mentioned earlier, foreign exchange translation had a favorable impact of approximately 40 basis points on our Q2 non-GAAP operating margin. For the second quarter of 2019, our non-GAAP effective tax rate was 23.3% compared to 27% in Q2 2018. The year-over-year decline was primarily impacted by a favorable discrete item. Weighted average diluted shares outstanding in the second quarter were 157.6 million, up 0.6 million shares from Q2 2018. In May 2019, Bruker's Board of Directors authorized a new two year share repurchase program, authorizing the company to repurchase up to 300 million of our company's stock. During Q2 2019, we repurchased 2.3 million shares, for a total of $100 million. We currently have $200 million remaining under the share buyback program, which authorizes repurchases through mid-May 2021. Finally, Q2 2019 non-GAAP EPS of $0.33 increased 32% year-over-year, driven by higher revenue, margin improvement and lower tax rate year-over-year. Slide 15 shows year-over-year revenue bridge for the first half of 2019. Revenue was up $76 million or 8.7%, reflecting first half 2019 organic growth of 5.1%, acquisitions of 7.4% and foreign exchange headwinds of 3.8%. The organic growth improvement reflected 4.4% organic growth at BSI, with a strong increase at CALID, solid mid-single digit growth at BioSpin and flat organic revenue performance at NANO. Our BEST segment grew 11.6% on an organic basis. And Frank has discovered the drivers of our revenue performance earlier. Geographically and on an organic basis, in the second half of 2019, Bruker's European revenue was down low single digits. North American revenue grew high single digits. Asia-Pacific revenue grew double digits on an organic basis, with strong growth in Japan and China and a modest decline in other markets. On Slide 16, our first half 2019 non-GAAP gross profit margin of 49.2% increased to 160 basis points. Favorable mix, operational improvements at CALID, accretion from the acquisitions and favorable foreign currency translation drove the improvement relative to the first half of 2018. First half 2019 operating expenses increased approximately in line with our revenue growth rate, including expenses from the previously described acquisitions. All in, our non-GAAP operating margin in the first half of 2019 was 14.3%, a 150 basis point improvement over the prior period, benefiting from favorable mix, CALID operational improvements and a tailwind from acquisitions and foreign currency rates. For the first half of 2019, foreign currency translation had a 60 basis points favorable impact on Bruker's non-GAAP operating margin. Our first half 2019 non-GAAP tax rate of 23.9% was below the 25.4% tax rate in the first half of last year driven by discrete items, which are expected to reverse in the second half. Finally, non-GAAP EPS of $0.61 grew 24.5% relative to the first half of 2018, reflecting a revenue growth, higher margins and a lower tax rate year-over-year. Turning to Slide 17. Free cash flow in the first half of 2019 was a cash outflow of $3.8 million compared to an inflow of $62.4 million in the first half of 2018. The weaker free cash generation in the first half of 2019 was primarily driven by inventory buildup for product transitions into our Penang, Malaysia factory and for our gigahertz-class NMR production as well as by increases in capital expenditures and by shipments late in the quarter impacting receivables and collections. Our cash conversion cycle at the end of Q2 2019 of 237 days lengthened compared to 220 days at the end of Q2 2018, due to an increase in DIO and DSO as well as a reduction in DPO. Turning now to guidance for the full year 2019 on Slide 19. Our 2019 outlook for revenue growth, non-GAAP operating margin expansion and non-GAAP EPS is unchanged. For 2019 revenue, taking into account our solid performance in the first half of the year and a more uncertain macroeconomic environment, we continue to guide to 7% to 8% overall revenue growth, including 4.5% to 5.5% organic growth and an approximate 5% revenue contribution from acquisitions. This equates to constant currency revenue growth of 9.5% to 10.5%. We continue to expect a foreign currency headwind of approximately 2.5% to 2019 revenue growth. We expect non-GAAP operating margin to improve between 90 and 120 basis points from the 16.8% level achieved in 2018, including an approximate 30 basis points tailwind from foreign currency translation. Our outlook also assumes a full year 2019 non-GAAP effective tax rate of about 25% and fully diluted share count of approximately 157 million shares. This rolls up to a full year 2019 non-GAAP EPS in the range between $1.57 and $1.61, which represents an increase of 12% to 15% compared to 2018 and includes accretion from our acquisitions. Other guidance assumptions are listed on the slide. While we do not provide quarterly guidance, I'd like to point out some modeling dynamics that we expect to affect our Q3 results. We faced a challenging prior year comparison and Q3 2019, particularly from an operating margin and EPS perspective. Given expected revenue timing and mixed dynamics between Q3 and Q4, we currently anticipate our Q3 2019 non-GAAP operating margin to be lower year-over-year. And our Q3 2019 GAAP EPS to be approximately flat compared to Q3 2018. As a reminder, between Q2 and Q3 2018, our non-GAAP operating margin increased more than 400 basis points sequentially. In 2019, our operating margin is expected to improve sequentially from Q2 to Q3, but not as steeply as in 2018. And one final note on modeling. As it's not unusual for Bruker, we anticipate our profitability and cash flow to be more weighted toward the fourth quarter. So to wrap up, Bruker delivered solid financial performance in Q2 2019, with revenues up 10.5% and non-GAAP EPS growth of 32% compared to Q2 2018. We made very good progress in the first half of 2019 and remained fully committed to our financial objectives for the full year. We look forward to updating you again on our quarterly progress with our Q3 conference call. And with that, I'd like to turn the call over to Miroslava to start the Q&A session. Thank you very much.