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IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (IDXX)

Q1 2015 Earnings Call· Tue, Apr 28, 2015

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning, everyone and welcome to the IDEXX Laboratories First Quarter 2015 Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, today's conference is being recorded. Participating in the call this morning are Jon Ayers, Chief Executive Officer; Brian McKeon, Chief Financial Officer and Ed Garber, Director, Investor Relations. IDEXX would like to preface the discussion today with a caution regarding forward-looking statements. Listeners are reminded that statements that members of IDEXX management may make on this call regarding IDEXX's future expectations, plans, and prospects constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as expects, may, anticipates, intends, would, will, plans, believes, estimates, should, and similar words and expressions. Such statements include but are not limited to statements regarding management's expectations for financial results for future periods. Investors should be aware that any forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed here today. These risk factors are explained in detail in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Please refer to these filings for a more detailed discussion of forward-looking statements and the risks and uncertainties of such statements. All forward-looking statements are made as of today, and except as required by law, the company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Also, during this call we will be discussing certain financial measures not prepared in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or GAAP. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measure is provided in our earnings release, which can be found on our website, IDEXX.com. In reviewing our first quarter…

Operator

Operator

We'll go to the line of Ryan Daniels with William Blair. Please go ahead. Ryan S. Daniels - William Blair & Co. LLC: Yeah, guys. Thanks for taking the questions and for all the information. Let may ask another one on the rapid assays. I'm curious with the first-generation products there, are you seeing actual market share losses to the volume of those products or is it just increased price competition such that you're lowering your prices to match competitors and that's impacting the growth outlook? Jonathan W. Ayers - Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Yeah, it's – obviously we're responding with selective pricing strategies – and it is also impacting the volume. So really what we saw in Q1 – and just a reminder – what we've calibrated for the year is a little bit greater than what we saw in Q1 is a combination of both of those. Ryan S. Daniels - William Blair & Co. LLC: Okay. And you mentioned there's about $50 million in first-gen products, I'm curious how much of that is currently sold, if you have the number, outside of what you would refer to as the larger IDEXX customer. So, again, those that just use those first-gen products and no other IDEXX which may be more susceptible, if you will, to share loss? Jonathan W. Ayers - Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Yeah, obviously some of our customers, larger customers, have adopted SNAP Pro. We generally have a better position with larger customers. Obviously, we're calling on the larger customers more frequently and of course, larger customers buy more diagnostic. So certainly the majority is, with the large customers, but of course there's a long tail of small-cap customers that makes up the minority of that revenue. Ryan S. Daniels -…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Jon Block with Stifel. Your line is open. Jon D. Block - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.: Great. Thanks and good morning. I guess, I've got a follow-up on the rapid assay and then just sort of more of an overall P&L question. But to follow up on rapid assay, Jon I think you said, $50 million of the $65 million in the first generation sort of remains, that would imply that about 25% of the first generation is being lowered. But it seems like a really big number, especially when I believe the $65 million would be worldwide, so I guess what I'm trying to tease out, can you just talk to us about your confidence in call it your 4Dx or 4Dx plus business? What are you seeing there? Are you seeing any signs of churn in that particular business? Jonathan W. Ayers - Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Yeah. So first of all, the $50 million is just the U.S.; it doesn't include any international revenues, so just to clarify on that, on that one point. We saw good volume gains in 4Dx in the first quarter and so 4Dx remains highly differentiated. Obviously, it's got six tests. Its accuracy is unparalleled. Its convenience is unparalleled. Many of those customers are integrated with SNAP Pro. It's a little bit more concentrated customer set, a little bit more concentrated geographies. They're the ones that our reps call on. We'll be, of course, augmenting our capability there as we expand. One element of our field sales strategy which is really being put in place in second quarter, is our professional service veterinarians, the 12 regionally-based professional service veterinarians. And we've hired almost all of them now; they generally…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Erin Wilson with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Erin E. Wilson - Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Management

Great. Thanks for taking my questions. On sort of the retention rate in rapid assay platform, when a clinic switches over, how would you characterize those types of practices? Is it high-volume rapid users? Are they still using 4Dx? Are they experiencing lots of fluctuations on the equipment side of the business, the reference laboratory testing? If you could characterize that dynamic, that would be great. Jonathan W. Ayers - Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Right. As we – as I mentioned – it's really a tale of two parts of the rapid assay business. We saw good volume gains in the first quarter for our highly differentiated products including SNAP 4Dx and some of our specialized rapid assay, but we saw volume declines and some prices we responded in the first generation. The first generation products like the feline combo product and heartworm, they were launched in the early 1990s, so they have been around a while. So it's really a different behavior between the two – this is – the thing about rapid assay is you can – a customer can switch back and forth. Sometimes they try something and they realize it wasn't what they thought it was or wasn't what it was built to be or didn't have the accuracy. It's very painful to miss a positive, which is really important because we're diagnosing deadly infectious diseases here. And when they miss a positive – one positive that they miss because perhaps the platform they were using and the product they were using is not as accurate – can be very painful. So, we saw that's when our competitor in the reference lab business launched – reference lab competitor of 4Dx – people tried it but they came back. And many of them came back, so we expect to see a little bit of that kind of churn. But we think we have – we think we have the outlook calibrated.

Erin E. Wilson - Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Management

Okay. And in light of the noted competition, it seems like it's a little bit greater than what you initially thought. Do you see the need to step up investment or expand your salesforce over the next six to 12 months or is this something that you're going to reassess at a later date? Jonathan W. Ayers - Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Yeah. No, I think what – our plans that were already in place are underway. And as I mentioned, we are adding the professional service veterinarians. We always planned to add that in the second quarter; that's on track. Most of those are already hired and on board. And so that's an expansion that's already underway. But I think it's more that we're gaining both relationships and experience in the new model – as we have demonstrated – happens when we made the first change in 2013.

Erin E. Wilson - Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Management

Okay, great. Thanks so much.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. We'll go to the line of Kevin Ellich with Piper Jaffray. Your line is open. Kevin K. Ellich - Piper Jaffray & Co (Broker): Good morning, thanks for taking my questions. I guess, starting off with Brian. Could you give us some color on your free cash flow? Turned negative on the operating cash side and there's a big change in working capital, I'm just wondering, what's causing that and how should we think about that going forward? Brian P. McKeon - Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer & Executive VP: A lot of that is just driven by the transition of the go-direct model and stepping up the – our internal receivables levels and inventory. We had projected before $15 million to $20 million increase this year in working capital related to that change and I think that's basically all you're seeing there. And our full year outlook is largely the same. We are growing very quickly in the lab business and doing more self-manufacturing and we have increased some investment in those areas and that was what was noted in the free cash flow outlook. Kevin K. Ellich - Piper Jaffray & Co (Broker): Great, that's helpful. And then, Jon, just going back to some of the new competitive offerings starting with SDMA. I think you guys said that's going to be included in all panels. And it's obviously great that it will help vets diagnose for earlier treatment options, but just wondering how you're thinking about the revenue generation expectations and how can you participate in some of these earlier treatment options to benefit IDEXX? Jonathan W. Ayers - Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Yeah. Well, we are not – that's a great question. Okay. So we're not in the treatment business, we're in the diagnostic…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Mark Massaro with Canaccord Genuity. Your line is open.

Mark Massaro - Canaccord Genuity, Inc.

Management

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the question. You were able to accelerate competitive account wins to 59% from 54% on Catalyst. Is the 59% a global number and would you attribute the acceleration largely to Italy and other parts of Europe? And then maybe the second part, Jon, given the lower price point of Catalyst One, I'm curious what your degree of confidence is to accelerate competitive wins into the 60%'s? Jonathan W. Ayers - Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Yes, that is a U.S. number or North American number. That is not – the 59% – is not a global number. So it's a little harder to track globally. Obviously, when you had 66% growth in Catalyst placements internationally, it's coming from a lot of places. So obviously, international was a good number but I really wanted to focus on the North America. We believe there are over 10,000 accounts that have the opportunity for us to convert to a Catalyst One. Catalyst One is a very effective price point and it is – brings far more capability to the practice in terms of menu, in terms of time to resolve, in terms of ease of use, in terms of workflow, of course, integration with VetConnect PLUS. I mean, the list goes on. So – and at a very competitive price point – so we expect that number is, as I've mentioned, again North American number, we expect that number to stay strong and perhaps grow over time as our salesforce gains in their capacity and their relationships with all the customers in their territory. Brian P. McKeon - Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer & Executive VP: I'd just add, we get a lot of questions as you know, on the chemistry dynamics in the U.S., our Catalyst space expanded in the quarter and our consumable revenues continued to grow well ahead of market growth rates. So we're expanding our presence. Jonathan W. Ayers - Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Yeah, that's – and acquisitions net of Perfection (45:27). So, and of course, the consumable growth is what it's all about and that's growing, as Brian mentioned, higher than – at very attractively and higher at-market rate.

Mark Massaro - Canaccord Genuity, Inc.

Management

Great. And then maybe my follow-up question, with the Catalyst One launching in Asia-Pacific and Latin America, I think you said it might roll into Q3. I'm curious if there's any modest delay there and maybe can you help us frame what your expectations are in some of these, what I might call, emerging markets? Jonathan W. Ayers - Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Yeah, well, no, there's no delay. This is – this was – it is totally – these smaller country operations are – they have – we have limited – we have, of course, direct capability, but they're limited, they've got a lot going on. So the Q2 and Q3 are really very consistent with our plans. No delay in launching, as I mentioned, the instrument is performing really fabulously and that of course makes it easier to launch in these smaller country operations. I might mention, for example, when we say Asia-Pacific, we're talking about Australia. I wouldn't call that an emerging market. That's a very attractive market for us; but of course we've got the Asian countries. The only market we're not going to be able to launch it in this year is Japan, because that has regulatory approval associated with it. We're also very excited about our presence in Latin America, but for Venezuela, which is basically gone off the map. We've got a great organization in Brazil and Mexico and some of the other South American countries. As you know, we acquired our distributor in Brazil and they've really gotten off to a great start. And so – this analyzer is just very, very well suited to the kinds of practices that are – smaller practices, these are typically international but also in the U.S. that didn't buy the Catalyst DX, it was too much analyzer for them, maybe a little bit higher price point. Catalyst One brings all capability of DX at a lower price point.

Mark Massaro - Canaccord Genuity, Inc.

Management

Great. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. We'll go to the line of Nicholas Jansen with Raymond James. Your line is open. Nicholas M. Jansen - Raymond James & Associates, Inc.: Hey, guys. A lot of topics have been addressed, but just two ones for me. Regarding the hedging gains, Brian, that you've talked about, I think, several times in the release, I think it was $0.33 to earnings and that's offsetting some of the FX headwind. How should we be thinking about that for 2016 in terms of the modeling? Is that a baseline of take our 2015 number, $0.33 lower and grow, or just maybe help us sort of better understand the economics or math behind the hedging gains for 2016? Thanks. Brian P. McKeon - Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer & Executive VP: Sure. Yeah, no, we obviously haven't given any indications for 2016 at this point, but I do think it's important to note that we will not have the benefit of those gains next year. So that will be something that we'll need to lap and will be a headwind for us heading into next year, which is why we're trying to disclose it and be clear on that. As you know, hedges are effectively something that delay impacts; they don't eliminate things so the prior hedges we put in place kind of protect our profit this year, but as those roll off the net impact of the substantial strengthening of the dollar will be reflected in our operations. Nicholas M. Jansen - Raymond James & Associates, Inc.: Okay. Thanks for the color there. And then on the – going back to the rapid assay, not trying to beat a dead horse here – but thinking about the timing of some of the competitive announcements. Baxter's, I think, had some inter-quarter new placement – or new approvals – and considering, I think, Jon, you mentioned that you're expecting more of a headwind in the back half of the year relative to what you witnessed in 1Q regarding this first-generation devices. Is that the reason from a – because you're a little bit worried about competition or is there something I'm missing there? Thanks. Jonathan W. Ayers - Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Yes. Again, my comments were focused on the first-generation of products. And I think it's just a calibration as we look at all the factors involved. The competitive products are out there. They were out there in the first quarter. That affect these first-generation of products. So I think it's just basic – we wanted to make sure that we calibrated it correctly – as best we could using our judgment. Nicholas M. Jansen - Raymond James & Associates, Inc.: Thanks.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Ben Haynor with Feltl & Company. Your line is open. Ben C. Haynor - Feltl & Co.: Good morning, gentlemen. Thanks for taking the questions. First of all, on the urine analyzer, you project a launch early in 2016. On the $150 million over five years, do you mean cumulative revenue over five years or looking at $150 million annually in kind of 2020 or 2021? Brian P. McKeon - Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer & Executive VP: No, that was a cumulative – it was to just kind of give you a ballpark understanding – but it was a cumulative over the first five years. Obviously, we're going to sell it beyond the five years; it has a consumable stream. We think that virtually every practice is a candidate to buy this analyzer because virtually every practice does a manual urine sediment review as part of the work-up. But it's a cumulative number. Ben C. Haynor - Feltl & Co.: Okay, thank you. And then on the rapid assays – excuse me – have you changed or do you expect to change the 4Dx pricing as a result of the pressure on the first-generation single test products? Brian P. McKeon - Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer & Executive VP: No, I think, we're always fine tuning our pricing strategy. One of the things we have is a program called SNAP Up the Savings; that's worked for us historically. We are always fine tuning that. But I think the trends that we saw in Q1 with – where we had good volume – very, very good volume means that really – not in the 4Dx, not a lot of pricing gains. It was real – good volume would be the expectation that we have, generally speaking, for the balance of the year. Ben C. Haynor - Feltl & Co.: Okay, great. That's all I had. Thank you, gentlemen. Brian P. McKeon - Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer & Executive VP: Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our final question will come from the line of Jon Block with Stifel. Your line is open. Jon D. Block - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.: Yes. It's actually funny, I thought I took myself out of the queue but while I've got you I might as well ask it. Just at a high level, Jon, I mean, again going back to the rapids, the $65 million to $50 million, can you just talk about where we go from here? In other words, I'm just trying to figure out, do you believe that continues to bleed lower? And I guess what I'm trying to ask another way is, when we get beyond 2015 where things just went pretty south pretty quickly in that direction if you sort of strip out the margin capture, you're looking down according to our numbers, I think, down 3% to 4%. Can you restage growth in rapids in 2016? Thanks, guys. Jonathan W. Ayers - Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Yeah. We haven't really given a guidance for 2016, but what I will mention is, we do have superior products and this is the first quarter within our new sales model. And so, we're really ramping up our relationships and in case of infectious disease, which of course the majority of rapid assays are infectious disease, our professional service veterinarians are important. And our marketing strategies to this broad base of customers, both not just field, but of course, phone-based (52:49) and other marketing strategies. So, we think we've correctly calibrated the reset here for the introduction of new competition. Obviously, what's really driving growth in IDEXX is the continued innovation across the diagnostic portfolio and we think that's – again these products, in many cases, were launched over 20 years ago – but we think it's really the innovations that are going to be driving our growth going forward. And we do – we're refining our strategies to keep the entire customer relationship in all the product lines and certainly when we're calling on customers – when we call on customers we do a very good job of talking about the level of differentiation. It's just that we can't always get to all customers with our direct field organization early on with the new competitive entrants.

Operator

Operator

And with that, you can go ahead with any closing remarks. Jonathan W. Ayers - Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: So I want to thank everybody for being on the call. And I really also would take this time to congratulate the IDEXX organization. This was a major transformation that we undertook in 2015 with our U.S. direct strategy. Our international operations just had an extraordinary performance. I think it sets us up well for the year globally. And certainly our product and innovation teams, as I've mentioned, our innovation is in high gear with a variety of product launches that start from next week and extend over the course of the year – balanced toward the first part of this upcoming 12 months – and then the urinalysis analyzer – a whole new analyzer. So, we've got the field organizations to sell the product and our innovation is on track. So with those closing comments, I'll conclude the call and thank you, everybody.