Pat Watson
Analyst · Goldman Sachs. Please proceed.
Yes. In terms of price cost, the big driver, Joe, you're going to see for that is Q4, obviously, in infrastructure, which is the big driver of margin improvement as that, price raw material timing of that is now past us, which was in Q2 and Q3. As we think about, I'll say, Q1, I'll just set some framework in terms of a full year, and then we'll place Q1 inside that framework. From a full year perspective, overall, when we talk about EBITDA margins at the midpoint, we talk about that being up 100 basis points, and that's really a function of, improved operations, the lack of the price raw headwinds we had last year, the restructuring benefits we've had, the productivity we've got in place. Now, on top of that, we've got a couple items in terms of some unfavorable effects based on where rates sit today. Obviously, it's a relatively minor amount, but it could move around on us throughout the year. We've got some non-cash pension costs coming through about $0.04 there, and then the tax rate's a little bit higher than where we would have it on a long-run basis. So, we're at 27.5% this year versus 25% in the long run. Now, taking that annual framework and then thinking about Q1, Q1, you've got all the same things going on there. And then from a Q1 profitability perspective, a couple just discrete things going on. Number one, we've got some trade shows. So, we've not been at, for example, IMTS, which is our principal Metal Cutting show here since pre-COVID. That will be occurring this quarter, so that's naturally an expense this quarter. Sanjay talked about reallocation of resources. We'll see some of that move around, but we think that's an important opportunity for us to get in front of our customers. I'd say the last component of that is we've really got, as well, just a little bit of compensation moving around throughout the year. You're going to see a little bit of that hit in Q2, excuse me, Q1. And then as we just think about, I'll say the earnings cadence now throughout the year, I think you're going to see earnings step up in a pretty normal fashion. So, Q1 to Q2 come up along with the volume and then accelerate in the back half. If we look at the last couple of years, Joe, in terms of, I'll say the front half, back half split, and last year was a little lumpy because of the tax benefits we received in the first half. But if you kind of levelize tax, you're going to get to around 38%, 40% of earnings in the front half of the year and about 60%, 62% in the back half. And so I think that's pretty normal for the businesses right now, and that's about what we would expect this year too.