Pat Roche
Analyst · Kristine Liwag from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead
Good morning, and welcome to our earnings call. We've just delivered another quarter of strong financial results. The results are reflective of our unrelenting focus on improved business performance. We achieved record sales and drove improved operating margin and earnings per share, both net of prior year's employee retention credit. In addition, we delivered free cash flow in line with our plan. We feel positive about the outlook for our business. Year-to-date, our revenue is up 3% on prior year, and we expect an increase in revenue in the second-half with 12-month backlog up sequentially in our Defense businesses, steady in Industrial, and slightly down in Commercial. Year-to-date, our adjusted operating margin, excluding employee retention credit is up 40 basis points on prior year, and we expect stronger performance in the second half from our Defense businesses due to secured pricing. Finally, we expect to see significant free cash flow generation in the back half as previously indicated, arising from our actions to optimize net working capital. Given the prominence of the trade policy in the current environment, I want to address tariffs before talking further about our business. The new administration is driving change at a remarkable pace and on multiple fronts. Of the many changes enacted by executive order, the most significant relates to trade policy and tariffs. Since these changes have created a climate of uncertainty, I want to spend some more time discussing the potential impacts and our mitigations. Over many decades, our organization has optimized its manufacturing footprint and strategic supply chain to best meet the needs of our customers in an environment of global trade that was relatively free of tariffs. In addition to investing in our US manufacturing operations, we have also built up world-class manufacturing facilities in the Philippines, India, Ireland, Costa Rica, Germany, and the UK. In addition, we developed overseas supply chain partnerships that have served us well for decades. This strategy allowed us to access exceptional talent and created economic benefit for Moog and its customers. The changes in US tariffs within the last 100 days, but especially since April 2, alter the context in which we operate. We recognize that this situation is fluid and that it will be some time before tariffs' uncertainty is reduced. Based on the tariffs in effect today and our operations and supply chain footprint, we would be most impacted by tariffs that apply to the import of steel and aluminum, to the import of goods from around the world, but especially from our facilities and suppliers in Costa Rica, the Philippines, Mexico, the European Union, Canada and the UK. In our assessment, we've assumed a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum, a 10% country tariff during the 90-day pause corresponding to our third quarter, and the higher reciprocal rate for the fourth quarter and the 145% tariff on China. We've not attempted to estimate second-order effects on pricing or on the economy or disruption to supply chain and material availability. In response, we've taken immediate and specific action to mitigate the impact of these tariffs on Moog. These steps include maximum utilization of the US, Mexico, Canada agreement, the effective administration of import and re-export of goods that by necessity must return to the US for repair and price adjustments, where appropriate to reflect our new cost base. We will continue to assess our manufacturing footprint and strategic supply chain to ensure that we can deliver for our customers and perform for our shareholders. We will not act in haste given the risk of disrupting these highly efficient supply chains that are critical to the global aerospace industry and to our many customers. These strategic choices will be given due consideration over a longer period during which we expect more stability around tariffs. We see these tariffs as a potential risk in our business that is otherwise continuing to deliver extremely well. In addition, we believe that our end markets are supportive of further strengthening. So let me describe each of our end-markets, starting with Defense. We continue to see strength in our Defense businesses, both short-term and long-term. The Department of Defense budget for 2025 increased with the continuing resolution approved by Congress, and there have been indications that the President's 2026 budget request will be in excess of $1 trillion. Our portfolio of products and capabilities is well aligned with the administration's key defense priorities, such as sixth-generation fighters and collaborative combat aircraft, nuclear deterrents, and elements that could be integral to goals and goals such as hypersonics, space vehicles, missiles, and counter-drone defense. In addition, increased international defense spending, access through our extensive European operations, provides further opportunities for growth. On Commercial Aerospace, our customers have strong order books but struggle with consistent production throughput. We work with our customers to maintain a stable production plan that supports their actual needs. Both widebody OEMs are still intent on ramping in the near future. On the aftermarket side, we continue to see the benefits of increased airline activity. The industrial market outlook has been stable over the last couple of quarters, and our bookings in the second quarter continue to support that view. In summary, end market conditions continue to favor a significant portion of our business. Now let me turn to the initiatives that are driving our strong underlying operational performance as a business. Firstly, on customer focus. The focus of the 40th Space Symposium was space as a warfighting domain. This highlights the significant emerging opportunities for Moog for both components and complex systems of systems. We showcased our Meteor satellite with flight-proven radiation-hardened electronics and hydrogen propulsion for high-thrust avoidance maneuvers. We also have delivered units for the national security space missions. We also highlighted significantly enhanced computational capabilities in our space avionics. The addition of graphical processor units enables sensor data to be processed on orbit, an example of edge computing. While continuing the space team, we are delighted to see that United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Rocket has successfully completed two certification launches and has been recently certified under the National Security Space Launch Program. Sustainability and digitization were the focus of the 34th Bauma Construction exhibition, which is one of the largest trade shows in the world. We showcased our TerraTech electric traction and actuation solutions and our ZQuip Modular Energy System for construction equipments. We were pleased to be recognized by Compact Equipment Magazine as having one of the show's top-10 equipment breakthroughs. We launched our next-generation CURLIN 8000 Infusion Pump at the 34th National Home Infusion Association Conference. This high-performance intravenous pump will be the mainstay of our market-leading IV business for decades to come. It demonstrates our commitment to the IV market given the decade-long journey through development and certification. These examples across various end-markets highlight our continued investment in innovation to meet the evolving needs of our customers. Our innovation successes drive our steady organic growth. In addition to further strengthen our relationship with our strategic customers and expand our business with them, we've continued to roll out our Voice of Customer activities. This work is providing valuable customer-specific insights, and our response to the feedback has indeed increased business with those customers, reinforcing the value of this work. Finally, turning to financial strength. We continue to embed 80/20 as part of how we work. Our priority is driving deeper integration at the sites that have been through the first round of simplification. We're applying 80/20 to address specific operational and business challenges at site level. For example, reducing inventory through better flow, simplifying the supply chain using 80/20 analysis, enhancing profitability based on insights from segmented P&L analysis, clarifying investment strategy at lower levels in the organization, and differentiating support for strategic customers to expand the business with them. In all cases, lessons learned and best practices are shared across the organization such that we can accelerate further improvement. Now let me turn to the guidance for fiscal '25. We are driving business development and operational improvement in line with our long-term goals. We've performed well in the first half of the year and have confidence in the business outlook for the second half. Therefore, financial performance of the business is in line with our prior guidance. Tariffs present a potential risk that could impact our full-year results. The high level of uncertainty around tariff landscape leads to a range of possible outcomes. We will provide an estimate of that impact. And with that, let me hand over to Jennifer for a detailed breakdown on the quarter, an update on our guidance, and an estimate of the impact of those tariffs net of our mitigations.