Robert Buckley
Analyst · CJS Securities
Thank you, Chuck. As you just heard, all of our business lines experienced organic revenue growth in the quarter. As we look out to the rest of the year, we continue to see sustained and accelerating customer demand supporting our organic growth outlook. Our sales in the medical end markets represented 51% of total company sales, while sales in the advanced industrial markets were 49%. Our second quarter 2026 non-GAAP adjusted gross profit was $125 million, 47% adjusted gross margin compared to $111 million or 46% adjusted gross margin in the second quarter of 2025. Adjusted gross margins were up 100 basis points year-over-year and 150 basis points sequentially. The details of this improvement were just discussed by John and Chuck. Moving on. R&D expenses were $24 million or approximately 9% of sales, which was down 150 basis points versus the prior year. Second quarter SG&A expenses were $60 million or approximately 22.6% of sales. SG&A expenses included $5.6 million or 2.1% of sales in costs related to the design and implementation phase of our new factory MRP system and some nonrecurring costs. The sequential increases in SG&A expenses in the quarter was a result of the higher variable compensation tied to stronger financial performance and outlook. Adjusted EBITDA was $60.7 million, demonstrating more than 16% growth year-over-year and achieving a nearly 23% adjusted EBITDA margin, which is up 120 basis points versus the prior year. On the tax front, our non-GAAP tax rate for the second quarter was 21%, flat to the second quarter of 2025. Our non-GAAP adjusted earnings per share was $0.89 in the second quarter, up 17% versus the prior year. Diluted shares outstanding in the quarter were 41.164 (sic ) [ 41,164 ] million. The recent $300 million equity raise to support the Riverpoint Medical acquisition had a minor impact on shares outstanding in the quarter. Operating cash flow for the second quarter was $65 million compared to $15 million in the prior year. Year-to-date operating cash flow was $117 million, which is already exceeding the operating cash flows we delivered for the full year of 2025. We are particularly proud of the teams for delivering this outcome despite a handful of manufacturing production moves underway and investments in safety stock to insulate ourselves from supply tightness, including electronic components and rare earth [ materials ]. We ended the second quarter with gross debt of $239 million and a gross leverage ratio of 1x. Our second quarter cash balance was $719 million, and so our net debt was negative $480 million, giving us a net leverage ratio of negative 2x. Now turning to guidance. Novanta's core businesses are trending in line with or above expectations with continued momentum building in a handful of areas. And we just closed our largest acquisition in the history of this company, Riverpoint Medical. Acquiring a business that is growing revenue, profit and cash flows faster than Novanta on the back of Novanta's strongest organic revenue growth and cash flow growth in more than 3 years, confidently positions Novanta on a really exciting path and outlook. As a consequence, for the full year 2026, we now expect GAAP revenue to be approximately $1,130 billion to $1,140 billion, which not only raises our organic growth outlook, but incorporates the Riverpoint Medical acquisition in our outlook. This represents reported growth greater than 15% on the full year basis and organic growth of up to 7%. For the rest of the full year guidance, we expect adjusted EBITDA to be between $273 million and $278 million, which represents year-over-year growth of 24% to 26% and adjusted diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $3.68 and $3.74, representing year-over-year growth in the range of 12% to 14%. Our updated range for EBITDA includes around $25 million of adjusted EBITDA for the Riverpoint Medical business, which represents an ended July close as well as some conservatism given the nature of the transition from private company to public company. Because of the strength we are seeing in our financial outlook and the progress and momentum our manufacturing teams have demonstrated, we are also taking the opportunity to accelerate 2 additional manufacturing transfers and site closures as part of our current restructuring program to position us for even stronger 2027. We announced the closure of these 2 additional manufacturing facilities already, both of which are on track for full production moves and transfers by the end of the first quarter of 2027. In addition, we also started the doubling of capacity of our China factory to support the growth of our air bearing spindles business. This business now has committed demand for the next 2 years, putting us in a confident position to expand capacity, which is also partially funded by customers. The expansion plan is something our teams have a track record of completing without disruptions and while meeting the growth needs of our customers, giving us confidence in the ability to execute this program as well. Not only do we continue to have high confidence in Novanta's growth and outlook, which is supported by committed backlog, accelerating customer optimism, and solid execution of new product introductions, but we're also thrilled to welcome Novanta Riverpoint Medical to the company at a time it is accelerating its own financial outlook. Turning now to the third quarter of 2026. We expect GAAP revenue to be approximately $300 million to $304 million, which represents year-over-year organic growth of 7% to 9% and reported revenue growth of 21% to 23%. This revenue outlook incorporates Riverpoint Medical. Looking at growth in our segments. In the third quarter, the Automation Enabling Technologies segment is expected to achieve 12% to 14% growth versus the prior year, which represents another sequential improvement building off of the first half, driven by continued momentum in AI-driven robotics and automation, digital and AI-driven manufacturing, and semi markets as described by Chuck earlier. Medical Solutions segment is expected to achieve 32% to 35% reported growth in the third quarter and a 2% to 4% organic growth. While our advanced surgery business is expected to continue to show approximately 10% growth on the strength of new product ramps and end market strength, our precision medicine business will decline in the quarter as expected and discussed in the prior earnings call. This decline is from our life science exposure, which is expected to be less than 10% of Novanta's total sales. Given the challenges over the last few years in this market, there are aspects of the life science market commoditizing and declining in the near term. As such, we're focused on high-growth life science applications where precision and performance matter, which we expect will enable us to return to growth in late 2027 in this business. For Novanta's adjusted gross margins, we expect the third quarter to come in at approximately 48%. The sequential improvement is attributed to Riverpoint Medical's accretion and the completion of 2 manufacturing site closures that occurred at the end of the second quarter. Gross margins for the full year 2026 are expected to be around 47%. For operating expenses in the third quarter, we expect approximately $80 million to $82 million. This represents roughly 26% to 27% of sales. The guidance excludes expected costs associated with our manufacturing MRP system. Full year operating expenses are expected to be around 27% to 28% of sales. Depreciation expense will be approximately $6 million, which incorporates Riverpoint Medical. Depreciation expense for the full year will be just over $19 million. Stock compensation expense, which was $9.3 million in the second quarter, is expected to be around $9 million in the third quarter. This higher stock compensation expense incorporates grants to Riverpoint Medical employees as both an incentive and retentive tool. Stock compensation expense in the full year will be just over $37 million. For adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter, we expect it to be seen between $74 million and $77 million, representing 27% to 33% increase year-over-year. And we expect to achieve approximately a 25% EBITDA margin, which is 150 basis points higher than the prior year and quarter. Interest expense, net of interest income will be approximately $9 million in the third quarter, incorporating a partial quarter financing from Riverpoint Medical. We expect our non-GAAP tax rate to be approximately 22% in the third quarter. The exact rate will depend mainly on jurisdictional mix of income and the impact of Riverpoint Medical acquisition on both profitability and the capital structure. The non-GAAP tax rate for the full year is expected to be just north of 21%. Diluted weighted average shares outstanding will be approximately 43 million shares in the third quarter, incorporating the $300 million fund raise as part of the Riverpoint Medical acquisition. As a reminder, the $300 million equity raise was registered on June 29 and remains fully tradable. Weighted average shares outstanding on a diluted basis in the fourth quarter is also expected to be around 43 million shares. For the third quarter, we expect adjusted diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $0.95 to $1, representing year-over-year growth in the range of 10% to 15% year-over-year. We expect cash flow conversion to step down in the third quarter, largely due to the dynamics of acquiring Riverpoint Medical, which was acquired on a cash free basis, but will continue to be strong overall. With more cash flow generated in the first half of this year than all of 2025, we're on track to a record year in cash flow generation in this company. Gross debt for the third quarter is expected to be just north of $800 million with gross pro forma leverage ratio of 2.7x, reflecting the Riverpoint Medical financing and Riverpoint plus Novanta's trailing 4 quarters of adjusted EBITDA. Net debt leverage is expected to be 10 to 30 basis points lower depending on cash flow dynamics in the quarter. In summary, we just delivered our strongest organic growth and cash flow growth in the last 3 years. We see this organic momentum maintaining in the second half. We also just closed the largest acquisition in the company's history, acquiring a business that enhances all of our critical growth, profit and cash flow metrics and goals. Our cash flows are at record levels. Our teams have demonstrated an incredible resolve and skill in navigating the ever-changing macroeconomic and geopolitical dynamics. In addition, the team successfully executed on 2 manufacturing moves while taking 2 additional manufacturing moves on and simultaneously upgrading our MRP environment while further strengthening the Novanta's infrastructure and overall operating foundation. Novanta is the strongest strategic and financial position in more than a decade with strong positions in high-growth end markets, exciting new customer wins, and continued momentum of new product launches. We see growing momentum and strong customer demand, which gives us confidence in our ability to achieve our new commitments in 2026, while putting in the foundation to maintaining and even accelerating our growth in 2027. This concludes the prepared remarks. We'll now open the call up for questions.