Jeff Cote
Analyst · Bank of America
Thank you, Alexia, and welcome, everyone. Upon being named CEO of Sensata in the first quarter of 2020, I set as a main priority to ensure that Sensata was prepared to partner with our customers to solve the complex engineering and operational challenges of the next 10 years and beyond. Our ability to help our customers solve these very demanding problems is core to our DNA and underscores why Sensata has achieved success for more than 100 years. With more change expected over the next decade that has been seen in the last 50 years, it was critical to equip Sensata with the required capabilities to remain a trusted, relevant player in the markets we serve. And we did just that. We are at the early stages of a transformation to an electrified world, and Sensata is well positioned to capitalize on the opportunities that these new capabilities and our core broad sensing capabilities provide. We have invested in markets, including high voltage contactors, Performance Sensing, isolation monitoring, battery management systems and power conversion systems, that allows us to participate in the unprecedented opportunity across the end markets we serve from light vehicle and heavy vehicles to broad industrial markets including the infrastructure needed to enable all this electrified equipment. The results to date have been impressive as electrification revenue increased from less than 3% of total Sensata revenue in 2019 to more than 17% of revenue in 2023. Further, we are poised for continued future growth, recording over $2.3 billion in new business with $1.3 billion of that new business in the area of electrification during the last 3 years. However, as we know, transformational change like we are seeing, for example, in the automotive industry is not linear in nature, consumer preferences, global economic trends and regulations are among the very many variables that can create short-term ebbs and flows in demand. The good news for Sensata is that while we do not control demand, we are well hedged against these fluctuations with our core safe and efficient business, which includes vital sensing products that have endured decades and will, without question, continue to be highly relevant to our customers, providing Sensata lasting durability. While our automotive customers may not be developing the next-generation internal combustion engine, they will continue to produce ICE vehicles for years to come, and the Sensata content is on a great majority of these vehicles. This positions us very well to manage through the volatility associated with this transformation. For example, in the first quarter, we noted in certain markets such as North America and Europe, the lower-than-forecasted levels of EVs was offset by higher-than-forecasted ICE production. Given our broad share position across ICE vehicles, this EV slowdown did not negatively impact our revenue nor our ability to outgrow our end markets. In addition, we generated significant growth from new content both from new business wins on EV platforms while ramping production as well as on ICE vehicles, where we have taken share resulting in year-over-year net revenue growth of more than 6% as compared to the IHS stated market that was down 1%.as we know, market outgrowth can vary from quarter-to-quarter due to mix and launch schedules, but we were certainly pleased to deliver approximately 700 basis points of market outgrowth in our automotive business in the first quarter of this year. We may debate the rate of change as the market fluctuates over time, but the number of plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles will only continue to increase. In 2023, EV penetration rates were 10% in North America, 15% in Europe and 36% in China. In 2026, IHS forecast the penetration rate to almost double in all 3 of these regions with penetration rates of 24%, 31% and 60% for North America, Europe and China, respectively. Our first quarter automotive business results underscores that Sensata is well prepared for both the coming wave of plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles as well as the continued production of ICE vehicles to deliver for our customers and for our shareholders. Let me take a moment to discuss the rest of our business portfolio, which represents nearly half of our revenue and continues to drive solid results against challenging market conditions. Our heavy vehicle and off-road business is starting to benefit from new European regulations around tire pressure monitoring. Demand continues to increase, providing confidence that we will outgrow a market that is expected to decline in the mid-single digits due to North American weakness, partially offset by improving production in China. Our Industrials business, which includes HVAC appliance and General Industrial continues to see inventory destocking and slow construction markets, impacting overall sales expectations. While this industrial down cycle will likely continue to pressure results throughout much of 2024, our A2L leak detection sensor, which we launched late last year, has been well received in the marketplace and is delivering above expectations. Finally, our aerospace business continues to deliver solid results with single-digit year-over-year growth. In summary, against an overall market backdrop for 2024, which will likely be down 1% to 2% this year, we are confident in our ability to deliver outgrowth of approximately 300 to 400 basis points. While Brian will take you through the first quarter results in a moment, let me add that our first quarter performance is an important proof point as to the durability of the Sensata business as we delivered revenue and adjusted operating margins at the high end of our guidance range provided in the fourth quarter call in early February. With that, let me turn the call over to Brian, who will take you through the first quarter results in greater detail and provide guidance for the second quarter.