Albert Nahmad
Analyst · Jefferies. Please go ahead
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Watsco's first quarter 2025 earnings call, and this is Al Nahmad, Chairman and CEO. And with me is A.J. Nahmad, President; Paul Johnston, Barry Logan and Rick Gomez. Before we start, our cautionary statement. This conference call has forward-looking statements as defined by SEC laws and regulations that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of these various laws. All said results may differ materially from the forward-looking statements. I'm moving on to our report. Watsco reported a good first quarter. We have a lot of positive things going on related to the transition of products in the new A2L system. They will ultimately impact around 55% of our total sales. Our teams are working to convert nearly $1 billion in inventory to the new systems. We have trained thousands of customers, and we have updated our technology platforms to provide the needed functionality to our customers ahead of the selling season. Similar regulatory mandates have occurred every 10 to 15 years and have historically been good for business. The new systems offer solutions to homeowners and businesses that are both more efficient and more sustainable and provides enhanced sales and profitability for both us and our customers. In terms of trends, our core HVAC replacement business is off to a strong start. Sales and replacement systems, the core of our business increased 10% on higher volumes. New pricing was introduced realized in the market, and we also sold a richer mix of high-efficiency systems. Gross margins also improved an important benchmark following the launch of new systems, which will really continues to be an area of future opportunity. I want to emphasize that the first quarter is the smallest and most seasonal quarter of the year. And while they reserved early in the selling season, recent sales and margin trends have improved. Looking forward, we expect the benefits of the new A2L products will become partially larger over the remainder of the year, especially during the seasonally stronger second and third quarters. Our balance sheet remains in distinct condition with $430 million in cash, no debt and over $3 billion in equity. We raised our annual dividend 11% to $12 per share in April. 2025 marks our 51st consecutive year of paying dividends. Now turning to current events. We are carefully monitoring the potential impact of proposed tariffs on our business. On the domestic front, which represents 91% of first quarter sales, we are collaborating closely with our OEM partners on current and future pricing actions that may be required as spokes in response to tariffs. We see greater uncertainty for 9% of our sales are Canada and Latin America, and we will act and react as needed to grow sales and profitability in those markets. Big picture, we possess the scale, the technology and the relationships to act quickly and efficiently to these changing market conditions. As always, it feels important to keep the long-term perspective in mind. Watsco has been never superior long-term returns on most any time for. We're the market leaders in a highly fragmented $74 billion distribution market. The products we sell are a necessity and the installed base continues to grow. We have deep collaborative relationships with the industry leaders, OEMs. We offer the broadest product variety and operate the largest network and our unique ownership culture, which is shared by more than 4,000 employees reward and incentivize long-term performance. As always, we invite you to come and visit Miami, if you want to learn more and share the continued optimism that we have for our company. With that, let's turn to Q&A.