Louie Pastor
Analyst · Loop Capital
Good morning, and thank you for joining our Q1 2026 earnings call. Before we get into the numbers, I want to briefly introduce myself in this new capacity and share my thoughts about the role and how I intend to lead Xerox. First, I want to sincerely thank the Board for the confidence they've placed in me. This is not a responsibility I take lightly. As many of you know, I was appointed President and COO last September. And before that, I served in leadership roles spanning operations, transformation, corporate development and legal. I know this business well. I know our people well, and I have been deeply involved in the work underway to improve our performance, much of which is starting to show up in our results. The Board's decision to name me CEO reflects the progress we've made over the past 2 quarters, including structural cost reductions, early signs of momentum growing our revenue funnel, and the execution of key initiatives to strengthen our balance sheet, like the TPG Angelo Gordon joint venture and the warrant distribution. Separately, my decision to eliminate rather than retain and backfill the President and COO role was deliberate. There are no sacred cows here. The role is not needed anymore, and eliminating it reflects exactly the kind of cost discipline, operational efficiency and speed of execution this moment demands. I intend to lead this company with the same operating discipline I brought to every role I've ever held. Sleeves rolled up, deeply embedded in the work and with a clear-eyed focus on what actually moves the needle. We're aware of our stock price. We're aware of our credit ratings. I'm not going to paper over the challenges that Xerox faces. Rather, I have a disciplined, pragmatic approach to tackling them, and I'm focused on actions, not excuses. To our employees, our clients, our partners and our investors, I commit to being transparent and accountable with all of you. We will talk openly about our successes. We will acknowledge our challenges, and we will move quickly to address them. You deserve that. And frankly, it's the only way we'll make real progress. Let me also be clear about this. I am genuinely optimistic about the future of this business. I know what this organization is capable of, and I'm confident that we are closer to an inflection point than the external narrative suggests. Xerox has real assets, real client relationships and a team that has shown it can execute under pressure. Our strategy is not changing. It doesn't need to. What this company needs and what our leadership intends to deliver is relentless, disciplined execution against the strategy we have already laid out. The plan is in place. Now we run it. So with that, let's talk about our results. Q1 showed a continuation of the improving underlying trends we discussed on our Q4 earnings call. Revenue of $1.85 billion increased nearly 27% in actual currency and 24% in constant currency, reflecting the inorganic benefits of the Lexmark acquisition. On a pro forma basis, revenue declined 4%. Even excluding the benefit of some partner-driven pull forward from Q2, which Chuck will discuss in further detail, Q1 performance was a material improvement from the 9% organic revenue decline we saw in Q4. Quarterly adjusted operating margin increased on a year-over-year basis for the first time in 5 quarters. Adjusted operating margin of 3.9% was up 240 basis points year-over-year on a reported basis and was also up on a pro forma basis. This is a turning point in our profit trajectory, and it reflects the cost discipline our team has maintained through a complex integration. Overall market trends have improved from 2025 when demand was materially impacted by DOGE-related spending reductions, tariff uncertainty, and the government shutdown. In the Print segment, we're seeing steady demand in entry, led by better-than-expected performance at legacy Lexmark, continued softness in midrange and strong demand for our new production devices with Proficio, a recently launched device developed in partnership with Fujifilm, tracking well ahead of plan. Our overall print pipeline is now up meaningfully compared to this time last year, and we expect these trends to persist. I also want to highlight a partnership that speaks directly to the momentum we are building in production. Earlier this month, Toshiba Americas announced the addition of Xerox PrimeLink color and monochrome light production printers to their portfolio. This is a powerful validation, a well-respected global player with deep client relationships choosing to sell Xerox-branded devices through their network speaks to both the strength of our brand and the competitiveness of our production portfolio. We will actively seek to expand our distribution reach by pursuing partnerships like this with other OEMs. Our IT Solutions business delivered another solid quarter. Bookings grew 32%, billings grew 21%, and we delivered year-over-year profit growth. Total contract value of new deals continues to rise, and we are winning more managed services contracts, which provide greater visibility and long-term stability in our revenue trajectory. However, there are certain headwinds constraining that momentum. Memory lead times have extended, and in certain cases, higher memory prices have compressed margins as we prioritize establishing new relationships and expanding wallet share. We are also investing in technical talent to support a broader service offering. We believe these investments will lead to larger, more strategic deals over time, but they may create near-term pressure on IT Solutions profit expansion. As we look to the rest of the year, our positive expectations remain intact, though subject to quarterly timing variability, driven by OEM and inventory availability. A few other developments since our prior earnings call are worth noting. February Supreme Court ruling on tariffs is a net positive to Xerox's cost structure, particularly as it relates to our cross-border supply chain. That said, based on current forecast, those benefits will be slightly more than offset by increased memory prices, which are modestly higher than our last update, as well as higher oil prices, which impact toner, plastic and metal prices as well as transportation costs. Importantly, apart from certain international markets with exposure to the Middle East conflict, none of this to date has impacted overall demand. Given our solid start to the year and the momentum we have generated, we are reaffirming our 2026 financial guidance and are increasingly confident in our ability to meet these commitments. Looking ahead, our priorities are straightforward and every stakeholder should understand where we are focused: stabilize revenue, increase profitability, reduce leverage. That's it. First, stabilize revenue. Rightsizing our cost structure will remain a core focus, but we cannot cost cut our way to prosperity. We operate in a $50 billion print market facing secular headwinds, but there are real pockets of growth, particularly in entry and production. We intend to compete aggressively in those markets with better products, reduced manufacturing costs, stronger routes to market, improved service offerings and new partnerships. And over time, we expect growth in IT solutions and digital services cross-sold into our existing client base to offset print declines. Second, increase profitability. We expect to deliver $250 million to $300 million of incremental savings in 2026, including $150 million to $200 million from the integration of Lexmark. But I want to be clear, this is not a 1-year event. It is a multiyear journey. The cost actions we are taking today will continue to benefit us well into 2027 and beyond. We have guided to double-digit operating margins over time, and we intend to get there. Finally, reduce leverage. I want to address this priority directly because I know it is top of mind for many of you, as it is for us. While the $450 million TPG Angelo Gordon joint venture has increased our overall debt in the near term, it has provided meaningful liquidity to invest in and operate the business as well as the flexibility to take advantage of the dislocation in our bond prices. Between continued opportunistic debt repurchases and improving profitability, we expect our leverage ratios to improve as the year progresses. Reducing leverage is not just a stated priority, it is something you will be able to measure us against every quarter. Before I turn the call over to Chuck, let me take a minute to highlight some key operational initiatives that I believe are fundamental to how Xerox executes against the 3 stated priorities that I went through. Our go-to-market is now fundamentally different. We have moved from a fragmented structure with too much overlap and friction to a unified commercial engine with a simpler strategy, take share, cross-sell, upsell and mix shift toward higher-value offerings. On the enterprise side, we have eliminated account overlap and streamlined engagement. For corporate accounts, we have transitioned to a territory-based model with clear ownership, faster decisions and greater accountability. Our print go-to-market coverage is now structured into 3 regional theaters: North America, Western Europe and Rest of World, each designed around distinct client dynamics, routes to market and partner ecosystems. This simpler, more client-centric approach gives us the ability to meet clients where and how they need us, leverage our expanding global partner community and accelerate growth in targeted segments, all with clear rules of engagement and stronger accountability for both clients and partners. On inside sales, an initiative we launched last year to serve our smaller commercial clients with a greater touch, but at lower cost, equipment sales grew 24% year-over-year in Q1. On April 1, we expanded account coverage from 35,000 to 65,000 clients with revenue accountability quadrupling to more than $200 million. We expect to further scale this model over time. We also continue to take greater ownership of our product design and manufacturing, strengthening our control over quality, cost and speed to market. This will start yielding positive benefits to gross margin later this year. Xerox is becoming and in many respects, already is, a designer, developer, manufacturer, seller and servicer of our own technology. That end-to-end control matters enormously. We own the technology roadmap. We control the design costs. We make the decisions. And frankly, it means we control our own destiny. These initiatives, a transformed go-to-market and greater manufacturing control are central to how we stabilize revenue, increase profitability and ultimately reduce leverage. With that, Chuck, over to you.