AMETEK, Inc. (AME) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

You may begin.

Good morning, and welcome to the Annual Meeting of Stockholders of AMETEK, Inc. I'm Dave Zapico, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company. Thank you for joining us today. We are hosting our first virtual meeting of stockholders, which allows us to be more inclusive while following the guidance from the Center for Disease Control regarding large gatherings. The agenda for today's meeting consists of introductions, certain procedural items, a vote on the 4 proposals set forth in the proxy statement and our report to stockholders followed by time for questions. Though we may not be able to answer every question, we'll do our best to provide a response to as many as possible. Only stockholders may ask questions in the designated field on the web portal. Out of consideration for others, please limit yourself to 1 question. Please note that this meeting is being recorded. However, no one attending via the webcast is permitted to use any audio recording device. I would like to introduce my fellow directors of the company who are joining us today. They are: Thomas Amato, Tod Carpenter, Ruby Chandy, Anthony Conti, Steven Kohlhagen, Gretchen McClain, Elizabeth Varet and Dennis Williams. I would also like to introduce our executive office: Bill Burke, Chief Financial Officer; Ron Oscher, Chief Administrative Officer; Tony Ciampitti, Group President; Wes Hardin, Group President; Tim Jones, Group President; and Tom Marecic, Group President. Also present today are Pat Pruitt and [ Dave Berkavich ] of Ernst & Young LLP, our independent registered public accounting firm. In keeping with the digital approach to this year's meeting, this meeting is officially called to order. Before getting to the 4 proposals, I'd like to address 3 procedural items. First, I'll preside as Chairman of the meeting. Second, Lynn Carino from AMETEK and John Holewa from American Election Services will serve as inspectors of election. And third, I appoint Lynn Carino, Assistant Secretary of the company, to act as secretary of the meeting. Ms. Carino will now report on the meeting attendance.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good morning. We have available for inspection in the web portal, by any stockholder, a certified list of stockholders as of March 23, 2020, the record date. An affidavit has been delivered attesting to the fact that notice of the meeting and accompanying materials were mailed on or about March 24, 2020, to all registered stockholders as of the record date and will be incorporated into the minutes of this meeting. A majority of the total issued and outstanding shares of the company's stock are represented at the meeting via the web portal or by proxy. Therefore, a quorum is present for purposes of conducting business.

Thank you, Lynn. We will now turn to the items of business, which were described in detail in the proxy statement furnished to stockholders. A copy of the proxy statement is available through the web portal. It is now 11:04 AM, and the polls are now open for voting. The 4 proposals to be voted on by the stockholders at this time are: first, the election of Thomas Amato, Anthony Conti and Gretchen McClain as Class II directors of the company to hold office for a term of 3 years; second, the approval of the AMETEK, Inc. 2020 Omnibus Incentive Compensation Plan; third, the advisory vote to approve the compensation of the company's named executive officers; and fourth, the ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2020. Proxies have been received and tabulated, and they have been voted by written ballot in accordance with the terms of each proxy received. Any stockholder who has not yet voted may do so by clicking on the voting button on the web portal and following the instructions there. Stockholders who have sent in proxies or voted via telephone or the Internet do not need to take any further action. I'll pause a moment for you to vote if you have not done so. [Voting]

Now that everyone has had an opportunity to vote, I now declare the polls closed at 11:06 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on May 6, 2020. Ms. Carino, do we have preliminary voting results?

We do. They are as follows: first, Thomas Amato, Anthony Conti and Gretchen McClain have been elected as Class II directors of the company to hold office for a term of 3 years; second, the AMETEK, Inc. 2020 Omnibus Incentive Compensation Plan has been approved; third, the compensation of the company's named executive officers has been approved; and fourth, the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the 2020 fiscal year has been ratified.

There being no further business to come before this meeting, the 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of AMETEK, Inc. is now adjourned. I will now report on our operations and financial results for 2019 and the first quarter of 2020. Please refer to this slide for information on forward-looking statements that may be made during this presentation. On to the AMETEK overview. AMETEK is a global manufacturer of high-technology products, some of which are helping in the fight against COVID-19, as I'll highlight shortly. We have a very solid foundation, strong culture and a proven growth model. Our businesses serve a diverse set of niche markets and applications where we are market leaders. We operate in a distributed structure, which provides autonomy for our businesses and the ability to quickly react to customer and market dynamics. AMETEK is very global with approximately 50% of our sales outside the United States and over 150 operating locations worldwide. We have an experienced management team and a strong bench of talent across our divisions. Our management teams have successfully navigated difficult operating environments in the past, and each time we have emerged stronger and better positioned for growth. We have outstanding cash flow generation and the proven ability to deploy capital on value-enhancing acquisitions with a record level of capital deployed on acquisitions each of the last 2 years. And we have a long track record of creating shareholder value by executing the AMETEK Growth Model, which I'll highlight on the next slide. As you can see, AMETEK's excellent performance has generated outstanding returns for our shareholders over the last 10 years. In 2019, our total shareholder return, which includes our stock price with reinvested dividends, was an outstanding 48%. Over the last 10 years through the end of 2019, our total shareholder return was 525%, more than 270 basis points higher than the S&P Industrials Index. AMETEK's stock performance this year is down due to the broad-based impact of the pandemic, but we are still outperforming the Industrials Index. These excellent returns are driven by the strong execution of the AMETEK Growth Model. We have 2 reportable business segments. EIG is approximately 2/3 of sales with our Electromechanical Group being 1/3 of our sales. Both segments have very healthy operating margins, 26% for EIG, 21% for EMG. Both segments are comprised of niche market leaders, serving a diverse set of attractive markets. EIG is comprised of highly differentiated businesses, providing analytical test and measurement instrumentation for critical applications across a range of end markets. EMG also has highly differentiated businesses in the areas of precision automation and motion control solutions, highly engineered interconnect and thermal management systems. 2019 was an excellent year for AMETEK as we established records for all key financial metrics. Sales were up 6% year-over-year, eclipsing $5 billion in annual sales. Operating performance was outstanding with core operating margins up 100 basis points. This led to 14% earnings growth. Our business has also generated tremendous cash flow with operating cash flow up 20% and free cash flow conversion of 118%. In 2019, we deployed $1.1 billion on 2 highly strategic acquisitions: Pacific Design Technologies; and Gatan, our largest acquisition to date. Finally, in 2019, we published our first sustainability report, which highlights our approach to building a sustainable future for our shareholders, colleagues, customers and suppliers and the communities where we operate. Coming off a record year, the global economy took an unprecedented turn in the first quarter of 2020 with the COVID-19 global pandemic. During these extraordinary challenges, our businesses delivered strong operating performance, which resulted in solid financial results. While demand weakened across the majority of our end markets, our businesses took swift, decisive actions to mitigate costs and maximize cash flow, which helped strengthen our already strong balance sheet and liquidity position. Because of these actions, we were able to deliver earnings growth in line with our original guidance range with adjusted EPS of $1.02 per share. Operating cash flow was up an outstanding 38% in the quarter. Free cash flow was up 45%. And free cash flow conversion was an exceptional 140% -- 148% of adjusted net income. Lastly, in the first quarter, we completed the strategic acquisition of IntelliPower, a leading provider of high reliability, ruggedized uninterruptible power systems for mission-critical defense and industrial applications. We also completed the divestiture of Reading Alloys for $250 million. Overall, a very solid quarter despite extraordinary challenges due to the pandemic. While this pandemic has created uncertainty, both professionally and personally for all of us, I'd like to recognize and thank our employees for their incredible dedication and commitment through these difficult times. Unsurprisingly, our teams have shown tremendous courage and resilience over the last few months. During this time, our primary focus has been on the safety and well-being of all of our employees as we continue to support our essential customers. Additionally, many of our businesses are providing critical solutions to assist in the fight against the pandemic. AMETEK Gatan's K3 camera was used in capturing the structure of the first coronavirus image, which is helping scientists develop vaccines and antibodies. AMETEK Powervar is supporting diagnostic testing applications for the virus with critical power solutions. AMETEK Rauland is providing critical communication solutions in temporary hospital settings, helping health care workers provide better care for patients. And AMETEK Advanced Motion Solutions provides critical solutions used in ventilators and laboratory diagnostic testing equipment. Finally, I wanted to highlight our continued work in the communities where we operate. In April, the AMETEK Foundation contributed more than $1.5 million to dozens of charitable organizations around the world, many of which are directly supporting the fight against COVID-19. In summary, AMETEK is well positioned to emerge from this economic downturn and return to the growth that has driven us over the last 90 years. Our culture and foundation are strong, and the AMETEK growth model provides us the tools to navigate through these uncertain times. We have managed well through downturns in the past and emerged even stronger each time. This situation will be no different. Our market-leading businesses and their tremendous cash flow, even in challenged economic environments, allow us to invest in our businesses and continue our capital allocation initiatives. Our balance sheet is strong with a strengthened liquidity position to weather this storm. We are confident in the future of AMETEK and our ability to deliver long-term sustainable success for our shareholders. I'll now open the floor for questions. We will take stockholders' questions that are being entered today on the web portal. Please note that we will only answer questions that are germane to the meeting.

Mr. Chairman, I have one question from the web portal right now. "Mr. Chairman, the Carpenters Union Pension Fund with combined assets of $70 billion have a collective ownership position of 376,500 shares of company common stock. As long-term shareholders, we appreciate the efforts of the company to address the difficulties faced by employees, customers and other important stakeholders during the COVID-19 pandemic. With regards to the Omnibus Incentive Plan, it provides the vesting period can be less than 1 year for certain equity grants under the plan, specifically share awards of under 390,000 shares in the aggregate. Given that equity awards are generally designed to reward long-term performance or retention, could you explain the rationale for this provision? Thank you, Mr. Chairman."

Good question. Even though we have that provision in the plan, in the Omnibus Plan, we have not historically issued shares with a vesting period of less than 1 year. But the plan does provide the flexibility, if needed to, for our compensation system to attract and retain key talent in the business. And keep in mind, this is only for less than 5% of the shares are subject to this condition. Are there any further questions?

Mr. Chairman, there are no further questions at this time.

Great. We are now finished with the Q&A session. Thank you, and thank you all for your personal commitment to AMETEK.

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call, you may now disconnect.