DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. ($XRAY)

Okay, guys. Great thanks. We're going to get going. And next up, we have DENTSPLY SIRONA, one of the leaders in the dental market. And joining us is Dan Scavilla, Chief Executive Officer. Dan took the CEO seat, I think I've got this right, about August of 25. So coming up on a year pretty soon and really appreciate you joining Jaws & Paws here. It's great to have you. I'm going to actually kick off in a similar way that I did with Fred.

I'm just going to change the time line. So Fred said, "Hey, you've been on the job 90 days. And for you, I'll say the first 300 days on the job, Dan, what's gone better than planned? And maybe just what's proven to be a little bit more challenging.

Yes, that's a great question. I wish I had listened in to Fred, so I give you a good answer like he did. But anyway, two things. I think what's going really well, what I'm most pleased with is the level of talent that has come into the U.S. commercial organization and the speed at which they've reorganized and have addressed these segments. It's really for me beyond my time line and doing well that way. What I want to do better with is as we think about the customer and execute [ move ] with urgency, there are still processes internally for approvals or approaches that have to improve. And so I feel like we've got a great strength on the commercial side. I want to move faster on how the inside supports them and really more it's about changing the process and a little more urgency with the team in-house.

Okay. Fair enough. Maybe talk about areas of the business where 10 months later, you feel more bullish about future growth prospects or less bullish, I mean, obviously, a pretty diversified business at DS. So maybe if you want to tackle it by division or just overall thoughts there.

Yes, I'll give you two answers. Again, I still remain [ bullish ] on the fact that the U.S. has a great runway here, the chance to improve and gain back share and grow, which I think is great. I think [ you're ] -- Europe remains strong for us, even despite a weak first quarter. And so again, even with Asia Pac, I think longer term, that's great stuff. Product-wise, the addition of the dealers that give us more reach within capital in order to digitize and create that placement. I think is something I'm bullish on that way. I'm looking at ortho and seeing where we can find a market niche that makes sense for us, that one I'm still evaluating and seeing where we're going. And the rest of it comes down to basic execution, how do we do this better than we're currently doing with the products we have.

Okay. And in a little bit, I'm going to try to go division by division and certainly have some questions on ortho. Maybe before we go there, just overall, I've been asking a lot of the dental companies that have had the privilege to see throughout the day. How are trends and I want to ask that without a leading question, but of course, there was sort of a really modest consumer confidence number in the U.S. last Friday, an all-time low. What do you think about the overall market?

Yes. Listen, from what we've seen so far, there's a stable market. As you know, it's been suppressed for a couple of years anyway. And does it look like it remains stable with a little bit of improvement. I'd say, yes, I'm going to give you the [ bot ] here. Given where we are as a company, it doesn't matter if the market's up or down, we have to actually execute better than we are. And I can't use the market as a reason to grow. We're not -- we have to do better. And so I look at the market, it's interesting. But ultimately, it doesn't take me off task of the turnaround we're doing.

Okay. So you've got to sort of hear our goals, and we're going to execute on those goals and market fluctuates up or down. [ Regardless ], we're going to go ahead and get done what we need to get done.

100%.

Okay. Great. distributor agreements, so this one I might have to update on the fly, I was going to sort of ask you to just talk to your decision to expand the number of distributor agreements. And I have in my script, four new agreements So, [ but ] I think there might have been one more. You're 5 now. More is usually better. But my question is, was access to DENTSPLY SIRONA products really the issue?

That's a great question. So this is how I approach it. You have a great deal of capital purchases through dealers. And if you are not on dealer contract and they're putting the products in front of the table for dentists, the chance of you being picked is pretty slim. So you need to actually be [ on ] those contracts in order to have your products displayed and going. If you think about us as a turnaround and an accelerator, I have a chance to have a third-party team go sell my products at no cost to me. I can take my time and resources into my turnarounds in my direct businesses while they expand that piece of it. And so it's really a dual strategy that way. I don't think we'll say keep expanding. There's a logical amount that makes sense. You saw me chatting with Fred. I mean we're in the middle of having conversations in a very positive way. We'll see how we land that if we land that with the two teams. But with his newness and our focus, we just haven't had a chance to get that down there, but that would be one of the ones I'd love to put in place, I would hope, if all goes well by the end of the year.

Okay. So we could actually see that number [ creep ] a little bit higher or expand in certain cases.

I doubt you see 15-plus type of thing. I think you need the right national and regional coverage and not only for the sale but for technical service coverage. And that's really the balance we're doing now.

And some of those deals, Dan, are pretty new, but any color you can share on traction to date or early feedback?

Yes. [ Taking ] my initial assumption having sold a great deal of capital and med device was that we would sign people on around the first quarter, train them they [ go ] sell and build a pipeline. And maybe late the quarter, fourth quarter, we start seeing some fruit. And I'll stick with that goal. [ Benco ] actually did better. They actually sold and installed a unit in the first quarter, having just signed. And so that was really a positive sign. And the way they interacted with the DS team was amazing. And there's a close [ esterase ] positive to me even to the point now where as a Banco rep sell something else send them a personal note of thanks. And so that relationship is building strong. I think we have the ability to take that to the other dealers and the same leverage as well.

Okay. And I want to push a little bit on the new drop ship model with the distributors. And I just want to push because I don't think I fully understand. I think I get some moving parts, and I'll maybe do a -- a [ good ] analog over to Animal Health. So from their perspective, I'm thinking, "Hey, look, drop ship, it's going to free up the distributor's cash. So that's a good thing for them. I would think they would be receptive. What are you getting? Are you getting slightly better economics since it's more of that drop-ship deal? And then are you able to take that maybe lower margin and plow it into other areas of the business?

I think you have the majority of it. [ It ] is exactly what it is. So there's a couple of things. You have been selling into dealers on different programs, then you're waiting for them to sell out. There's a lumpiness that occurs for them that's not beneficial or efficient from their cash flow. You're actually paying promotions or extra incentive for them to reduce their inventory to get it out type of thing. And all that stuff is kind of wasted money. If you come into a drop ship, you're able to actually free up their cash to your point, [ it ] holds in a different margin where we both win, win. But for me, in particular, I can level load my production and handle it in a better way. DS world, you always have a third quarter big lift of people buying in, in advance of that. You create all of this, you carry it, you might not sell it through. I can eliminate that as well. So I create better controls from my inventory and cash flow and for theirs, and I don't believe it has an impact -- a negative impact certainly on the customers.

How do I say why did -- why wasn't this pursued before? I'm not saying it's on a novel idea. How do I say this in a respectful manner.

I wasn't there, so you [ fire ] way. I don't know. I'll be honest with you, and I'm not saying that you and I are the smartest guys in the room. We're clearly not. But I just think it was a -- I had a great opportunity the others didn't have and that all of the contracts were canceled. I could start from scratch. And I took advantage of that to what I think can be a more sustainable, scalable approach.

Still going to burn down about $30 million?

Yes. I thought some would get through in the first quarter. mostly I was surprised it didn't. But I do think that second through fourth quarter, that should burn down. And the logic is we know what inventories [ Patterson ] and [ Schein ] have. I think they would sell them through before they buy more. And so I think that's just what we have to monitor. So I'll stick with that number now because it's the best data we have. And I think I would assume that by the time you exit fourth quarter, they would have sold through.

Okay. [ Narrative ] business where a lot of things were in flux, and I think you [ irate ] some challenges. But one of the things that got going, I think before you came in as CEO was [ DSCR ]. And you've seen when he took over excited about the opportunity. Maybe talk to us on where that sits today. [ SREC ] functionality, I think, was somewhat recently added to the platform what other functionality do you want to put on DS Core over the 12 to 24 months?

Yes, it's a great question. So DS Core, the easiest way to describe it is think about building a smartphone. And so you're creating a digital environment for the dentist. And that DS Core is the overarching platform. Now you need to go on and put functionality or apps on it. And so one of the first ones would be how do you do implants on core so that you go from your imaging, whether it's 3D imaging or in [ oral ] scanner into a diagnosis into a plan into the execution. I think ortho on core [ noncore ] or the other two that should come. And so what we want to do is create a common platform, increase the functionality though out and whether you're a specialist or a general is doing multiple things, you know how to use your phone, you just change apps, that kind of ease is how we envision the ecosystem of DS Score.

And it's not so much making money on that monthly of DS Core. I mean, look, whenever you charge and it's recurring, and I think it's high margin isn't a bad thing. But is it ultimately, Dan, about getting them on core, getting them engaged and then, therefore, increasing sort of the utilization to DS Core products. I'm using DS Core for implants and then ultimately, I'm going to get higher conversion to the DS implant portfolio?

Yes. I think that's the theme. I'll go one step further. If you look at what we're doing, honestly, I'd say we're one of the only companies who is building an ecosystem from scratch so that it works together seamlessly. So all of our imaging is made by us. All of the software and drivers of that fit into DS Core, all of our implants. So we can provide the seamless solution, not a patchwork of [ front ] companies but won't flow, which is good. It tends to have a stickiness to it. But the goal is to actually digitize the dental workflow and be a significant contributor of that throughout, whether it's capital, software or disposables.

Okay. I'm going to ask you two common questions or some of the incoming that I get, and then I'm going to sort of tick through the divisions pretty quickly. So two common questions. One, the restructuring. Maybe it's just a good time in the earnings calls are always a little bit consolidate [ compress ]. Maybe take a little bit of time and elaborate on what is occurring with restructuring the $120 million in savings. Is that all being plowed back into the business? Or do some of those savings start to surface in 2027?

Okay. So the restructuring is one way to free up capital to invest into the business. If [ you ] use I believe that our processes are too complex. We have multiple systems were a collection of historic acquisitions that were never integrated. And so you have a lot of duplicate activities there in the middle of the P&L, finance, IT, HR, legal, those type things that I think need to be streamlined down starting in '25, which we did. And I think it will take a few years to do that. But the point is this year, and in particularly, you called out, [ John ], the $120 million, that was freed up from those departments mainly. And where it's going is we did a 50% increase in our clinical education, something that we really need to do because we under index there. We've actually recreated and rebuilt our rep education which is [ an ] we track behind on and had to do. I moved up by about 100 basis points, our investment in R&D. I'd like to do a little bit more, and I want to play with that. And then the residual of that really went towards offsetting tariffs. Our prices are such that you can't just add the tariff on top. And so I use it to absorb the tariff impacts, still invest in the business. And the one I always leave out and I need to throw out is we have a great, and I consider aggressive direct-to-consumer program for our well spec business that I fund it as well this year.

Okay. These are my words and just hearing so far in the conversation that we've had, it seems like since you took over. Part of this is like simplifying the business. Is that fair? You inherited some of these acquisitions were never put together, multiple divisions, multiple redundancies that you had to deal with and you want to go -- it's going to cost you some dollars initially, but you got to go ahead and sort of simplify it [ triptan ] and deploy capital in a better way. Is that a good assessment?

I think it's I'll give you one change with it. I believe that the complexity we have takes your eye off of the customer and make your focus internally to get something done. If you want to grow this company, you make the customer to the center of all you do and make it easy to do business with. Customers will tell you they love our products, but we're difficult to do business with. So change that but and be easier to do business with common systems, common approach, we'll put lean methodology in that others in dental [ have ] done very well. And we'll actually make this so that we have the resource to actually accelerate the experience of our dentist which I think then the rest of it becomes a financial exercise to take care of itself.

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I choose not to do it. I don't think that would be the best business we to take business.

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Yes. I don't think I would raise price for the inflation in the last couple of months. If the struggle with oil in the Middle East continue and it becomes an issue, there's an option to possibly take a surcharge on freight during that time and eliminate it later. That's not a price, that's a pass-through.

And thanks, guys, if -- sorry, if I miss you just yell out throwout your [ hand ] I'll see you. The other coming question, and then we'll get into the divisions. 1Q '26 revenue was down 6.7% or 4.5% if we normalize for the [ BiTE ] headwind and the large treatment center installation from a year ago. Inventory still needs to be worked out in the channel. We alluded to the $30 million. So what are the dynamics or drivers that allow for revenue to improve to get back close to flat year-over-year by 4Q '26?

Yes. And so you and I say the same thing. I'm looking for sequential improvement so that we exit the fourth quarter flattish, not for the full year, but for that quarter. Are we [ saying ] the same thing there with that. And really, it's a couple of dynamics, the onboarding of dealers to put capital through the introduction of bundling programs to be more holistic in how we approach the dentist, whether it be through DSOs or specialists or generalists that are out there in play. I'm still a big believer that clinical education and a local focus of that is a great stimulator for business. And our reps have been underinvested and under trained. And I say this openly. I look at [ Straume ], and that's why I want my company to be like in their training of reps. It's very similar to the method we use in medical device and it's needed here. So if I want to go drive a holistic workflow for the dentists then my reps know how that need to not do the whole workflow. I think that's a multiyear approach. I think you should see improvements as we get to the second half of the year and up, but they all do have to execute. And like any program, there's risks and like any program I have offsets, right? It's not everything has to work 100% perfectly, but it's not a guaranteed number either. We have to execute.

That's helpful. It's why I was thinking about clinical education being a little bit more long term in nature alongside the R&D. But to your point, it should start to gain momentum as we get out to 2026.

Yes.

Okay. And let's jump into the divisions, and I'm going to actually fast forward in my talk. I'm going to go to a plans because you sort of went down this road a bit implants. You said you had the product -- you have the product portfolio. And I think your predecessor said that as well. But what turns around the results? Or maybe asked differently, there's always been this disconnect where DS has the implant portfolio, but we haven't really seen it come through as implant market shares continue to be ceded, is it really just the clinical education? Are there other aspects as well?

There's other aspects. If there's nothing significant missing from our portfolio, although I think there's some innovation that's needed to stay fresh and to close gaps. The first thing you have to do is stratify your brands. What do you want to use on that. Now we've all created fictitious cuts of value and premium, which means nothing. But I think realistically, you need to say, what do I want to use for generalist versus specialists, what options can I give you depending on your patient and their bone structures. And we need to articulate clearly what we have, which if you ask today, a dentist or a rep, they won't be able to articulate. So we have to go fix that. That's basic, how do you stratify and go to market. The second is we have [ attrited ] a great deal of reps and haven't replaced them at the same rates. And then again, just sharing data with you, we train our reps for a few days. competition changes and trains them for 6 weeks. We have to do better training so that our reps can actually articulate us better and represent us better. We need more reps in there as well, and I speak only implants right now when we do it. And then clinical education, as you know, is that blend between the specialists and generalists for referrals in the lab. And we need to reengage the lab, which was walked away from about a year or 2 ago as well and create that part of that clinical education is creating that ecosystem at a local level with reps who have the education and knowledge to represent a brand that's been stratified. So there's a lot of lifting there to do. And it's a nonproduct issue. It's about a strategy and execution.

Okay. And from some of those initiatives that you have to put in place and execute on, it seems like we'll see a slow build of improvement in coming quarters as a thought and getting traction as we get into '27?

You got it. Yes. And listen, I'm going to say the obvious thing, right? I want to move as fast as I can to improve this business. we're not going to race to get to a number. We're going to return to a sustained health that's scalable. And I realize that there will be trade-offs and decisions. I'd like to exit the year better than I entered, but I also see improvements in '27 and '28. I'm not saying that the finish line is fourth quarter of '26. I'm saying we should see some fruits, some green shoots at that point.

Okay. Fair enough. Just going to go ahead and scan the room. [ Dan ], it was basically flat in '24 and '25, '26 was down high single digits. And like if you think about the businesses, CTS can be saw tooth and bounce around, right, because it's capital and some lumpy capital. But -- that step-down was somewhat surprising in a dental market that we hear is relatively stable, constant, different descriptions. That is the business that goes through distribution. And as we were alluding to earlier, there can always be dynamic. So -- was there anything specific to the EDS business? Or was it -- you know what, John, were that 1Q 26 weakness could have been more of a distribution and a timing thing, maybe bring us up to speed on how EDS is doing?

No, I will. And to your point, I agree with you, I think that, that was an underperformance for sure. And I would say in Europe, in particular, that's where that is. And if you dig into it, they're probably about four suppliers in Europe that it would appear our winding down their stock to free up cash flow. Now remember, our dealer agreements, we have sell-through data. So they're selling the same amount for us, they're buying less. And so it would look like they're exhaling on the inventory they're carrying and being more efficient with their cash. I haven't yet seen or felt a loss. I will tell you I've got my eyes on that, and that's a possibility as well. The answer is not just one of all and none of the other. They're somewhere in between. But I'm not seeing it clearly as a switch out or a concern just yet as a timing. Let me keep my eyes on that. I think as we have more data, some of that will clarify itself.

Okay. And the thought being just right now because of the sell-out data that you've seen, do you think it is as a result, more likely timing.

It appears that now if we find it something else, that means we become aggressive with recapture and offers to drive that. We actually flex the muscle of the company and not just let it happen.

Okay. Okay. And maybe looking forward on EDS, can this be a growth division for DENTSPLY SIRONA in the face of an ongoing competitive environment. You hear more and more about private label, even from the company that was up here prior.

I do. I think there's innovation needed. I don't think there's a ton [ lacking ]. It's not the highest growth area by any stretch. But there are needs to have high-quality products here. And I think one of the things I watch is there are some products coming in on lower-priced specialty files, and they have a higher breakage that we're discovering. And so you got to go back and understand what's best for the dentist, what's best for the customer. And while I think there's a play there in for lower products and different items, we also have to make sure that these are high-quality products. And I think one of the things we'll continue to do is provide that level of quality that's been proven over the years.

Okay. My apologies, I wanted to implants, but I didn't round out with orthodontics. So let me go back there. And I always want to be careful trying to be an analyst who runs the business from behind a computer screen, right? But in orthodontics, does DS want to be there longer term? And when I look at the portfolio, I just struggle there, right? The company before you made the [ Beni ] and obviously, that had to unwind. You were running more clear lines through that probably [ helped ] our margin, to some extent, just from a volume perspective. So now by [ side ] of the equation. And when you look at clear aligners through the dentist, [ Invisalign ] is a big player. Angel is the low cost. You got Spark from [ Envista ], and they bundle their wires and brackets relationship. So where do you guys sit in?

Yes. That's a great question. And it's tough to pick which business is long term we want to be when they're all in a state of [ Dystropair ]. So one of the things I want to do here is stabilize the business and then evaluate which one is more responsive and where you want to go. We'll do what makes sense for the business and the shareholders for sure. So I'm not signaling that, [ gee ], we may sell it or we're not going to sell it. It's -- let me go get this modernized in the software, which is really needed the software is out of date more than anything. We have incredible clinical that should differentiate this, and we have to make the call, is this a business we want to invest in that will actually have growth and take share from some of the bigger ones and differentiate itself. If the answer is yes, we'll give it a try. If we say it's just we're there and there's nothing special, liquidate it, go use that cash to do something different. By the way, that's true with any of the business, right?

Yes. And let's say just prepared to sort of fix up a 6- or 12-month project or...

A little bit longer. If you remember, the company exited orthodontist and went direct with [ Bite ] and they removed their entire sales force. So you have to say, do is there enough power here to rebuild a sales force and the ortho relationship modernize the software and actually gain enough share there. The answer is maybe. I think there's something unique in differentiating and we'll share with data. But we're currently evaluating is sort of path we want to take in that business.

Okay. Fair enough. And then maybe let's go back to CTS. And you're signing these new distribution agreements we talked earlier, how that could be a tailwind for the business. Rates have been high. We all thought they were coming down. They were until they weren't. So maybe you're working within that high rate environment going forward. Just talk to us about how much of this is transitory in that regard or is there a structural dynamic between CAD/CAM and printing that the company faces in coming years?

Well, I think there's a couple of things. I think we need to look at the capital as they move into a digital environment that allows you to create that ecosystem we discussed. I think there are customers that want to buy capital outright. There's some that may lease and there's some that may want to earn it out through volumes. The trick is to have more options for the dentist to get this as opposed to just an outright sale. And so we, as a medical device, did that very well with spinal and trauma type equipment. We need to bring those programs type of bundles and volume things into this to make it more reachable. I think you need to have the capital and the software and the disposables to really provide holistic solutions for the customers.

Okay. And that's something that you'll focus on going forward within CES.

Yes. Because it's pretty DS Core and it's also part of all of your implants or whatever.

And then maybe just to round up the divisions, [ Wellspect ], going really well. New products, continued innovation within the vision, your thought is what, like, look, this is core to the company. I'm going to continue to feed the beast [ of ] the division is doing well and support it going forward.

I think there's a couple of things there, right? I don't know if we ever declared ourselves pure dental and that we would never go beyond. I think there's a derisking component that allows you to look at adjacencies there. [ Wellspect ] itself is a cash generator and a profit business that we can actually yield and invest in dental as part of the turnaround as well. To me, the cash can be used for stronger capital allocation. And so I see all upside with type of thing. And it's not an asset I'm looking to sell. Of course, we find the right deal at the right time and it makes strategic sense, we would do that. But in the past, it wasn't. I think it was a fire sale. I think that this can be significantly more profit and actually more value over the next few years, and I want to grow it.

And in terms of a cap deployment, if you see really compelling returns around that area, I think that prevents you from pursuing that.

Again, we'll do it right. We'll deleverage with that cash and buy back shares, if that's the way. I happen to think, though, that the value that was out there versus what it could be is significantly understated versus what it will be in 5 years.

Maybe one last question or two, R&D. So when you came in and you said, "Hey, look, we're not spending enough in R&D. We're going to make a greater commitment. We started to see that take hold. That's not a 2026 thing, right, in terms of when that starts hitting the P&L. When we think about that growth rate of negative 6.7% or negative 4% or 5% normalized, getting closer to flattish by the fourth quarter, those are the other initiatives that you talked about up here. R&D, is that sort of a payoff in '27? Is it, hey, not even until '28, -- how are the time...

I think some can come in '27. So there's a couple of thoughts going out. We actually increased about $25 million this year into R&D. So it's a double-digit lift up about 15%, 16%. And the thought was how do you actually attack DS Core application simultaneously versus sequentially. So I can bring them all forward faster. The same is also modernizing some of our [ endo ] and preventative products type of thing. So we can do this all at once, which I think would come out in late '27 or possibly early '28, depending on FDA or other type of regulatory approvals. What's interesting is AI is in R&D where we're the strongest right now. And we're finding that using AI for some designs and some software is potentially accelerating where we were. And we may not need as many people as planned, and therefore, maybe not as much cost yet having the same speed and outcome. And so more to come with that. I'm looking at it, I'm in early days, but it's yielding fruit that's very interesting. And then I may step back from saying I need it to be 6% or 7% if I come back with a different solution to get the same for less.

Okay. Maybe one last one for me because we already kicked around capital deployment a little bit. The DSO strategy, and it's a question that I asked you in one of your early earnings calls is perplexing, right? Like DENTSPLY SIRONA has such a robust portfolio, so diversified across the spectrum, you can bundle, you would seem like a great one-stop shop and really leverage it for DSOs. So maybe the first part of the question is what's prevented DENTSPLY SIRONA being successful in the past?

Yes. And I don't know if I have an answer for why you haven't pursued that in the past. I will tell you that the conversations I am having with DSOs, there's an interest in this. There's a common theme though of, do you have enough reps to cover me? Are they educated enough for some go back to support -- we support clinical education, right? And yes, my answer is yes, we're doing that right now. Can I offer you a bundle no one else can? Yes, I actually believe I can and we should. And so I'm actually very interested in pursuing that. I'm not sure that would bear fruit this year, but I think proving that we're going to put our money where it's needed in innovation and commercial will bring DSOs in and I think creating creative bundles and pricing for them is a way that we can enter into it. And so just beginning that process with my new U.S. team, in particular, Europe kind of won't quite be as big, but following behind that right now.

That's interesting. So it's going to some of these potential partners as DSOs and showing that you're going to be a good partner. You're investing in clinical education, you're investing in R&D, you're going to have new products. And then that's a great reason why you want to go ahead and do with tens.

Right. And we can fill out your entire suite with every single thing you need in that from chairs, tools, everything we have. So we can be a one-stop shop, like you said, in addition to all of the items as we discussed.

Okay. Fantastic. Guys as many questions?