PHINIA Inc. (PHIN) Q4 FY2025 Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, and welcome, everyone, to the PHINIA Fourth Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Kellen Ferris, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us. Our conference call materials were issued this morning and are available on PHINIA's Investor Relations website, including a slide deck we'll be referencing in our remarks. We're also broadcasting this call via webcast. Joining us today are Brady Ericson, CEO; and Chris Gropp, CFO. During this call, we will make forward-looking statements, which are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from these statements due to a variety of factors, including those described in our SEC filings. We caution listeners not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements. And with that, it is my pleasure to turn the call over to Brady.

Thank you, Kelly, and thank you to everyone for joining us this morning. I'll start with some overall comments on the fourth quarter and full year, discuss financials at a high level and then provide some thoughts on our outlook for 2026. Chris will then provide additional details on our fourth quarter 2025 full year financials and discuss our 2026 financial outlook. We will then open the call for questions. We delivered a solid finish to 2025, with full year results in line with our expectations despite a dynamic and often uncertain macro and industry environment. What stands out to me as I look back on the year is the resilience of our business. Our diversification across regions, customers, end markets and products continues to serve us well with no single end market and region that defines PHINIA. Our balance allows us to perform consistently even as conditions shift around us. Before we get started on the numbers, you'll notice some changes as we recast some numbers between the Fuel Systems and Aftermarket segments. As we've been driving operational efficiencies, a significant portion of the original equipment service or OES sales will now be distributed from the Fuel Systems segment and not the Aftermarket segment. We have also further enhanced our end market breakdown and have separated out our off-highway, industrial and other sales, which includes construction and agricultural machinery, vocational vehicles, marine, industrial applications, power generation, aerospace and defense and all other. Finally, we've also updated our calculation method for adjusted free cash flow conversion to be more in line with industry standards. No change in expectations from the strong cash generation of the business. Now let's jump into the fourth quarter results on Slide 4. For the third consecutive quarter, we delivered year-over-year growth in both the aftermarket and Fuel Systems segments. Total net sales in the quarter were $889 million, up 6.7% from the same period in the prior year. Excluding FX impacts on the contribution of SEM, revenue was up 2.3%. We reported adjusted EBITDA of $116 million for the quarter, up $6 million and a margin of 13%. Total segment adjusted operating income was $112 million and a 12.6% margin. The Fuel Systems segment delivered a strong quarter with sales of $560 million, up 7.9% and adjusted operating margin of 10.7%. The Aftermarket segment had sales of $329 million, up 4.8% with adjusted operating margin of 15.8%. Adjusted earnings per diluted share, excluding nonoperating items, was $1.18 for the quarter compared with $0.71 for the same period of the prior year. Our balance sheet remains solid with cash and cash equivalents of $359 million and $859 million of total liquidity. We reduced our debt by $24 million, and our net leverage ratio came down from 1.4x to 1.3x, all while returning $40 million to shareholders via dividends and share repurchases. The fourth quarter performance underscores the durability and resilience of our business amid a complex and uncertain operating landscape. It reflects the advantages of being a diversified industrial company by serving a broad mix of regions, customers, end markets and products. Moving to Slide 5. We continue to win new business across our core and adjacent markets. Throughout the year, this included multiple wins in light vehicle, commercial vehicle, off-highway industrial, aerospace and alternative fuel applications. A few key Fuel Systems segment wins in the fourth quarter included securing our third aerospace and defense contract for a post-combustion fuel valve, highlighting our proven capabilities and strengthening our position in the sector. Key truck contract extensions with global commercial vehicle OEMs, reaffirming the strength and longevity of our strategic partnerships and a new business win in India with a leading OEM for port fuel injectors used with compressed natural gas, underscoring our dedication to lower carbon mobility and commitment to alternative fuels. Now to Slide 6. The aftermarket segment remained a steady and resilient contributor throughout the year. Demand continued to be supported by an aging global vehicle fleet and expanding portfolio. Our strong brands and service continue to resonate with customers and distributors. We are winning both new business and expanding relationships with existing customers. Importantly, these wins were across diverse geographies, further strengthening our position in the independent aftermarket. We also continue to accelerate the pace of expanding our offerings and coverage by adding approximately 5,800 new SKUs across our portfolio. Slide 7 highlights the diversification of our business across regions, customers and end markets. This is supported by manufacturing facilities close to our customers in all key regions. We also benefit from the flexibility to redeploy manufacturing and human capital across these opportunities. As noted earlier, we provided additional end market granularity by splitting out CV and other into medium and heavy-duty on-highway CV and off-highway, industrial and other. This shows the progress we've made in expanding our presence in this end market as it now represents 6% of our sales. Moving next to capital allocation on Slide 8. We remain disciplined and balanced in our approach to capital allocation while remaining opportunistic about M&A. Since the spin, we repurchased 9.8 million shares, which is roughly 21% of our original share count. In total, since spin, we returned over 0.5 billion to shareholders via share repurchases and dividends. We accomplished all this while maintaining net leverage below our target level, sustaining robust liquidity, closing on an opportunistic acquisition and supporting the organic growth needs of the business. We also announced a few weeks ago an 11% increase in our dividend and a $150 million increase in our share repurchase program. Needless to say, our capital allocation decisions will always be based on how we can maximize long-term shareholder value. Moving to Slide 9. We had some significant milestones in 2025, completing our first acquisition, receiving our aerospace quality certification, along with our first program launch and delivering strong financial performance in a volatile market. Also of note, 2025 is the first full year without the impact of TSAs and contract manufacturing with our former parent. Investors have been rewarded with a total shareholder return, which includes share price appreciation and dividends over the 2-year period of '24, '25 of 140%. Looking forward to 2026, we expect our journey to continue on the path we set from the beginning, differentiating via product leadership, focusing on markets that will support our goal of sustainable growth, maintaining our financial discipline and remaining focused on delivering long-term value for our shareholders. Finally, I want to thank our team for their outstanding execution through fiscal '25. Their hard work and dedication enabled us to successfully navigate dynamic market conditions while driving meaningful growth and operational improvements. I'll now turn the call over to Chris to discuss our financial results in more detail and introduce our 2026 financial outlook. Chris?

Thanks, Brady, and thanks to all of you for joining us this morning. As a reminder, reconciliations of all non-GAAP financial measures that I will discuss can be found in today's press release and in the presentation, both of which are on our website. Our fourth quarter and full year results met our expectations even as we navigated a range of challenges from tariffs and macroeconomic instability to geopolitical tensions and a shifting policy landscape. Despite these headwinds, we grew our top line and delivered a solid bottom line. In addition, as Brady mentioned, we made meaningful progress on the priorities we set at the start of the year, strengthening our core businesses, entering new markets and positioning PHINIA for long-term profitable growth. Fourth quarter financial results were solid and include a full quarter contribution from SEM. The external environment has not changed dramatically from the prior quarters. However, we saw some strength in Asia and the Americas, partially offset by lower sales in Europe within Fuel Systems. Aftermarket sales were also higher, primarily driven by aftermarket pricing and tariff recoveries, offset slightly by lower commercial vehicle sales in the Americas. Let me now bridge our revenue and adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter, which you can find on Pages 11 and 12 in the presentation. Specifically, during the quarter, we generated $889 million in net sales, an increase of 6.7% versus a year ago. Compared to Q4 2024, our top line benefited from favorable foreign exchange tailwinds of $25 million as the dollar weakened mainly against the British pound and euro. Revenue in the quarter also rose on tariff recovery of $15 million. Overall, volume and mix contributed $8 million as we saw strength in sales in Asia and the U.S. with higher LPD sales, partially offset by lower sales in Europe. SEM contributed $12 million in the quarter. Excluding the FX impact and the SEM contribution, sales were up 2.3% in the quarter. Moving next to the bridge on Slide 12. Adjusted EBITDA was $116 million in the quarter with a margin of 13%, representing a year-over-year increase of $6 million and a 20 basis point decline in margin. Corporate and other costs, primarily R&D savings were a $6 million tailwind. Net tariff recovery, supplier savings and other overhead cost savings measures combined were another $5 million. These benefits were partially offset by unfavorable product mix in Asia and the Americas. Overall, results were healthy, though margin percentages were diluted as a result of FX, inclusion of FEM and negative mix. Let me now bridge our adjusted revenue and adjusted EBITDA for the full year, which you can find on Pages 13 and 14 in the presentation. Once again, starting with adjusted sales, where the drivers were similar to the fourth quarter. Total revenue was approximately $3.5 billion, an increase of 3%, excluding the final contract manufacturing sales from our former parent in 2024. FX was a tailwind of $45 million as the dollar weakened mainly against the British pound and euro. Adjusted sales also benefited from tariff recovery of $38 million. Volumes of base business were flat for the year, but boosted with the inclusion of $20 million in sales from SEM. Excluding the FX benefit and contribution from SEM, revenue was up 1.1% for the year. Moving next to the bridge on Slide 14. Adjusted EBITDA was $478 million, flat year-over-year with a margin of 13.7%, representing a 40 basis point decline in margin. Supplier savings and other cost-saving measures of $26 million were offset by unfavorable product mix, a slight increase in employee costs and net tariff pass-through. Margin was negatively impacted by the dilutive impact of both tariffs and FX, each of which resulted in an approximately 20 basis point decline in margin. Moving next to a discussion of the individual segment's full year performance. Note that in Q4 of 2025, we made a strategic decision to shift a significant portion of our OE service business previously reported in the aftermarket segment to the Fuel Systems segment. This change is a result of creating a streamlined process for the sales structure and distribution of these sales, thereby reducing the related administrative burden. Our reporting segment disclosures have been updated accordingly, including recast of prior periods in all our reported financials. Moving next to Fuel Systems on Page 15, where you can see that revenue for the full year increased 3.3% with a 40 basis point increase in adjusted operating margin. Segment revenue was impacted materially by changes in FX of $33 million, the addition of SEM of $20 million and tariff recoveries of $13 million. Full year segment AOI of $244 million is an increase of $16 million with solid supplier savings, partially offset by negative volume and mix. Compared to 2024, our aftermarket segment sales were up 2.7% for the full year, primarily due to customer tariff recovery and favorable FX. Aftermarket segment margins of 16.2% were down 30 basis points, primarily due to the dilutive impact of tariff recoveries. Moving on to a discussion of our balance sheet and cash flow. We continue to effectively execute our disciplined capital allocation strategy, successfully balancing significant cash return to shareholders with strategic M&A and other investments. Cash and cash equivalents were $359 million, while available capacity under our credit facilities remained at approximately $0.5 billion for a resulting liquidity of $859 million. Cash flow from operations was $312 million for the year, and adjusted free cash flow came in above guide at $212 million, enabling us to continue returns of capital to our shareholders through regular dividends and buybacks. Share repurchases represented a primary use of capital, totaling $30 million in Q4 and $200 million for the full year. We paid $10 million in dividends in Q4, bringing our full year dividend payments to shareholders to $42 million. We remain confident in our ability to generate strong free cash flow to support our future capital allocation priorities. This is evidenced by the strong performance of the business in 2025, enabling dividends back to shareholders, share repurchases, a small bolt-on M&A transaction completed solely with cash and the settlement of $24 million in debt. We made meaningful progress on lowering our tax rate in 2025, moving from a full year adjusted effective tax rate of 41.5% in 2024 to 32.5% in 2025. Cash taxes paid also reduced to $61 million in 2025 from $94 million in 2024, although it should be noted that there were one-off reductions in 2025 cash taxes paid. Without these one-off items, we would have expected a cash tax outlay in the approximately $75 million to $85 million range. While we expect improved trends to continue in the coming years, rate of improvement and rate of change is not linear for either ETR or cash taxes paid and therefore, expect rates and cash outlays to change at differing levels each year as various structuring projects are enacted. Before moving to Slide 17 and 18 for a discussion of our 2026 outlook, I also want to take a moment and thank and congratulate all our employees for delivering great 2025 results. despite any market turmoil or chaos that ensues, our teams understand how to calmly assess situations and react appropriately. Let me briefly discuss the drivers behind our outlook for 2026. Industry volumes are expected to be flat to slightly down globally, inclusive of battery electric vehicle sales. We expect to offset these market changes through continued share gains in aftermarket and increased gasoline direct injection products, off-highway, industrial and other end markets. Taking these factors into account and at the midpoint of our net sales outlook of $3.5 billion to $3.7 billion, we would expect an increase in sales in the mid-single-digit range, inclusive of FX. Excluding expected FX, our growth is projected to be in the low single-digit range. We are, therefore, guiding adjusted EBITDA to be $485 million to $525 million with an EBITDA margin of 13.7% to 14.3%. We believe the business is well positioned to continue generating meaningful cash flow, and our 2026 outlook for adjusted free cash flow is therefore $200 million to $240 million. The adjusted effective tax rate should be in the 30% to 34% range. Overall, we expect to deliver strong results in 2026 as we continue to drive operational efficiencies and search for new areas of growth for both segments. Note that our outlook does not include any possible impacts related to future policy changes by any government, which could affect our operations or technical centers. This includes additional tariffs, tax or any other policy that could inflate or deflate revenue or affect our cost base. Fiscal year 2025 was marked by complexity and resilience, a tale of navigating global headwinds while making strategic progress. We are entering the next chapter of growth and look forward to continued success in fiscal '26 and beyond as we continue our focus on revenue growth, product innovation and new markets, business wins, disciplined capital allocation and delivering shareholder value. We want to thank all of you for joining us on the call today. Operator, please open the lines for questions.

[Operator Instructions] We'll take our first question from Bobby Brooks at Northland.

The first one I had just on Chris, you gave a great breakdown of the guidance. And I was just curious on that Slide 17, when you're talking about mid- to upper single digits for commercial vehicle for Europe, right? Is that the industry overall? Or is that what you're expecting to see?

That's the industry overall. I think down below, you'll see kind of what our expectation is. I mean we've seen -- I think in the October S&P kind of update. And again, we saw that the commercial vehicle kind of ended last year in Europe relatively stable, and we're also seeing some positive signs from our customers in that region as well.

And just sticking with the guidance, turning to adjusted EBITDA margins. I would have thought if revenues would grow 6% that you would see a bit more margin expansion. So I just wanted to maybe double-click and hear what might be sort of the hurdles preventing more robust margin expansion with better growth?

Well, we're showing margin expansion of 20% incremental, which for us is a good rate to go through. And if you it's actually higher than that if you take out some of the FX and the tariff. We're assuming that we're also going to grow on tariffs and FX, which are basically hauling down. There's not going to be a big increase in the tariffs if they stay stable from last year, but there is a reasonable amount of FX in there. But 20% is really a good number, we feel.

Got it. I guess I wasn't looking at it like that. And it was really exciting to hear you guys won your third aerospace and defense supply contract. And I was just curious to hear, is this with the same customer for the first 2? Or is this a new customer?

Same customer, but there's momentum in other areas as well.

Got it. And maybe just the last one is -- so I know you started production on that first A&D supply contract in the fourth quarter, right? And isn't that second project slated to start beginning now in the first quarter? And any insights on when that third and any insights on when that third supply contract might start to kick off?

I think it's '27.

'27. Congrats on the great quarter.

We'll move next to Joe Spak at UBS.

Chris, I just want to make sure I have it right because I was sort of doing some of the same math on incrementals, and I think there might be some factors that are sort of weighing that a little bit down. So it sounds like in your revenue guidance, you're assuming about 2 points from FX. Anything there? Can you sort of further break down like what the contribution from tariffs or if there's any recoveries or other pass-throughs in that revenue guidance?

We're assuming on tariffs that will come out even. So that's why it's a bit dilutive on the tariffs. There's not a lot more in tariffs. Remember, we had 3 quarters of tariffs. We're just assuming the carryforwards that you would have additional tariffs in the first quarter that weren't there last year. So that's additional. But yes, overall, we just assume that our tariffs are going to be breakeven, which then be a lot of room for growth on margins.

Yes. I mean, so the tariffs are in the $10 million to $15 million range. I think it's one extra quarter at no margin. FX is helping.

So it adds revenue. And most of that is coming in the first quarter because, again, remember that dollar started weakening at the end of the first quarter last year. So a lot of that is coming in the first quarter.

So FX is not great conversion. So it's basically at margin. So again, if you take a look at the total number, if you go the '25 to the midpoint of '26, you're looking at, what, $130-some million of revenue and $27 million of EBITDA, which is a 20% conversion with those additional headwinds of no conversion on 1/4 to 1/3 of it.

Okay. Yes. That's -- all right. So we can sort of back into what margins would have been otherwise. I guess just another point, I'm just curious if anything is sort of baked in here as well. Like we've obviously seen metal and other input prices move higher and although they've been a little bit volatile late. Can you just remind us again of the most important inputs and just contractually how that flows through your financials?

Yes. I mean it's -- we -- mostly it's copper. Copper and aluminum are probably going to be the 2 as well as some stainless steels. But again, the material content of our overall revenue is not a significant percentage.

Because we're buying mainly already finished components that have it built in. And where we do have any kind of commodity we get pass-through. It's not a perfect because it's usually an adjustment at the end of the quarter to get either positive or negative overall.

But there's nothing meaningful in our guide from commodity pass-throughs or commodity impacts.

We'll go next to Jake Scholl at BNP Paribas.

Congrats on quarter. Within that, I appreciate you guys breaking out the 6% industrial mix. Within that, are there any particularly rapidly growing business, anything you guys really want to call out in there that should be a growth driver over the next few years?

Yes. I mean it's -- I think we've seen it in some of the press releases in our earnings calls as far as the new business. I think you'll see a lot of marine applications, some off-highway, some gensets in there, ag and construction. So I think it's obviously aerospace and defense. And so they're -- it's all been growing really good for us, and we've had a nice uptake in customers there in order of magnitude. I think we'll give some more color on the details in those markets in the Investor Day later on in a couple of weeks or 2.

And then you guys finished the year comfortably within your leverage range. You're generating strong free cash this year. How should we think about your capital allocation priorities? Are there any areas where you're looking to build out your portfolio through M&A? Or do you expect to keep deploying most of that towards buybacks? And then just quickly, can you quantify what -- where you expect the transaction costs within the free cash to adjusted free cash bridge to fall out?

I think -- I guess I'll hit the first -- what was the cash question?

No, the first is capital allocation.

Capital allocation. I mean, as we kind of told you, the -- we're always going to sit down every quarter and kind of take a look at where we are on cash and where some M&A is and where our share price is and try to make decisions that we think are in the best interest to maximize shareholder value. And so obviously, with share price appreciation and our multiple going up, it may make an M&A look better. But again, we're not going to force ourselves to do M&A. We still think that we -- our business is made up of and the diversity of our business makes us look very much like a diversified industrial, and we kind of know where some of those comps are. So we still think that share repurchases is still going to be part of our capital allocation policies, which is why the Board also came out and increased our share repurchase program to give us some additional flexibility there and continue to being opportunistic. We like our business. We like the portfolio of our products right now, and we like the trajectory that we have. So we upped our dividend as well, 11% because our share count keeps coming down. And so we'll continue to make those decisions to maximize shareholder value. On the cash conversion, I think it was your question there.

Can you reframe that one again, Jake? Because I didn't -- I think both of us got a little confused.

Just a quick question on the transaction costs to bridge from traditional free cash to adjusted free cash.

I mean it's -- we're just going from doing it from net income, which we felt was a little bit on squirrely and moving it to -- adjusted EBITDA.

Why did you go from net to adjusted cash flow? We say adjusted cash flow.

Yes, Chris --

Is that your question?

Yes. Thanks, Brady. So like on Slide 25, in the adjusted free cash bridge, there's the separation-related transaction costs, and that's the only difference between what you guys report as adjusted free cash and what other companies but what is like kind of a traditional free cash flow number. So I'm just trying to bridge that.

Separation.

Are you asking what the separation costs are? I mean that still relates back to the original spin transaction and as those go down. There's still a little bit of noise coming out of that from the settlement with BorgWarner and the finalization of some of the old transactions as we clear out some of the old statutory things. So those are the numbers that are there, and you can see it on Page 25 in the bridge.

Those will continue to come down as we get through that.

We'll take our next question from Bobby Brooks at Northland.

I guess kind of broad question, but a lot of good things happening in the business. You guys are doing a great job expanding outside of just being an auto supplier. You got your Investor Day coming up in 2 weeks. Just kind of wanted to give you the floor to what might be the focuses of the Investor Day and maybe just any hints of what's to come?

Sure. I think one of the things we're obviously going to do is we're going to go through a lot of our technology and the products that we think and services that we think differentiates us and gives us a lot of, I guess, strong relationships with our customers. That makes us a good partner for them from our products to our services and support and software and calibration. We'll take you through that. We'll go through and deep dive each of these end markets that we've now highlighted and kind of share with you some of the applications and technologies and the market opportunities that we see in each of those markets. And finally, we'll kind of give an outlook on where we think we're going to be in 2030 and beyond as we continue to shift our business more and more towards commercial vehicle and off-highway and service applications and how that's going to further support our growth beyond 2030. And so we'll have some nice displays there as well as for as our products, some of the unique manufacturing and proprietary processes that we have in our manufacturing facility that also helps put some walls up around our business and protects us from kind of individual players out there. So we think it will be a nice deep dive. And in some ways, it's going to be more of the same. We're going to continue to be financially disciplined. We're going to continue to lead with product leadership, and we're going to continue to allocate capital in the most efficient way possible. And so it's just a continuation of the journey for us.

We'll move next to Drew Estes at Banyan Capital Management.

So my question is about 2026 volume assumptions. We're seeing a -- what seems to be a refocus on ICE and hybrid vehicles among OEMs, especially in the U.S. And you're still assuming light vehicle volumes to decline low single digits in the Americas. And I'm just curious, what would it take for light vehicle volumes to turn positive in the Americas for you all?

Well, again, this is the market numbers. It's kind of the latest and greatest is that North America -- the Americas is going to be relatively flat to down a little bit. Not a whole lot, I mean, from the number standpoint. And that includes EV or battery electric vehicles in that number. And so we do still see some battery electric vehicle penetration kind of flat to maybe a little bit up. But for us, we've got a good market. We continue to see market share gains in GDI penetration rates increasing. And again, the GDI goes across both hybrid and plug-in hybrid applications that have combustion engine in them. So that's a good thing for us. So for us, in general, the market may be flat to down, but we continue to see good penetration rates for our business. As we kind of highlighted there on Slide 17, the overall global internal combustion, which includes hybrids and just standard combustion vehicles is going to be flat to down next year for us, but we're still showing growth, and that's because of our continued market share gains. And so we're outgrowing the market, maybe 400 basis points, 500 basis points on a year-over-year basis based on our market. And that, I think, is a testament to our technology and a lot of new business wins that we've been announcing over the last few years. So from our perspective, the down 1% or 2% is kind of noise, and we'll continue with our market share gains, we'll continue to see growth.

Okay. And just a quick follow-up on that. A lot of your competitors had deemphasized their GDI platforms and anything ICE related. Are you seeing any change in their behavior, maybe a refocusing on some of those programs? Or is it -- have they not really changed anything?

No, not really. I mean there's still -- there's just 2 other major players out there other than us. We continue to gain share. I think the smaller players have already kind of started to wind down things. So there's not a huge change there. I think you'll continue to see our first to market with a 500 bar type system. We're doing a lot with alternative fuels, both natural gas, E100s I think puts us in a strong position, and we continue to launch more hybrid applications with GDI as well. So again, what we benefit from is that we're truly focused. It's our key market for our company, where some of our competitors, it's just a small percentage of a very big company, and they're allocating their capital and they're focusing on a lot of different things. So we think there's benefits for us being a little bit smaller and more focused and dedicated to this space.

And that concludes our Q&A session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Brady Ericson for closing remarks.

Great. Thank you. We really feel we delivered a solid finish to the year. 2025 results were in line with our expectations, reflecting the resilience of our diversified portfolio. The progress we made during the year underscores the strength of our strategy and successful execution and has us well positioned in the coming year. With our strong foundation in place, we're excited about the opportunities ahead and remain confident in our long-term growth outlook and our ability to create long-term value for our shareholders. And as mentioned earlier, we are going to be hosting our Investor Day on February 25 at the NYSE. Please go to our Investor page to sign up to join us, either in person or via live stream. So again, thank you, everyone, for joining us this morning. Have a great day.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.