Yahoo Finance Carlisle Companies Incorporated (NYSE:CSL) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript
Carlisle Companies Incorporated (NYSE:CSL) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript April 26, 2024
Carlisle Companies Incorporated isn’t one of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds at the end of the third quarter (see the details here).
Operator: Good afternoon. My name is Constantine and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Carlisle Companies First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Jim Giannakouros, Carlisle's Vice President of Investor Relations. Jim, please go ahead.
Mehul Patel: Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. I want to welcome all of you today to Carlisle's first quarter 2024 earnings call. I'm Mehul Patel. I'm Head of Investor Relations. We released today our first quarter 2024 financial results, and you can find both our press release and the presentation for today's call in the Investor Relations section of our website. On the call with me today we have Chris Koch, he is our Board Chair, President and CEO; along with Kevin Zdimal, who is our CFO. Today's call will begin with Chris. He will provide highlights of our results along with an update on our key accomplishments, and then Kevin will follow up with an overview on our financial performance and provide an update on our outlook for 2024.
Following our prepared remarks, we will open up the line for questions, but before we begin, please refer to slide two of our presentation where we note that comments today will include forward looking statements based on current expectations. Actual results could differ materially from these statements due to a number of risks and uncertainties which are discussed in our press release and SEC filings. As Carlisle provides non-GAAP financial information, we've provided reconciliations between GAAP and non-GAAP measures in our press release and in the appendix of our presentation materials which are available on our website. And with that, I will turn the call over to Chris.
Christian Koch: Thank you, Mehul. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Carlisle's first quarter 2024 earnings call. To start, I'd like to direct your attention to slide three of the presentation. We were pleased with our overall sales growth and margin expansion during the first quarter, which reinforces the underlying themes and key strategies we've outlined in Vision 2030. First quarter sales of $1.1 billion reflect a 23% year-over-year increase, and we're in line with our previous comments that destocking ended in Q4 of 2023. We also indicated that we expected a benefit of approximately $200 million of year-over-year sales as a result of a return to normal ordering levels, rebounding as predicted from a Q1 of 2023 that had been negatively affected by destocking.
This return to normal ordering patterns was primarily experienced in our CCM business, which demonstrated substantial year-over-year sales growth of 36%. Robust reroofing activity from pent-up demand and favorable weather conditions fostering healthy construction activity were additional positive factors that assisted our first quarter performance and more than offset the impact from negative price in Q1 that we had stated in our year-end earnings call. In addition to a positive sales story, the Q1 margin story was also a success. Our relentless focus on improving operational efficiency, our commitment to delivering the unparalleled value in the Carlisle experience to our customers, and our COS efforts contributed to a strong bottom line result.
Improved margins across both CCM and CWT drove adjusted EBITDA over $260 million, marking an increase of well over 50% year-over-year. The focus on continuously improving adjusted EBITDA performance was underpinned in Q1 by robust margin expansion bolstered by the increased Henry integration synergies, our commitment to our lean-sigma initiatives under our flagship Carlisle operating system, and efficiencies gained by leveraging our higher volumes in our operations. Pricing continues to be in line with our expectations where we anticipated pricing would be down 2% to 3% for the full year with substantially all of the impact in the first half of the year. We are bullish on the pricing outlook for the balance of the year based on the recent price increases announced by the major competitors in our industry.
Additionally, we achieved substantial growth in adjusted EPS of over 80% year-over-year. Our steadfast dedication to the Carlisle experience, operational excellence, innovation, synergistic acquisitions, and organic investments continues to contribute to our superior performance and solidify Carlisle's position for sustained success in the future. Carrying on with the theme of positioning Carlisle for sustained success in the future, we were pleased to follow the delivery of our Vision 2030 plan in December of last year with the announcement that we are selling the Carlisle Interconnect business and taking the final step in delivering on our commitment to become a pure-play building products company. In January, we reached an agreement with the Amphenol Corporation to acquire our CIT business.
We expect the transaction to close in the second quarter of this year. The anticipated proceeds from the sale of nearly $2 billion will be strategically deployed to fund further acquisitions, execute approximately $1 billion in share repurchases, and fuel additional organic growth initiatives. In our pursuit of generating significant value creation through strategic investments, we're excited to announce the acquisition of MTL, a Wisconsin-based specialty manufacturer of high-performance metal edge and wall systems. The acquisition of MTL is perfectly aligned with Carlisle's Vision 2030 strategy and our four criteria for all acquisitions. And as a reminder, those criteria are, one, a solid organic growth story. Two, meaningful hard synergies.
Three, a talented management team. And lastly, a clear and easily actionable integration playbook. Our acquisitions are always aimed at enriching and expanding our building envelope product offerings. The planned MTL acquisition and CIT divestiture reinforce our commitment to our pure-play building product strategy, our philosophy of superior capital allocation, and ultimately driving best-in-class ROIC. And lastly, we are very pleased to have continued our long-standing tradition of returning value to our shareholders through dividends and share buybacks in Q1. During Q1, we completed $150 million in share repurchases as part of our plan to repurchase $1.4 billion worth of shares in 2024. We also paid $42 million in dividends in the first quarter as we continued to be proud of our history of having raised our dividend for over 47 consecutive years.
These actions underscore our commitment to enhancing shareholder value and our confidence in Carlisle's long-term growth trajectory. Please turn to slide four as I discuss our Vision 2030 value creation drivers and targets. After completing Vision 2025 three years early, we are now fully engaged in building on Vision 2025's success and the execution of Vision 2030. As outlined in our Vision 2030 video, we plan to continue delivering on the foundational strategies that have produced such positive results under Vision 2025. Coupled with major secular tailwinds, we are committed to delivering innovative building envelope solutions, driving above market growth, and unlocking additional value for shareholders in this next important phase of Carlisle's growth journey.
The key pillars of Vision 2030 include enhanced levels of innovation with a commitment to investing 3% of sales to drive the creation of new products and solutions that add value to our customers through advancements in sustainability, energy, and labor efficiency. A continued emphasis on synergistic M&A is demonstrated by our recent agreement to acquire MTL, which aligns seamlessly with our strategy to enhance and expand our building envelope product portfolio. Attracting and retaining top talent to ensure we have the best talent to execute our strategic initiatives and drive above market growth. And holding steadfast to our sustainability commitments has evidenced by our progress in 2023 against our stated objectives, which you can find in our latest corporate sustainability report.
As we move forward, we are confident that the execution of Vision 2030 will drive superior shareholder returns and position Carlisle as a premier investment opportunity in the building products sector. Turning to slide five. Our planned acquisition of MTL is directly aligned with our goal to invest prudently in high returning businesses with best-in-class building envelope products and solutions that expand and complement our existing system offerings. With an expected close in the second quarter of 2024, MTL reinforces Carlisle as an industry-leader in the multi-billion dollar architectural metal market and is expected to add approximately $0.60 of adjusted EPS in 2025 with over $13 million of hard-cost synergies expected within the first three years.
MTL's values are highly aligned with Carlisle's, especially with respect to MTL's superior customer focus and solid track record of above market growth. Now please turn to slide six as I share recent updates on our progress with Carlisle's sustainability initiatives. We seek to positively impact the environment while creating value for all our stakeholders through the three pillars of our sustainability strategy, which are, one, manufacturing energy efficient products. Two, minimizing our value chain greenhouse gas emissions and three, diverting waste and end-of-life materials from landfills. Under our first pillar, we provide our end user customers access to solutions that drive energy efficiency in their buildings. As I mentioned earlier in 2023, we made significant progress against this pillar with $3.2 billion in lead-qualified product sales, representing an impressive 70% of our total revenue, which is up from 65% in 2022, reflecting the increasing demand and trends for more energy efficient buildings.
Our second pillar, reducing our operational and value chain emissions, helps Carlisle reduce our carbon footprint and environmental impacts. Carlisle began phase one of metering the significant energy users, or SEUs, at our major manufacturing facilities. The data that results from metering this equipment will enable our plants to conduct real-time energy analysis and make more informed decisions on energy efficiency. In Q1, Carlisle installed metering at our Tooele, Utah poly-iso membrane facility. Lastly, our third pillar focuses on the reduction of construction waste entering landfills. In 2023, Carlisle's recycling initiatives enabled the diversion of over 90,000 metric tons of waste from landfills through operational scrap production, purchase recycled raws, and rooftop takeoffs.
Significant contributors were the purchased recycled content of poly-iso, facer paper, and polyols, as well as 30,000 tons of recycled metal from the CAM business unit. Sustainability is a very important focus for Carlisle. As an organization, we remain committed to being a responsible environmental stakeholder, and our products continue to offer a strong value proposition in a world looking for energy efficient, value-added solutions. Our first quarter results reinforce many of the themes we discussed in our Vision 2030 presentation, including being well-positioned to leverage megatrends in energy efficiency, labor savings, and growing reroof demand within the building envelope marketplace. With this in mind and in combination with the strength of our first quarter results, we are increasing our full year 2024 growth outlook.
And with that, I'll turn it over to Kevin to provide additional financial details. Kevin?
Kevin Zdimal: Thank you, Chris. Our first quarter financial results reflect the strength of our business model and the successful execution of our strategic priorities to start off 2024 on solid footing. Looking at our first quarter results on slide seven, we grew revenue by 23% year-over-year to $1.1 billion, driven by normalization of inventory in the channels, growing reroofing activity, which benefited from pent-up demand, increasing residential starts, and favorable weather across the U.S. We leveraged our strong top line performance to expand our EBITDA margins by 530 basis points to 24.2%. Furthermore, we grew our earnings 85% year-over-year to an adjusted EPS of $3.72. The EPS increase was driven by sales growth, margin expansion and share repurchases.
Looking at our segment highlights starting with CCM on slide eight. CCM delivered first quarter revenues of $784 million, up 36% from the first quarter of 2023. The increase was driven by return to normalization of order patterns, including the end of destocking in the channel, positive reroof activity, and favorable weather. CCM adjusted EBITDA increased 66% to $227 million, with adjusted EBITDA margin up 510 basis points to 28.9%. This was driven by a combination of leveraging higher volume growth and continued operating efficiencies through the Carlisle operating system. Moving to slide nine. Revenues at CWT decreased 1% year-over-year, primarily due to lower carryover prices from 2023 in select categories. However, despite the revenue decline, we were able to drive adjusted EBITDA growth of 20% to $65 million.
This represented an adjusted EBITDA margin of 20.7%, expanding 370 basis points from the first quarter of 2023. The margin improvement was driven by operational efficiencies gained through COS, lower input costs through strategic sourcing, and the realization of synergies from the Henry acquisition. Synergies from the Henry acquisition are expected to exceed $50 million in 2024, significantly above our deal model estimate of $30 million. Slide 10 provides a year-over-year first quarter adjusted EPS bridge items for your reference. Moving to slides 11 through 13, Carlisle ended the first quarter of 2024 with $553 million of cash on hand. We have $1 billion of availability under a revolving credit facility, which we amended in April to extend the maturity to 2029.
We generated operating cash flow from continuing operations of $156 million and invested $24 million in capital expenditures. We achieved solid cash flow performance for the quarter with a free cash flow margin of 12%, and we remain on pace for a free cash flow margin of over 15% for the full year. We ended the quarter with a net leverage ratio of 1.4 times within our target of 1 to 2 times. We are already making significant progress against the capital allocation goals outlined in our Vision 2030 strategy. We are doing so by reinvesting in our high ROIC building products businesses through continued investment and growth CapEx, and returning value to shareholders through dividends, including $42 million in dividends paid and repurchasing $150 million of shares during the first quarter of 2024.
We are also making synergistic acquisitions that will deliver significant opportunities for value creation such as our recently announced agreement to acquire MTL for $410 million. These actions are collectively aligned with our disciplined capital allocation framework, which forms an integral part of delivering ROIC in excess of 25%, and ultimately reaching $40 plus of adjusted EPS by 2030. Following the repurchase of $150 million of shares during the first quarter, we have 6.9 million shares remaining under a share repurchase program. Our robust financial position is underpinned by a solid balance sheet and a prudent approach to leverage. This conservative capital structure affords us the ability to strategically allocate resources in pursuit of superior returns.
Complimented by our substantial liquidity of approximately $1.6 billion, we are well equipped to capitalize on opportunities that arise, unlocking additional value for our stakeholders in the coming quarters and years. And as a reminder, we expect to receive an additional $2 billion of gross proceeds from the CIT sale in the second quarter, further enhancing our financial flexibility. We believe we are well-positioned to derive additional value creation in the quarters and years ahead. Turning to slide 14. I will discuss our full year financial outlook. We are raising our full year 2024 revenue outlook to approximately 10% growth over the prior year, which is double our outlook at year-end when we were expecting a 5% increase. This increase in outlook is driven by a combination of our solid first quarter and stronger reroofing demand for the balance of the year.
Leveraging the additional revenue through the Carlisle operating system, along with a more positive outlook on pricing, we now expect adjusted EBITDA margins to expand by at least 100 basis points, as compared to our previous guidance of 50 basis points. Additionally, we maintain our expectations to deliver free cash flow margins of at least 15% and ROIC in excess of 25%. As such, we continue to expect double-digit EPS growth in 2024. This is directly aligned with the objectives outlined in our Vision 2030 strategy, and we are experiencing a strong start towards our 2030 goal of $40 plus of adjusted EPS. Looking at the components of the outlook for CCM, we now expect year-over-year revenue to grow in the low double-digits in 2024. The primary drivers are tailwinds from the return to normalization and order patterns that was absent during 2023 due to destocking, and strong contractor backlogs from the pent-up reroofing demand.
For CWT, we now expect year-over-year revenue to grow in the mid-single digits in 2024 from strong sales execution on key growth initiatives, as well as stronger trends in our markets. With that, I turn it over to Chris for closing remarks.
Christian Koch: Thanks Kevin. In conclusion, I want to reiterate our confidence in Carlisle's strategic direction under Vision 2030 and reinforced by our strong first quarter results. As we move forward, our ability to innovate with a focus on energy efficiency and labor-saving solutions puts us on the right path to drive above market growth and in return, drive superior financial results. The simplification of our building products portfolio combined with a robust free cash flow engine and the anticipated proceeds from the sale of CIT places us in an excellent position to create further significant value for our shareholders. I would also like to take this opportunity to once again express my sincere gratitude to all of Carlisle's employees.
The exceptional efforts of all of our team members have ensured a strong start to what we expect will be another exceptional year for Carlisle in 2024. And with Vision 2030 already deeply embedded in our operations, I am incredibly optimistic about Carlisle's long-term success. Our strong brand, solid capital position, and superb cash flow generation provides us with the flexibility to successfully execute our strategy and unlock additional value for all our stakeholders. Thank you everyone for your continued support. Together, we are building a brighter future for Carlisle. And that concludes our formal comments. Operator, we are now ready for questions.
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