DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. quarterly report, Q1 FY2017

DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. — Q1 2017 Form 10-Q Summary

Business context and reporting period

Unaudited results for the three months ended March 31, 2017. DENTSPLY SIRONA is a global dental products and technologies company operating through Dental and Healthcare Consumables and Technologies segments. The February 2016 merger with Sirona makes year-over-year comparisons difficult because Q1 2017 includes two additional months of Sirona results versus Q1 2016.

Financial performance and liquidity

MetricQ1 2017Q1 2016Change
Net sales$900.5 million$772.6 million16.6% increase
Net sales excluding precious metals$889.4 million$754.5 million17.9% increase
Gross profit$492.0 million$418.9 million17.5% increase
Gross margin54.6%54.2%40 basis-point increase
Operating income$84.2 million$72.7 million15.9% increase
Operating margin9.4%9.4%Approximately flat
Net income attributable to DENTSPLY SIRONA$59.8 million$125.0 million52.2% decrease
Diluted EPS$0.26$0.70Decrease
Adjusted diluted EPS$0.49$0.69Decrease
Cash flow from operations$82.5 million$0.7 million$81.8 million increase

Adjusted operating income was $147.9 million, or 16.6% of sales excluding precious metal content, compared with $169.5 million, or 22.2%, in Q1 2016. Adjusted net income was $113.7 million versus $122.4 million.

  • Dental and Healthcare Consumables sales excluding precious metal content increased 6.2% to $500.2 million; segment adjusted operating income increased 4.4% to $136.5 million.
  • Technologies sales excluding precious metal content increased 37.2% to $389.2 million; segment adjusted operating income increased 0.4% to $54.0 million.
  • Cash and cash equivalents were $363.3 million at March 31, 2017, down from $383.9 million at year-end 2016.
  • Total debt was approximately $1.55 billion, including $22.7 million of current debt and $1.53 billion of long-term debt. Net debt to total capitalization was 12.7%, compared with 12.4% at December 31, 2016.
  • The company had no borrowings under its $500.0 million revolving credit facility and reported $541.0 million of available borrowing capacity under credit lines.
  • Capital expenditures were $31.1 million. Management expects full-year 2017 capital expenditures of approximately $120 million to $140 million.

Material changes versus the prior comparable period

  • Reported sales benefited substantially from consolidating two additional months of Sirona revenue. On a combined-business, constant-currency basis, sales declined 2.2%, with negative internal growth of 4.7%.
  • Distributor equipment inventory changes reduced the comparison by approximately $40 million. Patterson inventory changes alone negatively affected Q1 2017 sales by approximately $35 million.
  • Management expects Patterson to reduce equipment inventory by an additional $50 million to $60 million during Q2 and Q3 2017. North American distributor inventory changes are expected to reduce sales by approximately $10 million to $20 million for the remainder of 2017.
  • Q1 2017 net income was affected by a $16.9 million tax provision, compared with a $57.9 million tax benefit in Q1 2016. The prior-year benefit included an approximately $76.1 million release of a valuation allowance related to the merger.
  • Q1 2017 diluted EPS also reflected substantially higher average diluted shares outstanding, 234.0 million versus 178.4 million, primarily due to the all-stock merger.
  • Foreign exchange reduced sales excluding precious metal content by approximately 1.6% and diluted EPS by approximately $0.03 year over year.
  • The company repurchased 1.4 million shares for $84.6 million and paid $18.0 million in dividends. The quarterly dividend was increased 12.9% year over year.

Guidance, outlook, risks and unusual items

  • Management did not provide a clear full-year revenue or EPS guidance figure in the filing. It disclosed the capital expenditure outlook and expected distributor-inventory effects described above.
  • Restructuring and integration initiatives, including proposed German manufacturing, logistics and distribution changes, are estimated to cost approximately $89 million over the next two years, primarily for severance.
  • Q1 restructuring and other costs were $3.1 million; restructuring accruals totaled $29.2 million at March 31, 2017.
  • Goodwill was $5.96 billion and identifiable intangible assets were $2.96 billion. The company reported no goodwill impairment from its Q1 review, but warned that slower sales growth, higher discount rates, weaker earnings multiples or lower cash-flow projections could result in future impairment.
  • Pending litigation includes product-related class actions and a False Claims Act matter on appeal. The company does not believe a loss is probable and cannot estimate a reasonable possible loss range; unfavorable resolutions could materially affect results or liquidity.
  • Discussions with OFAC concerning export-control and economic-sanctions compliance remained ongoing. The company could not predict the outcome or potential impact.
  • The company is exposed to foreign exchange, interest-rate and commodity-price risk and uses derivatives to manage these exposures. It also held approximately $278.5 million of cash outside the United States, which could incur U.S. tax upon repatriation under then-current law.
  • The company adopted accounting updates for inventory measurement, deferred-tax classification, stock compensation and goodwill impairment during the quarter. The filing states that these adoptions did not materially affect reported results, except for a $6.3 million excess tax benefit from stock compensation and a $1.0 million equity reclassification.

Important facts for investors to verify

  • Whether reported sales and earnings normalize after Patterson and other distributors complete planned equipment inventory reductions.
  • Underlying constant-currency and internal growth, particularly the Technologies segment’s negative internal growth of 12.7%.
  • The sustainability of adjusted margins after excluding merger-related costs, restructuring, purchased-intangible amortization and other adjustments.
  • The effect of the $89 million restructuring program on future cash flow, operating margins and execution risk.
  • Potential goodwill or indefinite-lived-asset impairment, given the large post-merger asset balances and sensitivity to operating assumptions.
  • Outcomes of the OFAC and export-control inquiries, pending litigation and other contingencies.
  • Future cash deployment among share repurchases, dividends, acquisitions, capital expenditures and debt reduction.