Evoqua Water Technologies Corp. (NYSE:AQUA) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Ron Keating: Yes. Nathan, I think that was a tremendous benefit for us in the quarter as Ben highlighted. And we have been waiting for these. I mean we have been out in front of the cost curves with pricing actions, and they take a little bit to come into play and they just continue to flow-through.

Nathan Jones: I know you guys have been implementing strategic pricing increases as far back as 2021, that got a bit covered up by inflation over the last couple of years, is it your intention to be able to hold pricing if you see actual declines in your costs?

Ron Keating: Yes. I mean as I have highlighted in prior calls, when we have talked about those, our pricing is very sticky. So, once we go with the price increase, it is €“ it takes a bit to pull that back. It’s a sticky price that we feel confident in.

Nathan Jones: Great. Thanks very much for taking my questions.

Ron Keating: Thank you.

Operator: We will take our next question from Sahil Manocha with Citigroup.

Unidentified Analyst: Hi. Good morning.

Ron Keating: Good morning.

Unidentified Analyst: Kind of holding in on the ISS margins really quickly. You saw the 80 bps improvement sequentially. And previously, you had mentioned the onboarding of new service tech. Could you give us some color on how they are onboarding at this time?

Ron Keating: Yes. We feel very good about it. I mean it’s taken a little bit of time. And we actually commented on our last call that the onboarding has happened through the year. We were back to our normal run rate of openings at the end of the fourth quarter of last fiscal year. So, what you are seeing is you are seeing the fall-through of more efficiency as we would normally expect to see. And we have got great confidence that that will continue on.

Unidentified Analyst: Awesome. I have the second question. So, I have seen states like Maine, New York, California and Colorado seem to be getting more restrictive when it comes to PFAS. Have you seen a bump in your PFAS-related work as a result of these recently passed restrictions?

Ron Keating: Yes, it’s a great question. It’s interesting. And one of the things we have talked about is the states and municipalities that were out ahead of it, already we are putting projects in. So, we have already been operating in those specific areas that you are highlighting with PFAS treatment. It speaks to that $100 million pipeline that we talk about typically on every call, and we are still winning about a third of those. I think the big movement that everyone is waiting on is the MCL, the maximum contaminant limits actually to be passed and to be set. That was supposed to happen at the end of €“ by the end of calendar €˜22, it did not occur. We are hearing it’s pending very soon. But I would say, until that happens, you are kind of going to see that PFAS market be flat.

Unidentified Analyst: Thanks guys.

Operator: We will take our next question from Joe Giordano with Cowen.

Joe Giordano: Hey. Good morning guys.

Ron Keating: Hey Joe.

Ben Stas: Hi Joe.

Joe Giordano: And so your color on light industry, in general, been doing well sequentially. That was surprising. I mean just in the early earnings we are hearing across our coverage, that is absolutely not the commentary of other companies within those markets. So, maybe if there is like some distinction you can point to between maybe what some of your customers are facing from their own demand and then what they are demanding from you?

Ron Keating: Yes. So, Joe, as you look at our end market exposure, it continues to give us pretty high confidence. I mean we are very heavily concentrated in North America, as you know, the near-shoring and on-shoring have continued to carry a pretty good order activity for us and a fairly robust pipeline. And the other thing that we speak about with regularity, the scarcity of water, the challenges on treating water to a level that is more difficult, and then people trying to do and companies trying to do what’s right around ESG metrics with recycle, reuse minimizing their water footprint feeds, it really aligns very well with the Evoqua’s offering, our solutions we take into the marketplace. So, we are seeing €“ and one thing we talk about is how our pipeline has shifted very heavily from just processed water to wastewater for recycling and reuse. That continues and you are even seeing that across light and general industry as well.

Joe Giordano: Great. And then just, Ben, if you could just clarify on the organic growth this quarter, how much of that was price versus volume?

Ben Stas: We certainly have a lot of price in there. With ISS, it was heavy on the price side. With APT, it was relatively proportional price to volume.

Joe Giordano: Thanks guys.

Ron Keating: Thanks Joe.

Operator: We will take our next question from Patrick Baumann with JPMorgan.