Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Michael Larsen: So, I think you know this, Tami, we don’t break out price and volume. And I’d say both elements contributed and it’s a little different equipment versus service, but certainly some really strong activity. North America, I think, we said up 8%, that has Equipment up 5%, services up 15%, by end market institutions up 13%, health care up 18%, restaurants, still really strong performance there. Retail a little softer. That can be a little lumpy, international side, up 5%. So, I think really strong quarter by Food Equipment and actually looking really good for Q3. I think that they should be putting up another really strong quarter. There might be a little bit of – if you go back and look, the comparisons are a little bit challenging on a year-over-year basis. But overall, the underlying demand in food equipment remains really healthy and really well positioned again for the second half.

Tami Zakaria: Got it. That’s very helpful color. And if I can ask a follow-up about your Welding segment, I thought the results there were very interesting. Operating margin was up 460 basis points even though organic growth was about 1%. So, what’s driving this very strong operating margin leverage? Is it purely price/cost, or is there something else going on in there?

Michael Larsen: There is something else going on in there, Tami. So, it’s a similar answer to what I said for Construction. I mean I think there is a healthy dose of enterprise initiatives. And then we’re still recovering the margin impact on price/cost. So, those are the main drivers here. And like I said, I mean, price/cost, we expect that to normalize in the second half, but the Enterprise initiatives and we expect that to continue into the – through the balance of the year and into next year.

Tami Zakaria: Perfect, thank you.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Andy Kaplowitz from Citigroup. Your line is open.

Andy Kaplowitz: Hey, good morning everyone.

Michael Larsen: Good morning.

Andy Kaplowitz: So you mentioned you thought electronics-related markets look like they may be bottoming out. Could you give us more color into what you’re seeing here prompted you to say that? And then stepping back and focusing on the 25% of the business, including Electronics, that has been weak, would you say that like Electronics, you are seeing the bottoming in many of these markets, maybe outside of European Construction, which you already mentioned? Or was that [indiscernible] just focused on Electronics?

Michael Larsen: So let me do the semi portion first. I mean, I think, there has been this view that the second half would be a step-up from the first half. Really, we talked about this going into the year.

Scott Santi: Mostly from what we’re hearing from our customers.

Michael Larsen: And I was going to say, the customer feedback has now become even more supportive of that view along the lines of get ready for orders to come back here in the second half and make sure you have the capacity to support us, which, of course, we do. So, that’s kind of the color commentary around semi. And similar to what you’re hearing from other…

Scott Santi: We’re not baking any of that into our back half…

Michael Larsen: That’s a good point. None of that is baked in. So I think that’s…

Scott Santi: We’ll take them when we see it.

Michael Larsen: Exactly like we normally do; none of that would be in our run rates, obviously. And so we’d be happy to see that here late Q3, Q4, if we get those – if that really comes to fruition. On the 25% of the portfolio, I think maybe to give you a little bit more detail, I think what was really encouraging this quarter is if you look at the performance of those businesses, and there are some puts and takes. There are some businesses that are no longer slowing, that have moved out and others, I think Construction Europe was an example that maybe have moved in, but it’s still about 25% of the company. Those businesses were down 7% year-over-year in the first quarter, and they were only down 3% in the second quarter.