Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Matthew Pine: And Joe, just to add, what — when we say it’s built by utility for, utilities is that there are many other solutions that are out there, but they can tend to be quite complex and overly sophisticated. And this really allows them to design a solution that meets the utility where they are on the journey. Not every utility is of the same space or the same place in the journey as to how sophisticated the system needs to be. And so it could be tailored in that regard, but it’s also a highly standardized platform. And that’s part of the efficiency of their rollout is how easy it is to maintain.

Joe Giordano: And then you guys were spending like a decent amount of resources kind of thinking about developing something like this internally at Xylem, if I’m correct. So now that you’ve made this decision here, which looks like it’s already kind of packaged and ready to go for you, how do you reallocate the resources and what kind of impact does that have of not spending money trying to develop this internally?

Sandy Rowland: Yes. So I think that’s a great question, Joe. There are certainly some overlaps between what we’re spending money on from an R&D perspective. Just to remind you, the structure of the transaction is that it’s a commercial agreement, which allows us to take the product and sell it on a global basis. And on top of that, we have a minority investment. And so there are certain things that we’re going to keep going on our end. And then there are certain things that we’re going to be able to leverage between the 2 companies. But there are certainly some synergies there. But really, this is a growth play.

Joe Giordano: Okay. Just wanted to move to the 1Q guide here. Can you kind of talk a little bit about a bridge from maybe where we’re exiting to where we are in 1Q? I’m trying to discern how much of this is being conservative versus how much is — I guess it’s early in the year and it’s an uncertain year. Like if I look at, let’s say, applied for example, or even M&CS. You’re guiding applies basically up low single digits for the quarter and for the year. I would have thought that just given what’s happening in resi, maybe it starts the year well above that and then finishes maybe flattish. So now you’re kind of anticipating similar growth all year. Maybe talk us through that and M&CS, the guidance there kind of was what we expected heading in. But after the 4Q suggests like a 1Q step down off the 4Q run rate on revenue. So maybe talk us through that.

Sandy Rowland: Yes. Joe, I mean, there’s a few things to unpack there. Let me start and the team here will remind me what else you asked. So look, there is some seasonality in our business. And if you look at it from a revenue perspective, we’ll have a step down in revenue between Q4 and Q1. We always do. The biggest step down is actually in Water Infrastructure that has a big Q4. M&CS, there will be a little bit of a step down to. It’s not so much in the metrology business, but some of the other businesses that we highlighted earlier on the call, our pipeline assessment services business, our test business, there’s some seasonality there. So I think it’s somewhere between $150 million and $200 million step down, Q4 to Q1. And that aligns with sort of our historical patterns.