Ajita G. Rajendra
Analyst · Sanjay Shrestha from Lazard Capital Markets
Thanks, John. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Our outlook for 2013 includes the following assumptions: First, we expect our sales growth of A. O. Smith branded products in China to be approximately 2x China GDP rate in 2013, largely driven by products with new features and benefits that provide value to our customers. We also have seen a positive impact in sales coming from online purchases and we expect online sales to more than double in 2013 from $5 million last year. We also continue to evaluate the productivity of our distribution footprint, and our customers are doing the same thing. As a result, a net 300 stores were closed in the first quarter and we ended the quarter with approximately 5,200 outlets. The closure of underperforming stores had little impact on overall first quarter revenue in China, which grew at 15% compared with last year. Second major assumption in our outlook. We expect our Lochinvar brand to continue to benefit from the transition from lower efficiency, non-condensing boilers to higher efficiency condensing boilers. Lochinvar branded condensing boilers continue to offer a compelling payback in the form of energy savings and we have built a reputation for innovation and product quality. As a result, we expect Lochinvar branded sales to grow 10% in 2013, well ahead of GDP growth in the U.S. I should remind everyone that we do have some seasonality related to the boiler products that we sell for hydronic heating. We typically have sales and profits of our Lochinvar branded products in the second half of the year that are lower -- that are higher than in the first half of the year. Third, we are cautiously optimistic about the developing recovery in U.S. housing. We expect residential water heater volumes in the U.S. to be 200,000 units higher this year than last year, based on an upward revision of our housing completions forecast. Even though our commercial volumes were very strong in the first quarter, which we believe was largely due to a pre-buy related to a Northern California regulatory change, we expect commercial volumes to be up only about 1% for the full year. Our business is performing well and our balance sheet and cash flow are strong, which affords us the confidence to continue to pay a very competitive dividend yield. As such, we increased our dividend by 20% last week. Our outlook for the U.S. water heater business has fundamentally improved from 3 months ago, when we originally announced our 2013 guidance. We have increased our 2013 adjusted EPS guidance to between $3.40 and $3.56 per share. The midpoint of our new range represents a 13% increase over 2012 adjusted EPS of $3.08 per share. This guidance does not include the restructuring charges associated with the planned rationalization, the settlement with the former supplier, nonoperating pension costs or future acquisitions. Our GAAP EPS guidance is now expected to be between $3 and $3.16 per share due to the impact from the restructuring charges partially offset by the settlement, neither of which were in our GAAP guidance at the beginning of the year. This continues to be an exciting and transformative time in our company. We have cash and borrowing capacity for additional acquisitions and our pipeline of acquisitions supporting our stated growth strategy to expand our global footprint in water heating and water treatment solutions is very active. As we presented at our Analyst Day last fall, we expect to grow organically over 7% per year which would result in $2.4 billion of sales in 2015. Adding our dry powder and making some assumptions about acquisitions, we expect to achieve revenues in excess of $3 billion, with 1/3 from higher growth regions in the world. Using these assumptions, we expect our existing businesses to deliver earnings of $4.30 a share in 2015. We expect to achieve $5 per share in 2015, and use of our cash and borrowing capacity are added to our organic growth. Based on core competencies and our strategic focus -- our strategic focus for growth is simple, hot water and clean water. We are pursuing actionable acquisitions in these 2 areas around the world. We are also pursuing acquisitions which expand our core product lines. We are particularly keen on products and technologies that offer energy and water efficiency gains. And finally, we are considering water-related adjacencies which can leverage our distribution and brand to provide value to our shareholders. Our integration of Lochinvar is complete. We have the human capital, financial resources and strategic focus to continue to add companies to our global platform which create shareholder value. And our business development teams are pursuing opportunities all over the world to do just that. You've seen this next chart before, and we show this only as a reminder that we will be a financially disciplined acquirer. Our transactions will be focused on creating returns for our shareholders. Ladies and gentlemen, that's the end of our prepared comments. And now we are open for questions.