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DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. (XRAY)

Q1 2025 Earnings Call· Thu, May 8, 2025

$11.72

-2.01%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Welcome to the Q1 2025 Dentsply Sirona Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers’ presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the call over to Andrea Daley, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Andrea Daley

Analyst

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Dentsply Sirona first quarter 2025 earnings call. Joining me for today’s call is Simon Campion, Chief Executive Officer; and Rich Rosenzweig, Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and General Counsel. I’d like to remind you that an earnings press release and slide presentation related to the call are available on the Investors section of our website at www.dentsplysirona.com. Before we begin, please take a moment to read the forward-looking statements in our earnings press release. During today’s call, we may make certain predictive statements that reflect our current views about future performance and financial results. We base these statements and certain assumptions and expectations on future events that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Our most recently filed Form 10-K and any updating information in subsequent SEC filings lists some of the most important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from our predictions. On today’s call, our remarks will be based on non-GAAP financial results. We believe that non-GAAP financial measures offer investors valuable additional insights into our business’s financial performance, enable the comparison of financial results between periods where certain items may vary independently of business performance and enhanced transparency regarding key metrics used by management in operating our business. Please refer to our press release for the reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP results. Comparisons provided are to the prior year quarter unless otherwise noted. A webcast replay of today’s call will be available on the Investors section of the company’s website following the call. And with that, I will now turn the call over to Simon.

Simon Campion

Analyst

Thank you, Andrea and thank you all for joining us this morning for our Q1 2025 earnings call. Today, I'll cover our full agenda as Herman Cueto has completed his interim CFO assignment with us. My prepared remarks will include an overview of our recent performance, our Q1 financial results, and an update on our 2025 outlook. I'll then finish with our foundational initiatives and strategy. Before we get started, I want to provide you with some thoughts and comments on the global trade situation and how we're viewing it relative to our business. As a multinational company operating in over 100 countries with a global supply chain, the current and potential tariffs create headwinds and risks in our business. We are confident that the work we have done to strengthen our foundation improves our ability to navigate these potential challenges. As the situation began to evolve, we developed plans to mitigate potential impacts to our business. We continue to monitor the changing landscape and are poised to pivot as necessary. Now, let's start with some key points on Slide 3. In the first quarter, we continued to make progress towards driving reliable and sustainable performance from Dentsply Sirona. Let's run through a few highlights. In Q1, we delivered organic growth in two of our three global regions and continued to improve operational efficiency. Organic sales exceeded our expectations, and while down 4.4%, it did include a negative 4% pipe impact. Imaging performed well in the quarter with our heightened focus resulting in growth across all regions. Wellspect Healthcare delivered another quarter of growth across all geographies, fueled by new product introductions and solid execution. Europe also delivered growth for the second quarter in a row, while Germany, our largest market in Europe, and our second largest market globally, delivered…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. At this time, we'll conduct a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Elizabeth Anderson of Evercore ISI. Your line is now open.

Elizabeth Anderson

Analyst

Hi guys. Good morning and thanks so much for the question. One, I was hoping that you could expand a little bit more on tariff impact? I know you said it was incorporated in your guidance, and I appreciate that that's super helpful and imagine that has some impact. But I was just wondering if you could help us sort of spell out that in a bit more detail.

Simon Campion

Analyst

Yes, good morning Elizabeth, Simon here. So, as you noted, we have factored the tariffs into the current guidance with where tariffs are today. It is -- we have contemplated approximately $0.10 of impact today, and we have -- we're covering that throughout the year. So, on an annualized basis, we think the tariff exposure as of today is about $50 million. As you know, we have a large manufacturing footprint outside of the U.S. and about half of our U.S. sales are generated from goods that are manufactured outside of the U.S. Anything else that comes in, we will -- we've got some options for how to deal with those, but we won't provide any color on what those -- what we think that is right now and if there is any retaliatory impacts from Europe, but we have plans in place to deal with any subsequent issues.

Elizabeth Anderson

Analyst

Got it. No, that's super helpful. Thank you. Appreciate the additional color. And then one -- another question. could you update us on where we are with sort of the CFO search? I know Herman was obviously temporary in an interim, so just wanted to get your latest thoughts there as well.

Simon Campion

Analyst

Yes. So we're making good progress on that, Elizabeth. We have a number of candidates in, I would say, in the late phases of this process. So we are hopeful that we're going to get Herman back in the not-too-distant future.

Elizabeth Anderson

Analyst

Great. Thank you so much.

Simon Campion

Analyst

Thanks, Elizabeth.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Michael Cherny of Leerink Partners. Your line is now open.

Michael Cherny

Analyst

Good morning and thanks for taking the questions. Maybe if I can just dive in a little bit on the orthodontic side a little further. Obviously, the byte roll-off continues. But as you go through that process, can you give us a little more sense on what you're hearing from your customer base, kind of how the SureSmile pitch has gone beyond here. And I'm sorry if I missed this, Simon, but any differences in your view on the eventual potential expansion beyond the current GP market?

Simon Campion

Analyst

Yes. Good morning, Michael. So let me deal with the second part first. As you know, we redeployed some of our byte resources into different parts of our business. And they've contributed to the new dentsplysirona.com and suresmile.com website and are also working on e-commerce in parallel to all of that, the software and R&D teams at the moment, collecting inputs from customers about what the new user interface needs to look like. And so we're making good progress on that, and we expect to be in a position to improve that by the end of the year or maybe into early next year. It's clear to us that we do need to reengage with the orthodontist community. The vast majority of the volume is in that area. We think we have a meaningful solution for them with SureSmile and all the benefits that we think customers gain from that customers and patients, but we do need to improve the user experience because it's not just about the orthodontist, him or herself, it's about their staff members having to navigate a new software and the challenges that causes. So we need to make that more seamless. So I would say we will be providing more information on our intentions over the next quarter due respect to the orthodontist community.

Michael Cherny

Analyst

Perfect. That’s it for me now. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. One moment for our next question. The next question comes from Kevin Caliendo of UBS. Your line is now open.

Dylan Finley

Analyst

Thank you very much. This is Dylan Finley on for Kevin Caliendo. Starting on first, some impressive execution on EBIT margin. In particular, it looks like OIS had some favorability at about a 17% EBIT margin. First of there, is this like a reasonable run rate? Just start with looking at the rest of the year? Any context behind that number?

Simon Campion

Analyst

Yes. Good morning, Dylan, let me be a little bit more general than just OIS. I think we saw an improvement in Q1 for sure. I know that when we released guidance back in February, we had some, what should we say, spotty margin profile throughout the year. So, we're pleased now that that we've managed to smooth out. I don't -- I think you should consider where we landed for Q1 as indicative of where we land for the rest of the year. But for sure, across our -- all of our businesses, we're focused on driving growth, but also being very judicious with our SG&A and that's all helping throughout the P&L.

Dylan Finley

Analyst

Very helpful context. Thanks. And then just one last follow-up. When I look at EPS, your guidance for Q2 being up on a year-over-year basis sort of implies at least $0.92, $0.93 in the first half of the year. Typically, seasonally, we expect to see 4Q equipment really drives the bottom-line result there. So, context, I guess, perhaps behind why 2Q might be a bit soft. Are you conservative? Are there implications from a tariff perspective? Anything on that?

Simon Campion

Analyst

So, the tariff from a tariff perspective, I would say there's more in the tariffs towards the back end of the year. I would say Q2 is normal seasonality that we see as well at Dylan. So, that's about as much color as I can give you on that. In the survey that we've done footfall is still stable within preventative and resto, but there is some slight negativity in the market around tariffs. So, let's see how that shakes out and people will postpone stuff. But yes, normally -- generally, there was just normal seasonality and back end waving of the tariff impact.

Dylan Finley

Analyst

Thank you. [Technical Difficulty]

Andrea Daley

Analyst

We're having some challenges hearing you clearly. If you can please ask for next question? David, it looks like you're next in queue. Can you hear us? And do you want to go ahead with your question?

David Saxon

Analyst

Yes, great. Good morning. Hopefully, you can hear me okay. So, maybe I'll start on CTS. So, the mix there was interesting to see. So, in equipment, growth obviously accelerated. I wanted to ask how much of that was driven by the comp versus any improvement in kind of underlying demand? And then on the CAD/CAM side, what was the impact of dealer inventory? And what are you seeing in iOS price and volumes?

Simon Campion

Analyst

Yes, good morning David. Let me start with the second part first on the inventory. I think as we noted in the prepared remarks, inventory dropped on the CAD/CAM side, but increased on the imaging side. So I think net-net, it's probably a reasonable wash there between both. We are at about normal historical levels on inventory across the board here with our main partners. So no significant impact, I would say, there. On the pricing -- on the scanners, we have not seen that much of a notable change in the quarter. I think net-net for our CAD/CAM business there was about a $1 million degradation from prior year, so not that significant. And yes, that's about it on the front piece.

Andrea Daley

Analyst

Yes. Did you have one more part to your question there, David?

David Saxon

Analyst

Yes. I mean I think that was about it, but my second question, maybe I'll ask on implants. So the US -- on the US side, it looks like it was down in the quarter. I guess, are you seeing any progress on that front? And then premium grew nominally. I think you said in the script. Any color around what it did in the US specifically. Thanks so much for taking my questions.

Simon Campion

Analyst

Yes. Premium grew nominally. The degradation that we saw when some of our legacy brands was offset by growth in the EV family. So that was good to see. We've been out with customers a lot over the past several weeks. And the thing that -- the theme that continues to surface here is the importance of commercial teams and the relationship that the reps have from a clinical perspective and also from, let's say, an organizational perspective with our implant customers. And it strikes to say that we're still in the rebuilding phase. That's what customers are saying to us that reps need clinical savviness and also to be very strong at building relationships, which, as you know, takes some time. We have now completed the retraining of our sales reps on the implant side, so that they're more clinically savvy. We are in the process. They're actually in the building right now of retraining our sales managers on what good sales management looks like. So again, with a disappointing quarter. There's no way to say it any other way, but on implants. But we are -- we continue to try and improve our performance there and improve the quality of our commercial team, improve relationships with these customers. So we -- it is an area of intense focus for us as it has been for two years, and it's disappointing that we have not made more than we had expected.

David Saxon

Analyst

Great. Thanks so much for taking my questions.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Vik Chopra of Wells Fargo. Your line is now open.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Hi, good morning. This is Simran [ph] on for Vik. Thanks for taking the questions here. Just a quick follow-up on the tariff impact in 2025, what mitigation strategies do you have in place? And is that assumed in the $0.10 that you're guiding to for the year? And maybe just on mitigation, what are some strategies you can deploy more near-term? And then what do you have sort of longer-term?

Simon Campion

Analyst

Yes, good morning. There are no mitigation strategies contemplated in the $0.10 that we're offsetting at this point in time. And then your considerations for what we could do in the future. In some areas, we have not quite due manufacturing capability, but let's say we have 1 type of file that's -- endo file that's made in Switzerland, one type is made in the U.S. So, right now, we are trying to move a U.S. customer to a U.S. manufactured file, for example. So, that work is underway right now. We are also -- actually, right now, we are building some strategic stock in certain areas, and we're going to import that into the U.S. to prepare us for what might come in the future. We also think we have some optionality to redistribute stuff that we have in some of our DCs around the world. into U.S.-based distribution sites, which would help. And then obviously, the -- we have -- we will -- we will continue to be extraordinarily prudent with our expenses moving forward. And then the lever that I'm sure people would be most reluctant to pull is some strategic price increases. I think our customers are already expressing some concern about what that may mean across the board, particularly with the reimbursement of dental procedures being compressed, but that that is obviously a lever we have contemplated. And if we were to do so, it would be very strategic and in certain areas only.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Okay, great. And maybe just for my follow-up, could you provide any timing updates or visibility on the resolution of the German tax situation, sort of what is the current status of working with the authorities in Germany and responding to their work class?

Simon Campion

Analyst

Yes. I know that's a question at the front of many people's minds, including ours. The best answer I can give you is we're continuing to work with them. We're continuing to meet with them. We have provided a lot of files. We're cooperating with them. But at this point in time, I don't think they know and therefore, we don't know about when there's a likely resolution. But the resolution is likely to be some time out and the magnitude of that resolution is at this point impossible to define. We remain -- as I've noted before, though, just if I can just finish at that point, we remain very confident in our position. If any ruling goes against it, we will appeal it, and we will go until the end here. We had lots of advice when the merger happened. We continue to get advised that this is standard as recently as Q1. And so our position is unchanged, but there's nothing to see here.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Okay, great. Thank you.

Simon Campion

Analyst

You're welcome.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Jon Block of Stifel. Your line is now open.

Jon Block

Analyst

Great. Thanks and good morning. Simon, maybe I'll just try to wrap up some questions in one. If you can maybe provide a bit more color just on current trends. Simply put, there was really big 1Q upside but no change to the full year guidance. And I get it, there's certainly a ton of moving parts which you touched on a bit. But is it just when we look back, it was sort of a good amount of conservatism to the 1Q guide. Or is there anything to call out that you're seeing as you look forward by product line or by region? And then I'll ask the follow-up.

Simon Campion

Analyst

Okay. All right. Thanks, Jon. I think we had -- as we called out in the script, we had a couple of one-time in Q1, some timing things there, but I think they only contributed, let's say, nominally to our overperformance. I think we're being -- as we were with the original guide. I just think we're being a little prudent here with respect to the outlook for dental. Nothing from our survey, and as I noted, we have over 2,000 respondents in total, nothing has materially changed with respect to footfall and dental practices. Nothing that we see has dramatically changed, certainly in North America with respect to customer sentiment around purchases. We're really pleased to see some improvements in Germany, at least in our performance. But I think the interesting thing from the data that we've gathered, Jon, is the data generation straddled Liberation Day. And we saw a drop in sentiment 3 and post-Liberation Day in general. And it didn't move from concerns to very worried, it moved from not concerned to somewhat concerned. So when you net it out, it was just a slight degradation. But I think we're just being prudent here. There's a lot of moving parts in the macroeconomy and dental in particular. So I would classify it as prudent and let's see where things go from here on in.

Jon Block

Analyst

Got it. That was great. That was very helpful. And I don't think anyone are used with being prudent. I think just to shift gears for the second question, SureSmile was down. I think the words were slightly year-over-year and again, there's still that drag from the DSO customer. But just to push you a bit like when you hit the gas in ortho and you feel like the software is where you want it to be, what's your strategy on how to compete or how to win? And I just asked that because when I look at that landscape, you've got a player from China that's been very aggressive on price. You have another player that's able to leverage their wires and brackets franchise and then you have sort of the big incumbent, if you would. So maybe just talk to us a little bit on where you see the opportunity to go into a market like that and compete and win again when the software is where you want it to be? Thank you.

Simon Campion

Analyst

Yes. Thanks for the question, Jon. I think software is one area that we can leverage. DS Core and our scanner are a pretty powerful combination that we have. So I think that's one lever that will interest people for sure. I think the second one here is that you mentioned price. I think our price position has been pretty competitive with respect to our aligner offering. So that's number two. And then number three, as we think about and as we keep hearing from customers of all types, whether they're GPs or endos or orthos, they want efficient procedures and they want the patient to get in their chair and they want the patient to accept their treatment plan and they don't want the patient to come back for refinements. So we do know and we've spoken about it before, that we have we have fewer attachments with our device, which makes it more efficient for the customer. We have fewer refinements, so the patient isn't coming back. And so when you combine all of those things together, I think do a value proposition that will resonate with the orthodontic community. No, of course, the competition in that space are not going to take a line down. I would suggest that there is lots of room for competition in that space. The aligner market is arguably underpenetrated when you think of the total population. And we do have some unique opportunities with robotic wires and with our advanced SureSmile software as well. So, we are not being -- there's no bravado here from our part. We have to fix the software. We have to redirect our sales team or add to our sales team, and we have to really develop a compelling value proposition to shift customers from a competitor into our business. I guess the final piece, I would say, and we shared this data before, we did a pretty robust survey late last summer, I think it was about 250 orthodontists. And they do have multiple brands on their shelves that they can choose from. And we just need to move our brand up near the top and grab some more of that. It's -- 80% of the volume is with the ortho. We -- I'm sure we can continue to grow in the mid-single - double-digit growth area with the GPs, but the volumes in the ortho. And so if we want to be meaningful, we need to be with orthos.

Jon Block

Analyst

Understood. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Jeff Johnson of Baird. Your line is now open.

Jeff Johnson

Analyst

Thank you. Good morning. Simon. I think we're all learning here through this earnings season on the questions to ask about tariffs and all that. So, maybe if I could ask just a couple more clarify, and I don't want to beat a dead horse here. But the $5 million annualized as you're talking about the $0.10 EPS impact as I do the math, it seems like it's about $25 million that is layering in this year to get down to that $0.10. And so one, should we expect that $25 million this year to go up to the $50 million annualized next year? Or do you think you can mitigate some of that into next year? Number one. Number two, does that $50 million annualized figure that you gave, does that assume the current 10% tariff outside of China or the kind of Liberation Day tariff rates that were higher in some of the European markets? And then the third part, just on tariffs is, do you have much exposure of products made in the U.S. sold in China or China made products sold in the U.S. vice versa? Just -- or is most of it Europe-based? Thank you.

Simon Campion

Analyst

I will try to remember all those parts of that question, Jon -- or Jeff rather. So, we expect the last part, we have nominal exposure, very nominal exposure to China. We have manufacturing there, but it's for China with less than 5% of our materials are from China. So very, very nominal. The $0.10 does translate to, as you said, $24 million, $25 million. Any further exposure, I think there are, I as noted in one of my previous answers, we have not contemplated any mitigation efforts whether that's stock build, whether that's product swap-outs or whether that's more cost synergies for us or, in certain cases price increases in strategic areas. So, we have not contemplated that. And if anything were to give -- it does contemplate the 10% today. If the Liberation Day numbers come out, then we'll have to do further work to decide what we would do there. But I think in contemplation of that we have begun the strategic stock builds. We are looking at relocating product from DCs around the world into North American DCs so that any impact that we would see from a Liberation Day 2.0 tariffs would be offset by product already being in country.

Jeff Johnson

Analyst

All right. That's helpful. Thank you. And then just a cash flow question, if I could. I know you don't guide to cash flow. But CapEx has been up kind of in that upper $150 million to $180 million to $200 million over million over the last couple of years, free cash flow kind of down in that low- to mid-$100 level the last couple of years. Should we expect CapEx to come down at all this year, free cash flow to go up? And just on the short-term funding that you talked about, it seems like some high interest rate on that or a little bit higher interest rate, I guess, I should say, to be fair. So just wondering, how are you feeling on cash? Is there any kind of cash issues we need to be worrying about here in the short run? Thank you.

Simon Campion

Analyst

So with respect to -- let me take the CapEx piece first. I think we're doing a lot of, what should we say, one-time, longer-term projects such as ERP that we would expect would begin to roll off. We've been successful so far with ERP with respect to the launches within a hard breadth of our original originally contemplated budget for ERP. So we're pleased with that. As that rolls off, we should expect CapEx to improve and free cash flow to improve. With respect to the financing, we're just being -- we're being prudent. We had an opportunity, and we decided to take it. We -- there are no other issues that was put in place to address. So it's -- it was just to help us out with short-term debt gives us some flexibility. And just given the current environment, we thought it was prudent -- to be prudent.

Jeff Johnson

Analyst

Fair enough. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Jason Bednar of Piper Sandler. Your line is now open.

Jason Bednar

Analyst

Good morning, everyone. I want to follow up first on Jon Block's first question just to see if we can put an even finer point on the US market. Simon, you mentioned some -- maybe some more cautious commentary on US dentist sentiment from your quarterly survey. I'm trying to process that in the context, I guess, of what you're seeing real-time at the patient level and also at the doctor level. Are you observing any patient reticence in moving forward on treatment, particularly in areas like ortho implants. And then are doctors putting a pause, even a temporary pause on equipment purchase decisions? Or do you think your survey is just an indicator of mood and concern rather than anything that's yet materializing in the end market?

Simon Campion

Analyst

Good morning, Jason. So I would say the survey, both surveys that we've done in terms of footfall, no great difference in the US in terms of intent to purchase, no great difference either, to be fair, in the US. And over the past couple of weeks, I've been out with -- I visited about 17 customers over the past three or four weeks. I've asked them the same question, I've asked them about footfall. I've asked them about patient treatment acceptance rates, I've asked them about their intent to purchase. And these 17 or so customers have said they have not seen a change in the patients footfall or patient traffic. They have not seen a difference in treatment acceptance rates for the procedures that they offer. And if they needed buy some equipment, they would buy it. We -- in the 1,000 people that we surveyed with our inside sales team, the vast majority were just waiting to see what would happen with tariffs. They hadn't indicated that they would trade down to lower-priced consumables or that they would halt any capital equipment purchases. So, I think there's -- I think the survey again, over 2,000 customers, I think there's just not much change for now, it's no better or no worse. And I think given the given the situation that we're all hearing about, I think we would take no better or no worse movements into the survey.

Jason Bednar

Analyst

Okay. All right, that's helpful. And maybe over to another important market for you. It's really good to see that Germany has been performing better, some durability on the growth. As we think about comps in that market in particular, I think you have maybe one or two, maybe three more quarters of really favorable comps, but I think it's just maybe a quarter or two. How do you think that market performs once we anniversary those easier comps? Do you think that durability you've seen in the last few quarters, does that sustain as we exit this year and look beyond?

Simon Campion

Analyst

Yes. So, I think we have probably one more quarter of favorable comp. We've now posted three quarters in a row, Jason, of growth. Again, with respect to the survey that we have from Germany, stable, steady as you go from Germany. We've definitely improved our execution over there. Our CTS business has done well in Germany, particularly imaging and instruments. So, to answer your question, we have confidence moving forward in Germany. We have, indeed, in our top 11 countries, we saw growth in Q1 of -- in six of the 11 -- top 11 countries, so we're pleased about that. There are certain geographies in EMEA that we are now intently focused on doing a German turnaround in those geographies as well. So, hopefully, over the next couple of quarters, we'll begin to be able to share more than just Germany with you from a performance perspective.

Jason Bednar

Analyst

All right. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Brandon Vazquez. Brandon, go ahead, your line is now open.

Brandon Vazquez

Analyst

Hi everyone. Thanks for taking the question and squeezing me in here. Simon, maybe one for you first. When you look at DS Core, it started to get a pretty good scale here and a lot of followers -- lot of subscribers, I mean, can you talk about other than the total number of people on there? What are some of the key operating metrics that you guys are looking at, either from accounts that are on there when you compare it to the accounts not on DS Core? What gets you excited internally when you look at the metrics under the DS Core users?

Simon Campion

Analyst

Yes. Good morning Brandon. We're pleased with where we are. As I noted in the prepared remarks, 43,000 users. I think an important metric here is the number of accounts -- our number of connected devices that we're at in excess of 50,000 connected devices now and we're processing over 100,000 orders every month through our labs. So they are the type of important things that we are doing -- we are looking at. We're also seeing an increase in the number of accounts we are paying for the DS Core subscription. I think the impact of that, to be fair, is nominal right now. But as we add more capability and functionality to it. We expect that to grow. It's definitely creating some stickiness for us in the marketplace. People seem to like it. I was -- I actually got to experience it myself last week when I visited my own dentist and it certainly changes the experience of sitting in a dental chair. We have -- we have a lot of innovation coming around, around the workflows and how they are connected into DS Core. We noted previously that the first phase of implants on Core is going to come out later this year. We have increased the speed of our SureSmile simulations by 90% when it's used with Primescan 2 and DS Core. So we're putting a lot of time and effort into ensuring that this ecosystem is driving our performance moving forward. And the important thing for us is to get these, what should we say, consumable workflows onto DS Core. So endo-preventative, aligners, implants, where the margins are attractive and where they are the bread and butter of dental offices and can become the bread and butter for Dentsply Sirona as well.

Brandon Vazquez

Analyst

Okay. And Simon, maybe as a follow-up, you -- I've always appreciated that you guys take very measured and data-driven approaches when you're kind of making commercial changes here. You're once again talking about doing some surveys to better understand what areas you can improve upon. Talk to us about what segments of the business. You're still running these surveys in what segments of the business that you're most acutely focused on that still need some commercial tweaks you think to turn around. Thanks.

Simon Campion

Analyst

Yes. No, I think the survey is pointed a different way to, I think your -- what your question is asking. The survey is less about -- the work that we're doing less about let's say, implants or aligners or capital equipment. It's more about when the customer or their office staff engage with Dentsply Sirona, what challenges do they face? Do they face challenges with respect to invoicing or billing or the speed at which we answer the phone or our e-commerce platform or our return policy so that we can begin to smooth out the experience -- the customer experience for our customers that is not related to the performance of our product because I think that has been a challenge for us historically. We've spoken before about all the ERP systems that we had, the 14 of them, that has certainly made things quite complex for customers. Our e-commerce experience wasn't great compared to some of our competition. So they are the areas that we are focused on. We are -- that's part of the reason why we have been out in the field over the past couple of months, meeting customers. And this survey will get feedback from -- in excess of 500 customers is our plan across the GP and specialist spaces but also from other staff members who engage with us as well. So, the office manager or the individual who places purchases or makes the phone calls to Dentsply Sirona or to our distributors. So, it's going to be very comprehensive and that will form the backbone or the design input, so to speak, for how we continue to improve the company.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And we have time for one more question. The next question comes from Erin Wright with Morgan Stanley. Go ahead, your line is open.

Erin Wright

Analyst · Morgan Stanley. Go ahead, your line is open.

Great. thanks for squeezing me in. On margins, did you, I guess, accelerate any of the cost management kind of initiatives there? Were there any costs that were pushed out at all? I guess how should we be thinking about that quarterly progression or any sort of anomalies that we should be thinking about in terms of the second quarter? And then my second question, I'll just ask them both upfront, is it more bigger picture in terms of the guidance and the change in management today and the departure. I guess any sort of context there on the departure as well as who was involved in terms of formulating the guidance for dimmable you're taking full ownership of this guidance here? Thanks.

Simon Campion

Analyst · Morgan Stanley. Go ahead, your line is open.

Yes, good morning Erin. So, with respect to expenses, nothing has got pushed out to any other quarters. In fact, we see a very, very modest sequential improvement as we roll through the year with respect to OpEx. So, nothing has got pushed out. And in relation to our guidance, Glenn Coleman, he wasn't part of it. Glenn was -- Glenn had left by that point in time. Glenn made a personal decision to leave Dentsply Sirona. Herman Cueto stepped in, in November, December and was here with us through the end of March. He helped us put guidance together along with our -- with the great finance team that we have. So, there's not much more to say on that. And then with respect to our CFO search, as I answered earlier today, we've got a number of great candidates in the in the final phases here, and I'm hopeful that not-too-distant future, we'll be we'll be in a position to make an announcement about that. But yes, expenses under control guidance is ours and hopefully, have some news on the CFO in the not-to-distant future.

Erin Wright

Analyst · Morgan Stanley. Go ahead, your line is open.

Great. Thank you so much.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. This does conclude the question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn it back to Simon for closing remarks.

Simon Campion

Analyst

Thank you. So, in closing, I would like to recognize the entire Dentsply Sirona team for their commitment to our customers and the transformational journey that we are on together. We're hitting key milestones. We continue to innovate in a very meaningful way, launching new products and technology. We're taking consistent action to advance our plans, and as you hopefully have seen, we are continuing to mitigate risk. As we navigate through an increasingly uncertain external environment, we continue to be focused on what we can control, maximizing the value that we can deliver for our customers, which we continue to believe, in turn, will unlock the true potential of our company for all stakeholders. And thank you for joining us today.

Operator

Operator

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.