Operator: We will now take our final question today from Elizabeth Anderson, Evercore. Please go ahead.
Elizabeth Anderson: Hi, guys. Apologies about the audio issues before. My question was just on the non-operating items, it seems like both on interest expense and maybe on the share count, based on the ASR that you talked about and the interest expense in the first quarter, that there’s a little bit of conservatism in that number in those – both of those numbers
Operator: And it seems we have lost…
Aaron Alt: I’ll answer the question. I think she was seeking to ask. The question from what I heard was interest and other, are we being conservative as well on what’s going on with our share count? And I guess I would offer the following. We were pleased to see continued benefit in the quarter from I&O, driven by the fact that we have such high cash balances and the return we’re receiving on those cash balances. We are, of course, also benefiting in the quarter from the fact that we are largely fixed rates. We have been now for several quarters. And so we haven’t been exposed to the interest rate increases that some other companies may be dealing with, and that’s just driven by the good stewardship previously. We do have a maturity coming at the end of fiscal 2024.
It’s about $750 million or so from recollection. And we’ve commented that we’re likely to refinance that. I haven’t commented on the timing of that as we care forward. And so we believe the guide – the updated guide we provided on I&O reflects the benefits and the various trade-offs in that. With respect to the share count, I do think it’s important to call out that as we have consistently said, we don’t guide for share count changes beyond the baseline share repurchase. We made a commitment at this during our Investor Day in June that our baseline share repurchase was going to be $500 million during fiscal year 2024. We completed that in the first quarter. That is the share repurchase we’re talking about today, and our guide reflects the impact of that – of the completion of that share repurchase program.
It does not reflect any other changes to share repurchase over the course of the year. As Jason called out earlier, we have the benefit of our cash balance. And having invested, having the plans that we do to invest in the business, CapEx-wise, $92 million in the first quarter, targeting $500 million for the year, and continue to make progress on our investment grade rating and the two outlook changes – positive outlook changes that we received during the quarter, having made our baseline share repurchase during Q1 as well as continuing to pay our dividend. As we are, as a dividend aristocrat and now we have the opportunity and support of the plans to take the resources we have available to us to invest back in the business with that specialty focus that Jason has called out several times to look at M&A in a disciplined manner, as Jason called out, and then to also consider further opportunistic share repurchase in due time as we assess how the year is performing.
I think that’s where Elizabeth was going.
Operator: Thank you. With this, we conclude today’s question-and-answer session. And now I’d like to hand the call back over to Jason Hollar for any additional or closing remarks. Over to you, sir.
Jason Hollar: Yes. Thanks again, everyone, for joining us this morning. As we’ve said a few times, it was a great start to the year. We’re pleased with our broad-based performance and to be in the position that we are today to raise our guidance after just the first quarter. We look forward to, certainly, continuing to update you on our progress against these plans throughout the year. And with that, thank you, and have a great day.
Operator: Thank you. This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for your participation. Ladies and gentlemen, you may now disconnect.
