Johnson Controls International plc (NYSE:JCI) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

For the parts where we actually have differentiated product, we see tremendous momentum both on pricing, but as well as the margin that comes on the back end of that particularly thinking about our Applied HVAC businesses that have been operating at very strong margin over the last few months and continue to see quite good momentum from a price cost standpoint.

Gautam Khanna: Okay, and could you expand that commentary on the Resi market as well, are you still able to get price, is there any pushback, are you seeing any evidence of trade downs or movement to repair versus replace and the like?

George R. Oliver: No. As we’ve said previously, we’ve continued to lead pricing, making sure that with all of the reinvestments that have been made to support these regulatory changes, that we’re positioned to be able to get the proper price and that continues. And so in spite of us being maybe not one of the top players, we’ve been very disciplined relative to how we’re creating the value proposition and ultimately, how we’re pricing in the market.

Gautam Khanna: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. And our next question today comes from Chris Snyder at UBS. Please go ahead.

Christopher Snyder: Thank you. So for revenue, you guys are guiding March up about 10% sequentially, which is a good deal stronger than the typical mid-single-digit ramp that we’ve seen in most years. Maybe can you just talk about the drivers of this, the sharp increase into the March quarter? I understand there’s a couple of points of cybersecurity catch-up, but it sounds like GP maybe has yet to stabilize. I think you said it troughs in the March quarter, so I would expect some headwinds there still remain? Thank you.

Olivier C. Leonetti: Yes. It’s coming and I think you mentioned it in your question. There’s some return to normal seasonality versus the prior year. As we were flowing through the backlog, you can see that seasonality picking up, and that’s lifting us a couple of points. But you’re absolutely right. The cyber disruption and the loss of momentum it had created in the quarter there were very few orders that were lost, but the cycle time of our commercial team expanded as we were going through the quarter. And that created a challenge in the first quarter that now provides tailwind from a growth standpoint in the second quarter.

Christopher Snyder: And was it 1 — I know you guys called out 1 point in the December quarter, if I remember correct. Was it 1 point again from cyber in the March quarter?

Marc Vandiepenbeeck: I don’t believe we were that prescriptive, to be honest with you. It’s really hard to measure with precision, how much was cyber versus the markets at the time. But I think if you look at the momentum we’ve built now in Q2, I would tell you, it’s a few points of benefit that we are seeing.

Christopher Snyder: Got it, thank you. And then for my follow-up, on Global Products, you guys talked about seeing stabilization. Can you maybe talk about the respective product lines within that, but being Resi, Light Commercial, and Fire and Security, are they all showing stabilization, are any leading, any lagging on that normalcy? Thank you.

George R. Oliver: When you look at our — the global products and more of the transactional businesses book-to-bill, we went through a significant inventory adjustment last year in the channel. When you look at our order rates now coming in and now what we’re projecting in revenue, we’re seeing that positive across the board. Again, in the duct business, Resi still is down — still down about 20%, with price, we’re down single digits. That will continue to improve as we go through the year. But beyond that, across the board, we’re seeing very strong orders in line with what we’re projecting for revenue as we go forward.

Christopher Snyder: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. And our next question comes from the Nicole DeBlase with Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.

Nicole DeBlase: Yeah, thanks, good morning guys. So we’ve covered a lot of ground here. I guess the last thing I just wanted to ask about is, I’ll just keep it to one question, is you guys gave guidance and reported earnings obviously pretty late in the fourth quarter, with only a couple of weeks to go. So how did China take you by such a surprise where we’re only a month later and we have to cut guidance by $0.05? Thank you.

Marc Vandiepenbeeck: Yes. The disruption that came from the cyber incidents also slowed down the pace at which data flows through the organization. And as I mentioned in the opening remarks, we had factored a fairly cautious outlook on China. But our ability to really pin down exactly the impact, it was actually going to have in the current quarter and following quarter, as we all know about six weeks smarter and more educated about the challenges and that outlook has worked on further. We discussed it in a prior question, it’s a combination of the market condition and us being more selective in the type of deal and the type of transaction we decide to pursue.

Operator: Thank you. And our next question comes from Joe O’Dea with Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.

Joseph O’Dea: Hi, good morning. In your reference to simplifying and standardizing costs across the portfolio, I think you’ve been on some kind of notable cost out as it relates to both COGS and SG&A. Is this sort of setting up for the next chapter or can you talk a little bit about where you see the biggest opportunities on simplifying some of the cost structure and any sizing of those opportunities?

George R. Oliver: Yes, so let me reflect on that. I mean we’ve been through a major transformation, taking a set of businesses that were a lot of a lot of variation in the fundamentals within the operating system. We now have standardized that across the board. That has allowed us to become much more efficient, reducing layers and ultimately, the cost that is required to support the business. As we continue now, so it’s a twofold not only standardizing the processes but then with automation and IT supporting those processes with good data, that is all accelerated within the company, which has allowed us to be able to now capitalize on more simplification. That’s one element. And then from a selling standpoint, as we then standardize our operating system around commercial, we’ve also been able to align our commercial resources in line with the market with the segmentation that we’re driving to be able to drive our growth, and we’re seeing a significant pickup there also.