Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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And so roughly 1.5% year-on-year benefit is coming from our expectations for currencies in fiscal year ’24. And then in terms of the orders, we haven’t been giving it by quarter. We did say orders were 8.2 billion for the full year. At the midpoint of the year, we had said they were 4.8 billion. And therefore, we’re at 3.4 billion in the second half of the year. The third quarter was above that average, the average of 1.7 was above that. Fourth quarter was slightly below that level. So we saw from Q3 to Q4, it goes down further. But we haven’t been giving it by quarter what our orders are.

Nigel Coe: Okay. Thanks, Nick, helpful.

Operator: We will take our next question from Steve Tusa with JPMorgan. Your line is open.

Steve Tusa: Hi. Good morning.

Blake Moret: Good morning.

Nick Gangestad: Hi, Steve.

Steve Tusa: Just on the bridge, can you just maybe — the incentive comp is a big tailwind, it make sense. It was a headwind this year. Can you just maybe help us with how that breaks out in the first and second quarter here? What type of tailwind you expect there?

Nick Gangestad: Yes. First, for the full year, I’ll just actually say actual numbers. Our total bonus expense in fiscal year ’23 is approximately $240 million. And in our plans for fiscal year ’24, it’s dropping to $120 million. And that expectation of $120 million, that’s spread exactly equally across the four quarters of ’24. In ’23, that $240 million was — I can give you the actual numbers of how that broke out, Steve, if that helps.

Steve Tusa: Yes.

Nick Gangestad: 50 million in Q1, 58 million in Q2, 56 million in Q3 and 80 million in Q4.

Steve Tusa: Wow, great detail. Thanks for that. On the orders, how much of the headwind were actual cancellations? I’m not sure I caught that earlier. What the actual cancellation number was?

Blake Moret: Yes, the cancellations were in a similar range to what we’ve been talking about, which is to say they were not the major contributor to the orders, a decrease. The main contributor by far to the orders decrease is the high inventory levels at the distributors. So cancellations were a relatively small piece of it. At this point, clearing those final golden screw or fourth wheel constrained components to be able to allow distributors to shift, complete bills and material is also a smaller component of the overall contributor to the orders down in Q4.

Steve Tusa: Okay. One last one just on the bridge, the $0.25 of acquisition headwind is pretty big for the Clearpath business, given it’s a relatively small revenue number. That’s all kind of incremental investments you are making, or that’s how much money the business is losing or what’s driving that? So to heed, the $0.25 is a pretty big number.

Blake Moret: Yes, Steve. First of all, as Nick said, we expect the Clearpath contribution to be accretive in fiscal year ’26. This is an important strategic move for Rockwell, and one that I think will be apparent as we talk about it and demonstrate it next week. The dilution in fiscal year ’24 is based on a combination of them ramping their capability. So think of it as somewhat of a startup mode, but also as making sure that we surround it with the right resources to fully integrate it as quickly as possible into Rockwell to be able to provide that value for customers. So that’s not only the technical resources, but it’s the commercial resources, it’s the infrastructure to help them drive cost out of their operations and drive unit cost out of those AMRs. And so it is some additional investment from Rockwell’s part to make sure that we integrate this really thoroughly, because this is a major milestone for us.

Steve Tusa: Great. Thanks for the color, guys. Really appreciate the details.

Aijana Zellner: Abby, we will take one more question.

Operator: Thank you. Our final question will come from Noah Kaye with Oppenheimer. Your line is open.

Noah Kaye: Okay. Thanks for all the details in the guide. Just one housekeeping item. What is the price rollover contribution for 2024, or what is the total contribution of price to organic growth for ’24? And then what are you assuming for cost inflation?

Nick Gangestad: Yes. We are assuming that price growth will be slightly over 1% year-over-year. And in terms of input costs, we’re expecting that to be very neutral year-over-year, causing the net price cost to be a little over 100 basis points accreted to margin.

Noah Kaye: Perfect. Thanks, Nick.

Operator: And ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our question-and-answer session today. I will now turn the call back to Ms. Aijana Zellner for closing remarks.

Aijana Zellner: Thank you everyone for joining us today. That concludes our call.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, you may disconnect. Thank you for your participation.

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