nVent Electric plc (NVT) Earnings

Management highlights

• Tremendous first quarter results with record sales, orders, backlog exceeding expectations, third consecutive quarter over $1 billion in sales. • Sales and EPS significantly exceeded guidance driven by strong growth in infrastructure vertical, especially data centers. • Data center business grew in gray and white spaces, winning with various customers. • Investments in new products and capacity key to scaling. • Opened new Blaine, Minnesota facility in Q1, production to ramp. • Organic orders up ~40% primarily from AI data center build-out, backlog grew low double digits to $2.6 billion. • Free cash flow and balance sheet strong, discipline capital allocation focused on growth and returning cash to shareholders. • Portfolio transformation to focus on infrastructure vertical, infrastructure now over 55% of sales

Guidance

• Raised full-year reported sales growth to 26%-28%, organic sales growth to 21%-23% from prior 10%-13%. • Raised full-year adjusted EPS range to $4.45-$4.55 from $4-$4.15. • Forecasted second quarter reported sales 28%-30%, acquisitions contributing ~5 points, organic sales growth 23%-25%, adjusted EPS $1.12-$1.15

Segment performance

Systems Protection: Sales of $895 million increased 76%. Acquisitions contributed 24 points of sales. Organically, sales grew 50%, with infrastructure growing over 100%, industrial mid-single digits, commercial resi high teens. Americas grew over 65%, Europe low single digits, Asia Pacific down. Segment income $203 million, up 95%, return on sales 22.7% up 220 basis points. Electrical Connections: Sales of $347 million increased 15%. Organic sales up 8%, EPG acquisition contributed six points. Infrastructure led high teens, industrial mid-single digits, commercial resi low single digits. All regions grew. Americas high single digits, Europe low single digits, Asia Pacific mid-single digits. Segment income $85 million flat, return on sales 24.4% down 390 basis points, impacted by higher raw material inflation but expected to improve in Q2 and balance of year

Analyst Q&A

• Q: Dean Dre asked about what drove the outperformance,

  A: Growth was broad-based, infrastructure leading, significant growth from data centers, white space leading but gray space also growing, investment in new products and capacity key.

• Q: Joe Ritchie asked about capacity going forward and infrastructure growth,

  A: Investing across multiple factories and existing sites to support growth, infrastructure growth strong as per investor day outlook.

• Q: Joe Ritchie asked about margins,

  A: Invent margins higher than guided, systems protection leverage offset EC headwind from higher inflation, pricing and productivity actions improved margins in Q1, expect improvement in Q2 and balance of year.

• Q: Nigel Coe asked about margin progression,

  A: Meaningful improvement in Q2, EC margins to get towards historical levels, first half flat vs year ago, second half margin growth.

• Q: Julian Mitchell asked about backlog visibility and organic sales growth framework,

  A: Backlog continues to grow, most over 12 months, organic sales growth mid-30s two-year stack.

• Q: Julian Mitchell asked about margins and inflation,

  A: Margin expansion in line with prior guidance, inflation mid single digits, additional pricing in Q1 to offset.

• Q: Jeff Sprague asked about Blaine orders and systems protection margins,

  A: New products launching in Q2 and Q3, orders to follow, systems protection margin expansion throughout year with continued investment.

• Q: Jeff Sprague asked about tariffs,

  A: Incremental tariff $80 million this year, U.S. tariff environment fluid, waiting to see.

• Q: Vlad Bystrycki asked about order durability,

  A: Orders broad-based across verticals, backlog and order book give visibility to strong growth.

• Q: Vlad Bystrycki asked about M&A pipeline,

  A: Robust pipeline, focus on infrastructure vertical, disciplined and thoughtful about targets.

• Q: Nicole DeBlaise asked about order pipeline and book-to-bill,

  A: Strong book-to-bill ratio, new products launching, wide customer interest including hyperscalers, neoclouds, multi-tenants, distribution strength.

• Q: Brian Drab asked about new products success and visibility,

  A: New products related to data centers strong, many new products to launch through year, view on customer demands several years out.

• Q: Jeff Hemant asked about TRAC-D and EPG,

  A: TRAC-D and EPG extended capabilities, growing nicely, opportunities in data centers, leveraging scale for synergy.

• Q: Alexander Virgo asked about order development,

  A: Power utilities mid-teens growth, data center growth across various product lines.

• Q: Neil Burke asked about competitive landscape in liquid cooling,

  A: Liquid cooling capability developed organically, good application expertise, field experience, continuing to invest, confident in strategy.

• Q: Scott Graham asked about inflation and Europe expansion,

  A: Elevated inflation in quarter, raised inflation expectation, plan to move into Europe more aggressively with focus on customers and growth opportunities.

• Q: Austin Wang asked about data center business growth and gray/white space percentage,

  A: Data center business strong growth, liquid cooling and other product lines growing, Investor Day said 80% white space and 20% gray space within data center business