Ametek (AME) Q1 2026 earnings call transcript

Thank you, Stacey. Good morning, and welcome to Ametek's first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Joining me today are Dave Zipiko, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Dala Puri, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. During the course of today's call, we will be making forward-looking statements which are subject to change based on various risk factors and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ significantly from expectations.

A detailed discussion of the risk and uncertainties that may affect our future results is contained in Ametek's filings with the SEC.

Ametek disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. Any references made on this call to historical results will be on an adjusted basis, excluding after-tax, acquisition-related and tangible amortization, and excluding acquisition-related cost. Reconciliations between GAAP and adjusted measures can be found in our press release and on the Investor section of our website. We'll begin today's call with prepared remarks, and then we'll open up the call for questions. And I'll turn the meeting over to Dave.

Thank you, Kevin, and good morning, everyone. Ametek delivered an excellent first quarter, highlighted by double-digit sales growth, exceptional orders growth, robust core margin expansion, record EBITDA, and a high quality of earnings that exceeded our expectations. We also raised our full-year earnings guidance to reflect our first quarter results and the outlook for the balance of the year. Today, we also announced we signed a definitive agreement to acquire First Aviation Services, an attractive acquisition which strategically broadens our defense aftermarket capabilities. I will provide more details on First Aviation shortly.

Now, let me turn to our first quarter financial results. First quarter sales were $1.93 billion, up 11% from the same period in 2025. Organic sales were up 5%. Acquisitions added 5 points with foreign currency at Tailwind. Orders were outstanding in the quarter with broad-based and meaningful growth across all Ametek divisions. Overall orders were a record $2.2 billion, up 23% versus the prior year, and organic orders were up 22%, leading to a record backlog of $3.87 billion. Operating income in the quarter was $517 million, a 14% increase over the first quarter of 2025. Operating margins were 26.8% in the quarter, and core margins were an impressive 27.9%, up a robust 160 basis points versus the prior year.

EBITDA in the quarter was a record $620 million, up 11% versus the prior year, with EBITDA margins of strong 32.1%. Our excellent operating performance led to strong cash generation, with free cash flow to net income conversion of 107%. Diluted earnings per share were $1.97, up 13% versus the first quarter of 2025, and above our guidance range of $1.85 to $1.90 per share.

Now let me provide some additional details at the operating group level. First, the electronic instruments group. EIG had an excellent first quarter with double-digit sales growth, strong operating performance, and a meaningful inflection in orders. EIG sales in the quarter were $1.26 billion, up 11% from last year's first quarter. Organic sales were up 2%, and acquisitions added 7 points, with foreign currency the balance of the growth. Organic orders for EIG were up an impressive 25% in the quarter. This growth was broad-based across all EIG divisions and end markets with notable growth within our defense, power, and semiconductor businesses.

EIG's first quarter operating income was $376 million, up 6% versus the prior year. Core operating margins were an outstanding 31.4%, up 40 basis points from the prior year. The electromechanical group also delivered excellent results in the quarter, with continued strong sales and orders growth, along with exceptional operating performance, leading to sizable core margin expansion. EMG's first quarter sales were a record $664 million, up 13% versus the prior year. Organic sales were, again, up double digits at 11%, with foreign currency a two-point Sales growth was broad-based with our automation, engineered solutions, and aerospace and defense businesses, all delivering excellent growth in a quarter. Additionally, EMG organic orders were again outstanding, up 16% versus the prior year.

EMG's operating income in the first quarter was $171 million, up 33% compared to the prior year period. While EMG's first quarter core operating margins were up sharply to 26%, a considerable 410 basis point increase versus the first quarter of 2025. I wanted to take a moment to expand on the strength and breadth of Ametek's order growth in the quarter. The 22% organic orders growth reflects the ongoing strength within our aerospace and defense markets, as well as the continued strong growth across our automation and engineer solution markets. Importantly, it also reflects a meaningful inflection in orders for our process instrumentation and power businesses in the quarter. As the strong pipeline of opportunities we have been highlighting is translating into substantial orders growth.

Contributing to the order strength were several large orders in the quarter, which helped fill in our full-year sales outlook. These large orders are aligned with attractive market segments including defense, space, power, and semiconductor, all markets where Ametek is poised to benefit from strong and growing demand. Within defense, we are seeing broad-based strength, including within missile defense, UAVs, and naval applications.

The growth in defense budgets is being driven by modernization of defense capabilities and the ongoing geopolitical conflicts, creating a strong global growth outlook for defense spending, including from NATO allies. Our aerospace and defense businesses was recently selected to provide a range of technologies in support of three UAV programs, one program in the U. S. , and two with NATO allies.

Products being provided on these programs include ruggedized thermal management systems, power distribution equipment, advanced sensors, and embedded computing app solutions. Our E-MIT business also provides highly engineered, specialized fluid transfer solutions for critical military and defense applications, and in the first quarter saw strong orders growth across many key defense platforms, including in support of nuclear submarines.

Within nuclear, we're also seeing strong commercial nuclear demand and orders. Ametek businesses provide a range of highly specialized products to this market, including fluid transfer solutions, radiation detection equipment, and uninterruptible power solutions in support of nuclear power facilities.

Switching to space and satellite communications market, our Kern Micro-Technique business recently received a sizable order to provide ultra-precision machining solutions in manufacturing services in support of critical RF components used in low-Earth orbit satellites. Kearns' advanced precision machining solutions are targeted for mission-critical applications, which require maximum accuracy, stability, and repeatability. And lastly, our Abaco business, a leading provider of ruggedized embedded computing solutions, continues to see strong demand with a significant win in the semiconductor capital equipment market. Abaco recently secured an agreement to provide advanced computing technology to support AI-driven demand It is good to have a great day and a great day. We also have a great day and a great day. We find that we have a great day, a great day.

We have been looking forward to seeing big plans. We have been looking forward to seeing big plans. Before we move too far off the topic of key programs and our ability to develop the key technology-driven demand for advanced semiconductor tools, a big plan that we've seen as we've seen before. This is the overall quality of our technology-driven demand for advanced semiconductor tools. As a topic of key programs and our ability to deliver and the most critical and demanding of applications, I want to take a moment to highlight a particularly timely example of our differentiated technology. Ametek sensors and fluid management systems, a leader in advanced specialized sensing solutions for the aerospace, defense, and space markets, provided critical solutions used on the recent Artemis II mission that eclipsed the record for the furthest manned space mission.

Our SFMS business provided thin-film pressure transducers that supported mission-critical life support infrastructure on the Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle. This application demonstrates our ability to serve even the most demanding of applications and our ongoing commitment to reliability, precision, and accuracy. Congratulations to the Ametek Sensors and Fluid Management Systems team on this exciting success, And also to the four other Ametek businesses, FMH, UEI, NSI, and Zygo Pixelink that also supported the Artemis platform of specialized technology.

Now turning to acquisitions and capital deployment. With our robust balance sheet, strong cash flows, and disciplined approach to capital deployment, Ametek is well positioned to continue driving long-term value through our disciplined acquisition strategy. We are managing a very strong pipeline of acquisition opportunities across a wide range of deal sizes and markets, and are encouraged by the strong pipeline of high-quality acquisition candidates.

As Dalib will touch on, our significant financial capacity provides the opportunity to deploy well over $5 billion in capital while maintaining an investment-grade credit rating. Our top priority for capital deployment remains acquisitions, and we expect to remain active in this area. We were pleased to announce this morning that we have signed a definitive agreement to acquire First Aviation Services, a leading provider of defense and aviation MRO services as well as proprietary part design and manufacturing. The combination of First Aviation with Amatek's MRO business will provide attractive market expansion opportunities and additional scale for our A&D aftermarket businesses.

First Aviation is privately held and has six U. S. -based centers of excellence. They have approximately $80 million in annual sales, and the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. Alongside this acquisition and capital deployment strategy, we continue to invest in our businesses to ensure Ametek is strategically positioned for long-term sustainable growth. For 2026, we continue to expect to invest an incremental $100 million to support our growth initiatives, with the majority of this investment going into RD&E and sales and marketing initiatives. These investments continue to deliver excellent returns. In the first quarter, our Vitality Index, which measures sales of new products introduced over the last three years, was an outstanding 25%. Now we take a moment to highlight an example of an exciting new product from our RTDS Technologies business RTDS is a leader in real digital simulation of power systems infrastructure and hardware testing in the loop The real-time electromagnetic transient simulators enable detailed studies of power systems, allowing engineers to anticipate system and device behaviors that threaten the stability, resilience, and performance of the power grid.

RTDS recently updated their simulator platform with new features, including a data center module and an updated workflow that provides more accurate representations of third-party power solutions. This innovation helps data center operators model the power electronics required for key components, such as the uninterruptible power supply systems and the variable frequency drive used in power and cooling systems. This new product led to two new notable orders in the first quarter in support of data center testing applications from large power equipment providers. Congratulations to the RTDS Technologies team on this exciting new product development. I would like to take a moment to discuss the conflict in the Middle East and how Ametek is navigating this evolving dynamic. Ametek has only a small sales exposure to the region, with approximately 2% of sales into the Middle East.

Most of that small exposure is within our EIG process sub-segment and is tied to energy markets. We do not expect a meaningful direct impact on Ametek given this small exposure. However, like everyone, we are not immune to the broader macroeconomic uncertainty. We are continuing to monitor developments in the region, especially for impacts on the energy market and potential spillover effects. With all that said, I am confident that Ametek will continue to navigate this period of increased uncertainty based on the flexibility and durability of our operating model and our proven track record of performing well in challenging environments. Now shifting to our outlook for the balance of the year. For 2026, we now expect overall sales to be up high single digits on a percentage basis, with organic sales now expected to increase mid-single digits versus the prior year.

With the strong results from the first quarter, diluted earnings per share for the year are now expected to be in the range of $7.94 to $8.14, up 7 to 10 percent compared to last year's results. This is an increase from our prior four-year guide of $7.87 to $8.07 per diluted share. For the second quarter, we anticipate overall sales to be up high single digits on a percentage basis with adjusted earnings of $1.96 to $2 per share, up 10-12% versus the prior year.

To summarize, Ametek delivered an excellent first quarter. Our outstanding results reflect the strength of our portfolio and the resilience of our operating model. Our businesses are aligned with attractive, secular growth trends and are well-diversified across end markets, customers, technologies, and geographies. We are leaders in niche markets where our differentiated technology solutions play a mission-critical role in our customers' most demanding applications. Our highly engineered products are designed into applications governed by strict regulatory We primarily serve customers in long-cycle industries with long asset lifespans, resulting in a low obsolescence risk. Taking together these advantages position Ametek for sustained long-term success, and we seek significant opportunities for continued value creation. Our culture is deeply ingrained across the organization.

Our competitive positions are strong and continuing to expand. Our operating model is durable, flexible, and scalable. Finally, we are supported by an experienced and proven team that has consistently performed through a wide range of marketing conditions.

I will now turn it over to Dalip Puri, who will cover some of the financial details of the quarter. Then we will be glad to take your questions. Dalip.

Thank you, Dave, and good morning, everyone. As Dave noted, Ametek delivered an outstanding start to the year, highlighted by excellent orders, sales, and earnings growth. Robust core margin expansion and strong cash flow generation.

Now let me provide some additional financial highlights for the first quarter. First quarter corporate general and administrative expenses were $30 million, or 1.5% of sales. For the full year, we continued to expect corporate general and administrative expenses to be approximately 1.5% of sales. First quarter other operating expenses were $1 million, largely in line with the first quarter of 2025. First quarter interest expense was $21 million, up $2 million from the first quarter of 2025. The effective tax rate in the quarter was 19%. For 2026, we continued to anticipate our effective tax rate to be between 18.5% and 19.5%. As we have stated in the past, actual quarterly tax rates can differ dramatically, either positively or negatively, from this full-year estimated rate.

Capital expenditures in the first quarter were $25 million, and for the full year, we expect capital expenditures to be approximately $160 million, or about 2% of sales. Depreciation and amortization expense in the quarter was $105 million. For the full year, we expect depreciation and amortization to be approximately $430 million, including after-tax acquisition-related intangible amortization of approximately $210 million, or 91 cents per diluted share. For the quarter, operating working capital was 17.5%, a 60 basis point improvement versus 18.1% in last year's first quarter. Operating cash flow was $452 million, up 8% versus the first quarter of 2025. Free cash flow was also up 8% year over year to $426 million. Free cash flow conversion was strong at 107% for the quarter.

For 2026, we continue to expect free cash flow conversion to be approximately 110 to 115% of net income. Total debt at March 31st was $2.2 billion, down from $2.3 billion at the end of 2025. Offsetting this debt is cash and cash equivalents of $481 million. At the end of the first quarter, our gross debt-to-EBITDA ratio was 0.9 times, and our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio was 0.7 times. We continue to have excellent financial capacity, with flexibility to deploy well over $5 billion on growth initiatives and our active acquisition pipeline, while retaining an investment-grade credit rating.

While acquisitions remain our number one capital allocation priority for use of our free cash flow, we also seek to provide our shareholders with opportunistic share buybacks and a consistently increasing dividend. In February, we announced a 10% increase in our quarterly cash dividend to $0.34 per share, our seventh consecutive year of 10% plus annual increases in our dividend payout.

I would also like to note that we have enhanced our financial reporting this quarter by including Ametek's gross margin reporting and a related reconciliation on our Investor Relations website. With adjusted gross margin at a strong 51% in the quarter, this enhanced disclosure provides investors with greater visibility into Ametek's margin performance and additional details to better understand our cost structure and the underlying drivers of our profitability. Going forward, we will provide an updated gross margin disclosure quarterly on our website.

In summary, our businesses had a great start to the year. Our exceptional operating capabilities delivered excellent revenue and earnings growth, robust margin expansion, and strong free cash flow conversion. With a proven strategy, significant capital deployment capacity, and a strong track record of execution, we are confident in our ability to drive further growth and value creation in 2026. I will now pass it back to Kevin.

Great. Thank you, Dalip. Stacy, could we please open the line for questions?

Sure. I'll start with the performance around the geographies. We really had balanced growth. U. S. and international markets were both up mid-single digits. The strongest growth was in Asia. In the U. S. , we were up mid-single digits. We had very strong growth in our A&D and materials analysis business. Europe was up low single digits. That's where we had strength and power, strength in our automation businesses, but modest headwinds from the Middle East. We had about, I'd say, $15 million of discrete orders due to safety reasons and disruptions that didn't ship during the quarter. So that would have ended up a little bit higher, but that occurred. And we have not seen any cancellation in order from the Middle East.

In fact, we're seeing quotations to really rebuild infrastructure, the energy infrastructure. So that's going to be when this thing settles down. In terms of getting back to the geographies, in terms of Asia, Asia was up low double digits driven by strong China. China was up high teens, and it was driven by our process and power markets. So, you know, across the board, you know, it was balanced growth, solid, and all geographies really performing well.

Yeah, and we're not seeing any cancellations or delays or anything at all. In fact, March was an all-time record of any quarter for orders at Ametek. So it's strong. It feels extremely good. And April is not over yet, but I just looked at it, and it's on target for another good month. So we're in full steam ahead.

There's a lot of interest. Yeah, Ametek policy is not to comment on market rumors or speculation related to M&A activity.

You know, I just go back to what I said before. Our pipeline is strong. There is a mix of larger, medium, and small technology deals, and we're looking to create great deals for our shareholders.

We announced the MRO deal today, First Aviation Service. We really happy about that As Dalab said we have significant financial capacity that provides the opportunity to deploy well over billion in capital and still maintain an investment credit rating M&A is our top priority for capital deployment. I mentioned a few quarters ago that that's the way we're going to differentiate our performance over the next few years. So we are really engaged with a lot of different businesses and a lot of different opportunities, and we're going to make good, disciplined deals for our shareholders, for sure.

And as you know, at Ametek, acquisitions are the culmination of a set of processes, well-defined processes. Integration is our secret sauce, and returns are very important for us.

Thank you.

Good morning, Andrew. You know, pretty sporty growth in orders. Just a question. You know, you highlighted large orders, and, you know, I appreciate that, you know, maybe some of them, you know, fairly lumpy, But do you get a sense that there's any pull forward from second quarter in terms of waters, and there's going to be something unusually weak about second quarter waters, given the strength in Q1?

Yeah, I don't think there was much pull ahead at all. In fact, if you go back and look at my last couple of calls, we were signaling that this was going to happen. And what you really saw is continued strength in our EMG businesses, and EIG businesses just bought. And we were talking about them usually following EMG about six months or nine months, and it's happened. So I don't know. Some of the orders that we've got are for shipments to fill out the year, but I don't see any kind of pull forward or any kind of slowdown. That doesn't mean that we're going to have 25%, 23% orders the next quarter. But the markets for us, we've created a business that's in niche markets where technology is really, really needed for key infrastructure, for key technologies, for key mission-critical platforms, and we're just in the right place, and we're feeling good about the business.

And, David, how do you think about, you know, given your order cadence, your top line outlook, you know, is fairly conservative as it always is. You know, that's what Ametek does. But what are you thinking about sort of risk, consumer risk, and just overall macro risk in the second quarter? You said orders are good, but any red or yellow flags that you're seeing in your end markets so far, quarter to date? And are you adjusting, you know, the behavior in business units, any sort of business plans to maybe prepare for some turbulence? Thank you.

Yeah, that's a good question. And, you know, I'd start with we're obviously performing very well. We've got strong execution, discipline operation, and we're gaining momentum across the portfolio.

We feel very good about our businesses performing, but there's obviously some ongoing geopolitical uncertainty, and we're remaining prudent with our guidance.

You know, we have places in our business where we're laser-focused on material input costs. We believe we're going to be able to offset any inflationary costs with pricing. So we expect offset inflation, including tariffs, with pricing. But we feel good. But we're laser focused on changes in the macro. And with our distributed structure, we have business leaders out there close to their customers looking at everything, and we're making sure that we have the right focus on it. So, from what we know now, it feels good to us, but we're laser focused on what could be a bigger change. But as I said, we're confident in our guide and we feel really good about the momentum in the portfolio.

Yeah, I would expect the bookings to continue to reflect some larger orders. And, you know, I think that what we're seeing is, you know, we had a period where the industrial economy at below 50 PMI is for an extended period of time. That's changing. We were signaling that's changing. And our EMG business picked up, and historically EIG has picked up six or nine months later. And we said that the last couple of quarters, and it's just happening like we thought it would.

And EIG is just beginning to pick up. So I think the order strength will continue, but I wanted to highlight some of the orders that are somewhere lumpy, and I wanted to highlight them both to let people understand the areas that we're in and their great technology, and also to understand some of that is for shipments throughout the rest of the year.

Yeah, I mean, it's about a little over 20% of our exposure. In Q1, we had a great quarter. It was up low double digits, and once again, it was led by Paragon. Paragon is just performing extremely well. And for that full year, there's some tougher comps than the rest of the year. So we have the full year we expect, mid-single digits, largely due to the comps. But we have other business in there, like a Rikert business. It also had a very good quarter.

So Paragon and Rikert led us, and the strength in Paragon continuing is notable.

Good morning, Andrew. I wanted to get your take on, you know, just kind of what's going on in the world related to your airspace and defense business, just given the, you know, heightened geopolitics. I know you guys have a number of niche offerings, so it's hard to know in real time what you see going forward, but can you comment on any impacts, positive or negative, to A&D? Yeah. Well, I think what we saw in the quarter, our A&D business continued strong activity, high single-digit growth in the quarter, and the growth was broad-based. All segments continued strong demand with notable strength in our defense markets. Our A&D businesses are very well positioned to benefit from growing demand given our broad portfolio of differentiated technologies.

We now, we increased our outlook for the year. We increased it from high single digits to up approximately 10%. That's what balanced commercial and defense activity. The way I look at it is if you look at our 18% of the A&D, about 60% of that is defense and about 40% of that is commercial. Defense is knocking it out of the park. The OE, part of commercial, and the business jet market are doing very good. Our MRO businesses that service airlines had an excellent quarter for orders. So the one area that we're watching closely is some of the international markets related to aviation fuel availability and fuel costs. That's a small part of our portfolio, less than 2%, but at the same time we're watching it, but right now we don't see, we have good backlogs, good execution, and I think that if we see something, it'll come in the flying airlines, the flying pilots, I will start the public first, but right now we're not seeing it.

But the key thing is the vast majority of our aerospace portfolio, we're taking our whole portfolio up. And even the part that we're watching closely had a fantastic first quarter.

Yeah, sure. I'll provide some more details on it, Andrew. At the high level, our MRO businesses were largely commercial biased, and we were looking for something that really added a defense aspect to it because of the strength in the market. We're really pleased to find First Aviation Services. It's an engineering-driven provider of aftermarket services and proprietary parts. They're primary in Marcus Defense. They also have some business jet and commercial pieces of it, but it's primarily a defense business. They have about two-thirds of their business that are on MRO service, and they actually have about one-third of it is on proprietary parts. We have businesses that have the parts and the services together. We typically do best with them, so they're really into PMA and DER approved repairs.

You know, they add new capability to us, rotorcraft and fixed wing platforms. There are a lot of good military programs. It expands our military, our MRO capabilities to additional critical systems. Includes propeller blades, rotor assemblies, landing gear, some advanced electronics. So it's a sizable and growing proprietary aftermarket solutions business, strong engineering capabilities, nicely expands our defense MRO, and it just fits like a glove with our existing MRO capabilities. So we're really excited in getting this business to closing and welcoming the first aviation team to Ametek.

Yeah. Yeah, I'll start with the, I'll finish the walk around the company. I did it for aerospace and defense and covered some of it in my opening remarks, but there's some details still that probably you're interested in. I'll start with the process business, and it was up mid-teens in the first quarter and driven by acquisitions and low single-digit organic growth. And we have a solid pipeline of orders. We highlighted it during our last earnings call. These translated into broad-based orders growth in the quarter, and we remain encouraged by continued momentum and a growing pipeline of opportunities across our process markets. So now for the full year 2026, we're increasing our guide for process. We now expect organic sales for process segment to be up low to mid single digits, so increasing it from low to low to mid.

We talked about aerospace We increasing it from high single digits to approximately 10 Going to power next power subsegment delivered low single digit sales growth with strong record level orders Power business continues to see strong demand across a growing pipeline of opportunities for power generation, backup power, data center microgrids, and power simulation systems. I highlighted one of the new products in the orders we see for power simulation systems in my prepared remarks.

Moving to 2026, we continue to expect organic sales to be up mid-single digits for that subsegment. And finally, our automation and engineer solutions. Excellent quarter, again, with high single-digit organic sales growth. Broad-based, both our automation and engineer solutions business and our e-mip business, and demand across attractive niche markets remain solid. And we continue to expect organic sales for automation and engineering solutions business to be up in single digits.

In terms of digging in on the orders, I was trying to, in my prepared remarks, do that a little bit. We talked about, you know, a big order in the semiconductor market from Abaco. We're providing computing solutions. We talked about the space satellite market that is really doing well. We have specialized machining solutions that can make precision components like no one else. So we're actually building machines, and we're doing some contract manufacturing for the low-earth orbit satellite systems.

I talked a bit about defense and what's going on in defense and our strength and UAVs and our strength and missile defense systems. I talked about the nuclear industry, both on the commercial and the civil and defense, very strong for us, and we've got a substantial order for the submarine program. These programs are things we're winning because of our technology, because we work with customers. These are highly engineered technologies. There are not a lot of people that can do these things, and we just think we're well-positioned where the world's going. We're in the right places, and we feel really optimistic right now.

If I could just add, in terms of the order strength, as we said, it was broad-based, and there were some large orders in the aerospace and defense area. But every subsegment saw double-digit organic orders growth, and every division was up at least 5%. And automation was very strong, and really in process, our metrology and material analysis businesses also saw really strong order growth. So it's really broad-based, and it really wasn't driven by lumpiness in orders in certain areas.

Yeah, as I mentioned before, that's the third-party aftermarket, the smallest part of our MRO businesses, and we watch it very closely, and we have some specialized capability, and the U. S. is extremely strong right now. We're involved in some retrofit programs that are driving the business, so there may be a bit of a counter market there. And in Europe, you know, Europe and Asia, the MRO, you know, if there's a place that turns down, it will probably be that area, so we're watching that closely. But again, this is less than 2% of our sales, and the fact is we had an incredibly strong first quarter. Sure, the order rates are continuing to have strength, but as the conflict goes on in the Gulf, and there's a bit of a shortage in aviation fuel, we think the weakness may show up first in Asia, second in Europe, and the U. S. seems pretty insulated right now, but it'll be last.

But, you know, that can all change in a week. So, you know, we're making the call the best we can, and right now we feel good, and if we think there's any downside, it's extremely modest.

Yeah, so Abaco makes advanced computing solutions, and when you have the most precision applications that have to work in the most durable environments, you'll use the Abaco equipment. And along with the needs and the data explosion in defense right now, where everybody has more data to process and NRF systems and things like that, it's a great demand driver.

Abaco also has a business where we're selling that technology to the semiconductor market. So really in the quarter there was a semiconductor tool manufacturer that's using the, you know, the semiconductor tool manufacturers dealing with a ramp up in demand from AI and everything that's going on in the semiconductor market, and they're using the Abaco computing technology to control their tool. So we were pleased to book that order in the quarter.

Yeah, the first point is probably an increase, more like a point and a half, and it was really driven by process and error. So that kind of puts that in the bucket. And really, I go back to my original comments. It's a conservative guide. We have a strong start to the year, excellent execution, orders were outstanding, but then you have the geopolitical uncertainty. And we balanced it all, and we're very confident in our guide. We think it's prudent to do what we did.

Yeah, I think there's an important risk-reward, and you have to make sure what you're buying matches our strategy, matches what we're trying to do, and we can add value to it. So we've naturally increased the size of deals over the past 10 years. We're still focused on niche markets. We're still focused on the areas that we're currently operating in, and I think that I plan on continuing to expand a lot.

And it's, again, an unblemished record. We've never had a write-off of goodwill. We're very conservative. We look to get a return on every deal. Returns on capital are very, very strong for us.

It's part of our basic operating model. That's what we do. Our growth model is to add M&A to our portfolio of niche businesses. We don't have any over-dependency on any one market, any one technology, any one customer. So we just think we have a bulletproof model that's robust and will continue to add acquisitions. In no way are we going to add an acquisition that's the size of Ametek. In no way will we add an acquisition that's half the size of Ametek.

So we're still looking at these, you know, I'll call them bite-sized deals that are a small percentage of our market capitalization. And we're going to continue to do that. And the environment for us is providing a lot of opportunities for us. So we're assessing a lot of opportunities. We haven't made a decision on any of them, but we're going to pick the ones that we add the most value for our shareholders.

Thanks, Dave. Appreciate that.

So if you want to dig into margins, Julian, in the first quarter, we had an excellent operating quarter. So our reported margins were up 50 basis points, but our core margins, so we take out acquisitions and we take out FX, they were up 160 basis points. They were just outstanding. And if you look at both of our groups, EIG had core margins up 40 basis points, driven by excellent productivity. And EMG reported core margins up 410 basis points. So they got excellent productivity plus leverage from the excellent sales growth. If you want to dig into that and say, what were the incrementals on a dollar of sales, what were the incrementals? Our incrementals were greater than 50% for the company, core incrementals.

So, you back out the acquisitions and you back out FX. Core incrementals were up 50% both on the whole company. EIG core incrementals were greater than 50, and EMG core incrementals were greater than 50. So, really strong. And, you know, related to the guide for the year, we're expecting 35% incrementals, and core margins will be up around 50 basis points. So, you know, and again, I'll go back to it's a prudent guide. There's a lot of uncertainty out here related to, you know, potential inflation and things like that we're laser focused on. So, performing extremely well, and they continue performing very well for the year, and those are the numbers, and they're outstanding in the quarter.

And we plan to continue driving it forward, and we have a track record of being able to navigate through changing conditions, and we're laser-focused on what we think we need to do.

Yeah, you're in the ballpark. You're in the ballpark. That's the way I look at it.

Thanks, everyone, for joining our call today. And as a reminder, a replay of today's webcast can be accessed in the investor section of ametek. com. Have a great day.