Vertiv Reports Strong Second Quarter Results and Raises Full Year 2023 Outlook

Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE: VRT), a global provider of critical digital infrastructure and continuity solutions, today reported financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2023. Vertiv reported second quarter net sales of $1,734 million, an increase of $335 million, or 24%, compared with last year’s second quarter and a 25% organic net sales increase, which excludes the impact of foreign currency. Foreign currency negatively impacted second quarter sales by approximately $18 million as compared to second quarter last year. Orders declined 3% (excluding foreign exchange), which was better than anticipated, signifying end-market strength which helped offset continuing impacts from order normalization and lead time improvements. The book-to-bill ratio was 1.0x for second quarter 2023, with orders showing resiliency despite higher shipment volumes driven by operational efficiency and more favorable supply chain dynamics.

Second quarter operating profit of $206 million increased $180 million and adjusted operating profit of $251 million increased $169 million from the prior year second quarter. These increases were primarily driven by benefits from pricing and volume partially offset by material, freight and labor inflation and capacity and R&D growth investments. Second quarter 2023 adjusted operating profit was above the prior guidance range primarily due to additional price-cost favorability and higher volume from continued operational execution and supply chain improvements.

“These strong results reflect our relentless focus on operational execution, the strength of the ongoing rebound in the Americas and our continued progress in building a high-performance culture of excellence,” said Giordano Albertazzi, Vertiv’s Chief Executive Officer. “The strength of our first half performance led us to raise our full-year financial guidance for 2023. A key focus for us this year has been cash flow, and I am particularly encouraged by the trajectory of this critical metric. While far from our full potential, we are seeing the tangible results of our operational improvement initiatives.”

Albertazzi also added: “I am further encouraged by the growth acceleration potential, which has just begun in our industry, represented by data center infrastructure necessary to meet the rapidly growing demand for compute capacity driven by AI. Vertiv is very well-positioned to benefit from this trend given our extensive data center infrastructure portfolio, technology depth, global scale, market leadership and long-standing relationships across the eco-system. We are fully embracing a future data center environment with incremental opportunities directly related to AI while maintaining our relentless focus and commitment to growth, operational execution, and delivering exceptional service and being the partner of choice for our customers.”

Dave Cote, Vertiv’s Executive Chairman, added: “Momentum clearly accelerated in the second quarter as Vertiv continues to strengthen performance and make meaningful progress in improving profitability and – importantly – adjusted free cash flow. Based upon the foundation established in the first six months and our uniquely strong market position to benefit from extremely positive long-term trends, we are very optimistic about the remainder of 2023 and Vertiv’s ability to create long-term value for shareholders.”

Adjusted Free Cash Flow and Liquidity

Net cash generated by operating activities in the second quarter was $254 million, an increase of $459 million from the prior year quarter, and adjusted free cash flowwas $227 million, an increase of $460 million from the prior year quarter. Second quarter adjusted free cash flow performance was driven by higher adjusted operating profit and improvement in working capital management, demonstrating that our strategies and actions to improve operational performance are gaining traction. Borrowings under our existing ABL credit facility were zero at the end of June 2023 and liquidity strengthened to $825 million. Net leverage at the end of the second quarter was 3.1x and based on current financial guidance, we anticipate net leverage will decrease to approximately 2.3x by the end of 2023.

Full Year and Third Quarter 2023 Guidance

We continue to see signs of accelerating market conditions for the second half of 2023 as sales pipeline activity remains healthy. We believe AI will be a long-term secular tailwind for the industry and increase the size of the addressable market. We will provide additional details on our assumptions and views at our investor conference in November 2023. As communicated previously, we believe there will be more uniformity in quarterly sales in 2023 compared to historic patterns, given high backlog levels and continued improvement in supply chain dynamics. Financial guidance has been increased across all financial metrics, supported by a strong first half 2023 performance. Our adjusted operating margin range for the full year has been increased to 14.0% (at the midpoint), representing an anticipated 630 basis point improvement compared to 2022. Adjusted free cash flow guidance for 2023 has been increased by $200 million (at the midpoint), and is now expected to be $525 million to $575 million, an anticipated $810 million improvement (at the midpoint) versus 2022.

Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call

Vertiv’s management team will discuss the Company’s results during a conference call on Wednesday, August 2, starting at 11 a.m. Eastern Time. The call will contain forward-looking statements and other material information regarding Vertiv’s financial and operating results. A webcast of the live conference call will be available for interested parties to listen to by going to the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website at investors.vertiv.com. A slide presentation will be available before the call and will be posted to the website, also at investors.vertiv.com. A replay of the conference call will also be available for 30 days following the webcast.

Upcoming Events

Vertiv will host a 2023 Investor Conference on November 29, 2023, in New York, NY. Vertiv’s management team will review strategic initiatives, market trends and innovations at Vertiv. Further details will be provided closer to the event.

About Vertiv Holdings Co

Vertiv (NYSE: VRT) brings together hardware, software, analytics and ongoing services to enable its customers’ vital applications to run continuously, perform optimally and grow with their business needs. Vertiv solves the most important challenges facing today’s data centers, communication networks and commercial and industrial facilities with a portfolio of power, cooling and IT infrastructure solutions and services that extends from the cloud to the edge of the network. Headquartered in Westerville, Ohio, USA, Vertiv does business in more than 130 countries. For more information, and for the latest news and content from Vertiv, visit vertiv.com.

Category: Financial News

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Financial information included in this release has been prepared in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”). Vertiv has included certain non-GAAP financial measures in this news release, as indicated above, that may not be directly comparable to other similarly titled measures used by other companies and therefore may not be comparable among companies. These non-GAAP financial measures include organic net sales growth (including on a segment basis), adjusted operating profit, adjusted operating margin, adjusted diluted EPS and adjusted free cash flow, which management believes provides investors with useful supplemental information to evaluate the Company’s ongoing operations and to compare with past and future periods. Management also uses certain non-GAAP measures internally for forecasting, budgeting and measuring its operating performance. These measures should be viewed as supplementing, and not as an alternative or substitute for, the Company's financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP. Pursuant to the requirements of Regulation G, Vertiv has provided reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.

Information reconciling certain forward-looking GAAP measures to non-GAAP measures related to third quarter and full-year 2023 guidance, including organic net sales growth, adjusted free cash flow and adjusted operating margin, is not available without unreasonable effort due to high variability, complexity and uncertainty with respect to forecasting and quantifying certain amounts that are necessary for such reconciliations. For those reasons, we are unable to compute the probable significance of the unavailable information, which could have a potentially unpredictable, and potentially significant, impact on our future GAAP financial results.

See “Reconciliation of GAAP and Non-GAAP Financial Measures” in this release for Vertiv’s reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.

Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This news release, and other statements that Vertiv may make in connection therewith, may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 with respect to Vertiv’s future financial or business performance, strategies or expectations, and as such are not historical facts. This includes, without limitation, statements regarding Vertiv’s financial position, capital structure, indebtedness, business strategy and plans, and objectives of Vertiv management for future operations, as well as statements regarding growth, anticipated demand for our products and services, and our business prospects during 2023, as well as expected impacts from our pricing actions, and our guidance for third quarter and full year 2023. These statements constitute projections, forecasts and forward-looking statements, and are not guarantees of performance. Vertiv cautions that forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over time. Such statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. When used in this news release, words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “strive,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking.

The forward-looking statements contained in this release are based on current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on Vertiv. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting Vertiv will be those that Vertiv has anticipated. Vertiv undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond Vertiv’s control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of the assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. Vertiv has previously disclosed risk factors in its Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) reports, including those set forth in the Vertiv 2022 Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 27, 2023. These risk factors and those identified elsewhere in this release, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from historical performance and include, but are not limited to: risks relating to the continued growth of Vertiv’s customers’ markets; disruption of Vertiv’s customers’ orders or Vertiv’s customers’ markets; less favorable contractual terms with large customers; risks associated with governmental contracts; failure to mitigate risks associated with long-term fixed price contracts; competition in the infrastructure technologies industry; failure to obtain performance and other guarantees from financial institutions; failure to realize sales expected from Vertiv’s backlog of orders and contracts; failure to properly manage Vertiv’s supply chain or difficulties with third-party manufacturers; our ability to forecast changes in prices, including due to inflation in material, freight and/or labor costs, and timely implement measures necessary to mitigate the impacts of any such changes; risks associated with our significant backlog, including that the impacts of any measures taken to mitigate inflation will not be reflected in our financial statements immediately; failure to meet or anticipate technology changes; risks associated with information technology disruption or security; risks associated with the implementation and enhancement of information systems; failure to realize the expected benefit from any rationalization, restructuring and improvement efforts; Vertiv’s ability to realize cost savings in connection with Vertiv’s restructuring program; disruption of, or changes in, Vertiv’s independent sales representatives, distributors and original equipment manufacturers; changes to tax law; ongoing tax audits; costs or liabilities associated with product liability; the global scope of Vertiv’s operations; risks associated with Vertiv’s sales and operations in emerging markets; risks associated with future legislation and regulation of Vertiv’s customers’ markets both in the U.S. and abroad; Vertiv’s ability to comply with various laws and regulations, and the costs associated with legal compliance; adverse outcomes to any legal claims and proceedings filed by or against Vertiv; risks associated with current or potential litigation or claims against Vertiv; Vertiv’s ability to protect or enforce its proprietary rights on which its business depends; third-party intellectual property infringement claims; liabilities associated with environmental, health and safety matters, including risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic; failure to achieve environmental, social and governance goals; failure to realize the value of goodwill and intangible assets; exposure to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; exposure to increases in interest rates set by central banking authorities; failure to maintain internal controls over financial reporting; the unpredictability of Vertiv’s future operational results, including the ability to grow and manage growth profitably; potential net losses in future periods; Vertiv’s level of indebtedness and the ability to incur additional indebtedness; Vertiv’s ability to comply with the covenants and restrictions contained in our credit agreements including restrictive covenants that restrict operational flexibility; Vertiv's ability to comply with the covenants and restrictions contained in our credit agreements that is not fully within our control; Vertiv’s ability to access funding through capital markets; the significant ownership and influence certain stockholders have over Vertiv; resales of Vertiv's securities may cause volatility in the market price of our securities; Vertiv's organizational documents contain provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals; Vertiv's certificate of incorporation includes a forum selection clause, which could discourage or limit stockholders’ ability to make a claim against it; the ability of Vertiv's subsidiaries to pay dividends; the ability of Vertiv to grow and manage growth profitably, maintain relationships with customers and suppliers, and retain its management and key employees; Vertiv’s ability to manage the succession of its key employees; factors relating to the business, operations and financial performance of Vertiv and its subsidiaries, including: global economic weakness and uncertainty; Vertiv’s ability to attract, train and retain key members of its leadership team and other qualified personnel; the adequacy of Vertiv’s insurance coverage; a failure to benefit from future corporate transactions; risks associated with Vertiv’s limited history of operating as an independent company; and other risks and uncertainties indicated in Vertiv’s SEC reports or documents filed or to be filed with the SEC by Vertiv.

Forward-looking statements included in this news release speak only as of the date of this news release or any earlier date specified for such statements. All subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to Vertiv or persons acting on Vertiv’s behalf may be qualified in their entirety by this Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements.