EnerSys Price & Performance (ENS)

Our actual results may differ materially from these forward looking statements for a number of reasons. These statements are made only as of today. For a list of forward looking statements and factors that could affect our future results, please refer to our recent Form eight ks and 10 ks filed with the SEC. In addition, we will be presenting certain non GAAP financial measures particularly concerning our adjusted consolidated operating earnings performance free cash flow, adjusted diluted earnings per share, and adjusted EBITDA which excludes certain items, For an explanation of the difference between the GAAP and non GAAP financial metrics, please see our company's Form eight ks includes our press release dated 02/05/2025, Now, I'll turn the call over to EnerSys' CEO, Dave Schaeffer.

Thank you, Lisa, and good morning. Please turn to Slide four for a review of our third quarter performance. Q3 marked a return to growth. We executed well, increasing profitability and improving but still mixed market conditions. Revenue was up 5% year over year supported by contributions from Brentronics and a gradual recovery in The U. S. Communications market. Our year over year revenue increase was somewhat below our expectations primarily due to FX headwinds, a slower than anticipated ramp in U. S. Communications spend, and the impact of a large motor power customers' plant disruption in EMEA. We realized impressive margin expansion even before the IRA the accretive contributions of Brentronics and operational improvements in EnerSys Systems. Adjusted EPS excluding IRA benefit was up 10% year over year was up 22% inclusive of the IRA benefits. Free cash flow was down year over year but increased substantially versus prior quarter driven by higher earnings and a reduction in primary operating capital While market demand has yet to return to normal levels, we believe we have surpassed the inflection point. We are seeing a gradual recovery in The U. S. Communications market and early indications of an upturn in the Class eight OEM transportation sector.

At the same time, we are executing our transformation initiatives further optimizing our EnerSys systems business and our Missouri plants in order to be best positioned for growth and flexibility at lower costs demand continues to rebound. We are seeing promising demand indicators and positive momentum across our business particularly as we approach the end of our fiscal year. Overall orders increased year over year 30% order growth in Q3. We have revised our full year guidance to reflect our Q3 performance and expectations for significant growth in Q4 over prior year. Excluding the impact of the IRA, our Q4 guidance at the midpoint represents year over year revenue growth of 8% and an increase in adjusted EPS of nearly $60 per share or approximately 50%. We remain confident in our strategic direction and the substantial growth opportunities emerging across our portfolio. Sean and Andy will give details by line business on our third quarter fiscal twenty twenty five financial performance and outlook but I will first provide a few highlights on our strategy and execution. I'd like to share some high level thoughts on the evolving policy landscape as the U. S. Administration implements new executive actions. We have been proactively assessing tariff scenarios and refining our supply chain strategies over the past two months and we have already begun to undertake actions to optimize inventory and manufacturing processes to mitigate potential cost increases.

In addition, given our strong and reasonable commercial relationships, we would enact swift and fair pricing actions as necessary. Our ability to navigate dynamic market conditions as we have successfully demonstrated through prior supply chain disruptions and tariff regulations is one of our strengths. Positioning us for long term success in an evolving environment. Additionally, while it is possible that policy change could impact the timing of our recent DOE funding, and ultimate project plan delivery date as ninety day administrative review processes are underway, we cannot speculate on the outcomes, but remain optimistic due to the importance of our products and planned investment for national security, domestic supply assurance and American manufacturing job creation. Therefore, we are moving forward with a disciplined risk mitigation approach ensuring our execution planes remain agile and adaptable. One area of bipartisan consensus is the importance of a robust domestic supply chain particularly for defense related products. EnerSys is well positioned to support the U. S. Government efforts in this area reinforcing our role as a trusted partner in energy storage solutions, which would be further enhanced by our planned lithium Gigafactory. Please turn to Slide five. [indiscernible] We remain at the forefront of innovation, introducing cut These advancements equip our customers with adaptable and efficient solutions that evolve alongside their needs.

Recognized our first revenue from our fast charging storage system marking an important milestone for the company. We are leveraging our fast charge and storage lithium and software technology accelerate the development of a new battery energy storage system for a motive power warehouse and distribution center customers. We are designing this solution to tackle power continuity challenges costly infrastructure upgrades, long lead times and limited flexibility. Barriers that often slow electrification efforts. Our VESS will enable peak shaving, power factor correction and optimum energy use. Engineered for rapid deployment and semi portability, our BESS enhance flexibility and efficiency for our customers' operations. [indiscernible] look forward to previewing this new solution at both Promat and Logee Mat trade shows beginning this March. We will also be previewing our next generation charging solutions at both trade shows. This advanced line delivers exceptional efficiency and performance featuring two way data and energy flow capabilities to optimize energy use. Alongside our BESS, these solutions offer cloud based data reporting for enhanced energy and operational management. Together, they lay the foundation for on-site microgrids enabling our customers to efficiently store, manage and utilize energy. We are also pleased to announce that YIQ battery monitoring devices are now standard on all applicable Motive Power products sold in North America added services through our IoT strategy.

YIQ provides fleet managers with performance insights and analytics enabling data driven decisions that optimize energy consumption improve battery management and extend asset life. This technology reduces downtime, lowers operational costs, enhances sustainability. Delivering measurable value to our customers while reinforcing EnerSys as the leader in intelligent energy management solutions. Our thoughts are with those impacted by the recent wildfires in Los Angeles and we extend our deepest sympathies to those affected communities. While it is unfortunate that our solutions were needed, we are proud that our Alpha XRT extended runtime power systems performed as delivering seventy two hour backup power to keep emergency services telecommunications networks and critical infrastructure connected when it mattered most. With over 5,000 XRT power modules this crisis reinforced the reliability and resilience of our technology. I also want to recognize the incredible efforts of our field service teams who provided on the ground support to our customers ensuring seamless deployment, maintenance and rapid response during the emergency. As extreme weather events become more frequent, our commitment to delivering high performance energy solutions remains stronger than ever as it becomes increasingly critical to our customers and the communities they serve. We continue to focus on optimizing the business as well.

Our investment in our Missouri factories have significantly progressed while driving long term efficiency gains. These enhancements remain on track for completion by the end of the fiscal year and position us for sustained operational excellence and growth as is evidenced by our teams achieving a 20% year over year improvement in both our Springfield one scrap rate and our global TPPL scrap rate fiscal year to date. This quarter, we continue to accelerate the business through our transformation strategy. I am pleased to report that Fronttronics acquisition is contributing to revenue and earnings above our expectations and all major U. S. Integration milestones are complete. Please turn to Slide six. We were proud to receive several recognitions this quarter including being named to Newsweek's List of America's Most Responsible Companies and receiving the 2025 Military Friendly Employee designation for the second year in a row. In closing, we anticipate dynamic conditions to persist in the coming months as markets absorb evolving U. S. Administrative executive actions. [indiscernible] We have successfully managed through similar external challenges in the past and our operational flexibility is even better than before. We are confident that we are well on track for continued top line and profit expansion as we close the fiscal year.

I will now turn it over to Sean to take you through more details of our operations. [indiscernible] Thank you, Dave. Please turn to Slide eight. Before I dive into the details of our performance this quarter, I want to take a moment to express my enthusiasm for the strong execution I've seen from our team over the past few months It's been a privilege to step into this expanded leadership role. One of my first priorities has been ensuring we have the right leadership in place to sustain our momentum accelerate our progress. We are very pleased to have Keith Fisher come on board as President of our Energy Systems business. With experience managing dozens of international sites and executing complex global strategies in multibillion dollar businesses, Keith brings tremendous capabilities and execution operational excellence and services transformation to EnerSys. As I step closer to assuming the role of CEO in May, I have been deeply engaged in listening to our employees, customers board members and shareholders. This process has reinforced my confidence in the incredible opportunities ahead. Opportunities we are uniquely positioned to seize, by leveraging our leading market position, to help our customers solve their mounting energy and labor challenges.

These important conversations and observations have solidified my conviction in the strategic actions I plan to lead and have helped me begin to frame our execution plan financial targets as we build on the strong foundation established under Dave's leadership, Our focus will be to reprioritize our growth verticals expand our service capabilities and optimize our operational efficiencies. Areas in which we have significant opportunities to unlock value. I look forward to sharing more details of this strategy in the coming quarters I can confidently say that I have never been more excited about the future of EnerSys and the potential we have to drive sustained growth and enhance shareholder value. Now I'll provide some detail on the performance of the Energy Systems business. I am extremely pleased with the team's execution delivering a 77% year over year increase in adjusted operating on a 4% year over year increase in revenue. Q3 marked the first year over year revenue gains in six quarters And the first year over year increase in operating earnings in five quarters both sequential and year over year profit growth was driven by the structural improvement actions we have taken beginning to be visible in our financial results along with recovering spending by our U. S. Communications customers, Demand indicators for this business are positive, While EMEA orders remain muted, Americas year over year order rates were up across all end markets, with communications up nearly 40% and data center up approximately 25%.

While spending has not yet returned to prior deployment levels, the increase in activity alongside rising order volumes confirms that the indicators we have been tracking over the past two quarters are now beginning to translate into realized revenue. As anticipated, the deferral network resiliency investment could only last [indiscernible] Encouragingly, we are also witnessing early project work and network expansion investments beginning to take shape in U. S. Communications. Largely driven by AI data demand broadly across the industry. Lower interest rates and the continued surge in AI driven data consumption driving last mile connectivity demand should spark broader network expansion. As an example, one of our largest customers just increased their outlook by 20% for a core telecommunications power project. Motive Power performed in line with prior year with our higher March driving positive pricemix. In Q3, sales of these products were up 17% year over year representing 27% of total motive power sales. Up from 23% in the prior year. This shift underscores the strength of our competitive positioning and our ability to drive pricing and mix improvements. Are accelerating the introduction of lithium and IoT enabled product offerings to further enhance our customers' experience. In Q3 results reflected some headwinds from FX and one time events that we do not expect to repeat in Q4 including a large customer plant disruption in EMEA which came back online this quarter.

While motive power volume growth has been relatively soft this year, looking forward demand indicators are encouraging. And industry data continues to support our expectations of mid- and long term market growth opportunities. To that point, although recent industry data shows a year over year decline in decline in The Americas, the strongest month this calendar year. Industry experts continue to anticipate lift truck shipments to reach near double digit growth for the next calendar year. Our book to bill ratio was above one and our global backlog remains healthy nearly two times historic levels. While we are experiencing general economic weakness in EMEA with the automotive sector, causing some broad near term pressure in the region, our pricing discipline mix optimization and strategic product introductions are driving stability in earnings and positioning Motive Power for long term success. In Specialty, we delivered significant year over year quarter over quarter improvements in both revenue and adjusted operating earnings driven by strong performance in aerospace and defense, supported by the outperformance of our Brentronics acquisition, growth in Brentronics was fueled by robust demand for chargers, soldier power, expeditionary power systems as well as increased customer confidence now with EnerSys financial backing which has led to discussions around larger longer term orders, a testament to the value of the strategic relationship.

The impressive A and D results were partially offset by continued soft but stable volumes in Class eight truck OEM demand, that is beginning to show signs of recovery. Looking at demand trends, our U. S. Transportation Q3 twenty five book to bill ratio was over 1.4 reflecting new account wins and aftermarket growth. Recent industry data shows North American Class eight truck net orders were up 29% over prior year in December. Data combined with positive growing backlog in Americas gives us confidence we have hit the bottom and we should see this business return to growth in the coming quarters. With strong momentum in Breadtronics and broader A and D, coupled with signs of recovery in transportation markets, and our Missouri plant investments coming online, our specialty business is well positioned for continued growth and profit expansion. Now I'll turn it over to Andy to discuss our financial results and outlook in greater detail. [indiscernible] Thanks, Sean. Please turn to Slide 10. Third quarter net sales of $9.00 $6,000,000 were up 5% from prior year driven by a 2% increase in organic volume, largely on EnerSys Systems Communications early recovery and strength in data centers, as well as 2% positive pricemix across all lines of business 3% positive impact from the Brinktronics acquisition.

Partially offset by a 2% FX headwind. We achieved adjusted gross profit of $299,000,000 up $35,000,000 year on year and up $19,000,000 excluding the IRA benefits. Q3 twenty twenty five adjusted gross margin of 33% was up over 200 basis points versus prior year. Excluding the IRA, adjusted gross margin was up 80 basis points despite some headwinds from commodity hedge timing and FX. Our adjusted operating earnings were $155,000,000 in the quarter, up $25,000,000 versus prior year with an adjusted operating margin of 17.1%. Excluding IRA benefits, adjusted operating earnings increased $9,000,000 or 13% on 5% revenue growth driving a 60 basis point margin improvement over prior year. Adjusted EBITDA was $171,000,000 an increase of $27,000,000 versus prior year while adjusted EBITDA margins was 18.9% up two twenty basis points versus prior year. Adjusted EPS for the third quarter came in above the high end of our guidance range at $3.12 per share. An increase of 22% over prior year. Excluding IRA, adjusted EPS was up $0.12 per share versus prior year, but down $0.08 sequentially after absorbing over $0.2 per share of pressure collectively from FX as well as commodity hedge timing and tax rate phasing that will not repeat in the fourth quarter.

In the third quarter of fiscal twenty twenty five, our effective tax rate was 9.4% on an as reported basis and 23.3% on an as adjusted basis before the benefit of the IRA compared to 20% in Q3 of twenty twenty four and nineteen point four percent in prior quarter. Our Q3 twenty twenty five tax rate was impacted by phasing of tax recognition in the period due to the increase of pre tax income from the additional IRA tax benefit we recorded this quarter, much of which will offset in Q4. Let me now provide some details by segment. Please turn to Slide 11. In the third quarter, Energy Systems revenue increased 4% from prior year to $389,000,000 primarily driven by increased volumes and partially offset by FX pressure. Revenue was up approximately $7,000,000 sequentially the second consecutive increase As we continue to see improvement in these end markets, Adjusted operating earnings of 25 reflecting the increased revenue on top of the optimized cost structure and were almost $11,000,000 higher than prior year. Adjusted operating margin of 6.5% increased two seventy basis We exited the quarter with encouraging order trends in this business and expect to deliver further margin expansion as revenue recovers and we continue with our structural improvement efforts.

As Keith assumes the range, he is committed to holding headcount efficiencies while the business picks up creating operating leverage on top of further actions he plans to take. Please turn to Slide 12. Versus prior year, Motive Power revenue increased 1% to $359,000,000 as positive pricemix and volume offset foreign exchange headwinds. As Sean mentioned, volume was temporarily impacted by a plant disruption at our largest customer ships to location in EMEA. Motive Power again reported strong adjusted operating earnings this quarter, contributing $53,000,000 in line with prior year and supported by ongoing OpEx discipline. Adjusted operating margins were 14.7%, relatively flat to prior year.

We remain optimistic coming out of Q3 with good visibility from data as well as our own order book. With solid operational execution and higher maintenance free TPPL volumes, We expect healthy margin expansion in the fourth quarter. Please turn to Slide 13. [indiscernible] Specialty revenue increased 17% from prior year to $155,000,000 driven by a 21% positive impact from the Brentronics acquisition and a 2% increase in pricemix. Partially offset by a 6% decline in organic volumes with volumes increasing 4% sequentially. Q3 twenty twenty five adjusted operating earnings of $10,000,000 were up approximately $2,000,000 versus prior year, with an adjusted operating margin of 6.2% up 50 basis points. Margins are steadily moving toward our target range of low double digits. We are confident that we will see ongoing revenue and margin expansion over the next several quarters driven by improved absorption and costs in our Missouri plant, benefits from the Brentronics acquisition, and growth in our higher margin transportation aftermarket volume. Please turn to Slide 14. Positive operating cash flow of $81,000,000 offset by CapEx of $24,000,000 resulted in free cash flow of $57,000,000 in the quarter. Note that the benefit of our IRA credits have not yet had the full positive impact on our cash flow this fiscal year.

We finalized our 2024 tax filings in January and expect to receive a tax refund of $135,000,000 this As of 12/29/2024, we had $463,000,000 of cash and cash equivalents on hand net debt of $852,000,000 represents an increase of approximately $341,000,000 since the end of as we made our acquisition of Brentronics returned $142,000,000 to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends and continue to invest in our business. Our credit agreement leverage ratio was 1.5 times EBITDA. Our balance sheet remains strong. And positions us to invest in growth and navigate the current economic environment. We anticipate maintaining our net leverage at or below the low end of our two to three times target range. Providing us with ample dry powder for our capital allocation decisions and to absorb potential regulatory changes that may impact us. Please turn to Slide 15.

During the third quarter, we paid $10,000,000 in dividends and repurchased $39,000,000 in shares. We currently have approximately $2.19 $19,000,000 remaining on our buyback authorization. We continue to evaluate promising bolt on acquisition opportunities like that align with our disciplined strategic and financial criteria and are focused on strengthening customer intimacy expanding share of wallet with our leading positions in exciting end markets and making progress on our transformation journey. Please turn to Slide 16. We expect the fiscal fourth quarter to be one of our strongest quarters on record driven by increasing order rates and favorable demand trends across our core end markets, as well as structural cost improvement actions and planned strategic new product releases. We are particularly encouraged by steady demand return in The U. S. Communications market and early signs of recovery in the transportation sector. These positive dynamics are tempered by ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty particularly EMEA and the evolving policy landscape in The U. S. Which we continue to monitor closely. [indiscernible] With adjusted diluted EPS of $2.75 to $2.85 per share up 35% at the midpoint compared to prior Q4. While our full year revenue guidance has been revised to reflect the non repeat of one off impacts in Q3, and steadily improving communications and transportation markets.

We are confident in the strength of our diversified portfolio as we are successfully managing our business to increase profitability and cash flow. Additionally, margin expansion across our business is enabling us to maintain a positive outlook with year over year earnings growth and momentum. Our fiscal year twenty twenty five revenue guidance is now between $3,603,000,000 and $3,643,000,000 of net sales, up 1% at the midpoint versus fiscal year 'twenty four but 3% below prior guidance midpoint an uncertain macro environment. We are raising our fiscal twenty twenty five adjusted diluted EPS guidance range to between $9.97 and $10.07 per share. This represents an increase of $1.67 per share. Were 20% at the midpoint compared to fiscal 'twenty four and an increase of $0.22 per share or 2% from our prior guidance midpoint with a pre IRA tax rate of 18% to 20%. With or without the IRA benefits, our fourth fiscal quarter and full fiscal twenty twenty five should mark a record for the company's earnings. Our CapEx expectation for the full fiscal year 2025 is approximately $120,000,000 As we look ahead, we see continued momentum in demand for reliable power solutions underpinned by accelerating trends in electrification, digitization and data driven infrastructure.

EnerSys is well positioned to capitalize on these opportunities by helping our customers address their energy and labor concerns. We remain focused on delivering long term value for our stockholders and are excited about the opportunities in front of us. With this, let's open it up for questions. Operator? Our first question will come from the line of Noah Kaye with Oppenheimer. Good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. Hope you're all well. Could we just start with Maybe trying to bridge Around the sequential revenue growth from 3Q to 4Q. About $75,000,000 increase sequentially. I get Motive Power has always been strong seasonally and might be even a little bit stronger now because you're lapping that customer plant disruption. But how do you think about roughly breaking out among the segments?

Yes. Good morning, Noah. How are you doing? It's good to talk to you. As you know, we don't give specific guidance by each LOB, but I can talk a little bit about how the markets are doing. Motive Power, no concerns. Q4 tends to be our strongest quarter. We think some of the choppiness is behind us. Like everyone, I think the markets are a bit cautious. With some of the administration changes, but we continue to have enthusiasm for maintenance free. Energy Systems, Sean shared some of the order data that we have. So we believe while it's still not back to, I'd say, even normalized state, We are definitely seeing a continuous, albeit slow return to normalization Specialty, we've had some great indicators in the market as well on orders, although again, it's still suppressed. It's getting better. A and D is solid. Brenttronic is going well. We really think we've gotten through the inflection point overall and business is starting to return to normal. So, we feel good about that. I would say also if you want to look at our EPS, we had I mentioned it in prepared remarks but we had about $0.2 of pressure that we know won't repeat.

We knew it was going to happen in the third quarter. The biggest piece was about $8,000,000 of pressure we had from some commodity hedge timing, which is really just timing of lead and commodity price movements. If you look throughout each quarter, we had about $0.06 of a spike in lead costs in our second quarter that flowed through in our Q3 results. So we have good visibility going into Q4 of knowing it won't repeat. But when you look at that versus Q1, Q2 and what we know will happen [indiscernible] If you pull that out, it's really kind of a steady trajectory throughout our quarter as things continue to improve. Thanks, Andy.

I think with ES, just to double click, some of the cost actions that were taken business optimization earlier this year Certainly, I've been part of the margin improvement story, I think. But as we look at the fourth quarter, I think the company has aspirationally targeted maybe getting into the 8% to 10% range How viable does that feel based off of both the end markets recovery and just some of the timing of some of these optimization benefits?

Yes, I absolutely feel 8% to 10% is in range, but but likely not Q4. It's where we thought we'd get there. The recovery pressure as well as the comms pressure, the under absorption that we have in our Missouri plants, you kind of get that double whammy. But we absolutely are still committed and feel very confident that in and I'd say near term not long term, 8% to 10% is the margin in the low end of the business, 10% to 12% overall and 12% to 15% on the high end. So So we should get near that if we're not in it by the fourth quarter. And certainly throughout the course of 2026, that should be our mantra. And I know Sean can comment on this further. Keith is absolutely committed to not bringing back the headcount work that Sean put in place as the business resumes. We get under absorption of our Missouri plants as well as our service team. So what we found is kind of service lags the products coming back. And we don't want to let those service guys go. So all of that the head that we have there that are tech guys that we need to retain We end up getting some under absorption, which pressures those service margins.

As we're seeing the product order start to come back, the service will follow and then Keith also has a lot of additional service optimization efforts underway. So I don't know if there's anything to add. I just [indiscernible] say anything wrong, he can fix it. But I would say most of the Q3 and probably Q4 question marks. As it relates to this is service related. And to Andy's point, getting that lag kind of right, it service carried us when product sales slowed down. And now it's sort of the flip sort of the flip where the services going to have to catch up to the product sales.

So but yes, I would say, but the order rates give us a lot of confidence, Noah. And yes, we just need to execute.

Thank you both. And maybe you can expand on that and certainly Sean has as well, since it's Anya's question. But maybe talk about the shape of the demand recover in comps. You mentioned a couple of times a little bit more gradual So maybe give us some more color by either region or type of spend, maybe what's what's leading, what's taking a little bit longer and kind of how you think about sort of the shape of the trajectory from here? Yes. So, hi, Noah. It's Sean. I'll take that one.

So Dave hit the nail on the head with us with the service. So I really bifurcate the recovery into two parts.

The first being the cost piece that Andy spoke to and there's certainly more As you know, we started a transformation journey about a year ago Concurrent with my tenure in that business, and it's just that it started and there's opportunity remains to continue to refine that that structure and develop OpEx leverage. The second part is volume. And the part that was a little slower for us was the service recovery in Andy mentioned that. And there's just a certain foundational element to service even with all the cost flexing that we've done that goes under absorb. And to Dave's point a year ago, as the markets had shut down and we were no longer seeing product sales, if you remember at the time, It was the inventory that the carriers had purchased that were sort of the glut in the system. Even with the product sales shutdown, we were recognizing some record service numbers at the end of the year. They were muted by the overall revenue base. But and it stands to reason, right? You have all that material in field, you have to get it installed. On the ramp back up, we're seeing the product sales are we actually outperformed in product sales in Q3 This I muted by the lack of service, which would lag it a little bit.

And so we're going to continue to see that as the product sales come back. The services will have that lag event coming in. But the biggest area where we need the recovery is in The Americas. We need it in break fix and we need it in project work. And we're seeing all of the resiliency break fix type spend sort of come back and reach normal. And then, we're seeing the beginning vestiges of project work in The Americas where we have again the lion's share of our mass. And that work is really laying the groundwork to cross AI traffic So we have, we mentioned in the prepared remarks, a 20% uptick in a certain telecommunications customer. And what this is, is expanding the power requirements within macro sites And we've mentioned Hyperboost in the past, so being able to put more power up the tower without a lot more infrastructure up the tower and new cabling up the tower. But in addition to that, we're deploying our energy router we're able to throttle different pieces of equipment based on the needs of the carrier without rolling trucks. And that's giving them a lot more optionality in their backbone.

These loads come online. So those are the types of projects that we're seeing. We're also seeing the old brick and mortar central offices and head ends The carriers are starting to realize that these are actual actually can be AI data driven support centers. So there's a renewed interest about that. But those are the areas that we're seeing it. And again encouraging signs across the markets.

Yes. And just to wrap it with a bow, Noah, on the modeling, Year on year Q1 down 15%. Q2 down 10%, Q3 up 4%. Q4 should be well into the mid double digits. But if you look at our Q3 for Q3 is not sizably up over Q2 sequentially. And Q4 is probably not going to look all that different than Q1 of last year. And so so we're it's definitely a nice trajectory. It's definitely we've got through this view, but you can see we're not yet back where we should be in its just a little slower, but great fundamentals happening both in our internal cost structure as well as indicators that things are coming back and getting through some of this market uncertainty have right now certainly help us as well. [indiscernible] questions. I'll take them offline. So thank you.

Super thanks, Our next question will come from the line of Greg Lewis with BTIG.

Hi, Greg. Yes, thank you. Hi, how are you? Thanks for taking my questions. I guess you kind of really highlighted telecom soft pivot over pivot over to Motiv. As we kind of look at Motiv and it's been resilient, As we're kind of working with customers and seeing what's out there, Is that kind of should we kind of think about that as, hey, we're going to continue to continue to fight for pricing and continue to kind of push things forward, but it does seem like it's kind of more steady as she goes in motive here for the next few quarters? Yes, I'll take that Greg. This is Sean. Hi.

We had and was mentioned in the prepared remarks, there was a little bit of malaise at the end of last year particularly going into November in The Americas And but was sort of an exhale in December and we've seen our order rates pick up quite dramatically. And December was our best month of last calendar year and they have not slowed in January. If you look at our forward outlook, all of our industry indexes and associations that we [indiscernible] anticipate lift truck shipments to reach near double digit growth this calendar year So I think the team did a great job managing through some of that uncertainty in some of that malaise last year. And we really see a path back to growth this year fairly robustly. And Jen, just to give you another data point on that, our book to bill in motive power was 1.3 across all regions. So even in Europe where we had to fire our biggest customer, We're just seeing that activity come back very nicely. So we remain pretty confident that, yes, will be steady, but we're going to come back to growth. Yes. I guess the only thing I would add to that is the product management and the product portfolio all looks very solid in this business.

So there's a lot of new exciting products coming online with exciting feature sets for the customers and good margin growth opportunities for us. So a lot of things going right in the Okay. So I guess some of EnerSys animal spirits are coming back And I guess the last few weeks have been challenging for anybody that's running a business. As you think about It does, Craig. Well, I have to ask about [indiscernible] And so as you kind of look and see the opportunities ahead, I mean, which seems like telecoms finally we've been waiting for that recovery for a couple of years. It seems like it's here. As you think about managing the tariffs and sourcing, I mean, yes, how do we what can we do and how do we is it just pay? We're just going to have to push that on our customers or just kind of curious how you're thinking about that And if there's things I guess if we're taking things I guess there's a thirty day window Can we I imagine supply chains are kind of you can't just flip a switch and get everything you need in thirty days. So just kind of any color how you're thinking about managing through this over the next couple of quarters?

Yes, Greg, you know what, I'm just going to go ahead. We'll talk about tariffs. I want to talk about the DOE funding and the Inflation Reduction Act funding the 45x will just kind of hit it all. And our [indiscernible] strategy and our products is very well aligned with this administration's priorities of creating U. S. Jobs, grid resiliency, the military supply chain. So I think we're on the right track. And there's certainly uncertainty right now. And as this administration is moving quickly, we've just sort of have to sort through it all.

And so the I'll start, I guess, with the DOE funding on the lithium plant. We're still very excited about this project. I was was disappointed during our board meeting last week. I couldn't go to the state of the state address for Governor McMaster who who mentioned our project. So there's still a lot of commitment for that. But certainly, the changes administration it's causing us to kind of put a little bit of a hold on things until we get some clarification, get through the budget reconciliation process, and but again, I'm very confident given the fact that our grant has already been sort of ALEC [indiscernible] from our folks in DC that we just need to get through this period of time. But that said, we're I just can't stress enough that we're going to be capital allocation and and what we're going to do and the choices we make for meeting the high hurdle rates. So I guess that's on the the factory. Sean, do you kind of want to talk on tariffs since you guys have doing so much in the War Room on that?

Yes. So Dave mentioned that the concept of a war room We've done a tremendous amount of work to derisk supply chain And we learned we took some scars during the pandemic but I think we navigated it well. We've spent a tremendous amount of energy derisking China giving ourselves optionality around the world. We've talked in previous cycles about building flexibility into our TPPL plants. So to Dave's point, nobody is going to totally mitigate or ameliorate the tariffs. But I would tell you our sales teams and operations teams have been in lockstep We have playbook, we have playbooks ready to go and we're calling plays going into the Monday morning to respond to the weekend tariffs We obviously pulled back on those and and I just want to quantify that my answer on tariffs as of 09:47AM. But I really do believe the investments that we've taken have put us in a better spot than we've ever been to be flexible and to move things around the world and try to react to these situations. Again, don't want to give the impression that anybody can know the extent of where these things will manifest in the supply chain.

I would just tell you that our supply chain is more resilient now and our optionality is better than it's ever been. And we'll just continue to have this in our windscreen, continue to work this from a war room perspective and continue to model out where we think these are going to happen and do our best to stay ahead of them.

Okay. And I think I know I guess my other question is, as we think about mass diverse we'll just call it Asia, what's more important to our supply What was the first thing versus I was going to say between like around tariffs as we think about Asia versus [indiscernible] I guess those are on hold, but what's more important to the supply chain?

Yes. So we were actually the China tariffs were fairly muted and we've done a lot of work to mitigate that anyway.

We were going to We saw the Canada and Mexico tariffs as a much bigger event for us. So we did a lot of work to mitigate that. You have about 10% of U. S. Revenues that are dependent upon Mexico, for example. And there are products that come from Mexico that aren't made anywhere else. On the other hand, we have products that come from Mexico that can be 100% made in our Richmond, Kentucky facility. And then a piece of Mexico is our data center battery, our standard lead acid valve regulated data center battery. And there could be an option to migrate that to TPPLs should we so desire. And our customers are really receiving PPPL well. So there's a lot of scenario planning that we're doing, but the Canada and Mexico one was was fairly substantial this time around. And then from Canada, we have dependent parts of our supply chain for TPPL. So there was a lot of work going into mitigating those those actions as well. But to your point, we've got our eyes on Europe as well.

We've got our eyes on Europe. We've got that modeled and ready. And so yes, it's certainly those were those were not ones we would have addressed during the pandemic, if you will. Yes. And things and specific actions we've taken, Greg, We've built some strategic inventory already to buffer from some of this. We've modeled fair pricing actions that we're prepared to act on swiftly in various scenarios if necessary. The TPPL manufacturing could actually help us as more customers convert to TPPLs favorable.

So tariffs could actually accelerate that conversion. So the last thing I'd comment is we have more than three months of inventory on hand in general. So generally speaking, when tariff actions if and when they'd occur, they wouldn't materially impact us for about a quarter after in effect. And last question, I'm sure on modeling, We didn't build specifically tariff costs themselves for that reason. Right now, there's nothing currently in place and because of the inventory build. What we have built is some continued uncertainty, which we talked about how quickly some of these markets are coming back or growth in motive power We do feel like it's impacting just overall market demand because of the [indiscernible] we think there'll be a little bit more robustness in the marketplace.

There's absolutely some reticence out there by some of the customers. To make decisions, so they have some clarification on some of these things. [indiscernible] that's why we we did what we did in the Q4 forecast.

Great. I will, hey, that was all super helpful. Thank you very much. Thanks, Jacqueline.

Our next question comes from the line of Chip Moore with ROTH Capital Partners.

Hi, Chip. Hi, Chip. Good morning. Hey, everybody. Thanks for taking the question. I guess we've hit EnerSys systems and motive and the policy stuff. Maybe I'll ask on specialty. It sounds like Aerospace and Defense is visibility there is quite good. I guess maybe expand on that and then I think Brentronics in particular, you mentioned seeing some larger and longer term orders now that they're under your umbrella maybe expand on that.

Yes, I can start. I would say on specialty transportation, as we said in the prepared remarks that order book is improving. So the market, the industry data seems to be progressing.

We've made very serious or significant progress on the new equipment and the new lines. Sean, do you have specific updates on the on the production equipment in Taiwan? Yes, I do, Dave. So good morning, Chip.

The lines are coming online as we had socialized. So by the end of this quarter, we'll have the first of the two lines sort of up to speed and running. And the second line totally up in speed and running by the end of the summer. And these are 50% faster than the original lines we're using with half the labor content. So it's a big pickup for us to migrate that volume to the those lines and the translated benefit. But we should be I would say, full speed on both lines by Q3 of next year.

Yes. Just to put a little bit of data on top of that, the transportation book to bill was one point point three five in Q3. Our transportation backlog grew by 44% over Q2, on a 44% increase in orders sequentially. So it's seeming promising for us. And as you mentioned, Bertrandix is really exceeding our expectations you probably saw, we had $28,000,000 of revenue in Q3 of twenty twenty five. So I think there's a real nice outlook.

Yes.

I think Sean noted earlier in his comments that while we're getting a lot of feedback on with BT or Brettronics, is the combination of EnerSys and Brettronics is very assuring to some of the customers, the Army. And they like the common balance sheet. So it's really been a good news story.

That's great. That's helpful. And any more on aftermarket rolled out in heavy duty trucking market, how is that progressing?

It's progressing well. I would say that we we're very focused on that. We need to focus on pricing. We need to keep our eyes on tariffs. So there's a lot of blocking and tackling we have to do. But moving that mix is absolutely a big part of our improvement plans Great. And maybe just one last one for me. To your point on Brentronics being a good fit, I guess net leverage 1.5x and obviously you've got that $135,000,000 coming in and with taxes just how are you thinking about the M and A funnel? Are you seeing more opportunities like the We think this can be a big year for M and A overall.

And we definitely have some things in the hopper. And this is an area Specialty and specifically AMD is an area of that we're looking at. But of course, we're looking in other parts of the business as well. But the balance sheet is in great shape Andy. Is there any color you want to add?

Yes. I mean our leverage is at 1.5 times. It's a slight increase from the beginning of the year on Brentronics, excluding IRA, which we always look at it with and without. Would be 2.1 We anticipate staying at or below our target range of 2% to 3%. We talked about continuing to look at opportunities where we can maximize shareholder value. Through accretive acquisitions that we're constantly looking.

Very good. Appreciate it. Everybody.

Thank you.

Our next question comes from the line of Brian Drab with William Blair.

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. I think that I'm just being dense here, but we're at the end of the call and I still don't really understand something. So we're lowering the sales outlook by $100,000,000 and we're I'm hearing that the the reasons are the slower than anticipated recovery in communications and and there was an issue I know with a major customer in motive but then also the outlook includes improving communication markets and improving transportation Can you just talk about why like rank order the reasons why sales are expectations down 100,000,000 and talk about did some of revenue that you lost because of customer sheet, does that get pushed from the third quarter to the fourth quarter?

Sure. I'll be happy to take that, Brian, if it helps. And as you know, the number that you're quoting on revenue, of course, for the full year includes both the Q3 and Q4. And our Q3 revenue obviously was below the low end of our guide. I should point out, if it wasn't for FX, it would have been at the low end of our range, but still somewhat of a disappointment, while EPS I'd say pull out the impact of IRA was right in line with where we had expected that it it would be. So as we look at that going forward, we're trending off the fact that Q3, comps didn't come back as quickly as we thought, trends didn't come back as quickly as we thought. We are seeing progress on both of those. As we mentioned, Brintronics was an overbeat. Motive Power some of the miss in Q3, I'd say probably just under $10,000,000 was due to that customer fire that would have put us again closer to our midpoint. We won't get a huge surge in Q4. They were at full capacity before they had a fire. They're back at full capacity now, so we probably won't get a catch up on that.

Until they have their shut until scheduled shutdown. Next year is when they'll probably be able to get ahead a little bit. That happened in October, so we had a full quarter impact. And again, there's just general little bit of reticence on spending because of some uncertainty with the administration So that's kind of tampering things a little bit and I'd say that drove some of the Q3 miss and our expectations for Q4 As we said, we built a little hesitation in there. The trajectory is good. But there's going to be a little bit of slowness mostly because of that. And I think we've demonstrated that we manage the business well even when we don't have the revenue we thought we would that we're able to manage our expenses and hit these EPS targets And based on that, both revenue and EPS we narrowed the ranges with more confidence in what we expect to be able to deliver in the fourth quarter. Does that happen again, I mentioned that commodity hedge item. I think if you pull that commodity hedge timing out, that's just that $0.16 don't even look at our EBITDA excluding IRA you look at Q2 sequential changes, Q1 to Q2 up 10%, Q2 to Q3 up 12%, Q3 to Q4 probably up 12% to 13% again.

So if you pull out the IRA noise and you pull out you pull out that one time item that we had that we know won't repeat again because we capitalize [indiscernible] our cost of sales items and you expense them a quarter later. It's really a nice steady trajectory.

Okay. And then on the communications, side, you talked about Americas orders rebounding about 40%, but is that are we still well below levels that we were at previously or is that I mean, it's obviously off of relatively low base, right? But I'm just trying to reconcile, you've got slow return to normal in communications with [indiscernible] we have 40% order growth in The Americas in communications, which sounds Excellent.

Right. I think the one thing that's important to keep in mind is you're off an easy comp. Last year in Q3 and Q4 is when it really started to crash. So that's where I'm I'm talking about. If you look at year on year total EnerSys systems Q1, again, I mentioned 15% down in the first quarter, 10% down in second quarter 4% up in the third quarter and will probably be mid double digits in the fourth quarter. So you're looking at Q4 year on year is going to be a big pickup. Sequentially, it's going to be nice steady improvement. So our fourth quarter ES is probably going to look pretty much like our first quarter. So So it's a U shaped and you'd expect to be growing from there. So we're thinking Q4 is going to be kind of like just about at normalized levels And then coming out of that, it will have some return to normalcy with Missouri costs as we start to have better absorption as those lines start to come online as we start catching up in our service, like Sean mentioned, And then from there, we should have some growth. Okay, perfect.

Okay, perfect. We'll pull it together. [indiscernible] [indiscernible] I'll follow-up. I'm sure everyone's jumping to their next earnings call here like I am too. So have a good morning. Thanks for everything. Thanks Brian. Chat later. That concludes today's question and answer session. I'd like to turn the call back to Dave Schafer for closing remarks.

I want to thank you for joining today's call and thank you for your interest in EnerSys. We look forward to updating you again next quarter. Have a good day.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.