阿美特克 (AME) 2025 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q4 2025 AMETEK Inc., earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker, Kevin Coleman, VP of Investor Relations and Treasurer. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Crystal. Good morning, and welcome to AMETEK's fourth quarter 2025 earnings conference call. Joining me today are Dave Zapico, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Dalip 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 risks 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, historical results will be on an adjusted basis, excluding after tax acquisition-related intangible amortization and excluding acquisition-related costs. Reconciliations between GAAP and adjusted measures can be found in our press release and on the Investors section of our website. We'll begin today's call with prepared remarks, and then we'll open it up for questions.

I'll now turn the meeting over to Dave.

Thank you, Kevin, and good morning, everyone. AMETEK completed a strong year with excellent results in the fourth quarter, highlighted by double-digit growth in sales, orders and operating profit, robust core margin expansion, strong cash flow growth and earnings per share ahead of our expectations.

In the quarter, we established records for sales, orders, operating income, EBITDA, diluted earnings per share, operating cash flow, and free cash flow. We also ended the quarter with a record backlog. And today, we announced the acquisition of LKC Technologies, an attractive technology acquisition, which broadens our MedTech exposure. I'll provide more details on LKC shortly.

Now let me turn to our fourth-quarter results. Fourth-quarter sales were a record $2 billion, up 13% from the same period in 2024. Organic sales were up 5%. Acquisitions added 7 points in the quarter, and foreign currency was a 1 point tailwind. Orders were very strong in the quarter, with overall orders up 18% to a record $2 billion and organic orders up 7% versus the prior year, leading to a record backlog of $3.58 billion. Sales and orders growth consistently improved throughout the year, with the fourth quarter growth the strongest of the year.

AMETEK delivered excellent operating results in the quarter. Operating income was a record $523 million, a 12% increase over the fourth quarter of 2024. Operating margins were 26.2% in the quarter. Core margins were an impressive 27.6%, up 100 basis points. EBITDA in the quarter was a record $618 million, up 10% versus the prior year, and EBITDA margins, a strong 30.9%. Our excellent operating performance led to a strong cash generation with free cash flow, a record $527 million in the quarter, up 6% versus last year's fourth quarter, and free cash flow to net income conversion of 132%.

Diluted earnings per share were a record $2.01, up 7% versus the fourth quarter of 2024 and above our guidance range of $1.90 to $1.95 per share. Adjusting for an abnormally low tax rate in last year's fourth quarter, diluted earnings per share would have increased 11% in the quarter on a 5% increase in organic sales, reflecting strong incremental margins.

Now let me provide some additional details at the operating group level. First, the Electronic Instruments Group. EIG delivered excellent operating performance in the fourth quarter with record sales and operating profit along with impressive core margin expansion. EIG sales were $1.37 billion, up 13% from last year's fourth quarter. Organic sales were up 2%, acquisitions added 10 points. Foreign currency was a 1 point tailwind. We were encouraged by the organic sales growth in the quarter and the steady improvement in EIG growth rates throughout 2025. EIG's fourth quarter operating income was a record $413.7 million, up 7% versus the prior year.

Core operating margins were a robust 32.3%, up 50 basis points from the prior year. The Electromechanical Group completed an outstanding year with very strong broad-based growth and excellent operating performance in the fourth quarter. EMG's fourth quarter sales were $629 million, up 15% versus the prior year. Organic sales were up an impressive 14% and foreign currency was a 1 point tailwind. Sales growth was strong across all EMG divisions, with each growing double digits organically in the quarter.

EMG's operating income in the fourth quarter was $142.5 million, up a sizable 28% compared to the prior year period, while EMG's fourth quarter operating margins were 22.7%, up 240 basis points versus the fourth quarter of 2024.

Now for the full year results. AMETEK delivered excellent overall results in 2025, establishing annual records for sales, operating income, operating margin, EBITDA and diluted earnings per share. Overall sales for the year were $7.4 billion, up 7% from 2024. Operating income for 2025 was $1.94 billion, up 7% and operating margins were 26.2%, up 10 basis points from the prior year period, while core margins were up a very strong 80 basis points. EBITDA for the year was $2.33 billion, up 7% with EBITDA margins a very strong 31.5%.

Full year 2025 earnings were $7.43 per diluted share, up 9% versus the prior year. We also delivered strong cash flows in 2025 providing us with significant capital to deploy on strategic acquisitions with free cash flow to net income conversion of 113%. I'm very proud of our performance in 2025. Our businesses successfully navigated through sluggish industrial markets and ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty and delivered excellent results.

Thank you to all AMETEK colleagues for your outstanding contributions and hard work and delivering on our commitments to our customers and shareholders. AMETEK is well positioned for continued long-term success, given your efforts.

Now turning to acquisitions and capital deployment. In 2025, we completed the acquisitions of FARO Technologies and Kern Microtechnik for approximately $1 billion, acquiring approximately $400 million in annual sales. The integration of both businesses is going well as they integrate the AMETEK growth model into their businesses.

Now switching to our most recent acquisition, LKC Technologies. LKC is a leading provider of innovative technologies that enable effective diagnosis and management of ophthalmic conditions. Their advanced technology solutions help doctors test and monitor eye health and are designed to detect early signs of diabetic retinopathy and other serious eye conditions that can lead to vision loss. A combination of LKC with our Ultra Precision Technologies (inaudible) record business provides attractive market expansion opportunities and creates a broader ophthalmic portfolio.

LKC was privately held and headquartered in Germantown, Maryland. I'm excited to welcome all LKC Technologies' colleagues to the AMETEK family. 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 acquisition strategy. We are encouraged by our strong pipeline of high-quality acquisition candidates and our significant financial capacity provides us with the flexibility to deploy over $5 billion in capital while maintaining an investment-grade credit rating.

Our top priority for capital deployment remains acquisitions. While our strong cash flow provides us with the flexibility to opportunistically repurchase shares and pay a consistently increasing dividend. We also continue to focus on ensuring AMETEK is strategically positioned for long-term sustainable growth through continued investments back into our business.

These investments have strengthened our leadership position within our niche markets help open up new growth markets and attractive adjacencies and accelerated our new product development and technology innovation. For all of 2025, we invested an incremental $90 million in support of these growth initiatives with the majority of these going into our research, development, engineering, sales and marketing and digital initiatives. And in 2026, we expect to invest an incremental $100 million. We are seeing great results from these investments.

In the fourth quarter, our Vitality Index, which measures sales of new products introduced over the last 3 years was an outstanding 30%. This is an impressive result and reflects the great work of our businesses and colleagues. I wanted to highlight a couple of examples of how our businesses are leveraging their technology innovation efforts and broad product portfolios to help strategically expand their presence within attractive market segments.

The first business is AMETEK SPECTRO. SPECTRO is the leading provider of advanced analytical instrumentation for using critical industrial, environmental, research and academia applications. SPECTRO's products and solutions provide highly accurate, reliable and efficient elemental analysis. SPECTRO has recently introduced a new product family of elemental analysis instruments broadening their technology, product capabilities and market reach.

These new products, the SPECTRO Max and the (inaudible) have seen outstanding demand as rapidly rising commodity prices have increased the importance of precise and accurate metals analysis within a wide range of applications.

We are also seeing growing demand across our defense businesses. in particular, within our European defense businesses as our differentiated technology capabilities and product portfolio are well positioned to benefit from the expanding defense spending in the region. Our defense businesses provide a wide range of ruggedized high-performance solutions for a diverse set of mission-critical defense applications, and we continue to win content on new programs given our strong design and engineering capabilities.

To share a few examples, AMETEK's (inaudible) and Air technology businesses are providing advanced cooling solutions for use on a number of European air defense systems. Our (inaudible) business is providing integrated high-performance computing systems for European aircraft and communications platforms. And our power and data systems businesses is supplying power generation systems for a number of UAV platforms. Great work by our businesses in developing the critical products and technologies needed by our customers.

Now shifting to our outlook for the year ahead. For 2026, we expect overall sales to be up mid- to high single digits on a percentage basis with organic sales expected to increase low to mid-single digits versus the prior year. Diluted earnings per share for the year are expected to be in the range of $7.87 to $8.07, up 6% to 9% compared to last year's results. For the first quarter, we anticipate overall sales to be up approximately 10% versus the prior year's first quarter, with adjusted earnings of $1.90 to $1.95 per share, up 6% to 9% versus the prior year.

To summarize, AMETEK delivered a strong finish to the year with excellent performance in the fourth quarter reflecting the strength of our portfolio and our ability to execute our growth strategy. We entered 2026 with a record backlog and solid momentum given the strong sales and orders growth we saw in the second half of 2025. Our differentiated technologies and deep industry expertise continue to position us well in attractive niche markets. Additionally, we have significant capital to deploy on strategic acquisitions and a track record of delivering strong returns on capital.

Lastly, our proven operating capabilities allow us to deliver strong incremental margins and manage through economic or geopolitical uncertainties. With a focus on innovation, operational excellence and disciplined capital allocation, we are confident in our ability to drive continued growth and create long-term value for our shareholders in 2026 and beyond.

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

Thank you, Dave, and good morning, everyone. As Dave noted, AMETEK had an excellent finish to the year, establishing records for orders, sales, operating income, earnings per share and free cash flow in the quarter.

Now let me provide some additional financial highlights for the fourth quarter, the full year as well as some additional guidance for 2026. Fourth quarter general and administrative expenses were $33 million, up $4 million from the prior year due to higher charitable donations in the period. For the full year, general and administrative expenses were up $10 million. As a percentage of sales, full year G&A expense was 1.6%, up slightly from 2024 levels. For 2026, general and administrative expenses are expected to be approximately 1.5% of sales.

Fourth quarter other expenses were up $6 million compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. For 2026, we expect other operating expenses to be largely in line with 2025 levels.

The effective tax rate in the quarter was 16.3%, up from 12.8% in the fourth quarter of 2024. For the full year, the effective tax rate was 17.8%. For 2026, we 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 were $57 million in the fourth quarter and $130 million for the full year. Capital expenditures in 2026 are expected to be approximately $160 million or about 2% of sales. Depreciation and amortization expense in the quarter was $106 million, and for the full year was $423 million.

In 2026, we expect depreciation and amortization to be approximately $430 million, including after-tax acquisition-related intangible amortization of approximately $210 million or $0.91 per diluted share. For the quarter, operating working capital was 16.5% of sales, a 30 basis point improvement versus the fourth quarter of 2024. Operating cash flow in the quarter was a record $584 million, up 6% versus the fourth quarter of 2024.

Free cash flow was also a record in the quarter, up 6% to $527 million, with outstanding free cash flow conversion of 132% for the quarter. Free cash flow for 2025 was $1.7 billion, with full year free cash flow conversion also very strong at 113% of net income.

For 2026, we expect free cash flow conversion to be between 110% and 115% of net income. Total debt at year-end was $2.3 billion, up $200 million from the end of 2024 due to the acquisition of FARO Technologies. Offsetting this debt is cash and cash equivalents of $458 million.

During the quarter, we spent approximately $285 million on share repurchases, bringing our total share repurchases for the year to approximately $443 million. We continue to have significant financial capacity and flexibility to support our growth initiatives and capital deployment strategies. We demonstrated our financial flexibility in 2025 by deploying over $1.8 billion on acquisitions, share repurchases and dividends, all while maintaining our financial capacity and a conservative balance sheet.

At the end of 2025, our gross debt-to-EBITDA ratio was 1 times and our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio was 0.8 times, essentially unchanged from the end of 2024. In summary, we delivered strong fourth quarter and full year operating results highlighted by record revenue, record earnings, robust margin growth and excellent cash flow generation. With a proven strategy, significant capital deployment capacity and a strong track record of execution, we are well positioned to continue delivering exceptional results in 2026.

Kevin?

Thanks, Dalip. Crystal, could we please open the lines for questions?

(Operator Instructions) Matt Summerville, DA Davidson.

David, I was hoping you could drill deeper into the medical portfolio and their performance there in across both EIG and EMG and how we should be thinking about kind of the medium- to long-term algorithm associated with Paragon and Rauland and some of the bigger buckets in medical? And then I have a follow-up.

Sure. It's about 21% of our business now, the broader healthcare exposure. If you look at the health -- across both groups, Paragon and Roland driving the results, they were up low double digits in Q4. So that was a very good quarter, up low double digits. And for the full year '25, they were up high single digits. And we're thinking for '26, we'll be up mid-single digits. So our initial guide is mid-single digits, more challenging comps, but still very healthy businesses and performing well. And what's the follow-up, Matt?

I was wondering if you could talk about how you're thinking about strategic price capture kind of going forward after passing through this multiyear period where you had pretty meaningful inflation. And then obviously, you had the tariff pressure. So what's kind of the go-forward price algorithm? What does that look like for AMETEK now?

For the fourth quarter of '25, we had a positive price/cost spread. So we -- our pricing offset both inflation and tariffs. So we think that, that is going to be what's going to happen in '26. So for the full year '26, we're confident we can offset inflation and the existing known tariffs. So we're getting -- we have highly differentiated businesses of AMETEK product portfolio, leadership in niche markets around the globe, these are mission-critical products and the pricing is not going backwards, it's going to stick. The vast, vast majority of it is price increases, not just kind of offsets.

So we had a good pricing situation. As I mentioned in my prepared remarks, we have a refreshed product portfolio, 30% Vitality mission-critical products. So we really have done this for quite a while and don't see any change. So I think we'll be positive when you take into account inflation and tariffs for the year.

Deane Dray, RBC Capital Markets.

Maybe we can step back and they do your typical run through the end markets, key platforms. It sounds like everything in medical, we're certainly hitting expectations. And if you could touch on any kind of regional dynamics as well?

Sure, Dean. The Process business, I'll start there. Overall sales for our Process businesses were up mid-teens in the fourth quarter, driven by the contribution from recent acquisitions. So we acquired the FARO business, the current business and we bring those in, they're lower margins, and we're improving them as we go. But that group grew low single digits organically in that quarter. So that's the first time we saw a low single-digit organic growth in process. We're pretty happy with that. We saw continued improvements throughout the whole year.

As I said, they're most positive in the fourth quarter. We're encouraged by that finish to the year. And we talked about before, we see a very strong pipeline of growing opportunities in our broader process and analytical instrumentation markets. For the full year 2026, we expect organic sales for our Process segment to be up low single digits. Talk about our Aerospace and Defense businesses, they completed an outstanding year with low double-digit growth in both overall and organic sales in the quarter.

Similar to the full year growth was broad-based, strongest orders, strongest growth across our commercial OE and aftermarket businesses in the quarter. Our businesses are well positioned with strong and expanding content on a wide variety of aerospace and defense platforms.

Looking ahead, we expect another strong year high single-digit organic growth in 2026 and really balanced across both our commercial and defense businesses. Jumping next to our Power business, delivered solid growth in the quarter, both overall and organic sales were up mid-single digits. Growth in the quarter was strongest within our RTDS and Power instruments businesses. It's driven by global grid modernization and applications supporting the data center buildout. Talked a little bit in the last meeting, we have applications in Power generation, backup power, micro (inaudible), power systems simulation services, all supporting their broader data center ecosystem and delivering power to the ecosystem.

Looking ahead to 2026, we expect organic sales for our Power businesses to be up mid-single digits. And finally, our Automation & Engineered Solutions businesses delivered another outstanding quarter with low double-digit overall and organic sales growth. Growth was again broad-based across our Automation & Engineered Solutions businesses with our Paragon Medical businesses delivering the strongest growth.

For 2026, we expect sales for Automation & Engineered Solutions businesses to be up mid-single digits organically. And I think you asked about the geography also, Dean.

Yes.

Yes, we have -- both US and international sales were up mid-single digits. So it's kind of good strength across the board. In the US, we were up MSD, mid-single digits, driven by strength in our Automation & Engineered Solutions business. In Europe, we were up low single digits driven by strength in Aerospace and our Automation businesses. And Asia was up 10%. We were very pleased that China was up low double digits for us, driven by our Process, Power and Automation businesses. And again, Asia was up 10%. If we take China out of Asia, Asia was up high single digits. So Asia was pretty much strong across the board. So pretty good performance geographically across the board.

That's all good to hear. Just a quick follow-up. You talk about record backlog. What kind of conversion should we expect in 2026 of backlog. I mean, I know typically, you're at like a 30% conversion, but with the recent kind of expansion that's been closer to 50%, how does that shape up for '26?

It's in the same ballpark. With our long-cycle businesses, our aerospace, defense business with our process businesses, some of those are multiyear. But there's plenty for us to ship near term. So we're pretty optimistic about the order pipelines. We had good orders throughout the quarter. December was the strongest quarter. December was the strongest record quarter for us in one month, and we also started the year strong. So orders are good. We're -- again, the backlog is with our multiple industries, it's a little bit difficult. But you're right, it's between that 30% and 50% number. But we're in good shape and is feeling good with the strength.

Andrew Buscaglia, BNP Paribas.

Hoping to focus on EIG, just that it sounds like the organic growth of 2%, a little bit below kind of what you had expected because you expect for the full year to grow year-over-year. So I imagine in process and analytical instrumentation that maybe didn't come to growth in come to fruition the way you thought it would. What are your expectations into 2026 for that segment or subsegment and activity converting?

Yes. Just -- if you go back to the beginning of 2025, we actually had negative organic growth in the first couple of quarters in our Process businesses and those improved. So we actually were positive in Q4. So we're pretty pleased with the performance of EIG turning positive in Q4 on the back of the process of business performance. If I look at 2026, we have -- our overall sales, I already mentioned in the prepared remarks, is up mid- to high single digits with organic up low to mid-single digits. And we think both of our businesses will have low to mid-single-digit organic growth. So both EIG and EMG, overall will be up mid- to high single digits and both will have organic growth of low to mid-single digits.

Okay. Got it. And that outlook in EMG, your sales were so strong in Q4. Was there something out of the ordinary, unusual that would drive that 15% growth that this won't repeat going forward?

No, I think that, as I mentioned in the prepared remarks, every division within EMG had double-digit growth in sales. So there's really a lot of strength there. I mean, there's -- if you going to get some tougher comps next year. But we're performing well. We have strong execution, disciplined operations. We're gaining momentum in the portfolio. EMG recovered nicely, Automation and MedTech are solid. A&D remains strong with good backlogs. So I think what you might be seeing there is the guide is a little bit prudent or this early in the year, but we feel good about EMG in 2026.

Brett Linzey, Mizuho.

I wanted to just come back to the kind of the pricing dynamic. I know there's a lot of fits and starts on tariffs last year and subsequent pricing. Any signs of prebuy or prebuild in some of those channels as maybe some of that destock has turned to restock and customers are maybe looking to get ahead of some of the price last year?

No, I think it seems like we've -- there's a lot of macroeconomic things we're dealing with and uncertainties and related to the broader deglobalization, but I think all that stuff happened in 2025. And I think we're more of a more normalized -- it feels like it's more normalized now where you're not -- you don't have buy ahead, you don't have things like that. And so it feels more normal than it did in '25 at the beginning of '26.

Okay. Great. And then just a follow-up on price and cost. Maybe discuss your actual pricing expectation for 2026. And then how are you thinking about price cost spread for the year? I know we're getting a little bit of metals inflation here.

Yes. We're not giving a specific target, but what we will say is in the fourth quarter, as I mentioned to Matt, we offset -- price offset inflation plus tariffs plus (inaudible) 50 basis points. So it was very strong. And I expect a similar kind of performance next year. That's our target. So there's in our different businesses or different levels of inflation, there's dynamics. But we have a strong history of -- because of the product portfolio and the special place in the value chain we have with our customers and being able to offset inflation in tariffs with price. So that's going to continue.

Andrew Obin, Bank of America.

Can we just get an update on FARO acquisition? What are you seeing? What's the progress has been? What are the key learnings?

Good question. Remember, everybody, it designs and develops advanced 3D metrology and digital reality solutions. These include product families like measurement arms, laser scanners, laser trackers, integrated process and analytics software, and it's an excellent strategic fit with our Creaform business.

So we have a business that's complementary to it and complements our metrology capabilities. So it's -- and we acquired the business, and we think we can add meaningful value to FARO. So along with the elimination of the public company costs and the integration of AMETEK's global infrastructure, we think there's a tremendous amount of synergies.

So we acquired the business for about 2.7 times, and we feel that the cost synergies will allow us to more than double EBITDA margins from the current mid-teens level to a 30% level and achieve a 10% return on invested capital by year three. And that was the plan going in, and it's still -- we're more confident than ever. We're going to be able to do that. We have made moves on integrating the business. We formed two business units. One is more of the metrology business unit and one is more the digital reality business. So those are people coming from legacy AMETEK and FARO in both businesses, and that's going extremely well.

You'll see in the press release we put out. We have some onetime charges with that. It was about $17.6 million, I believe. So that's allowing us to get the kinds of improvements that we're getting in the business. And that's why there's quite a big gap between the -- our core margins that I mentioned and the reported margins. You got the -- along with being a less profitable business, and we're doing some work on improving the business. But I'm very, very bullish with the business.

I mean, there's a great coverage throughout the world. We didn't have overlap and capability are really complementary and the team is extremely motivated. So the AMETEK leadership style is having a positive effect on FARO. So we're very pleased with it.

And then last, '25 was a year where I think we all waited for a short cycle recovery that never happened. And you've clearly stressed that your orders improved into the year and then continue to be strong in January. What kind of conversations are you having with your customers? Do you feel better that what's happening right now is not maybe a flash in the pan but maybe more substantive recovery. I would appreciate any color.

If you go back and listen to our last couple of conference calls, we were feeling better through the quarters too. We could see momentum building and it seems to continue to build. And we've had a fantastic pipeline of opportunities and more of those are starting to happen. And I just -- we had three years of negative PMI (inaudible), I think it's changing. It feels good for us. And you have a lot of -- we got the positive segments that we talked about.

And we got the power business now is well positioned, and it's going to benefit from the build-out of power capacity. The process business is seeing steady improvements, and we're managing a strong pipeline. Our future project activity remains extremely healthy. If you look at the -- a little bit of macro uncertainty around the broader deglobalization, but at the same time, conditions remain constructive. Interest rate policies are positive. M&A environment looks favorable. The industrial renaissance across the west should help us offset any kind of drag from the tariffs.

So we're working on our business, and we're feeling pretty good right now. So you never know if it's long-lasting, but right now, it's feel solid, and we're certainly being prudent with our guide because something like you mentioned happens and it weakens later in the year, but we don't see it right now.

Jamie Cook, Truist Securities.

I guess my first question, Dave, can you just obviously did FARO, you did Kern. Just sort of an update on how you're thinking about the M&A pipeline in 2026? And are there any sort of sizable deals that are out there? And then my second question, just on the implied margins for 2026 relative to the top line guide. We talked about price cost being positive. Obviously, I think FARO is still going to weigh on margins a bit. Is there any other factors that we should consider as we're thinking about margins across your segments that are unusual.

No, I think, Jamie, I'll take the margin question first. I mean, we're firing on all cylinders in terms of margins. If you look at our core operating margins were up 100 basis points in the quarter. So if you back out all the things you mentioned, they were very strong. Both groups, EIG was up 50 basis points.

EMG on a core margin was up 310. And if you look at incrementals, our core incrementals were 45% in Q4. So that's very strong. And for '26, we've been a little more conservative, we're saying 35% reported -- incremental margins and 30 basis points of margin expansion. So 30 basis points of margin expansion, which is pretty typical for us going into each year, and we're thinking we can get 35% incrementals. And that will be a little bit less than we got in '25, but it's more prudent. We're feeling good about it. There shouldn't be any surprises.

With a business like ours, I think we -- 31% EBITDA, every time we acquire businesses, they're coming in at a lower profit margin. So yes, that's why we try to give the core margins and we communicate them, we go through it all and you have to think about it. But if we add a business that has a lot lower margins, like Zygo had essentially 15% -- I mean, FARO had essentially [50%] EBITDA margin. So there's going to be initial dilution. But we have a tremendous capability of bringing those margins up.

And the best way to look at that long term is our return on capital. If you look at our balance sheet, it doesn't lie. We had between a 12% and 13% return on capital, and that's how we know we're creating value for our shareholders.

Okay. So that was the genesis of my question. So it's you being prudent versus anything else?

Yes, I think so. It really is. And then you talked about M&A and we're excited about the businesses that we got done because we really can add a lot of value to FARO and Kern. But we really have the opportunity to differentiate our performance with M&A in the next year or two. Because with our ability to operate businesses are disciplined and really a key change in the pipeline. We really have a strong pipeline of deals right now.

And as Dalip said, we have a balance sheet ready to act, ready to put the work and the pipeline remains strong. We're actively looking at a number of high-quality deals. We could spend $5 billion and still maintain our investment-grade credit rating. So the team is active and we're excited, and it's really going to be a way for us to differentiate our performance over the next couple of years.

Nicole DeBlase, Deutsche Bank.

Maybe just circling back on China. Really encouraging to see (inaudible) turn positive and nicely positive in the quarter. Dave, do you think we're seeing a turn in that market? If we could maybe double-click on what you're seeing in the individual businesses there? And what your expectation is for 2026 as well.

Right. China is a little different for us. I mean, we have -- first of all, we have a fantastic team over there. We have just great long-term AMETEK employees over there and you do a great job of managing it. And we have products that are used by our customers in China to improve their manufacturing processes, high-value manufacturing processes. We have products that used to automate their processes. We have products that make their environment cleaner. We have products to help them build out their nuclear power infrastructure. We have products that help them test their electric vehicle industry. So a lot of our products are really suited to our customer base over there.

So it's -- the overall the overall market, the overall country, I think you're seeing some deflation. I think you're seeing -- you still have a real estate hangover. But in the places that we're playing, we still have strong positions. And we're being conservative on how we're looking at that business, but it was good to see the change and you get a level of low double-digit growth. and driven by our process businesses, our power businesses and our automation businesses, all firing on all cylinders in China.

That's great. And then just maybe following up on Jamie's question on M&A. It sounds like you're pretty fired up about the pipeline. Would you say like if you kind of think about your time running AMETEK and compare today's pipeline versus what you've seen over the years, is this like a stronger pipeline than normal? Or is it just, okay, our pipeline is always strong, and this has been a focus of AMETEK for some time?

Yes. The pipeline has always been strong. But I think right now, the pipeline is filled with a good mix of normal quality deals and larger deals. So I think there's the -- there's probably more larger deals that have been in our pipeline in a while. And larger deals, we've -- we're not looking to buy a business that's our size or even half our size or even a quarter of our size.

I mean, we don't think you add value that way. But there's a good bunch of businesses there that are of good chunky sizes for us. So as we get bigger, we've expanded the types of businesses we're looking at. And we're very pleased with -- I mean, we're very disciplined. So what looks good today may not happen tomorrow because we're not going to overpay. But at the same time, if we buy a business, you know we're going to get the returns on capital. And we're optimistic. We're working very hard. We have a great team in M&A. We have about 11 people dedicated to M&A. We're a very few companies of -- in the industrial world that have the dedicated people to it. And all of our operators are also involved.

So we have a good process. It's a well-defined processes the processes that work on deal sourcing, deal modeling, diligence integration. And I think the secret sauce of AMETEK is we have very strong business operators, well ingrained in the AMETEK culture, long-grained in the AMETEK business system, providing ownership for the delivery of financial metrics for each individual deal. So -- and we learn something new from every deal. It's -- we're experienced at it, but we're humble and we learn something new from every deal, and we share the knowledge and it just makes us better.

Chris Snyder, Morgan Stanley.

I wanted to follow up about the 2026 margin guide. It seems like on the math that Q1 margins would be down year-on-year again. I'm just looking at the 10% top-line growth versus -- or EPS up mid- to high singles. So I guess, does that reflect some of the M&A headwinds still coming through in that year-on-year compare. And obviously, you guys are guiding margins up for the year. So do you think they will turn back to expansion in Q2? Or is that more of a back half event? Any just color on the trajectory there would be helpful.

Yes. Chris, I think in Q1 specifically, we got overall sales of 10%. And you got FARO in there that's running at a lower margin, pretty sizable deal running at a lower margin. So if you just look at Q1 and you look at the year-on-year increase in sales and you apply a mid-20s contribution margin to it. You'll get work out to our guide. I mean, I think below the line items essentially offset and we're getting mid-20s on the contribution margin on the incremental business, and that will be right in line with what we did.

Yes, Chris, if you adjust for the acquisitions, you look at core margins, we do expect Q1 margins to expand like we guided for the full year in that same ballpark.

I appreciate that color. And then just a follow-up, I'm staying on margins. And I guess maybe the inorganic margin opportunity or maybe the synergy opportunity on FARO and Paragon is the better way to phrase it. Can you talk about where we are on that? FARO, I think you guys said comes on mid-teens EBITDA. You guys see a pathway to, I think, double that to about 30. Any color on the past?

And then Paragon is obviously closer to final state margins, but I think you guys have talked about maybe another there. Can you just maybe kind of provide any sort of timeline on how those businesses are progressing against those targets?

Yeah, I'll start with Paragon. Paragon is already at EBITDA margins that are now in line with AMETEK. So it's a very positive work by the people that are doing the work in that business, very happy with them, but there's more room to go. So I think there's a whole next leg of margin improvement in Paragon that is going to occur over the next 12, 18 months, and it's going to -- it's going to occur incrementally. We do things incrementally at a low risk, and that's going to happen.

And then with FARO, we're kind of in the beginning stages of it. And you saw some pretty heavy restructuring done early in the year. We're still doing some organizational work. There's an international infrastructure that we haven't dealt with yet in terms of duplication. So I think you'll see some benefits from Paragon in this year, and FARO is going to approve, but it's going to take us a couple of years to get it to 30. And it's going to be in some chunky improvements, but it's going to take us a couple of years to get it there.

Julian Mitchell, Barclays.

Just maybe wanted to start with the orders sort of trends in recent months. As you said, things felt better into year-end, December was good, but I suppose the absolute organic orders growth rate was, I think, steady year-on-year in the third and the fourth quarters at about 7%. So were there things sort of maybe help us understand the things moving around on specific markets within the orders or something geographically? Any color as to how maybe orders look different in the fourth versus the third quarter?

I think it was pretty broad-based. I mean, we had we look at the fourth quarter, we had organic orders of 7%, as you said. Both groups were up. So EIG and EMG. So was broad-based, and there was a similar pattern from Q3 and the book-to-bill of AMETEK was 1.02, and it was pretty broad-based.

And when we're looking at the organic sales --?

I think the -- what you see is the EMG businesses picked up first and the EIG businesses, the process part of the EIG businesses are following later. And that's a typical pattern that we've had throughout history. So there's some time during the 2026, when we think the EIG, the process part of EIG is really going to inflect positive. And historically, we've had great contribution margins when that happens. But that's how it's happening. EMG happens first. EIG happens later. When you look at aerospace, it's been strong all along, and you look at that separately.

That's helpful. And Dave, I just wanted to follow up on your point just now on thinking about the phasing of the segments. So when we look at organic sales growth for AMETEK in 2026. Maybe clarify what degree of sort of deceleration just from tougher comps, you're dialing in inorganic growth through the year with that prudent framework in mind. And are we assuming then that the EIG business kind of exits the year maybe organically growing a little bit faster because of that later pickup?

I would -- I don't know what's going to happen exactly because we're looking a long way out. But I think if you get into the second half of the year, EIG organic could be stronger and EMG organic could have a tougher comp.

Joe Giordano, TD Cowen.

Apologies if someone asked this, I'm kind of multitasking here a bit. But Dave, can you -- on the guide for process, I know you'd like to be cautious in the beginning of the year and market's far from certain here, but it feels a little conservative, low single digits coming off like an acceleration throughout the year and now going positive. Can you kind of frame maybe the puts and takes that's driving that view on -- initial view on process?

I can see that. I mean, it was -- we grew low single digits in Q4, and we've guided low single digits for the year. So Q4 was the first quarter process at positive low single digits. So we're being a bit prudent, but one quarter does not make a year.

Is there a big spread in that segment between like what's getting better and what's kind of stable but not accelerating? Can you maybe -- if there's a little bit more granularity we can get there?

Yes. I think in that segment, what you see is the semiconductor business is positive. And the instrumentation sold the metals businesses are positive. And the Rauland business that we talked about earlier response. So a lot of things are positive. And the places that are the oil and gas and the research are a little bit less than those positive segments.

Yes. That makes sense. Could you maybe give us a little color on the new deal, like in terms of the size of the business and the -- maybe the margin opportunity there?

Yes. It's really a technology deal and we're not disclosing terms. We have an agreement that we're not disclosing terms. It's a smaller deal. It's a technology deal. And it's a really, really interesting business. They're a leading provider of advanced eye care testing instruments and optometrists are trying to find the initial signs of diabetic retinopathy. And they're doing that with structural testing and they're testing your eye, they're looking at your eye. They're trying to see things. But this is an actual electrical response and it's on a portable device.

There's a technique that you used to do the test. The test was expensive. It was a very large piece of equipment, but they -- innovation was to make it a really portable instrument and it's really going to help a lot of people. And it's kind of a technique that's very, very -- growing rapidly, small, but growing rapidly. And most of the sales are in the US, and there's about 60 employees near DC in Germantown, Maryland. And it fits right into our (inaudible) business.

Our Ultra Precision Technology business has a business that sells this type of equipment is just an additional product line. So we're really happy about it. We got -- it's adjacent technology. It broadens our portfolio, it lets us leverage our channels and leverage their channels. And this business has a recurring revenue of nearly 40% from these tests from the center strips that are placed on the eye. So it's a really good technology. We're pleased with it and -- we're not going to disclose the terms though. It's a smaller technology deal.

Steve Barger, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

This is Christian (inaudible) on for Steve Barger. I just have one question. A few years ago, EMG operated in a mid- to high 20s percent operating margin. With the recent acquisitions and current mix, is it possible for you guys to get back there organically? Or does that likely come from acquisitions? Just really trying to get any thoughts on how you're thinking about EMG broadly and what you're targeting over the next few years?

Yes. I think seasonally, EMG is usually a little bit lower in Q4 than the other quarters because of some dynamics in the business. But I don't think there's any reason that we won't be operating at that level. And I think we did operate at that level in the third quarter.

Yes. Yes. I think if you go back a couple of years, like you stated, we were probably mid-20s, right, before the Paragon acquisition and now if you look at where we are, we've kind of retract back maybe 60%, and I think we're on track to hit those mid-20 margins at '26 in EMG and grow further from there.

Scott Graham, Seaport Research Partners.

There's actually two of them. I don't remember, Dave, the last time we saw a Vitality of 30%. I was hoping you would unbundle that. Maybe a little bit tour, maybe is there some defense in there? Is there maybe chasing some data center sales in there, kind of tell us maybe where some of those are going specifically if you could and their impact on the organic.

Yes, 30% is a good number, Scott. We're very pleased with that. There are some data center sales on that. We talked about in the last call that we've reconfigured some of our products for that market that were sold to defense markets. Those are certainly contributing to that. But there's just the engineering capability of the company is on questions they're really developing some good things.

Our customers are very pleased with them with the uptick, and it makes us feel confident going into a strengthening market that we got the right products that you need. But it's really -- it's bottom up. As you know, so it's all our businesses, and we're not telling a business to develop this or develop that. It's organic. And there's just very, very viable product development plans, technology road maps and we're optimistic about what we've done with our products and our technology.

Okay. The follow-up is simple is the defense budget potentially reaching $1.5 trillion at some point in next couple of years. Do you need acquisitions maybe to get you a little bit more -- is more broadly exposed to sort of have dibs on some of that? Or how do you feel about your defense business? Well, I know that there's nothing specific in the budget on it, it's just a number. But how do you feel about maybe getting after some of that business? Do you need a couple of deals to help you?

Yes. We'd love to do a deal in the defense industry, but that doesn't -- where we have fully developed product lines and the business cases for what we have. And I mentioned the Abaco business and the computing area, I mentioned air technology. I mentioned (inaudible) business and the advanced cooling. I mentioned our power business, selling power systems to UAVs.

So we're really competitive, and that business is doing very well. So we don't need an acquisition to continue growing and we actually have a little -- our Aerospace & Defense business is about 18% of sales. We have a little more defense sales than commercial sales. So we're in a pretty good position there. Legacy centers on aircraft selling to both commercial and defense aircraft to some of the more -- lately, some of the modern more things we've done in the recent years. So it's pretty wide range, the same strategy.

We're focused on niche technologies, things we're really good at. And we have plenty of people knocking on our door. And as I mentioned, the European the Europeans starting to focus on their own defense and their own protection, definitely creating opportunities for us.

Rob Wertheimer, Melius Research.

I know we're getting towards the end of the call. I had sort of a general question that you touched on with Andrew, I guess. But on Paragon, it seems like a lot of things have gone well. And this maybe is a question as much about AMETEK is about Paragon. But I wonder if you could just just give us insight into what you've done and what has made the most positive improvements there as sort of a way of learning about the company again.

Yes. Well, I think the most important thing is we bought a very good business. And if you remember, when we bought it, that was in the middle of a destock. And people were worried about it. We weren't worried because we knew we got a good business, we knew we had a good team. And the consumable surgical instruments that they manufacture are good recurring revenue. They're a leader in implantable components. So we bought a good business. And we bought a business that, quite honestly, was under-managed on the operations side. So we've done a lot of good work to improve that operation, combine it with one of our businesses who has a great capability in another part of this market.

So similar to the FARO model, we have -- we bought a business in a market we knew. We have some capability. We've restructured the business to be more focused on customers, more focused on understanding the P&L, and we're bringing AMETEK's global capabilities to it. So it's kind of a playbook that we apply quite often, and Paragon is going to lead the way, but FARO's right behind them.

Robert Mason, Baird.

Just one question. Dave, if you go back to the process business, it does sound like your industrial business is they're more likely to lead on growth, and you made a comment just around some of the research areas. How are you expecting those research areas, R&D exposed areas, to play out through the year? Do you think they have a chance to be flat or even up a little this year, start to see some turn?

I do. And there's always time for you, Rob. So we'll always squeeze you in. Yes. I think in the research area, what you really saw in the US was there was a little bit of a -- during the Doug's time, there was a little bit of dysfunction, and that's right at itself. So in a lot of areas of research.

So we happen to be particularly biased to. There's a lot of nuclear research going on in the materials area, there's a lot of research going on to find new materials to replace other materials with the rare earth metals, a lot of research going on there. So in our CAMECA business, there's high-end research. There's high-end research going into nuclear. And the other thing that caused us some problems in 2025, which has gone away was that when we had tariffs originally were put in place, they caused substantial pricing disconnects for us and our customers, and now we've worked through that.

So as long as tariffs stay in about the same range, that won't be an issue. So I do think that we have the potential to grow our research business in '26 just as an answer to your question.

And I am showing no further questions from our phone line. I'd now like to turn the conference back over to Kevin Coleman for any closing remarks.

Thank you again, Crystal, and thanks, everyone, for joining our call today. And as a reminder, a replay of the webcast may be accessed in the Investors section of ametek.com. Thanks all.

Thank you. This concludes today's program. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.