卡地納健康 (CAH) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to today's First Quarter Financial Year 2024 Cardinal Health Earnings Conference Call. This meeting is being recorded.

美好的一天，歡迎參加今天的 2024 財年第一季康德樂收益電話會議。本次會議正在錄製中。

At this time, I'd like to hand the call over to Matt Sims, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

現在，我想將電話轉給投資者關係副總裁馬特·西姆斯(Matt Sims)。請繼續，先生。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us for Cardinal Health First Quarter Fiscal '24 Earnings Conference Call.

早安，感謝您參加康德樂 24 年第一季財報電話會議。

On the call with me today are Jason Hollar, Chief Executive Officer; and Aaron Alt, Chief Financial Officer. You can find today's press release and earnings presentation on the IR section of our website at ir.cardinalhealth.com.

今天與我通話的是執行長 Jason Hollar；和財務長 Aaron Alt。您可以在我們網站 ir.cardinalhealth.com 的投資者關係部分找到今天的新聞稿和收益演示。

As a reminder, during the call, we will be making forward-looking statements. The matters addressed in the statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or implied. Please refer to our SEC filings and the forward-looking statement slide at the beginning of our presentation for a description of these risks and uncertainties.

提醒一下，在電話會議期間，我們將做出前瞻性陳述。聲明中涉及的事項存在風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與預測或暗示的結果有重大差異。請參閱我們向 SEC 提交的文件以及簡報開頭的前瞻性聲明投影片，以了解這些風險和不確定性的描述。

Please note that during the discussion today, our comments will be on a non-GAAP basis, unless they are specifically called out as GAAP. GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations for all relevant periods can be found in the schedules attached to our press release. (Operator Instructions)

請注意，在今天的討論中，我們的評論將基於非公認會計原則（non-GAAP），除非特別指出為公認會計原則（GAAP）。所有相關期間的 GAAP 與非 GAAP 調整表可在我們新聞稿所附的時間表中找到。 （操作員說明）

With that, I will now turn the call over to Jason.

這樣，我現在將把電話轉給傑森。

Thanks, Matt, and good morning, everyone.

謝謝馬特，大家早安。

Overall, it was a great start to our fiscal year. With strong first quarter results and an improved outlook for the year, we are continuing our operating momentum into fiscal '24.

整體而言，這是我們財年的良好開端。憑藉強勁的第一季業績和改善的年度前景，我們將在 24 財年繼續保持營運動能。

In the first quarter, we delivered significant profit growth in both segments. In Pharma, the results were driven by the strength across our business, including continued positive performance from our generics program. We also benefited from our role distributing the recently commercialized COVID-19 vaccines, which I'll elaborate on later in my remarks.

第一季度，我們在這兩個領域都實現了顯著的利潤成長。在製藥領域，業績是由我們整個業務的實力推動的，包括我們的仿製藥計劃的持續積極表現。我們也受益於分發最近商業化的 COVID-19 疫苗的作用，我將在稍後的演講中詳細闡述這一點。

Macro trends in the core distribution business remains stable, and we continue to see strong pharmaceutical demand, including the GLP-1 medications. And both our higher-growth specialty nuclear businesses tracked ahead of plan in the quarter.

核心分銷業務的宏觀趨勢保持穩定，我們繼續看到強勁的藥品需求，包括 GLP-1 藥物。我們的兩項高速成長的特種核業務在本季度都超出了計劃。

In Medical, the first quarter was another proof point of the inflection we began to see last Q2 in this business. Recall, the segment was unprofitable only a year ago. Overall, results tracked slightly ahead of our expectations, and we continue to execute our Medical Improvement Plan initiatives to drive better and more predictable financial performance.

在醫療領域，第一季是我們在上個季度開始看到該業務轉折點的另一個證據。回想一下，僅僅一年前，該部門還沒有獲利。總體而言，結果略高於我們的預期，我們將繼續執行我們的醫療改進計劃舉措，以推動更好、更可預測的財務表現。

In particular, we made notable progress on inflation mitigation in the quarter. At an enterprise level, we realized notable operating leverage from our efforts to manage costs across the segments. And below the operating line, our favorable capital structure and responsible capital deployment provided tailwinds, enabled by our strong cash flow generation. In short, the broad-based performance to date gives us confidence to raise fiscal '24 EPS guidance only a quarter into the year.

特別是本季我們在緩解通膨方面取得了顯著進展。在企業層面，我們透過跨部門成本管理的努力實現了顯著的營運槓桿。在營運線以下，我們良好的資本結構和負責任的資本部署提供了有利的推動力，這得益於我們強勁的現金流產生。簡而言之，迄今為止的廣泛表現讓我們有信心在今年僅一個季度就提高 24 財年每股收益指引。

Our team continues to prioritize focused execution to best serve our customers and create value for shareholders. I'll update you on our progress in advancing our three key strategic imperatives shortly, but first, let me turn it over to Aaron to review our results, updated guidance in more detail.

我們的團隊繼續優先考慮集中執行，以最好地服務我們的客戶並為股東創造價值。我很快就會向您介紹我們在推進三個關鍵戰略要務方面取得的進展，但首先，讓我將其交給亞倫，以更詳細地審查我們的結果和更新的指導。

Thanks, Jason, and good morning. Q1 delivered a strong financial start to the year, with EPS of $1.73, surpassing our expectations in Pharma and Medical. The strength of our pharma business, the progress on our medical turnaround efforts and our disciplined approach to capital allocation contributed to new first quarter highs for the enterprise on both revenue and EPS. We also delivered strong cash flow and ended the quarter with $3.9 billion of cash.

謝謝，傑森，早安。第一季的財務開局強勁，每股收益為 1.73 美元，超出了我們對製藥和醫療行業的預期。我們的製藥業務的實力、醫療扭虧為盈的努力以及我們嚴格的資本配置方法，為企業第一季的收入和每股盈餘創下新高做出了貢獻。我們也實現了強勁的現金流，本季結束時現金為 39 億美元。

Let's start with the consolidated enterprise results, as seen on Slide 4. Total revenue increased 10% to $54.8 billion, driven by the Pharma segment. Gross margin also increased 10% to $1.8 billion, driven by both the Medical and Pharma segments. Consolidated SG&A was generally in line with the prior year at $1.2 billion, reflecting our disciplined cost management across the enterprise.

讓我們從綜合企業業績開始，如幻燈片 4 所示。在製藥部門的推動下，總收入成長了 10%，達到 548 億美元。在醫療和製藥領域的推動下，毛利率也成長了 10%，達到 18 億美元。綜合 SG&A 整體與去年持平，為 12 億美元，反映出我們整個企業嚴格的成本管理。

With the significant profit growth in both segments, we delivered total operating earnings of $571 million, growth of 35%. Moving below the line. Interest and Other decreased by $15 million to $12 million, due to increased interest income from cash and equivalents. As a reminder, our debt is largely fixed rate, resulting in a net benefit from rising interest rates in the near term.

隨著這兩個部門的利潤顯著增長，我們實現了總營業利潤 5.71 億美元，成長了 35%。移動到線下方。由於現金及等價物利息收入增加，利息及其他費用減少 1,500 萬美元，至 1,200 萬美元。提醒一下，我們的債務基本上是固定利率的，從而在短期內從利率上升中獲得淨收益。

Our first quarter effective tax rate finished at 22.5%, an increase of approximately 5.5 percentage points. We saw positive discrete items in both the current and prior year periods, which were more beneficial a year ago. First quarter average diluted shares outstanding were 250 million, 8% lower than a year ago due to share repurchases. And as I mentioned earlier, the net result was first quarter EPS of $1.73, an all-time first quarter high point, reflecting growth of 44%.

我們第一季的有效稅率為 22.5%，增加了約 5.5 個百分點。我們在目前和去年期間都看到了積極的離散項目，這些項目在一年前更為有利。由於股票回購，第一季平均攤薄後流通股為 2.5 億股，比去年同期下降 8%。正如我之前提到的，第一季淨收益為 1.73 美元，創第一季歷史新高，成長了 44%。

Let's turn to the Pharma segment on Slide 5. First quarter revenue increased 11% to $51 billion, driven by brand and specialty pharmaceutical sales growth from existing customers. We continue to see broad-based strength in pharmaceutical demand spanning across product categories brand, specialty, consumer health and generics and from our largest customers. Similar to trends last year, GLP-1 medications provided a revenue tailwind in the quarter.

讓我們轉向幻燈片 5 上的製藥部門。在現有客戶的品牌和特種藥品銷售成長的推動下，第一季營收成長 11%，達到 510 億美元。我們繼續看到來自我們最大客戶的藥品需求的廣泛優勢，涵蓋品牌、專業、消費者健康和仿製藥等產品類別。與去年的趨勢類似，GLP-1 藥物為本季帶來了收入成長。

Segment profit increased 18% to $507 million in the first quarter, driven by a higher contribution from brand and specialty products, including distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, which provided a modest contribution as customers stocked up in preparation for the fall vaccination season. We also saw positive generics program performance with continued volume growth and consistent market dynamics.

第一季度，該部門利潤增長18%，達到5.07 億美元，主要得益於品牌和特色產品（包括COVID-19 疫苗的分銷）的貢獻增加，隨著客戶為秋季疫苗接種季節做好準備，該產品的貢獻不大。我們也看到仿製藥計劃表現良好，銷售持續成長，市場動態穩定。

Turning to Medical on Slide 6. First quarter revenue at $3.8 billion was largely flat to prior year and prior quarter. In the first quarter, we saw lower PP&E volume and pricing, including the impact from the prior year exit of our non-health care gloves portfolio, offset by growth in at-Home Solutions and inflationary impacts, including mitigation initiatives.

轉向幻燈片 6 上的醫療。第一季營收為 38 億美元，與去年同期和上一季基本持平。在第一季度，我們看到 PP&E 銷售和價格下降，包括上一年退出我們的非醫療保健手套產品組合的影響，但被家庭解決方案的成長和通膨影響（包括緩解措施）所抵消。

Medical slightly exceeded our expectations in Q1 and delivered segment profit of $71 million, which represents an approximate $80 million in the prior year's first quarter loss. Consistent with the expectations communicated at Investor Day and last quarter, we continue to be encouraged by the indicators of improvement in trends with respect to our Cardinal Health brand product sales.

醫療業務第一季略微超出了我們的預期，實現了 7,100 萬美元的部門利潤，相當於去年第一季虧損約 8,000 萬美元。與投資者日和上季傳達的預期一致，我們繼續對康德樂品牌產品銷售趨勢改善的指標感到鼓舞。

In Q1, we saw a slight year-over-year volume growth. As expected, we saw an improvement in net inflationary impacts, including our mitigation initiatives. We also continue to see normalized PP&E margins, which were impacted by unfavorable price/cost timing in the prior year. In the quarter, we also recorded a $581 million noncash pretax goodwill impairment charge related to the Medical segment, which is excluded from our non-GAAP results. This Q1 accounting charge is due to an increase in the discount rate used in goodwill impairment analysis.

第一季度，我們看到銷量較去年同期略有成長。正如預期的那樣，我們看到淨通膨影響有所改善，包括我們的緩解措施。我們也繼續看到財產和設備利潤率正常化，這是受到上一年不利的價格/成本時機的影響。本季度，我們也記錄了與醫療部門相關的 5.81 億美元非現金稅前商譽減損費用，該費用不包括在我們的非 GAAP 業績中。第一季的會計費用是由於商譽減損分析中所使用的折現率增加所致。

Now turning to the balance sheet. As I alluded to earlier, in the first quarter, we generated robust adjusted free cash flow of $1 billion and ended the quarter with $3.9 billion of cash on hand. We remain focused on doing what we said we would and deploying capital in balanced, disciplined and shareholder-friendly manner.

現在轉向資產負債表。正如我之前提到的，在第一季度，我們產生了 10 億美元的強勁調整後自由現金流，本季末手頭現金為 39 億美元。我們仍然專注於履行承諾，並以平衡、有紀律和股東友好的方式配置資本。

In the first quarter, we continued to invest against our highest priorities, including investing $92 million of CapEx back into the business to drive organic growth. We made our third annual payment on our national opioid settlement obligation. We did not draw on our credit facilities and received a positive change to the outlook on our investment-grade rating from Fitch as well as from S&P in Q2.

第一季度，我們繼續根據最優先事項進行投資，包括將 9,200 萬美元的資本支出重新投資到業務中，以推動有機成長。我們第三次年度支付國家阿片類藥物結算義務。我們沒有動用我們的信貸安排，並且惠譽和標準普爾在第二季度對我們的投資級評級前景做出了積極的改變。

We returned over $630 million to shareholders through payment of our quarterly dividend and the launch of a new $500 million accelerated share repurchase program, which completed in October.

透過支付季度股息和啟動新的 5 億美元加速股票回購計畫（已於 10 月完成），我們向股東返還了超過 6.3 億美元。

Now for our updated fiscal '24 guidance, on Slide 8. Today, we are raising our fiscal '24 EPS guidance to a range of $6.75 to $7, the midpoint of which is 19% above our fiscal '23 EPS result. This $0.25 increase to our EPS range primarily reflects an improvement to our Pharma outlook as well as some improvement below the line.

現在我們更新投影片 8 上的 24 財年指引。今天，我們將 24 財年 EPS 指引提高到 6.75 美元至 7 美元的範圍，其中中點比 23 財年 EPS 結果高出 19%。我們的每股收益範圍增加了 0.25 美元，主要反映了我們的製藥前景的改善以及線下的一些改善。

We are raising our Pharma segment profit guide to 7% to 9% growth for the year and are pleased with the momentum in the business. Our updated guidance reflects the strong first quarter performance; higher than originally assumed contributions from COVID-19 vaccine distribution, which continued into October; the ongoing strength of our business, consistent with a 4% to 6% growth trajectory for the segment on a normalized basis. Finally, as a reminder, on the Pharma quarterly cadence, we continue to assume Q3 branded inflation will not repeat at fiscal '23 levels.

我們將今年製藥部門的利潤預期成長至 7% 至 9%，並對業務的發展勢頭感到滿意。我們更新的指導反映了第一季的強勁表現；高於最初假設的 COVID-19 疫苗分發貢獻，這種貢獻一直持續到 10 月；我們業務的持續實力，與該細分市場正常化基礎上 4% 至 6% 的成長軌跡一致。最後，提醒一下，就製藥季度節奏而言，我們繼續假設第三季的品牌通膨不會在 23 財年的水平上重演。

In Medical, we are reiterating our outlook of $400 million of segment profit for the year. Recall, that we previously guided that Medical segment profit would be significantly back-half weighted. That assumption remains unchanged. The first half-second half cadence continues to be driven by progress on Cardinal Health brand volume growth, the cumulative impact of inflation mitigation and some business-specific seasonality.

在醫療領域，我們重申今年部門利潤為 4 億美元的預期。回想一下，我們先前指導醫療部門的利潤將顯著後半加權。這一假設保持不變。康德樂品牌銷售成長的進展、通膨緩解的累積影響以及一些特定業務的季節性因素繼續推動上半年和下半年的節奏。

While we are encouraged that the business slightly overperformed relative to our expectation in Q1, due to execution against our plans and our cost management efforts, our expectation for Q2 segment profit is unchanged from our original guidance, which reflected some seasonality in Q2-specific expenses like health and wellness. Altogether, Q2 segment profit should be slightly higher than Q1, which benefited from over delivery. We expect continued progress from our Medical Improvement Plan initiatives over the course of the year.

儘管我們對第一季業務表現略好於我們的預期感到鼓舞，但由於我們的計劃執行和成本管理工作，我們對第二季度分部利潤的預期與我們最初的指導沒有變化，這反映了第二季度特定費用的一些季節性例如健康和保健。總而言之，第二季度的利潤應該會略高於第一季度，這得益於超額交付。我們預計我們的醫療改進計劃舉措將在這一年中繼續取得進展。

Below the line, interest and other is reduced to a range of $100 million to $120 million, while we are maintaining an effective tax rate in the range of 23% to 25%. We do expect the tax favorability we saw in the first quarter to be offset in Q2.

在此線以下，利息和其他費用減少至 1 億至 1.2 億美元的範圍，同時我們將有效稅率維持在 23% 至 25% 的範圍內。我們確實預計第一季的稅收優惠將在第二季被抵銷。

We are also lowering our shares outlook to approximately $249 million, which reflects the already completed $500 million of our baseline share repurchase. I want to reiterate that, as we shared at Investor Day, neither our fiscal '24 guidance nor our long-term targets reflect M&A, which is difficult to predict in timing or magnitude, or additional opportunistic deployments of capital to share repurchases beyond our baseline repurchase. We will continue to evaluate both opportunistically to drive long-term value.

我們也將股票前景下調至約 2.49 億美元，這反映了我們已經完成的 5 億美元基準股票回購。我想重申，正如我們在投資者日分享的那樣，我們的24 財年指導和長期目標均未反映併購（其時間或規模難以預測），也未反映超出我們基準的額外機會主義資本部署以進行股票回購回購。我們將繼續機會主義地評估兩者，以推動長期價值。

So an overall successful first quarter. The Cardinal team is a lot to be proud of with respect to our accomplishments. We are confident in the plans we have in place, and we are excited for our team to realize the significant value creation opportunities still in front of us.

因此，第一季總體上是成功的。 Cardinal 團隊對於我們所取得的成就感到非常自豪。我們對我們已經制定的計劃充滿信心，我們很高興我們的團隊能夠實現我們面前的重大價值創造機會。

With that, I will turn it back over to Jason.

這樣，我會將其轉回給傑森。

Thanks, Aaron. Now for a few updates regarding our recent progress on our three key strategic priorities, beginning with priority #1 and building upon the resiliency of the Pharma segment.

謝謝，亞倫。現在介紹我們最近在三個關鍵策略優先事項方面取得的進展的一些最新情況，從優先事項#1 開始，並以製藥部門的彈性為基礎。

The key enabler to the pharma business is outstanding performance over a number of quarters now, has been the team's consistent prioritization of what matters most, operational execution in the core. We're leveraging our scale, efficiency and breadth of essential products and service capabilities to deliver for our customers and their patients.

製藥業務的關鍵推動因素是多個季度的出色表現，團隊始終將最重要的事情（核心營運執行）放在優先位置。我們正在利用基本產品和服務能力的規模、效率和廣度來為我們的客戶及其患者提供服務。

Within the core, our generics program remains a critical component. Our performance is anchored by Red Oak Sourcing, which continues to do a fantastic job fulfilling its dual mandate, managing both cost and supply to help maximize service delivery for customers.

在核心中，我們的仿製藥計劃仍然是關鍵組成部分。我們的業績以 Red Oak Sourcing 為基礎，該公司繼續出色地履行其雙重使命，即管理成本和供應，以幫助最大限度地為客戶提供服務。

I recently saw our customer-focused mindset on display when I visited our specialty pharmaceutical distribution facility in La Vergne, Tennessee, where team worked extensively to prepare for commercial distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, while maintaining their terrific service for our other specialty products.

最近，當我參觀位於田納西州拉韋爾涅的專業藥品分銷設施時，我看到了我們以客戶為中心的理念，那裡的團隊廣泛工作，為COVID-19 疫苗的商業分銷做準備，同時保持為我們其他專業產品提供的優質服務。

Our team successfully navigated complex cold chain requirements for the vaccines, enabling us to quickly meet demand and begin making shipments immediately following FDA approval in time for the fall immunization season. We're pleased to support our customers in this manner, which patients rely upon for care, convenience and accessibility.

我們的團隊成功滿足了疫苗複雜的冷鏈要求，使我們能夠快速滿足需求，並在 FDA 批准後立即開始發貨，及時應對秋季免疫季節。我們很高興以這種方式為我們的客戶提供支持，患者可以依靠這種方式獲得護理、便利和可及性。

We're committed to supporting customers and manufacturers, and our strategic sourcing and manufacturer services team recently hosted hundreds of our supplier partners for our annual business partners conference. It was energizing to hear the excitement around various industry opportunities, such as biosimilars and emerging areas like cell and gene.

我們致力於為客戶和製造商提供支持，我們的策略採購和製造商服務團隊最近接待了數百名供應商合作夥伴參加我們的年度業務合作夥伴會議。聽到各種行業機會的興奮令人振奮，例如生物相似藥以及細胞和基因等新興領域。

We are confident about our ability to continue to be a strategic partner for manufacturers, investing in the important drugs being developed and commercialized in this space. We've continued to see strong momentum across our specialty business, both downstream and upstream, and have reiterated our focus on this space. We are very sizable today in specialty with over $30 billion in fiscal '23 revenue, which we noted at Investor Day has grown at a 14% CAGR over the last 3 years.

我們對繼續成為製造商的策略合作夥伴、投資該領域正在開發和商業化的重要藥物的能力充滿信心。我們的下游和上游特種業務繼續保持強勁勢頭，並重申了我們對這一領域的關注。如今，我們在專業領域的規模非常龐大，23 財年的營收超過 300 億美元，我們在投資者日指出，過去 3 年的複合年增長率為 14%。

We are making progress building out our Navista network offerings, with investments in the platform that will scale over time. Our differentiated model in community oncology is focused on driving practice growth and sharing value, while maintaining practice independence. Our approach is being refined through engagement with clinicians and our customer advisory board.

我們在建立 Navista 網路產品方面取得了進展，對該平台的投資將隨著時間的推移而擴展。我們在社區腫瘤學方面的差異化模式專注於推動實踐發展和共享價值，同時保持實踐獨立性。我們的方法正在透過與臨床醫生和客戶諮詢委員會的接觸來完善。

Overall, we are developing solutions strategically aligned supporting the clinical and operational needs of community oncologists that drive long-term practice independence and allow physicians to focus on patient care.

總體而言，我們正在開發策略性的解決方案，支持社區腫瘤學家的臨床和操作需求，推動長期實踐獨立性，並使醫生能夠專注於患者護理。

In nuclear, the business continues its double-digit growth trajectory, with strong performance across our core categories and Theranostics. We continue to experience increasing demand for our Center for Theranostics Advancement, with more than 60 projects at various stages in our pipeline with our pharmaceutical manufacturer partners.

在核能領域，該業務持續保持兩位數的成長軌跡，在我們的核心類別和治療診斷領域表現強勁。我們的治療診斷進步中心的需求不斷增加，我們與製藥商合作夥伴正在合作的計畫處於不同階段，有 60 多個。

We're progressing on our Phase II investment that we announced at Investor Day. Our innovation center and pre-commercial manufacturing center are already highly utilized. We're underway in progressing according to plan with the expansions of our central pharmacy capability and our commercial manufacturing center. With our strong foundation and continued investment, the nuclear business is well on track to deliver its long-term target of doubling profits by fiscal '26 relative to our fiscal '21 baseline.

我們正在投資者日宣布的第二期投資取得進展。我們的創新中心和預商業製造中心已經高度利用。我們正在按計劃擴大我們的中央藥房能力和商業製造中心。憑藉我們堅實的基礎和持續的投資，核能業務預計將實現 26 財年利潤相對 21 財年基準翻一番的長期目標。

Now turning to medical and priority number two. The medical business has now delivered back-to-back quarters of meaningfully improved profitability, and we expect more to come. As part of our medical improvement plan, we've been taking action to address the challenges in the core products and distribution business, with the #1 priority being mitigating supply chain inflation.

現在轉向醫療和第二要務。醫療業務現已連續兩個季度實現盈利能力顯著提高，我們預計未來還會有更多。作為我們醫療改善計劃的一部分，我們一直在採取行動應對核心產品和分銷業務中的挑戰，其中第一要務是緩解供應鏈通膨。

We remain on track to address the impact of inflation and global supply chain constraints by the time we exit fiscal '24, and we're pleased to note we are now over 70% to target. On the cost side, while overall still elevated, we've seen lower international freight costs reflected in our results as anticipated. We continue to execute our mitigation initiatives to offset elevated inflation, are making progress with our commercial contracting efforts and are seeing benefits from our additional actions, such as our sourcing initiatives.

當我們退出 24 財年時，我們仍有望解決通貨膨脹和全球供應鏈限制的影響，我們很高興地註意到，我們現在已完成目標的 70% 以上。在成本方面，雖然整體仍然較高，但我們看到我們的結果反映了國際貨運成本的下降，正如預期的那樣。我們繼續執行緩解舉措，以抵消通膨上升，我們的商業承包工作正在取得進展，並從我們的採購舉措等其他行動中看到了好處。

Additionally, we've been taking action through our 5-point plan to grow Cardinal Health brand volume, which has yielded improvements. We are utilizing a balanced portfolio approach and have made important line extensions within our core products to fill portfolio gaps critical to our distribution offering. We've also highlighted investments we're making in new product development and commercialization for our clinically differentiated specialty medical products, which culminated in two notable product launches during the quarter.

此外，我們一直在透過五點計畫採取行動來增加康德樂品牌銷量，並且取得了一定的進展。我們正在利用平衡的產品組合方法，並在我們的核心產品中進行了重要的產品線擴展，以填補對我們的分銷產品至關重要的產品組合空白。我們也強調了我們在臨床差異化專業醫療產品的新產品開發和商業化方面的投資，最終在本季度推出了兩款引人注目的產品。

We launched our anticipated Kangaroo OMNI Enteral Feeding Pump in the U.S., designed to help provide enteral feeding patients with more options to meet their nutritional needs throughout their enteral feeding journey, from hospital to home. We also announced the launch of our next-generation end trainer system 2.0, a medical device designed to help premature and newborn infants develop with the oral coordination skills to make the transition to independent feeding faster and help reduce their NICU length of stay.

我們在美國推出了備受期待的袋鼠 OMNI 腸內餵食泵，旨在幫助腸內餵食患者提供更多選擇，以滿足他們從醫院到家庭的整個腸內餵食過程中的營養需求。我們還宣布推出下一代終端訓練系統 2.0，這是一種醫療設備，旨在幫助早產兒和新生兒發展口腔協調技能，從而更快地過渡到獨立餵養，並幫助縮短他們在 NICU 的住院時間。

I'm excited about what our products can do for patients and the progress we're making as we now turn to playing more offense to grow our Cardinal Health brand portfolio. We're continuing to see the results of our actions benefiting our leading indicators, such as our customer experience metrics and portfolio health for key categories, which gives us confidence that we'll be able to better participate in the growth from an overall improving medical utilization environment moving forward.

我對我們的產品能為患者做的事情以及我們所取得的進展感到興奮，因為我們現在轉向採取更多進攻措施來發展我們的 Cardinal Health 品牌組合。我們繼續看到我們的行動結果有利於我們的領先指標，例如我們的客戶體驗指標和關鍵類別的投資組合健康狀況，這讓我們有信心，我們將能夠更好地參與整體改善醫療的成長。利用環境不斷進步。

For example, we've seen further improvement in our customer loyalty index score for U.S. distribution beyond the 13-point increase in the last 2 years that we noted at Investor Day. And we've seen a continued reduction in our product back orders, which are now at a multiyear low and consistent with pre-pandemic levels.

例如，我們發現美國分銷的客戶忠誠度指數得分進一步提高，超過了我們在投資者日指出的過去 2 年 13 分的增幅。我們看到產品延期交貨訂單持續減少，目前處於多年來的最低水平，與疫情大流行前的水平一致。

Outside of product and distribution, we're continuing to accelerate our growth businesses. In at-Home Solutions, we continue to see strong demand as care increasingly shifts to the home. Our team's focus on operational efficiency is producing better operating leverage in this business, resulting in increased contributions to the bottom line.

除了產品和分銷之外，我們正在繼續加速我們的業務成長。在家庭解決方案中，隨著護理越來越多地轉移到家庭，我們繼續看到強勁的需求。我們團隊對營運效率的關注是在該業務中產生更好的營運槓桿，從而增加對利潤的貢獻。

To wrap up the Medical, we're continuing to execute our simplification and cost savings initiatives across the segment, which contributed to the strong SG&A management in the quarter.

為了結束醫療業務，我們將繼續在整個部門執行簡化和成本節約舉措，這為本季強勁的銷售、管理和行政管理做出了貢獻。

Finally, priority #3, maximizing shareholder value creation. We're maximizing shareholder value creation through our improved operational performance, robust cash flow and responsible allocation of capital. As Aaron detailed, our confidence in our cash flow generation enabled execution of our fiscal '24 baseline share repurchases, continued evidence of our willingness to return excess capital to shareholders and our value creation through capital deployment.

最後，優先事項#3，最大化股東價值創造。我們透過改善營運績效、強勁的現金流和負責任的資本配置，最大限度地創造股東價值。正如 Aaron 詳細介紹的那樣，我們對現金流產生的信心使我們能夠執行 24 財年基準股票回購，這持續證明了我們願意將多餘資本返還給股東以及我們透過資本部署創造價值。

With our financial flexibility, we'll continue to opportunistically evaluate disciplined M&A in specialty and potential additional share repurchases. We continue to agilely evaluate a range of potential partners or acquisition candidates for both the downstream and upstream elements for our specialty strategy, but clear that our long-term growth targets are not predicated on inorganic investment.

憑藉我們的財務靈活性，我們將繼續機會主義地評估專業領域的嚴格併購以及潛在的額外股票回購。我們繼續針對我們的專業策略的下游和上游元素敏捷評估一系列潛在合作夥伴或收購候選者，但明確我們的長期成長目標並不以無機投資為基礎。

We are making progress with our ongoing business and portfolio review focused on the Medical segment. While across the company, our team has made significant progress over the past year realigning our operations for focus and simplicity, there is still work and opportunity in front of us. We continue to work collaboratively with our business review committee to evaluate additional value creation initiatives and expect to provide further updates in the coming quarters.

我們正在以醫療領域為重點的持續業務和投資組合審查取得進展。儘管在整個公司範圍內，我們的團隊在過去一年中在調整營運以實現重點和簡化方面取得了重大進展，但我們面前仍然有工作和機會。我們將繼續與業務審查委員會合作，評估額外的價值創造計劃，並預計在未來幾季提供進一步的更新。

To close, we had a great first quarter and are excited to build upon last year's momentum. This was driven by our highly engaged and talented team, and I would like to thank them for all their efforts fulfilling our critical role as health care's most trusted partner.

最後，我們第一季的表現非常出色，並且很高興能在去年的基礎上再接再厲。這是由我們高度敬業且才華橫溢的團隊推動的，我要感謝他們為履行我們作為醫療保健最值得信賴的合作夥伴的關鍵角色所做的一切努力。

With that, we will take your questions.

這樣，我們將回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Lisa Gill from JPMorgan.

（操作員指示）我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Lisa Gill。

Congratulations on the quarter. Jason, I just want to understand the COVID-19 vaccines. Can you maybe just talk about the economics of that? Is that substantially better than kind of traditional drug distribution? And I know you said it only goes through October, but are there other vaccine opportunities that would be similar and incremental opportunities for Cardinal?

恭喜本季。 Jason，我只想了解 COVID-19 疫苗。能談談其中的經濟學嗎？這比傳統的藥品分銷方式好得多嗎？我知道你說過它只會持續到 10 月份，但是對於卡迪納爾來說還有其他類似的增量機會嗎？

Yes. Thanks, Lisa. How I think about the vaccines is, again, we're not going to get into, obviously, product and customer level type of detail. But overall, it all comes down to the value that we provide. And so when you think about COVID-19 vaccines and vaccines in general, you really have to understand what's the requirements.

是的。謝謝，麗莎。我對疫苗的看法是，顯然，我們不會深入討論產品和客戶層級的細節。但總的來說，這一切都取決於我們提供的價值。因此，當您考慮 COVID-19 疫苗和一般疫苗時，您確實必須了解有哪些要求。

And so with COVID and with some vaccines. It requires more complex distribution, cold chain capacity and capabilities. And of course, there's also -- the unique thing about vaccines is that you scale up and down quickly and so you're spreading a lot of that cost over a pretty short period of time.

新冠肺炎和一些疫苗也是如此。它需要更複雜的配送、冷鏈能力和能力。當然，疫苗的獨特之處在於可以快速擴大和縮小規模，因此可以在很短的時間內分攤大量成本。

So it's -- there's not a one-size-fits-all answer to your question. And we provided a little bit of color for you in Aaron's comments there, so you can get a general understanding of the benefit that we had. And to go a little bit further, I can say that about 1/3 of the growth for the Pharma segment this quarter was related to vaccines.

所以，對於你的問題，沒有一個一刀切的答案。我們在 Aaron 的評論中為您提供了一些顏色，以便您可以大致了解我們所獲得的好處。更進一步來說，我可以說本季製藥業約 1/3 的成長與疫苗有關。

So it was a component of it, but certainly not the majority of the driver of the business. The core part of the business remained very strong within the segment for the quarter, and our guidance continues that quarter to continue to be strong. We do expect the vaccine benefit to be a bit greater in the second quarter because, of course, there's more volume in Q2 than in Q1, just given the nature of the October, most likely being the peak volume that we would expect to see for vaccine distribution. And then we'd expect that to ramp down as we get the pipeline. We've got the pipeline pretty full here as we exited October. And now the future volumes will be much more predicated on what the actual demand is, which, of course, at this point in time is hard to anticipate.

所以它是其中的一個組成部分，但肯定不是業務的主要驅動力。本季該業務的核心部分在該細分市場中仍然非常強勁，我們的指導意見也表明該季度將繼續保持強勁。我們確實預計第二季度的疫苗效益會更大一些，因為當然，考慮到 10 月的性質，第二季度的銷量比第一季要多，很可能是我們預期看到的峰值銷售疫苗分發。然後，當我們獲得管道時，我們預計這種情況會逐漸減少。當我們十月結束時，我們這裡的管道已經滿了。現在，未來的銷售將更多地取決於實際需求，當然，目前很難預測實際需求。

We'll now move to our next question from Eric Percher from Nephron Research.

現在我們將討論 Nephron Research 的 Eric Percher 提出的下一個問題。

A question on Medical. Specifically the over delivery this quarter or upside that you showed versus expectations, how much of that is core medical and mitigation efforts? What will carry through to the future versus not?

問一個關於醫學的問題。具體來說，本季的超額交付或與預期相比的上行空間，其中有多少是核心醫療和緩解措施？什麼會延續到未來，什麼不會延續到未來？

And then were there any onetime items in Q1 we should keep an eye on? Any update on factors driving Q2 to Q4, including the incremental oil price and commodity pressure over the last few months?

那麼第一季有哪些一次性項目值得我們關注呢？有關推動第二季至第四季的因素的最新情況，包括過去幾個月的油價增量和大宗商品壓力？

Eric, it's Aaron. Look we were really pleased to see Q1 results slightly exceeding our external or rather our expectations. The results of the team doing what they had planned to do as well as being good managers and always looking for optimization opportunities across the portfolio.

艾瑞克，我是亞倫。看起來，我們真的很高興看到第一季的業績略高於我們的外部預期，更確切地說是我們的預期。團隊做他們計劃做的事情以及成為優秀的管理者並始終在整個投資組合中尋找優化機會的結果。

And so they did what they were expected to on the first part -- or first part of the year for the medical improvement plan, and there were no notable onetime items contrary to some earlier quarters that complicated the results. So we were quite pleased with the results that we gave.

因此，他們在第一部分或今年第一部分就醫療改善計劃做了預期的事情，並且沒有與前幾季相反的值得注意的一次性項目使結果變得複雜。所以我們對我們給的結果非常滿意。

And we do expect that to continue. You will have noted from our guidance for the year that we do expect slight continued improvement quarter-over-quarter. We are not changing our guidance for the year on medical. I want to emphasize that we've taken a balanced approach and believe that the $400 million profit number for the year is the right target and the right guidance for that business.

我們確實希望這種情況能夠持續下去。您將從我們今年的指導中註意到，我們確實預計季度環比將略有持續改善。我們不會改變今年的醫療指導。我想強調的是，我們採取了平衡的方法，並相信今年 4 億美元的利潤數字是正確的目標，也是該業務的正確指導。

And the plans also haven't changed, right? It's going to start with the continued execution of the Medical Improvement Plan and inflation mitigation elements that we've been talking about. Jason highlighted that we had hit 70% plus in the quarter as well, and they're going to continue to optimize and grow the Cardinal Health brand. We're continuing to focus on driving more out of at home and the other growth businesses as well as simplification and cost optimization. And so overall, a great quarter and good expectations for the year to come.

而且計劃也沒有改變，對吧？這將從繼續執行我們一直在討論的醫療改善計劃和通膨緩解要素開始。 Jason 強調，我們在本季也達到了 70% 以上，他們將繼續優化和發展 Cardinal Health 品牌。我們將繼續專注於推動更多的國內和其他成長業務以及簡化和成本優化。總體而言，這是一個出色的季度，並對來年抱有良好的期望。

Yes. The other thing I'd add, Eric, I think the component of your question was just asking about commodities, and there's any impact there. There was not anything significant. So I know we've all been on this long journey as it relates to the impacts of commodities. So let me just spend a moment on that.

是的。我要補充的另一件事是，艾瑞克，我認為你問題的組成部分只是詢問商品，這會產生任何影響。沒有什麼重要的事情。所以我知道我們都經歷了這段與大宗商品影響相關的漫長旅程。讓我花點時間討論一下。

As I think about the commodity and just general inflation, let me answer the question that way. I'd put our work into a couple of key buckets. The international freight piece is the only component that we've seen a meaningful change. And of course, that started about a year ago, and it was a dramatic reduction. So that reduction is as expected.

當我思考大宗商品和一般通膨時，讓我這樣回答這個問題。我會將我們的工作分成幾個關鍵部分。國際貨運是我們看到的唯一有意義變化的部分。當然，這是大約一年前開始的，而且是大幅減少。因此，這種減少是符合預期的。

And given the elongated supply chain we had at that time, it took some time for that to work through and hit our P&L, but we're now seeing the more significant benefits of that over the last couple of quarters. So that is certainly a key component of it.

考慮到我們當時擁有的供應鏈很長，需要一些時間才能解決並影響我們的損益，但我們現在在過去幾個季度看到了更顯著的好處。所以這肯定是它的一個關鍵組成部分。

What I would say about all the other commodities or all the other inflation, specifically the commodity impacts, whether it's the oil-based products, polypropylene, polyethylene or unwovens and other types of inputs, which are varied. I would say that they are generally remain elevated a little bit volatile here and there, but generally elevated and not real different than what we had anticipated.

我想說的是所有其他商品或所有其他通貨膨脹，特別是商品的影響，無論是石油產品、聚丙烯、聚乙烯還是不織布和其他類型的投入品，這些都是多種多樣的。我想說的是，它們總體上仍然保持在較高水平，有時會有些波動，但總體上是較高的，並且與我們的預期並沒有真正的不同。

So certainly noise. But how I think about it going forward and what my anticipation is we're just not seeing the volatility that we did back 18 months ago. So there is volatility, no doubt. There will always be volatility, but it's to a much lesser degree and much more balanced and kind of in a normal environment right now. And that's why you don't hear us talking about it is because it's just not meaningful in the context of everything else that we have going on.

所以肯定是噪音。但我對未來的看法以及我的預期是，我們只是沒有看到 18 個月前的波動。所以毫無疑問存在波動。波動總是會存在，但程度要小得多，而且要平衡得多，而且是在目前的正常環境下。這就是為什麼你聽不到我們談論它，因為它在我們正在進行的其他所有事情的背景下沒有意義。

Next question from Kevin Caliendo, UBS.

下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的 Kevin Caliendo。

I guess what we're trying to figure out is in the change in the pharma guidance, how much of it was incrementally coming from the vaccine incremental versus what you had originally expected if you don't want to give us that number specifically, maybe explain there was a 5 basis point improvement in the pharma margin year-over-year.

我想我們想要弄清楚的是藥品指南的變化，其中有多少是增量來自疫苗增量，而不是你最初預期的，如果你不想具體給我們這個數字，也許解釋製藥利潤率同比提高了5個基點。

How much of that was coming from vaccines? Or maybe you can just break out where the benefits came from. I assume GLP-1s were negative on the margin. So something had to be better on a year-over-year basis. I'd love to explore that.

其中有多少是來自疫苗？或者也許你可以直接找出好處從何而來。我認為 GLP-1 的邊緣結果為負。因此，某些事情必須逐年變得更好。我很想探索這一點。

We're happy to provide a little more context. Look, it was a strong start to the year, and we remain very encouraged about the runway for the pharma business. And we did raise the guidance to 7% to 9%. It's really a result of three factors.

我們很樂意提供更多背景資訊。看，這是今年的一個強勁開局，我們對製藥業務的發展仍然感到非常鼓舞。我們確實將指導值提高到了 7% 到 9%。這其實是三個因素的結果。

First was just the strong Q1. And as Jason alluded to, we did have a contribution from the COVID vaccine distribution. And it was higher -- that contribution was higher than what we had assumed in our original plans, just based on the timing of when the approvals came through. And frankly, our team's ability to jump on it and execute the way they did.

首先是強效的 Q1。正如傑森所提到的，我們確實從新冠疫苗的分發中做出了貢獻。而且它更高——這個貢獻比我們在最初計劃中假設的要高，僅根據批准的時間來計算。坦白說，我們團隊有能力立即行動並按照他們的方式執行。

Third element, though, was just the ongoing strength of the business under -- other than the COVID vaccines, which is really consistent from an outlook perspective with the 4% to 6% guidance that we gave previously on a normalized basis. And just to remind you on that, what we had guided previously is that we expected low single-digit growth -- profit growth from the core pharma business.

不過，第三個因素是除新冠疫苗之外的業務持續強勁，從前景角度來看，這與我們先前在正常化基礎上給出的 4% 至 6% 的指導確實一致。只是想提醒您一下，我們之前的指導是，我們預計核心製藥業務的利潤成長將為低個位數成長。

We're expecting stability from the generics business, consistent market dynamics you often hear us say. We are expecting double-digit growth in the Specialty and Nuclear business, and Jason highlighted that progress in his comments earlier.

我們期望仿製藥業務保持穩定，您經常聽到我們說，市場動態保持一致。我們預計特種和核能業務將實現兩位數的成長，賈森在早些時候的評論中強調了這一進展。

And importantly, we are expecting brand inflation more in line with fiscal '22, not the modest benefit that we saw in fiscal '23, right? So look, we are early in the year. As we have done, we'll continue to update as we push ahead, but we're pleased with the results so far and the raise to the guidance.

重要的是，我們預期品牌通膨將更符合 22 財年的預期，而不是我們在 23 財年看到的適度收益，對嗎？所以看，我們還處於今年年初。正如我們所做的那樣，我們將在推進過程中繼續更新，但我們對迄今為止的結果以及指導意見的提高感到滿意。

The next question comes from Erin Wright from Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的艾琳·賴特。

Another question on the pharma business. You mentioned the consistent generics environment, but can you elaborate that on a little -- elaborate on that a little bit? I guess, can you speak to the generic drug pricing environment? Are you seeing any easing deflationary dynamics across generics? And how material is that for you in terms of your guidance raise across that segment? And does consistent mean essentially a continuation of those favorable pricing trends going, I guess, throughout the rest of the year?

另一個關於製藥業務的問題。您提到了一致的泛型環境，但是您能詳細說明一下嗎？詳細說明一下嗎？我想，您能談談仿製藥的定價環境嗎？您是否看到仿製藥的通貨緊縮動態有所緩解？就您在該細分市場的指導成長而言，這對您來說有多重要？我想，一致是否本質上意味著這些有利的定價趨勢將在今年剩餘時間內持續下去？

Yes. Thanks, Erin. It's very consistent to the prior messages. So we're not seeing any change in the underlying market. And so my comments are going to be very similar to what it's been in the past.

是的。謝謝，艾琳。這與先前的消息非常一致。因此，我們沒有看到基礎市場有任何變化。因此，我的評論將與過去非常相似。

So let me just start with just underlying utilization continues to be strong. We've seen -- in our commentary this morning, we made a number of comments around just the broad-based utilization being strong in the pharma industry. So we generally benefited from that. So volume is absolutely a key component of that. The consistent market dynamics that Aaron just referenced again is an indication that the buy and sell side continues to be very balanced.

因此，讓我先從基礎利用率繼續強勁開始。我們已經看到 - 在今天早上的評論中，我們圍繞製藥行業廣泛的應用發表了許多評論。所以我們總體上從中受益。因此，成交量絕對是其中的關鍵組成部分。亞倫剛才再次提到的一致的市場動態表明買賣雙方仍然非常平衡。

So overall, as in the past, I'm not going to break apart all the different pieces. We think it's best to look at them on a net basis. And within that, what I will say, though, is we continue to have very strong performance with our Red Oak Sourcing joint venture.

所以總的來說，和過去一樣，我不會分解所有不同的部分。我們認為最好從網路角度來看待它們。不過，我要說的是，我們的 Red Oak Sourcing 合資企業繼續擁有非常強勁的業績。

So we continue to have that team, very focused on the dual mandate of, of course, driving down the best cost. But also as important and their mandate is to ensure that service levels are optimized as much as possible as well. So we feel very good about their progress, both in controlling costs, but also in driving great service for our customers.

因此，我們繼續擁有該團隊，非常專注於雙重任務，當然，還要降低最佳成本。但同樣重要的是，他們的任務是確保盡可能優化服務水準。因此，我們對他們在控製成本和為客戶提供優質服務方面取得的進展感到非常滿意。

So again, those should be very similar words what we've said in the past. So that's why we used the phrase consistent market dynamics because we're not seeing any significant change in the underlying dynamics of this part of our business.

再說一遍，這些應該與我們過去所說過的非常相似。這就是為什麼我們使用「一致的市場動態」這個詞，因為我們沒有看到這部分業務的基本動態發生任何重大變化。

George Hill of Deutsche Bank.

德意志銀行的喬治·希爾。

I think like a lot of the other people on the line here, I'm really intrigued by what seems to be going on in the generic drug business. You guys called out Red Oak, GLP-1s were really strong in the quarter, but they have to be significantly margin dilutive.

我想像這裡的許多其他人一樣，我對仿製藥行業正在發生的事情非常感興趣。你們喊出了 Red Oak，GLP-1 在本季度確實很強勁，但它們必須顯著稀釋利潤。

I guess, Jason, I'd love if you could talk about like if anything is changing on the contracting side? Are you seeing like increased rates for purchasing compliance or supply compliance? Just kind of interesting -- any more color that you can provide on what's going on in the generic drug space as it relates to profitability would be super helpful.

我想，傑森，我希望你能談談簽約方面是否有任何變化？您是否認為採購合規性或供應合規性的比率會提高？有點有趣——如果你能提供更多關於仿製藥領域正在發生的事情的信息，因為它與盈利能力有關，那將非常有幫助。

Yes, so it's a fair question, George. And there's always going to be an evolution customer to customer contract to contract. The balance of brand versus generic and then within brand and within generic, the mix always is ever evolving. And so over time, I would expect there to be more and more separation between some of these elements as the weighting of the products change.

是的，所以這是一個公平的問題，喬治。而且總是會出現客戶到客戶、合約到合約的演變。品牌與仿製藥之間的平衡，以及品牌內部和仿製藥之間的平衡，這種組合總是不斷發展。因此，隨著時間的推移，我預計隨著產品權重的變化，其中一些元素之間的分離會越來越多。

So it's -- even though this volume has been dramatic for the GLP-1s, it's also been over a pretty short period of time and probably still early in this journey. So you used the phrase, and I think it was used earlier is significantly margin dilutive. I'm not sure -- I'm sure we've never said words like that because it's very rare you hear us talking about margin rates, which you hear us talking about is margin dollars, and I even joked about this at Investor Day. I'm not sure I've ever said the words out loud in my career about the margin rate not being important or a significant metric for us. And it's because of products like the GLP-1s, products that are incredibly important to that underlying patient, which means it's important to our customers, which means it's important to us.

所以，儘管這個卷對於 GLP-1 來說是戲劇性的，但它也持續了相當短的時間，而且可能還處於這個旅程的早期。所以你使用了這個短語，我認為之前使用過的它會顯著稀釋利潤。我不確定——我確信我們從來沒有說過這樣的話，因為你很少聽到我們談論保證金率，你聽到我們談論的是保證金美元，我什至在投資者日開玩笑說這個。我不確定在我的職業生涯中我是否曾大聲說過保證金率對我們來說不重要或不重要。這是因為像 GLP-1 這樣的產品，這些產品對潛在患者非常重要，這意味著它對我們的客戶很重要，這意味著它對我們也很重要。

It is not the most profitable class of progress today, but it's important for our patients and important for the industry. What we value more than anything else is innovation in the distribution channel in the industry. Innovation brings good things for us. Maybe not in the short term and maybe not for every product, but innovation ultimately brings opportunities, whether it's services or whether it's -- when these products become other opportunities to contract or other opportunities over time for them to go generic, there's just lots of different ways in which you can create economic value on a particular transaction, particular product.

這並不是當今最有利可圖的進步，但它對我們的患者和整個行業都很重要。我們最重視的是產業通路的創新。創新為我們帶來了美好的事物。也許不是在短期內，也可能不是對每一種產品，但創新最終會帶來機會，無論是服務還是——當這些產品成為其他合約機會或隨著時間的推移成為通用的其他機會時，就會有許多您可以透過不同的方式為特定交易、特定產品創造經濟價值。

And so GLP-1s, today, you don't hear us talk about from revenue. It's not a meaningful contributor to our earnings. And so we're not going to talk about it from an earnings perspective. Contracting back to the original question, we'll continue to evolve underneath that dynamic. But ultimately, we are well protected customer by customer in certain corridors to ensure that we don't flip upside down on a particular customer.

因此，今天，您不會聽到我們談論 GLP-1 的收入。它對我們的收入沒有任何有意義的貢獻。因此，我們不會從收益的角度來談論它。回到最初的問題，我們將在這種動態下繼續發展。但最終，我們在某些​​走廊中對每個客戶都進行了良好的保護，以確保我們不會對特定客戶進行徹底的攻擊。

And so that needs to evolve over time as those concentrations evolve over time. But our model has proven very, very resilient over the years and decades. Because this is the latest mix challenge that there is or mix change, I should say. But it's not the first time that there's been a mix change in our industry.

因此，隨著這些濃度隨著時間的推移而變化，這需要隨著時間的推移而變化。但多年來和幾十年來，我們的模型已被證明非常非常有彈性。我應該說，因為這是最新的混合挑戰或混合變化。但這並不是我們這個行業第一次發生組合變化。

And so our model has proven to be resilient in that regard. So it's unique and different products, but it's not unique in terms of impacts and influences that a particular product category has on the pharma distribution industry.

因此，我們的模型已被證明在這方面具有彈性。因此，它是獨特且不同的產品，但就特定產品類別對藥品分銷行業的影響而言，它並不是唯一的。

The next question comes from Elizabeth Anderson of Evercore.

下一個問題來自 Evercore 的 Elizabeth Anderson。

Thanks for the questions or the comments about the pacing of the year. One thing that was just kind of -- I heard what you said about calling out the inflation and how that doesn't quite through the same way as it did last year.

感謝您對今年的節奏提出問題或評論。有一件事是——我聽到你所說的關於通貨膨脹的說法，以及它的方式與去年的情況不太一樣。

Can you speak to how you're thinking about sort of the first half of the year versus the second half of the year? Because I would say you had a (inaudible).

您能談談您對上半年和下半年的看法嗎？因為我想說你有一個（聽不清楚）。

Sorry, if I think -- I lost the previous caller.

抱歉，如果我想──我失去了上一個來電者。

And we'll move on to the next question from Daniel Grosslight from Citi.

我們將繼續回答花旗銀行 Daniel Grosslight 提出的下一個問題。

Maybe we'll go back to the COVID vaccine for a second here. You mentioned that you're seeing talking a vaccine ahead of the season -- the winter season. Are you also taking more share in vaccine distribution and perhaps your overall market share would suggest. And then as we think about Therapeutics moving into the commercial channel in a couple of months here.

也許我們會在這裡再回到新冠疫苗。您提到您正在討論疫苗在冬季到來之前的情況。您是否也在疫苗分銷方面佔據了更多份額，也許您的整體市場份額會表明這一點。然後，當我們考慮幾個月後治療進入商業管道時。

How is that factored into your guidance? And then lastly, you've been operating well above your longer-term pharma EBIT guidance of 4% to 6% for a few quarters here. I'm curious if there's been any change to how you're thinking longer term about the business and some of the secular tailwinds that might be driving growth higher than your longer-term 4% to 6% guidance.

您的指導中是如何考慮這一點的？最後，幾個季度以來，你們的經營業績遠高於長期製藥公司 EBIT 指引值 4% 至 6%。我很好奇您對業務的長期看法是否發生了任何變化，以及一些可能推動成長高於 4% 至 6% 長期指導的長期有利因素。

You're getting all the value out of your one question. So let me see if I can touch on each one. I think there's some connectivity between these. So overall, for vaccines, I think the best way to think about vaccine distribution is more about it from the customer standpoint. So I think what you'll see is that COVID-19 vaccines like other vaccines typically will follow the distribution network. So the real question is, are our customers getting more than their fair share, and I don't necessarily want to talk about them from that perspective other than to say we are very happy with the customers we have.

您將從一個問題中獲得所有價值。讓我看看是否可以逐一介紹。我認為這些之間存在某種聯繫。所以總的來說，對於疫苗來說，我認為考慮疫苗分配的最佳方法是更多地從客戶的角度來考慮。因此，我認為您會看到，與其他疫苗一樣，COVID-19 疫苗通常會遵循分銷網絡。所以真正的問題是，我們的客戶得到的是否超過了他們應得的份額，我不一定想從這個角度談論他們，只是說我們對我們擁有的客戶非常滿意。

We've often used a phrase for other situations winning with the winners, and we feel very well aligned with great customers. And so -- but I think that's how you should think about it. And that it most likely the vast majority of the volume will follow the distribution network.

我們經常用這個短語來形容其他與贏家共贏的情況，我們感覺與偉大的客戶非常一致。所以——但我認為你應該這樣考慮。而且很可能絕大多數銷售量都會透過分銷網絡進行。

I think your second element of that question was on the COVID therapeutics. How I think about that is a little bit differently than vaccines in terms of just the rollout, where the vaccines were a bit of an obsolete old product, new product type of situation where all that government stockpile.

我認為你這個問題的第二個要素是關於新冠病毒的治療。我的想法與疫苗的推出略有不同，疫苗有點像過時的舊產品，但政府儲備了所有新產品。

When we were asked about vaccines nearly a year ago, when it was first communicated to be commercialized, that was part of our response as well. We didn't know the FDA approval date. We also didn't know what was going to happen with the in-stock inventory, which seems to not have been a relevant usage at this stage given the variance evolution.

大約一年前，當我們被問及疫苗的問題時，當疫苗首次被告知將被商業化時，這也是我們回應的一部分。我們不知道 FDA 批准日期。我們也不知道庫存會發生什麼，考慮到方差的演變，這似乎不是現階段的相關用途。

As it relates to therapeutics, you don't have that same challenge, right? There's a lot of product out there still and the rollout will be slower. And you're talking about an oral solid type of brand product, which typically does not carry very -- the same type of specialization necessary in the distribution channel that does drive higher-margin products like our specialty products.

由於它與治療相關，因此您不會遇到相同的挑戰，對嗎？還是有很多產品，而且推出速度會比較慢。您談論的是口服固體類型的品牌產品，該產品通常不具有分銷渠道中所需的相同類型的專業化，而分銷渠道確實推動了利潤率更高的產品，例如我們的特色產品。

And then the last question is on the long-term growth outlook. I think one of the key messages that is behind your question and behind how we think about it. It's partly why we're calling out those elements that may be a little unusual.

最後一個問題是關於長期成長前景。我認為你的問題背後以及我們如何思考它背後的關鍵訊息之一。這就是為什麼我們要指出那些可能有點不尋常的元素的部分原因。

Again, just like with GLP-1s COVID vaccines, and other form of innovation. We like innovation. It provides us new opportunities and new growth as an enterprise. And so part of the answer to this question is, well, how do these innovative products evolve and transition over time?

再次強調，就像 GLP-1 新冠疫苗和其他形式的創新一樣。我們喜歡創新。它為我們企業提供了新的機會和新的成長。因此，這個問題的部分答案是，這些創新產品如何隨著時間的推移而發展和轉變？

Is that a continued opportunity. Is it lumpy? Is this year may be higher or lower than what that volume will be in the future? That -- those are all hard questions to answer. But what we saw here is a bit of an influx of innovation that we've been able to benefit from while using the same infrastructure.

這是一個持續的機會嗎？是塊狀的嗎？今年的銷售量可能會高於還是低於未來？這些都是很難回答的問題。但我們在這裡看到的是一些創新的湧入，我們在使用相同的基礎設施時能夠從中受益。

So one thing that's really important to highlight about our performance this quarter, so we had really nice gross margin growth and we had very flat SG&A. I made the comment about the operating leverage in my comments. That's what I'm getting at is that we were able to execute very efficiently this quarter and whether we're talking about vaccines or other products, having that gross margin because it's an incremental product category for us because, of course, we do not participate in that volume last year. But we're able to leverage the same capacity, the same team, that's an efficient use of our distribution channel.

因此，有一件非常重要的事情需要強調我們本季的業績，因此我們的毛利率成長非常好，而且我們的銷售管理費用非常穩定。我在評論中評論了經營槓桿。這就是我的意思是，我們本季能夠非常有效率地執行，無論我們談論的是疫苗還是其他產品，都有這樣的毛利率，因為它對我們來說是一個增量產品類別，因為當然，我們不去年參加了該卷。但我們能夠利用相同的能力、相同的團隊，這是對我們分銷管道的有效利用。

And as we get more opportunities like that, then there's some opportunity. But one of the key things that Aaron highlighted in a number of his comments, whether it's his comments or his answers to the question, is that our underlying growth, we feel very good about that long-term target.

當我們獲得更多這樣的機會時，就會有一些機會。但亞倫在他的一些評論中強調的關鍵事情之一，無論是他的評論還是他對問題的回答，是我們的潛在增長，我們對這個長期目標感到非常滿意。

And a lot of what we've seen here was the Q1 overperformance both from vaccines, but also just the core utilization being very strong. That's not the same level of strength that we have indicated, we should be thinking about long term. It's an opportunity for us, but that's not what we're expecting at this point in time. And it's not what we're guiding for the balance of the year in terms of the core growth. We expect that core growth to still be in that 4% to 6% range. But again, innovation can create some opportunities for us. That's hard to see right now, but we're not planning for that.

我們在這裡看到的很多內容是第一季疫苗的優異表現，而且核心利用率也非常強勁。這與我們所顯示的實力程度不同，我們應該考慮長期的情況。這對我們來說是一個機會，但這並不是我們目前所期望的。就核心成長而言，這並不是我們今年剩餘時間的指導方針。我們預計核心成長率仍將在 4% 至 6% 的範圍內。但同樣，創新可以為我們創造一些機會。目前還很難看到這一點，但我們並沒有為此做計劃。

So maybe if I can just wrap a bow around that from a guidance perspective, just to reiterate what our guidance is look for the -- as we sit here today, the Medical segment guidance is $400 million of profit for this year. And we've talked about that extensively, leading to $650 million of profit in fiscal year '26.

因此，也許我可以從指導的角度來解決這個問題，只是為了重申我們的指導目標是什麼——正如我們今天坐在這裡的，醫療部門的指導是今年的利潤 4 億美元。我們已經廣泛討論了這一點，從而在 26 財年實現了 6.5 億美元的利潤。

While we are pleased with the progress on Pharma, 1 quarter into the year and are raising our guidance for this year for Pharma, the 7% to 9% profit growth. Our longer-term algorithm remains the 4% to 6% profit growth that we had called out at our Investor Day, leading to 12% to 14% adjusted EPS growth long term as our overall guidance. We're not seeing changes to our long-term guidance as we sit here today.

雖然我們對今年第一季製藥業的進展感到滿意，並上調了今年製藥業的利潤成長 7% 至 9% 的指導。我們的長期演算法仍然是我們在投資者日呼籲的 4% 至 6% 的利潤增長，從而將調整後的 EPS 長期增長 12% 至 14% 作為我們的整體指導。當我們今天坐在這裡時，我們的長期指導方針沒有改變。

Now some may ask, and I've seen in some of the headlines well, you beat by a particular amount, but your raise is a little bit less than what that amount is. And the short answer to maybe get ahead of the question is that we had above-the-line benefits for which we and below the line benefits relative to consensus or expectations. And the real difference between our raise and how you might do that math is just we're not carrying forward the tax benefit that we saw in Q1 into the updated guidance for reasons I called out during my prepared remarks.

現在有些人可能會問，我在一些頭條新聞中看到過，您擊敗了特定金額，但您的加薪比該金額要少一些。也許提前回答這個問題的簡短答案是，我們擁有相對於共識或期望而言的線上利益和線下利益。我們的加薪與您如何進行數學計算之間的真正區別在於，我們沒有將第一季看到的稅收優惠納入更新後的指導中，原因是我在準備好的演講中指出的。

The next question comes from Charles Rhyee from TD Cowen.

下一個問題來自 TD Cowen 的 Charles Rhyee。

Jason, I wanted to follow up on your comments on commodity prices. And you said that you're seeing less volatility in pricing than before. Would you say that when you look at sort of the increase in oil over the past 6 months or so, is that -- would you say that's within the -- your expectations of volatility? And -- or would you might expect to see that get reflected into freight and/or some of your other input costs at some point?

傑森，我想跟進您對商品價格的評論。您說您發現定價波動性比以前小了。您是否會說，當您觀察過去 6 個月左右的石油價格上漲情況時，您是否認為這在您對波動性的預期之內？或者您可能希望看到這一點在某個時候反映在運費和/或其他一些投入成本中？

Yes. No, that's a great question. And it's -- so when I step back and think about 18 months ago, what the root issue was, of course, we had international freight that was driving up the cost of everything in a multiple that was crazy, but you also had these other commodities that were -- okay, so there are some commodities that are oil-based, so the oil input costs, but then you had the supply-demand factors going on too that I think overemphasized that issue because we don't buy oil, we buy products that contain oil.

是的。不，這是一個很好的問題。所以，當我退一步思考 18 個月前時，根本問題是什麼，當然，我們的國際貨運成本以倍數的方式推高了一切，這是瘋狂的，但你也有其他這些大宗商品——好吧，有些大宗商品是基於石油的，因此石油投入成本，但隨後也存在供需因素，我認為過分強調了這個問題，因為我們不購買石油，我們購買含有石油的產品。

And so as oil goes up and down, that's often absorbed within the supply chain in a normal steady state, unless it gets outside of a certain band. So it did get outside that band, right? Oil went above $100 per barrel. And then you had other demand factors that were driving those commodity costs well beyond what the input cost impacts were. So you had a bit of an exponential increase in a number of commodities.

因此，當石油價格上漲和下跌時，它通常會在正常穩定狀態下被供應鏈吸收，除非它超出了某個範圍。所以它確實超出了該範圍，對嗎？油價升至每桶 100 美元以上。然後還有其他需求因素導致這些商品成本遠遠超出了投入成本的影響。因此，許多商品呈指數級增長。

So today, given that we're in a much more muted demand environment, as a broad industry this is way outside of health care, right? This is a general economy not being as hot as it was at that point in time.

那麼今天，考慮到我們處於一個更加疲軟的需求環境中，作為一個廣泛的行業，這遠遠超出了醫療保健的範圍，對嗎？這是一個整體經濟不像當時那麼熱的情況。

When you see these types of input costs going up and down, it goes back to a bit more of a normal model, which is they're not being exaggerated and multiplied, they're just flowing through in a much more normalized steady state. So that's the reason why that I would not expect this under this current environment to get outside of normal bounds.

當你看到這些類型的投入成本上升和下降時，它會回到更正常的模型，即它們沒有被誇大和成倍增加，它們只是以更標準化的穩定狀態流動。這就是為什麼我不希望在當前環境下出現超出正常範圍的原因。

So if you see the input costs going up and you see a heated economic environment that can further compound that impact, that's when we need to start worrying more about this. I know the importance of this will certainly be -- day-to-day, we certainly spend a lot of time on this, but we'll continue to provide any insight that we see going forward. Of course, when we get into the very significant changes, that's the changes to our contracting structure that we've put into place.

因此，如果你看到投入成本上升，並且經濟環境升溫，這會進一步加劇這種影響，那麼我們就需要開始更擔心這一點。我知道這一點的重要性肯定是——每天，我們肯定會在這方面花費大量時間，但我們將繼續提供我們未來看到的任何見解。當然，當我們進行非常重大的變更時，這就是我們已經實施的合約結構的變化。

That's never going to be perfect. It's never going to be a one-for-one offset, but it's meant to really be active and impactful when you have those more extraordinary types of impacts that really kind of compound these items like I just referenced, and not just the normal types of more muted movements.

那永遠不會是完美的。它永遠不會是一對一的抵消，但當你擁有那些更非凡類型的影響時，它確實是積極和有影響力的，這些影響確實像我剛才提到的那樣，將這些項目複合在一起，而不僅僅是正常類型的影響。更柔和的動作。

The next question comes from Allen Lutz from Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行的艾倫·盧茨。

I want to go after the Pharma margin dynamic a little bit differently. So they were up 5 bps year-over-year. It sounds like the vaccine benefit is going to peak in your fiscal 2Q. So is the right way to think about the margin growth in the Pharma segment year-over-year is it could peak or the growth could peak in 2Q and then kind of more of a normalized lower margin trajectory in the back half? Just trying to get a sense of the seasonality there.

我想以稍微不同的方式追蹤製藥利潤動態。因此，它們比去年同期上漲了 5 個基點。聽起來疫苗的好處將在第二財季達到頂峰。那麼，思考製藥業利潤率同比增長的正確方法是，它可能會在第二季度達到頂峰，還是增長可能會在第二季度達到頂峰，然後在下半年趨於正常化的較低利潤率軌跡？只是想了解那裡的季節性。

We really haven't provided quarterly guidance at the margin level for the pharma business. We were -- we leaned in a bit in describing the impact to Q1 from the COVID vaccine distribution as well as Jason's comments around the expectations for Q2.

我們確實沒有為製藥業務的利潤水平提供季度指導。我們在描述新冠疫苗分發對第一季的影響以及傑森對第二季度預期的評論時稍有傾斜。

Beyond that, I think you just need to take into account what we typically say about our business, which is, first, that we expect the consistent market dynamics from a generic perspective, right? And we are not assuming some of the benefits from a brand perspective in Q3 that we have previously seen. And that's how we are offering up today.

除此之外，我認為您只需要考慮我們通常對我們的業務所說的內容，即首先，我們從一般角度期望一致的市場動態，對吧？我們並沒有假設我們之前在第三季看到的從品牌角度來看的一些好處。這就是我們今天提供的方式。

We will now take our final question today from Elizabeth Anderson, Evercore.

我們現在將接受來自 Evercore 的伊麗莎白·安德森 (Elizabeth Anderson) 的最後一個問題。

Apologies about the audio issues before. My question was just on the nonoperating items, it seems like both on interest expense and maybe on the share count, based on the ASR that you talked about and the interest expense in the first quarter, that there's a little bit of conservatism in that number in those -- both of those numbers?

對之前的音訊問題表示歉意。我的問題只是關於非經營性項目，根據您談到的 ASR 和第一季的利息支出，似乎既包括利息支出，也可能包括股份數量，這個數字有點保守在那些——這兩個數字中？

I'll answer the question. I think she was seeking to ask. The question from what I heard was interest and other, are we being conservative as well on what's going on with our share count? And I guess I would offer the following. We were pleased to see continued benefit in the quarter from I&O, driven by the fact that we have such high cash balances and the return we're receiving on those cash balances.

我來回答這個問題。我想她是想問。我聽到的問題是興趣和其他，我們對我們的股份數量是否也持保守態度？我想我會提供以下內容。我們很高興看到本季度 I&O 持續受益，這是由於我們擁有如此高的現金餘額以及我們從這些現金餘額中獲得的回報。

We are, of course, also benefiting in the quarter from the fact that we are largely fixed rates. We have been now for several quarters. And so we haven't been exposed to the interest rate increases that some other companies may be dealing with, and that's just driven by the good stewardship previously.

當然，我們在本季也受益於我們基本上採用固定利率這一事實。我們已經好幾個季度了。因此，我們沒有受到其他一些公司可能面臨的利率上漲的影響，而這只是由於先前良好的管理所致。

We do have a maturity coming at the end of fiscal '24. It's about $750 million or so from recollection. And we've commented that we're likely to refinance that. I haven't commented on the timing of that as we care forward. And so we believe the guide -- the updated guide we provided on I&O reflects the benefits and the various trade-offs in that.

我們確實會在 24 財年結束時成熟。據回憶，大約有 7.5 億美元左右。我們已經評論說我們可能會為其提供再融資。由於我們關心此事，我尚未對此時間發表評論。因此，我們相信該指南——我們提供的 I&O 的更新指南反映了其中的好處和各種權衡。

With respect to the share count, I do think it's important to call out that as we have consistently said, we don't guide for share count changes beyond the baseline share repurchase. We made a commitment at this during our Investor Day in June, that our baseline share repurchase was going to be $500 million during fiscal year '24. We completed that in the first quarter. That is the share repurchase we're talking about today, and our guide reflects the impact of that -- of the completion of that share repurchase program. It does not reflect any other changes to share repurchase over the course of the year.

關於股份數量，我確實認為重要的是要指出，正如我們一直所說的那樣，我們不會對超出基準股份回購的股份數量變化進行指導。我們在 6 月的投資者日期間做出了承諾，我們在 24 財年回購股票的基準金額將達到 5 億美元。我們在第一季完成了這項任務。這就是我們今天討論的股票回購，我們的指南反映了股票回購計畫完成的影響。它沒有反映年內股票回購的任何其他變化。

As Jason called out earlier, we have the benefit of our cash balance. And having invested, having the plans that we do to invest in the business, CapEx-wise, $92 million in the first quarter, targeting $500 million for the year, and continue to make progress on our investment-grade rating and the two outlook changes -- positive outlook changes that we received during the quarter, having made our baseline share repurchase during Q1 as well as continuing to pay our dividend.

正如傑森早些時候所說，我們有現金餘額的好處。我們已經投資了該業務，就資本支出而言，第一季投資 9,200 萬美元，今年目標投資 5 億美元，並繼續在我們的投資級評級和兩項展望變化方面取得進展——我們在本季度收到的積極的前景變化，在第一季進行了基準股票回購並繼續支付股息。

As we are, as a dividend aristocrat, now we have the opportunity and support of the plans to take the resources we have available to us to invest back in the business with that specialty focus that Jason has called out several times to look at M&A in a disciplined manner, as Jason called out, and then to also consider further opportunistic share repurchase in due time as we assess how the year is performing. I think that's where Elizabeth was going.

就我們而言，作為股息貴族，現在我們有機會並獲得計劃的支持，利用我們現有的資源對業務進行投資，傑森曾多次呼籲關注併購領域的專業重點。正如傑森所呼籲的那樣，以一種有紀律的方式，然後在我們評估今年的表現時，在適當的時候考慮進一步機會主義的股票回購。我想這就是伊莉莎白要去的地方。

With this, we conclude today's question-and-answer session. And now I'd like to hand the call back over to Jason Hollar for any additional or closing remarks. Over to you, sir.

今天的問答環節到此結束。現在我想將電話轉回傑森霍勒 (Jason Hollar)，請他發表補充或結束語。交給你了，先生。

Yes. Thanks again, everyone, for joining us this morning. As we've said a few times, it was a great start to the year. We're pleased with our broad-based performance and to be in the position that we are today to raise our guidance after just the first quarter.

是的。再次感謝大家今天早上加入我們。正如我們多次說過的那樣，這是今年的一個好開始。我們對我們廣泛的業績感到滿意，並且我們今天在第一季後就提高了我們的指導。

We look forward to, certainly, continuing to update you on our progress against these plans throughout the year. And with that, thank you, and have a great day.

當然，我們期待全年繼續向您通報我們在這些計劃方面的進展。就這樣，謝謝你，祝你有美好的一天。

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. Ladies and gentlemen, you may now disconnect.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。女士們先生們，你們現在可以斷開連結了。