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Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc  (BIO 0.36%)
Q3 2018 Earnings Conference Call
Nov. 01, 2018, 5:00 p.m. ET

Contents:

  • Prepared Remarks
  • Questions and Answers
  • Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the Q3 2018 Bio-Rad Laboratories Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session, and instructions will follow at that time. (Operator Instructions)

I would now like to introduce your host for today's call, Ron Hutton. You may begin.

Ronald W. Hutton -- Vice President, Treasurer

Thank you, Johanna. Before we begin the call, I would like to caution everyone that we will be making forward-looking statements about management's goals, plans and expectations, our future financial performance and other matters. Because our actual results may differ materially from our plans and expectations, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, and I encourage you to review our filings with the SEC, where we discuss, in detail, our risk factors in our business. The company does not intend to update any forward-looking statements made during the call today.

Our remarks today will also include references to non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP diluted income per share, which are financial measures that are not defined under generally accepted accounting principles. Investors should review the reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the comparable GAAP results contained in our earnings release.

With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Christine Tsingos, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Christine A. Tsingos -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Ron. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. On the call today are Norman Schwartz, our CEO; Annette Tumolo, President of our Life Science Group; and John Hertia, President of our Clinical Diagnostics Group. Today, we will review our results on a GAAP basis, and then provide some commentary and insight to our results on a non-GAAP basis.

Net sales for the third quarter of 2018 were $545.1 million, an growth of 2.1% versus the same period last year's sales of $534.1 million. On a currency-neutral basis, sales increased 3.4%. During the quarter, we experienced good demand across many of our key product lines with particular strength noted in the Americas and Asia Pacific.

When comparing to last year, remember that the third quarter of 2017 included an estimated $12 million of revenue that was recovered from the earlier ERP-related disruption in Europe. If we neutralize for those recovered sales as well as for approximately $6 million of sales that were pulled forward into the second quarter of this year, we estimate that currency-neutral growth for the third quarter of 2018 was nearly 7%.

Let's look at the segment performance a little closer. Life Science sales in the third quarter were $206.6 million, an increase of 7.1% on a reported basis when compared to last year, and growth of 8% on a currency-neutral basis. Much of the growth in the third quarter was driven by continued strong demand for our cell biology, digital PCR, western blot, and food safety products, all of which grew double digits. We also experienced another quarter of increased demand for our process media product lines.

Life Science growth in the quarter was offset somewhat by the anticipated decrease in sales of RainDance products by approximately $4 million. On a geographic basis, Life Science experienced strong currency-neutral sales growth, most particularly in the US and China.

Sales of Clinical Diagnostics products in the quarter were $334 million compared to $338 million last year, a decline of 1.2% on a reported basis and up slightly on a currency-neutral basis. During the quarter, we posted solid growth in the Americas, especially for blood typing and autoimmune testing products, as well as good growth in Asia Pacific. This geographic growth was offset by the expected decline in Europe. As many of you know, the third quarter was anticipated to be a very tough compare given the unusual ERP-related patterns I mentioned a moment ago. Excluding this tough to compare scenario, we estimate that diagnostic sales growth would have been approximately 5% for the third quarter.

The reported gross margin for the third quarter was 52.6% lower than our annual target, and essentially flat with the second quarter gross margin. The current quarter margin continued to be impacted by the product mix, high service, warranty and reagent rental cost as well as additional inventory-related expense.

Amortization related to prior acquisitions recorded in cost of goods sold for the quarter was $4.7 million which compares to $4.9 million in the same period last year. SG&A expenses for the third quarter were $201.2 million or 36.9% of sales, an improvement when compared to 37.1% last year. When compared to the second quarter of this year, this sequential decrease in spend is the result of lower employee-related expenses as well as a contingent consideration benefit of $4 million. Total amortization related to acquisitions recorded in SG&A for the quarter was $1.8 million versus $2.4 million in the third quarter of last year.

Research and development expense in Q3 was $49.2 million or 9% of sales. When comparing to the third quarter of last year, remember that the year-ago period included $7.6 million of one-time restructuring expense related to our GnuBIO project as well as a $3 million milestone approval for the acquisition of our new flow cytometer. Going forward, we continue to target our annual R&D investment at 9% of sales.

Looking below the operating line, the change in fair market value of our holdings of equity securities added $318 million of income to our reported results for the quarter and is substantially related to our holdings of ordinary and preferred shares of Sartorius. Also during the quarter, interest and other income resulted in net other expense of $4.2 million compared to $8.2 million of expense last year. This improvement primarily reflects higher investment income as well as lower foreign exchange hedging costs versus last year.

The effective tax rate used during the third quarter was 23% and compares to 28% for the same period last year. This lower than expected tax rate was driven by the sizable gain related to our Sartorius investment as well as the benefit of tax reform in the US. Excluding Sartorius and any discrete items that may occur during the year, we expect the full year effective tax rate to be in the 27% to 28% range.

Reported net income for the third quarter was $269 million and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $8.89. This significant increase in net income and earnings per share versus last year substantially relates to the valuation of our Sartorius holdings.

With this change in accounting regulations for equity securities coupled with multiple atypical events and charges, it is important to review the results in a manner more reflective of our base operations.

As we look to our results on a non-GAAP basis, we have excluded certain atypical and unique items that impacted both our growth and operating margins as well as other income. These items are detailed in the reconciliation chart in our press release. Looking at the non-GAAP results for the third quarter, in cost of goods sold we have excluded amortization of purchased intangibles of $4.7 million as well as restructuring cost of $410,000 related to the closure of our RainDance operation.

These adjustments move the gross margin for the third quarter from 52.6% to 53.5%. This non-GAAP margin compares to a non-GAAP margin in the third quarter of 2017 of 56.9%. In operating expense, on a non-GAAP basis, we have excluded amortization of purchased intangibles of $1.8 million, legal-related charges of $4.4 million, a net acquisition-related benefit of $2.8 million, and a small restructuring charge related to a prior action.

In R&D, we have adjusted the reported results to include $496,000 of expense which was reversed as part of the true up of a prior restructuring approval. The accumulative sum of these non-GAAP adjustments results in moving the operating margin for the third quarter of 2018 from 6.7% on a GAAP basis to 8.2% on a non-GAAP basis.

Despite a strong top line and relatively good operating expense control, the lower than expected gross margin in the quarter resulted in a non-GAAP operating margin below our expectation. However, if we look year-to-date, the non-GAAP operating margin is 9.3% compared to 7.1% for the first nine months of 2017, representing good progress year-over-year.

We have also excluded certain items below the operating line which are: the quarterly increase in value of our equity holdings of $318 million as well as $220,000 of loss associated with venture investments that are recorded on the equity method of accounting.

With all of these various items in mind, we adjusted our tax provision for these exclusions resulting in a non-GAAP effective tax rate of 32%. This higher tax rate when compared to the non-GAAP rate of 27% in Q2, primarily reflects a change in our geographic mix of profitability. And finally non-GAAP net income and earnings per share for the third quarter of 2018 were $27.6 million and $0.91 per share compared to $30.7 million and $1.02 per share last year.

Moving to the balance sheet, as of September 30, total cash and short-term investments were $866 million compared to $761 million at the end of 2017. We continue to make excellent progress on improving our cash flow. For the third quarter of 2018, net cash generated from operations was just over $62 million which compares to $28 million in the year-ago period. Cash generated from operations in the first nine months of 2018 is $180 million and significantly exceeds the cash flow in all of last year. This positive result reflects improvement in both collections and inventory management as we continue to make progress toward optimizing our global operating model and systems.

The adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter was $73 million or 13.4% of sales. Year-to-date, adjusted EBITDA which includes the Sartorius dividend paid during our second quarter is $253 million or 15.1% of sales. This year-to-date adjusted EBITDA margin compares to 13.2% in the first nine months of last year, nearly 200 basis points and $50 million of improvement year-over-year.

Net capital expenditures for the quarter were $21.9 million. Given the year-to-date CapEx spend of approximately $72 million, the full year expectation for CapEx will likely be at the low end of our forecasted $100 million to $110 million range. And finally, depreciation and amortization for the quarter was $34.8 million.

Moving to the outlook for the fourth quarter, we are pleased with the continued momentum on the top line. For Life Science, strong research funding around the world coupled with a good lineup of new products and technologies has fueled currency-neutral growth of nearly 12% in the first nine months of the year. In our Diagnostics Group, while year-to-date currency-neutral growth is around 3% we have made solid inroads to the US blood typing market and sales of our BioPlex 2200 instruments in assay continue to outpace the market.

With all that being said, we are moving into our toughest compare of the year. Remember that the fourth quarter of 2017 was a substantial record quarter for Bio-Rad with revenue exceeding $620 million. This compare will be especially difficult for our Life Science Group, remembering that the fourth quarter of last year grew at more than 12%, fueled in part by the resurgence of growth for process media. With that in mind, we would not be surprised to see a year-over-year decline in Life Science sales in Q4.

While Diagnostics has less of a tough compare, we are still ramping our blood typing business in the US, and it takes time for the cumulative impact of reagent sales to move the needle. And as we have talked about, we continue to face tough competition across many of our product lines.

Knowing all of these nuances, today we are reiterating our guidance for full year revenue growth in the 4% to 4.5% range. This annual revenue growth target implies reported sales for the fourth quarter in the $595 million to $610 million range. When thinking about our guidance for the full year operating margin, we must absorb the lower than expected gross margin recorded in the first nine months of the year.

As I mentioned earlier, this lower margin is the result of changes in product mix, a high level of placements of blood typing instruments in the US which incur significant cost in advance of the expected reagent revenue flow and inventory costs incurred as we continue to transition Europe to our new operating model. While we believe the fourth quarter should show improvement in the margin closer to our historical level around 55%, it will not be enough to overcome the year-to-date result.

As such and as we cautioned on the second quarter earnings call, we are revising our full year operating margin target to be in the 8% to 9% range on a GAAP basis which is down from our previous target of 10%. But still improved significantly when compared to the 2017 operating margin of 5.5%. On a non-GAAP basis, we estimate the full year operating margin to be in the 9.5% to 10.5% range compared to the previous estimated margin on a non-GAAP basis of 11% to 11.5%. As has been our practice in prior years, we will share are thinking in outlook for 2019 in February during the fourth quarter earnings call.

And now we are happy to take your questions.

Questions and Answers:

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Brandon Couillard with Jefferies. Your line is open.

Brandon Couillard -- Jefferies LLC -- Analyst

Thanks. Good afternoon. Christine, in terms of the gross margin in the third quarter, could you help us bridge the year-over-year decline in terms of the moving parts between the impact of the instrument placements, currency, the inventory charges? And then to confirm the operating margin guidance for the year, does that include the impact of FX which I suspect is gotten must worse for you in terms of full year guide. Any chance you could quantify the effect of just currency in terms of the updated margin guidance for the year?

Christine A. Tsingos -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Okay. Well, in terms of what's impacting the gross margin between the various categories that I talked about, I'd say about half of the impact relates to mix if you will, and the other half is really just added cost for either continuing to transition the European operations or cost associated with the upfront investment in these reagent rental placement.

And then as far as FX is concerned, in terms of impact, it is true that it is becoming more and more of a negative impact. And we do have nine months behind us, and so that's part of the headwind that we face. I don't have a specific breakout Brandon as to how much of the change in outlook is related to FX. But let me give if I can find it while we continue with the call.

Brandon Couillard -- Jefferies LLC -- Analyst

I'm just curious given this is kind of like the third quarter that we've seen the heavy instrumentation placement mix that -- and what if I guess suspected that some of the placements that took place in the first half of the year would have been at least contributing or starting to pull through reagent revenues from those. Help us sort of understand sort of the ramp timelines with some of these blood typing instruments as well as the BioPlex 2200? And really if there's something else going on beyond just the instrument whether it might be COGS inflation or factory or ops issues?

Christine A. Tsingos -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

So, let me answer a little bit of that, and then I certainly welcome John Hertia to pipe in. I don't want this to be interpreted that we've placed instruments and they're not generating any revenue. They do indeed, after about -- it take about 90 days to complete the installation and get the customer exempted. And then the reagent revenue starts to flow. I think the difference is that the reagents are at a lower priced. And cumulatively you need a lot of those to move the needle of the businesses as big as our blood typing business.

But nonetheless, certainly the instruments are beginning to produce revenue. The higher costs that we incur when you think about it, as we're feeding the US market, we are bearing the additional costs of bringing these instruments which are manufactured in Europe and the reagents as well into the US, and placing them, and taking on the initial warranty, et cetera. Those -- one is a true additional cost which we will continue to offset in other ways, and the other is timing. Again, just what it takes upfront as you initially install these verses the reagent flow later in the product life cycle.

So, John Hertia, I don't know if you want to add anything of what you're saying for the businesses, blood typing or BioPlex 2200 in the US and around the world.

John Hertia -- Executive Vice President & President, Clinical Diagnostics Group

I think, placements of both have been stronger than expected in the US. The ramp up time to reagents in the BioPlex is 60 days to 90 days from the time they get the instrument to the tender, running the reagents. It's a little longer for blood typing, in some institutions, where it could take three months to up to six months to do all of the validation and cross validation of results before they come fully online simply because of the sensitivity of the results in the product line. And so that ramp up takes a little bit longer, but it's definitely beginning to kick in.

Christine A. Tsingos -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

That's good.

Brandon Couillard -- Jefferies LLC -- Analyst

Thanks. That's helpful. And then last one I guess, Christine, has anything changed in your view with respect to your 2020 margin targets and your ability to reach those? And how would you expect I guess the pace of that margin expansion to play out kind of over the next preceding two years? Thank you.

Christine A. Tsingos -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Yes. No, I think that's a great question, Brandon. And we're in the process right now of doing a very tight bottoms up of our 2019 forecast. And we always do the out years as well. I really don't think that there's anything that we're seeing today that changes our target of hitting our 20% goal by the end of 2020. I think clearly being shy of where we wanted the first year of that progression to be, puts a little more pressure on mining the benefits and margin expansion in 2019 and 2020.

But even with that being said, you know, John Hertia just pointed out, the pace that we are placing these instruments in the US is higher than we had anticipated, but that means the cost that we're bearing today is higher than we would have anticipated. But at the same time it bodes well for good margin business, higher margin business down the road.

The other factors that are part of our 2020 vision, the specific projects that we're working and actions that we are taking beyond what's going on with the top line those are still in place. And those are still being worked on and we are starting to see the benefit of many of those. And I guess you can see that more in cash flow than you can right now in our operating results. But that's a long-winded way for me to say. I think we are still targeting our 20%. I think we believe strongly in that goal. The trajectory is a little bit different in terms of how it rolls out than we would have originally anticipated. But everything nonetheless is still identified.

Brandon Couillard -- Jefferies LLC -- Analyst

Thanks. It's very helpful. I will leave it there, and let some of the new leases jump in. Thank you

Christine A. Tsingos -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

And Norman, I don't know if you want to add any commentary to the 2020 outlook or not?

Norman D. Schwartz -- President & Chief Executive Officer

No. Obviously, we're still working diligently to meet that plan. And we've got a lots of iron and the fire there to make that happen.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Patrick Donnelly with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

Patrick Donnelly -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

Great. Thanks for taking the question. Christine, maybe just on the instrument placements, can you help us think about when gross margins reflect higher on these placements? I guess trying to get out when you currently feel like you're going to see that impact on a corporate level given these increased instrument placements relative to your expectations. Is this going to continue for another couple of quarters in terms of gross margin dilution? Or when do we see those reagent pull throughs really reflect on the gross margins?

Christine A. Tsingos -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Yes. Patrick, if I kind of pick up on John Hertia's comments from a moment ago, much of the drag is related to feeding the US blood typing market. And that's bringing with it additional costs, and the labs need to not only go through installation, but they have several validation and crossover studies that they need to complete. And as John just said that can take 90 days, it can take up to six months. So, while we do expect some recovery of the gross margin in Q4, I don't think that's really reflective yet of the cumulative impact of higher reagent revenue.

We're not prepared to talk about 2019 specifically, but if we think about spending the full year of 2018, placing instruments in the US and beginning to get those help their labs with the validation and start that reagent stream. And as we move through 2019, I would expect that we would on a corporate level start to see the benefits of that. So, we'll have more specific insight on the fourth quarter call when we give our 2019 outlook.

Patrick Donnelly -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

Okay. That's helpful. And I guess when we think about -- Brandon asked about the 2020 target. You guys sounded like you're confident there. I guess when we think about the progression like you said maybe the progression is going to be a little bit different starting on a little lower level here. But are there things that as the gross margins have come in a little later than you expected, you now will pull forward some of these initiatives that you talked about between procurement, facility consolidations, the ERP systems cost coming down. Is there opportunity to move some of those costs forward to next year to kind of offset a little bit of this gross margin issue before the inflects higher? Or what are your thoughts on that? How nimble can you be?

Christine A. Tsingos -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

So, I think, there are some things that we can pull forward. Other projects that, you know, as Norman mentioned that we have been working on and identified. They kind of have their own timeline especially when you're dealing with changes in manufacturing and a regulated environment that just takes time. But that would kind of baked into the plan.

It will help that some of the temperament of the gross margins this year has been pretty situational not just with -- we've been talking about for example the US blood typing market, but situational with working through the optimization of our European operating model after tremendous change in 2017. And some of the charges that we've taken especially the inventory related charges, those obviously we don't anticipate to repeat. That's more situational. So that's something easier to overcome. Not a change in course or practice or acceleration as you were asking about, but it also isn't something that would force us to have a course change.

Maybe I totally confused you. Hello?

Operator

Mr. Donnelly, your line is open.

Christine A. Tsingos -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

That's alright, Johanna, we can go on to the next question, and then Patrick can get back in the queue if he has more or if he needs clarification.

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from the line of Jack Meehan of Barclays Capital. Your line is open.

Jack Meehan -- Barclays Capital -- Analyst

Hi. Thanks. Without going overkill on the margin front, I did have one more on the gross margin. I was curious whether you considered anything one-time within the adjusted gross margins in the quarter? One of the things you talked about was the higher costs of service. I understand kind of the mixed dynamic and whatnot. But just curious whether there was anything else that would roll off as we move into 2019 on the gross margin front?

Christine A. Tsingos -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Yes. So, Jack, the only thing that would -- to use your words one-time, and maybe you know and I'll call it more situational if you will, we continue to kind of rightsize and optimize the inventory in Europe. And there was as such probably another couple of million dollars that we took a charge for in the third quarter. And we had an even larger charge than we talked about on the Q2 call. It's not something that I'd be willing to non-GAAP out because it is part of our running our business. But it's also though is a pretty specific identifiable event if you will.

Jack Meehan -- Barclays Capital -- Analyst

Maybe just from a management perspective, I was curious, Norman, is there any update in terms of the hiring process for CLO?

Norman D. Schwartz -- President & Chief Executive Officer

Yes. We're actively looking at other candidates at the moment. And we've got a fresh slate that's been developed. So we're continuing to work on that.

Jack Meehan -- Barclays Capital -- Analyst

Great. And then maybe just from a revenue perspective, I thought the Life Science revenues looked pretty good in the quarter, seeming relatively broad-based. The one I have to ask about is the process media. What's the level of contribution was there year-over-year? And just how that might swing come to the fourth quarter?

Christine A. Tsingos -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

So, it's a good question. I think process media was up about $8 million year-over-year. As we move into the fourth quarter, I think we expect it to be down year-over-year, because that will be their first kind of tough compare, that was Q4 last year when it came roaring back. And that's little bit the reason why despite a good -- another good quarter of top line growth we're keeping with that 4% to 4.5% outlook.

The other thing I'd remind you though is, if we exclude the process media sales I think that Life Science still grew about 6.5%. And really we shouldn't exclude all $8 million because we did through the shutdown of our RainDance operation see a year-over-year decrease of sales of about $4 million. And that kind of offset some of that $8 million year-over-year.

Jack Meehan -- Barclays Capital -- Analyst

Great. Final one, if I can squeeze it in is I'd be curious down here in San Antonio at Amp what's the latest is for Droplet Digital in terms of getting some of the FDA approvals? I think when you've been working on with BCR- ABL (ph), just are there any update in terms of the timeline for having clinical test approved? Thank you.

Annette Tumolo -- Executive Vice President & President, Life Science Group

This is Annette, I'll take that. So, we have -- we're in the submission process. So, we are talking to the FDA all the time. And I wish I had a crystal ball to know exactly when our clearance would come, but we expect it anytime. So, we are continuing our regular dialog with them on this process.

Jack Meehan -- Barclays Capital -- Analyst

Thanks, Annette. The watch continues.

Annette Tumolo -- Executive Vice President & President, Life Science Group

Yes.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Dan Leonard with Deutsche Bank. Your line is open

Dan Leonard -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst

Thank you. A couple for me. So you talked at length about the better instrument placements than you had expected. Can you help us at all put some framing around what that means for the revenue line going forward? And maybe this is a John Hertia question, is this something that lifts the Diagnostics business out of its low single-digit trajectories something higher in forward periods?

Christine A. Tsingos -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

So, before John jumps in on that, I mean obviously we're not ready to talk about 2019 yet. But even with that Dan this is just one part of our business. We have several sizable businesses within Diagnostics certainly within Life Science. And no single one of them is some big overwhelming needle mover if you will. Everything is a contributor. Certainly, in terms of year-over-year growth, I think blood typing in the US should be able to outpace the industry averages and the company averages and help move the needle. But it's just one of many opportunities that we have going forward. So, I don't know Dan if that answers your question or what you're looking for something different?

Dan Leonard -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst

I was looking for a little bit of a framework. But if -- but I can leave it there. Secondly, Christine, I believe you went live with SAP in Italy, Spain, and couple of Nordic countries in Q3. Can you comment on how that went?

Christine A. Tsingos -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Yes. No, thanks for asking. We did Southern Europe and the Nordics went live at the beginning of July. And it was a much less complicated implementation than the past because it was primarily commercial operations not the more complex manufacturing. I think so far so good. The team was pretty well prepared not just with the deployment, but those that were catching the ball. It is -- always does take time for people to get used to new processes and screens and systems and charts and you name it. And so we'll continue to improve those. But I think we're pretty pleased at how well they were able to catch the ball and come right into the SAP world. A lot of lessons learned from the prior European deployment that we took advantage of.

Dan Leonard -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst

Okay. Great. And then my final question, on the buyback, did you buy back any stock in the quarter or do you plan to buyback any going forward? Just any update on the authorization that you announced a year ago?

Christine A. Tsingos -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Sure. So as you probably know almost since the day we announced it, we kind of in a blackout period. So we didn't buy any during the quarter. Though with that being said, I think we anticipate next week trading window will open, and it's not lost on us. We're movement in the share price and the value that -- that's there. So we're discussing the buyback internally now, vis-a-vis potential execution.

Dan Leonard -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst

Okay. Thank you.

Christine A. Tsingos -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Thank you.

Operator

I'm showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the call back over to Christine Tsingos for closing remarks.

Christine A. Tsingos -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Okay, great. Well, thank you everyone for taking the time to join us today. We appreciate your interest in Bio-Rad. We appreciate your thoughtful questions, and we look forward hopefully to seeing you soon. Bye-bye.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect. Everyone have a wonderful day.

Duration: 40 minutes

Call participants:

Ronald W. Hutton -- Vice President, Treasurer

Christine A. Tsingos -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Brandon Couillard -- Jefferies LLC -- Analyst

John Hertia -- Executive Vice President & President, Clinical Diagnostics Group

Norman D. Schwartz -- President & Chief Executive Officer

Patrick Donnelly -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

Jack Meehan -- Barclays Capital -- Analyst

Annette Tumolo -- Executive Vice President & President, Life Science Group

Dan Leonard -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst

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