Pentair PLC (PNR) Q4 2020 Earnings Call Transcript

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Pentair PLC (PNR 0.48%)
Q4 2020 Earnings Call
Jan 28, 2021, 9:00 a.m. ET

Contents:

• Prepared Remarks
• Questions and Answers
• Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Q4 2020 Pentair Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]

I'd now like to turn the call over to your speaker today, Jim Lucas. Thank you. Please go ahead.

Jim Lucas -- Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Treasurer

Thanks, James, and welcome to Pentair's Fourth Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. We're glad you could join us. I'm Jim Lucas, Senior Vice President, Treasurer and Investor Relations. With me today is John Stauch, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Bob Fishman, our Chief Financial Officer. On today's call, we will provide details on our fourth quarter and full year 2020 performance, as well as our first quarter and full year 2021 outlook as outlined in this morning's press release. Before we begin, let me remind you that any statements made about the company's anticipated financial results are forward-looking statements subject to future risks and uncertainties, such as the risks outlined in Pentair's most recent Form 10-Q, Form 10-K and today's press release. Forward-looking statements included herein are made as of today, and the company undertakes no obligation to update publicly such statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. Actual results could differ materially from anticipated results. Today's webcast is accompanied by a presentation, which can be found in the Investor Relations section of Pentair's website. We will reference these slides throughout our prepared remarks. Any references to non-GAAP financials are reconciled in the appendix of the presentation. We will be sure to reserve time for questions and answers after our prepared remarks. [Operator Instructions]

I will now turn the call over to John.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Jim, and good morning, everyone. Please turn to slide number four, titled Executive Summary. I would first like to say how proud I am of the entire Pentair organization and the contributions everyone made to help deliver on our commitments to all of our stakeholders in a uniquely challenging year. Our teams navigated this unprecedented environment, and I believe that our company will emerge stronger as a result. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our global channel partners and suppliers for their patience and efforts in working with us and our consumers to meet our commitments despite the effects of the ongoing pandemic. We are pleased to deliver 2% sales growth and 5% adjusted EPS growth for the year. We generated over $500 million in free cash flow and returned over $275 million to our shareholders through dividends and buybacks. While navigating this uncertain environment and making sure employees and customers were as safe as possible, we continue to invest in our top growth priorities through digital transformation, innovation and technology. During the year, we successfully launched both the Pentair Home and Pentair Dealer apps. We also launched a brand redesign of the pentair.com website allowing for better cross-functional use and microsite enablement based on feedback on how people want to interface with us. We also were able to fill out our management team by hiring Bob as our new CFO, Mario as the new leader for Consumer Solutions, Steve as our Chief Supply Chain Officer and appointing Jerome Pedretti as our IFT segment leader. We have been busy building out capabilities throughout the organization, including adding over 100 IoT engineers in 2020 to drive connected solutions for consumers and for our OEM customers.

We introduced new products like FreshPoint and Easy Flow in our residential POU category, our Connected Solutions salt sensor for installed water softeners, advanced our leading sustainable gas solutions offering to recover and reuse methane and CO2 as well as introduced our brew assist digital services to remotely optimize our beer membrane solutions. By the end of 2021, we expect to have over 20 new IoT products in the pipeline as we continue to move our Consumer Solutions platform to Smart Solutions. We also made great strides in advancing our ESG stewardship, most recently importing our General Counsel, Karla Robertson, to the additional role of Chief Social Responsibility Officer. We recently completed a comprehensive ESG assessment to identify key topics of importance to our shareholders, customers, suppliers, employees and communities. We are planning to announce specific targets, including science-based environmental targets, in 2021 to further advance our social responsibility goals and progress. We have spent the past few years repositioning our portfolio and making investments to build out the Pentair brand and create a better experience for consumers to help solve their water treatment needs. While we benefited from a residential focused portfolio in 2020, we believe that the momentum will carry into 2021 and beyond.

I would now like to turn the call over to Bob to discuss our performance and our financial results in more detail, after which I'll provide an update on our overall strategic position.

Bob P. Fishman -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer

Thank you, John. Please turn to slide five, labeled Q4 2020 Pentair Performance. During the fourth quarter, we delivered sales growth of 5% and core sales growth of 3%. On a core basis, Consumer Solutions was up 8% while Industrial & Flow Technology declined 3%. I will discuss the details for each segment on the subsequent slides. Segment income was flat, while adjusted EPS increased 3%. Our tax rate was 14%, while net interest came in at $5 million. Price improved from the third quarter. Productivity did not read out in the quarter due to the fact that we paid bonuses this year and we continued to see some of our facilities disrupted with higher absenteeism due to COVID. Please turn to slide six, labeled Full Year 2020 Pentair Performance. Given the unusual timing of 2020 by quarter, we thought it would be helpful to look at the full year results to better appreciate the progress we were able to make in these challenging times. For the full year, core sales increased 1%, with Consumer Solutions growing 7% and Industrial & Flow Technologies declining 6%. Segment income was flat for the year, while adjusted EPS grew 5%. Price and productivity mostly offset inflation. But as we highlighted in the third quarter, the robust growth in pool led to higher-than-usual rebate activity that lowered price. We expect price and productivity to offset inflation going forward. Given the challenges that we faced in 2020, we were very pleased to deliver overall growth while still investing for the future. Please turn to slide seven, labeled Q4 2020 Consumer Solutions performance. Momentum for Consumer Solutions in the third quarter carried over into the fourth quarter. For the quarter, sales grew 10%, segment income increased 9%, and return on sales was essentially flat. Considering the challenges the team faced in the first half of the year, the fourth quarter performance was a strong close to a remarkable year, and we believe validation for the growth prospects of the segment's portfolio of businesses. Pool experienced tremendous growth of 15% in the fourth quarter and slightly above that for the full year.

The total pool industry received significant tailwinds from the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced consumers to stay at home and increase their desire to invest in their backyards. This trend has continued into 2021 as demand for new pools and pool maintenance remains strong. We believe the business enters 2021 with strong momentum. While the market dynamics assisted in the growth of the pool business, this could not have been achieved had there not been previous focus on increasing dealers and driving new products into the industry. That strategy allowed pool to reap the benefit of the remarkable growth in 2020. This past year, we spent time building the foundation of data analytics, specifically around the performance of dealers and channels. This advancement allows leaders in the business to better dissect the areas where the business is winning and where there are opportunities to improve. Specific plans are being developed down to the individual dealer to accelerate growth in core product areas. The data shows there is still growth potential in the core, even though the business has seen significant historical growth. Water treatment grew 4% in the quarter, with strong residential growth being offset by continued weakness in commercial. In particular, we saw the second consecutive quarter of growth in China, which we believe is a positive sign that the markets hit earliest by the pandemic have stabilized and are showing potential signs of a sustained recovery. Residential components posted high single-digit growth with strength in all geographies and product lines. We saw very strong growth in our key valves product line, which is a positive indicator for overall industry growth. We launched the flat connected valve during the quarter and are seeing early signs of market acceptance. We believe the overall North American industry as well as Europe continues to benefit from consumer focus on in-home water quality. Our residential systems and services businesses both delivered strong double-digit growth as our investments to build out these businesses are beginning to read through.

We had two new product launches during the quarter: our salt level sensor and the FreshPoint Easy Flow point-of-use filtration system for existing faucets. In addition, we recently announced the acquisition of Rocean, which builds out our point-of-use product offering and complements our already strong point-of-entry portfolio. Equally important, we believe Rocean's product offerings allow Pentair to participate in an even more meaningful way to help tackle the growing challenge of single-use plastic bottled water and its impact on the environment. Our commercial systems business was down low double digits in the quarter, but this was an improvement from the third quarter performance and the sharp drop off we experienced in the second quarter when many of our customers were forced to close due to shelter-in-place requirements. While our sales in this profitable product line have been down for three consecutive quarters, we are mildly encouraged that we have been outperforming the market. We attribute this in part to our strong cartridge replacements, mix of business and also finding new business opportunities, such as our total water management program we discussed last quarter. While we have one more tough comparison in the first quarter, we expect commercial systems to continue its recovery in 2021. Please turn to slide eight, labeled Q4 2020 Industrial & Flow Technologies performance. Industrial & Flow Technologies, or IFT, saw sales decline 1% as residential and irrigation flow delivered double-digit growth in the quarter, while the other two businesses continued to be negatively impacted by a global freeze in capital spending. Segment income decreased 22%, and return on sales declined 280 basis points to 10.6%. Productivity was challenged in the quarter, principally as a function of a mix with lower margin backlog in addition to lower revenue spread across a higher fixed cost base. IFT has also begun some notable activities aimed at reducing complexity and reducing costs, which include the discontinuation of several product lines.

Residential and irrigation flow grew 12% in the quarter, following 6% growth last quarter. This business normally does not experience strong demand in the fourth quarter, but similar to our other residential facing businesses and consumer solutions, there was broad-based demand for residential and irrigation following the slowdown in demand experienced during the second quarter. We saw all product lines contribute to the strong fourth quarter performance, and we remain cautiously optimistic entering 2021 given channel inventory levels are still slightly below historical levels. Commercial and Infrastructure flow declined 9% in the quarter as the business continues to experience soft demand. The business has begun to focus more intently on complexity reduction resulting in the decision to exit several product lines. The focus within C&I remains on improving operational efficiencies, in addition to building up the backlog with higher-margin business. Industrial filtration continued to be negatively impacted by a global capital spending freeze as seen in the 8% sales decline in the quarter. In addition to the broader capital spending freeze, many of our industrial customers have been negatively impacted due to worldwide COVID-related lockdowns. We are seeing sequential improvements, and we are starting to see some modest increases in orders exiting the quarter, resulting in an increased backlog. Encouragingly, we have begun to see an increase in orders for our sustainable gas solutions business. Please turn to slide nine, labeled Balance Sheet and Cash Flow. One of the biggest positive developments in 2020 was the prodigious cash flow generation we experienced. For the full year, we generated $512 million of free cash flow, which was well north of 100% conversion for the year. One of the biggest contributors to our strong free cash flow was the linearity of pool sales in the second half and a minimal amount of early buy in the fourth quarter. This resulted in a dramatic year-over-year improvement in receivables collection. We also showed further strengthening of the balance sheet, ending the year at 1.3 times levered and the majority of our revolver available.

During the year, we returned over $275 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. Last December, we announced that our Board authorized a new $750 million share repurchase authorization as there was only $100 million remaining under our prior authorization. In addition, the Board approved a 5% increase in our quarterly dividend to be paid in the first quarter. 2020 marks the 45th consecutive year that Pentair has increased its annual dividend. Our balance sheet remains in excellent shape to fund both organic and inorganic opportunities. And as always, we plan to remain disciplined with our capital. Please turn to slide 10, labeled Q1 and Full Year 2021 Pentair Outlook. We are initiating first quarter and full year 2020 guidance. For the first quarter, we expect sales to grow 7% to 12% and adjusted EPS to increase 6% to 21% to a range of $0.55 to $0.63. March is historically an important month for the quarter, and we are still managing through sporadic and isolated COVID-related disruptions due to the recent global spike in infection rates and are doing our best to ensure the safety of all of our employees. Below the operating line, we expect corporate expense to be approximately $16 million, net interest of $6 million to $7 million, a 15% tax rate and a share count of around 168 million. For the full year, we expect sales to grow 3% to 5% and adjusted EPS to increase 5% to 10% to a range of $2.60 to $2.75. We recognize that our first half has easier comparisons that become more challenged in the second half. However, we expect continued demand in our larger residential focused businesses and remain cautiously optimistic for our commercial water treatment business to show improvements throughout the year. We remain focused on investing in our most attractive businesses. Below the operating line, we expect corporate expense to be around $65 million, net interest to be in a range of $20 million to $23 million, our tax rate to be around 15%, and the share count is expected to average near 166 million shares for the full year. Capital expenditures are expected to be around $65 million, while depreciation and amortization is expected to be around $80 million. We continue to target free cash flow to be greater than or equal to net income.

I'd now like to turn the call back to John to provide an update on some of our key strategies.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Bob. Please turn to slide 11, labeled 2021 Execution Expectations. Our focus for 2021 does not change from last year as we are focused on delivering on our core while continuing to build out our future. As we enter 2021, our residential businesses remain strong, and we are encouraged to see ongoing signs of stabilization in our commercial businesses. Although we have not yet seen indicators of year-over-year growth, we are expecting recovery likely in the tail end of 2021. We believe that our smaller exposure to industrial capital spending will remain hindered for now. We have a long successful history of price realization across the majority of our portfolio. We will monitor closely the rapidly evolving inflation environment and respond accordingly. We are also pacing our growth investments and have the ability to modulate as needed, but we prefer to remain on offense and build on the momentum of the past two years. We recognize that we have opportunities to address our cost structure, particularly within IFT, and we plan to act as appropriate. We discussed last year the G&A benchmarking efforts we undertook and identified that we have room for improvement. We are well under way in terms of our G&A efforts and are looking closely at our overall global enablement structure. Our goal is to deliver transformation plans that we expect will drive significant ROS expansion by 2024 while funding our strategic growth initiatives. As we look to the future, our priorities are unchanged around growing both our pool and water treatment businesses. We have identified growing interest in our sustainable gas solutions business. I look forward to updating all of you in the future as we believe this business has exciting growth opportunities ahead. We believe that pool has a long runway of continued growth.

The Department of Energy regulation going into effect in mid-2021 is shifting the industry even further toward variable speed pumps, which is a category we helped to create over a decade ago. Today, nearly 60% of the pumps we sell are variable speed, while the industry adoption rate is closer to 50%. Over the next two years, we expect the industry, including us, to move closer to 85% as it is expected that there will still be certain parts of the industry that will be able to use single speed pumps. We also continue to invest in our automation platform for pool and see strong adoption of our new offerings. In addition, despite being a leading brand in the U.S. on the pool pad, when a consumer contacts us directly on pentair.com, it has not been the best experience for the consumer. We believe that there's a tremendous opportunity of engaging the consumer and curating their experience through our existing channel while also ensuring that the consumer received the experience that they desired. Within water treatment, we believe there are opportunities to rapidly expand our $50 million end-to-end residential services business and to be the leader in advanced technology and connected solutions and residential point-of-use solutions through our existing technology and the acquisition of Rocean. We also have a leading commercial foodservice offering that we look to expand into other segments as well as add important services for our customers. In sustainable gas, it is merely focusing on our high-growth segment within Industrial and adding global capability to accelerate our offerings.

Finally, I wanted to touch on our approach to capital allocation, which remains unchanged. Our top priority is our commitment to our investment-grade rating. Our strong cash flows allow us to invest in our top organic growth opportunities. From an M&A perspective, we remain focused on strategic bolt-on and tuck-in deals and focused strategic priorities, like I just shared with you. While M&A valuations remain elevated, we continue to actively build our deal pipeline and plan to remain disciplined. Finally, we are committed to returning cash flow to our shareholders through dividends and opportunistic buybacks. We believe that Pentair has a bright outlook, and we will continue to invest for the future while delivering on our core business. Our goal remains to deliver more consistent, predictable results for our customers, the environment, our employees, and our shareholders.

I would now like to turn the call over to James for Q&A, after which I will have a few closing remarks. James, please open the line for questions. Thank you.

Questions and Answers:

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And our first question comes from the line of Mike Halloran with Baird. Go ahead please. Your line is open.

Mike Halloran -- Baird -- Analyst

Hey, hey. Good morning everyone. Hope -- hope all is well. So a couple of things here. First, can you just help balance out a couple of comments that Bob made on a whole and how that tracks for this year around inflation, price cost? The commentary was price cost positive expectations this year but not a lot of channel fill, even though there were some rebates last year, inflation kind of hits you in the fourth quarter a little bit. Maybe just give some context on how you think that balances out through the year? And then what the pricing environment looks like for you as we sit here today?

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

I'll take the first part. I'll have Bob comment on this second. It's feeling like '18. I think inflation wise, we're seeing a lot of the commodities that we buy hitting record levels, right? And if you think about it, it's simple context and just takes a pump. The copper goes into a motor, gets wound. Copper is up. It goes into a metal housing. Metal is at all-time highs. And then that goes into a corrugated box that gets shipped to a customer, right? All three of those are seeing record inflation levels, primarily being driven by what we think is a spike in China recovery and demand, Mike. So I think inflation is high. I think as we enter this guidance and look at next year, we think we're balanced. Between the price, we think, we can realize from the channel and where we are on the inflation pressures, as we head into the next year. If we need to do more, I think there's an opportunity to do so because I think the inflation that's hitting us will also impact the whole entire industry. Bob, I don't know if you want to add anything.

Bob P. Fishman -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer

I'd just add that price was challenged. In -- in Q3 and Q4, we did see higher rebates that missed -- that masked some of that price gains. And the planning assumptions for the year are that price and productivity offset inflation. And then to John's point, as circumstances change, we'll need to work on the different levers that are at our disposal.

Mike Halloran -- Baird -- Analyst

That -- That makes a lot of sense. And then maybe just talk a little bit about the supply chain on the pool side. How are you thinking about visibility as we go into the front part of the year, backlog levels, channel fill, things like that? And any reason to think that, weather aside, that a normal sequential pattern isn't a reasonable thought process moving through the year?

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

No. I mean, I think you're thinking about it the right way. I think we've got our supply chain and our, our plant capacity to a level now where we're shipping at rates that are helping us catch up in a more rapid pace. And clearly, the demand remains strong, but we're able to meet that demand. And I think right now, depending any other COVID disruptions, which we're hopeful we're getting through most of those, we feel good that your assumptions are accurate, Mike.

Mike Halloran -- Baird -- Analyst

That's -- thanks, guys. I appreciate it.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Andy Kaplowitz with Citigroup.Go ahead please. Your line is open.

Andy Kaplowitz -- Citigroup -- Analyst

Hey. Good morning, guys.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Good morning.

Bob P. Fishman -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer

Good morning.

Andy Kaplowitz -- Citigroup -- Analyst

John, Bob, you've obviously -- you talked about the significant leadership change at the company. We know you've got a plan to get G&A out. As you think about '21, maybe sort of talk about what's in the guidance? And it's interesting, you talked about maybe getting out of several product lines in C&I and industrial filtration. So how much could sort of the proactivity in the self-help help you in terms of your margin in '21?

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. So Andy, I don't think we've made any decisions to exit any parts of our portfolio. I think we've got certainly areas of the portfolio that could do better. But when I step back and we looked at the G&A transformation, I believe it's more than a G&A transformation. I think what we learned from 2020, the way we sell globally, the way we interact with our customers, a lot of the virtual capability that was brought in and how we worked with our channel partners, the demand to have a more consumer enabled and have that be an effortless process through ordering on the Internet, that's a shift. And we think we have an opportunity to take a look at our global cost structure and to think about where we should put the work and where is the right person doing the right work at. And there's an opportunity across the portfolio to drive significant margin expansion for that. Same in operations and sourcing. I mean, we have factories that are at record capacity levels, and we have other factories that are under capacitized right now. So all of that is in what we're labeling as transformation plan. In 2021, I think it's more planning, you know, the, the efforts to get after it. And then I think we're confident in '22 and beyond, we start to utilize the benefits of all those efforts.

Andy Kaplowitz -- Citigroup -- Analyst

And then I think you mentioned some improvement in orders within industrial filtration and a turn in backlog. So have you seen, in general, your customers start to revisit their budgets? You talked about still tough environment in capital spending, but maybe is that starting to turn? You mentioned China a couple of quarters in a row, a little bit better there. So in general, what are you seeing in some of those capex businesses?

Bob P. Fishman -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer

Yes. So what -- what we saw in 2020 for many of those businesses was down double digits. And so the good news, as we look into the 2021 plan is those businesses were planning to be roughly flat. So stabilization for those businesses, some growing backlog in certain cases and some signs of increased demand. So I would consider 2021 as being a stabilization year and potentially some upside if things improve.

Andy Kaplowitz -- Citigroup -- Analyst

Thanks, guys.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Steve Tusa with JPMorgan. Go ahead please. Your line is open.

Steve Tusa -- JPMorgan -- Analyst

Hey, guys. Good morning.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Hey, Steve.

Bob P. Fishman -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer

How are you doing? Hi, Steve.

Steve Tusa -- JPMorgan -- Analyst

I'm good. So you -- throughout 2018, I mean, I'm not, not sure that was like that memorable of a year for your stock. And I think that there was some difference in the timing of seeing that inflation, if I recall. I mean, you guys got, I think, like a point of price back then. But then in '19, you obviously got a lot more price. And I think the realization of the inflation kind of hit you mid-season in 2018. So maybe just talk about like the differences in timing between now and 2018? Because this seems to be kind of like a slow-moving train that you can see from a mile away and perhaps react to it. And then what are you assuming for price? Are you assuming a point? Are you assuming 1.5 points? Like what exactly is the kind of price assumption in, in the numbers?

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. So first of all, Steve, thank you for letting me clarify them out, looking for 2018 stock performance efforts. But if you recall, in 2018, we started to experience the significant tariffs that were put into place. And we made some decisions there to wait it out and to go on cycle with a lot of our price increases. In retrospect, I think we learned that, that might have not been the right playbook to use. What I was referring to is that the '18 levels of inflation feel like that. And I do think we're out in front of the price increases because it was a slow-moving train. But I'm also saying that if we need to do more, we would do more, Steve, because I don't think we want to take that position again that we did throughout the 2018, which may just like catch up all year long, if you recall.

Steve Tusa -- JPMorgan -- Analyst

Right. And so what is the price assumption?

Bob P. Fishman -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer

And so for the question, again, the price and productivity offsetting inflation, the assumption were for prices back to historical levels of around two points.

Steve Tusa -- JPMorgan -- Analyst

Two points. Okay. Got it. I mean, in 2019, you guys got, I think, like 2.5% of price. So I mean this is not -- that level is not -- certainly not unprecedented in an inflationary time. Am I correct or not?

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

It's more normalized. And I think when you look at '18, '19 together, it felt more normalized, but it was very disruptive from a timing perspective, as you mentioned.

Steve Tusa -- JPMorgan -- Analyst

Yes. Okay. That makes a lot of sense. And then just lastly, on this variable speed transition. How are you embedding that in guidance? And what are you assuming for -- just remind us of kind of like what the profile is on that as every point of that conversion goes to variable speed, kind of what that does from a revenue per unit and margin perspective?

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. So I mean, think about it as maybe 1.5 times the product price or sales price, Steve, when we sell a variable speed versus when we sell a single speed. And not that the margin is any better, but the margin dollars are much better. I think it's a slower conversion. I think we've made progress, picked up about five points in the last couple of quarters. And as we mentioned, moving from 60% to 85%, I think more of that is toward the tail end of 2021 and into 2022 as the channel reacts and begins to buy that for us. But I do think that's out there as a nice transition that will benefit us. And it's energy efficiency, too. And so these are better pumps, they last longer, and I think it's better value for all the customers that buy them.

Steve Tusa -- JPMorgan -- Analyst

One, one last question for you just on, just on balance sheet. You guys are now at 1.3 times. You've clearly -- you're generating very strong free cash flow in a downturn, like kind of eye-poppingly strong there. So clearly, you can kind of defend yourselves when volumes go down and when you have a volatile environment. Another residential name like Lennox is trading at a substantial premium to you guys. They have bought back. Basically 30% of their earnings growth in the last five years has been driven by buyback, and they do it in kind of a programmatic way. Why -- with this kind of free cash flow yield and with your balance sheet, you could buy back 20% of the float programmatically over the next two to three years. Why not be more aggressive on the buyback side? I mean what are you waiting for to come along on acquisitions to not at least be more aggressive and programmatic about the buyback given how cheap your stock is?

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Well, I think we certainly have options, Steve. And I think we're going to look at all those options to create the best return. Right now, I think we are actively looking in the three areas I said within the M&A side, but those M&A deals are going to have, to have the right returns to be able to lean into them. And if we feel the stock is a better purchase, we'll make the deal on the stock. So I think we've got flexibility, and we're going to continue to maintain that flexibility. And I feel confident we're going to choose the right one that adds most value over time.

Bob P. Fishman -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer

At this point, we have $150 million of share buyback built into the forecast, and so our typical starting point for the year. And then to continue to be opportunistic based on the circumstances.

Steve Tusa -- JPMorgan -- Analyst

Great. All right. Thanks a lot, guys. I appreciate it.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Steve.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Joe Giordano with Cowen. Go ahead please. Your line is open.

Joe Giordano -- Cowen -- Analyst

Hey, guys. Good morning.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Good morning.

Bob P. Fishman -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer

Good morning.

Joe Giordano -- Cowen -- Analyst

We kind of touched around this a lot with the transition to variable speed. But how do you think about like the cadence of the year? Do you -- is there maybe more of like a pre-buy than seasonal? Is there more like activity in the 2Q than like -- than seasonal because of like a pre-buy ahead of a regulatory change? And does 3Q kind of see the offset to that? Is there maybe a little bit of like a shift in the order patterns this year?

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. Q2 and Q3 would be the heat of the pool season for our customers. And yes, we would expect to make significant progress during that time frame. I'm just cautioning, even though there's regulations that go in mid-season, I just don't think we're going to go all the way to the end point this year. And I think it's going to be opportunities for people to work through existing inventory supplies and work through the channel. We're spending all of our marketing efforts, helping people convince that -- trying to convince the end consumer that now is the time to buy the better product. And so I think we're going to make progress, as you said, in the pool season. And I think the tail of that will fall into next year's pool season.

Bob P. Fishman -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer

I -- I'd say the good news from my perspective is, you know, built into our guidance of up 3% to 5% is a pool business that's growing roughly mid-single-digit-plus after a year where pool saw 17% growth. So the natural demand continues. Could it be better? Potentially. But not a bad place to be after seeing such significant growth in 2020.

Joe Giordano -- Cowen -- Analyst

Yes. Certainly not. And Bob, just on the tax rate, if we move into an environment where the U.S., U.S. tax law changes, how protected are you given your domicile? How protected do you think the overall rate is?

Bob P. Fishman -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer

We would -- We would see a little bit of headwind in that situation, but significantly less than our competitors would see. So overall, we like our tax profile.

Joe Giordano -- Cowen -- Analyst

Perfect. And then last for me. Just, John, you talked about sustainable gas a lot over the last couple of quarters that's something you're focused on. Can you scope that out a little bit, like what exactly are you selling into that market? How large is the business for you now? And where you think that can go?

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. So real quickly, we benefit from significant demand in Europe because Europe has really leaned into the environmental impact a lot stronger than we have in the United States. And most of our customers are in the beverage industries or the processing industries. And there's an opportunity to capture the off gases and turn them back into either energy, which produces value for them or to throwing them back into the process in the form of food-grade CO2. So it's a business that has substantial legs to it. What we're starting to see is an environmental movement globally. And certainly, our current administration is leaning in to try to do things that are going to help our greenhouse gases over time. So we see an opportunity outside of Europe now, and we want to make sure we've got the sales force, the engineering capability and move more to a standard product offering that's more of a plug-and-play with global partners that can help promote what we do. So we're very encouraged by the order trends and the projects that we've received outside of the traditional spaces. And that gives us excitement that with just a little bit more investment, we can certainly accelerate the outcomes.

Joe Giordano -- Cowen -- Analyst

How big is that business now for you?

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Roughly $90 million in total.

Joe Giordano -- Cowen -- Analyst

Great. Thanks, guys.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you.

Bob P. Fishman -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Deane Dray with RBC Capital Markets. Go ahead please. Your line is open.

Deane Dray -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst

Thank you. Good morning, everyone.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Good morning. Hi, Deane.

Deane Dray -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst

Hey. Can we get an update on the launch of the Home and Dealer apps for pool? You know, any color in terms of how many users, the level of engagement, are you seeing online ordering? Any updates would be appreciated.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. I appreciate that, Deane. There's soft launches on both, and we moved to more hard launches here as we head into Q2. So the experience rate has been good without giving the actual quantification numbers. And really, what you need is the app, and then you need some smart products to connect to it, which is why we're spending time promoting the salt sensor and also the Easy Flow under sink application, as well as other POU units that we expect come from the Rocean acquisition, combined with our technology team. So the app is designed to do two things. It's to provide a better consumer experience, to be able to understand salt sensor levels retroactively on installed base. The new valve connects to it on pre-installs. And then it also gives you an understanding of what's coming through your water and your flow rates and your -- you need to change your filters. But the more exciting aspect is connecting with dealers. So when a, an end consumer needs a service on any product they have or they're interested in learning more, we would have our dealers in that app as well and be able to connect the consumer with the dealer to help curate the experience for the individual. So very excited about the early stages of that, and its connection to Alexa, connection to Google Home, connection to Apple Home, all those other features. And so we're very excited, Deane.

Deane Dray -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst

Great to hear. So we'll be watching that for the full launch. And then second question is, could you provide some more color on that growth you're seeing in China? You said the second quarter of growth. How does that look for the commercial side versus the residential side?

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. So candidly, residential is up more significantly. I mean commercial is back in China, but they're still experiencing a little lesser demand on the openings of restaurants and stores as people are still cautious about the pandemic. So they're back and they're open, and it's growing. But it's not growing at the same rate that the residential water filtration is growing at this stage, Deane.

Deane Dray -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst

Got it. And then just the last one for me. Can you comment on the product lines that you exited in commercial. Just any color there, especially on the -- if you could size it.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. These are really small products...

Bob P. Fishman -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer

Yes, those were small product lines. And just an example of us reducing complexity and driving cost out, but again, small product lines in terms of the C&I portfolio.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

SKU reductions more than anything, Deane.

Deane Dray -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst

That's good to hear. I appreciate that. I mean it's-it's walking away from unprofitable businesses. It's always the right decision. So I like seeing that. Thanks.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Saree Boroditsky with Jefferies. Go ahead please. Your line is open.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Hello.

Saree Boroditsky -- Jefferies -- Analyst

Thanks for taking my question. Could you update us on what you're seeing on the foodservice side? And should you start to see that improve as more restaurants open and need to change their cartridges?

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. So I'll take the first part, and Bob will give you the second. Yes, we saw a steep decline, significant double-digit decline in Q2 when the pandemic hit. And we've seen a modest recovery off of that deep decline into Q3 and in Q4. We're sort of in that flattish range now. And that basically has restaurants open at roughly half capacity or quarter capacity depending on where they're living. The piece that we have not yet seen the recovery on is really the hospitality side of the hotel industry. And we're expecting that, as we said in our prepared comments, probably to the tail end of 2021. That would be a really big help to that business. The, obviously, replacement of cartridges are continuing, probably at a slower rate because the usage is slightly slower. And our portfolio is skewed more to some of the faster service and to the drive-through coffee shops. So we do get a little bit better than the overall restaurant average.

Saree Boroditsky -- Jefferies -- Analyst

Then you talked about opportunities to lower G&A spending by, I think, 150 to 200 basis points over time. Could you talk through any improvements you're looking for in 2021? And then what's driving that improvement?

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. We're going to get a little bit of leverage in 2021. That's about it, keeping the existing cost base and growing on top of it. What we're really looking to do is, how do we think of our centers of excellence and where do they best serve the business unit, the segment and the enterprise. Within that construct, how do we get the best resources, the point of impact. And that's globally, right? I mean we've all learned that some of our people are now able to work virtually or work from home, and we don't need all of the necessary facilities we have. But at the same time, we want to create workspaces and collaboration centers for our businesses to work with customers and work with dealers on. So this is going to be a fairly sizable transformation. I think in 2021, as I said, not expecting a lot other than the planning elements of this. And then we expect significant contributions in 2022 and beyond, beyond G&A even as the sales and marketing resources also get more effective and efficient.

Bob P. Fishman -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer

Yes. And I would just add, we're really rallying around that theme of right work in the right place and, to John's point, where should that work be done, closest to the customer at the product line? Is it at the business unit level, the segment or the enterprise? And then what is that work? So if I pick my own area of FP&A as an example, I have big businesses like pool that probably drive their own kind of FP&A piece. But then I have other businesses that would benefit from an efficiency and effectiveness perspective of having a shared approach or a center of excellence approach. That goes to data analytics as well. So those are the types of things that we're thinking through.

Saree Boroditsky -- Jefferies -- Analyst

Great. Congratulations on the quarter and thanks for taking my question.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Julian Mitchell with Barclays. Go ahead please. Your line is open.

Julian Mitchell -- Barclays -- Analyst

Hi. Good morning. Maybe just a first question on the assumptions in the guidance for the pool business. Some of the consumer facing businesses we cover are guiding for double-digit declines in the second half. Heard your guidance of up mid-single for the year for pool, but maybe help us understand first half versus second half dynamics?

Bob P. Fishman -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer

Yes. That's -- I'll take that one. And then, John, if you want to add. It was important for us to specify -- mid-single-digit-plus is our guidance for the pool business embedded in our overall guidance. We continue to see strong momentum as we enter the first quarter, but good natural demand. So as the year plays out, we expect, obviously, stronger growth as we have weaker compares in the first half, but still a strong business in the back half as we bump up against those bigger compares. So overall, I think we're optimistic about the growth in the pool business, and that will certainly help free cash flow as well.

Julian Mitchell -- Barclays -- Analyst

But are you assuming the pool business is, is up or flat or down in the second half year-on-year?

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Right now, we would say that we're at high historic levels, but generally flattish to modestly down in Q3 and Q4. What -- that's at the mid single-digit level. If we get that mid-single-digit-plus, we would expect that we could be producing modest growth in the back half of the year. I think the more important piece that we want to make sure we convey is our quarters last year represented a softer Q2, as the orders came through the distribution channel, we were not yet producing those. So we had pretty sizable Q3 and Q4 as we're catching up. And this year, if you think about the demand and the way we're meeting it in Q1 and Q2, we'll have stronger year-over-year comparisons there. As we assess where the market is going, as we start to think beyond this pool year into next pool year, we'll have a better understanding as we exit Q2, what the back half of the year looks like.

Julian Mitchell -- Barclays -- Analyst

Thank you. And then my follow-up would just be around the segment margin assumptions. So it looks like segment margins maybe are up a few tens of basis points this year. Maybe just help clarify that? And then also, again, how do we think about the first half versus second half in terms of the margin expansion potential? I understand the volume leverage is a bigger tailwind in the first half than in the second half because of the comp. But maybe give us any color around that inflation headwind and how that's falling first half versus second half?

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. Julian, I promise the first part of my answer here is not a filibuster, but I want to make sure we describe that one of the reasons we're setting up these three strategic growth investments, two are in Consumer Solutions and one is in IFT is we're going to disproportionately fund those with investments to drive the future. What we're going to do a better job on and sharing with you as we go forward is the value of the core, meaning, take a look at the core performance absent those incremental investments. We're getting the drop through, as you would expect. We're getting the price and productivity offset inflation, the volumes coming through at a nice -- a nice flow through rate. And then we're taking the opportunity to build out a services organization in residential, in Consumer Solutions, build out the front end capability and pool. And then also make sure we put the investment ahead of the likely growth opportunities in SGS. And there's pretty substantial investment there in those three things, which draw down those margins for both of those two segments. Absent that, I think, we're pretty balanced and more normal year. And so we'll do a better job highlighting throughout 2021 how we're doing in the quarter and then how these investments are starting to roll through. [speech overlap] I missed the rest of the question. Was there a second part to the question?

Julian Mitchell -- Barclays -- Analyst

I guess it was really around that, is the margin expansion sort of steady through the year? Or do we see a bigger first half increase because of volume leverage and then the second half sort of rolls over because of the top line comp and more inflation coming in and it was really around...

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes, yes, you're right. It's more in the first half and it's lesser contribution in the second half because of the -- not so much the inflation but the investments...

Julian Mitchell -- Barclays -- Analyst

Great.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

And the comps.

Julian Mitchell -- Barclays -- Analyst

Thank you.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yup. Thanks.

Julian Mitchell -- Barclays -- Analyst

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Jeff Hammond with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Go ahead please. Your line is open.

Jeff Hammond -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst

Hey. Good morning, guys.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Hey. Good morning.

Jeff Hammond -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst

I think you mentioned the supply chain stabilizing from your standpoint in pools. Can you just talk about where you see inventory levels in the channel? Is there still a need for destock -- or restock, sorry?

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. We're catching up, and yes.

Jeff Hammond -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst

Okay. And then just on the first quarter guidance, can you maybe give us a little more color about how you're thinking in either of the segments or some of the businesses that are driving that higher growth rate?

Bob P. Fishman -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer

The guidance we gave was that 7% to 12%. And so again, think of Consumer Solutions with pool driving significant growth in Q1 and think of the EIFT business has been roughly flat in those numbers.

Jeff Hammond -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst

Okay. Thank you.

Bob P. Fishman -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Nathan Jones with Stifel. Go ahead please. Your line is open.

Nathan Jones -- Stifel -- Analyst

Good morning, everyone.

Bob P. Fishman -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer

Good morning.

Nathan Jones -- Stifel -- Analyst

I'm going to follow-up here on some of the strategic investments that you're talking about that you're starting to make, I guess, ramping up in the second half. Can you give us any color on kind of what the incremental level of increased investment is in 2021? And how you're planning for that to, I don't know, whether it increases in 2022 or 2023? Are we continuing to ramp up the level of investment? When do you think we kind of will hit a plateau and maybe that becomes less of a drag on the margin increases?

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes, I'll start with the investments that we see 2021 to 2020, that we want to make. It's more than a point of overall Pentair revenue, kind of frame that out a little bit, Nathan. This is uniquely different capability than we have today. This is about building out a water treatment brand that people recognize that they can come in and work with Pentair to help curate their water experience. This is about customer experience, capability, more consumer related, so that we can quickly get consumers the dealer help and/or the technical support that they need to fix their particular challenges. So it's capability, we don't have today. It's capability, we think, will add a lot of value. And also, it's about putting more trucks on the road as far as the services in residential. The paybacks are enormous when I or our perspective over two year intercores but the breakeven point is roughly a year when you put the sales team in place and you put the dealers in a geography, and you wait for the return on the accrual of the annuity base there. So that's the type of investment we're making. And we paced it a little bit more in 2020 than we would have liked. And we really want to accelerate it if we can here in 2021. And so it can be modulated, but that's an example of what it is and the likely levels of it.

Bob P. Fishman -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer

And for all of these investments, we're building strong business cases and return on investments, holding the teams accountable because it's a significant investment for us, and we want to make sure we get the type of numbers John just talked about in terms of return.

Nathan Jones -- Stifel -- Analyst

And if you don't need to modulate those investments, we get back to kind of a more normal business environment through 2021. Would you anticipate ramping those investments up again in 2022? Or are you kind of going to be at a level that you need to be at for strategic investments?

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

I think we would think that, that would be a new normal level with maybe slightly more, Nathan, but what we would then start to see is the benefit of what we think the Pentair transformation efforts would be as far as ROS expansion. That would fund that and maybe give us a little more ROS drop through.

Nathan Jones -- Stifel -- Analyst

That's a great call. Thank you very much.

Bob P. Fishman -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer

Big picture from my perspective is that even with those strategic investments, our view is that with the Pentair transformation, return on sales expansion will be significant by 2024.

Nathan Jones -- Stifel -- Analyst

Yes. That all makes sense.Thanks very much.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Rob Wertheimer with Melius Research. Go ahead please. Your line is open.

Rob Wertheimer -- Melius Research -- Analyst

Hey. Good morning. And thanks for the clarity. This is a minor one...

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Hey, Rob. Thanks for the book, by the way. I'm mostly through it. So thank you.

Rob Wertheimer -- Melius Research -- Analyst

Excellent. Excellent. Hope you like it. So just to help me, I guess, maybe perhaps a little bit newer, but with the pricing dynamic in pool and the rebates, you obviously had very strong sales, and I understand that sort of generates higher rebates. How does that sort of reset next year? If we continue to have strong sales, do you retain more of the pricing, the rebate levels stay similar? Maybe just explain that dynamic? And I'm all set. Thank you.

Bob P. Fishman -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer

Yes. I think most simply, the rebate structure resets off that higher base. So it's goodness for the P&L in 2021.

Rob Wertheimer -- Melius Research -- Analyst

Okay. Perfect. Perfect. The environment is obviously is pretty strong. I mean you have Stanley Black & Decker report, and this is what's mentioned, which I think is true, you can't get a contractor to do any kind of homework. I mean, how far out is your visibility, do you think, on consumer demand heading into the summer? I know a lot of folks couldn't get stuff done at 102 last summer. And I'll stop there. Thanks.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. We have strong confidence through what I'd call this pool season, Rob. And the real question mark, which we'll get through as we get more into the summer is how does that lead into the next pool season? We start to see that at the end of Q2 into Q3 for the next buying season. And that's, as Bob was talking mid-single-digit digits plus, the plus is that we actually see upside in the '22 pool season versus the 2021, which all indications are that, that demand is likely to continue, which is not ready to say that yet, Rob.

Rob Wertheimer -- Melius Research -- Analyst

Okay. Thank you.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Also, I want to be in a chapter in your book on a positive side in the next version and edition. So I'm going to work hard at that. So thank you.

Rob Wertheimer -- Melius Research -- Analyst

Yes. There's a lot on it's way which is off...

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Bryan Blair with Oppenheimer. Go ahead please. Your line is open.

Bryan Blair -- Oppenheimer -- Analyst

Thanks. Good morning, everyone.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Good morning.

Bob P. Fishman -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer

Good morning.

Bryan Blair -- Oppenheimer -- Analyst

I know we're late in Q&A. I'll just ask one. I was hoping you could update us a little more on total water management and how that's influencing your commercial trends and stabilization? It's good to see you there. You're clearly outperforming the market. I know that's early stage, but is that initiative significantly accelerating into 2021? And could that be more needle-moving as we look to the back half and into '22?

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. So let me explain quickly what it is. I mean, in the commercial office water space, many of the units that people buy and purchase are actually leased or rented to the maintenance groups that install them. So they're monthly contract services. Since we deal on the foodservice side with larger restaurateurs or franchises or chains, the more profitable ones just purchase the product from us and then do the replacement cartridges as they go along. But there's a huge opportunity to attack the smaller restaurants or the smaller franchises with more of the leasing model. And that's what that is about. And yes, the uptick in the early going is a really nice proof-of-concept that shows that, that is a business model that people are interested in. And it has good returns for us, and it's a good foray into having the right equipment for the restaurant. So we're encouraged. Obviously, we had to do that during a COVID year, but made good progress last year, and we expect to continue to expand that as we go forward.

Bryan Blair -- Oppenheimer -- Analyst

Good to hear. Thanks again.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Scott Graham with Rosenblatt Securities. Go ahead please. Your line is open.

Scott Graham -- Rosenblatt Securities -- Analyst

Hey. Good morning. Nice quarter.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Scott. Appreciate it.

Scott Graham -- Rosenblatt Securities -- Analyst

I do have a question. I'd like to go back and revisit the prepared comments on the G&A, where I wasn't quite sure what you're meaning, John, in the G&A because I thought last quarter, we were talking about, with the new management team in place, there's been identification of G&A reduction opportunities of 150 to 250 -- to 200 basis points per year the next three years. Are we on track for that this year?

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. I mean, to get the -- not all of that savings, but we're on track for the longer-term savings for G&A, absolutely. So I want to complement my leaders who lead G&A. But as we started to work through this and COVID started to emerge, we're realizing some efficiencies we thought we could bring to the sales and marketing and the operations side as well. So I maybe slowed the process down, maybe 30 to 60 days, Scott, to make it a more enterprisewide look at what we need to do to support the segments more thoughtfully and drive a higher level of return. Because there's a demand for the newer types of technologies and more digital transformation needs we do -- we have to do to serve our customer. And I wanted to make sure we weren't putting more of the old legacy costs in. At the same time we're going to add the new cost. And I think that shift is going to drive significant transformation opportunity for Pentair. Bob, Do you want to add?

Bob P. Fishman -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer

Yes, I would just add that as a significant owner of a big piece of the G&A, we are definitely on track in terms of the numbers that you mentioned, and we will see improvement here in 2021.

Scott Graham -- Rosenblatt Securities -- Analyst

Thank you. That's very clear. The other question I had is about pools, the new pool build market. In particular, John, just hoping you could -- based on what you're hearing from your distributors, anything that you're hearing from the contractors about, what new pool builds look like this year?

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

They're up. The pool permit data we have is partial for the states that we work in. But they're -- they're up anywhere from 20% to 25% in a lot of those markets and regions. So that's strong -- I mean, that's encouraging. And as you know, that's not the biggest part of our business. The biggest one is the aftermarket. But when you're putting your new pools in, you're getting new pool pad and you're filling out that pool pad, it leads to further equipment in the aftermarket space down the road. So all encouraging data right now, Scott.

Scott Graham -- Rosenblatt Securities -- Analyst

John, to that end, if I may just tack this on to that because I know that you're trying to look beyond your distribution channel and kind of like right to who is doing the installing. Do some of the work that you're doing in data analytics, are you finding ways strategically to get more content on the pad with the new pools? What are you doing there?

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. So I mean, just -- we believe our pool channel is the right channel, and these are professionals that we've worked with for many, many years. We want to continue to work through them and with them. But when we sell into the channel, we don't know where the end product went unless it's an automated product that someone downloads an app, which we said is only about 15% of consumers today. So what we also know is that consumers out there are just trying to get something repaired or replaced. And right now, what's happening is these contractors or these dealers are really busy. So they're not always able to get to them. And so when I talk about getting more through the consumer; A, it's helping them understand what they should be specing into their pool pad, as you mentioned; but B, if they just need some service, how about you can call Pentair and we can get you a service technician out. And it will be through our channel because we want to continue to honor it, but we want to make sure that you're getting served within the time frame that you need it to be. That's what we're really talking about. And I'm really excited about that, Scott.

Scott Graham -- Rosenblatt Securities -- Analyst

John, thanks a lot.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you.

Operator

And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the Q&A portion of today's call. I'd like to turn the call back over to John.

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, James, and thank you for joining us today. We continue to believe that Pentair has a strong foundation and a portfolio of businesses to build upon. We have a strong purpose, mission and vision focused on delivering smart, sustainable solutions that empower our customers to make the most of life's essential resources. We believe that we are in attractive spaces that are expanding. We are a leader in the pool industry, and our global water treatment business is helping us become an even more integral player to the global residential and commercial segments. We believe we have the right enterprise strategy, businesses, talent and culture. From our win right values to our Pentair integrated management system and through our win strategies, we are enabling all of our employees to continuously improve. Finally, we continue to prioritize providing superior customer experiences and delivering more predictable and consistent results. Thank you for your continued interest. James, you can conclude the call.

Operator

[Operator Closing Remarks]

Duration: 63 minutes

Call participants:

Jim Lucas -- Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Treasurer

John L. Stauch -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Bob P. Fishman -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer

Mike Halloran -- Baird -- Analyst

Andy Kaplowitz -- Citigroup -- Analyst

Steve Tusa -- JPMorgan -- Analyst

Joe Giordano -- Cowen -- Analyst

Deane Dray -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst

Saree Boroditsky -- Jefferies -- Analyst

Julian Mitchell -- Barclays -- Analyst

Jeff Hammond -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst

Nathan Jones -- Stifel -- Analyst

Rob Wertheimer -- Melius Research -- Analyst

Bryan Blair -- Oppenheimer -- Analyst

Scott Graham -- Rosenblatt Securities -- Analyst

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