U.S. Multi-Industry
Global Industrial Learnings from
Earnings (Part 2): US questions; Auto,
Electronics still weak; DC divide
We summarize our takeaways from the halfway stage of Q1 global industrial
earnings. We also provide updated thoughts/estimates on NVT (EW) and ROP (EW):
How are we still talking about Auto and Electronics… We are a little surprised that 14
months since our initiation, and 12 months since Auto and Electronics weakness
emerged (Auto and Electronics Red flags raised; April 26, 2018), these Short Cycle
verticals are still surprising investors (albeit after a good share price run-up into
earnings), and companies, to the downside (per MMM and ROK) in terms of Opex and
Capex. Given this weakness, sales growth in General Industrial Products (though Atlas
Copco somehow remained largely immune) and Factory Automation (particularly for
Japanese suppliers - Omron expects the Auto & Electronics weakness to persist in FY19,
while Fanuc is guiding for a 15.5% sales decline) slowed by 300-500bps in Q1.
…And weakness (almost) nowhere else? Many companies have cited de-stocking in
recent months (see inside), as we had expected, given the Q4 pre-buy. We have not
really seen a broader weakness in underlying customer spending arising from Auto /
Electronics issues, such as we saw alongside the O&G softness (which dragged many
other markets down) in 2015. Markets where sales growth has been a little softer in Q1
include HVAC, Water (weighed by PNR), and Healthcare.
More US questions: One of the surprises in recent days has been that median growth in
N America has slowed from 6-7%, to 5% in Q1, partly due to de-stocking.
Long Cycle strong, softer Short Cycle: Long Cycle growth has remained very strong in
Q1 (+10%), per Aerospace (Safran) and Warehouse Automation (Kion). Short Cycle
Consumer / SC Industrial growth has slowed by 500bps / 300bps since Q4.
Datacenter dichotomy: For >6 months, there has been a dichotomy between the
bullish tone from Industrial companies on datacenters, and the tone of the IT pure
plays. Intel under-scored the latter, warning that it now expects its DCG sales to be
down mid-single digit (citing China, inventory, capacity absorption, tough ‘comps’).
Trends through Q1; further slowing into Q2 likely: With ~50% of US and Global MI
companies having reported, overall organic growth has slowed by ~200bps since Q4
(as expected). Most companies claim that trends improved in March / April, relative to
early on in Q1. However, we now estimate slightly lower US MI growth in Q2 (+3%)
than in Q119 (+4.5-5%), as we do not expect most companies which grew at a high-
single digit rate in Q1 to sustain that growth.
Reactions: So far, a necessary (and sufficient) condition of a MI stock outperforming
has been a ‘beat and raise’ (without this, most have underperformed), except where ST
positioning was very skewed (ALLE); this is very different from Q4 earnings season.
For full US MI stock implications please see page 3. Inside, our Vendor Data shows
comparisons of the growth rates for global industrial businesses within different
industries, so one can compare results with peers that have yet to report earnings.