Xylem Q3 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
October 28, 2025

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Raised full-year guidance: after a strong quarter Xylem now targets roughly $9.0B revenue (5–6% growth), EBITDA margin 22–22.3% and EPS $5.03–$5.08, supported by a record quarterly EBITDA margin north of 23% and 23% EPS growth in Q3.
  • Positive Sentiment: Operational simplification and the 80/20 program (plus an operating‑model restructure) are accelerating margin expansion, faster decision‑making, and improved on‑time performance, with management saying benefits are coming through ahead of plan.
  • Positive Sentiment: Measurement & Control Solutions strength: orders rose 11% with a $1.5B backlog, and Xylem agreed to sell its international metering business for $125M (early 2026 close), which management expects will add ~100 bps to MCS run‑rate margin.
  • Negative Sentiment: Headwinds from tariffs and China: updated annualized tariff impact is roughly $180M (management expects to mostly offset via pricing/supply levers but with slight margin dilution), while China weakness (~2% revenue/headwind) and related restructuring (significant workforce reductions) are weighing on near‑term growth and free cash flow.
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Earnings Conference Call
Xylem Q3 2025
00:00 / 00:00

Transcript Sections

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Operator

Welcome to Xylem's third quarter 2025 results conference call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. Please note that this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Keith Buettner, Vice President of Investor Relations and FP&A. Please go ahead, sir.

Keith Buettner
Keith Buettner
VP of Investor Relations and FP&A at Xylem

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Xylem's third quarter 2025 earnings call. With me today are Chief Executive Officer Matthew Pine and Chief Financial Officer Bill Grogan. They will provide their perspective on Xylem's third quarter results and discuss the fourth quarter and full year 2025 outlook. Following our prepared remarks, we will address questions related to the information covered on the call. I'll ask that you please keep to one question and a follow-up and then return to the queue. As a reminder, this call and our webcast are accompanied by a slide presentation available in the Investors section of our website. A replay of today's call will be available until midnight, November 11, and will be available for playback via the Investors section of our website under the heading Investor Events. Please turn to slide two.

Keith Buettner
Keith Buettner
VP of Investor Relations and FP&A at Xylem

We will make some forward-looking statements on today's call, including references to future events or developments that we anticipate will or may occur in the future. These statements are subject to future risks and uncertainties, such as those factors described in Xylem's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and in subsequent reports filed with the SEC. Please note the company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements publicly to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, and actual events or results could differ materially from those anticipated. Please turn to slide three. We have provided you with a summary of key performance metrics, including both GAAP and non-GAAP metrics. For the purposes of today's call, all references will be on an organic and/or adjusted basis unless otherwise indicated, and non-GAAP financials have been reconciled for you and are included in the appendix section of the presentation.

Keith Buettner
Keith Buettner
VP of Investor Relations and FP&A at Xylem

Now, please turn to slide four, and I will turn the call over to our CEO, Matthew Pine.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

Thank you, Keith. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I'm pleased to share that the team delivered another great quarter. Continue our momentum with disciplined execution, driving strong results across the business. Revenue grew in all segments in most end markets with double-digit growth in Measurement and Control Solutions and Water Solutions and Services. We also achieved record quarterly EBITDA margin north of 23%, expanding 200 basis points year-over-year, and delivering 23% EPS growth. It's a great performance by the team, supported by healthy demand. While orders were down slightly against tough comps, we saw notable growth in Measurement and Control Solutions with strong performance across smart metering, underscoring the differentiation of our core portfolio. We continue to see strong demand for our mission-critical solutions across all segments.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

These results reflect the impact of our commercial and operational momentum, as well as the benefits of our ongoing simplification efforts. Our 80/20 implementations continue to drive margin improvement and focus our resources on the highest value opportunities. We're also moving even faster than anticipated, especially with the restructuring component of our operating model transformation. These changes we've made to culture, processes, and structure are enabling faster decisions, clearer accountability, and better service. The team's impact on increasing quality of our customer experience is a great example. We began setting new Xylem benchmarks for on-time performance. That serves to strengthen our customer relationships and reinforce our reputation for reliability. Solid execution is deepening trust with our customers. At the same time, it's expanding margins. They see the benefit in how we partner with them on innovation because 80/20 focuses our energy and resources on their most important challenges.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

As we've often said, 80/20 isn't a cost out tool. It's about resource allocation, helping us redeploy capacity to the areas of our portfolio and customer base where value and impact are greatest, which is aligned with our strategy of portfolio optimization and disciplined capital deployment. It's that discipline and mindset that led to divesting the international metering business, which we announced earlier this month. The sale concentrates our focus on AMI technologies in markets where we have the strongest differentiation and are best positioned for profitable growth. Turning to our outlook, given our performance in resilient market demand, we're raising our full-year guidance for revenue, margin, and EPS. Our guide reflects confidence in the team's ability to deliver our commitments, even as we manage through continuing macro uncertainty.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

We expect our momentum to continue through the end of the year and beyond, and we're solidly on track to deliver a long-term financial framework. With that, I'll turn it over to Bill to walk through the quarter's results, our financial position, and our updated outlook in more detail. Bill?

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

Thanks, Matthew. Please turn to slide five. We're very pleased with the strong quarter and year-to-date progress. Ongoing simplification efforts have improved our organizational agility and risk management effectiveness, positioning us to navigate uncertainty with confidence. We anticipate further benefits as we continue advancing our simplification initiatives through our operating model transformation and fully leverage the advantages of our 80/20 implementations. Demand across the business is healthy, and our year-to-date book-to-bill ratio remains near one. Orders were down 2% in the quarter, but against tough comps, with softness in China mostly offset by growth in the U.S. and Western Europe. Backlog remains robust, closing the quarter at approximately $5 billion. Revenue growth was strong at 7% in the quarter, ahead of our expectations, driven by outperformance in MCS and WSS.

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

North America was particularly strong in the quarter, while we grew across most regions and in markets. EBITDA margin expanded 200 basis points year-over-year, driven by productivity, pricing, and volume, more than offsetting inflation, investments, and mix. Increased operational discipline continues to come through in our results, with Q3 EPS of $1.37, up 23% versus the prior year. Year-to-date free cash flow is down modestly, primarily due to outsourced water projects and restructuring payments, mostly offset by higher net income and improved net working capital. Net debt to adjusted EBITDA stands at 0.4x, reflecting our strong balance sheet and capacity for continued investment. Let's turn to slide six. We had fantastic results across the segments, starting with Measurement and Control Solutions. Demand for our AMI solutions remains robust, as orders grew 11% organically, with strength across water and energy metering.

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

Backlog remains healthy at $1.5 billion. Revenue was also up 11%, driven by energy metering demand and backlog execution. EBITDA margin was up 60 basis points year-over-year to 21.8%, driven by productivity, price, and higher volumes, offset in part by mix and inflation. As Matthew mentioned, at the end of the quarter, we signed a definitive agreement to sell our international metering business. The business, which includes water and heat meters, generated around $250 million of revenue in full year 2024, with a consolidated adjusted EBITDA margin of less than 10%. We expect to close in early 2026 with a selling price of $125 million. This will drive a 100 basis point margin improvement in the MCS segment on a run-rate basis.

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

The divestiture will allow us to focus on the North American meter market, where we have substantial competitive differentiation with the only FCC-licensed proprietary bandwidth on our FlexNet fixed network, serving water, gas, and electric utility customers. In Water Infrastructure, demand remains strong across most regions and end markets. Book-to-bill was above one, despite orders declining by 2% against difficult comps. Significant softness in China and funding timing from the AMPAC cycle in the U.K. were the primary drivers of the decline. Revenue grew 5%, led by strong demand in transport and treatment and growth in most regions, with double-digit growth in the U.S. EBITDA margin expanded a robust 400 basis points to 24.4%, driven by productivity, price, and mix, partially offset by inflation, volume, and investments. The team continues to get significant traction with their 80/20 efforts as treatment starts to replicate the success we have realized in transport.

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

Applied Water continued its turnaround in the year, with orders growth in the quarter just edging into positive territory, making it its seventh consecutive quarter of gains. The result was driven by strength in the U.S., mostly offset by a significant slowdown in China. Revenue increased 1%, with growth in both the U.S. and Western Europe and strength in Building Solutions, again partially offset by China. EBITDA margin expanded 310 basis points to 21.7%, driven by productivity, mix, and price, partially offset by inflation, investments, and volume. Applied Water continues to gain traction from 80/20 as it accelerates both productivity and growth. In Water Solutions and Services, orders were down 11% against really tough comps, driven by timing of capital projects, though year-to-date book-to-bill remains above one. Revenue grew 10% with contributions from capital projects to watering and services.

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

EBITDA margin expanded 160 basis points to 26.3%, reflecting strong execution on price, volume, and productivity, partially offset by inflation, mix, and investments. Let's move to slide seven. We're updating our annualized tariff outlook based on the current rates, noting the fluid nature of the impacts. As of today, our updated annualized impact is roughly $180 million, with the inclusion of additional Section 232 derivative tariffs. While there remains uncertainty around final timing and tariff levels, we are confident that the pricing actions and available supply chain levers will allow us to substantially offset the current impact, though we expect a slight margin dilutive effect. We have not seen a meaningful volume impact on the business due to tariffs, but decision-making has taken a bit longer than normal given the uncertainty. Let's turn to slide eight.

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

Given our strong year-to-date performance and execution momentum, we are again raising our full-year guidance. We now expect full-year revenue of roughly $9 billion, representing 5%-6% total growth and 4%-5% organic growth. EBITDA margin is expected to be 22%-22.3%, reflecting 140-170 basis points of expansion versus prior year, up from the previous guide of 21.3%-21.8%, primarily due to an acceleration of our structuring and simplification efforts. We are further raising our EPS guide to $5.03-$5.08, up from $4.70-$4.85. Free cash flow margin expectation remains at 9%-10%. For the fourth quarter, we expect revenue of approximately $2.4 billion, with 2%-3% organic growth. As a reminder, we grew 7% in the fourth quarter of 2024. EBITDA margin is expected to be roughly 23%, and EPS is expected to be $1.37-$1.42.

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

We have a strong trajectory as we close out the fiscal year. While there continues to be macro uncertainty, particularly around tariffs and FX movements, the team is doing a great job controlling what we can control and building a systematic process to deliver results. We have confidence in our ability to meaningfully outperform our initial guidance set out in February, supported by strong demand, backlog execution, and accelerated benefits from simplification. Let's turn to slide nine, and I'll turn it back to Matthew.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

Thanks, Bill. Before we move to Q&A, I want to highlight some great work the team has done with Amazon and two of our large municipal customers on a couple of projects we announced during the quarter. They're a great example of how Xylem's leadership in digital water solutions positions us in a global economy being transformed by artificial intelligence. Together with Amazon, we're deploying Xylem's Vue Advanced Analytics in Mexico City and Monterrey, helping these cities save more than 1 L billion of water each year. This partnership is a model for how hyperscalers and communities can collaborate to ensure water security for both businesses and residents. It is a clear example of how our solutions are creating meaningful impact for customers and communities. That is only going to become more consequential as AI infrastructure expands. Attention is focused on data centers, which is understandable.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

Data centers consume a lot of water, so they present clear applications for water management and reuse solutions. AI's water footprint is much, much larger. The whole AI value chain runs on water. Alongside data center buildouts, water demand is growing across key verticals like power generation, chip fabrication, and mining for essential minerals. In examples like the work with Amazon in Mexico, we see the potential for water solutions that resolve the difficult trade-offs between economic growth and community well-being by effectively providing for both. As AI shapes a new economy, we're optimistic about the opportunity to have positive impact on both customers and on the communities that they serve, increasing water security for both. That optimism is built on both underlying macro trends and on solid foundations the team has been building, positioning Xylem for sustainable long-term growth.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

The word simplification can make it sound easy, but our strong performance over the last several quarters is a function of the team's dedication, drive, and tireless execution. Our self-help initiatives, including 80/20, portfolio optimization, and our operating model transformation, are all delivering results. If anything, we're moving a little faster than expected. Overall, we have a positive outlook for the remainder of the year. We're well on track to deliver our long-term financial framework, and we are strongly positioned to drive sustainable growth and value creation over the cycle. With that, operator, let's open the line for questions.

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your telephone keypad. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. Your first question today will come from Andy Kaplowitz with Citigroup. Please go ahead.

Andy Kaplowitz
Andy Kaplowitz
Research Analyst in Industrials at Citigroup

Good morning, everyone. Next quarter.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

Hey, good morning, Andy.

Andy Kaplowitz
Andy Kaplowitz
Research Analyst in Industrials at Citigroup

Bill, you're now expecting 140-170 basis points of EBITDA margin improvement for 2025. I think your Investor Day algorithm has been 100 basis points per year. Obviously, segments such as Water Infrastructure and Applied have had substantial 80/20 benefits so far. The obvious question becomes how much improvement is still left in the tank? Can you continue to get that 100 basis points off the higher base as you go into 2026 and beyond? Is it time to start thinking about a higher potential 2027 adjusted EBITDA margin versus your Investor Day target?

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

Great question. Just as a reminder for folks that may have not heard our Investor Day numbers, we had put out 4%-6% growth with 23% EBITDA margin by 2027. Now, excuse me, to be fair, we did finish 2024 at 20.6%, so there was 300 basis points off the 20.6%. We're guiding, to your point, 22%+ for this year ahead of schedule, so there's likely some upside to our long-term targets. Right now we're focused on delivering on 2025 commitments. Quite frankly, working to dial in 2026, there's still a lot of noise out there, macro we're trying to digest. Internally, there's a lot of good things going on that we're trying to calibrate as well. We'll have a lot more detail in February, but I would say we've made great progress. I would, Andy, call this the first phase of our journey.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

That was really around transforming our operating model, both around our culture, our processes, and our structure. This work never ends. It's always ongoing. What we're trying to do in the next phase of our journey as we move out of phase I, we've taken enough ground into phase II, is to leverage that simplification that we created to drive our growth engine in what we call phase II. Some examples of that would be enterprise account management, targeted selling, especially with our eight customers, customers we call raving fans, and to leverage what we've done in 80/20 to redeploy effort for innovation as well. Maybe the last thing I would also comment, what I would call phase III is getting after our long-term competitiveness by doubling down on some of our core franchises like North America Metrology.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

Hence, you saw the divestiture of the international business, commercial services, our transport business, where we really have strong positions. M&A that aligns to our value mapping and leveraging the strong balance sheet that we have. I would say that we have a lot left in the tank. There's more on margins, but more holistically, really just in our first phase of our journey and making good progress.

Andy Kaplowitz
Andy Kaplowitz
Research Analyst in Industrials at Citigroup

Very helpful. Matthew, you had difficult comparisons in Q3 and MCS, yet you still delivered 11% order growth. Is the strength broad-based in energy and water meters? How does that strength set Xylem up for 2026 in that segment? Does it mean good visibility toward growth in both smart energy and water meters in 2026?

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

Yeah, I mean, in MCS, overall demand is still healthy, right? Our pipeline is strong, and the fundamental growth drivers for AMI adoption are still solid. You know, we don't have a concern about funding here in the short-term. That's been raised a little bit, and we have a long way to go on AMI adoption. We're still less than 50% there. We're through the deployment calibration phase, which took almost a year, but we sit with a pretty strong backlog level at $1.5 billion, which is down versus last year, but reflecting a move towards a more normalization to historical levels, kind of after the post-supply chain surge and this project redeployment phase. We're typically around 60% of the following year's sales, and we're getting closer to that balance. This order strength in Q3, up 11%, was across both water and energy meters.

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

We have a really strong commercial funnel and continue to gain share with our largest 4,400 municipalities that account for about 80% of the AMI market. Q4, we've talked about all year, we think we're going to be back to a book-to-bill positive. As we see some of the water meter project wins convert to orders, our energy funnel still remains robust. Q4 is shaping up really well. We're expected to be up double digits on the water side, making our water growth in the back half kind of mid-single digits. MCS sales will be up sequentially too from the third quarter to the fourth quarter. The outlook for 2026 remains in our long-term framework of high single digits.

Andy Kaplowitz
Andy Kaplowitz
Research Analyst in Industrials at Citigroup

Very helpful, guys. Thanks.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

Thank you.

Operator

Your next question today will come from Deane Dray with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Deane Dray
Deane Dray
Managing Director at RBC Capital Markets

Thank you. Good morning, everyone.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

Hey, good morning, Deane.

Deane Dray
Deane Dray
Managing Director at RBC Capital Markets

That was a really nice earnings quality this quarter between organic revenue incrementals and cash flow. You can check the box there. I would like to hear a bit about the government shutdown. We're getting a lot of questions about that. Just kind of, you know, what are the ripple effects into, you know, from federal funding to state and local? Have just some projects been delayed because of that? What does that mean for the setup into 2026?

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

Yeah, on the government shutdown front, we haven't seen anything meaningful. Funding mechanisms have always been slow to move in general in this space, especially with the municipalities. Previously allocated funds will still make their way down to fund projects. Right now we don't see any meaningful impact. In the near-term, there could be a pause on EPA grant application reviews, but I don't see that that's going to have any material impact on Q4 or, quite frankly, on the full year of 2026. All in all, we feel good about the municipal resilience, not only in the U.S., but more broadly across the globe.

Deane Dray
Deane Dray
Managing Director at RBC Capital Markets

Really good to hear. I appreciate the answer to Andy's question about the 80/20 implementation and entering phase II. Can you just step back on 80/20? There were such high expectations, and there are still high expectations about the fundamental changes that are happening at Xylem. Broadly, what inning are you in? Have all the businesses gone through their first implementation? Where do you go from here in terms of further divestitures at the margin? Should we be expecting anything like that in the next couple of quarters?

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

Okay. I'll start us out here, Deane. You know, 80/20 is, as you can tell by the results, really starting to take hold, you know, almost two years into our transformation. I would say that each quarter, the team continues to take another step towards what we call simplifying Xylem. It's moving from a tool set to more of a critical piece on how we run the business, which is, in my mind, more cultural. That's very strong evidence that things are progressing in a positive way. As I said in my opening remarks, it also provides this kind of what I would call a maniacal focus on resource allocation, which is really, really important for any company.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

To answer your question more specifically, 80% of the business is in some phase of the implementation with our dewatering business globally, our analytics business, and our treatment business, the most recent divisions to start the implementation of 80/20. Treatment being probably one of the bigger divisions we have so far to date going into the tool. We'll see some meaningful impact to that division of our company. As you see from the results, we're moving with more speed, accountability, customer focus. One thing I talk a lot about is on-time performance and quality as metrics of the health of your company. On-time performance with our eight customers reached a record high, and it's nearing what I would deem best in class in terms of industrial companies' performance to their customers.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

Maybe the last thing I would say, another proof point is just the margin improvement you're seeing in the legacy Xylem businesses with Applied Water and Water Infrastructure over the past several quarters. Maybe just one thing I just want to highlight for those listening. We're going to continue to walk away from revenue, Deane. We do have divestitures. We obviously will have just about 1% this year in divestiture and about 1% of acquisition this year, kind of almost washing. Obviously, the international metrology piece will happen next year. It is a core focus. We've talked publicly about $400 million-$600 million of things that we'll be pruning on the portfolio, and we're still kind of tracking there. The walkaway business will be a little bit more in 2026 in terms of 80/20. It was just under 1% this year. It'll be just over 1% next year.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

Just to remind everybody, that comes with higher quality earnings. It's all about simplifying the business so we can really build the long-term growth engine and focus on our customers.

Operator

Your next question today will come from Scott Davis with Melius Research. Please go ahead.

Scott Davis
Scott Davis
Chairman and CEO at Melius Research

Hey, good morning, guys. I'll echo the congrats, not just on the quarter, but it's been a really good couple of years for you guys. I just had to ask, Matthew, this is kind of a strange question, but you led in with culture, processes, and structure. What do you specifically mean by structure? I think that can mean different things to different people. I'm looking for some explanations. Thanks.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

Yeah, so structure was really getting at, we were prior to this year, we were kind of highly a matrixized structure. We pivoted to more of a, you know, we had a segment orientation, but more with discrete divisions under the segment, 16 P&Ls with discrete leadership GMs. It just drives better accountability. I think the matrix structure served us well in the past, but going forward, just to drive better accountability, better empowerment, getting to a kind of a singular axis around the segments and divisions just enables us to make faster decisions. For example, in the prior structure, we would have 20-25 people sign off on a delegation of authority. Now we have four to five. It just provides us the ability to be more nimble and make our colleagues' lives easier, and make our customers happier with our service.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

Those were two, what I would call pieces of voice of customer that we got two and a half, three years ago that we wanted to address.

Scott Davis
Scott Davis
Chairman and CEO at Melius Research

That makes sense. Thanks. Your net debt to EBITDA is 0.4x, I think you mentioned the kind of question on priorities in the next 12 months. If you can talk to your M&A backlog or, you know, when and if you kind of switch to more of a buyback priority and just where your head is in that stuff right now.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

Yeah. No, it's a good question. We've always said our priorities are let's invest in the core. We like M&A. We think it will help us really grow the business in a positive way. Dividends obviously would be next. We've talked about opportunistic share buybacks. That's kind of our approach. As I've mentioned in prior calls, we have put a really strong process in place. A couple of years ago, we were a bit more top-down in M&A. We're much more bottoms-up, assigning targets to our segment leaders that are now focused, maybe not equally, but for sure focused on organic and organic in terms of growing the business. We've got a very strong funnel, probably the most actionable funnel we've had. It's largely because of the new process that we've put in place. We'll continue to be very disciplined, look at things that are strategic fit, meet our hurdles.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

We've got such a great self-help story right now, Scott, that a real focus is on small to medium bolt-ons. We've talked about deploying $1 billion of capital a year, trying to create $60 million-$75 million of EBITDA. I wouldn't rule out if there was something very strategic and transformational, we would definitely look at it, but that's not our intent. Our intent is about $1 billion of capital deployment towards M&A each year.

Scott Davis
Scott Davis
Chairman and CEO at Melius Research

Gotcha. Thank you, Matthew. Appreciate it. Good luck, guys.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

Thank you. Thank you.

Operator

Your next question today will come from Nathan Jones with Stifel. Please go ahead.

Nathan Jones
Nathan Jones
Senior Equity Analyst at Stifel

Good morning, everyone.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

Morning, Nate.

Nathan Jones
Nathan Jones
Senior Equity Analyst at Stifel

A couple of follow-ups on MCS for me. Bill, I think you mentioned in your answer to Andy's question that you're still in the kind of high single digits framework for 2026. The book-to-bill so far this year is about 0.83, probably gets to 0.85 if you're close to 1 in the fourth quarter. You have talked about burning off some backlog and backlog being at a more normalized level. I'm just wondering how the math works to get to high single digits for 2026 and why there wouldn't be maybe a little bit of a reset lower because you're not burning off backlog next year. Any additional color you could give on that would be helpful.

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

I think the $1.5 billion that we're at right now, Nate, is still elevated relative to historical. As we burn existing backlog and start to get to book to bill positive, I think that supports that high single-digit framework with, you know, we talked about the calibration of water getting back to a more normalized growth within that framework and some of the additional projects we have on the energy side that we'll layer in here over the next quarter or two. It gives us real confidence to get back there next year.

Nathan Jones
Nathan Jones
Senior Equity Analyst at Stifel

Great. I guess a second follow-up on the margin profile in MCS, 60 basis points of margin expansion. I think I probably expected that to be a little higher. I think we're probably expecting the water mix to improve a bit and obviously some leverage on volume given the good growth. Maybe you can just talk about what the offsets were to the margin profile for MCS in the quarter and kind of where we should be longer term for that business. Thanks.

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

Yeah, I think the biggest lever there has been the energy water mix. We talked about last quarter, obviously the strong performance. There was a push out in some of the lower margin energy projects that we've talked about. I think it's calibrated and sequentially. Margins for MCS should look fairly similar here with the energy water mix normalization, getting back to historical levels later in 2026. With that business, though, with some of the structural changes they've made relative to 80/20, you see it come through with Applied Water and with Water Infrastructure. MCS has just been masked a little bit with this mix challenge. We look for them to continue to expand margins into next year as mix normalizes and the second phase of some of their 80/20 simplification efforts pull through.

Nathan Jones
Nathan Jones
Senior Equity Analyst at Stifel

Great. Thanks for taking the questions.

Operator

Your next question today will come from William Grippin with Barclays. Please go ahead.

William Grippin
William Grippin
Director of Equity Research at Barclays

Thanks. Just a couple of basic ones here, but you had a little bit of M&A spending in the quarter. I'm just wondering if you could provide some color on what that was for.

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

Yeah, it's primarily associated with international metering divestiture.

William Grippin
William Grippin
Director of Equity Research at Barclays

Got it. On that front, are you able to quantify sort of how accretive that divestiture could be to margin for the MCS segment?

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

Yeah, in the prepared remarks, we talked about on a run rate about 100 basis points.

William Grippin
William Grippin
Director of Equity Research at Barclays

Got it. I appreciate it. That's all for me.

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

Sure.

Operator

Your next question today will come from Andrew [audio distortion] with BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.

Operator

Hey, good morning, everyone.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

Good morning.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

On the MCS margins related to the divestiture, how do we compare you guys versus your larger peers in that space? I ask that in that, can you get to or even above some of those peers that you comp to? I think divesting the international piece gets you one step closer, but are there other things you think you can do or how should we think about that long-term?

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

I think, Andrew, if we would bucket our margin profile, our core water business within smart metering is at or above our peer set. I think that the rule of nature is obviously the international metrology business that we're divesting. The energy piece we've talked about is at a lower margin profile. Obviously, the team's done a phenomenal job of identifying opportunities to increase that over time, but there will always be a gap there relative to the technology differentiation and the end market applications. Our core water business, the profitability is significantly higher than some of our competitors and, you know, at some of the leading margin profiles that you're probably referring to.

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

Okay, that's helpful. I was hoping you could sort of parse out where you're seeing demand pickup versus internal efforts to improve organic sales. If you could just run through some of the end markets and talk about what was maybe a little bit better or a little bit worse than you expected demand-wise.

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

You know, from an overall demand perspective, I would say if we ticked off, obviously, we spent a lot of time here just talking about, hey, resilient demand within MCS is still there relative to getting, you know, it's actually been in excess of our long-term framework here this year with the energy meter refresh cycle. Then next year, getting back to a combo of high single digits for both water and energy. Water infrastructure, right, we continue to see resilient OpEx and CapEx demand. Transport's been really strong over the last few quarters. It was 5% growth against this quarter due to its mission-critical nature of its applications. In gating shares, the team has identified several different opportunities through segmentation, different regional opportunities where they're underpenetrated.

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

Treatment also has had pretty strong growth as it executes its backlog and focuses on different areas of the portfolio that they have the best profitable growth outlook. They're doing a lot of portfolio and looking at different bidding practices to nail down where they have differentiation and go after those areas. Applied Water, we talked about continuing its growth streak with really strong performance in the Western world and within commercial buildings. They've seen, along with the biggest headwind for Applied Water and Water Infrastructure, has been China, with double-digit decline on sales and orders for both segments. Just to frame kind of China overall for Xylem, it had about 2% headwind on revenue and orders growth within the quarter. Pretty material.

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

It's a smaller part of the overall portfolio, but as that market kind of accelerated its decline from kind of a macroeconomic perspective, and then the team's getting much more disciplined with the work that we're going after, it's created some headwinds. Lastly, I'd say WSS, obviously double-digit growth again, continued strength with our outsourced water projects. That's ramped here over the last two years as they focused, providing some really differentiated technology to some large customers, along with dewatering, was up double digits again this quarter. We've seen lots of strength across all four segments with the only area of watch we dial in on China. A little bit in our prepared remarks, just talking about large capital projects. Nothing's been canceled, but things relative to conversion from our commercial funnel to an order has taken a little bit longer is maybe one area we continue to monitor.

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

Okay. Very clear. Thank you.

Operator

Your final question today will come from Mike Halloran with Baird. Please go ahead.

Mike Halloran
Mike Halloran
Associate Director of Research and Senior Analyst at Baird

Hey, morning, everyone.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

Morning.

Mike Halloran
Mike Halloran
Associate Director of Research and Senior Analyst at Baird

Two questions here. First, when you triangulate into all the things you just said, Bill, and some of the comments earlier, is there anything to suggest about underlying dynamics in the marketplace where you would not be at least in the range for kind of normal-ish type growth as you look to 2026? Meaning, we know China is a little bit of a headwind here, but it seems like you're talking to pretty healthy, normal dynamics, resilient dynamics, however you want to characterize it for the majority of your markets. Could you just frame that as a thought process as we head into next year?

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

Yeah, I think you're spot on. I think the fundamental dynamics for all four segments are strong. Again, outside of a little bit of the China headwind, Matthew highlighted a little bit, there's probably a little bit more walkaway as the teams are accelerating their 80/20 progress. Obviously, you're seeing it in the margin. We expect that to continue. As we get much more selective and make bigger strides on our customer simplification or product line simplification, there's probably a little bit more headwind, a little under a point this year, a little over a point next year.

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

Outside of that, I think as we look out, as best as we have visibility over the next 12 months with still macro volatility, the fundamental dynamics are still strong with resilient demand within [Muni] and I think differentiated technology helping us on the industrial side with some of the fits and starts other companies are seeing in that space.

Mike Halloran
Mike Halloran
Associate Director of Research and Senior Analyst at Baird

What is the long-term thought process on how to manage China from here? I know it's an area of softness today. Maybe there's some deprioritization of U.S.-based products. What is the thought on how you guys plan on addressing or attacking that market from here?

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

Yeah, I think we're staying the course, but we're also right-sizing the business for the demand environment, Mike. We're taking restructuring actions as we speak in China, to the extent of around 40% of the workforce is coming out. We don't take those decisions lightly. It's unfortunate, but it's really just an indicator of the demand that we're seeing in the market and the hyper-competitiveness of the market as well. We like the market long-term, but we have to size the business for the market that we're dealing with over the next, you know, balance of this year and through 2026. That's how the approach we've taken. It'll be a watch item for us as we head into the first half of 2026. That's really where we are right now.

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

I think that the teams are stepping back and looking at what is the greatest market opportunity where we have the technology to match that, and then reallocating all of our resources around those efforts to try to spur incremental growth as we move forward.

Mike Halloran
Mike Halloran
Associate Director of Research and Senior Analyst at Baird

Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.

Bill Grogan
Bill Grogan
CFO at Xylem

Thank you.

Operator

This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Matthew Pine for any closing remarks.

Matthew Pine
CEO at Xylem

Thanks for joining today. We'll wrap it up there. Appreciate the questions. As always, we appreciate your interest and support. Have a great day.

Operator

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

Executives
    • Keith Buettner
      Keith Buettner
      VP of Investor Relations and FP&A
    • Bill Grogan
      Bill Grogan
      CFO
Analysts
    • Matthew Pine
      CEO at Xylem
    • Nathan Jones
      Senior Equity Analyst at Stifel
    • Analyst at BNP Paribas
    • Mike Halloran
      Associate Director of Research and Senior Analyst at Baird
    • Scott Davis
      Chairman and CEO at Melius Research
    • William Grippin
      Director of Equity Research at Barclays
    • Deane Dray
      Managing Director at RBC Capital Markets
    • Andy Kaplowitz
      Research Analyst in Industrials at Citigroup
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