Hubbell Incorporated (HUBB) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

For the period ending December 31, 2022

January 31, 2023 10:00 a.m. ET

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good day. And thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Fourth Quarter 2022 Hubbell Incorporated Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference call is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to your speaker today, Dan Innamorato, Vice President, Investor Relations.

Dan Innamorato

Thanks operator. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Earlier this morning, we issued a press release announcing our results for the fourth quarter and full year 2022. The press release and slides are posted to the Investors section of our website at hubbell.com.

I'm joined today by our Chairman, President and CEO, Gerben Bakker; and our Executive Vice President and CFO, Bill Sperry. Please note our comments this morning may include statements related to the expected future results of our company and are forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Therefore, please note the discussion of forward-looking statements in our press release and considered incorporated by reference on this call. Additionally, comments may also include non-GAAP financial measures. Those measures are reconciled to the comparable GAAP measures and are included in the press release and slides.

Now let me turn the call over to Gerben.

Gerben Bakker

Great, good morning, everyone. And thank you for joining us to discuss Hubble's fourth quarter and full year 2022 results. 2022 was a strong year for Hubble, we effectively served our customers through a challenging operating environment, consistently delivering high quality, critical infrastructure solutions, which enable grid modernization and electrification in front of and behind the meter. We also delivered strong results for our shareholders with full year organic growth of 18%, adjusted operating profit growth of 29% and adjusted earnings per share growth of 32%. We began 2022 by completing the divestiture of our C&I Lighting, successfully positioning the Hubble portfolio for structurally higher long-term growth and margins. We also stepped up our investment levels to bolster our positions in key strategic growth verticals, through acquisitions and organic innovation, expanded our capacity in areas of visible long-term growth, and to improve our manufacturing and distribution footprint for future productivity.

Importantly, we've been able to fund these investments while still expanding operating margins, driven by strong execution on price cost in the face of significant inflationary and supply chain pressures. Our employees have worked hard through a challenging environment to sustain a culture of excellence, delivering industry leading service levels for our utility and electrical customers, along with differentiated financial operating performance. The critical contributions of our employees and partners are what led to it highly successful 2022 for all of our key stakeholders. Looking ahead, we believe that Hubble's unique leading position in attractive markets will enable us to continue delivering on each of these fronts in 2023 and beyond. We will talk more in depth on our near-term outlook later in this presentation. But we anticipate continued market growth and strong execution, driving positive price cost productivity to fund investments back into our business, which will generate long term value for our customers, while delivering attractive returns to our shareholders.