Avient Corporation (NYSE:AVNT) Q2 2023 Earnings Conference Call July 27, 2023 8:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Giuseppe “Joe” Di Salvo - Vice President, Treasurer & Investor Relations

Bob Patterson - Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer

Jamie Beggs - Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Frank Mitch - Fermium Research

Michael Sison - Wells Fargo

Mike Harrison - Seaport Research Partners

David Wong - Deutsche Bank

Laurence Alexander - Jefferies

Kristen Owen - Oppenheimer

Vincent Andrews - Morgan Stanley

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Avient Corporation's webcast to discuss the company's second quarter 2023 results. My name is Katherine, and I'll be your operator for today. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. We will have a question-and-answer session following the company's prepared remarks. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. I would now turn the call over to Giuseppe “Joe” Di Salvo, Vice President, Treasurer and Investor Relations. Please proceed.

Giuseppe “Joe” Di Salvo

Thank you, Katherine, and good morning to everyone joining us on the call today. Before beginning, we'd like to remind you that statements made during this webcast may be considered forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements with the current expectations or forecasts of future events are not guarantees of future performance. based on management's expectation and involve a number of business risks and uncertainties, any of which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements. Please refer to investor presentation for this webcast for a number of factors that could cause actual results. During the discussion today, the company will use both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the presentation posted on the Avon website, where the describes the non-GAAP measures will provide a reconciliation to their most comparable GAAP financial measures. Joining me today is our Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bob Patterson; and Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Jamie Beggs. Now I will hand the call off to Bob to begin.

Bob Patterson

Thanks, Joe, and good morning. Today, we reported our second quarter results. Adjusted EPS of $0.63 exceeded our guidance driven by better-than-projected margins in both segments. Raw material deflation was a net positive, and our composites portfolio continues to be resilient in an otherwise challenging environment. Composites is an area that we have grown through a series of acquisitions and incremental commercial investment and now makes up about 20% of our business. deposits offer a lightweight option with strength and design flexibility and other materials simply cannot. Since 2012, we invested in 6 technologies to build out this portfolio that now includes long fiber tapes, laminates, pultrusion and engineered fibers. Our goal has been to acquire businesses where we can add commercial resources to drive growth. Specifically, in end markets and applications that are underserved or not served at all by composite players today.