Harvard Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBIO) Q1 2024 Earnings Conference Call May 7, 2024 8:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Dave Sirois - Director, SEC Reporting
Jim Green - Chairman, President and CEO
Jennifer Cote - CFO

Conference Call Participants

Paul Knight - KeyBanc
Bruce Jackson - The Benchmark Company
Frank DiLorenzo - Singular Research

Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q1 2024 Harvard Bioscience Inc. Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Dave Sirois, Director of SEC Reporting.

Dave Sirois

Thank you, Josh, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining the Harvard Bioscience first quarter 2024 earnings conference call.

Leading the call today will be Jim Green, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Jennifer Cote, Chief Financial Officer. In conjunction with today's recorded call, we have provided a presentation that will be referenced during our remarks that is posted to the Investors section of our website at investor.harvardbioscience.com.

Please note that statements made in today's discussion that are not historical facts, including statements or expectations of future events or future financial performance, are forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied. Please refer to today's press release or other disclosures on forward-looking statements. These factors and other risks and uncertainties are described in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Harvard Bioscience assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements publicly and management's statements are made as of today.

During the call, management will also reference certain non-GAAP financial measures, which can be useful in evaluating the company's operations related to our financial condition and results. These non-GAAP measures are intended to supplement GAAP financial information and should not be considered as a substitute. Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP measures are provided in today's earnings press release.

I will now turn the call over to Jim. Jim, please go ahead.

Jim Green

Thanks, David. Hello, everybody.

Let's go ahead and start and move to Slide 3 of the presentation and take a look at the highlights for the quarter. Well, as expected, we had a tough start to the year. However, I will say that with strong gross margins, combined with previously communicated cost reductions, it position us to underpin our commercial investments for growth while at the same time meeting our earnings targets.