Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This earnings release contains statements about the Company’s business prospects and estimates of the Company’s financial results for future periods that are forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are included above under “2020 Financial Outlook”, “Outlook for 2020”, and elsewhere and can be identified by the use of words such as “expects”, “may”, “anticipates”, “intends”, “would”, “will”, “plans”, “believes”, “estimates”, “projected”, “should”, and similar words and expressions. Our forward-looking statements include statements relating to revenue growth and EPS outlooks; operating and free cash flow forecast; projected impact of foreign currency exchange rates; and projected operating margins and expenses, capital expenditures, gains from foreign currency hedging transactions, tax and EPS benefits from share-based compensation arrangements, effective tax rates, weighted average shares outstanding and interest expense. These statements are intended to provide management’s expectation of future events as of the date of this earnings release; are based on management’s estimates, projections, beliefs and assumptions as of the date of this earnings release; and are not guarantees of future performance. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the Company’s actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, the matters described under the headings “Business,” “Risk Factors,” “Legal Proceedings,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 and in the corresponding sections of the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2019, June 30, 2019 and September 30, 2019, as well as those described from time to time in the Company’s other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission available at www.sec.gov. The Company specifically disclaims any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Statement RegardingNon-GAAP Financial Measures
The following defines terms and conventions and provides reconciliations regarding certain measures used in this earnings release and/or the accompanying earnings conference call that are not required by, or presented in accordance with, generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“GAAP”), otherwise referred to asnon-GAAP financial measures. To supplement the Company’s consolidated results presented in accordance with GAAP, the Company has disclosednon-GAAP financial measures that exclude or adjust certain items. Management believes thesenon-GAAP financial measures provide useful supplemental information for its and investors’ evaluation of the Company’s business performance and liquidity and are useful for period-over-period comparisons of the performance of the Company’s business and its liquidity and to the performance and liquidity of our peers. While management believes that thesenon-GAAP financial measures are useful in evaluating the Company’s business, this information should be considered as supplemental in nature and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the related financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. In addition, thesenon-GAAP financial measures may not be the same as similarly titled measures reported by other companies.
Constant currency—Constant currency references arenon-GAAP financial measures which exclude the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates and are consistent with how management evaluates our performance and comparisons with prior and future periods. We estimated the net impacts of currency on our revenue, gross profit, operating profit, and EPS results by restating results to the average exchange rates or exchange rate assumptions for the comparative period, which includes adjusting for the estimated impacts of foreign currency hedging transactions. These estimated currency changes impacted fourth quarter 2019 results as follows: decreased gross profit growth by approximately 1%, increased gross margin growth by 10 basis points, decreased operating expense growth by 1%, had an immaterial impact on operating profit, operating profit margin growth, and EPS growth. Estimated currency changes impacted full year 2019 results as follows: increased gross margin growth by 10 basis points, decreased operating profit growth by 1%, had an immaterial impact on operating leverage growth, increased operating profit margin growth by 15 basis points, and decreased EPS growth by 1%. Estimated currency changes are also expected to decrease projected full year 2020 revenue growth by approximately 0.5%, decrease projected full year 2020 CAG Diagnostics recurring revenue growth by approximately 0.5%, decrease projected operating profit margin growth by approximately 20 basis points, and decrease projected 2020 EPS growth by approximately 2%, and decrease first quarter revenue growth by approximately 1%. Constant currency revenue growth represents the percentage change in revenue during the applicable period, as compared to the prior year period, excluding the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates. See the supplementary analysis of results below for revenue percentage change from currency for the three months and year ended December 31, 2019.
Growth and organic revenue growth- All references to growth and organic growth refer to growth compared to the equivalent prior year period unless specifically noted. Organic revenue growth is anon-GAAP financial measure that excludes the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates and revenue from business acquisitions. Management believes that reporting organic revenue growth provides useful information to investors by facilitating easier comparisons of our revenue performance with prior and future periods and to the performance of our peers. See the supplementary analysis of results below for a reconciliation of reported revenue growth to organic revenue growth for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2019. See the constant currency note above for the impacts of estimated currency changes to fourth quarter and full year 2019, as well estimated full year 2020 organic revenue growth for the Company. The percentage change in revenue resulting from acquisitions represents incremental revenues attributable to business acquisitions that have occurred since the beginning of the prior year period. Revenue from acquisitions is expected to increase projected full year 2020 revenue growth by approximately 0.5% and first quarter 2020 revenue by 0.5%, and projected full year 2020 CAG Diagnostics recurring organic revenue growth by approximately 0.5%.
Comparable constant currency operating expense growth, operating profit growth, and operating margin growth—Comparable constant currency operating expense growth, operating profit growth, and operating profit margin gain (or growth) arenon-GAAP financial measures and exclude CEO transition charges and changes in foreign currency exchange rates. Management believes that reporting comparable constant currency operating expense growth, operating profit growth, and operating margin gain provide useful information to investors because it enables better period-over-period comparisons of the fundamental financial results by excluding items that vary independent of performance and provides greater transparency to investors regarding key metrics used by management. Comparable constant currency operating expense growth, operating profit growth, and operating margin gain should be considered in addition to, and not as replacements of or superior measures to, operating expense growth, operating profit growth, and operating margin gain reported in accordance with GAAP. CEO transition charges increased operating expense growth by 7% in the fourth quarter of 2019 and 2% for the full year 2019, decreased operating profit growth by 12% in the fourth quarter of 2019 and 3% for the full year 2019, and decreased operating margin gain by 220 basis points in the fourth quarter of 2019 and 55 basis points for the full year 2019. CEO transition charges are projected to increase operating margin growth by approximately 50 basis points in 2020. These impacts and those described in the constant currency note above reconcile reported operating expense growth, operating profit growth, and operating margin gain to comparable constant currency operating expense growth, operating profit growth, and operating margin gain for the Company.
Comparable constant currency EPS growth—Comparable constant currency EPS growth is anon-GAAP financial measure that excludes the tax effects of share-based compensation activity under ASU2016-09, CEO transition charges, and changes in foreign currency exchange rates. Management believes comparable constant currency EPS growth is a more useful way to measure the Company’s business performance than EPS growth because it enables better period-over-period comparisons of the fundamental financial results by excluding items that vary independent of performance and provides greater transparency to investors regarding a key metric used by management. Share-based compensation activity is expected to increase projected EPS by $0.09 to $0.11 for the full year 2020, increased fourth quarter 2019 EPS by $0.05 compared to $0.01 in the fourth quarter of 2018, increased EPS by $0.22 for the full year 2019, and increased EPS by $0.24 for full year 2018. CEO transition charges decreased EPS by $0.14 in the fourth quarter of 2019. These impacts and those described in the constant currency note above reconcile reported EPS growth to comparable constant currency EPS growth for the Company.
