Bruker Corp at TD Cowen Healthcare Conference Summary

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Dan Brennan - TD Cowen - Analyst : <_ALACRA_META_ABSTRACT>So maybe the fourth-quarter results weren't that long ago. So maybe you can just kind of do a quick review of kind of how the year ended. And as you think about the priorities for 2025 and the organic guide of 3% to 4%, just kind of your thoughts on that?

Question: Dan Brennan - TD Cowen - Analyst : Terrific. So I'm sure you've gotten this question or you will get it today, but in terms of all the policy initiatives from the Trump administration creating a lot of questions for the tools group, your guide contemplates some uncertainty in academic and government market due to NIH. I know you publicly stated that you don't expect a large reduction in NIH related to the kind of what's been going on. So maybe just talk through a little bit about what your exposure is. I mean I think a lot of companies have an academic exposure. And then within that, they have an NA exposure, so they're doing their own math. Just give us a sense of kind of that exposure and kind of what you've assumed.

Question: Dan Brennan - TD Cowen - Analyst : And in terms of what you're hearing -- we were just sound at AGBT, you were there as well. What we're hearing is kind of mixed feedback, if you will, on this indirect factor. Some labs were fine and indirect doesn't really impact us. Others are saying -- universities saying to halt spending, slow spending. Others are saying indirect actually pays for certain things. It might pay for labor, so we may have to reach end of our pocket. Like what's in a down 8 or extreme down 25 -- President Trump may suggest NIH budget like he did in the first term, down 15 and Congress has typically said: no, we're going to fund it flat or up a little or down a little. Is it more the indirect that would be the swing factor? And if it is, I don't know, what are your salespeople hearing from their customers about how that might impact some spending?

Question: Dan Brennan - TD Cowen - Analyst : We just hosted a panel this morning, too, with -- on China, with the Vice Chair, the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotech. They're going to have a report on April 7, and I think they're really going to try to promote R&D. So it will be interesting to see what they have out.

Question: Dan Brennan - TD Cowen - Analyst : In the US.

Question: Dan Brennan - TD Cowen - Analyst : Yeah. Sorry about that. So let's talk about growth initiatives. One of the growth initiatives that you've had is expand your business with pharma. Could you just discuss kind of where we are on that path? You have formal macro pressure, but it sounds like that's getting better. How successful have you been? What's the opportunity to look ahead?

Question: Dan Brennan - TD Cowen - Analyst : Right. That's fair. Maybe kind of staying on some of the high-level introductory questions here. So you talked about China a little bit here and then on the prep call, I think 20 million orders to date maybe of China stimulus. Agilent just announced pretty decent-sized stimulus wins in their first quarter in food. Can you zoom out and give us a sense of -- we try to do work on China stimulus. So I'm just trying to understand what the program that you're addressing, what you've seen early on and kind of how you're thinking about the opportunity for Bruker?

Question: Dan Brennan - TD Cowen - Analyst : So basically, just summing it up then, there's some really chunky large orders that are brewing there on some really advanced proteomic technologies, looking to tap into some of the newer things and it's not going to hit in like immediately, but you're talking about $20 million, $30 million, $100 million projects of which you feel --

Question: Dan Brennan - TD Cowen - Analyst : Coming back down to the guide for 2025, like we have BioSpin up 3, CALID up 5, NANO up 3. So kind of all around that three to four, but CALID the fastest grow the other two. Is that kind of the right way to think about it? Maybe can you give us some building blocks to how you guys thought about that organic outlook for '25?

Question: Dan Brennan - TD Cowen - Analyst : So academic, we've covered in a lot of detail, so that's a headwind for you. But in terms of getting from that 3 to 5 back to 6 to 8 --

Question: Dan Brennan - TD Cowen - Analyst : Right outside of US academic weakness, when you think about your 3 to 5 bridging the 6 to 8, what has to happen to get back towards that 6 to 8?

Question: Dan Brennan - TD Cowen - Analyst : So maybe just looking at CALID and NANO then. So CALID, obviously, you've talked about timsTOF about four times so far on this call. Just to grow 5% or 5%-plus, just maybe where are we in the evolution of timsTOF and kind of how does that number compare to where you think that growth rate could be as things normalize?

Question: Dan Brennan - TD Cowen - Analyst : So that will then -- will that get reflected, do you think, in your '25 guide? Because that could --

Question: Dan Brennan - TD Cowen - Analyst : So UK Biobank (multiple speakers) REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. MARCH 05, 2025 / 4:10PM, BRKR.OQ - Bruker Corp at TD Cowen Healthcare Conference

Question: Dan Brennan - TD Cowen - Analyst : So UK Biobank announced, I think, 600,000 samples with like Olink and [Thermon Infinity]. [Phase] 2 is we hosted a company yesterday, and I'd like to get your perspective too because you compete (inaudible) here with a proteograph at the front end know you have a competitive product they're talking about. There could be some really big mass spec, like just protein type, not population sequencing. But I guess the question is, as you see these affinity-based population studies, what's going on in kind of mass spec-related studies given how much faster the timsTOF is and Astral, are you seeing a demand for that? Is that part of the excitement here? Would that be upside?

Question: Dan Brennan - TD Cowen - Analyst : So we're almost out of time. Maybe I'll just wrap up by asking your opinion. I know you own over 25% of the company, you bought back stock in December, you bought back stock recently. So maybe just give a perspective on how you view -- is that buyback? Obviously, you're one largest owner of the of the company so you believe strongly in the value here. But in terms of tactically doing it now, is that more a reflection of like 2025, wow, we have so much wind at our back and numbers and there's cushion here? Or is it more just you're looking at the long-term value of Bruker in this industry that's undervalued there?

Question: Dan Brennan - TD Cowen - Analyst : Terrific. Well, with that, we're out of time. Frank, thank you so much for being here.