“we now anticipate slightly higher sales this year with a stronger second half than is typical.”

In context

“In June, we announced a 7% dividend increase, our fifth consecutive year with a high single-digit quarterly increase. Our balance sheet and liquidity positions remain strong. During the quarter, we issued bonds totaling $2 billion at attractive financing rates, and net debt in ME&T was $5.2 billion. We ended the quarter with an enterprise cash balance of $5.4 billion. In addition, we held $1.2 billion in slightly longer-dated liquid marketable securities to improve yields on that cash. Now on Slide 14, let me start with a few comments on the full year. We are increasingly optimistic about our top line expectations based on what we see today. As Joe mentioned, demand signals have remained healthy, including backlog growth across our three primary segments. Against this supported backdrop, we now anticipate slightly higher sales this year with a stronger second half than is typical. This represents an improvement since our outlook last quarter. To explain, we anticipate higher machine volume, including sales to users growth in the second half versus the prior year. Also, we continue to expect machine dealer inventories will be about flat for the full year, which implies some net build in the second half, versus a decrease in the corresponding time period in 2024. Energy & Transportation sales should grow in the second half as well, driven by the strength of our backlog and robust order activity. We expect some adverse price realization in the second half versus the prior year, although this will be at a lower level than in the first half. Now moving on to margins. Excluding the impact of incremental tariffs, the full year adjusted operating profit margin is expected”