“However, discrete volumes are expected to be up sequentially and better on a year-over-year basis compared to the Q1 year-over-year change.”

In context

“idance of $5.85 to $6.05 per share. We are increasing our expectations for 2025 operating leverage to the 70s versus the mid-40s guidance from November due to the operating performance in Q1 and the impact of FX on leverage. We are reiterating our free cash flow guidance of $3.2 billion to $3.3 billion. For the year, we expect to return approximately $3.2 billion to shareholders through dividends of approximately $1.2 billion and share repurchases of approximately $2 billion, of which we completed approximately $1 billion in the first quarter as planned. In the second quarter, we expect underlying sales to be up 1% to 2% and FX to be unfavorable by approximately 1.5 points. Our growth reflects tough prior year comps for our process and hybrid businesses and continued softness in discrete. However, discrete volumes are expected to be up sequentially and better on a year-over-year basis compared to the Q1 year-over-year change. We expect adjusted segment EBITDA margin of approximately 26.5% and adjusted EPS between $1.38 and $1.42. Consistent with November's guide, our current guidance includes safety and productivity and a 57% ownership of AspenTech. We have provided the contribution of safety and productivity as a reference for investors to understand when an exit of this business could look like. For the year, we continue to expect safety and productivity to contribute approximately $0.48 of adjusted EPS and approximately $200 million of free cash flow on flat underlying sales. Regarding AspenTech, we are expecting $0.11 in our Q2 adjusted EPS guide and $0.44 to $0.46 for the year, also the same as communicated in November. Finally, regarding the AspenTech transaction, while the effect of the pending AspenTec”