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Pentair, Inc. Q1 2008 Earnings Call Transcript

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2008-04-22 16:58:08.0

Tags: Pentair Inc.

Question-and-Answer Session

[Operator Instructions]. Your first question is from Curt Woodworth of JP Morgan.

Curt Woodworth - JP Morgan

Good afternoon.

Randall J. Hogan - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Hi Curt.

John L. Stauch - Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Hi, Curt.

Curt Woodworth - JP Morgan

In looking out for water margin guidance for the second quarter of 13% to 13.5%, it looks like that's going to be down, no roughly 100 or 50 to 100 basis points and is that after adjusting for NPT and is that mainly a function of just the tough comparison within municipal and then kind of the higher margin pool market weakness?

Randall J. Hogan - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Exactly. I mean ... we have ... if we go back and adjust for the MPT to your point, we have somewhat close to 14.8%. We had a really, really good quarter last year Curt because the New Orleans pump job was in there as well, which was a high margin job that we identified. That coupled with the softness in the pool marketing in Q2 which is the pool season.

Curt Woodworth - JP Morgan

And residential --

Randall J. Hogan - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Which is a high margin business, which as we said was weak in the first quarter.

Curt Woodworth - JP Morgan

Okay, and do you still feel confident in your 13% margin target for the year?

John L. Stauch - Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

I don't know if we have to have 13%, I want to make sure that point's clear, Curt I mean truly --

Curt Woodworth - JP Morgan

Okay.

John L. Stauch - Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

We want to do water margins because it's going to be drive ROIC. But we also want to improve water growth. so we are going to continue to invest in our water business. We are experiencing some pretty good technical product strength right now, which is allowing us to invest in that water growth. But we want to continue to drive margins. I would say we are probably close to the 13% margin right now, depending on how soft the North-American residential markets get.

Curt Woodworth - JP Morgan

Okay, great and then in terms of residential filtration, I mean couple of years ago, this was definitely listed as key growth opportunity for the company, we had two years where I think you have seen negative growth in that market and clearly no longer kind of priority for the company. Can you help us understand why that shift has occurred, what's... kind of what's happened in that market relative to either overall market trends, or your market share?

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