Paul Keel said he was attracted to the idea of leading one of the nation’s best-known dental companies when he accepted the role of chief executive at Envista Holdings Corp. last year.
“If you want to work in medtech—you want to work in dental—you’re probably pretty interested in Envista,” Keel said.
Recent times have been challenging for the Brea company as the pandemic forced the closure of up to 95% of dental offices. Sales haven’t rebounded, as they dropped 2.2% to $2.5 billion in 2024. In the past three years, shares have declined from more than $50 each to below $15 in April (NYSE: NVST).
Keel, former chief executive of Smiths Group PLC, was based in London before a year ago succeeding Amir Aghdaei, who had served as CEO of Envista since 2019. Aghdaei engineered a roll-up strategy that resulted in Envista now having 30 dental brands.
Keel has reorganized its C-suite by hiring Eric Hammes as chief financial officer, Stefan Nilsson as president of Nobel Biocare and Veronica Acurio as president of Ormco.
Envista is the third largest dental company by employee count in Orange County with 680 local employees. This week’s annual list highlights Orange County’s dental industry (see list, page 20).
While Envista’s local headcount dipped 8.7%, Keel said that they’re hiring more people this year and that “demand is very strong.” Envista has 12,300 employees companywide.
Last Thursday, the company reported second quarter grew 5.6% to $682 million, surpassing the consensus estimate of $639.9 million.
The company raised its full-year guidance from the previous forecast of 1% to 3%, and is now expecting sales growth of 3% to 4%.
Shares surged 10% to $20.83 and a $3.5 billion market cap after the announcement.
Legacy Products
Envista’s products are used in 200 million dental procedures a year and can be found within 90% of dentists’ offices, according to its website.
“If you think of when you go to the dentist, or you think of some of the most important inventions in the last 100 years in dentistry, Envista has had a hand in a lot of them,” Keel said.
Envista was the ex-dental unit of Danaher Corp.
It was spun off in 2018 and went public a year later after raising a $643.4 million initial public offering.
The company now owns more than 30 dental brands, including Ormco and Nobel Biocare, both of which make up the company’s specialty products and technologies unit.
Its portfolio of brands has contributed to dental advancements, such as Ormco with braces.
Ormco, in partnership with Dr. Larry Andrews, invented the first commercially available braces with pre-adjusted brackets in the 1930s.
Keel said that since he joined Envista in the second half of 2024, the company has had strong year-over-year increases in research and development.
Envista invested $25 million for new product development in 2024, according to an annual report.
Last year, Envista launched a new dental imaging platform which creates 3D images of the patient’s anatomy, allowing the dentist to see inside the patient’s head noninvasively.
Other new products include the Dexis Ti2 intraoral sensors, added features for its DTX Studio Clinic diagnostic software and the launch of the Spark On-Demand program enabling doctors to order any amount of aligners and retainers without subscription commitments.
Part of the $25 million also went to clinical education.
One of the biggest issues facing the dental industry is a lack of clinicians, according to Keel.
“There’s just not enough dentists and specialists, so that’s a big challenge right now for the global dental world,” he said.
With the investment, Envista trained 120,000 clinicians through individual sessions and major events such as the Envista Summit in Europe and the Ormco Summit in the U.S.
Shares Up 25% on Q1 Earnings Beat
In May, Envista reported first quarter earnings that beat estimates amid a sluggish market for the dental industry, according to some analysts.
Envista reported an adjusted profit of 24 cents per share on $617 million in sales. Analysts by comparison expected 20 cents and $606 million in revenue.
Shares have reacted positively to the news, increasing more than 25% to $20.23 and a $3.4 billion market cap within the past three months.
Segments with growth include consumables, premium implants and the Spark clear aligners, excluding impact from deferrals. Keel said that Spark is one of the company’s fastest-growing products, estimating that it’s a $250 million business and represents about 10% of sales.
Growth in these areas was offset by declines in diagnostics globally and orthodontics in China, according to CFO Eric Hammes during the earnings call.
The company at the time maintained its full-year outlook of 1% to 3% core sales growth.
“Guidance for 2025 was also maintained despite unquantified tariff headwinds, and while we were positively surprised by that, we believe that also likely takes away margin/EPS upside potential later this year,” Baird analysts Jeff Johnson and Dane Reinhardt wrote in a note to investors on May 1.
“Combined with still sluggish end markets and ongoing margin pressures, that leaves our cautious near-term stance unchanged today.”
Citing these reasons, the firm reiterated its Neutral rating and price target of $21 for Envista.
During the earnings call, Keel said that the impact from tariffs were “negligible” to the business and that they were implementing strategies to further increase the company’s resiliency.
Envista launched a tariff task force that’s primarily focused on strengthening its local supply chain infrastructure.
“We try not to change our strategy on what happens in any one particular country at any one particular time,” Keel said. “We play for the long game.”
$250M Share Repurchase Program
The company additionally gave an update on the company’s share repurchase program, previously announced during the company’s fourth quarter earnings call.
Envista’s board of directors, which includes ICU Medical Inc. CEO Vivek Jain, authorized up to $250 million in share repurchases between now and the end of 2026.
In the first quarter, Envista said it purchased $19 million of its stock, or just over 1.1 million shares. In the second quarter, it purchased 4.8 million shares for approximately $82 million.
“While this is something new for our company, Envista is a highly cash-regenerative business,” Keel said when the restructuring was first announced in February.
Officials said that the share repurchase program is in line with its three main financial goals of investing in organic growth, potential M&A activities and returning surplus cash to shareholders.
Envista also underwent a recent restructuring that’s expected to generate about $20 million of gross annualized savings.
Delivering Smiles to Jamaica
Envista Holdings Corp. created a philanthropic arm four years ago to provide oral care to underserved communities.
Last year, Envista Smile Project donated $1.8 million in dental goods and services.
The company recently sponsored five senior residents, in partnership with Great Shape Inc.’s 1000 Smiles project, to go to Jamaica where they treated more than 1,661 patients within two weeks. They also distributed more than 11,670 oral hygiene kits containing toothbrushes, toothpaste and floss.
Rural Jamaica is one the many places with limited access to dental care. For every 100,000 people, there is just one public dentist in the area, according to 1000 Smiles.
In previous years, the foundation has done mission trips to Ukraine and Vietnam, Chief Executive Paul Keel said.
“We spend a lot of time talking about how do we take care of one another?” Keel said. “A big part of our people strategy centers around the Smile Project.”
The Envista Smile Project has given more than $4.2 billion to date since its inception, impacting approximately 32,000 people worldwide, according to an annual report.
