Image source: The Motley Fool.
Nordson (NASDAQ:NDSN) Q2 2018 Earnings Conference CallMay. 22, 2018 8:30 a.m. ET
Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks:
Operator
Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Nordson Corporation webcast for second quarter fiscal year 2018. [Operator instructions] As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to introduce your host for today's conference, Ms. Lara Mahoney, vice president of investor relations and communications.
Ma'am, you may begin.
Lara Mahoney -- Vice President, Investor Relations and Communications
Thank you, Jimmy. Good morning. We are pleased to welcome you to Nordson Corporation's conference call today, Tuesday, May 22, 2018 to report financial results for the second quarter fiscal year 2018, as well as our third-quarter outlook for fiscal year 2018. My name is Lara Mahoney, vice president of investor relations and communications for Nordson.
I'm here with Mike Hilton, our president and CEO, and Greg Thaxton, executive vice president and CFO. Our conference call is being broadcast live on our web page at nordson.com/investors and will be available there for 14 days. There will be a telephone replay of our conference call available until June 5, 2018, which can be accessed by dialing (404) 537-3406. You will need to reference ID number 379-7796.
During this conference call, forward-looking statements may be made regarding our future performance based on Nordson's current expectations. These statements may involve a number of risks, uncertainties, and other factors as discussed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that could cause actual results to differ. After our remarks on the quarter, we will be happy to take your questions. With that, I'll turn the call over to Mike.
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Lara, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining Nordson's 2018 second-quarter conference call. We delivered a record second quarter on many metrics, and I'd like to commend our dedicated global team for their commitment and focus. The resilient performance of our base business, coupled with the strategic fit of our recent acquisitions, led to improvement in operating profit, diluted earnings per share, and EBITDA as compared to the second quarter a year ago.
Our sustained focus on continuous improvement initiatives, product tiering, and providing the best technology solutions drove solid bottom-line performance. I'll now provide some highlights on our financial results and Greg will offer more detailed commentary in a few moments. Looking at the second quarter, sales, operating profit, diluted earnings per share, and EBITDA were all second-quarter records. These are impressive results against very challenging comparison, where each segment delivered strong organic growth last year, and total company organic sales growth was 9% in the prior-year second quarter.
Each segment delivered strong operating margin in the current quarter, where, excluding one-time charges and the incremental $4 million of intangible asset amortization expense in the current-year second quarter, total company adjusted operating margin was 24%, and adjusted EBITDA margin improved over 100 basis points as compared to the same period a year ago, reaching 29% in the current quarter, highlighting our solid second-quarter performance. Looking ahead to the third quarter, we face very challenging comparisons to the prior year's third quarter, where each segment delivered strong organic growth and the total company organic sales growth was 11%. I'll speak more about our outlook in a few moments, but first I'll turn the call over to Greg to provide a more detailed perspective on the second quarter and our third-quarter guidance. Greg?
Gregory A. Thaxton -- Chief Financial Officer
Thank you, Mike, and good morning to everyone. I'll first provide some comments on our second-quarter results before moving on to our outlook for the third quarter of fiscal 2018. Second-quarter sales increased 12% over the prior-year second quarter inclusive of a decrease of approximately 1% in organic volume, approximately 7% increase related to the first year effect of acquisitions, and approximately 5% increase related to the favorable effects of currency translation compared to the prior-year second quarter. Organic sales volume was in line with our expectations, coming in at the midpoint of our guidance range as we expected moderation against last year's results, particularly in the advanced technology systems segment where prior-year organic growth was 18%.
Within the adhesive dispensing segment, organic volume was down about 2% against 5% organic growth in last year's second quarter. Our end market demand remains relatively strong, and we expect this segment to grow organically in the second half of the year. Within the advanced technology systems segment, organic volume was down 1% as compared to the prior-year second-quarter organic growth of 18%. Although we did see growth in certain product lines, expected moderation in the quarter impacted performance.
Prior-year growth included very strong performance in both electronic systems and fluid management end markets. This segment's acquisitive growth in the current quarter includes a partial month of a 2017 InterSelect GmbH acquisition, two months of a 2017 acquisition of Vention and the 2018 acquisition of Sonoscan. Within the Industrial Coating segment, powder and container product lines drove this quarter's organic sales growth of 4%. Moving down the income statement.
Gross margin for the total company was 55% in the quarter. Operating profit improved 22% to $127 million as compared to the prior-year second quarter, with reported operating margin of 23% in the current quarter. As Mike mentioned, the quarter's results include approximately $4 million of incremental intangible asset amortization expense as compared to the prior-year second quarter. Excluding a $1 million charge in the quarter for restructuring, a $2 million charge for step-up in value of acquired inventory, and the $4 million of incremental amortization expense, adjusted operating margin was 24% in the current quarter.
As noted in the February earnings call, we did incur incremental costs associated with the adhesive facilities consolidation effort that impacted total company operating margin by approximately 50 basis points or $3 million. We're estimating the incremental cost for this initiative will be about $2 million in the third quarter and $1 million in the fourth quarter. On a segment basis, adhesive dispensing delivered strong operating margin of 29% in the second quarter, or 31% to exclude one-time restructuring charges of approximately $1 million and the $3 million incremental cost related to the facility-consolidation effort. Within the advanced technology systems segment, reported operating margin was 23% in the second quarter, or 26% when excluding $4 million of incremental intangible asset amortization expense, and the $2 million of short-term purchase accounting charges related to the step-up in value of Sonoscan acquired inventory.
The industrial coatings segment delivered operating margin of 18% in the second quarter, which is up 70 basis points from the prior year due to volume leverage. On a total-company basis, net income for the quarter was $91 million, and GAAP diluted earnings were $1.55 per share, a 40% increase over the prior-year GAAP diluted earnings per share. Four million dollars of incremental intangible asset amortization charges reduced earnings per share by $0.05 per diluted share. The $2 million for short-term purchase accounting related to the step-up in value of acquired inventory and the $1 million of nonrecurring restructuring charges reduced earnings per share by $0.04 per diluted share.
Additionally, a tax benefit of $2 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, was recognized in the quarter for excess tax benefits related to share-based payment transactions which are credited to income tax expense. A reconciliation of GAAP earnings per share to non-GAAP adjusted earnings per share is included in the financial exhibits of our press release. We delivered strong second-quarter EBITDA of $157 million, or $160 million on an adjusted basis to exclude the step-up in value of acquired inventory. Adjusted EBITDA margin improved approximately 100 basis points over the prior-year second quarter to 29% of sales.
From a balance-sheet perspective, net debt to trailing 12 months EBITDA was 2 times at the end of the second quarter. Our press release includes financial exhibits reconciling net income to free cash flow before dividends and adjusted free cash flow before dividends as well as EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA. I'll now turn to the outlook for the third quarter of fiscal 2018. As in the recently completed second quarter, we are facing very difficult comparisons in our third quarter, where prior-year third-quarter organic growth was 11%, driven by strong organic growth in all three segments, including 18% organic growth in the advanced technology systems segment.
We're forecasting sales to be in the range of up 1% to down 3% as compared to the third quarter a year ago. This outlook includes organic volume to be in the range of down 2% to down 6%, 1% growth from the first-year effect of acquisitions and a positive currency effect of 2% based on the current exchange rate environment as compared to the prior year. We are forecasting solid organic growth in most all product lines in each segment, with softness in the dispense product lines serving electronic and automotive end markets. At the midpoint of this outlook, we expect third-quarter gross margin to be about 55% and operating margin to be approximately 23%.
We're estimating third-quarter interest expense of about $12 million and depreciation and amortization expense of about $28 million, resulting in third-quarter forecasted GAAP diluted earnings in the range of $1.47 to $1.63 per diluted share. We expect EBITDA to be in the range of $155 million to $168 million. Consistent with our comments in the February earnings call, our effective tax rate for the third quarter and full year based on current tax law and our jurisdictional mix of income is estimated to be approximately 25%. And with that, I'll turn the call back over to you, Mike.
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Greg. Again, I'd like to express my appreciation to our outstanding global team for helping deliver record second-quarter results. Organic growth in 2017 was exceptionally strong, which means we're up against challenging comparisons during 2018, particularly in the advanced technology segment. We do, however, expect to generate total company organic sales growth in the low single digits on a full-year basis for fiscal 2018.Our team is committed to leveraging the tools within the Nordson business system to drive operating efficiencies and bottom-line results, while delivering the best technology solutions and customer service experience.Our capital deployment objectives remain consistent, and we have continued to target high-quality opportunities in the marketplace that will help drive our strategic vision for long-term growth.
With that, we'll pause and take your questions.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
[Operator instructions] Our first question comes from Allison Poliniak with Wells Fargo. Your line is now open.
Allison Poliniak -- Wells Fargo Securities -- Analyst
Hi, guys. Good morning.
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Good morning, Allison.
Allison Poliniak -- Wells Fargo Securities -- Analyst
Could you talk to any change that you might be experiencing in terms of customer tone or conversations? I mean, are you seeing anything like that? Or is it pretty consistent with your expectations?
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
I would say the second quarter was certainly pretty consistent with our expectations. And I'd say, when we look at current business, we're not seeing any particular change in tone from our customers.
Allison Poliniak -- Wells Fargo Securities -- Analyst
Great. And then on adhesive dispensing, it seems like you've said organic growth in the back half of the year. And I think I'm just trying, Greg, to kind of back into your comments. Should we assume organic growth in adhesive dispensing in Q3? And I guess -- I mean, you just have the visibility into that side.
Any color there?
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, we expect to see organic growth in the adhesive segment in Q3. I think, as we've talked about in the past, the headwinds we're really up against or around the mobile electronics dispense piece and some platform work in the automobile segment. Beyond that, the rest of the business looks solid. And we expect, as we mentioned, to see solid growth in those business product lines.
Allison Poliniak -- Wells Fargo Securities -- Analyst
Great. Thank you so much.
Operator
And our next question comes from Jeff Hammond with KeyBanc Capital.
Jeff Hammond -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst
Hi. Good morning, guys.
So as I look, the backlog grew nicely and is I think at record levels, up 10% core. And it seems like historically, there is pretty good correlation between that and your next quarter out. So I'm just trying to kind of reconcile the backlog growth versus the weaker 3Q guide and maybe how that plays out in the 4Q. I don't know if there is some time in the orders.
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. Jeff, so if you look at the current backlog, we do have some larger projects, some of which will get delivered in the fourth quarter. I'd say, at this point, order rates are kind of flattish to last year. The biggest challenge, again, is in the electronics dispense piece, which we saw a dramatic increase in orders last Q3.
And so as we look at this year, the guidance we're putting out there reflects a view that we're not going to be able to operate in that particular product line at the same level that we saw last year. And that's really what's coloring our expectations for the third quarter.
Jeff Hammond -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst
So as I look, the backlog grew nicely and is I think at record levels, up 10% core. And it seems like historically, there is pretty good correlation between that and your next quarter out. So I'm just trying to kind of reconcile the backlog growth versus the weaker 3Q guide and maybe how that plays out in the 4Q. I don't know if there is some time in the orders.
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. Jeff, so if you look at the current backlog, we do have some larger projects, some of which will get delivered in the fourth quarter. I'd say, at this point, order rates are kind of flattish to last year. The biggest challenge, again, is in the electronics dispense piece, which we saw a dramatic increase in orders last Q3.
And so as we look at this year, the guidance we're putting out there reflects a view that we're not going to be able to operate in that particular product line at the same level that we saw last year. And that's really what's coloring our expectations for the third quarter.
Jeff Hammond -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst
OK. And then the automotive platform, is that a function of tough comps? Or you're seeing some slowing in automotive there?
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Well, I'd say from an operating-rate standpoint, the -- which would affect sort of our parts business and so forth, that continues to be solid. But the platform piece is really model-changeover-related. And we've seen that slow down if you look at the overall global statistics from the automakers. Last year was a little softer than year before and this year is a little softer again.
So platform work generates larger business. And that's the comp that we're up against in that particular business. If you look at the other parts of the Industrial Coating business, we're seeing some nice growth there.
Jeff Hammond -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst
OK. Then just finally, can you talk about how you think the medical business grows in the second half of the year kind of relative to normal growth rates? Thanks.
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. We expect to see solid growth in the medical business in the second half of the year, sort of high single-digit kind of growth in that business, really along the lines of what we expected. All the different parts of that business are performing well. And we're very pleased with what we see in that business.
Jeff Hammond -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst
Thanks, guys.
Operator
And our next question comes from Matt Summerville with D.A. Davidson.
Matt Summerville -- D.A. Davidson -- Analyst
Thanks. Couple of questions. First, just with respect to adhesive dispensing, the nonrestructuring hits you're taking, I think you said $3 million in Q2, then it steps down to $2 million, then $1 million. And I don't have the number in front of me, but it's -- but I remember a $4 million to $5 million number in Q1 of this year.
So let's just call it $10 million in fiscal '18. Does that all go away in fiscal '19? And I guess, on top of removing those inefficiencies, what do you gain from an efficiency standpoint? Can you help bridge that?
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. So let me comment. If you recall on that business, we're going from three facilities to one in the U.S. in our core components part of that business.
Right now, we have four facilities operating as we do the transition. That'll continue throughout the year. And in Europe, we're going from two to one. So those are really the fact that we're operating more facilities than we expect in the long run of contributing to the sort of duplicate costs.
And as part of that, we've been investing in new technology to improve efficiency. So the duplicate costs should go away in '18. We should be finished by the end of, I'd say, the calendar year here this year. And then we would expect to see over time efficiencies -- obviously, that's a function of volume loading as well -- but we expect to see improved efficiencies over time in that business.
Matt Summerville -- D.A. Davidson -- Analyst
And sticking just with adhesives, you typically provide a little bit more granularity in terms of business trends by each product category. Can you talk about more specifics around what you're seeing in plastics processing versus nonwoven versus rigid, product assembly? Can you give little more detail there, please?
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. I'd say, in the various product lines on the plastic side, we're seeing solid order intake and expectations of growth for the remainder of the year. I'd say the encouraging sign is that the OEMs are ordering a variety of different end markets that we support. And then in our core adhesives business, I'd say we're seeing solid growth in our packaging area and some improvements in our product assembly.
And nonwovens, we expect to be up for the year, but that can vary quarter to quarter just based on projects.
Matt Summerville -- D.A. Davidson -- Analyst
Thank you.
Operator
And our next question comes from Charley Brady with SunTrust.
Charley Brady -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst
Hey, thanks. Good morning, guys.
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Good morning, Charley.
Charley Brady -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst
Just a quick one on raw material price/cost. Kind of any impact you're seeing on that or maybe might be seeing down the road here rest of the year?
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. Just a couple of comments there, Charley. I'd say the area where we're seeing some push is in the metal side. We have some protection with our agreements and a strong sourcing strategy there.
So I'd say, it's not really translated into any significant effects at this point and that we think we will be able to manage that through our sourcing activities as well as any pricing we could pass on there. So I don't see that as a big issue. I'd say, the other part of our cost stack is around labor. And we're seeing increases there, but that's a focus of our continuous improvement activity is to help offset those.
So nothing I'd say out of the ordinary at the moment.
Charley Brady -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst
Can you give the break down of the aftermarket piece of it, the parts component of it? Generally, that runs pretty high for you guys. I'm wondering, any unusual there? Kind of give us some granularity on that.
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
No, it's about half and half at this point. Over time, as things like the medical business grow with the single-use components, that probably will stay or grow a little bit above that. But right now, it's about half and half.
Charley Brady -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst
All right. And just one more from me. So you guys, particularly in life sciences have been having a lot of new product development going out. You're actually creating markets you weren't in a few years ago.
Can you talk about kind of the growth you're seeing, just on a new product development standpoint, and kind of where you see that going forward? Does that accelerate going forward?
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, so we have had a lot of success with new product development. And quite frankly, that's a critical focus for us in the long run. So across all of our product lines, we're introducing new products, and I'd say, we're getting good traction on those. While this has been a more challenging year from the dispense side in our electronics business, we've seen nice growth in our inspection business as a result of strong new products.
We're seeing nice growth in our tiering strategy continuing in our adhesives business, including probably 100 or so new customers on a lower tier that we haven't served before. And we're seeing some new product introductions in our coatings business and really taking advantage of some new applications, for example, electric battery, which should continue to grow in the long run. It's a nice contributor right now. It's not going to be huge, but it's a nice contributor and is related to products that fit specifically certain applications across the electrical battery.
So I'd say continues to be the lifeline of the business. We're continuing to focus on driving new products. And quite frankly, in the long run, that's why we're going to grow at a multiple, something like 2 times global GDP because we can create new products, we get into new markets, new applications. That combination is what helps us grow above GDP in the long run.
Charley Brady -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst
Thanks, Mike.
Operator
And our next question comes from Christopher Glynn with Oppenheimer. Your line is now open.
Christopher Glynn -- Oppenheimer & Company -- Analyst
Hey. So the ADS margins, very strong pro forma, maybe a bigger tick up seasonally than normal. Was there kind of favorable mix or FX impacts as you moved from the first quarter to the second quarter?
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. I would say, certainly, the mix of products across the various product lines was favorable, and we do -- we did get a benefit from the currency as well.
Christopher Glynn -- Oppenheimer & Company -- Analyst
OK. And in terms of the non-restructuring bucket hits that, I think, really came at about $10 million for the year. Is that better thought of as the pro forma payback than incidental inefficiencies?
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Well, certainly, year on year, that cost should go away, so there should be a step-up. But over time, we should see continued improvement in margin in those product lines as we've consolidated, but not only consolidated, but updated the equipment through automation. So it'll be a combination of both as it plays out over time.
Christopher Glynn -- Oppenheimer & Company -- Analyst
OK, great. And just curious your relative view of capital deployment for the balance of the year as you toggle between bolt-ons, debt reduction and share repurchase use.
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
I'd say, No. 1, we do everything we can to continue to support our organic growth. So that's not going to change, and our dividend approach is not going to change. From an M&A standpoint, we are focused in the short term with creating more capacity for potential opportunities down the road.
So we have been focused on reducing the debt-to-EBITDA levels, and we'll continue to do that in the near term. I think longer term, it really depends on timing and how the acquisition pipeline plays out. We've got some good opportunities. As you know, we can never fully predict when they're going to come to fruition.
But right now, our near-term focus is on reducing the debt level.
Christopher Glynn -- Oppenheimer & Company -- Analyst
Great. Thank you.
Operator
And our next question comes from Matthew Trusz with Gabelli & Company.
Matthew Trusz -- Gabelli & Company -- Analyst
Good morning. Thank you for taking my question.
Gregory A. Thaxton -- Chief Financial Officer
Good morning.
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Good morning.
Matthew Trusz -- Gabelli & Company -- Analyst
Have these ADS facility consolidation efforts impacted that segment's growth in any way?
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
I'd say not in the near term. I think the challenge has been for us is we've got to operate more facilities than we like in the transition because it's largely an engineer-to-order business. And so we can't really build inventory to accelerate that. So we've been moving products and equipment in a stepwise fashion as we load up the new facility.
So that's really translated into more operating cost than we would have in some other businesses where we can build inventory.
Gregory A. Thaxton -- Chief Financial Officer
Matt, this is Greg. What I'd suggest is, with the investment we've made in technology, we're actually trying to move it in a more positive direction, in a more efficient manufacturing environment, better first-pass quality, less touch, so actually providing some capacity.
Matthew Trusz -- Gabelli & Company -- Analyst
OK. Thank you. And just following up on your M&A comp. I know you're building capacity.
Is there a discrete reason why that you're either seeing larger deals that contribute to build out a certain niche that require bigger investments?
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Well, we made four large acquisitions last year and a couple of smaller ones this year. And so the focus really has been moving from a three-plus level down to two-or-so. But we do have a solid pipeline, and we want to make sure that we're not constrained in any way should the opportunities come forward. So in the near term, that's not a forever comment.
That's in the near term. That's still our focus.
Matthew Trusz -- Gabelli & Company -- Analyst
OK. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. And our next question comes from David Stratton with Great Lakes Review. Your line is now open.
David Stratton -- Great Lakes Review -- Analyst
Good morning. Thank you for taking the questions.
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Good morning.
David Stratton -- Great Lakes Review -- Analyst
[Inaudible] what you're seeing on a foreign basis? Are you starting to see or hear anything from your customers regarding the impact of tariffs? Or just if you can paint some color around what might be going on behind the scenes there and what you're hearing, that would be helpful.
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, I would say, obviously, certain customers in certain countries are well aware of the dialogue that's going back and forth. I would say, they're being vigilant, but I don't think it's having an impact on any decisions they're making in the near term, so we're not necessarily seeing any project delays or anything like that as a result of the discussions. Now, you know, we're pretty balanced around the globe in terms of our manufacturing footprint and our ability to supply. So that'll be helpful for us going forward.
But in the near term, we're not hearing customers putting off projects as a result of concerns in that regard.
David Stratton -- Great Lakes Review -- Analyst
Excellent. Then last year, I remember I think there was some pretty strong mobile phone growth, especially in China, regarding automation. And once again, regarding -- just what's going on politically and then also in the cycle. Is that growth still there, that leg?
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, so last year was a very strong year for the mobile handset market, in particular. There was a lot of new phones introduced and a fair bit of innovation. This year, what we're seeing is a little bit more incremental approach, a little bit less innovation and that's having an impact on this. I don't think there's any issues related to sort of politics or anything like that.
It's really just a function of demand. And overall growth in the smartphone area is a little -- has moderated a little bit. So a combination of not a lot of new and some moderation in growth is making it a little bit more challenging year for us on the -- particularly on the dispense side in -- for the mobile handset market, but nothing politically related there.
David Stratton -- Great Lakes Review -- Analyst
All right. Then one final for me. Normally, I think you give some adjusted EPS outlook. And it doesn't look like you've done that in this quarter's press release.
So I was wondering if there is a reason or if you could comment on what you expect the adjusted results to be for the outlook.
Gregory A. Thaxton -- Chief Financial Officer
Yeah. This is Greg. No, we didn't provide any guidance for expected one-time costs in the quarter. We did comment on the duplicate costs, which was going to be part of the results, but did not guide to any one-time type of charges in the quarter.
If we have them, I wouldn't expect them to be significant.
David Stratton -- Great Lakes Review -- Analyst
All right. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. And our next question comes from Chris Dankert with Longbow Research. Your line is now open.
Christopher Dankert -- Longbow Research -- Analyst
Yeah, good morning, guys.
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Good morning.
Christopher Dankert -- Longbow Research -- Analyst
I guess, just kind of building off the last question a bit here. Any comments -- I mean, you mentioned that in line semi test was growing nicely. I guess, any commentary on investment in China's semiconductors and kind of how that growth is benefiting the technology segment right now?
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Well, I'd say the investment has largely -- in China has largely been in the back-end packaging side, which is helpful for us. As far as the semiconductor side, there's certainly a lot of government support for additional investment. But that's not necessarily leading the way as it relates to opportunities for us. The opportunities for us in the semi side are in very advanced dispense and very advanced inspection.
I'd say on the inspection side, we've seen pretty solid growth. I'd say on the dispense side, some of the technology, we have additional interest in that, but it has not necessarily come to fruition yet in the last quarter or so.
Christopher Dankert -- Longbow Research -- Analyst
Got you. I know you said the organic growth from medical still looks in that high single-digit range. I guess, you've had the Vention on board for a year now. Just any commentary on, did that fully hit targets? Is it much better than you expected? Just some thoughts on cross-selling and anything on Vention specifically?
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yes. So I'd say Vention is meeting our expectations. Let's say, on the cross-selling side, we're seeing some uplift there. What we did is reorganize our overall medical business into a one Nordson platform and really integrated the other components of our business into the Vention structure where there's a design and development piece, a components -- proprietary components piece and a very focus-finished device piece that includes the prior two.
And we like that structure going forward, and we think that gets us closest to the critical customers that drive growth in that business. So I would say we feel good about the direction that that's heading, feel good about the integration. We feel good about one -- the one Nordson medical approach now with the capability that we have.
Christopher Dankert -- Longbow Research -- Analyst
Sounds good. Thanks, guys.
Operator
Thank you. And our next question comes from Walter Liptak with Seaport Global. Your line is now open.
Walter Liptak -- Seaport Global -- Analyst
Hi, thanks. I've got just one follow-up on the guidance and then one on the outlook. The �� yeah, when you were talking about the GAAP, non-GAAP EPS in one of the prior questions, so just want to clarify, Greg, that in your third quarter, you're not going to have any inventory purchase accounting adjustments or other acquisition costs or severance, anything to adjust to non-GAAP, so the GAAP, non-GAAP should be the same.
Gregory A. Thaxton -- Chief Financial Officer
Correct. We will not have any more inventory step-up for those acquisition-related. If there would be any other one-time like restructuring, I wouldn't expect it to be material. The timing of when those kinds of activities hit is unknown.
So there is -- there are no charges in our guidance for EPS related to restructuring. But again, we're past the acquisition-related charges. We've also anniversaried the Vention acquisition, so we don't have the incremental intangible asset amortization expense over the prior year going forward. But as I mentioned, we do have the duplicate costs associated with the facility consolidation in the numbers, and that charge is in the EPS guidance.
Walter Liptak -- Seaport Global -- Analyst
OK. And that was the $2 million?
Gregory A. Thaxton -- Chief Financial Officer
Right.
Walter Liptak -- Seaport Global -- Analyst
OK. And then when you were on the conference call last quarter, you guys were talking about kind of a project funnel in electronics that was pretty full, that you were -- you sounded pretty optimistic about. Did something happen during the quarter to make you less optimistic? Because I think about you talking about your order trends. I think, Mike, you mentioned that orders were flat.
How are you feeling about that electronics end market and the project funnel going forward?
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, I'd say there are still some project efforts ongoing. I would say this feels clearly like a talk year though, where there is less innovation going in. And then the third quarter, particularly last year, we had a huge step-up on the dispense side. And I think what we're saying is, we don't see that kind of step-up, and that's a really the challenge in the third quarter, and quite frankly, the biggest challenge for the whole year.
Now if you look at some of the, say, the inspection side, we've got a more diverse end markets, and we're seeing a lot of good growth in that part of the business, including areas like auto electronics, which have been fairly strong for us. It really comes down to a very significant step-up last year in the third quarter that we're trying to offset with all the other businesses, and that's a challenge in the quarter. And quite frankly, it's pressure on the whole year.
Walter Liptak -- Seaport Global -- Analyst
OK. So maybe another way to look at is that we're kind of in this flat environment where with advanced tech on the tough comp, so in decline. And then coatings and adhesives sound like they're experiencing some kind of low single-digit growth.
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. I think if you put it in perspective for the whole year, we said we expected organically to see sort of that low single-digit growth. So I think if you look at the two areas that we called out, the sort of dispense side for mobile electronics and the auto platform work, outside of that, everything else has grown mid-single digit-plus. So it's really the drag associated with those two as a function and particularly largely the electronics dispense piece in a year where there is less customer innovation, so less opportunity for us.
So the other businesses, we expect to have a very solid year.
Walter Liptak -- Seaport Global -- Analyst
OK. All right. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. And our final question comes from Matt Summerville with D.A. Davidson. Your line is now open.
Matt Summerville -- D.A. Davidson -- Analyst
A quick follow-up maybe to your last comment, Mike. Last year in fiscal '17, rough cut, what percent of revenue would have been driven by the mobile dispense and auto platform businesses you mentioned?
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. So I think if you look at just the advanced tech segment, the mobile piece could have been close to -- on the dispense side, it's probably in that sort of 20% range-or-so. And the auto piece is --was probably about 20% of the coatings business. So both of those, we'll see declines this year that are -- will be sort of double-digit decline.
Matt Summerville -- D.A. Davidson -- Analyst
And then just with respect to whether you look sequentially the incremental margin, if you will, on the higher revenue that you're forecasting looks pretty minimal, on a year-over-year basis, the decrementals on your revenue outlook looks gigantic. So just help me understand again the margin implications that maybe this mobile piece is having in ATS? When I look back to your last several fiscal Q3s, you've been posting 30% -plus margins. What's implied here today is obviously, if you make the math work, your EPS guidance, right, is considerably less than that. Can you just close the loop on that?
Gregory A. Thaxton -- Chief Financial Officer
Yeah, Matt, this is Greg. I guess, what I suggest is for the base business, so we've got the Sonoscan acquisition. That's incremental. That is not going to carry the kind of margins that the base Nordson business does.
It's got some noncash charges for purchase accounting that burden those results. If you then take the base business and look at -- kind of model the -- just like we have the incremental on the upside, we're going to have that same kind of decremental on the downside impacting our margins. So I don't know that I'd say it's outsized from what we typically incurred historically.
Matt Summerville -- D.A. Davidson -- Analyst
Got it. Thank you, guys.
Operator
Thank you. And I'm showing no further questions in the queue at this time. I'd like to turn the call back over to Mike Hilton, CEO, for any closing remarks.
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you. And thank you all for participating in today's call. The bottom line, I think our core business is strong. We'll continue to grow, and we have some strategic acquisitions we've made that we're pleased with, and we have some opportunities going forward to increase both organic growth and our acquisition growth, consistent with sort of our long-term objectives.
So again, thank you to our global team for staying focused and delivering this quarter and into the future. Thank you.
Operator
[Operator signoff]
Duration: 42 minutes
Call Participants:
Lara Mahoney -- Vice President, Investor Relations and Communications
Michael F. Hilton -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Gregory A. Thaxton -- Chief Financial Officer
Allison Poliniak -- Wells Fargo Securities -- Analyst
Jeff Hammond -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst
Matt Summerville -- D.A. Davidson -- Analyst
Charley Brady -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst
Christopher Glynn -- Oppenheimer & Company -- Analyst
Matthew Trusz -- Gabelli & Company -- Analyst
David Stratton -- Great Lakes Review -- Analyst
Christopher Dankert -- Longbow Research -- Analyst
Walter Liptak -- Seaport Global -- Analyst
More NDSN analysis
This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability.
10 stocks we like better than NordsonWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has quadrupled the market.*
David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Nordson wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.
Click here to learn about these picks!
*Stock Advisor returns as of May 8, 2018
News coverage about Crown Crafts (NASDAQ:CRWS) has been trending somewhat positive recently, Accern Sentiment Analysis reports. The research firm identifies positive and negative media coverage by monitoring more than twenty million news and blog sources in real-time. Accern ranks coverage of public companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores nearest to one being the most favorable. Crown Crafts earned a media sentiment score of 0.02 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned news headlines about the textile maker an impact score of 45.7368044830582 out of 100, indicating that recent media coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the company’s share price in the near future. 
Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its holdings in shares of Vanguard Growth ETF (NYSEARCA:VUG) by 30.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 23,743 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,530 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Vanguard Growth ETF were worth $3,369,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. 
Read More
VF Co. (NYSE:VFC) Chairman Steven E. Rendle sold 74,180 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.12, for a total value of $5,943,301.60. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 257,070 shares in the company, valued at $20,596,448.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 