Crane (CR) Q2 2026 earnings call transcript

Thank you, Tasha, and good day, everyone. Welcome to our second quarter 2026 earnings release conference call. I'm Allison Poliniak, Vice President of Investor Relations. On our call this morning, we have Alex Vakala, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Rich Maui, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, along with Jason Feldman, Senior Vice President, Treasury and Tax, who's on for Q&A.

We will start off our call with a few prepared remarks from Alex and Rich, after which we will respond to your questions. And just a reminder, the comments that we make on this call will include some forward-looking statements. We refer you to the cautionary language at the bottom of our earnings release, and also in our annual report, 10K, and subsequent filings pertaining to forward-looking statements.

Also during the call, we will be using some non-GAAP numbers, which are reconciled to the comparable GAAP numbers in tables at the end of our press release and a company slide presentation, both of which are available on our website at www. claneco. com in the investor relations section.

Now, let me turn the call over to Alex.

Thank you, Allison, and good morning, everyone. We delivered record second quarter results that reflected strong execution across the company and continued momentum across our portfolio. That excellent performance included solid 5% core sales growth, strong operating leverage, and the continued benefits of our recent acquisitions. And momentum continues to build across the company. Total backlog increased 5% sequentially during the quarter, with core sequential backlog growth across both segments, providing further visibility and confidence as we move into the second half of the year. Aerospace and advanced technologies led the way, delivering 13% core sales growth driven by broad base strength across both commercial aerospace and defense markets.

Backlog also increased to a record of nearly 1.3 billion, with core year-over-year backlog growth of 11%. At Process Flow Technologies, we delivered a second consecutive quarter of sequential core backlog growth. Providing increased visibility and supporting our confidence in a strong second half. Execution remains excellent, with another quarter of adjusted operating margin expansion, despite the temporary dilution from our January acquisition. Combined with positive and improving demand trends, this momentum positions us well for the second half, and also as we head into 2027. Overall, operational execution was exceptional. Total company adjusted operating margin expanded 180 basis points to a record 21.3%, driven by strong core margins in both segments impacted by favorable pricing, strong productivity, and disciplined cost management.

These results demonstrate our ability to convert growth into meaningful earnings expansion while continuing to invest in the long-term opportunities across the portfolio.

The performance of our acquisitions has been outstanding. Integration activities continue to progress ahead of plan. Operational performance has exceeded our expectations, and we are realizing synergies faster than anticipated While also identifying new opportunities for growth and margin improvement. With six months now behind us, I'm incredibly pleased with all aspects of the four acquired businesses. All our associates at Panometrics, Druck, Rutter Stokes, and Optech, together with our dedicated integration teams, Our teams are leveraging these businesses' incredible technology combined with the process and discipline cadence of the Crane business system to achieve results well ahead of plan to date.

And my thanks to the team for driving it every day. It's clear that our vision for these businesses of becoming some of our best and most profitable businesses in Crane is materializing well ahead of schedule. As a result, we now expect our recent acquisitions to contribute approximately $0.20 per share to full-year earnings, up from our prior expectation of approximately $0.15 per share.

Another clear example of our ability to leverage the Crane business system in our incredible culture and talent to drive tremendous shareholder value through accelerated inorganic growth. This is incredibly exciting for Crane. Given our strong first-half performance, record backlog levels, and continued confidence in both our core and acquired businesses, we are raising our full-year adjusted EPS outlook by 20 cents at the midpoint to a range of $6.85 to $7.05 per share. Our updated guidance reflects expectations for core growth near the high end of a long-term framework, continuous strong operational execution, and increasing contributions from our recent acquisitions as we build on the momentum established during the first half of the year.

Turning to aerospace and advanced technologies, we just returned from the Fonboro Airshow in the UK. Today, our outstanding AAT team included our newest associates from Drunk, had another very successful show, meeting with key customers and suppliers and solidifying alignment on a number of key growth initiatives.

And from a market perspective, things could not be stronger with a combined broad base demand across both our commercial and military customer base. Our teams continue to gain share among new and exciting customers. For example, in the quarter, we were selected to supply crucial components for the GE RISE program. And just last week, we announced that we'll be supplying an innovative brake control system for the auto aerospace Phantom 3500 business jet. A solution that leverages Crane's highly modular and adaptable standard system architecture, which enables rapid and low-risk development, clear examples of our capabilities, and our ability to win share on new and growing applications.

Our defense power business, which many of you visited during our investor meeting in Fort Long Beach last year, continues to build momentum. We are seeing accelerating demand in our power solutions for our ESA radar platforms, while also expanding our precision in emerging vehicle electrification programs. In addition to the XM30 demonstrator win that we previously discussed, we secured additional power content on another hybrid electric combat ground vehicle program during the course. Overall, we continue to see strength across the aerospace and defense demand environment.

The backlog we've built, along with the new programs and opportunities our aerospace and advanced technologies teams have secured, continue to provide us with great visibility well beyond 2026. Looking to the balance of the year, we now expect full-year coal-cell scrolls for the segment to land just above the high end of our long-term 7% to 9% range.

Very confident for yet another outstanding year at aerospace and advanced technologies. Process flow technologies delivered another strong quarter, and we remain confident in our ability to consistently outperform the markets we serve over the long term. Over the past several years, as you know, we have strategically shifted the portfolio towards attractive end markets that align well with our differentiated technologies, Strong customer relationships and leading competitive positions, providing a solid foundation for sustained growth and market share gains.

Overall demand for the quarter was in line with our expectations, and execution was strong, driving an 80 basis points improvement in adjusted margins. Again, even with the dilutive impact of the acquisitions. Momentum and cryogenics remain strong, driven by capacity needs within the space launch segment. We secured projects for both SpaceX and Blue Origin in the quarter. We continue to win in this market based on our differentiated engineering support and manufacturing services.

In nuclear, we continue to support restarts of existing facilities, such as Constellation Energy's Crane Clean Energy Center, And we remain well positioned for future growth, given our positioning for Westinghouse AP1000 builds in our core business, and for word of strokes, given their strong positioning in the nuclear space.

For the full year, we expect core growth to be consistent with our initial guidance of flat to up to low single digits, leveraging within our targeted range of 30 to 35 percent, and driving margin expansion despite market handling.

In summary, we delivered a very strong first half and continue to build momentum across the portfolio. Our businesses are performing well. Our end markets remain attractive. We are exceptionally well-positioned to continue generating strong results and drive further long-term shareholder value.

That strong position also provides us with significant strategic flexibility. As we look ahead, acquisitions remain an important lever to further enhance our growth and earnings profile. We remain active in evaluating opportunities and are encouraged by both the quality and breadth of activity across our pipeline.

While timing and competitive dynamics are always difficult to predict, we believe we are well-positioned to deploy capital in a disciplined and value-created manner. Our focus on M&A remains consistent, adding highly engineered, mission-critical technologies that strengthen our existing franchises, increase our exposure to attractive end markets, and support long-term margin expansion. We continue to see strong opportunities across both aerospace and advanced technologies and process flow technologies.

Now, let me turn the call over to our CFO, Mr. Rich Maui, for more specifics on the quarter.

Thank you Alex Another outstanding quarter for Crane Let me start off with total company results Total sales were up 26 in the quarter compared to last year with 5 core growth driven primarily by the ongoing strength within the aerospace and advanced technology segment Sales from our four acquisitions contributed 20 of the growth in the quarter which was above expectations Adjusted operating profit increased 37%, reflecting the impact of the higher core sales, contribution from the acquisitions, productivity, and favorable pricing net of inflation, another outstanding result. And total core FX neutral backlog was up 7% compared to the second quarter of last year and up 5% sequentially, primarily reflecting continued strength at aerospace and advanced technologies, Though backlog was up sequentially again at process flow technologies.

And core orders increased 2% year over year with their aerospace and advanced technologies up 5% and process flow technologies approximately flat. Orders and backlog across the acquisitions were also solid and continuing to support a stronger full-year outlook. We repaid $100 million of debt in the quarter and another $90 million subsequent to the quarter, resulting in pro-forma net leverage today at about 1.2 times, a very strong balance sheet that positions us well for further M&A.

Before discussing segment performance, I wanted to highlight that our adjusted results, both adjusted EPS and adjusted margins, exclude a benefit from IEPA tariff recoveries recorded during the quarter. However, we believe it is important to isolate these one-time recoveries from the true underlying operating trends in the business, and we do not expect any material incremental amounts for the balance of the year.

A few more details on the segments in the quarter. Starting with aerospace and advanced technologies, sales of $339 million increased 31% in the quarter, with core sales up 13.3%. Our record backlog of nearly $1.3 billion increased 11% on a core basis and increased 20%, including DRUK. On a sequential basis, core backlog increased 7%. Once again, as reinforced at the air show last week, demand remains very strong across our highly diverse portfolio. In addition to the wins that Alex just talked about, we continue to respond to increasing RFPs and RFQs across several defense programs, supporting missile defense, and foreign military orders for the F-16 brake control upgrade program continue to grow. Again, continued momentum giving us high confidence in our multi-year outlook.

Let me spend a minute on the core business in the quarter. On the OE side, sales remain strong with both commercial and military up double digits, driven by the ramp at our commercial customers, as well as ongoing strength within the defense market. Total aftermarket was up 8% in the quarter with growth similar across both commercial and military customers.

Taken altogether, we remain very confident in our full-year segment sales outlook and expect full-year core sales growth slightly ahead of our 7% to 9% algorithm.

Adjusted segment margin was excellent and above expectations at 25.8%, compared to 26.6% last year, down slightly reflecting the expected dilutive impact from the drug acquisition. This was an outstanding result given Druck's outperformance in the quarter, as well as continued strong performance in our core A&E business.

Moving to process flow technologies, in Q2, we delivered sales of $386 million, up 21% compared to a year ago, with core sales down 1.4%, with the acquisitions of Panometrics, Rotter Stokes and Optech adding nearly 22 points of growth, and foreign exchange contributed 0.8% points of growth in the quarter.

Compared to the prior year, Core FX neutral backlog at PFT decreased 2%, but on a sequential basis improved 2%, and Core FX neutral orders were approximately consistent with our expectations.

Adjusted operating margin of 22.2% was approximately 80 basis points above last year, And this was inclusive of the dilutive impact from the recent acquisitions. And like aerospace and advanced technologies, results were above our expectations given better performance across both our core businesses and each acquired business. Productivity continues to read through as well as price net costs.

In summary, an excellent quarter. Moving to the non-operational items below the segments. Corporate expense for the quarter was $19 million as expected. And for 2026, we continue to forecast corporate expense to be in a range of $80 to $85 million.

Net non-operating expense of the quarter was $17 million, and we continue to estimate full year 2026 net non-operating expense of approximately $58 million. And lastly, we continue to estimate our tax rate for 2026 to approximately 23%. Taking all of this into account, our performance to date, as well as risks and opportunities we see ahead, and as Alex mentioned, we are raising our adjusted full-year guidance by 20 cents to a range of $6.85 to $7.05.

Looking at the cadence for the second half, we expect Q3 to be similar to Q2 with Q4 modestly lower, reflecting normal historical seasonality. Overall, an outstanding first half, and momentum continues to build.

And with that strong performance, for anyone considering investing in Crane or those looking to potentially invest more in Crane, I am reminding you of the wisdom imparted by the award-winning actor, Matthew Broderick, playing the fan favorite, Ferris Bueller, in the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. And with that, operator, we are now ready to take our first question.

Yeah, sure, Amit. So we're feeling very positive about PFT in the second half. I think when we went into the year, we expected the first half to be the softest, and we were pleased to see two quarters of sequential backlog improvement and sales improvement. As we progressed through the quarter, we saw orders strengthening, and I'll speak more about it. So the demand trends are very positive in position as well for a second half. It could have very well been a positive outcome based on the trends that we've seen from a year-over-year basis. We saw quote activity starting to increase and many areas of strength, including in the chemical production, which is a bit of a new green spout, where we're starting to see customers talk about and report volume growth, in particular in the Americas.

So all signs are quite positive in the second half. I expect PFT to turn positive growth year over year in the second half. Very confident about that with those trends. In addition, I think, you know, in addition to chemical in the America starting to show some positive signs, we continue to see industrial demand be very strong, building backlog in our businesses that drive industrial power, power gen in the United States, natural gas combined cycle plants. We continue to build backlog in that area. Water, wastewater, cryogenics. So all those trends make me very positive about PST in the second half.

Great. Got it. That's helpful. And just as a quick follow-up, I noticed kind of your more stronger comments on the M&A pipeline. It does seem across diversified industrials that there has been a recent uptick in activity. Maybe just give a little bit more color there on kind of there have been shifts in sort of getting closer to the finish line on stuff. And are you still seeing opportunities sort of like PSI that, you know, I know PSI was really kind of three deals in one, so to speak. But would be curious to see if you're seeing deals where you can both kind of see accretion on the technology stack as well as sort of meaningful opportunity for margin expansion.

So if you could just talk about that, we'd appreciate it. Yeah, I mean, I think as a general guideline, our focus on any deal that we make and what investors would expect is that any deal that we make is because we think it's accretive to the growth profile, will become accretive to the margin, will strengthen our portfolio from a technology standpoint, and also will meet the financial hurdles. So that is the base expectation of any deal you'll see us. We are seeing our funnels get stronger with deals with those characteristics in both AAT and PFT. In fact, they've never been stronger. So activity is solid. You know, like I mentioned in my comments, the timing is a bit unpredictable, but we have the debt capacity, we have the management capacity, and I think we're well aligned.

Yeah, thanks, Matt. So on missile demand, we see about $35 million of content today. We're on over 10 programs, including those that you mentioned. We seeing strong demand today increasing but we also seeing from our customers RFQ activity and forecasts that would expand four or five times that rate going to the end of the decade So we are in pretty good position A lot of our electronic power, mod power, microwave content, and we don't have any capacity constraints to supply that demand.

So pretty good upside for us in that area.

Yeah, just to add to that a little bit, you know, because of the capacity that Alex mentioned, we're actually getting incremental quotes for potential content wins from others. So not just growth from existing platforms. So another opportunity, I would say, beyond market for us.

Understood. Good. And maybe if you guys could speak to how you're presently thinking about the durability of the commercial aftermarket cycle and overall demand therein. Seems like maybe you were expecting a little bit of maybe geopolitical induced demand destruction, but that doesn't seem to be coming to fruition. So how would you kind of recalibrate how you're viewing that business today? Thank you. Yeah, Matt, I would say, you know, just overall, demand is solid, remains solid, right? If you step back and you look at our aftermarket positioning, think of us as $55 to $60 million in revenue a quarter in commercial aftermarket. You know, that's incremental. As you know, we have military, but on the commercial side, that's the way to think about our consistent level of demand through the balance of this year.

We would expect commercial aftermarket to continue in the mid-single to upper mid-single rate as you look further out. That's our current view. But overall, for this year, solid, consistent demand levels, and that's incorporated in our updated guidance.

Thank you. Thank you.

Yeah, sure. So, I mean, look, we're seeing good momentum across all areas. As you know, our portfolio is quite broad, commercial OE, commercial aftermarket, mill OE, mill aftermarket. You know, as we were looking at our guide of seven to nine and us now raising that a bit, it is more widespread. So it's not necessarily more in any of those individual categories. We're seeing it more broadly.

So, you know, build rates from the commercial OEs consistent with what we thought, but performing slightly better. And then on the aftermarket on both sides, just given the overall activity, continues to be pretty solid.

We're going to see both. We're going to show volume growth in the third quarter, fourth quarter, and the full second half as well.

I think for the full year, I mean, you can do the math, but we're still expecting to be flat to low single digits. So that has some implications here in the second half. We are going to go positive on a year-over-year.

Yeah. I mean, if you go back in history, yeah, the 3% to 5% is still a good number. If you go back in history during the last cycles and downturns, right, like 2014, 15, before we repositioned the portfolio, during these cycles, we would be down 7%, 8% on the top line. We've been going through this trough, in particular in the chemical markets.

You can see that we outperformed 4% or 5%. Last year, we were closer to 1% flat. So we're not – the portfolio has changed significantly where we're – during the cycle, we don't see that hard dip. So we feel good about that 3% to 5%. It will only get stronger as we do acquisitions and continue to invest organically in our higher-close markets.

So I think that's a solid number to keep thinking about.

You'll get one, Nathan, just for an attempt.

Yeah, look, what I would say, Nathan, is we are going to see continued strong operating leverage in the second half. We had an outstanding performance in the first half across all of PFT. You know, if you just do straight math, it's almost incalculable, right? But just excellent performance in driving margins, notwithstanding the top line headwinds. So then when we do see the volumes come through in the second half, I would expect us to leverage north of our stated leverage rate for the segment. So it will be a very strong performance in the second half.

Yeah, Nathan, we're definitely going to get there faster. So if you remember, we were talking about going from like 58 million of EBITDA to close to 150 million by year five. We're ahead of schedule maybe a year and a half on what we expected. We're seeing just upside opportunities on the growth side, which we didn't bake into our model going in. And on the productivity cost out, just in all aspects, the teams are doing an outstanding job. So we will be there earlier than originally thought. So if you remember when we went into the year, we thought we would grow 4% to 6%, improve 200 basis points, then we revised that to 300 basis points.

Now I'm thinking we're going to be over on the growth side of our guide of the 4% to 6%. It's going to be above that. And it's going to be more than the 300 basis points of improvement. Maybe 350 basis points or higher this year. So that gives you a sense of the pace of improvement. And we have good momentum going into next year as well to continue to drive improvement action.

Yeah, for sure. I mean, for starters, I think I mentioned in prior calls, one of the parts of our playbook is to quickly refresh the strategic plan and drive strategy deployment. So, There's a number of new NPDs that are self-funded that will be launched in the years ahead, starting next year, that we think will accelerate. I think we've identified various regional commercial opportunities where we have opportunity to drive share in the different businesses. And then, you know, on the DRUK Aerospace side, there's a lot of synergies between our A&E business and DRUK on growth of new programs. We're starting to see opportunities to gain share there as well. So all these things will become upside to original thinking.

Yeah, I think something that we've done well over the last decade and that Max was very adamant about was to continue to invest through the cycles. So we continue to invest in engineering through COVID, through the ups and downs, through the slow demand, and we have this advantage on speed, scalable, modular, that allows us to move fast on these demonstrators accurately at a reasonable cost. And we're on every demonstrator for the U. S. Air Force. We're on the new CCA opportunities. We're gaining share on the private jets and vehicle electrification, radar. And I think that's been the major key, just that continued investment through the cycles that have put us in this good position to win.

From a margin perspective overall, you're referring to?

Yeah So if you I speak to the quarter just to give you a sense right So we would be probably close to 100 basis points or we were in Q2 close to 100 basis points better in aerospace and advanced technologies And if you looked at PFT, we'd be closer to, I think we disclosed on the call, 80 basis points with the dilutive impact. It would be closer to 160 excluding. So the degree of performance on the underlying business is exceptional, is what I would say. But I would also say that we expected further dilution coming from the deals. They are performing better. So each of the acquisitions are performing better, and our core underlying business is performing better.

In the first quarter, I think the numbers are similar. I don't have them in front of me, but I would say that they're similar in the first quarter.

I'll be a little bit behind what we did in Q2, just given, you know, momentum with the deals.

Yeah, I mean, just continued strong productivity, cost, price net cost, just solid. I would say that, you know, and as Alex pointed out, as we were moving through the quarter, you know, from an order's perspective, getting stronger, and we also did a little bit better as we were moving through the quarter from a top-line point of view. So a little bit of leverage on volume two.

Yeah, I'm very pleased with that performance.

Just to add, we were smart in understanding the inflation headwinds that would come from the current conflict in the Middle East, and the teams were able to quickly get ahead of that. So we're very pleased that we're able to drive margin expansion even with increased inflation that we're seeing in freight and other areas. So I think very strong execution from the teams.

Yeah, all three businesses. Yeah, all three businesses are outperforming.

Hi, Good morning.

Yeah, so for Rota Stokes, I mean, we're seeing strong demand today from the restarts, license expansions, and so forth. We are investing for the future in technologies that will get us more into pressurized water reactors. As you may recall, we have a very strong position in boil water reactors, and there's opportunity to go beyond that. So there's new product development and strategies to expand. That will play out in the years ahead.

Rhoda Stokes was already investing pre-acquisition in SMRs, so they have a very strong position with one of the key leaders. So there's a lot of good stuff going on that will play out here in the future for them, but also seeing the strength of their demand today.

You know, just to add, and I think maybe part of your question is getting at the tie back to the Baker Hughes business and GE and the legacy. So I would say yes, as well as looking beyond those relationships that were historically solidified, we're looking at other opportunities beyond that, right? And so strategically expanding our footprint of opportunities to others.

That is absolutely something that we're focused on. You know, Arrow derivatives is an end market, right, that I think we've been asked about, or it might have been yourself or others. That's a perfect example where there's opportunities beyond the legacy relationship in what we see as a pretty nice growth market.

Yeah, I mean, we would target between two and three times. Clearly, we're below that now. Our priority is M&A, number one, first and foremost. So I would think about us as deploying our capital to M&A. Certainly, we'll pay down debt as well as part of expanding our capacity, but sort of fungible when you think of it from that perspective.

And, you know, we'll buy back shares when we think it's the right time to buy back shares. But right now, it's all about M&A.

Yeah, Jeff. So, again, on chemical, I've been quite cautious to talk about improvement, but now we're starting to see something, like I mentioned, in particular in the Americas. You can see some of the chemical companies reporting on increased volume, which is what we were waiting to see to start feeling better. Our orders are starting to show as well.

The margins are above average for PFT, so it will be accretive, and you'll see improved leverage on PFT versus what we normally talk about, the 30%, 35%. It will be stronger as these markets recover. That's what I would say.

Yeah, so, you know, Jeff, I would say that our run rate or approximate range of commercial aftermarket is in the $55 to $60 million range. This is a way to think about it as we move through the balance of the year, and, you know, as we enter next year, we feel, to the point I made earlier, pretty good about, you know, a mid-single-digit to upper mid-single-digit growth profile for commercial aftermarket.

Yeah. So look, maybe what's different about Crane, I think you appreciate this, Jeff. You know, we make good margins on OE, whether that's military OE, commercial OE, and that arbitrage between aftermarket and commercial isn't as significant for us as for others, which is, I think, a really good benefit for our investors, frankly, right? The diversified nature of the portfolio, we're sort of agnostic as to whether or not OE is up or aftermarket is up and so forth. So when you look at our 7% to 9% guide and our 35% to 40% leverage, we're going to be in that, or better, frankly, but in that range no matter what. And so I think that's the way we think about it.

So to your point, we're seeing excellent OE growth here, and we're loving that. And you can see the margins. And you see the margins reading through.

I think we might have had a record performance in the segment this quarter.

Yeah.

Thanks, Jeff. Yeah. Thank you.

I would say, you know, it's demand-based. So when we talk about our impact or investments in the Gulf, customers can invest even when there's no demand for increased chemical in the Gulf because of the advantage of feedstock. So that's one driver. But in this case, there's a volume demand increase that the U. S. is seeing. I think the U. S. consumer in particular has been resilient, and you can see some of these chemical companies starting to see that benefits. So I think I would call it independent of that, Scott.

Thank you for joining us today and for your thoughtful questions. As you've heard throughout the call, Crane delivered an outstanding second quarter, Marked by strong core growth, broad-based operational execution, record margins, and another quarter of record earnings. These results demonstrate the strength of our portfolio, the resilience of our business model, and the discipline execution of our global teams.

We remain focused on what has consistently differentiated Crane. I would like to thank our employees around the world for their commitment and outstanding execution, and thank our shareholders for their continued confidence and support. We are so excited about the opportunities ahead and remain well positioned to deliver long-term value for our stakeholders. We appreciate your interest in Crane and look forward to updating you on our continued progress next quarter. Thank you and have a great day.