Reliance (RS) Q2 2026 earnings call transcript

Thank you, Operator. Good morning, and thanks to all of you for joining our conference call to discuss RELIANCE's second quarter 2026 financial results. I am joined by Carla Lewis, President and Chief Executive Officer, Steve Cook, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, and Arthur Ojemian, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. A recording of this call will be posted on the investor section of our website at investor. reliance. com.

Please read the forward-looking statement disclosures included in our earnings release issued yesterday, and note that it applies to all statements made during this teleconference. The reconciliations of the adjusted numbers are included in the non-GAAP reconciliation part of our earnings release. I will now turn the call over to Carla Lewis, President and CEO of RELIANCE.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss our second quarter 2026 results. RELIANCE delivered another excellent quarter, building on the positive momentum of the first quarter and the continued strong execution by our teams. Market conditions remain favorable, supported by improving customer activity, extended mill lead times, and strong pricing across our broad product portfolio. We achieved our second highest quarterly revenue, as well as record quarterly tons sold, and continued to outperform broader industry shipment trends. These results and our sustained industry outperformance reflect our scale, diversification across end markets, products, and value-add service offerings, and our position as a partner of choice with domestic mills. Non-residential construction and market sales remained strong, and we began to see meaningful improvements in our sales to the general manufacturing, aerospace, and semiconductor markets throughout the second quarter.

We also benefited from initial contributions from the U. S. Department of Homeland Security border wall contract that we were awarded earlier this year, generating activity in excess of our guidance and contributing meaningfully to our second quarter earnings. Steve and Arthur will speak about its financial impact later in the call. ELEVATED PRICING LEVELS, ALONG WITH STRONG EXECUTION BY OUR TEAMS, DROVE SIGNIFICANT GROWTH IN OUR PROFITABILITY, INCLUDING A 40% YEAR-OVER-YEAR INCREASE IN NON-GAP PRE-TAX INCOME AND NON-GAP EARNINGS PER SHARE OF $6.27, OUR HIGHEST EPS RESULT SINCE THE SECOND QUARTER OF 2023. Trade policy continues to limit imports and support strong domestic pricing, which is further strengthened by extended lead times. Our longstanding domestic mill partnerships help ensure reliable material availability, allowing us to better serve our customers and capture new opportunities.

Our balance sheet and liquidity remain key competitive advantages supporting strategic growth investments and ongoing returns to stockholders, as well as disciplined capital deployment. For the full year 2026, our capital expenditure outlook remains approximately $300 million, with about half allocated to strategic growth investments to enhance processing capabilities, strengthen customer service, expand our footprint, and grow volumes in attractive markets. As customer optimism builds and activity continues to strengthen across infrastructure, including the border wall project, semiconductor, general manufacturing, and aerospace, RELIANCE remains exceptionally well positioned to capitalize on the many meaningful opportunities that we expect to continue to materialize throughout the second half of 2026 and into next year. I will now turn the call over to our COO, Steve Cook.

Thanks, Carla, and good morning, everyone. Our second quarter performance reflects continued strong execution across our operations and our dedication to safety and exceptional customer service. We'll recognize our teams across the RELIANCE family of companies whose relentless focus and hard work fuel our industry-leading results and reinforce the many competitive advantages to set RELIANCE apart.

Turning to our demand and pricing trends. Record tons sold increased 7% from the prior quarter, and we're up 10.8% compared to the second quarter of 2025, significantly exceeding our expectations above 1% to 3% sequentially, and up 4.5% to 6.5% year over year. The sequential increase in our second quarter tons sold included a 5.1 percentage point contribution from the U. S. border wall contract. Carbon steel products continue to lead our tons sold growth. Aluminum and stainless steel products also contributed at higher per ton profitability levels.

Our second quarter average selling price increased 7.8% from the first quarter of 2026, exceeding our expectation of up 1.5% to 3.5%. This includes a 1.6 percentage point offset from the U. S. border wall project. as a result of higher shipment volumes of lower-priced products. Pricing for carbon steel and aluminum products continued upward amid constrained supply, extended lead times, and strengthening demand.

These market dynamics magnify the strategic benefit of our reliable access to metal from our domestic mill partners. Turning to our end markets, non-residential construction represented roughly one-third of our second quarter sales, primarily from carbon steel tubing, plate, and structural products. Second quarter shipments remain strong despite supply constraints, driven by sustained strong activity in data center and related energy infrastructure projects, alongside solid demand and heavy civil and public infrastructure work. Our participation in the U. S. border wall project further strengthened our presence in the non-residential construction market.

General manufacturing also represented about one-third of our second quarter sales. Our participation in this market is highly diversified across products, industries, and geographies. Shipments showed strong year-over-year growth driven by industrial machinery, including data center equipment, as well as shipbuilding, military, consumer products, and construction machinery.

Aerospace products accounted for approximately 9% of second quarter sales. We saw early signs of improvement in commercial aerospace supported by improving backlogs as OEM build rates increased, though elevated inventories persist. Defense and space-related aerospace activity remains strong during the quarter. Automotive, which we primarily serve through our toll processing operations, represented about 4% of second quarter sales. As a reminder, our toll processing volumes are excluded from our tons sold. Demand improved in the second quarter as our flexible toll processing operations quickly adapted to the variable demands of the automotive market.

Lastly, demand in the semiconductor market is showing clear improvement. We are seeing momentum accelerate, supported by increasing data center activities. In summary, RELIANCE continues to be distinguished by our people, our strong domestic-owned relationships, and our focus on delivering unmatched customer service. In addition, the strategic investments we've made across our footprint are generating tangible returns, and our disciplined commercial and operational approach continues to drive the market, that performance, and profitability that further differentiate us.

I will now turn the call over to our CFO, Arthur, to review our financial results and outlook.

Thanks, Steve, and thanks, everyone, for joining today's call. We delivered another strong quarter with sales increasing 27% year over year on stronger than anticipated shipment and pricing. Our second quarter gross profit of $1.3 billion was up 11% compared to the first quarter of 2026, and up 20% compared to the second quarter of 2025. On a FIFO basis which is how we evaluate our ongoing performance non gross profit margin expanded to 30 compared to 30 in the first quarter of 2026 down modestly from 30 in the prior quarter This includes a roughly 40 basis point margin headwind from the U. S. border wall project. However, as we are leveraging existing infrastructure, the project, the low company average operating cost per ton, more than offset its impact on gross profit margin, adding approximately 30 basis points to pre-tax income margin.

Higher than anticipated carbon and aluminum product costs caused us to increase our full-year LIFO expense outlook to $300 million from our prior estimate of $150 million. As a result, we recorded second-quarter LIFO expense of $112.5 million, significantly above our estimate of $37.5 million. Accordingly, we also expect a record LIFO expense of $75 million in the third quarter of 2026. At the end of the second quarter, the LIFO reserve on our balance sheet was approximately $700 million, which remains available to support future operating results and help mitigate the impact of future metal price declines. Aluminum was a notable driver of the LIFO expense increase, disproportionately affecting our LIFO gross profit margin relative to historical levels.

Higher aluminum pricing resulting from Section 232 tariffs without a corresponding increase in demand also continued to constrain LIFO gross profit margins. However, we are realizing higher gross profit per ton on aluminum sales and across our entire product portfolio as a result of the current pricing environment.

Non-GAAP SG&A expense increased 11% compared to the second quarter of 2025, driven by higher incentive compensation from improved profitability. Inflationary impacts on compensation and related benefits, freight and fuel cost inflation resulting from the U. S. -Iran conflict, and higher variable warehousing and delivery costs associated with our increased ton sold. On a per-ton basis, non-GAAP SG&A expense was flat due to favorable operating leverage from higher shipment volumes, including contributions from the U. S. Border Wall Project. Okay. Continued market share gains, higher shipment volumes, and increased gross profit dollars drove meaningful operating leverage, resulting in a 40% year-over-year increase in non-GAAP pre-tax income to $429 million. Our non-GAAP second quarter earnings for diluted share grew 42% year-over-year to $6.27, with the U. S. Border Wall Project contributing $0.41 per share.

LIFO expensive $1.64 per share for the second quarter exceeded the $0.54 estimate included in our guidance and $0.35 in the prior quarter. Moving on to our balance sheet and cash flow. Cash flow from operations in the second quarter improved sequentially to approximately $162 million, despite a significant working capital build from increased shipments and higher metal pricing. Our inventory turn rate, based on tons, improved to approximately 5.2 times compared to 4.8 times in 2025. Accounts receivable, DSO of approximately 42 days, remained healthy and consistent with the prior year.

During the quarter, we funded $93 million of capital expenditures and paid $64 million in dividends. We did not repurchase any shares of our issued outstanding common stock during the quarter and have approximately $529 million remaining available under our current share repurchase program. We remain opportunistic in our approach. Our total debt was $1.7 billion at the end of the second quarter. Our leverage position remains very strong, with a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 0.9, providing substantial liquidity and flexibility to execute on all of our capital allocation priorities.

Looking ahead to the third quarter, we expect demand and pricing to remain at healthy levels with continued improvement across several of the key products and end markets we serve, subject to ongoing risks from domestic and international trade policy in the U. S. -Iran conflict, as well as subject to normal seasonality. We anticipate third quarter 2026 non-GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $6.40 to $6.60, up 76% to 81% year-over-year, including an estimated $75 million of LIFO expense, or about $1.10 per diluted share. Please refer to our second quarter earnings release for further details on our Q3 outlook, as well as anticipated contributions from the U. S. Border Wall Project.

This concludes our prepared remarks. Thank you again for your time and participation. We'll now open the call for your questions. Operator?

Yes, Satish, the volumes, as we mentioned, were stronger than we had anticipated. We just started shipping under the contract in April, and we did see the volumes ramp, and per the guidance we're giving that you just spoke about, yes, we expect higher shipments in Q3. We believe that's close to a full shipment, you know, run rate and should be close to that going through the middle of next year. Although, of course, it's all, you know, dependent on metal supply to us and how quickly our customer pulls the inventory from us. But I think you could assume for now that the Q3 guide will be sustained through the following quarters.

Okay, thank you. And in your opening remarks, you talked about the ability to capitalize on many meaningful opportunities that will continue to emerge in the second half and into 2027. And can you maybe provide a bit more color on what these opportunities are? Is there potential to add similar large government or infrastructure contracts in the near term?

I mean, the border wall contract is a very significant contract, so I don't know that there will be more of that size. However, we do want to highlight that we have the capability to do those types of large contracts or large orders. Just with the momentum we see from our customers, whether it's on the data center, the infrastructure side, the power side, military spending, there's just a lot of customer optimism. And I think RELIANCE is doing a better job of having our companies cooperate with each other to be able to provide a broader package to customers and make it easier for them to come to us as a solution for their multiple product needs And so we anticipate being able to support our customers when they desire it With reshoring there just a lot of positive momentum right now Okay.

Hey, Sam. Good morning.

Yes, Sam. Our inventory turn rate was a little above five times for the quarter, which is a little faster than typical. Our company-wide goal is 4.7 turns, but we're very comfortable with where our inventory position is. There is some limited supply, some supply constraints at some of the mills, but with our strong relationships, we're very happy with how our, you know, mill partners are treating us, and we're able to get the inventory we need for our customers. But, you know, inventory levels are, I think, probably a little lower across the industry right now.

Yeah, and I also would add to that, Carl, is that our strategy of buying domestically, although lead times are extended, they're still a lot shorter than imports coming in. So, you know, based on our robust inventories and our access, we feel like we're still in a really good position to capitalize on, you know, the growing demand out in the marketplace.

Yeah, the SG&A costs, and as a percent of sales, the average sell price being significantly higher drives that down as a percentage.

We're still facing inflationary factors on different elements of our SG&A expense, resulting in higher dollars, but the elevated selling prices help to cover that. And on the border wall contract, you know, we're not – we are doing some value-add processing, but, you know, at a – I would say at a lower rate based on total tonnage that we're providing than the rest of the company. So that keeps the SG&A cost, you know, lower per ton for the volume going into the border wall.

And Sam, I would add that, you know, since we're leveraging our vast existing infrastructure, that's what's truly allowing us to lower the variable costs on this project. Otherwise, you know, for anybody else to be able to take this on, they'd have to make significant investments in infrastructure, including facilities, equipment, et cetera. So, yeah, absolutely. The variable cost per ton is significantly lower than the company average, and hence the pre-tax margin accretion impact that we mentioned.

Yeah, hi, Timna. Yes, beam and plate prices have seen strong increases. It's a tight market, and there's significant customer demand pulling that. So we're participating in those markets, as we always do, just at higher pricing levels, and I think a stronger pull on those products. And there was the, you know, aluminum price pullback, but from very high levels. And I would say, you know, from that standpoint, even though the price has pulled back a bit, it's still elevated pricing levels. We're making very high levels of gross profit dollar margin on the aluminum products we're selling, as well as beam and plate.

Tim, I would add to Carla's comments. Based on our market position and beams and plate and some of our service centers that have been in this business for a long time, when supply gets a little bit tight, we get what we've been getting in the past years. You know, people don't like to use the word allocation, but when it is really tight, we get what we got in the past, and also, you know, when we need some favors or have, you know, some jobs that come up, we do get preferential treatment. So I would say that just the long track record really helps us in a market like this.

We are not importing flat rolled, Timna. I would say that our average flat rolled order is about two weeks late, but with some mills, they're four to eight weeks late. We've not seen a whole lot of signs of our suppliers catching up, although they really are trying. to deal with the increased demand and some production challenges.

So for stainless, prices have stayed pretty steady. And then some specialty stainless where there's been an inventory glut that seems to be working itself off. And we think that the second half should show some increase in prices.

Hi, Nick. Yeah, we expect to hold at those levels and, you know, the higher volumes. make us probably a little more efficient with the tons going through, but those are good assumptions for the border wall contract.

Well, I would say that the increase in our product mix for the tubing is, you know, pretty directly attributable to the tens we're shipping under the border wall contract. And I think it, you know, from a market standpoint, it is consuming, you know, a good amount of product, but that helps support overall carbon pricing, especially for the tubing products.

Hi Martin As we mentioned you know our volumes shipped have been strong but there is you know some as Steve just mentioned on an earlier question you know there is allocation so to speak on some of those products because demand has been so strong So that helps, you know, elevate the prices. But, you know, I don't think we've seen any significant project delays.

No, we haven't seen any delays as far as I know. And when we say headwinds, our customers are growing, and they want us to grow alongside of them, and that's kind of our goal. But when there's such a demand, we try to make sure that we give them everything that they need, but we just don't have, you know, an unlimited amount. So, you know, I think that we're keeping up with our customer demand.

Yeah, so we're hopeful that it will create a more disciplined environment, you know, with fewer competitors. We hope that it takes one bidder, one competitive bidder out, hopefully, if they focus on more pricing discipline.

Yeah, Bennett, you're correct. That's kind of the typical seasonality. Also, to the extent that there is, you know, somewhat limited supply availability is also another factor in that. So, that's our, you know, best estimate at this time.

Yeah, hi, Bennett. So, I mean, LIFO's – aluminum's disproportionate impact, when you look at our annual estimate, you know, it's roughly what, let's say, 17% of our sales, and it's contributing to about a third of our annual estimate. So out of the $300 million, roughly $100, as of now at least, is aluminum-related. And we've not really had, you know, dynamics like this before. As you know, aluminum pricing, you know, has nearly doubled, you know, like the pre-tariff levels, and the increases are much more significant. And you just don't have the same kind of supply and demand dynamics that you have on the carbon side. Now, you step back and say, you know, what kind of effect is aluminum having on overall profitability?

It's actually our gross profit per pound per ton is up significantly from a couple years ago, right? So even with the significant and outsized amount of LIFO contribution, now what it's doing is creating some distortion at the percentage level, right? And when you look at consolidated margins and compare aluminum impact, you know, on margins to where it is today from two years ago, before LIFO, it's roughly a 50 basis point compression. And you layer this outsized LIFO impact, that's another roughly 50 basis points. So aluminum alone is basically introducing roughly 100 basis point margin compression noise. Now, you know, on the flip side, though, one would assume that, you know, it's not contributing to higher profitability, but it's the exact opposite, right?

Our gross profit per unit and overall gross profit dollars are up significantly from, you know, a year or two years ago. So that's kind of the additional color on aluminum and impact on LIFO and margins.

I mean, as long as our customers can buy the product from us and put their fair markup on it and sell it to their end markets, they're okay right now. What we are seeing is a lot of our competitors with higher interest rates and higher cost of carrying inventory is there's a lot of holes in inventories. And our inventory levels are pretty robust. So I think that there's just great opportunity for us to capture more market share and help those customers who are having trouble getting a steal out in the marketplace.

Yeah, that's correct, Katya. There's the phase one with the $1.4 billion through the middle of 2027, and then there's another roughly $800 to $900 million that is up to our customer to opt in for that. But it's not guaranteed. We believe that they will probably execute that extension for phase two, which would extend it beyond the middle of 2027.

But also, it just depends, you know, they can accelerate some shipments as well during the project phase. So we're just there to satisfy our customers' needs.

I think at an overall level, again, because of our relationships with our domestic suppliers, I wouldn't say we're having issues getting metal, but some markets certainly are tighter than others, you know, such as beams is a little tight right now. Carbon plate, heat-treated aluminum plate with aerospace and semiconductor rebounding.

Thanks again to everyone for joining us today and your continued support of RELIANCE. And a special thanks to all of our employees throughout the RELIANCE family for staying safe and helping us generate such strong results. Before we conclude, I also want to mention that we'll be in New York in early September presenting at the Jefferies Industrials Conference, and we look forward to connecting with many of you at the event. Thanks, everyone, and goodbye.