Robert Rowe
Analyst · Citigroup
Thank you, Brian, and good morning, everyone. Turning to Slide 3. I'd like to begin by thanking our associates around the world for their hard work, disciplined execution and resilience in what remains a dynamic environment. The second quarter was marked by meaningful customer bookings, solid execution and strong financial performance, building on the momentum of the Flowserve Business System and durable end market demand. Starting off with some key highlights. Bookings were a standout in the quarter, growing double digits year-over-year to $1.35 billion, with record bookings of almost $700 million, and adjusted operating margin expanded 70 basis points to 15.3%. That performance drove adjusted earnings per share of $0.95, ahead of our expectations for the quarter. Sales came in modestly ahead of what we outlined in April, down 2% on a reported basis and down 3% on an organic basis versus the prior year period, reflecting ongoing 80/20 actions and the continuing conflict in the Middle East. These results reflect the earnings power we have built over the last 3 years. Adjusted operating margin has expanded from 9.5% in 2023 to an expected roughly 16% this year, well on the way to our 2030 target of 20%. This expansion has been enabled through operational excellence, the 80/20 program and commercial excellence, all of which are strengthening execution, reducing complexity, and driving sustainable margin expansion. With half the year behind us, we are updating our full year guidance, including modestly lowering our sales outlook due to the expected impact of the conflict in the Middle East and raising the low end of our adjusted EPS guidance range to reflect strong year-to-date performance and confidence in back half earnings. Taken together, I'm incredibly pleased with the performance in the second quarter and encouraged by the continued progress we are making. Let's turn to bookings on Slide 4. Bookings in the second quarter were $1.35 billion, up 26% versus the prior year period, with a book-to-bill of 1.15x. We were particularly pleased to see substantial growth in both original equipment and aftermarket bookings in the quarter. The second quarter performance builds our confidence in delivering mid-single-digit organic bookings growth for the full year. Record aftermarket bookings of nearly $700 million grew 12% year-over-year and marked our ninth consecutive quarter above $600 million, as our focus on expanding the aftermarket business continues to deliver results and we drive higher capture rates across our large installed base. Original equipment bookings of roughly $650 million were up 44%, supported by strong commercial activity, a healthy project funnel, MRO bookings in line with expectations, and continued momentum in power and nuclear. We delivered this growth despite the ongoing challenges in the Middle East. The strength and breadth of our bookings this quarter reflect both the health of our end markets and the commercial discipline we are building through the business system and particularly commercial excellence. Underpinning this momentum, our overall project pipeline remains robust and well balanced across original equipment and aftermarket, giving us good visibility into elevated third quarter bookings and the back half of the year. That strength gives us confidence toward our long-term ambition of mid-single-digit organic sales growth. Importantly, our backlog also continues to grow, creating a runway for future sales growth. Backlog grew 6% sequentially and 9% versus the prior year period, excluding backlog from the Trillium acquisition. Moving to Slide 5. Growth was broad-based across end markets. In energy, bookings grew 48% in the quarter and 17% year-to-date, supported by large engineered project awards, including a large LNG project in the Middle East and another large LNG project in Canada. We saw stronger utilization and maintenance activity across many large process facilities around the world. General industries bookings grew 11% in the quarter and 3% year-to-date, with continued strength in sectors such as pharmaceuticals and water. And we anticipate seeing further growth in areas like food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, mining and agriculture. Chemical bookings grew 7% in the quarter and 5% year-to-date, consistent with the modest gradual improvement we anticipated, including one large chemical project award in the Middle East. Power bookings grew 39% in the quarter and 7% year-to-date, driven by continued strength in both nuclear and traditional power generation. Notably, nuclear bookings were over $110 million in the quarter, including an award for new large reactors in Asia and several life extension awards in North America. We are encouraged by this performance, which reflects broad-based demand across existing reactors and new build activity that we expect to continue. We remain optimistic about the growth in the nuclear sector for years to come. The underlying fundamentals across our end markets remain healthy. Our 12-month project funnel expanded again this quarter, both sequentially and year-over-year. The operating environment also remains favorable for continued global aftermarket growth. These trends reinforce our confidence in the durability of demand and keep us well positioned to deliver on our 2030 targets. As noted last quarter, we believe the broader environment and recent volatility in the Middle East has the potential to drive increased investment in energy security and diversification activities globally, providing another potential long-term tailwind for Flowserve. While it's too early to accurately gauge the potential size of incremental energy security investments, we believe the next few years could see more spending in areas of historical Flowserve strength, like downstream refining, storage facilities, LNG, and pipelines. Our diversification within the 3D strategy has positioned the company to manage through dynamic market conditions more effectively, and we are encouraged by the bookings trends from the second quarter. Turning to the Middle East on Slide 6. Consistent with the situation we described at the end of the first quarter, conditions in the region were a headwind in the second quarter, primarily affecting operational activity at customer sites and the timing of customers' willingness to accept equipment deliveries. The pictures on the slide show pumps and valves at Flowserve facilities awaiting approval to ship into the Middle East region. We have seen no change in cancellation rates in the region, which remains immaterial. But as you can see from the pictures, it has become more challenging to determine exactly when product deliveries may occur. Year-to-date, Middle East sales have declined approximately $60 million, an approximate 3 percentage point headwind to organic sales. Given the nature of our installed base in the region, these headwinds are having a disproportionate impact on FCD as book and ship valve activity has slowed. While FPD has seen some negative impact related to parts and repairs, the larger project backlog in this segment continues to convert to sales. Our #1 priority remains the safety of our associates across the region, and we continue to support our customers as they manage in this dynamic environment. As we have done since the conflict began, we continue to be nimble in our support of our region, leveraging our global presence to best serve our Middle Eastern customers. Looking to the second half of 2026, we continue to anticipate healthy project bookings in the Middle East, though the majority is expected to come from projects that will not convert to sales in 2026. There is also further potential for some large projects originally anticipated in 2026 to push into 2027. Regarding the rebuilding of damaged assets, we have seen some modest restoration activity in certain customer sites, but the magnitude thus far has been limited. Our teams are working with customers and, in some cases, performing site assessments to determine the level of restoration activity that may be needed. While it's too early to know with certainty, we continue to view rebuild as an incremental bookings opportunity of approximately $50 million in late 2026 and into 2027. We will continue to work with our customers to help them restore and restart their assets as quickly as possible. Looking beyond the second half of 2026 for the Middle East, we see sizable incremental opportunities in the 2027 to 2030 time frame. We're already having discussions with customers about expanding capacity and building redundancy in assets like pipelines and storage facilities, which have the potential to provide additional growth tailwinds for Flowserve. As one of the leading suppliers of flow control solutions in the region, with a large installed base and a long legacy of customer relationships, we believe we are prepared to respond quickly and support our customers as these opportunities develop. Let's move to capital allocation on Slide 7. Our intentional disciplined framework continues to guide our capital allocation decisions, balancing reinvestment in the business, strategic M&A, and direct returns to shareholders. We continue to see M&A as an important and attractive way to create shareholder value by growing the business, diversifying our end markets, and expanding our margins. We closed the Trillium Valves Division acquisition on June 30, and I would like to extend a warm welcome to the Trillium associates around the world. We are excited for you to be part of the Flowserve team. The Trillium acquisition is fully aligned with our 3D strategy and further solidifies our ability to capitalize on the power generation megatrend. It extends our leadership in mission-critical flow control solutions, enhances our service capabilities, and expands our global installed base with high aftermarket entitlement. Integration of Trillium Valves is underway using the Flowserve Business System, including our 80/20 operating principles, which we anticipate will enhance operational performance, expand margins, and allow us to serve customers with an even more powerful portfolio of products, services, and aftermarket capabilities. In fact, we have already completed the full 80/20 data analysis. Based on this analysis and reviewing our Trillium backlog, we expect to drive meaningful margin enhancement and support our value creation objectives moving into 2027. Though there will likely be some headwind to Trillium sales in 2027, given the 80/20 actions. In the quarter, we also completed an acquisition for the remaining equity of a joint venture company in the Middle East. This modest deployment of capital further strengthens our ability to serve customers directly in the region. Beyond M&A, we also view share repurchases as an attractive use of cash when we see dislocation between our share price and our view of the company's intrinsic value. Our healthy balance sheet, modest leverage, and improving cash generation give us the flexibility to act decisively while continuing to invest in the business. Combined with the consistent and reliable dividend that reflects our confidence in the durability of our cash flow, returning capital to shareholders is a core disciplined component of our framework. Year-to-date, we returned $80 million to shareholders, including $55 million of dividends and $25 million of share repurchases in the quarter at an average price of $67 per share. Additionally, we repurchased an incremental $25 million of shares in July. Across all of our capital allocation decisions, our focus remains squarely on creating long-term value for our shareholders. In summary, I could not be more pleased with our performance in the quarter and over the last several years. We are gaining momentum and confidence in our long-term 2030 financial targets. The Business System continues to drive results and guide our decision-making. We are beginning to see the benefits of commercial excellence as we have just entered year 2 of execution. Operational excellence continues to be a tailwind, and our facilities are performing at the highest levels in Flowserve history. This improved productivity gives us the opportunity to drive further roofline consolidation in the years to come. We are now in the third year of portfolio excellence, with many of our business units in year 2 of 80/20. We are making thoughtful decisions around the portfolio, including the divestiture of a small product line in valves that we expect to close in Q3. And you can expect more progress in the second half of 2026 and beyond as we continue to drive complexity reduction while leveraging the tailwinds in our end markets to grow the business with a stronger portfolio. I'm excited about what we are doing at Flowserve and confident in our ability to continue to make significant progress in a dynamic environment. With that, I'll turn the call over to Amy to walk through our financial results and guidance in more detail.