Deidra Merriwether
Analyst · Baird
Thanks, D.G. Turning to Slide 7. You can see the high-level results we had in the second quarter with total company sales of 10.3% or 13.7% on a daily organic constant currency basis, which included strong growth across High-Touch solutions and Endless Assortment. Gross margin for the quarter was healthy at 39.5%, up 100 basis points versus the prior year period as we saw expansion in both segments and recognized a 90-basis-point tailwind from IEEPA tariff refunds on products directly imported by Grainger. Operating margin was 16.1% up 120 basis points year-over-year as gross margin flow through and leverage Endless Assortment contributed to results. Both gross margin and operating margin benefited from our exit of the U.K. market. If you were to normalize for the tariff refund benefit realized in the period, operating margins were in line with our verbal guide, aided by better-than-expected top line leverage. Overall, results were strong for the quarter, and we delivered diluted EPS of $12.01 which was up over 20% versus the prior year period. Moving to segment level results. The High-Touch Solutions segment delivered sales growth of 11.9% on a reported basis or 11.7% on a daily constant currency basis. Results were driven by strong volume growth and healthy price contribution to revenue and also benefited from some project-based spend. From an end market perspective, MRO market demand continued to improve in the period. For Grainger specifically, we saw a broad-based acceleration across nearly all customer groups with strong contributions from manufacturing and government sectors. This was alongside outsized growth in our contractor and retail end markets, which are both benefiting from data center activities as new facilities are stood up. On profitability. Gross profit margin finished the quarter at 41.8%, up 80 basis points versus the prior year. Results were driven by the benefit from IEEPA tariff refunds and slightly positive mix, although mix came in less favorable than expected on a higher volume of lower-margin products and project-related spend. These impacts were partially offset by private label cost headwinds and unfavorable freight as we absorb the higher costs in the period. Price cost was roughly neutral during the quarter. On SG&A, we delevered slightly year-over-year as strong sales and productivity were offset by continued marketing investment and higher payroll and benefits expense, including higher incentive-based compensation given our strong top line results. Taking all of this together, operating margin for the segment finished at 17.3%, up 70 basis points versus the prior year quarter. All told, we are pleased with the continued strength across the High-Touch segment as we move into the second half of the year. Now focusing on Endless Assortment segment. Sales increased 13.5% on a reported basis or 20.6% on a daily organic constant currency basis, which normalizes for the closure of our Zoro U.K. business, and adjust for an impact of the depreciated Japanese yen. Zoro U.S. was up 18.4% on a daily basis, while MonotaRO achieved 24% growth in local days in local constant currency. At a business level, Zoro saw strong growth from its core B2B customers, along with higher customer retention rates as our marketing program, both targeted and efficiency continued to improve. The team remains focused on delivering our core foundational capabilities to improve the assortment, search experience, pricing, and delivery. At MonotaRO, sales were strong with continued growth from enterprise customers, coupled with solid acquisition and repeat purchase rates with small and midsized businesses. Additionally, MonotaRO benefited from customer prebuying of certain petroleum-related products ahead of anticipated shortages due to the conflict in the Middle East. This behavior has fully subsided and our updated guide reflects slower growth in the back half of the year as this benefit moderates. On profitability, operating margins increased by 160 basis points to 11.5% with favorability across the segment. guide MonotaRO margins were strong at 14% and of 80 basis points and Zoro margins improved to 7.6%, up 180 basis points with both businesses benefiting from healthy top line leverage. Overall, another great quarter for the Endless Assortment team. As we look to the back half of the year, I want to share a brief update on the inflationary environment. We continue to manage the business with the goal of maintaining price cost neutrality over time. With ongoing shifts in the tariff environment, we've had to remain nimble. With this, in the second quarter, we adjusted prices to reflect the changing tariff landscape, including the rollback of IEEPA tariff pricing and offsetting Section 122 tariff impacts. While we made several changes across our assortment, our May pricing actions were net neutral in total. Also in the quarter, we recognized refunds from the federal government for previously paid IEEPA tariff where Grainger was the importer of record. The majority of this benefit was recognized during the second quarter as a reduction to our cost of goods sold with the small remainder expected to flow through over the next couple of quarters. When considering these refunds, it's important to remember that they relate only to tariffs paid directly by Grainger and represent only a small portion of the mini tariff costs that we faced over the last 1.5 years. Importantly, these refund proceeds and the price pass on these SKUs only partially offset the costs we absorbed in 2025 related to IEEPA. Separately, we continue to face inflationary pressures from rising freight and product costs due to the conflict in the Middle East. As these pressures persist, we expect to take additional pricing actions in September to help mitigate this impact. Our September pricing actions will also reflect adjustments related to the recent Section 232 tariff modifications in addition to new Section 301 tariffs, though we anticipate that these tariff-related changes will be minimal. Following our September pricing actions, the majority of known cost increases will have been addressed. And although the situation remains highly fluid, our team continues to stay focused on adhering to our 2 core pricing tenets: To maintain market relevant pricing, and to achieve price cost neutrality over time. Now turning to our guide. We are raising our guidance to reflect the strong sales momentum, along with the impact of tariff refunds. On the top line, this translates to expected daily organic constant currency sales growth between 11.5% and 13% reflecting our second quarter performance and expectations for continued solid MRO market demand in the second half. Our updated operating margin range has increased versus the prior guide to 15.8% to 16.2%. This includes the tariff refund benefit most of which was recognized in the second quarter and improved sales leverage, but is partially offset by anticipated mix headwinds and cost timing pressures as inflation builds ahead of our September pricing round. Lastly, rounding out our guide, you can see EPS is expected to be between $45.50 and $47.25 or up over 17% year-over-year at the midpoint. This represents an improvement of over $1 at the midpoint versus the prior guidance range. We've also updated our supplemental guidance in the appendix, which includes a slight increase in total company operating cash flow at the midpoint compared to the prior guidance. We've continued our strong momentum into the third quarter with preliminary July sales up north of 13% on a daily organic constant currency basis. This start supports our expectations for third quarter sales north of $5 billion or up over 12% on a daily organic constant currency basis, which is 380 basis points lower on a reported basis when normalizing for the U.K. market exit and currency headwinds. We expect operating margins will be down sequentially in the third quarter compared to the second quarter, largely driven by the lap of tariff refunds. With this, we anticipate third quarter operating margins will be in the mid-15% range for the total company. I'll now hand it back over to D.G. for his closing remarks.