Arthur Ajemyan
Analyst · KeyBanc Capital Markets
Thanks, Steve, and thanks, everyone, for joining today's call. We delivered a strong fourth quarter with record shipment levels, driving continued market share gains, improved profitability and solid cash flow. As Steve mentioned, volumes were strong and pricing improved 90 basis points sequentially, mainly due to tariff-driven increases in aluminum product pricing. Although we're able to pass through most of the tariff-driven aluminum cost increases during the quarter, ample supply limited the incremental margin benefit, resulting in modest near-term margin compression. Higher-than-anticipated aluminum costs contributed to fourth quarter LIFO expense of $39 million, above our $25 million estimate and increased full year LIFO expense to $114 million compared to our $100 million annual estimate. On a FIFO basis, which is how we measure our day-to-day performance, fourth quarter non-GAAP pretax income rose 28% year-over-year. This reflects the combined benefit of roughly 6% higher volumes and 6% higher selling prices, which more than offset the modest 30 basis point decline in our non-GAAP FIFO gross profit margin. Non-GAAP fourth quarter earnings per diluted share were $2.40, an 8% increase year-over-year. LIFO expense represented $0.56 per share for the quarter compared to the $0.35 per share assumption embedded in our guidance. Including the year-end LIFO and income tax true ups, our results reflected a net unfavorable impact of $0.25 per share. Adjusting for these items, non-GAAP EPS would have been within management's guidance at $2.65. For the full year 2026, we currently estimate LIFO expense of $100 million, mainly from higher carbon and aluminum product costs. Accordingly, we expect $25 million of LIFO expense for the first quarter of 2026. Turning to expenses. Same-store non-GAAP SG&A expenses increased 6.7% in the fourth quarter and 4.4% for the full year compared to 2024, driven by inflationary wage adjustments and higher variable warehousing and delivery costs associated with our increased tons sold. We also incurred higher incentive compensation in both periods from improved FIFO profitability. On a per ton basis, same-store non-GAAP SG&A expenses were down nearly 1% for the full year, highlighting the operating leverage generated by our growth strategy. I'll now address our balance sheet and cash flow. We generated strong cash flow from operations in the fourth quarter of $276 million. Our ability to consistently produce strong operating cash flow across market cycles supports our disciplined and opportunistic capital allocation strategy. During the quarter, we funded $73 million of capital expenditures, paid $64 million in dividends and repurchased $200 million of our common stock at an average price of roughly $279 per share. During 2025, repurchases reduced our total shares outstanding by 4%, and we have about $763 million available for additional share repurchases under our current share repurchase program. In addition, we increased our quarterly cash dividend rate by 4.2%. This marks our 33rd increase since our 1994 IPO to a current annual rate of $5 per common share. At the end of the year, our total debt was $1.4 billion. Our leverage position remains favorable with net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of less than 1, providing significant liquidity to support continued execution of our capital allocation priorities. Looking ahead, we expect healthy overall demand in the first quarter of 2026 in several key end markets, subject to ongoing domestic and international trade policy uncertainty. For the first quarter of 2026, we estimate our tons sold will be up 5% to 7% compared to the fourth quarter of 2025, which is consistent with seasonal trends and relatively flat compared to the first quarter of 2025, mainly due to tariff-related demand pull forward in Q1 2025. We expect our average selling price per ton sold for the first quarter of 2026 will improve 3% to 5% compared to the fourth quarter of 2025 due to healthy demand and higher mill pricing. As a result, we anticipate these dynamics will contribute to a modest improvement in FIFO gross profit margin in the first quarter. Based on these expectations, we anticipate first quarter 2026 non-GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $4.50 to $4.70, reflecting year-over-year growth of approximately 19% to 25% and inclusive of quarterly LIFO expense of $25 million or $0.36 per diluted share. In summary, we are pleased with our strong organic growth, continued market share gains and disciplined pricing execution in 2025. While we experienced some temporary margin headwinds from tariff-driven cost increases and excess inventory in the supply chain for certain pockets of the commercial aerospace and semiconductor end markets. Tariffs have had an overall positive impact on our business with higher selling prices supporting a meaningful year-over-year increase in FIFO profitability as 2025 progressed and as we head into 2026. This concludes our prepared remarks. Thank you again for your time and participation. We'll now open the call for your questions. Operator?