Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. (RS) Q1 2026 Earnings Report, Transcript and Summary

Greetings, and welcome to the Reliance Inc. First Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Kim Orlando with Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, and thanks to all of you for joining our conference call to discuss Reliance's First Quarter 2026 Financial Results. I am joined by Karla Lewis, President and Chief Executive Officer; Steve Koch, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; and Arthur Ajemyan, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. A recording of this call will be posted on the Investors 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 Karla Lewis, President and CEO of Reliance.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss our first quarter 2026 results. Reliance is off to a strong start to 2026, capitalizing on favorable market fundamentals with first quarter volumes, pricing and earnings exceeding our expectations. Strong pricing and demand momentum continued to build throughout the quarter across our diversified product and end market portfolio. Our first quarter tons sold were a record and were up both sequentially and year-over-year. A result that's especially notable given the unusually strong tariff-driven demand pull forward in the prior year period. For the 13th consecutive quarter, we significantly outperformed broader industry shipments. Average selling price per ton sold also rose over the prior quarter, surpassing our expectations. Strong execution converted a 15% increase in sales, driven by higher shipments and prices into significant operating leverage driving over 30% year-over-year growth in our non-GAAP pretax income and nearly 37% year-over-year growth in non-GAAP earnings per share to $5.16. As previously announced, we also secured 2 significant government contracts in the first quarter to supply the Department of Homeland Security border wall and Joint Strike Fighter projects through our AMI Metals wholly owned subsidiary. We were excited to win these contracts which collectively represent up to approximately $3 billion in revenue and further reinforce Reliance's role as a trusted partner on critical U.S. infrastructure and defense programs. These wins illustrate our ability to support large and complex projects by leveraging the scale, logistics capabilities, processing expertise, deep supply chain relationships and existing operating infrastructure of the Reliance family of companies. Our diversified platform allows us to concurrently meet the needs of large program partners as well as small order quick-turn customers. As a reminder, our first quarter results did not include any contributions from the border wall contract. Our disciplined capital deployment and strong cash profile give us the flexibility to execute on both our growth and stockholder return activities concurrently. In the first quarter, we generated strong operating cash flow even with a typical seasonal build in working capital. Our full year 2026 outlook for capital expenditures is approximately $300 million with a little less than half directed towards strategic growth investments that enhance our processing capabilities, strengthen our ability to serve customers, expand our footprint and grow volumes in attractive markets. In the first quarter, we increased our dividend rate by 4% to an annualized $5 per share and repurchased $234 million of our shares. Our strong balance sheet and liquidity position remain key competitive advantages, affording us the ability to invest in our business, pursue strategic acquisitions and return capital to our stockholders while maintaining our disciplined approach to capital deployment. In summary, we are encouraged by rising customer optimism and activity across our broad end markets with continued momentum in the infrastructure, data center, energy and defense sectors. As we enter the second quarter, extending lead times at our mill suppliers also bode well for a continued strong pricing environment or access to metal becomes a strategic advantage. Reliance's unique scale and capabilities, along with our domestic mill relationships and exceptional teams position us well to further capitalize on the opportunities ahead in 2026. I'll now turn the call over to our COO, Steve Koch.

Thanks, Karla, and good morning, everyone. Our first quarter performance reflects strong execution across our operations and a continued commitment to safety and customer service. I want to thank our teams for their hard work and discipline, which continue to differentiate Reliance in the marketplace. Turning to our demand and pricing trends. Record tons sold increased 9.4% from the fourth quarter of 2025, exceeding our expectations of up 5% to 7%. Year-over-year, tons sold increased 2.7%, significantly outperforming the service center industry, which reported a decline of 5.1% over the same period. Our nearly 8 percentage point outperformance in the first quarter and sustained outperformance over 13 consecutive quarters reflects the advantages of our operational scale, commercial diversification and unmatched processing capabilities. Carbon volumes remained our primary growth driver with particular strength in nonresidential construction and manufacturing applications. Aluminum and stainless product volumes also contributed to year-over-year volume growth at higher per ton profitability levels. Our first quarter average selling price increased 5.3% from the fourth quarter of 2025, exceeding our expectation of up 3% to 5%. Carbon steel, aluminum and stainless steel product pricing all trended upward amid tight supply, extending lead times and improving demand conditions. As Arthur will discuss in our outlook, we believe that these market dynamics will continue to support strong pricing in the second quarter of 2026, elevating a strategic advantage we hold in accessing metal from our domestic mill partners. Turning to our end markets. Nonresidential construction represented roughly 1/3 of our first quarter sales, primarily from carbon steel tubing, plate and structural products. First quarter shipments remained strong supported by Data Center and related energy infrastructure projects continuing at record levels, along with overall strong demand in heavy civil and public infrastructure work. Our strong position in these markets outweighed lower activity in certain private nonresidential construction markets. Our nonresidential construction market participation is further strengthened by our involvement in the Department of Homeland Security border wall project with activity commencing this month. General manufacturing also represented about 1/3 of our first quarter sales. Our participation in this market is highly diversified across products, industries and geographies. Shipments grew year-over-year driven by strength in industrial machinery, including data center equipment, shipbuilding programs, military programs, consumer products and construction machinery. We are also capturing rising nuclear-related demand driven by emerging small modular reactor programs and data center energy requirements. Aerospace products accounted for approximately 10% of our first quarter sales. Commercial aerospace demand remains subdued as elevated inventories persisted across the supply chain though we expect conditions to gradually improve in 2026 as OEMs work through record backlogs and increased build rates. Defense and space-related aerospace programs remained robust during the quarter. Automotive, which we primarily serve through our toll processing operations, represented 4% of our first quarter sales. As a reminder, our toll processing volumes are excluded from our tons sold. Underlying demand has remained stable supported by our recent capacity investments and our ability to quickly adapt to the variable demand of the automotive market. Lastly, we are seeing encouraging improvement in demand in the semiconductor market with momentum building in 2026. In summary, Reliance continues to be defined by our people, our strong domestic mill relationships and our focus on delivering unmatched customer service. The strategic investments we've made across our footprint are generating tangible returns and our disciplined commercial and operational approach continue to drive the profitability that differentiates 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 a strong first quarter with sales up 15% year-over-year on stronger-than-anticipated shipments and pricing. Our gross profit of $1.2 billion was up 23% compared to the fourth quarter of 2025 and up 13% compared to the first quarter of 2025. On a FIFO basis, which is how we evaluate our ongoing performance, non-GAAP FIFO gross profit margin expanded to 30.1% compared to 28.5% in the fourth quarter of 2025, and was only slightly below 30.4% in the prior year quarter. Our pricing discipline enabled us to pass through higher mill pricing on most products in the first quarter and expand margins. Higher-than-anticipated material costs resulted in the first quarter LIFO expense of $37.5 million, above our $25 million estimate prompting us to raise our full year LIFO outlook to $150 million from the prior $100 million annual estimate. Accordingly, we expect LIFO expense of $37.5 million in the second quarter of 2026. I'd like to also briefly address the impact of incremental Section 232 tariffs on our gross profit margins and profitability. The 50% Section 232 tariffs have had the most impact on aluminum gross profit margin as pricing for many common alloy aluminum products increased significantly without a corresponding significant increase in demand. Despite the moderate negative impact on the gross profit margin, our aluminum gross profit dollars are up about 18% compared to the first quarter of 2025. Overall, the current pricing environment is resulting in higher gross profit dollars across our product portfolio and contributing to improved profitability despite variation in margin performance for certain products. Non-GAAP SG&A expense increased 6% compared to the first quarter of 2025, driven by higher incentive compensation from improved profitability, inflationary impacts on compensation and related benefits and higher variable warehousing and delivery costs associated with our increased tons sold. On a per ton basis, non-GAAP SG&A expense increased 3% due primarily to higher incentive compensation. Our growth in shipments from continued market share gains and improved gross profit dollars drove improved operating leverage and resulted in a 33% year-over-year increase in non-GAAP pretax income to $354 million with an 8.8% pretax income margin, which was up 120 basis points. Our non-GAAP first quarter earnings per diluted share grew nearly 37% year-over-year to $5.16. For reference purposes, LIFO expense per share amounted to $0.54 for the quarter compared to the $0.36 assumption in our guidance and $0.35 in the prior year quarter, stemming from higher-than-anticipated carbon steel and aluminum product cost increases. Moving on to our balance sheet and cash flow. Cash flow from operations in the first quarter was approximately $151 million, reflecting typical seasonal working capital build from increased shipment activity as well as the impact of higher metals pricing. Our inventory turn rate based on tons improved to approximately 5x compared to 4.9x a year ago, while accounts receivable DSO of 42 days was consistent with the prior year. During the quarter, we funded $64 million of capital expenditures, paid $67 million in dividends and repurchased $234 million of our common stock at an average price of $299 per share. We have approximately $529 million remaining available under our current share repurchase program. As of March 31, our total debt was $1.7 billion. Our leverage position remains very strong with a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 1, giving us substantial liquidity and flexibility to continue executing on our capital allocation priorities. Looking ahead, we expect both demand and pricing to remain healthy in the second quarter of 2026, generally in line with Q1, subject to ongoing risks from domestic international trade policy and the conflict in the Middle East. We anticipate second quarter 2026 non-GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $5.15 to $5.35, up 16% to 21% year-over-year, including an estimated $37.5 million of LIFO expense or about $0.54 per diluted share. Please refer to our first quarter earnings release for further details on our Q2 outlook as well as anticipated contributions from the border wall contract. In closing, we're very pleased with our first quarter performance, our solid volume growth, continued market share gains and disciplined pricing supported improved operating leverage and stronger earnings. This concludes our prepared remarks. Thank you again for your time and participation. We'll now open the call for your questions.

[Operator Instructions] And our first question will come from Martin Englert with Seaport Research Partners.

Questions on the guidance here. And just looking at the current quarter FIFO gross profit margins improved to about 30% from the 28.5% last quarter. Even accounting for the new DHS contract in the mix for 2Q, given the improving broader price backdrop as well as volumes, do you think you're being conservative with the implicit 2Q FIFO gross margins in guidance? Or are there other factors to be considering here like a lagging catch-up in margins and the inflationary price factors with aluminum here?

Martin, so on the guide for Q2 around gross profit margin, which we don't explicitly provide guidance on. Q1 was a good strong pricing environment with a lot of products having price increases, which gives us an opportunity to drive our margins up a bit for a temporary period. We expect some continued price improvement in Q2, but not to the level of Q1. So we will start to see the higher cost metal hit the inventory and kind of normalize a bit towards -- we believe, towards the end of the quarter. So probably not stronger, we have less upside than in Q1 from a price increase dynamic. And then on the border wall, the margins -- the gross profit margins will bring our consolidated number down a bit just based on the product mix what we're selling and the services we're providing. But as we mentioned, extremely low operating cost on the volume there, which will help us leverage our expense line and give us very strong earnings from the border wall project.

I guess looking another step ahead here and coming back to your comment on maybe by the end of the quarter, so not as much of a price increase or momentum quarter-on-quarter, but maybe things begin to normalize relative to the inventory costs coming through. So looking further ahead, then does that offer some opportunity for some partial normalization in FIFO gross margins understanding that you'll have this contract in the mix, and that will be something that's dilutive, but not added it to the bottom line?

Yes, I think that's right, Martin. It's -- that's the way the dynamics typically work pricing drives a lot of the margin upside and then to the extent it normalizes or comes down, but you also need to underlying demand there as well to support that, which we, at this time, feel really good about 2026 across demand across most of the products and end markets we're selling into, which provides a good backdrop from a pricing standpoint. So it was good strong price increases in Q1. We expect prices to remain at good levels. Just again, maybe not increasing at the same pace.

Okay. So some transitory issues and I shouldn't say issues, but trends and items sort of normalizing some of the pricing moving through the distribution channel as it relates to the cost pushing through, not too different than what we saw in recent quarters here, given the inflationary impact of 232 tariffs, yes.

Correct. Yes.

Okay. If I could one more. I was just curious on your thoughts for -- it seems like areas of the defense are strong semiconductor improving, which I think it's been a while since we've seen any positive news on that front. And I think I've also heard like within oil and gas, maybe if you can just touch on the margin profile of these product lines that serve these end markets and potential mix implications as we're moving through 2026.

Yes. We don't really talk about how they affect gross profit margin by product, Martin. And it does vary, but it also depends how much value-add processing we're doing. So -- you're right, Defense continues to remain strong across a lot of the different products we sell. Semi, it's a small part of the business, but it has been lagging. We -- not at a gross profit margin line, but we have talked about some of our niche semiconductor business being very high-value types of products, and that has been down, but we're happy to see some improvement beginning. But as far as at a consolidated level, nothing really to comment on as far as change in product mix or financial guidance.

And Martin, I would add that from an end market perspective, we saw the ISM manufacturing index for 3 consecutive months, stay above 50%, and we saw that translate into some increased activity in the first quarter. So -- and we noted that in our release that the manufacturing end market, we saw increased year-over-year tons. So -- we're looking at that as a good tailwind, and we have a lot of different products with value-added processing that go into that end market, which, as we all know, hasn't been doing really all that great for the past 3 years. So there's some potential tailwinds there.

Yes. It's nice to see some nascent signs of recovery with activity amongst the end users there. Congratulations on the results and the contract wins there.

And our next question comes from Bennett Moore with JPMorgan.

Karla, Steve, Arthur, congrats on the strong quarter. I guess I wanted to get a better idea of how we should think about the cadence of these DHS volumes ramping throughout the year? And is the pricing structured such that if broader market pricing were to fall that you could actually offer down protection to gross margins in such a scenario?

Bennett, as far as the cadence on the border wall project, as we mentioned, we began shipping this month in April. And so we're still in a bit of start-up ramp-up phase. So we included in our Q2 guide. Our current estimate of volume activity in the quarter. We do expect that to increase as we move into Q3 and beyond as the program really gets up and running. But there's not a committed shipment schedule. So it could vary from quarter-to-quarter, but we do anticipate higher activity as we move into Q3 than what we projected for Q2. And as far as the pricing, we can't get into the specifics on the pricing, but we do have the contract volume up to certain dollar amounts over the period through 2027.

Understood. Coming to aluminum, I mean, we've certainly seen another spike in pricing. I guess I'm just wondering if you're still able to cover your costs at this stage is 50 bps still the right way to think about the margin impact and if possible, could you share what the -- what share of aluminum was in relation to the LIFO expense past quarter?

Yes. So Bennett, you're correct. I think the dynamics in aluminum, in particular, continue where -- we -- unlike this time last year, our companies now have been able to push through the 50% tariff to our customers, but we're not necessarily getting a full margin on that 50% tariff cost, which puts a little pressure on the overall gross profit margin from our aluminum products compared to periods where we did not have a 50% tariff that we had to cover and try to push to our customers. And then you're right, it also gives us kind of a double hit on LIFO because LIFO in our view, was not intended for periods with 50% tariffs, and so we have to take a LIFO charge on top of the tariff costs that we need to push through, so that does -- right now, while these 50% tariffs are in place and with the market where it is, it is a bit of a drag. We think that's transitory and while we have these tariffs in place. However, the aluminum prices are significantly higher. So even though we're not getting the percentage margin on that, we are getting significantly higher gross profit dollars on our sales of aluminum that we then have to help cover our SG&A and other costs and contribute at a higher level to earnings dollars.

Yes, I was just going to say that we're on that moment, I'm despite the margin distortion that Karla mentioned, gross profit dollars are up year-over-year to the tune of almost 17%, 18%. So it shows that profitability has improved significantly on those sales is just to Karla's point, when you introduce a 50% tariff that creates some noise. And the LIFO noise is also substantial from aluminum last year, nearly half of our LIFO expense was related to aluminum this year. It's tracking at a little less than half, maybe over 1/3. So -- I mean, let's just say, prices level off and say where they are. Come next year, you're not going to have that headwind from LIFO on aluminum that's contributing to this temporary margin compression dynamics. So net-net, these tariffs have contributed to higher profitability across our product portfolio including aluminum.

And on the LIFO side, just as a reminder, when we book expense, it increases our LIFO reserve that is then available to come back into income in future periods when prices come down.

[Operator Instructions] We'll go next to Samuel McKinney with KeyBanc Capital Markets.

And we talked about the rapid rise in aluminum pricing being a drag on gross margin, just given it's been tough to get ahead of that and I know tariffs are still impacting that market. But am I wrong in my thinking that the first quarter sequential gross margin expansion does seem to reflect a better job of navigating that market versus the back half of last year?

Yes. I think that's fair. And again, we want to be clear it's a drag on the gross profit margin percent but not on the gross profit dollars. But yes, you're thinking about that correctly that I think incrementally, each quarter coming out of Q2 last year when the tariffs hit, we've made progress against that. As we talked about, overall demand improving a bit, too, including for some of the aluminum products. So that helps us on passing through cost if demand is stronger. So yes, so we would agree with the way you're thinking about that, Sam.

Okay. And then on the border wall contract, you're expecting it to be a solid earnings contributor despite the relatively lower selling price versus the rest of your business. But when you talk about the operating network, if you could just discuss with us some of the operating levers you think you can pull as these tons grow over the course of this year and probably into next?

Yes. So price is lower on those products. But with the services that we're providing, which a lot of that on these -- on the tons for the border wall, it's a lot of storage handling. We are doing some value-added processing, but our operating costs are pretty low based on the volume that the kind of SG&A percent is lower than it is in the rest of our business. So at these volumes, low cost structure, it's a good driver to earnings plus one of the reasons we believe that Reliance was awarded this contract. And by the way, back in 2008, our AMI business secured smaller than this, but a pretty decent-sized border wall. They called us the Sense contract, and they performed very well under that. This is much larger in scale with the tonnage and a short time period to be able to provide these services. And we need multiple locations to store and provide the logistics under the contract to really meet their requirements. And with the Reliance network of companies, our AMI company is working with other Reliance companies utilizing some of their property, which also keeps our costs lower. We didn't have to go out and secure some of the new equipment or property to be able to service the project.

Yes. And I'd like to add to that, a majority of the products being shipped into our Apollo structural sections, but there's also a lot of sheet that we're utilizing one of our processing plants in Texas -- So like Karla mentioned, we have planned to set up all along the border. So we're going to be shipping products out of Texas and out of California. We really appreciate all of the support we've received from our domestic mill suppliers because as everybody knows, that supply is a little bit tight right now. Hot-rolled coil is on limited availability, and we're able to get as much as we need to meet our customers' demands.

We'll go next to Nick Cash with Goldman Sachs.

Just a quick one on the current inorganic growth pipeline. Again, you have been a little bit since you guys have done pretty much meaningful acquisition, just wondering how the pipeline currently looks and how you're thinking of capital allocation between organic and inorganic growth going forward?

Nick, from a kind of acquisition pipeline, I'd say it remains pretty consistent with what we've talked about the last few quarters. There are opportunities out there. And we see a kind of steady stream as we have for the last year or so. Some companies we like. So we're always looking at what's out there and evaluating how they might fit into Reliance, then, of course, we have to see if we can agree upon valuation with the sellers. And where we've had a consistent appetite to acquire good companies. We just -- it's somewhat dependent on who's ready to sell their companies because a lot of the companies in our space are privately owned family companies. And so we wait for them to be ready to sell. Like I said, then there's valuation. So we've no change in our appetite for that, but we've also been in a strong financial position for the last few years where we haven't had to, to choose between our capital allocation priorities. We've been able to execute on the acquisitions we like while at the same time, continuing to grow organically and providing strong returns to our shareholders through our consistently increasing dividend as well as, I think, a reasonable level of activity on our share repurchases, and there's no change to that.

Appreciate that. And if I could just one more. Going out data center and energy infrastructure. Just real quick, what percentage of non-resi tonnage is data center-related how has that mix shifted year-over-year? And then within energy infrastructure, I guess, how much solar exposure do you guys have?

Yes. So Nick, unfortunately, I mean, we wish we could give you that number, but with the customers that we sell to because we're not typically selling direct into the OEM or the project. We're selling to fabricators and contractors with multiple projects. Well, certainly, we often know what project is going into. We don't have a good way to quantify. But I think we've been seeing increasing activity for data center. And Steve, I don't know if you have anything to add on that or on solar?

Yes. So Nick, unfortunately, we don't have a lot of direct exposure to the solar market, but our suppliers, our mill suppliers have a lot of the -- they're getting it no direct, which is consuming a lot of tube and hot-rolled coil, which is keeping the mill is already busy and keeping prices at a really good level for the market.

We take a follow-up question from Bennett Moore with JPMorgan.

I wanted to come back to the semiconductor markets real quick. And I'm wondering -- what sort of opportunities do you see to gain share, I guess, from foreign ship makers? And if you could remind us what that qualification process looks like and the timing to do so?

Yes. So -- we -- I think we've talked different times before on the call, Bennett. So from our semiconductor exposure for the most part, while there are a lot of ancillary things around it that we're selling into the equipment, semiconductor chip equipment manufacturers. And that's where we've seen some positive activity. The last quarter or two, we've seen that improving. And there have been some shifts by those customers to foreign locations. We do have a location in Singapore that helps support some of our customers over there in that market as they've shifted a little more there. And then our other kind of specialty semiconductor company. They do sell to the chip makers, equipment makers, they have locations in the U.S., South Korea and China. And -- but they also -- a big portion of their business also sells into the building kind of the interior plumbing of the chip facilities as they're being built. And that's where we have seen pullbacks by a lot of those customers or just delays in building the chip plans, especially here in the U.S. But that's a good market for us. And that company of ours has had -- there's a lot of interest. They've been working on some capabilities to sell more into the data center market. And we're expecting to start to see some increased activity for that company around the data center market in the near term.

And as far as qualifications go, a lot of our customers who had moved over to Asia and they're moving back because of the onshoring coming back. We're already certified within and already picking up some business.

And I guess I'll squeeze one more, if I can. I wanted to ask about the second contract, the defense contract, I think, for Lockheed programs, upsized renewal here, but are you able to help contextualize what the margin profile looks like for this contract relative to the overall business given the H1 is a little bit below?

So the -- we already have those programs -- those existing programs under contract with Lockheed Martin. And -- so there's no significant change in impact of the new contract when it begins in 2027. We do expect about 10% higher volumes -- it's a larger contract with multiple programs, including the Joint Strike Fighter. So it will add but should not be a noticeable shift on any margin profile.

And we have a follow-up from Martin Englert with Seaport Research Partners.

For the DHS contract, any more you can share with the volumes associated with Phase 1 and the incremental volumes -- the rest of the contract, I guess, completes?

Yes. So Martin, we have not disclosed tonnage under that. We did disclose dollar amounts, which were Phase 1 and Phase 2, the total is $2.2 billion. Phase 1 is $1.4 billion, which runs through...

Mid-2027.

Yes, I think at the end of Q2, 2027.

And this now concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the floor back over to Karla Lewis for closing comments.

Thank you, and thanks, everyone, for joining us today and for your continued support of Reliance. In summary, just a reminder of Reliance's unique scale, diverse portfolio, financial strength, domestic mill relationships and expanding service capabilities that enable us to support our customers reliably and to capitalize on the significant opportunities ahead in 2026. And I'd really like to thank our Reliance family for all that they did for a very strong first quarter we look forward to them doing throughout the rest of 2026 and doing it safely. So again, appreciate all of our employees throughout Reliance. And before we wrap up, I also want to note that we'll be in Boston next month for KeyBanks, Industrials and Basic Materials Conference. And in June, we'll be at the Wells Fargo Industrials Conference in Chicago, and we look forward to connecting with many of you there. Thanks again, everyone. Goodbye.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation. This does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines, and have a wonderful day.