Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. (RS) Q2 2026 Earnings Report, Transcript and Summary

Greetings, and welcome to the Reliance, Inc. Second Quarter 26 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance, please press zero. it is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Kimberly Orlando, Investor Relations. Kimberly, please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, and thanks to all of you for joining our conference call to discuss Reliance's Second Quarter 26 Financial Results. I am joined by Karla R. Lewis, president and Chief Executive Officer; Stephen 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 R. Lewis, President and CEO of Reliance.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss our second quarter 26 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 remained 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 continue 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. Nonresidential construction end-market sales remained strong and we began to see meaningful improvements in our sales to the general manufacturing aerospace and semiconductor end markets throughout the second quarter. We also benefited from initial contributions from the US 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-GAAP pretax income and non-GAAP 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 long standing 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 Koch.

Thanks, Karla, 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 will 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 that set Reliance apart. Turning to our demand and pricing trends. Record tons sold increased 7% from the prior quarter, and were up 10.8% compared to the second quarter of 2025, significantly exceeding our expectations of up 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. Nonresidential construction represented roughly 1-third of our second quarter sales, primarily from carbon steel tubing, plate and structural products. Second quarter shipments remained strong despite supply constraints, driven by sustained strong activity in data center, and related energy infrastructure projects. Alongside solid demand in heavy civil and public infrastructure work. Our participation in the U.S. border wall project further strengthened our presence in the nonresidential construction market. General manufacturing also represented about 1-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 remained 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 relationships and our focus on delivering unmatched customer service. In addition, strategic investments we have made across our footprint are generating tangible returns and our disciplined commercial and operational approach continues to drive the market outperformance and profitability that further differentiate us. I will now turn the call over to our CFO, Arthur Ajemyan, 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-GAAP gross profit margin expanded to 30.5% compared to 30.1% in the first quarter of 2026, down modestly from 30.6% in the prior year 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 below-company-average operating cost per ton more than offset its impact on gross profit margin adding approximately 30 basis points to pretax 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 to record LIFO expense of $75 million in the third quarter of 26. 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 32 tariffs without a corresponding increase in demand Also, continued to constrain FIFO 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 and A expense increased 11% compared to the second quarter of 25 driven by higher incentive compensation from improved profitability, inflationary impact 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 tons sold. On a per ton basis, non GAAP SG and A expense was flat. Due to favorable operating leverage from higher shipment volumes including contributions from the U.S. border wall project. 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 pretax income to $429 million. Our non-GAAP second quarter earnings per diluted share grew 42% year-over-year to $6.27, with the U.S. border wall project contributing 41 cents per share. LIFO expense of $1.64 per share. For the second quarter exceeded the 54-cent estimate included in our guidance and 35 cents in the prior year 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 or 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 in the U.S.-Iran conflict as well as subject to normal seasonality. We anticipate third quarter 26 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 will now open the call for your questions. Operator.

Thank you. We will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. You may press 2 if you would like to remove your question from the queue. 1. Our first question today is coming from Lawson Winder from Bank of America. Your line is now live.

Yeah. Hi. Good morning. This is Satish on for Lawson Winder. My first question is on the yeah. Hi. Hi, Karla. My first question is on the border wall contract. So the shipments accounted for, like, 5.1% of Q2 volumes, and then you expect an additional 2% improvement in Q3. Is there potential for further upside to these volumes, or should we assume volumes to be fairly consistent through the remainder of phase 1? that is through mid-2027.

Yes. Satish, the volumes, we, you know, 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 are giving that you just spoke about Yes, we expect higher shipments in Q3. We believe that is close to a full shipment run rate. And should be close to that going through the middle of next year. Although, of course, it is 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 is to be sustained through 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. 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 do not know that there will be more of that size. However, we do, you know, wanna 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, you know, whether it is on the data center, the infrastructure side, the power side, military spending. there is 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. But and with reshoring, there is just a lot of positive momentum right now. Okay.

Thanks for taking my questions, and congrats on a great quarter.

Thank you. Thank you.

Our next question is coming from Samuel McKinney from KeyBanc Capital Markets. Your line is now live.

Hi, good morning. Thank you. Good morning.

Despite continued run ups in carbon and nonferrous pricing, over the course of the second quarter versus the end of the first quarter, I will say.

Your quarter end inventory, you know, increased less than $100 million despite the $600 million increase in revenue. Could you talk about the inventory positioning moving forward given that many of your orders are of that just in time variety?

Yes, Samuel, Yes, Samuel. Our inventory-turn rate was a little above 5x. For the quarter, which is a little faster than typical. Our company wide goal is 4.7 turns, but we are 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 are very happy with how our mill partners are treating us and we are 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, Karla, that our strategy of buying domestically. Although lead times are extended, they are still a lot shorter than, imports coming in. So, you know, based on our robust inventories and our access, we feel like we are still in really good position to capitalize on you know, the growing demand out in the marketplace.

Okay. Appreciate that. And then SG and A as a percent of sales this quarter was lower than it is been in a couple of years. With all the storage handling you are doing for the border wall contract, think it would be helpful for all of us if you could further discuss just the cost to service that contract versus the rest of your business. You know, the storage handling, obviously, much cheaper.

Yeah. The SG&A cost, as a percent of sales, the average sell price being significantly higher drives that down as a percentage. There are you know, we are still facing inflationary factors on different elements of our SG&A expense. Resulting in higher dollars, but the elevated selling prices helped to cover that. On the border wall contract, we are 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 are 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, Samuel, I would add that, yes, since we are leveraging our vast existing infrastructure, that is what is truly allowing us to lower the variable cost on this project. Otherwise, you know, for anybody else to be able to take this on, that has to make significant investments in infrastructure, facilities, equipment, etcetera. So, yeah, absolutely, the variable cost per ton is significantly lower than the company average. And hence the pretax margin accretion impact that we mentioned.

Great. Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next question today is coming from Timna Tanners from Wells Fargo. Your line is now live.

Hey. Good morning. I would like to ask a little bit about the components of the product mix you have. So what you are seeing there, plate and seams seem particularly tight and prices have inched up further. Aluminum, at least LME, has reached retreated. How does that play out for your products and pricing into the second half? And then I have a follow-up, I guess, with more flat roll questions.

Yeah. Hi, Tina. Yes. Beam and plate prices have seen strong increases. it is a tight market, and there is you know, significant customer demand pulling that. So you know, we are we are 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 from that standpoint, even though price is pulled back a bit, it is still elevated pricing levels. We are making very high levels of gross profit dollar margin on the aluminum products we are selling as well as beam and plate.

Yeah. Timna, I would add to Karla's comments. So based on our market position in beams and plate and some of our service centers that have been in this business for a long time when you know, demand when supply gets a little bit tight, we get what we have been getting in the past years. You know, people do not 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 had need of some favors or have, you know, some jobs to 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.

Okay. That makes sense. Thanks. On the flat-rolled side, it does seem like lead times came down, came back up depending on who you are looking at. Are you seeing evidence that the mills are starting to catch up with their, you know, lead times? What do you what do you see on the flat rolled side? It seems like even if you are not importing, there is there is quite a bit on the water. So just a little more color there, that would be great.

We are not importing flat rolled, Timna. I would say that our average flat rolled order is about 2 weeks late, but with some mills, they are 4 to 8 weeks late. We have 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.

Okay. Great. And before I let you go, if I could, do not have as much color on the other components, the stainless and alloy. What are you seeing trend wise there in terms of pricing and activity?

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

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next question today is coming from Nicklaus Cash from Goldman Sachs. Your line is now live.

Hi. Thank you all and good morning. The just wanna go back to the border wall real quick. I mean, to the you guys shipped about, you know, 85 thousand tons in 2Q and that is ramping up to call it maybe, you know, 120 thousand tons in 3Q. In 2Q, you know, it added 30 basis points of pretax margin. We expect that OpEx light structure to hold as you scale up shipments? Or could there be any change there? Thanks.

Hi, Nicklaus. Yes. We expect to hold at those levels and the higher volumes make us probably a little more efficient. With the tons going through, but that those are good assumptions for the border wall contract.

Okay. Thank you. And then just 1 more on carbon tubing that jumped from 9% to 12% quarter over quarter. Are you seeing the wall crowding out any potential commercial availability for tubing? Or how are you counteracting that?

Well, I would say the increase in our product mix for the tubing is pretty directly attributable to the tons we are shipping under the border wall contract and I think it, 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. Fantastic. Thank you. I will pass it on.

Thanks. Thanks.

Thank you.

Next question today is coming from Martin Englert from Seaport Research Partners. Your line is now live.

Hello. Good day, everyone. Wanted to come back to a question in the release here. You noted potential supply availability as a headwind in nonresidential construction, I believe. Just wanted to see if you could provide some more color and then kind of what you are hearing from customers and the construction industry regarding potential project delays or cancellations. Due to supply and or higher metals prices?

Hi, Martin. As we mentioned, our volumes shipped have been strong. But there is 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 do not think we have seen any significant project delays. We have not 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 is kind of our goal. But when there is such a demand, try to make sure that they we give them everything that they need, but we just do not have, an unlimited amount. So I think that we are keeping up with our customer demand.

Okay. And then a quick broader question about industry. there is been some consolidation. Do you anticipate any increased competition from this? Or rather, could it resolve a situation wherein the broader distribution processing industry in the United States is more disciplined when it comes to factors like price and margin.

Yeah. So we are hoping that it will create a more disciplined environment, you know, with fewer competitors. We hope that it takes 1 bidder, 1 competitive bidder out, hopefully, if, if they focus on more pricing discipline.

Okay. Well, I appreciate the color, congratulations on the results and the outlook.

Thank you.

Thanks, Mark.

Thank you.

Next question today is coming from Bennett Moore from JPMorgan. Your line is now live.

Good morning, Karla, Steve, Arthur. Thank you for taking my questions and congrats on the strong quarter.

Thanks, Dan.

Excluding the DHS contract contribution, shipments were guided down 2% to 4% quarter over quarter. I believe this is in line with what you have guided to 3Q on typical seasonality. If the commentary, the market commentary has been incrementally positive, and you continue to gain share. So I guess I am just trying to gauge what level of conservatism may be baked into that guide.

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

Okay. Thanks for that. And then on the LIFO expense came in a bit bigger than I think you alluded to that aluminum was proportionately a bigger driver there. But you know, when you are pushing through price hikes last quarter on the steel side, that seemed to be supportive of margin expansion. So I guess I am wondering what was the breakout on the LIFO aluminum versus carbon this past quarter? And are you seeing any steel buyers less willing to accept price hikes at these levels? I guess, given expectation pricing may be peaking somewhat soon.

Yes. So I mean, LIFO's aluminum's disproportionate impact when you look at our annual estimate. You know, it is roughly what let's say, 17% of our sales and it is 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 have not really had you know, dynamics like this before. As you know, aluminum pricing, you know, has nearly doubled, you know, pre like, the pre tariff level. And the increases are much more significant. And, you know, you just do not have the same kind of supply and demand dynamics that you have on the carbon side. Now you step back and say, you know, how what kind of effect is aluminum having on overall profitability? it is actually our gross profit per pound per ton is up significantly from couple years ago. Right? So even with the significant and outsized amount of LIFO contribution. Now what it is doing is creating some distortion at the percentage level. Right? And when you look at consolidated margins, and compare the aluminum impact on margins to where it is today from 2 years ago. Before LIFO, it is roughly a 50 basis point compression. And you layer this outsized LIFO impact. that is another roughly 50 points. So aluminum alone is basically introducing roughly 100-basis point margin compression noise. Now what is on the flip side, though, 1 would assume that, you know, that is not you know, it is it is not contributing to, you know, higher profitability, but it is the exact opposite. Right? Our gross profit per unit and overall gross profit dollars are up significantly from, you know, a year or 2 years ago. So that is kinda the additional color on LIFO, aluminum, and impact on LIFO and margins.

Thanks for that, Arthur. I guess just on the last part of the question though, any I know the market is tight for carbon, but are you seeing any evidence of pushback from buyers at these levels, at these price levels?

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 are okay right now. What we are seeing is a lot of our competitors with higher interest rates and the higher cost of carrying inventory that there is a lot of, holes in inventories, and our inventory levels are pretty robust. So I think that there is just great opportunity for us to capture more market share. And help those customers who are having trouble getting steel out in the marketplace.

Alright. Thank you.

Thank you.

Next question is coming from Katja Jancic from BMO Capital Markets. Your line is now live.

Hi, thank you for taking my questions. Maybe going back to the border wall, and I apologize if you already talked about this. But I think last quarter, you mentioned that the phase 1 of the project is expected to add about $1.4 billion in sales through mid-2027. But in the past or at 1 point, the discussion was the total value of the contract could be over $2 billion. So does that mean that the contract actually can extend beyond the mid 27, or how should we think about it?

Yeah. that is correct, Katja. there is the phase 1 with $1.4 billion through the middle of 27. And then there is another roughly 8 to $900 million that is up to our customer to opt in for that. it is not guaranteed. We believe that they will probably execute that extension for phase 2. Which would extend it beyond the middle of 2027. But also, it just depends. They can accelerate some shipments as well. During the project phase. So we are we are just there to satisfy our customers needs.

Then maybe on just kind of a broader question, are there any products within your portfolio that are currently harder to source than others or that you are having issues procuring?

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

Thank you.

Thanks, Katja.

Thanks, Katja. Thank you.

We reached the end of our question and answer session. I would like to turn the floor back over to Karla for any further or closing comments.

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 will 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.

Thank you. That does conclude today's webcast. You may disconnect your line at this time, and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today.