Christopher John Nelson
Analyst · Tim Wojs with Baird
Thank you, Don, and good morning, everyone. On behalf of the entire Stanley Black & Decker team, I would like to begin by expressing our appreciation to Don for his leadership and dedication to the company over the past 26 years. His deep connection with our customers and brands, coupled with his unwavering commitment to our global team, has been instrumental in positioning the company for lasting success. I'd also like to personally thank him for his partnership over the past 2 years and his help preparing me for this moment. Looking ahead to October 1, I am honored and excited to become CEO of Stanley Black & Decker, an iconic American company with a proud heritage and a bright future. The opportunity to work with our teams around the world to unlock the tremendous potential of our brands and drive share gain in the marketplace is energizing and I look forward to doing so in collaboration with our valued channel partners. Now turning to our second quarter operating performance. Our top priority continues to be serving our customers and accelerating initiatives to mitigate tariff-related headwinds, all while keeping our long-term financial objectives in sight. Beginning with Tools & Outdoor. Revenue for the quarter was approximately $3.5 billion, representing a 2% decline as compared to the second quarter of 2024. Organic revenue decreased by 3% and price realization of 2% represents a partial quarter benefit from our late April U.S. price actions. Volume was down 5% due to a slow outdoor buying season and tariff-related shipment disruptions. We were encouraged to see continued top line expansion of DEWALT professional products as Pro demand remained relatively resilient. This marks over 2 years of consistent growth from our powerhouse DEWALT brand, which year-to-date has grown in every product line and region. We clearly see the benefits from our prioritized innovation, marketing and activation investments. Our growth and share gain strategy is underpinned by accelerating DEWALT's success while we work to restore consistent share gain in STANLEY and CRAFTSMAN. Adjusted segment margin was 8%, a 240 basis point decline as compared to the second quarter of last year. The change was attributable to the impact from tariffs, lower volume and investments in growth initiatives, partially offset by the supply chain transformation efficiencies, price and cost control. Shifting to performance by product line. Power Tools organic revenue growth of 1% was driven by price, resilient Pro demand and solid performance in our key investment markets. Hand Tools organic revenue decline of 5% was primarily attributable to tariff-related shipment disruptions in North America. Outdoor organic revenue declined 7% related to a slow buying season. Demand has picked up in July but our expectation is that 2025 will carry a modest decline near or minus 1% year-to-date performance. Now evaluating the Tools & Outdoor regions. In North America, organic revenue declined by 4%, driven by factors consistent with the segment's overall performance. Channel inventory remained in line with historical levels. POS dollar trends in tools remained stable, while outdoor POS was slow to start and improved throughout the quarter. Notably, following the recent price increases, we did not observe a shift in buying trends. which signals relatively healthy end demand. In Europe, organic revenue declined by 1%. Growth in the U.K. in key investment markets such as Central and Eastern Europe, helped offset softer market demand in Germany and Italy. The Rest of World delivered 1% organic growth, driven by Latin America, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East, led by strong performance from our professional brands. Now let's transition to Engineered Fastening. On a reported basis, second quarter revenue was down 2% versus prior year and 1% on an organic basis. 1% of price realization and 2% of currency favorability was more than offset by 2% of volume declines and a 3% impact related to the previously disclosed product line transfer to the Tools & Outdoor segment. The automotive business experienced a mid-single-digit organic decline primarily due to reduced production schedules and restrained capital expenditures by OEMs. General industrial fasteners organic revenue declined high single digits. The aerospace business had another strong quarter with over 20% organic growth driven by strong performance in fasteners and fittings products. This business has achieved a new high of $400 million annualized run rate revenue with a solid multiyear backlog and growth outlook. The Engineered Fastening adjusted segment margin rate was 10.8% for the quarter. This is a decline from the previous year, largely due to softness in the higher-margin automotive fasteners. In summary, with focused execution, our teams' accelerated cost control measures and adjustments to our supply chain neutralize the impacts from tariffs as quickly as possible within the period. Implementation of our robust and flexible plans to mitigate tariffs is ongoing, as we navigate this dynamic operating environment. We have entered the final innings of our multiyear supply chain transformation. Successfully completing the transformation this year remains a top priority and is fundamental to optimizing our cost structure, advancing customer-focused innovation and driving our growth initiatives. These efforts are all aimed towards delivering profitable organic growth and sustainable market share gains. With respect to cost management, we are continuing to execute a comprehensive series of initiatives expected to deliver approximately $2 billion in pretax run rate cost savings with $1.5 billion attributable to improvements within our supply chain. We have clearly identified the principal sources of incremental savings and are making steady progress towards our full year 2025 target of $500 million in cost reductions. In the second quarter, we achieved approximately $150 million in pretax run rate cost savings, bringing our total savings to approximately $1.8 billion since the program's inception. We remain committed to strengthening our culture of operational excellence and building our sustainable productivity engine. These efforts are essential to further improving customer fill rates, funding growth investments and achieving our long-term goal of maintaining an adjusted gross margin of 35% or higher. I will now take a moment to highlight a Pro-focused innovation we recently introduced. As a leader in total jobsite solutions, DEWALT is advancing its construction technology offerings of productivity solutions for trade contractors with MSUITE. MSUITE is a cloud-based management software which improves coordination between building information modeling, fabrication and field construction teams. MSUITE helps users track, manage and share data throughout the entire life cycle of a construction project. We introduced the MSUITE Hangers automation tool in May as 1 of 3 product offerings on the platform. This software solution redefines how our targeted mechanical, electrical, plumbing and industrial contractors approach hanger layout and modeling. It delivers significant efficiency improvements as they route building systems like pipes, ducks, conduits and cable trays. Early adopters of MSUITE Hanger software are already reporting remarkable gains in productivity. For instance, what traditionally took 10 manual steps and a disproportionate amount of time within the building information modeling project is now a single automated step. This system simultaneously adjusts to building system model changes by adding or removing hangers and rapidly creates simple or complex configurations. Additionally, it can generate bills of material for fabrication, streamlining hanger installation. These functionalities enhance accuracy, save important coordination time in the field and reduce the costly risk of errors. This innovative tool enables the user to design their job using DEWALT hardware solutions, including DEWALT anchors and TOUGHWIRE. These kinds of comprehensive workflow solutions help DEWALT to win with the professional on commercial and industrial job sites. We are building a future where technology empowers end users on every jobsite to drive productivity with greater accuracy and confidence while also expanding the breadth and depth of our solutions. As we continue executing with an end user and customer-first mindset, we are focused on balancing the near-term needs of the business with preserving and delivering long-term growth, share gain and shareholder value. As we navigate this environment, we're taking the necessary measures to stay on our margin trajectory. Ultimately, a key milestone of success is achieving 35% or greater adjusted gross margins. Consistent with this aim, we are prioritizing our efforts to successfully navigate tariffs. As we have previously shared, our tariff mitigation strategy is guided by 4 key principles. First, our primary commitment is to serve our customers and end users as we navigate this evolving environment. We are collaborating with our customers to develop the optimal product assortment for our end users given the new landscape. Additionally, we are prioritizing high service levels and supply continuity. Secondly, we are accelerating supply chain adjustments to leverage our North American footprint and attain USMCA compliance rates that are in line with other manufacturing-based industries. Our current plan is expected to reduce our Chinese production for the U.S. to less than 5% by the end of 2026. Third, we are taking a judicious approach to price actions, maintaining a long- term perspective as we make the adjustments necessary to protect our cash flow, EBITDA and margin structure while supporting investments for growth. Our April price increase was implemented on plan and began contributing during the second quarter. We are in the initial stages of customer discussions and intend to implement a second more modest increase early in the fourth quarter. Finally, we continue to proactively engage with the U.S. administration to ensure our interests and those of our stakeholders are expressed and considered, as they work to achieve their trade-related goals. In summary, our disciplined approach positions us to address immediate challenges while building a strong foundation for future growth and returning to our targeted margin trajectory. I will now pass the call to Pat Hallinan to lay out our financial assumptions for tariffs in our current planning scenario.