Angela Drake
Analyst · Longbow Research
Thank you, Rick, and good morning, everyone. Our third quarter results were driven by strong customer demand and disciplined execution. Net sales increased 8.4% to $1.23 billion, or 6.2% organically. Adjusted operating margin was 13.9%, up 30 basis points from the prior year. This improvement was driven primarily by the benefits of our AMP initiative, which will exceed our target of $125 million in run rate savings by year-end. We launched AMP in 2024 to focus on 4 key areas: supply base transformation, design-to-value engineering, route-to-market optimization and operational efficiency. The program has delivered meaningful benefits across each of these areas and has also been instrumental in helping mitigate tariff-related impacts. While AMP will conclude in fiscal 2026, our commitment to continuous improvement will not. Across our supply chain and functional organizations, we will continue to use the muscle gained by the AMP initiative to improve efficiency, reduce complexity, and enhance profitability. Productivity is a critical part of the Toro Company's DNA. The net result for Q3 was an adjusted EPS of $1.33. The year-over-year increase was driven by $0.12 from operational performance, $0.05 from share repurchases and $0.06 from tariff refunds. Partially offsetting these benefits was an $0.08 impact from a higher adjusted tax rate and $0.06 of other corporate items, mainly a higher incentive accrual due to year-to-date performance and less Red Iron income due to lower field inventories. The adjusted tax rate in the third quarter was 22.4%, higher versus our expectations due to the geographic mix of earnings. Our adjusted earnings excludes a noncash impairment charge of $43 million as part of our AMP-related network optimization and product portfolio rationalization. Moving on to our segment details. Within professional, net sales increased 8.8% with 6.1% coming from organic growth. Adjusted operating margin was 20.9%, down 40 basis points year-over-year. This was primarily due to product mix and higher manufacturing costs, partially offset by pricing, productivity improvements and volume leverage. Within residential, net sales increased 8.6%. Adjusted operating margin improved to 5.9%, up 400 basis points year-over-year. The increase was driven by productivity improvements, pricing, volume leverage and a favorable comparison to a prior-year inventory valuation adjustment. These benefits were partially offset by higher material and manufacturing costs. Turning to balance sheet highlights. We improved inventory by $153 million year-over-year due to lower finished goods balances. Accounts receivable were up slightly as a result of the Tornado acquisition, with accounts payable also up slightly due to higher purchases with a greater level of sales. As a result, working capital improved $217 million year-over-year, contributing to the strong free cash flow conversion that Rick mentioned. Turning to our outlook. We are raising our full-year guidance based on our sustained broad-based customer demand and the results of our productivity initiatives. We now expect our full-year net sales to be in the range of 6.3% to 6.6%, up from the prior range of 4% to 6.5%. At the segment level, we anticipate professional net sales to be up mid-single digits, continuing the momentum of recent quarters. Residential net sales will be approximately flat as we lap last year's strong snow-related demand. We are closely monitoring winter weather patterns and will react quickly as the season develops. Moving to profitability. The adjusted EPS range is expected to be between $4.60 to $4.65, up from our prior range of $4.50 to $4.62. The midpoint of our guidance increases from $4.56 to $4.63, reflecting our third quarter outperformance and a better outlook for the fourth quarter. The implied fourth quarter guidance puts net sales between 3.9% and 5.1% and adjusted EPS between $0.93 and $0.98. This guidance includes $7 million of anticipated IEEPA refunds. That is less than the previously expected $12 million, as $5 million has been classified as outside of Phase 2. The refund timing of this portion of IEEPA refunds is uncertain given the current process. If they are available in the future, we will include them in our guidance at that time. We continue to build our business for long-term profitable growth. This includes prioritizing innovation investments that we believe will deliver outstanding returns, driving sustainable margin expansion with disciplined execution, including our productivity initiatives and leveraging the talents of our team and the power of our best-in-class distribution networks. We are confident in our ability to drive significant benefits and opportunities for all of our stakeholders. With that, I will turn the call over to Edric.