Crane Company

Your program is about to begin. Welcome to the Crane Company third quarter 2025 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen-only mode, and the floor will be open for your questions following the presentation. If you would like to ask a question at that time, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. If at any point your question has been answered, you can remove yourself from the queue by pressing star 2. Though others can hear your questions clearly, we ask that you pick up your handset for best sound quality. Lastly, if you should require operator assistance, please press star 0. I would now like to turn the call over to Alison Poliniak, Vice President of Investor Relations.

Thank you, Operator, and good day, everyone. Welcome to our third quarter 2025 earnings release conference call. I'm Allison Kloniak, Vice President of Investor Relations. On our call this morning, we have Max Mitchell, our Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Alex Alkula, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, and Rich Malley, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, along with Jason Feldman, Senior Vice President, Treasury, Tax, and Investor Relations, who is on for Q&A. We will start off our call with a few prepared remarks from Max, Alex, and Rich. After a bit, we will respond to your questions. Just a reminder, the comments we make on this call will include some forward-looking statements. We refer you to the cautionary language at the bottom of our earnings release and also in our annual report, 10-K, and subsequent filings pertaining to forward-looking statements. Also during the call, we will be using some non-GAAP numbers, which are reconciled to the comparable GAAP numbers in tables at the end of our press release and accompanying slides presentation, both of which are available on our website at www.craneco.com in the Investor Relations section. Now, let me turn the call over to Max.

Thank you, Allison, and thanks, everyone, for joining the call today. We are proud to report another strong quarter with results coming in ahead of our expectations. Adjusted EPS was $1.64, driven by an impressive 5.6% core sales growth, primarily reflecting broad-based strength in aerospace electronics and continued strong execution of process flow technologies. This quarter's results yet again underscore our differentiated technologies and operational discipline. In addition to our continued long-term investments in new technology and solutions, the crane business system The machine that we described in great detail at our March investor day combined with our unique culture enables our teams to adopt to the many unforeseen events that we're all facing every day and deliver on the results. Our pending acquisition of precision sensors and instrumentation from Baker Hughes remains on track to close at year end. And our strategic outlook for these businesses has only improved over the last three months. Many work streams are already well underway to ensure a seamless integration and create shareholder value starting day one. Our balance sheet remains very strong. Our pipeline of acquisitions remains robust. And we remain very active on the M&A front. And there's a tremendous amount of momentum and continued innovation happening at Crane. that Alex will cover off. As we exit 2025, we are once again raising but also narrowing our full year adjusted earnings outlook to a range of $5.75 to $5.95 from our prior view of $5.50 to $5.80 given our backlog, consistent execution, and year-to-date performance. That reflects 20% adjusted EPS growth at the midpoint compared to 2024, another outstanding year for Crane and our shareholders. And as we look to 2026, our consistent investment thesis remains firm. The strength of our underlying business, our strategy, and our capabilities in both operational execution and commercial excellence support our 4% to 6% organic growth assumptions leveraging on average of 35% into next year. We will provide greater detail on 2026 expectations as well as PSI in early January once we officially close on the acquisition. Now let me pass it over to our Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Alex Alcala, to provide some color on the current environment and segment performance.

Alex Alcala Thanks, Max. First, let me comment on the pending acquisition of PSI. As Max said, the acquisition remains on track to close January 1st, and the integration planning is well underway and progressing smoothly with the existing Baker Hughes and Crane teams. As you would expect, my team and I, as well as the PSI leadership, have been intimate with all closing details and integration planning to accelerate strategic execution in 2026. As we discussed last quarter, each brand will contribute a robust and complementary technology, further strengthening the crane portfolio. Combined with the power of the crane business system, PSI will be accreted to our financial profile, both margins and growth within the next few years. And our confidence in what we'll deliver has only increased as we work closely with the PSI team on a daily basis, planning for day one. In terms of further M&A, our funnel of opportunities remains full. The deals we are working on today include opportunities in both aerospace and electronics, as well as process load technologies. And most range in deal size purchase price from $100 million to $500 million. Now some thoughts on the segments in the quarter, starting with aerospace and electronics. Aerospace and defense markets remain very strong. The backlog we built and new programs and opportunities our teams have won provide a strong visibility into 2026 and beyond. On the commercial side of the business, activity remains healthy with Boeing and Airbus continuing to ramp up production, and aftermarket activity continued at elevated levels. On the defense side, we continue to see solid procurement spending and a continued focus on reinforcing the product defense industrial base given heightened global uncertainty today. Looking ahead to the balance of 2025, we now anticipate core sales growth for the year to be up low double digits compared to our prior view of core growth to be up single digits to low double digits. And that growth will be leveraged at 35% to 40% for the full year. Our guidance assumes growing year-over-year OE sales partially offset by decelerating year-over-year growth rates and commercial aftermarket in Q4 that we previously highlighted. Overall, a really outstanding year. We also continue to win new business and pursue new opportunities across the segment. That gives us confidence that we will continue to see above-market growth for the remainder of this decade. Let me highlight a few examples. First, Crane continues to win funded next-generation military demonstrator programs for our brake control systems for both fixed and rotary wing platforms. Second, we continue to advance our vehicle electrification solutions. heightened by the launch of our new 200 kilowatt traction motor inverter generator controller product at the Association of United States Army or AUSA trade show in October. We remain actively engaged with defense vehicle OEMs regarding collaboration on the common tactical truck and new combat vehicle programs. Related to this, I would comment that over the past two years, Customer vehicle development efforts were fragmented with numerous concepts in play and uncertainty around government funding. This year at AUSA, however, the landscape was noticeably different. The focus was clear. Industry attention is now centered on competing for the XM30 and the CTT. This shift aligns precisely with the strategic direction we've defined for our defense power business. With government funding priorities now well established, vehicle primes are concentrating their efforts almost exclusively on winning these programs. Very exciting for us. And last, activity around air defense systems remains very robust. Golden Dome is still being defined by the DOD. However, we strongly believe we will benefit directly to existing positions held today on systems like LTAMS radar system and Patriot missile programs, among others that will most certainly be part of Golden Dome solution, let alone pure increased demand drivers. We also anticipate additional growth from new emerging opportunities our technology is well suited for, specifically in the scaling and upgrades of radar, counter-on-man aerial systems, high power energy, and space-based assets for Golden Dome. With a record backlog and pipeline of opportunities, aerospace and electronics remains poised to well outperform its markets over the next decade. Very proud of our team. Our process flow technologies, similar to Q2, and markets are stable. And we remain well positioned to outgrow across the cycle. We continue to see strength in segments such as wastewater, pharmaceuticals, cryogenics, and also power. while chemical markets remain soft yet stable. As a reminder, we have systematically repositioned our portfolio over the past decade around our core end markets where we have the strongest competitive position and the most differentiation, enabling sustainable market outgrowth. Tactically, we have proven our ability to react to any changes in demand quickly, and we will remain nimble. taking any necessary and appropriate price and productivity measures required. Our focus and discipline enable us to continue to win in this segment despite the slower growth environment. And that was reflected in Q3. For example, our municipal wastewater pump business is on track for double digit growth, driven by strong momentum and new product adoption. At West Tech this year, we introduced the highest intensity side flow wastewater pump, featuring advanced non-clog and pellet technology with leading efficiency metrics. Shipments began in Q3, and as we head into 2026, a robust sales funnel gives us confidence in delivering another year of strong growth for this business. Also, our cryogenic business continues to execute commercially with a number of orders across aerospace and defense, space launch, satellite production, and semiconductor investments. Overall, we secured double-digit growth in new orders in the quarter within Cryogenics, reflective of our front-end engineering support and manufacturing capability as a differentiator in the market. Additionally, we won a $6 million large pharmaceutical order supporting capacity expansion to manufacture GLP-1 drugs. Our ability to deliver high-performance solutions for critical pharmaceutical application continues to differentiate us in a competitive market and positions as well for future growth in this space. And lastly, despite the headwinds facing the chemical industry, our teams continue to secure targeted opportunities largely tied to preventative maintenance and technology upgrades. Looking ahead to the balance of 2025, given our line of sight today, We maintain our view for core growth to fall at the lower end of our low to mid-single-digit growth range that we guided to last quarter, but with greater margin expansion as core volumes will leverage at the higher end of our targeted range for the full year despite tariff headwinds. Overall, both our businesses remain well-positioned to continue to deliver outstanding results into 2026. Now let me turn the call over to our CFO, Mr. Rich Maui, for more specifics on the quarter.

Thank you, Alex, and good morning, everyone. Hey, as we were getting ready for our Q3 earnings release this past month, and as I reflected on the consistency of our execution and overall results generally, a movie quote came top of mind that one of our investors mentioned at a recent sell-side conference in describing our consistency. One of my favorite actors, Ryan Reynolds, had this moving quote while portraying triple A-rated executive protection agent Michael Bryce in a romantic and touching comedy, The Hitman's Bodyguard, when describing his job. Boring is always best. I have heard from many of you and appreciate all the movie quote suggestions that you have all sent over the last year, so feel free to send me your best thoughts online from the future that tie the crane in your view. And anyone suggesting a quote that we actually use on a call will receive a free Crane coffee mug autographed by me. In all seriousness, while the environment is certainly not boring, our story remains unchanged, and our teams continue to execute to win, driving results above expectations in the most consistent and boring manner possible, despite the well-documented headwinds we are all facing every day. And with that, let me start off with total company results We drove 5.6% core sales growth in the quarter, driven primarily by the ongoing strength within aerospace and electronics. Adjusted operating profit increased 19%, driven by continued strong net price and solid productivity. In the quarter, core FX neutral backlog was up 16% compared to last year, reflecting continued strength at aerospace and electronics, and core FX neutral orders were up 2%. From a balance sheet perspective, while we are in a net positive cash position, at the end of the quarter, we completed financing with our bank partners for our pending acquisition of PSI. We entered into a credit agreement that included a $900 million delayed draw term loan and a $900 million revolving credit facility, both maturing on September 30, 2030. We expect to finance PSI primarily with the proceeds of the term loan and cash on hand, leaving the $900 million revolving credit facility available for further M&A and normal working capital management. And consistent with our prior commentary, after the PSI transaction, our net leverage will be just over one times, still well below our two to three times targeted range, leaving us well positioned for further M&A. With respect to tariffs, we continue to expect the gross cost increase to be roughly $30 million for the year, inclusive of the impact of the Section 232 tariffs, so no change there. And as we said last quarter, we expect to offset tariff impacts through price and productivity, and our teams are prepared to react appropriately to any further changes that may occur in this dynamic area. A few more details on the segments in the quarter. Starting with aerospace and electronics, sales of 270 million increased 13% in the quarter, nearly all of that organic growth. And even with the continued high level of core sales growth, our record backlog of just over 1 billion, up 27% year over year, was up slightly sequentially. Core orders were up 5% in line with our expectations, as some orders that we anticipated later in the year were received in the first half. Again, no surprises and continued strong demand broadly. Total aftermarket sales increased 20 percent with commercial aftermarket up 23 percent and military aftermarket up 12 percent. And OEM sales increased 10 percent and a quarter with both commercial and military up 10 percent. Adjusted segment margin of 25.1 percent expanded 160 basis points from 23.5 percent last year primarily reflecting strong net price, solid productivity, and the impact from the higher volumes. We expect operating margins to be modestly lower in Q4 due to typical seasonality and less favorable mix between commercial OE and aftermarket. Process flow technologies. In Q3, we delivered sales of $319 million, up 3%, with flat core performance in the quarter. along with a 1.6% benefit from the Technofab acquisition and one and a half points of favorable foreign exchange. Compared to the prior year, core FX neutral backlog decreased 5% and core FX neutral orders were down slightly as expected. Adjusted operating margin of 22.4% expanded again and in the quarter was 60 basis points higher than last year driven by strong productivity. mix and net price inclusive of tariff headwinds in the quarter. Moving to guidance, there were a couple of non-operational changes below the segments. We now expect corporate expense of $85 million, modestly above our prior view of $80 million due primarily to M&A activity. We also now anticipate net non-operating income to be closer to $7 million up from $4 million due to higher investment income on our cash balances. And a quick reminder that this non-operating income also includes about $9 million of business interruption insurance recovery recorded in other income expense related to Hurricane Helene, around $6.7 million of which has been recognized year-to-date, and with $2.7 million in the quarter. And last, our tax rate for the full year will be slightly lower, with us now estimating a 23% tax rate for the full year versus our prior estimate of 23.5%. Those three non-operational items net to a very slight benefit of about one penny, with the other 19 cents of the guidance increase at the midpoint coming from the segments. Operationally, we didn't change the full-year core growth guidance range of 46%, but we now expect to be in the upper half of that range, given the strength that aerospace and electronics and that growth should leverage at our normal rates on a full-year basis. So given our excellent results to date and our current view on Q4, we are raising adjusted EPS guidance by $0.20 at the midpoint and narrowing the range to be within $575 to $595, again reflecting 20% growth year over year at the midpoint. Overall, another outstanding quarter, another outstanding year against a very dynamic macro backdrop. And with that, operator, we are now ready to take our first questions.

The floor is now open for questions. At this time, if you have a question or comment, please press Star 1 on your telephone keypad. If at any point your question is answered, you may remove yourself from the queue by pressing Star 2. Again, we ask that you pick up your handset when posting your questions to provide optimal sound quality. Thank you. Our first question is coming from Matt Somerville with DA Davidson. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Thanks. Good morning. A couple of questions first on PFT. Can you talk about if the expectation is that the business is up organically low single digits for the year, If you look at the non-chemical portion of PFT, how does that look relative to that low single-digit number? And then on the chemical side, you know, what specifically you expect out of that end market this year? And maybe, you know, how you're thinking about that exposure, which is, you know, fairly large for the segment through, say, an 80-20 type of overlay. And then I have a follow-up.

Yeah, Matt, thank you. This is Alex. So just to frame up the markets and what we're seeing in responding to your question, I think regionally it's different than by markets. It's different. As a reminder, we're in PST primarily almost half or a little bit over half an America-based business, which is a positive in this environment. So first speaking to the non-chemical markets, wastewater, for example, North America-based, we're seeing double-digit growth in that business, driven by just investment in the aging infrastructure, environmental. So that's been strong. We expect that to continue to be strong going into next year. Cryogenics, through our new acquisitions and various applications, semiconductors, electronics, and space launch I mentioned last quarter, just driven by that commercial aerospace market of launch, and we participate in the platforms and the build-out of platforms. That's been growing, also double digits, and we're gaining significant share as well. Just recently visited with the team there, and they were highlighting their commercial excellence in the front end where they have a tablet now on their own site. They're able to sketch the project, convert it into a drawing with this application, send it into the front end, and really reduce the lead time. which is important to our customers. So doing very well. Also highlight pharma, in particular in North America. Strong growth there this year. We are seeing this reshoring activity happening in North America. We expect that to continue in the US. Big project that we won with a key customer related to the DLP1 drug as they're expanding and producing in the US. more of those investments to happen. And also in power, very North American-based, driven just by the demand and power that everybody knows about, AI, data centers. So those are all the non-chemical markets that are highlighted that are positive, and we continue to see positive going into next year. When we think about chemical, also varying by region. So North America, we've seen some good projects this year, good activity on expansions, productivity. It's a reminder. And America has the advantage of this feedstock and cost events. So even though there's capacity globally, customers have advantage to investing in the U.S. and expanding and getting more output. So that's moving in a positive way. And also Middle East. Those are the two markets I would highlight in chemical. that have been positive, and then softer Europe and China as well have been down. As far as our exposure in chemical, how we think about it, to answer your question, your second part of your question, look at the chemical market. There's a lot of things that we like in the applications that we play, very critical, corrosive, toxic, abrasive applications that give us an opportunity to differentiate, add value, for our customers, and so we like that. Obviously, the cyclicality of the market sometimes is a challenge, so as you know, over the last decade, we've worked to reshape the portfolio, investing in cryogenics, organically and organically, wastewater, and we'll continue to do so, highlighting our recent PSI acquisition as well in the markets where they play. in nuclear, in aerospace, differentiated technology, also wastewater. So we'll continue to invest in these higher growth markets, but maintain our current presence in chemical and keep building on that. And overall, you know, we'll continue to shape that underlining growth in our PST segments.

Thanks for all that color, Alex. And then just another one on PFT, the margin upside you saw in the quarter, maybe help parse out what the key drivers of that upside may have been, whether it be price-cost mix or just cost out, and then how we should be thinking about those various levers at a high level as we think about next year. Thank you.

Yeah, so as we think about PST, the journey we've been on, right, for the last decade, growing and delivering more than 100 basis points or close to 100 basis points on average, really driven by several factors. One is our continued innovation, new product launches that we've highlighted in the past. Our new product sales keeps growing as a percent of our portfolio. The new products are in these target markets, more differentiated, and we're able to have higher margin because of that. And then we're driving commercial excellence, value pricing, standing up for the technology and the problems we're solving for our customers. And third, this traditional relentless focus on operational excellence and weight elimination, which is core. So I think I would highlight those three elements. I think what's different in this environment is this tariff dynamic, which I've been very, very pleased with how the teams have been able to manage that through both price and supply chain, which I think it's a real differentiator for us to be able to do that and not only maintain but expand our margins here in this environment. It speaks to the quality of our portfolio and the quality of execution from our teams.

Great. Thanks, Alex.

Thank you. Our next question comes from Justin ages with CJS securities. Please go ahead.

I morning off. Hey, Justin. I was hoping, you know, you mentioned in PFT some softness in chemical was just wondering if you could comment, maybe you're seeing signs of a, you know, ongoing stabilization, or maybe, you know, a return to growth, just trying to, you know, get a sense of when that might rebound.

Yeah, so we're definitely seeing it stable throughout the year. In the first half, we hit some big projects. Projects continue to move, more so in Middle East and North America. MRO globally has been stable throughout the year. So that's been a big part of our success. So definitely no signs of deterioration, stability. And it's just a matter of when this will start recovering. At some point, we expect next year for chemical. But, you know, no clear inflection yet, but stable and expected to improve next year.

You know, Justin, as I think about what's taking place globally, and everyone else has had to react to changes in the economy, tariff structure and other news that happens on a daily basis. But again, I'm pleased with how we continue to stay very agile to react as appropriate. I'm one that, I mean, within our control and incredibly proud of what we continue to drive within our control. If I look at the broader market, I'm more on the bullish end just generally because I believe that while there's a lot of noise right now that we're all having to deal with, I believe that this will be settling out here towards the end of the year into next. Just my own reading of the tea leaves and the administration's approach, and I'm more optimistic and planning around it for our teams in terms of what that means. It's still early days. We have our planned meetings coming up here in the month of November to really kind of lock in what it means for 2026. I'm more optimistic of where all this shakes up and then what that means for the broader global economy. For what that's worth, my opinion is not worth anything more than anyone else's.

Yeah, it's worth a lot. I appreciate the answers. And then switching to the PSI, you know, just back of the envelope, the margins, you know, a little bit under crane. So can you just talk about the crane business system or the machine to PSI and what you're expecting to see in margin improvements once you've integrated them?

Yeah, Justin, this is Alex. So, you know, we haven't closed the business yet. We haven't closed the deal. We expect that to generate first, so we'll provide more details after. But generally speaking, you know, these businesses have incredible technology, very stable aftermarket, We expect these businesses to become one of our best businesses within Crane from a margin and growth standpoint in our portfolio. And the improvements that we'll drive are not different than what we've been able to do, particularly on the PFT side, through driving overall CBS. So these will become accreted to our profile over the years. They have all the fundamentals. And, you know, I'll speak into more detail of how the different elements will play out or how we see them play out with the coming year. But I can tell you I'm very, very confident that we will deliver with this acquisition. Very pleased with everything I'm seeing and our preparation to execute.

All right. Thanks for taking the time. Thank you.

Thank you. We will move next with Damien Karras with UBS. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning, everyone. Congrats on the progress. How are you doing, Damien? Hey, doing well, thank you. So I wanted to ask you a follow-up question related to margins, and in particular your guidance for the year. It seems like it's I'm taking in a step down in fourth quarter margins. Definitely a notable break from the strength you've been exhibiting so far the first three quarters of the year. And I think even on a year-over-year basis, the incremental margin is definitely well below kind of the 35% to 40% plus you guys aspire to. So can you provide a little bit more color around that margin expectation for the fourth quarter? Any moving pieces there?

Yeah, sure. Damian, this is Rich. The primary area would be similar to what we talked about the last couple of quarters with respect to the year-over-year headwinds that we're going to see in commercial aftermarket. Now, I would admittedly say that we actually had a little bit of a better quarter here in Q3, and so we didn't see as much of that headwind. We do expect that in the fourth quarter. A couple items that I would point to is that we did see a few – initial provisioning orders that we benefited from in Q3. We saw, you know, a decent claim recovery. So we did see a few things that did benefit us here in the quarter. And then what I would also say is two other things. One, we're continuing to see the OE build rates continue. And so that's a natural mix, you know, unfavorable mix element, although we are excited about it. And then the second item would be when you look at the fourth quarter, we tend to have lower production hours. So there's a little bit of seasonality in what we typically exhibit in the fourth quarter at A&E. Now, all that said, I would tell you that on a full-year basis, we're going to probably be at the higher end of our targeted leverage range for A&E and we'll exceed at PFT. Yes, we had a great nine months. We still expect a great fourth quarter, but it'll be a little bit more muted for those reasons.

Understood. That's really helpful. And sorry if I missed any comments related to this earlier, kind of hopping around a bunch of calls today. But would you guys give us your thoughts on the U.S. government shutdown? Are you seeing or expecting any impact from that? And just, you know, kind of thinking about that, should this continue into the extended future?

Yeah, I mean, right now, it's not impacting us today. So, you know, the things that we would look to are, you know, paying bills and things like that, and we've got no signals of that at all. So, so far, so good in terms of any impacts to Crane. And at this point, there's nothing on the horizon that would suggest any impact to us here, even as we get into the first quarter.

Okay, great. Thanks, guys. Good luck. Thanks, Damien.

Thank you. Our next question comes from Scott Buschel with Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead. Your line is open. Scott Buschel Hey, Scott.

Scott Buschel Hey, good morning. Alex, you mentioned power and data center demand as being a supportive market for PFT in response to Matt's question, I think. I guess, can you share a bit more detail there on what you're seeing in that market and how it's benefiting Crane?

Yeah, for sure. So, power, primarily U.S.-based for us, Less than 10%, really, our portfolio in PST. We've been in this business for a very long, long time with our valve portfolio primarily. And what we're seeing is the power demand that is well documented and the investment in natural gas combined cycle plants around the country. I think just this year, there's more than Close to 30 power plants are moving forward. So we see content there. Natural combined cycle plants are still a very economic ways to produce electricity, very reliable. And as you know, abundance of natural gas in the United States. So that is our participation there with our valve portfolio. And we expect that to continue into next year. Funnel's been increasing. Projects are out. Donald's been increasing. I think they can't build them fast enough, basically on the natural gas side.

Do you have any content on smaller reciprocating engines like those that Caterpillar makes?

No, no, no, we don't have content in that.

Okay. And then Max, are you investing organically at PFT to increase your ship set content on the 81,000? Obviously, some some big news out this morning. So I was curious if that can maybe be a bigger driver for you all than your historical content suggested.

Yeah, thanks, Scott. But you could argue that the Warrior-Stokes long-term is absolutely aimed at gaining content on the AP1000. The team is already underway with technology investments to penetrate the pressurized water reactor in addition to boiling water. So long-term, absolutely, as we continue. The current team is doing a phenomenal job and has done, as we have when we first won AP1000 content many, many years ago to the tune of about $10 million per ship set. We're identifying another 30% increase in content right now that we're bidding on capturing additional share gain. Also, so both organically as well as inorganically as we move forward for sure. And that was an exciting announcement today. Exciting announcement that I think in addition to the announcement today related to the $80 billion investment that the government announced in support, I think you're just seeing this change over time that will continue this trend of nuclear as part of a broader global solution. to clean and efficient power that will continue to bode well for us in our position also. Thank you. Thanks, Scott.

Thank you. Our next question comes from Nathan Jones with CECL. Please go ahead.

Morning, Nathan. You there, Nathan?

Nathan, your line is open. Please check your mute.

Sorry, guys. Technical failure on my end. Good morning, everyone. Good morning. I'm finding it a bit hard to concentrate with the promise of a signed rich Maui crane coffee mug, I guess. Go for it. I guess just another question on the PSI businesses. Max, one of the comments you made was that you, from a strategic perspective, are more bullish on that business than you were three months ago. Maybe you could just talk a little bit more about what you've learned in the last three months that makes you strategically more positive on the outlook for that business.

Well, I'll let Alex chime in as well. But it starts with the team itself. And I think we just continue to be that's going to be joining Crane. I just love the openness and transparency that we've been met with to date. So that feels really good in terms of integration, integration planning, working well together. It's what I know is taking place already. This is not a team that has stood still. They've been investing. for growth, and we're going to quickly get aligned strategically as we're moving forward. It just all feels very, very positive from that standpoint. Sharing of data, kind of getting clarity strategically on what we're going to be working on together from day one, it's been a fantastic relationship. What else would you highlight, Alex?

Yeah, I think over these months, Nathan, we're just getting more clarity on the specifics of how we're going to collaborate and work together. the detailed plans and the opportunities, just having a very clear line of sight to the gains, starting with the aerospace and drug and the nuclear, also with nanometrics, and just the level of detail that we've been able to get and the plans of where we're going to prioritize and where we're going to be able to have quick gains gives us these higher confidence where we were. three months ago. So it just keeps increasing as those times get more defined and more details get clarified.

And I guess I'll just ask a broader question about 2026. You guys have always been pretty willing to share your outlook. So I mean, you're obviously going to get towards the top end of the growth 46% growth target this year. We have seen organic growth slow down a bit as we've gone through the year. maybe you just talk about you know do you think we're in the four to six percent range next year um maybe it'll be you know a little more towards the middle next year or just any thoughts you have on on how the growth outlook might shake out for next year well it's still early days uh we've got our planned meetings coming up uh there's a there's a lot to to you know monitor here in the fourth quarter

Having said all that, based on what I know today, based on what we feel today, based on thinking through the end markets and how that will continue to play out, it still feels like our investment thesis holds into next year, Nathan, from that standpoint.

Okay, I guess we'll wait for the full Q update. Thank you very much for taking my questions.

Thanks, Nathan.

Thank you. Our next question comes from Jordan Leone with Bank of America. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Hey, good morning.

Good morning.

On defense and aero, how should we think about the opportunity for you guys if we start to see announcements for FAXX, CCA down select, and some of the larger group 4 and 5 drones that have been kind of previewed?

Yeah, Jordan. So this is Alex. You know, on the FXX or just the NGAT platforms, we are very well positioned on all the demonstrators, really. So we've been successful in having, you know, multiple horses in the race, so we're going to see strong benefit from that. On the CCA activity, I think, you know, we've mentioned we've already secured a position with one of the leading emerging players in that space. with TCA which is going to start ramping up here in the years to come. And then in general in drones, right, we're actively involved overall. I think, as you know, there's a wide range of drones that exist from the small battery powered hand launch, those that are called like Switchblade or Phoenix. And we do not participate in that small. Where we do play is on the medium or larger drones. are part of that cca like the uh those that you see called out like fury global hawk predator so uh we're well positioned there uh with various solutions and uh we expect to benefit that as as that market continues to grow got it and then two on for how strong demand has been booked bill uh in aerospace electronics how are you guys thinking about the current capacity you have in place to meet that demand As far as capacity, we're well prepared to meet that demand and the ramp-up rates of the OEMs, both Airbus and Boeing. I think teams have done a really nice job preparing for that, even taking advantage of preparing inventory buffers to execute at a very high level to support those ramp rates. So quite confident in our ability to support. Got it. Thank you, guys. Thank you too. Thanks, Jordan.

Thank you. Our next question comes from Tony Bancroft with Gabelli Funds. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Good morning, gents. Hey, good morning, gents. Congratulations on the great quarter and all your great work. I recently toured a new facility. and was pretty overwhelmed by the amount of automation that was going into it. I'm just going to get your view on automation. You've talked a lot about it. It looks like you have a lot of backlog growing. I know on the commercial side, it sounds like you're ready to go with uh, capacity, but it sounds like there's a lot of growth on both sides of the businesses and in other areas, obviously things like golden dome and all of that. If you could just talk about how you view automation in the longterm and, and what could that get you maybe on a margin basis and then just maybe overall, you know, ability to grow, to grow faster.

I'll take a stab. And then if Alex says anything else, uh, look, we've always looked at, uh, uh, enhancing productivity, easing the work by trying to error-proof and take out cycle time. What's manual? How can we automate? We have a lot of success with co-bots across the organization on a localized level. I would be completely honest, Tony. I'm not sure what the technology is that you saw, what type of facility. There are certain technologies that just warrant themselves to complete automation from start to finish and that level of investment. There is no one crane site that I can think of that would have that type of vision. It will continue to be while automation is clearly a direction that we will go down, it tends to be very spot-based and specific to very specific tasks that continue to take up variation overburden on our associates. At some point in the future, do you link work centers to begin to get flow, cells that flow? The human element for us will always be important in the near future with the type of work that we do across the organization. So I see it as part of the broader uh strategy for us holistically as uh as we drive productivity on a number of fronts um but that is not one that you you would say you know crane is going to go down the path of completely automated uh facilities yeah the fact of max is like he said very specific areas where work is difficult to make it more reliable so we have a lot of projects and and that's not not factory-wide automation and the second area where we're investing in automation is just where

skilled labor is difficult to get, like welding. So we're trying to get more and more automated in various welding applications. So, again, to summarize, more focused on specific tasks that are difficult to maintain, and then trying to address skilled workforce gaps more so than fully automating a particular factory.

That's very helpful. Thanks, Jens. Great job.

Thanks, Tony.

Thank you. And once again, if you do have a question, you may press star 1 on your telephone keypad at this time. We have a follow-up from Scott Duchelle with Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

All right. I'm going to beat up on Rich with a few follow-ups. First, is the F-16 break retrofit program still on track to hit that $30 million revenue target for 2026?

Yes, it is.

Okay. And then for 2025, there's essentially nothing in the base, right?

Correct.

Okay. And then, Rich, is it fair to think that A&E organic growth accelerates next year, given what seems to be a story of acceleration across commercial OE, military OE, and military aftermarket?

I would say that, you know, when you think about how our external guidance over the long term has been 7 to 9 percent, I think it's safe to say we'll be at the high end of that range at this point. Scott?

Commercial OE continues to be a positive. I think what we're continuing to, we're going to be meeting with our teams from the plans on the aftermarket discussion, right? Which has been much stronger than we even anticipated coming into this year. Does that pace year over year on a comp basis continue? Or what does that mix look like? I think that is the unknown for us right now. Is that fair?

Yeah, I do think that's fair. I think our algorithm there still holds, but, you know, what elements would be OE versus aftermarket is going to be something that we'll be teasing out over the next couple of months. But, you know, as you're thinking about it, Scott, I would look at that long-term algorithm and the way I positioned it, where we think we're going to fall.

Okay, thank you. And then just one last one, the corporate costs. Is this level of $85 million number, is this the level you think it can hold for next year, or is that going to want to grow next year with PSI coming in and things like that?

Yeah, no, we don't see it growing next year, to be frank with you. You look at what our rate is today, it's like, I don't know, 3.8%. I would expect that to go down, and we're going to leverage the growth, and you'll see it closer to 3% next year, all up, all in.

Great. Thank you, guys.

Thank you, Scott.

Thank you. And this concludes the Q&A portion of today's call. I would now like to turn the call over to Max Mitchell for closing remarks.

Thank you all for joining us today. We often talk about the crane business system that is our foundational and holistic operating system. Many companies claim to have some form of an operating system, and I often get the question from investors as to what makes ours unique. We believe it is the intensity of the culture, people, and processes, and how we apply the principles to our processes down to the smallest details, which makes the crane business system unique. Results are celebrated, but never good enough, and every detail is important to us moving forward. As the late, great Giorgio Armani said, to create something exceptional, your mindset must be relentlessly focused on the smallest detail. At Crane, our teams are relentless with the details, building a stronger and more exceptional Crane. Thank you all for your interest in Crane and your time and attention this morning. Have a great day.

Thank you. This concludes today's Crane Company third quarter 2025 earnings conference call. Please disconnect your line at this time and have a wonderful day.