Toro Company (The)

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Thorough Company's third quarter earnings conference call. My name is Marvin, and I'll be your coordinator for today. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. We will be facilitating a question-and-answer session towards the end of today's conference. As a reminder, this conference has been recorded for replay purposes. I'll now turn the presentation over to your host for today's conference, Heather Lilly, Managing Director, Corporate Affairs. Please proceed, Ms. Lilly.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the Toro Company's third quarter 2025 earnings conference call. I'm Heather Hilly, head of investor relations. On the line with me today are Rick Olson, chairman and chief executive officer, Edric Funk, who was recently named president and chief operating officer, and Angie Drake, vice president and chief financial officer. Rick, Edric, and Angie will provide an overview of our third quarter results, which were released earlier this morning and discuss our priorities and outlook for the remainder of the year. Following their remarks, we'll open the phone lines for a question and answer session. As a reminder, any forward-looking statements that we make this morning are subject to risks and uncertainties, including those described in today's earnings release, investor presentation, and most recent SEC filings, and may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. Also in our remarks, we'll refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures which we believe are important in evaluating the company's performance. Reconciliations of all non-GAAP numbers to the most directly comparable GAAP number are included in this morning's press release, which along with a third quarter presentation containing supplemental information is posted in the investor information section of our corporate website. With that, I will now turn the call over to Rick.

Thanks, Heather, and good morning, everyone. We delivered third quarter adjusted earnings that exceeded our expectations, though persistent headwinds in our residential segment require us to take a prudent approach to our full year outlook. As a leader in innovative solutions for the outdoor environment, we are well positioned to benefit from powerful secular growth trends, including record golf participation and multi-year infrastructure investment cycles. The benefit of these trends is enhanced by our focus on leveraged technology investments and operational excellence, which we believe will drive significant value for our customers and shareholders. Our third quarter results reflect this strong positioning. We strategically capitalize on continued momentum within our professional segments, especially for our underground construction and golf and ground solutions. where robust demand for innovative products and net price realization drove 6% year-over-year growth, with margins expanding 250 basis points year-over-year. Total consolidated net sales in the quarter were $1.13 billion, down 2.2% from the same period a year ago. Half of this decline was due to prior year strategic divestitures of non-core assets. While impacted by headwinds in our residential segment, our commitment to operational excellence and strength in professional enabled us to achieve adjusted earnings per share in the quarter of $1.24, exceeding our expectations. While our full-year guidance reflects near-term consumer caution and residential market pressures, which Angie will detail shortly, I am confident in the Toro Company's trajectory. We're seeing sustainable margin improvement in our professional segment, demonstrating our ability to drive profitability even in a mixed demand environment. Channel inventory is clearing meaningfully, particularly in residential, setting up a cleaner foundation for the 2026 selling season. Our order books remain healthy in key professional categories, and we continue to launch innovative products that resonate with our customers. Most importantly, the secular trends driving our golf and infrastructure businesses remain intact with multi-year visibility that supports our growth investments. These factors combined with our productivity initiatives position us to emerge stronger as markets normalize. To support this trajectory, we've further intensified our operational improvements to control costs and identify additional opportunities for greater efficiency. We moderated the impact of higher material and manufacturing costs through initiatives that drove productivity improvement and realization of net pricing gains. We also continue to benefit from our AMP productivity program, which has now delivered $75 million in annualized cost savings and remain on track to deliver at least $100 million by 2027. Additionally, although supply chain strategies we began implementing in 2018 are limiting our exposure in the current global tariff environment, we continue to monitor and respond to their impact on our business. While we are protecting our profit margins through thoughtful and selective price increases as necessary, we're also working diligently to ensure our products remain competitive by offsetting the effects of tariffs through productivity improvements. Within golf, growing participation levels are sustaining already strong momentum and driving incremental equipment and irrigation investments. And underground construction is benefiting from a compelling runway of infrastructure projects. By maintaining our position at the forefront of innovation and alternative power, smart connected products, and autonomous solutions, we continue to drive significant customer value and differentiate our offerings. Our professional businesses continue to capture share in markets experiencing structural growth. At the recent BMW Championship, we showcased our innovative Toro Spatial Adjust irrigation control software paired with Turfrad moisture sensing technology. Industry professionals experienced these groundbreaking precision turf management solutions firsthand. Following the event, attendees expressed strong enthusiasm for these cutting-edge advancements and their potential to transform off-course maintenance through meaningful water usage reductions. During the third quarter, we began shipping the all-new Ventrac 45RC, offering dual operation modes for steep terrain, whether seated on the tractor or operating remotely from up to 500 feet away. This advanced system combines intuitive controls with industrial-grade durability to enhance the remote operation experience in demanding environments. We launched two new specialty construction products, Attract eDingo and Attract Electric Ultra Buggy, establishing the most comprehensive fully electric material handling and compact utility loader portfolio in the market. We continue to build on the strong performance of our underground construction portfolio with steady improvements in outputs and favorable customer response to new directional drills and vacuum excavators, including the innovative JT21 drill, the ATJT120, and the W8 Hydrovac. We have invested in R&D and capacity while divesting non-core construction assets to sharpen our focus and effectively meet demand. The innovation and superior quality of our Exmark branded equipment, combined with favorable weather in key regions, drove higher than anticipated landscape contractor orders during the third quarter. Customers valued the performance and durability of the Laser-Z lineup and productivity-enhancing features, including our exclusive Adapt technology for quick, tool-free deck adjustments. Before turning the call over to Angie, I'd like to acknowledge the participation of Edric Funk on this call and hope you will join me in welcoming him today and in the future. A 29-year veteran of the Toro Company, most recently as Group Vice President of Golf, Grounds, and Irrigation, Edric has been appointed President and Chief Operating Officer and has assumed responsibility for all global businesses and our integrated supply chain operations. I'm excited to be collaborating with Edric in his new capacity and know his leadership will propel our company's profitable growth and competitive position. I want to thank our employees and channel partners for their ingenuity and resourcefulness in advancing the product innovations and technology-driven solutions that enhance our customers' productivity. These advancements are critical drivers of our profitable growth and reinforce our confidence in the Toro Company's future. Now Angie will provide additional details and insights on our third quarter results and outlook for the remainder of the year.

Thank you, Rick, and good morning, everyone. We delivered solid operational performance in the quarter with adjusted diluted EPS of $1.24, six cents above the same period last year and better than our internal expectations. Consolidated net sales for the quarter were $1.13 billion. down 2.2% from Q3 last year, as we annualized on the prior year divestitures of company-owned dealers and Pope products, which account for about half of the quarter's sales decline. Reported EPS of 54 cents per diluted share included a non-cash impairment charge of 62 cents per diluted share, or $81 million pre-tax, compared to $1.14 in the third quarter of last year. This impairment of the Spartan trade name is the result of persistently lower homeowner demand and slower market recovery. Our third quarter segment results reflect the variability in demand environments across our markets, driving growth in the pro segment and creating challenges for the residential segment. Professional segment net sales for the third quarter were $931 million, up about 6% year over year driven primarily by higher shipments of underground construction and golf and grounds products and net price realization. We achieved this growth in the quarter despite the unfavorable current year revenue impact from our 2024 strategic divestitures of company-owned dealers. Professional segment earnings for the third quarter were $199 million, up 20% year-over-year, resulting in an earnings margin of 21.3%, up from 18.8% in the prior year. We delivered this 250 basis point increase in profitability through a combination of productivity improvements, net price realization, net sales leverage, and our purposeful initiatives to reduce costs. These favorable contributors were partially offset by higher material and manufacturing costs. Residential segment net sales for the third quarter were $193 million, down 28% year over year. This was due to lower shipments across the segment as homeowners deferred big ticket purchases. In addition, channel partners remained cautious about inventory in the current environment due to continued volatility in consumer confidence. We are encouraged by the meaningful reduction we have seen in field inventories. as distribution partners sell through current stocks. This inventory level positions us well for the 2026 spring selling season. Residential segment earnings for the quarter were $4 million, or 1.9% of sales, compared to $33 million, or 12.2% of sales last year. The decrease was primarily due to lower volume, higher sales promotions and incentives to drive demand, and inventory valuation adjustments. partially offset by productivity improvements. While residential remains challenged by macro factors, our decisive actions to right-size operations and reduce field inventory position us for improved performance as consumer confidence returns. Now, turning to our operating results for the total company. Our reported and adjusted gross margins for the quarter were 33.7 and 34.4%, respectively, compared to 34.8% and 35.4%, respectively, in the same period last year. Year-over-year changes on both a reported and adjusted basis were primarily due to lower net sales volume, higher material and manufacturing costs, and inventory valuation adjustments, partially offset by productivity improvements, net price realization, and favorable product mix. SG&A expense as a percentage of net sales for the quarter was 20.8%, a meaningful improvement from 22% a year ago. Given the decline in net sales for the quarter, this result was particularly compelling, driven by deliberate AMP program measures as well as lower marketing costs. Operating earnings margin, including the non-cash impairment charge, was 5.7%, down from 12.8% in the same period last year. On an adjusted basis, operating earnings margin was down 10 basis points to 13.6% due to lower volume. The third quarter reported effective tax rate was 7.4% compared with 17.3% last year. The decrease was primarily due to the impact of non-cash impairment charge and a more favorable geographic mix of earnings this year, partially offset by lower tax benefits recorded as excess tax deductions for stock-based compensation in the current year period. The adjusted effective tax rate for the third quarter was 17.3%, compared with 18% a year ago. Free cash flow through the third quarter was $292 million, a year-over-year increase that was largely due to net favorable changes in working capital. This resulted in a free cash flow conversion rate for the quarter of 90%. During the quarter, we invested $90 million in share repurchases, bringing our year-to-date total to $290 million. This reflects our confidence in cash generation and our commitment to returning value to shareholders while maintaining balance sheet flexibility for continued investment in technology innovation and new product development. Year-to-date, our actions have generated favorable momentum in our return on invested capital. Looking ahead to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, we are excited about the continued strong demand and stable supply for our underground construction and golf and grounds businesses. At the same time, we anticipate continued pressure both from homeowner demand and channel caution that affected our third quarter results. With this backdrop and based on our current visibility, inclusive of anticipated tariff impacts, I will lay out our full year guidance. For fiscal 2025, we expect total company net sales to be at the low end of our guidance range of flat to down 3%. We expect professional segment revenue to be up slightly year over year, while the residential segment is expected to be down mid-teens. We continue to expect total company adjusted gross margin to improve on a year over year basis. We now expect adjusted operating earnings margin to be flat to slightly lower than prior years. Looking at segment profitability, we continue to expect professional segment earnings margins to expand versus the prior year. However, economic headwinds from homeowners are expected to pressure residential segment earnings margins, resulting in a year-over-year decline. Finally, we expect adjusted diluted EPS to be at the low end of our prior guidance range at about $4.15. These projections also assume normal weather patterns aligned with historical averages for the remainder of the fiscal year. Additional elements of our full year guidance include interest expense of about $60 million, capital expenditures of about $90 million, and an increase in our free cash flow conversion guidance to about 110%. The strategic actions we discussed, our AMP transformational productivity initiative, and our tariff mitigation strategies are delivering immediate benefits and positioning us for improved operating leverage as markets normalize. Our professional segment continues to perform well. Our innovation pipeline remains robust, and our strong cash generation supports our investments in continued growth, as well as returning capital to shareholders. We are resolutely managing factors within our control as we navigate the current environment, and we remain keenly focused on returning our business to sustained profitable growth. With that, I'll turn the call over to Edric.

Thank you, Angie, and good morning, everyone. I'm excited to join you this morning, and I look forward to engaging with all of you in the coming months. Since joining the Tor Company in 1996, I've had the privilege of working with and leading talented teams across all our segments. strengthen our competitive advantage, advance our technology innovation, and accelerate the development and delivery of exceptional solutions for our customers. As I transition from my most recent position leading golf grounds and irrigation, I'd like to acknowledge the diligent efforts of our team in driving innovation and delivering profitable growth. Our partnership with the Ryder Cup, which will be held this month at the Beth Page Black Course in New York, exemplifies our market leadership and provides a global platform to demonstrate technologies that are already generating significant commercial interest. We also recently launched our new GeoLink Mo autonomous fairway mower. This introduction complements the robotic platforms we released earlier this year. It is another example of leveraging technology across the company to deliver customer value solutions. As I begin my new role, I'm excited for the opportunity to partner with our leadership team to strengthen the performance and resilience of our business. We're doing that by strategically investing in value-generating technology and innovation, and by optimizing our global supply chain operations. We're already taking decisive steps with our AMP productivity program, tariff mitigation initiatives, and proven capital investment strategies to position the company for accelerated growth when the macro environment recovers. While both screenlining our footprint and aligning our production capacity with demand have resulted in lower current year revenue, we are confident these are the right strategic decisions for our business. We are laser focused on delivering earnings growth independent of revenue expansion. And we're committed to investing in the core businesses and growth opportunities that ensure enduring value for all our stakeholders. Now Rick has a few closing remarks.

Thank you, Edric. The Toro Company is positioned to deliver long-term value through our focus on key growth markets and operational improvements. As we navigate a challenging environment, we are being proactive and purposeful in taking steps to accelerate our performance. We are strengthening our product innovation and technology leadership with a continuous pipeline of new offerings that elevate our customers' performance. We are aggressively pursuing opportunities for greater operational efficiency that align our costs and capacity with near-term demand. We are focused on returning value to shareholders by maintaining a disciplined approach to capital allocation, balance sheet flexibility, and strong cash flow. Now, Edric, Angie, and I would be happy to take your questions.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, please press star followed by 11 on your touchtone telephone. If your question hasn't been answered or you wish to withdraw your question, please press star followed by 11 again. Please stand by for your first question. And your first question comes from a line of Mike Schilske of DA Davidson & Co. Your line is now open.

Yes, hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. I wanted to start with a professional segment question and how it relates to the consumer. Has the professional landscape channel, which has some consumers on the large acreage side that come over to buy from their dealers, is that part of your business still waiting for that next leg up because of the consumer challenges? Because I'm kind of wondering, Would you have had organic growth even higher in professional and not benefit that small chunk of consumer that does shop in the professional channel?

Comments about the landscape contractor business. In total, that business actually grew in the third quarter, and that was the combination of a very strong demand from professional contractors themselves. Particularly responding to the new products, one of those which I mentioned, the Exmark new laser, which is kind of a flagship of Exmark and really kind of the standard in the industry. So the latest version of that product, great response to that. And then that strength of demand from the true contractors made up from still muted demand from homeowners that would typically be in that market. So overall, we grew landscape contractors. That was a combination of strong contractor demand and lower homeowner demand. The homeowners are acting much more like they do in the residential side at this point. So good question.

Great. And then sticking with... with professionals. This was a, it looks like a record third quarter for professional from a margin perspective, and this going back a bunch of years in my model. You noted things like having lower marketing costs in some of your comments in your press release. I guess, is that part of the AMP program, or are those permanent reductions, or are those just temporary? Just trying to see if a professional has entered a new and a higher margin range going forward after this great performance here. I'd also be curious about Mix and Professional, whether that was a role in the strong margin as well.

Yeah, Mike, Mix did have an impact in the quarter. We continued to see strong demand from our underground and golf and grounds businesses and saw increased production output as well. So that made an impact there. We did have a very strong quarter, up 250 basis points on operating margins for the professional segment. So it continues to be a strong story there. And AMP, yes, your question about AMP. AMP did have an impact. We saw strong impacts year over year in our cost savings related to transformational productivity efforts. A lot of that coming into the professional segment, but overall total company. So we took, let's see, in our quarter, we had $21 million worth of in-year realized savings from AMP. So year-to-date or project-to-date, that's actually at $51 million for F-25. We're sitting at $47 million in real-life savings for the year.

Great. Thanks, Angie. And that'd be the last one I've got for you. If we see a rate cut or even two before the end of the year, the calendar year, I guess, would that improve the residency outlook in any kind of decent-sized way, or do you see a cadence of rate cuts going into 2026 to really see the consumer respond to lower interest rates?

You know, we would all be speculating exactly on how the consumer would respond, but they're looking for a trigger to be more positive. So it's fundamentally part of the lower consumer confidence that we see right now, the fact that interest rates are higher. So if interest rates cut or the start of cutting would, you would have to imagine, would be seen as a positive to consumers, give them some confidence to make those bigger ticket purchases, which they've been hesitant to do in the last, really the last couple of years.

Okay. Fair enough. I'll pass it along. Thank you.

Thank you, Mike. Thank you. We'll move it for our next question. And our next question comes from the line of Samuel Dargosh of RJF. Your line is now open.

Yeah. Hey, Rick, Angie, Edrick, how are you? Good morning. Good morning. So a few questions. First off, your residential business, I guess I'll just ask it as it relates to your market share of sell-in and sell-through. I know Two of your big retailers, Lowe's and Tractor Supply, both called out the lawn and garden category as being a positive, a favorable category for them. So how are you feeling about your market share, your floor space at those retailers, and your prospects for growth with those two customers next year?

I think, importantly, we have maintained our market share through an incredibly sort of extreme cycle through the last few years. Now, this is a business that historically has grown, you know, over a couple of decades by 3%. And within the last five years, we've had some plus 20s and some minus, you know, similar amounts. So this is something that we've not experienced before. The positive thing is that we have maintained our market share through that process, so it really reflects the cycle that the market is going through. Specific to our year-over-year business and related to Lowe's specifically for us, it's kind of a tough comp for us from a shipment standpoint. Our business, you know, to a large extent driven by the Lowe's selling was up 53% in the last third quarter. That's from a comp standpoint. And in the current environment, you know, it's the hesitant homeowners that we talked about along with all consumers at this point on big ticket items that has them more hesitant to make purchases. The good news is that retail has been strong through the latter part of the season. It was a slow start to the season. So the retail Some of what you're seeing reported in those retailer reports has been strong later in the season. That's, for us, made up for some of the slow starts in the early portion of the season. But what you see is hesitancy, particularly by dealers, to restock at this point in the current environment. So that's most of the dynamic, again, holding market share seeing the benefit of longer retail with those channel partners. And the good news is, even though they're not taking more stock, we are further adjusting the field inventory, which sets us up for a healthy F26.

And then my follow-up or segue question to that, Angie, you mentioned, and this is no surprise, obviously, but the residential margins are expected to be down this year. To what degree are you expecting the margins to be down? What do you peg as, I guess, quote, unquote, normal resi margins at this point? And what's the likelihood that 2026 is going to look like that sort of normal margin profile in the segments?

Yeah, as we talk about residential margins, we said that those would be, for the full year, those would be lower year over year from last year's 7.9%. So we do expect those to be a little lower with all of the things that we've talked about impacting those residential margins this year and this past quarter. From a normal basis, you know, Sam, those are typically somewhere in that 8% to 10% margin range. although we expect to get to that over time. We likely will not in F25, and we expect to get closer to that sometime in the near future. I think, like Rick said, the actions that we've taken this year have really set us up for a stronger F26, whether those are one-time reductions like E&O, things like that that will set us up for a better F26.

And then my last question, and I apologize if you covered this in your prepared remarks and I missed it. What are your expectations now for year-end backlog and the prospects for pro-growth next year? Thanks.

Yeah, we would expect year-end backlog to be substantially reduced from previous years as we work down to the more normal order cycle and lead times. There are a lot of dynamics there. The timeframe in which customers are ordering is also pulling in back more towards normal. So I think we previously had commented that the underground construction in some categories would extend well into 2026. Golf and grounds should be close to normal, although the recent order trends indicated it will spill into next year in some categories as well. So, continued good prospects for growth, but returning more to a normal cadence versus driven by the back order open orders.

So, you're still thinking 26 is a growth year comfortably for pro?

For pro, yes.

Yes. Yes, we're still seeing land and underground. Expect the professional that we talked about earlier with our landscape areas. The contractor is still very strong as well. And we've got a good book of orders in front of us.

Thank you much.

Thank you, Sam.

Thank you. One moment for our next question. And our next question comes from the line of David McGregor of Longboat Research. Your line is now open.

Yes, good morning, everyone. Welcome, Andrew. Yeah, I guess I wanted to start off just on the AMP program. You'd expect it to reinvest 50% of the benefit and take the remaining 50% to the bottom line. So, with the $75 million that you referenced this morning, what's been taken to the bottom line so far?

Good morning, David. So the $75 million is program-to-date savings. So that's run rate savings. So those will be annualized cost savings that we expect to get in the future. For our project today, actually I'll go back to our F-25 end-year realized savings, which means what we should have expected to see potentially in the P&L. And that for this year is $47 million to date through 2025. A lot of that is impacting the P&L in the ways of things that you're seeing with SG&A savings, some of the footprint rationalization that we've done, capacity. But we're also having to offset some of the costs that we're seeing in this homeowner volume reduction and, you know, overall underabsorption and some lower volumes. But we're using some of that also to fuel our continued innovations in technology. So you're not seeing those directly related to AMP because we are reinvesting a big portion of that this year into the other things that I've mentioned.

And even though it goes to offset some of the specific challenges this year with lower volume, et cetera, in residential, Those are run rate savings, so they will continue in the future. And where we start to get relief from some of those factors where we're spending it today, those benefits will still be there in the future.

Right. And I guess, you know, you're talking about 2027 or the end of 2027, but you appear to be, at least on a run rate basis, three quarters of the way through this program already. I guess the obvious question is, you know, the potential to see this target raised over the remaining two years of the planning horizon.

Yes, you're exactly right. So we're very excited about the progress that we've made with our AMP initiative, and we've had great success to date. We're tracking well ahead with our $75 million of run rate savings towards that $100 million goal. So when we give our guidance in Q4, I think we'll be prepared to talk about AMP 2.0 or AMP Squared.

Okay, sounds good. I look forward to that. Second question is on tariffs. I guess just talk about your success to date with tariff mitigation and what impact did tariffs, I guess net of mitigation actions, have on third quarter margins?

Yeah, just a little commentary from where we picked up or picking up from the last earnings call. Last call we talked about tariffs. roughly 3% of COGS being the impact that we estimated at that point from tariffs for the year in F-25. That equates to about $90 million. And just one note on the $90 million, that would also be inclusive of existing tariffs that were there since 2017-18 timeframe. So the actual incremental in 25 due to new tariffs would have been $65 million at that time. At this point, we are estimating that the equivalent incremental tariffs would be about $45 million. And what's interesting is the splits, how that breaks down has shifted. So at our second quarter call, it was mostly about China. Even though we had small exposure, there was an exceptionally large tariff that was on the horizon that we had built in. Today, the largest portion is steel and aluminum based on the general tariffs there. Even though the vast majority of our steel comes from the U.S., we are affected because of the very high rates, even on a small percentage that does not. And then that would be followed by, you know, equal measure of China, the baseline reciprocal tariffs, and a small portion of Mexico from Mexico and China, maybe 5 million out of that. Thankfully, our products have been USMCA compliant from the start in Mexico and are currently not subject to significant tariffs there.

I know the IEPA or the reciprocal tariffs are sort of a point of debate right now. How much within that $45 million would be the IEPA?

I don't know that we've broken it out specifically to address the IEPA. We haven't broken it out.

We can get that information.

We can.

Okay, great. And then how much incremental pricing and mitigation traction should hit the P&L in the fourth quarter?

So in the second quarter, we expected to offset the dollar for dollar tariffs. At this point, we see a potential path by year end to be able to maintain our margins as well through a combination of the productivity measures that Angie talked about, plus the careful pricing that we did in this environment as well. So we see a way to be margin neutral by the end of the year.

Margin neutral by the year end. Okay, good. Last question for me, I guess I just want to go back to Sam's question on residential and exploring the margin potential there and have that conversation around the professional segment margins. And, you know, I'm just thinking back prior to April 2019, Charles Machine Works acquisition, you know, Toro was, I guess, generating consistent 20% margins in the professional segments, I recall. You know, Charles Machine Works was obviously dilutive and margins dropped in mid-teens levels, but you've been making pretty steady progress on rebuilding those margins to, you know, now despite sort of the headwinds and landscape contractor, the professional segment margins are running at a kind of a 19% annual trajectory. So I guess the question is how much upside is realistically achievable in pro segment margins, given the remaining recovery opportunity that may still exist at Charles machine works and underground construction. And I guess on top of that recovery in the larger landscape contractor business.

We do have opportunity to expand those margins. As you notice, our SG&A spend is down. We've made purposeful cost reductions in those areas. We're continuing to see productivity improvements. We're getting the net price realization, you know, of the tariff mitigation efforts, pricing that we implemented, and also additional pricing, and then also some lower marketing costs. But, you know, The piece of the homeowner that carries over into our professional segment is also impacting us somewhat there, creates some manufacturing variances and capacity utilization. So if we think about those types of things and what we can take forward, there will be improvements as we continue to go forward.

And just to acknowledge the first thing you said, I think, is Charles Machine Works and DITWISH specifically has made tremendous progress in moving up from a profitability standpoint. So just want to acknowledge the work that's been done there by our team.

And just one thing I would add, as you've noticed with our transformational productivity initiative, we are making some portfolio adjustment. We are looking at SKUs. Just this past quarter, you know, we looked at some assets that could be potentially, you know, non-core assets and with TrendCore and the auger boring products and are moving those out as we see necessary. Okay.

So within the progress this quarter on professional margins, that 250 basis points of improvement, how much of that was productivity benefit versus price cost and volume leverage and cost cuts?

Well, we saw price up. We saw productivity improvements being an impact. So both of those are pretty big factors as well as part of the mix.

Got it. Thanks very much. Good luck.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We'll move on to our next question. And our next question comes from the line of Thomas Mahoney of Cleveland Research Company. Your line is now open.

Hello, good morning. I wanted to look through the moving pieces in the 4Q revenue guidance. I guess first, is there a way, it does look like the pro segment could be implied down year over year. Is there a way to size the the divestiture impact inside that and just speak through if there's in the remaining business, if there's any instance where maybe some has been pulled into the third quarter that comes out of the fourth quarter, anything along those lines.

We did mention in Q3 that half of the decline in Q3 was related to the divestitures year over year. not only includes the poke divestiture, which is in the residential segment, but also the company-owned dealers in the underground construction space. So that it was, you know, half of that. That's part of the fourth quarter. And it will, yeah, it will be part of the fourth quarter guide as well.

And American augers remain in the future, not a part of the fourth quarter guidance?

So just to correct that, so American augers is still part of the underground construction. This is just a product line. It's called auger boring. It is just a very small component. It's not the horizontal directional drill. So the auger boring piece is what we sold off as well as the large trim core trenchers. So those are the two pieces that will come out of the underground construction group.

Got it. Understood. And then from a cost basket perspective, is there anything outside of tariffs to be sure to consider as we move through the second half of the year and into 26? Or do you view the incrementals as you frame them up here pretty complete in terms of the cost and the cadence that you're thinking about looking into next year?

I think the thing that you should continue to consider, you mentioned tariffs, the inflation that also comes along with that. And then also the manufacturing variances that have been related to us really aligning our production and demand. So as we look at those plants that are producing residential and homeowner products and really aligning those plus the inventory valuations that we've completed. So I think those are part of the factors that you'll have to consider for cost in Q4 and early 26.

Okay, that makes sense. Thank you. Thank you. One moment for our next question. And our next question comes from the line of Bobby Schultz of Baird. Your line is now open.

Hey, good morning, guys. Thanks for taking the questions. Most of mine have been answered already, but maybe just one on the gulf side first. Could you give us an update on where lead times are today and just remind us on how that compares to what normal lead times are and what sort of line of sight do you have to see continued lead time improvement there?

Yeah, good question, Bobby. I'm happy to give you a little insight there. As I think you know, lead times have become extremely extended as we navigated some of the supply chain disruptions. We've talked before about as we got to the end of this fiscal year, we thought we'd be getting pretty close to current. And as Rick mentioned earlier, as orders continue to come in strong, there are still going to be individual models where that lead time is longer than normal. But we're getting to a point where we're much more current. We're certainly more current on our own production. We also have to realize, though, that ultimately the product is prepped for delivery to the customers from our channel partners. And there are still cases there where some of them are working that product through, right? much more current and a much more healthier position than we were, say, this time last year.

Got it. And then on Spartan Mower, I think when you guys acquired Intimidator, its annual sales were about $200 million. Any high-level way to frame what the Intimidator group sales are today relative to that $200 million?

It is now part of the landscape contractor group, but just rough ballpark. I mean, it's significantly less than that because it is significantly less than it was at the time of acquisition because it has a higher penetration of homeowners. So that's probably the biggest factor. It is substantially down from where it was at the time of acquisition. That relates to the impairment that we talked about.

Yeah, it was particularly hard hit because there are a lot of more residential buyers, like Rick said. But we do believe there is value in providing a suite of the return mowers that are complementary to both Toro and Exmark. And this addresses a geography and a customer base that we don't serve well today.

Understood. Thanks, guys. I'll leave it there. Thank you.

Thank you. One moment for our next question. And our next question comes from the line of Ted Jackson of Northland. Your line is now open.

Thank you very much. I've got a couple of questions around inventories, you know, both, you know, on your balance sheet and then dealer itself. And so just starting with the Toro inventory levels, you know, would you – view your current inventory levels as being you're kind of balanced to demand or still work to be done there and you know and then you know when you think about your inventory levels you know what would be you know kind of your target when it could be either you know like a day's inventory or returns you know my sense is that you're still a little heavy there and just kind of would like to get a sense in terms of you know where that stands and kind of you know what the the you know the target is and maybe some color in terms of how you expect it to fit and then on the dealer side you know you're you're you're positioning yourself to be set up for a solid season in 2026 and you made a reference to efforts that were going to allow you to bring the dealer inventory even further to ensure that you are positioned So maybe some discussion with regards to your kind of dealer inventories, where they are now, what your actions are going to be, put them to where it sounds like you want them to be when we get to spring. And then maybe just because we're coming up to winter, some discussion with regards to, you know, like, I don't know, mixes with regards to snow products and such as well.

Thank you. Ted, maybe I could start out talking about the field inventory, and then Angie can finish up talking about our own balance sheet inventory. So if you look broadly across our businesses, we've made really good progress in the right directions for each of those. So first of all, underground is an area that we've been very short of field inventory. We've made good progress there, but we still have some distance to go to have the right stock at our dealers. available for immediate delivery if they need that so we have made good progress we still have more to go to add to our field inventory and underground golfing grounds is about right at this point but similar to edrick's comments in some categories we still are short field inventory many of the categories were in good shape at this point and the product is flowing through with good velocity through those distributors right now, those dealers and distributors. And on the residential side, good progress because of the factors that we talked about. As you said, set up well for next year. We will continue to manage that very prudently with our channel partners to make sure that we match the retail as we go forward here. So that's really our plan at this point.

On our inventory, go ahead if you have a question there.

Oh, I just wanted to get just a little more clarity in there. So when you talked about, though, aligning and being, you know, the residential making good progress and being aligned, making sure it's aligned for the spring selling season, I mean, you know, that would imply that you feel like it's still a little heavy and that you have some things to do. I mean, how is that going to be aligned for the spring selling season, you know, given where we are in the We're at the end of the season now. I guess that's where I'm getting at with that. Is there an action that Toro is doing to bring those into alignment? Is it kind of where you want it to be, given your view for 26 and there's really nothing else to do? I'm just a little lost on that one. Sorry to interrupt, Angie.

I think in a general sense, we'll continue to work with our channel partners like dealers on promotional activities to help move the product through at this time of year. We are in a much better position than we were last year. We'll continue to still help our dealers drive retail at this time of year, given spring is a few months away. And then just keep in mind that we're coming off two years of low snow in our key markets. That cuts across a residential business, the boss business, and some portion of Ventrac. So we do have snow inventory in some cases that's been there for a season or even two. So that is part of the sort of dealer capacity of inventory that's out there that they may talk about if they're describing their inventory. At this point, it's sort of a normal pre-season snow load that's out there in the channel. It's just that it was loaded in last year or the year before.

Well, coming into every winter, I don't even know if my fingers are double-crossed for lots of snow, because I'd love to see that stuff go away. And I actually like winter. We appreciate that. Thank you.

Our inventory has made progress. You know, as you know, Ted, it's been a focus area for us for all year. But we made good progress sequentially. So we're down since last quarter and down a bit since year end as well. Working first and foremost to kind of get back to the levels that we expect and probably driving those turns above three. We still feel like we're a bit heavy on our total inventory. For Q3, finished goods actually went up a little bit. Some of that in good, you know, good inventory as we continue to get more inventory produced for our underground business and commercial to be able to fill some of that backlog, but sequentially it was down. Our WIP inventory continues to come down on a year-over-year basis and then also sequentially. So we're making good progress. We know we still have work to do there, but it continues to be a focus area as well.

So if your target then would be around three turns, you know, obviously, you know, just an average over, say, the course of a year, that's kind of where you're trying to get yourself to.

I'd say that's my first step. I'd like to get there first and then continue to make it better.

That's a great answer. So, okay, I'll get out of line in case there's anyone else. Thank you. Thank you.

This concludes the question and answer session. Ms. Hilley, please proceed to closing remarks.

Thank you, everyone, for your questions and interest in the Toro Company. We look forward to talking with you again in December to discuss our fiscal 2025 fourth quarter and full year results.

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the presentation. You may now disconnect. Good day.