Valmont Industries, Inc.

Greetings and welcome to the Velma Industries, Inc. Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation, during which we ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one brief follow-up question and return to the queue. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I'll now turn the conference over to your host, Renee Campbell, Senior Vice President, Capital Markets and Risks. Ms. Campbell, you may begin.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. With me today are Avner Applbaum, President and Chief Executive Officer, John Schwietz, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Eric Johnson, Chief Accounting Officer, and Casey Meyer, Vice President, Treasury and Investor Relations. Earlier this morning, we issued a press release announcing our third quarter 2026 results. Both the release and the presentation for today's webcast are available on the Investors page of our website at valmont.com. A replay of the webcast will be available later this morning. To stay updated with Valmont's latest news releases and information, please sign up for email alerts on our Investors site. We'll begin today's call with prepared remarks and then open it up for questions. A reminder that today's presentation and Q&A includes forward-looking statements about Valmont's expectations, plans, and future performance. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied. Important factors that could cause those differences are described under forward-looking statements, which is outlined on slide two of today's presentation and in the risk disclosures in our most recent Form 10-K and subsequent Forms 10-Q available on our Investor Relations website and sec.gov. With that, I'd now like to turn the call over to Avner.

Avner Applbaum, Thank you, Renee. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Turning to slide four, I would like to start by highlighting three important takeaways from the quarter. First, we delivered another quarter of sales and earnings growth. Net sales increased 5.5%, and operating margin expanded 220 basis points. Earnings per share rose 25.3%. The progress we are making reinforces our confidence in achieving our long-term financial objectives. Second, infrastructure growth continues to be anchored by markets where we have strong positions and see significant long-term opportunity. North America utility sales increased 23% as customers are modernizing the grid, adding capacity and improving resiliency as power demand grows. North America coating sales grew 14% supported by utility construction projects, including data centers. These businesses are delivering on our investor day priority to capture above market growth in utility. Finally, North America agriculture sales increased 16%, a notable result given the challenging broader market. When storms disrupted gross operations during their peak season, our valley dealers and teams were ready to help get their systems back up and running as quickly as possible. Storm replacement activity contributed to the quarter's growth and demonstrated the value of the dealer network. These relationships also support our strategy to grow aftermarket parts and technology, strengthening the business even before a broader market recovery. Turning to slide five, I'll review our infrastructure businesses starting with North America Utility. Demand is exceptionally strong. Our alliance relationships give us visibility into customers' multi-year plans before projects become firm orders and enter the backlog. That pipeline continues to strengthen. This quarter, more of those opportunities converted into orders, bringing the infrastructure backlog to $1.8 billion. The projects ahead and orders in hand support our confidence in utility growth behind our path to $35 in earnings per share by the end of 2029. My recent conversations with key utility customers reinforce our view that we are still early in a multi-year investment cycle. One customer told me it has tripled its project management and field teams over the past two years to support its expanding investment program. That same company asked us to evaluate structural alternatives and total installation costs for a higher voltage transmission project. Customers rely on our engineering expertise to make informed decisions early in their projects. They have also made clear that dependable delivery is essential to their construction schedules. That's why we are focused not just on adding capacity, but also on improving throughput and meeting delivery commitments. Through the third quarter, we've installed and commissioned approximately 20% of the incremental utility steel production capacity required to support our 2029 plan. Lead times across the industry have extended as demand grows and new capacity ramps up. To support utility and coatings, we are increasing Our expansion and expect to double our growth capital investment in 2027 compared with this year. These investments are aligned with visible customer demand in our capital framework presented at Investor Day. North America Coatings is also benefiting from the infrastructure investment supporting utility and other end markets. With one of the largest galvanizing networks in the industry, Our coatings business plays an important role in improving the durability and lifecycle performance of critical steel infrastructure. With galvanizing demand outpacing industry supply, we expect to shift more of our existing capacity towards growing internal volumes as we bring expansion projects online. This will help us maintain reliable delivery for our utility customers. In lighting and transportation, Transportation markets are healthy, while lighting continues to be affected by softer residential and commercial construction activity. We're pursuing targeted growth, including expanding our presence in Texas. Our work with utilities and municipalities is translating into new orders and product approvals supporting our growth in this important market. Our priorities remain improving on-time delivery, manufacturing reliability, and overall operating performance. In telecom, carrier capital deployment remains selective following the peak of the 5G build-out. Several carriers are delaying site modification work to align with future technology and spectrum deployment. This impacted demand this quarter, and we expect market conditions to remain soft in the near term. This does not change our view of the longer-term need for network investment. We are well positioned to support long-term growth in data consumption and network capacity needs. Across our international infrastructure markets, we're advancing initiatives to strengthen commercial execution and operational performance across these businesses. A good example this quarter is in Europe, where we secured a new contract to supply distribution poles to a major utility, expanding our participation in grid investment. Turning to agriculture on slide six. Global ag market conditions remain challenged. In North America, higher input costs and lower grain prices continue to pressure farm economics and constrain capital spending. Recent industry reports indicated a decline in growth sentiment and capital investment expectations, reinforcing our view that this quarter sales growth does not suggest The landscape is similar in Brazil. Interest rates and input costs remain elevated while grain prices have not kept pace. We remain confident in the long-term fundamentals of the Brazilian market. In the Middle East, the ongoing conflict in the region continues to affect our operations and the timing of certain customer projects, with high shipping costs adding to the delays. We do not expect a near-term return to normal activity in the region and recovery will take time. At the same time, we are very pleased to have been awarded a $100 million project in North Africa supporting food security in the region. The project includes our full suite of technology and water management solutions to improve farm productivity and water efficiency. We expect shipments to begin in the first half of 2027 and our diverse global manufacturing footprint provides the flexibility to reliably serve this customer. While the underlying dynamics differ across regions, we expect the overall operating environment for ag to persist through year-end. We are investing in higher value aftermarket and technology solutions to help growers improve productivity. These areas continue to gain traction and strengthen the quality and resilience of the business through the cycle. Across Valmont, our priorities as we look ahead are clear. Efficiently ramp the capacity we're adding, align our operations with demand across the portfolio, and recover higher input costs through disciplined pricing. I'll now turn the call over to John to review our third quarter financial results and updated 2026 outlook.