UFP (UFPI) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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DATE

Thursday, April 30, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. ET

CALL PARTICIPANTS

• Chief Executive Officer — William Schwartz
• Chief Financial Officer — Michael Cole

TAKEAWAYS

• Net Sales -- $1.46 billion, an 8% decrease driven by a 7% decline in units and a 1% decline in price compared to the previous year.
• Adjusted EBITDA -- $111 million, down $31 million year over year, with a margin of 7.6% versus 8.9% in the prior period.
• Earnings Per Share -- $0.89 for the quarter.
• Liquidity -- Approximately $2 billion total liquidity, including $714 million in surplus cash and zero borrowings. Surplus cash was $200 million lower than at year-end due to seasonal working capital build.
• Retail Segment Sales -- $531 million, down 12%, impacted by a 13% drop in units, while pricing increased 1%.
• ProWood Units -- Declined 15%, reflecting adverse weather and lower demand without incremental storm-related activity.
• Deckorators Performance -- Overall units up 2%; Surestone decking sales rose 27% and wood/plastic composite decking increased 4%; total decking sales up 16% driven by expanded capacity.
• EDGE Business -- Volumes declined 20% due to facility closures and portfolio narrowing to focus on profitability by the end of 2026.
• Packaging Segment Sales -- $394 million, down 4%, with a 2% decline in units and pricing.
• PalletOne Units -- Dropped 7%, while protective packaging increased 5%, attributed to ramp-up at new greenfield locations.
• Packaging Adjusted EBITDA -- $28 million, down $7 million, reflecting lower volume, higher input costs, and unabsorbed overhead from new operations.
• Construction Segment Sales -- $465 million, down 10%, with price and units each down 5% year over year. Site-built units fell 14%, factory-built units down 7%, while commercial and concrete forming achieved mid-teens unit growth.
• Construction Adjusted EBITDA -- $26 million, a $12 million decrease, attributed to continued market weakness and competitive margin pressure in Site Built.
• Cost Savings Program -- $25 million additional savings targeted by year-end, contributing to the $60 million total goal, with potential for further incremental savings.
• SG&A Expense -- Declined over $3 million from lower incentive compensation, with core SG&A of about $570 million projected, excluding incentive items.
• Capital Expenditures (CapEx) -- Expected at $250 million to $275 million for the year, $50 million below February guidance due to the MoistureShield acquisition.
• Shareholder Returns -- Quarterly dividend raised to $0.36 per share (up 3%). Year-to-date share repurchases of 30 million shares at under $90 per share, with a $300 million authorization through July 2026.
• Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) -- Trailing 12-month ROIC remains near 11%, exceeding weighted average cost of capital.
• New Product Sales -- Accounted for 7.5% of sales on a trailing 12-month basis.
• Deckorators Capacity Expansion -- MoistureShield acquisition expected to double wood/plastic composite decking manufacturing capacity by 2027 and add proprietary cool deck technology with 35% heat reduction.
• Strategic Personnel Move -- Patrick Benton appointed Executive Vice President of Operations Integration to ensure disciplined acquisition integration and operational efficiency.
• M&A Activity -- Post-quarter acquisitions of MoistureShield (decking) and Berry Pallets (pallet manufacturing), both highlighted as fitting strategic and financial criteria.
• 2026 Outlook -- Demand expected to trend toward the lower end of prior guidance due to macro headwinds, with unit volumes flat to slightly down and continued input cost pressures offset by pricing actions and anticipated market share gains.

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RISKS

• CEO Schwartz highlighted that "higher medical costs than the previous year" and abnormal March weather contributed to 60% of the profit decline year over year.
• Management explicitly expects "continued pressure from energy and transportation" costs, with time lags before price offsets materialize in earnings.
• Construction segment faces "a very pressured market," with site-built margins notably impacted by housing affordability, weaker sentiment, and unable to quickly pass on input cost increases.
• Management cautioned that "the current market environment" will likely persist through the year, with demand guidance now biased to the low end of the range.

SUMMARY

UFP Industries (NASDAQ:UFPI) cited an 8% year-over-year revenue contraction reflecting unit volume and price pressure across all segments, compounded by abnormal weather and increased costs. Leadership described a disciplined, opportunistic approach to capital deployment, pairing a $2 billion liquidity position with recent strategic M&A in decking and pallets to accelerate capacity expansion and market reach. The company signaled confidence that capacity additions, notably the MoistureShield acquisition, will enable a planned doubling of wood/plastic composite decking output by 2027 and directly address recent demand outpacing supply. While supply chain cost headwinds and competitive pricing particularly constrained profits in Construction and Packaging, the company reported that cost pass-through measures are now active and expected to mitigate impacts by the second half of the year.

• Management stated, "we continue to expect $100 million of incremental Deckorators growth this year," supported by new plant openings and expanded distribution.
• Michael Cole highlighted, "Last year, we converted 80% of adjusted EBITDA into free cash flow," emphasizing ongoing capital discipline and cash generation.
• The planned transition of the MoistureShield brand into Deckorators by 2027 aims to exploit cross-channel synergies and expand distribution partnerships previously unavailable to Deckorators.
• Restructuring within the EDGE retail business is expected to achieve profitability targets by the end of next year, indicating ongoing portfolio optimization.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

• Surestone: UFP Industries' proprietary mineral-based decking technology, providing enhanced durability and performance versus traditional wood/plastic composites.
• Cool Deck Technology: MoistureShield’s proprietary surface treatment, cited as reducing heat transfer by up to 35% in wood/plastic composite decking applications.
• Greenfield: A newly established manufacturing facility, not acquired from an existing operation, designed to expand production capacity or geographic reach.
• PalletOne: UFP’s division specializing in the production of pallets and related packaging products, tracked as a distinct reporting category within the Packaging segment.

Full Conference Call Transcript

William Schwartz: Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining today's call to discuss our financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2026. We'll start by sharing our thoughts on the quarter, what we are seeing in the marketplace and provide some thoughts on how we see the business performing for the balance of the year before opening the call for questions. Many of these same dynamics that we saw through much of 2025 continued into our first quarter. After seeing some stabilization through much of the quarter, macro headwinds and competitive pressures increased volatility as the quarter progressed.

We were also adversely affected this quarter by a longer-than-normal winter season, and so the normal seasonal uplift during the month of March failed to materialize. In addition to the impact of softer demand, our results were impacted by higher medical costs than the previous year. This abnormal activity throughout March contributed to roughly 60% of the year-over-year decline in profitability in the quarter. Business conditions have since leveled out, but given the ongoing geopolitical uncertainty and broadening inflation, particularly around higher transportation costs, we are approaching the remainder of the year with a slightly more cautious outlook. Our Q1 results are reflective of the current operating environment.

Net sales of $1.46 billion were down 8% from Q1 of 2025, representing a 7% decrease in units and a 1% decrease in price. Our adjusted EBITDA margin for the quarter was 7.6% and earnings per share for the quarter was $0.89. Despite the temporarily challenged environment, we will continue to be focused on refining and growing our core business. We will focus on controlling costs, and we plan to use this period of uncertainty to be more opportunistic and leverage our strong financial position. With approximately $2 billion in liquidity, we intend to pursue meaningful M&A, while returning our free cash flow to shareholders through opportunistic share repurchase and dividends.

As we've said before, we continue to target above-market growth with an emphasis on returns, and we continue to make strategic investments that contribute to the long-term success of our business. In the immediate term, new product sales remain consistent at 7.5% of sales on a trailing 12-month basis. We also have a sharp eye towards strengthening our core business for the long term, deploying capital for greenfield investments and M&A, introducing innovative products and structurally lowering our cost base. On the cost side, we are actively mitigating higher costs and remain on track to deliver the remaining $25 million of our $60 million cost-out program by year-end with the potential to capture incremental savings beyond our initial targets.

While Mike will share additional color on the results, we were also pleased to announce two post-quarter end acquisitions that align with our disciplined strategy to deploy capital toward high-quality strategic fits. Before I get into the details, I'd like to start by welcoming the employees of Moisture Shield and Berry Palets into the UFP family. These companies were a strategic financial fit, but equally important, they aligned well with our future. In our Deckorators business unit, we announced the acquisition of moisture Shield decking operations from Oldcastle APG. The acquisition adds a wood/plastic composite plant in Springdale, Arkansas, which meaningfully expands our capacity, adds redundancy to our operation and enhances our ability to bring unique products to market.

Additionally, this acquisition eliminates the need to spend capital on a new greenfield as demand for our product has outpaced capacity. We anticipate that this acquisition gives us the needed footprint to double our wood/plastic composite decking manufacturing capacity by 2027. Additionally, the acquisition also brings the rights to Moisture Shield's cool deck technology, a proprietary heat mitigating technology, which reduces heat transfer by up to 35%. We believe this would fit alongside our Deckorators decking line, including integration into our Surestone technology boards. In our Packaging segment, we also welcome to the UFP family Berry Pallets, a new pallet manufacturer in the Upper Midwest that expands our geographic reach and strengthens the density of our pallet network.

These opportunities to increase the scale and synergy of our business only create value if we integrate it well, and that's exactly why earlier this month, we announced Patrick Benton will transition from his role as President of UFP Industries Construction segment to the newly created Executive Vice President of Operations Integration position. Patrick has spent his career running some of our most profitable plants and business units, and he knows firsthand what it takes to drive efficiency, reduce cost and accelerate the path to strong returns.

In his new role, Patrick will apply that operational discipline across our growing portfolio of acquisitions, ensuring we move faster from close to contribution and that every business we bring into the UFP family performs to its full potential. Now moving on to segment highlights, beginning with retail. Our largest business unit, ProWood, continues to make progress on lowering our cost positions and improving our manufacturing process. Some of this progress was overshadowed by the levels of inflation we saw in the quarter as well as the later-than-usual winter conditions. ProWood is an industry-leading brand, and we continue to add more value across our portfolio. A great example of this is our TrueFrame Joists product launched last month at JLC.

As a reminder, this is the business unit's first proprietary product designed specifically for use in deck substructures. The value we add on the front end eases several common pain points for contractors, saving time and money. We have expanded production into four manufacturing plants and increased our sales efforts to capitalize on the demand pull. While still relatively small, this is a compelling product line extension in our core pressure treating and decking products. Similarly, we are pleased with the repositioning of our Edge business and prospects for profitable growth. Our new Arris trim made with Surestone technology will begin shipping to customers late this quarter.

Early demand indicators look quite favorable as contractors are gravitating to the same product features that has made our Surestone decking offering so compelling. Turning to Deckorators. We continue to see strong momentum from last year carry over into our first quarter. Our Surestone decking sales increased 27% and our traditional wood/plastic composite decking increased by 4%, both from the same quarter a year ago. We believe both metrics remain ahead of the broader industry. We were pleased with the results of our efforts last year to enhance Deckorators brand and intend to maintain that effort in 2026. In addition to our elevated sales volumes, our measures of consumer interest have more than doubled over the past year.

These metrics include where to find a contractor, where to buy decorators and sample requests, both at big box retailers and through our website. The outperforming demand stated earlier, combined with a measurable customer feedback gives us confidence in our stated plan to double market share over the next five years. We remain excited about the progress we are making within both our Surestone and wood/plastic manufacturing facilities to increase capacity and meet growing consumer demand. Our first truck left Buffalo in mid-April, and we continue to ramp up production at both our Surestone production locations.

We look forward to being fully operational in Q2, which will help us continue to work through the sales backlog that we were not able to realize in the first quarter. Coupled with the recent MoistureShield acquisition, we are well positioned to capture growth entering 2026 and beyond. Despite near-term macro uncertainty, our confidence in the business remains strong, and we continue to expect $100 million of incremental Deckorators growth this year. Our Packaging segment continues to make progress despite an uneven macro backdrop. We are positioning the business for longer-term success by introducing new value-add products to our customers, investing in automation and investing in new and lower-cost manufacturing.

Quoting activity has remained strong, but customer takeaway remained mixed, which is reflective of the uncertainty across many end markets. The combination of higher commodity prices and a competitive market remain an overhang on profitability. That said, we are encouraged that our margins continue to stabilize sequentially and supports our view that we are closer to the bottom of the cycle. We continue to believe that our national footprint gives us geographic expansion opportunities and our design and engineering capabilities separate us from many of our smaller, more regional competitors who lack the manufacturing scale and financial position to compete with national customers. With the improvements we made to the business, we can deliver above-market growth in a recovery.

Moving on to construction. The macro story in our Construction segment has been fairly consistent for the past several quarters, but we continue to actively reposition our portfolio. A challenging new residential construction environment continues to weigh on results, overshadowing improvements across our other businesses. Residential builders remain cautious, managing home inventories carefully ahead of the spring selling season, while consumer confidence and affordability headwinds persist. We continue to make investments in automation and other initiatives to improve our cost position and throughput. One of these initiatives is the Frame Forward Systems brand that we launched in February at the International Builders Show.

Frame Forward Systems positions our site-built business unit to move our wood framing business beyond commodity component sale to capture increased margin through a system selling approach and to drive greater customer loyalty. While early, Frame Forward Systems has been very well received by the construction trade as we continue to raise the bar on off-site manufacturing to address the on-site challenges in the construction industry. Similarly, in our factory-built business, this business unit continues to actively add more value to our customers through partnerships, expansion of distribution capabilities and by facilitating cross-selling with other parts of our business.

Our concrete forming business continues to expand our products and services offerings to capture more of our customers' wallets while helping them address labor challenges on the job site. Finally, our Commercial business continues to build on new products, new customer relationships and the benefits from prior restructuring actions to deliver improved results. Across our Construction segment, we are actively finding ways to solve our customers' problems by helping address labor, quality, production cost and reduce build time to help our customers win in the marketplace. Looking ahead, we remain committed to our long-term targets and believe the steps we are taking today will position us to achieve these results in the future.

As a reminder, we are driving towards the following goals: a 12.5% EBITDA margin, 7% to 10% unit sales growth, some of which will come from M&A and new products; ROIC in excess of 15%, which is well ahead of our cost of capital. And lastly, to achieve all of this while maintaining a conservative capital structure. While the market dynamic has changed since our last call in February, it has not dampened our enthusiasm for our business longer term. As we've said before, we have confidence in our model and our focus remains on the most attractive opportunities that enhance our core business.

We're taking action to reduce costs, rightsize capacity and exit underperforming or non-core businesses, while positioning the company to deliver above-market growth and margin expansion as market conditions normalize. With that, I'll turn it over to Mike Cole.

Michael Cole: Thank you, Will. Net sales for the March quarter were $1.5 billion, down 8% from $1.6 billion last year. The change reflected a 7% decline in units and a 1% decline in pricing. Units declined due to continued weakness in residential construction activity, adverse weather, the exiting of select low-margin commodity sales and softer demand for new pallets. Pricing was impacted by a 6% decline in lumber and continued price pressure in our site-built business. Adjusted EBITDA was $111 million, down $31 million year-over-year, and adjusted EBITDA margin was 7.6% compared with 8.9% in the prior year period.

The decline was driven primarily by Site Built, where gross profit decreased by nearly $19 million, along with higher health care and transportation costs across the portfolio, which increased approximately $7 million and $3 million, respectively. Despite these headwinds, our trailing 12-month return on invested capital remained above our weighted average cost of capital at nearly 11%, demonstrating continued value creation through the current phase of the cycle. Turning to our segments. I'll begin with the Retail. Retail sales were $531 million, down 12% year-over-year, driven by a 13% decline in units, partially offset by 1% higher pricing. ProWood units declined 15%, reflecting soft demand driven by adverse weather, weaker consumer sentiment and the absence of storm-related demand.

We also exited certain low-margin commodity sales starting in Q2 of 2025. Deckorators delivered 2% unit growth as decking continued to outperform the market. Overall, decking sales increased 16%, led by 27% growth in Surestone, which was supported by capacity added at our Alabama plant. And wood/plastic composite decking increased 4%. We continue to target above-market growth in our Deckorators business unit. In April, we added wood/plastic composite manufacturing capacity in Arkansas through an acquisition. Our new Surestone plant in Buffalo just started shipping, and we continue to expand distribution across professional and retail channels, all of which is expected to support additional share gains in 2026 and beyond.

Edge volume declined 20% as we closed our [ Bonner ] facilities and narrowed the portfolio to products we expect to meet profitability targets by the end of 2026, representing the significant actions needed to restructure the business unit. Retail adjusted EBITDA was down $1 million year-over-year. Gross profit and SG&A were both essentially flat, reflecting improved mix and continued cost control, while we continue to invest in the Deckorators brand. We remain focused on improving ProWood distribution and increasing throughput and margins in Deckorators. With these initiatives and the EDGE restructuring substantially complete, the Retail segment is well positioned for improved results in 2026.

Packaging sales were $394 million, down 4% year-over-year, reflecting a 2% decline in units and a 2% decline in pricing. Structural packaging volumes were flat. PalletOne units declined 7% and protective packaging units increased 5% as new greenfield locations continue to ramp up. Across the segment, we continue to gain share with key customers because of our ability to provide value-added solutions and a comprehensive product portfolio on a national scale. Packaging adjusted EBITDA was $28 million, down $7 million year-over-year. The decline reflected lower volumes and higher input costs in PalletOne, along with unabsorbed overhead as protective packaging greenfield operations continue to focus on achieving targeted volumes.

We partially offset this gross profit impact with a $2 million reduction in SG&A, primarily from incentives tied to profitability. Construction sales were $465 million, down 10% year-over-year with a 5% decline in price and a 5% decline in units. The change was driven primarily by a 14% unit decline in site-built as housing demand remains pressured by affordability and weaker consumer sentiment and larger builders are focused on lowering inventory. We are, however, seeing improving trends among multifamily customers. Factory-built units declined 7% as we exited certain low-margin commodity sales. While volume was lower, mix improved and supported higher profitability. And commercial and concrete forming each achieved mid-teens unit growth.

Construction adjusted EBITDA was $26 million, down $12 million year-over-year, driven by market weakness and competitive pricing pressure in Site Built. The other three business units improved profitability through growth and more favorable mix, partially offsetting the decline. As we manage through this cycle, we're balancing cost discipline with continued investment on our long-term strategy. We remain focused on aligning our cost structure with current demand while continuing to fund growth initiatives, product innovation, brand awareness and technology-enabled productivity improvements. Consolidated SG&A declined over $3 million year-over-year due to lower incentive compensation tied to profitability.

For 2026, our key cost structure targets are $25 million in cost savings from capacity consolidations, reducing cost of goods sold and keeping us on track to achieve the $60 million cost-out goal we announced last year. Core SG&A of approximately $570 million, including Deckorators advertising and excluding the following incentive-related items. Bonus expense of 17% to 18% of pre-bonus operating profit, sales incentives of about 3% of gross profit and $21 million of vesting expense for prior year stock-based incentives, an effective tax rate of 25% to 26% and total depreciation, amortization and other noncash expenses of approximately $200 million. Turning to capital resources and capital allocation. The company continues to maintain a strong balance sheet.

At the end of March, the company had $714 million in surplus cash and no borrowings under its credit agreements for a total liquidity of approximately $2 billion. Our surplus cash was approximately $200 million lower than at year-end, driven by a typical seasonal working capital build that we expect to convert to cash by early Q4. We believe our diversified business portfolio generates meaningful and consistent free cash flow to support organic growth and M&A. Last year, we converted 80% of adjusted EBITDA into free cash flow. Our highest capital allocation priority is to invest in opportunities, organic and inorganic that grow our core businesses and increase margins and returns over time.

Our focus areas are expanding geographically in core higher-margin businesses where we have sustainable competitive advantages, expanding capacity for new and value-added products and driving operational excellence through automation, consolidation and enhanced productivity. Consistent with this framework, in April, we completed one acquisition and announced a second that we expect to close in May. On April 6, we purchased the net operating assets of MoistureShield, Inc. And on April 28, we announced our plan to acquire the net operating assets of Berry Pallets. These transactions are aligned with our capital allocation strategy to strengthen our core portfolio, expand capacity in the geographies we serve and improve margins.

We also intend to return capital by growing our dividend in line with long-term free cash flow and repurchasing shares primarily to offset dilution from stock-based compensation. We will evaluate additional repurchases opportunistically when we believe our shares are trading below intrinsic value, and we'll preserve our balance sheet strength to fund growth. With these points in mind, the Board approved a quarterly dividend of $0.36 per share, a 3% increase from a year ago. We have a $300 million share repurchase authorization in place through July 2026. Year-to-date, we've repurchased 30 million shares at an average price under $90 per share.

We currently expect $250 million to $275 million of CapEx, about $50 million lower than our February target due to the MoistureShield transaction. And we continue to build our M&A pipeline around targets that fit strategically, offer higher margin and return potential and present opportunities to meaningfully scale our core businesses. As we pursue these opportunities, we'll remain disciplined on valuation. I'll conclude with our outlook. We expect the current market environment to persist through 2026. Based on current headwinds and visibility, we believe demand for the balance of the year is trending toward the lower end of our prior guidance, which assumes flat to slightly down unit volumes across our segments based on mix.

With respect to input costs, we expect continued pressure from energy and transportation. While pricing actions are underway to offset these items, the benefit is expected to take time to flow through the income statement this year. Positively, we believe market share gains, capital investments and operating improvements should help offset headwinds in markets tied to new residential construction. For example, we continue to target $100 million of growth in Deckorators, decking and railing sales. With that, we'll open the line for questions.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our first question will come from the line of Kurt Yinger with D.A. Davidson.

Kurt Yinger: I just wanted to start off on ProWood. I know that you lost some lower-margin business last year, but it also sounds like kind of that slow progression into spring impacted the March period. I guess with the commentary that April has maybe leveled out a little bit, would you expect to see some better volume trends there?

William Schwartz: Yes. I think that's fair to say, Kurt. If you look at it, there's the factors and points that we referenced in some of the commentary, whether it's kind of carryover of really a very slow storm season from last year. A lot of that tail drags into 2026 into the first quarter. We didn't have that, obviously. You combine that with unusual weather patterns and then the change in business mix, some of those volumes we talked about. So yes, we -- I think if you take some of that noise out, it really matches up well to some of the guidance we've talked about for single-digit down, and I think that carries forward.

Kurt Yinger: That's helpful. And then on the Deckorators side, obviously, still a very good quarter in terms of decking sales growth. Can you just talk about how that matches up maybe internally versus your plan? And then as we think about the need to hit accelerating growth to get to that $100 million target with Buffalo online, does that really help ramp things up in Q2, or is it maybe more of a back half kind of phenomenon in terms of when a lot of that starts to flow through?

William Schwartz: Kurt, it's a combination of both. I think you're -- what you're reading into Q1 is exactly aligns with the amount of production that we have. So with those CapEx improvements coming online, [indiscernible] fully operational. But as described, we shipped our first truck mid-April out of Buffalo. So that's a quick ramp-up. But really, as you get to Q3, Q4, we'll be able to capitalize on a lot of backlog of orders. So our first quarter sales matched up to what we had to sell. So we were very happy. It's right on track in those CapEx advance. It's right where we expect it to be at this point.

Kurt Yinger: Okay, okay. Great. And then just last one on the transportation and energy side. Without maybe putting too fine a point on it, could you just help us kind of frame maybe what type of headwind do you expect that to be relative to what you're kind of budgeting at the start of the year? And then also talk a little bit about kind of the process of passing that additional cost on. Is it something that a portion of your contracts with customers might be embedded with just a time lag or something that's more negotiated? Just help us understand that dynamic a little bit.

William Schwartz: Yes. The -- that's a hard one. The month of March is where we really felt the impact. And certainly, when the conflict started, we didn't know how prolonged that would be at the point that we realized we were a month in that looks like this is going to have a longer-lasting effect, we started those conversations with customers. And fortunately, for us, because of the relationships we have, they understand. We're not the only ones in that game with the cost out of our control. And so those are starting to go into place or already in place in most cases and will continue as -- in the different markets that we serve.

But yes, as it looks right now, it looks like that's going to continue to be a bit of a headwind, but we've got it covered in the form of covering those costs and continue to work through it with customers.

Kurt Yinger: Is it fair to say then that we kind of see that headwind in Q2 and then the back half, you feel like you're pretty well set in offsetting it, barring another kind of material inflation shock, or is it maybe going to be really the latter part of the year where you think?

William Schwartz: Yes. I think as you described it, I think it's a very fair assessment of it. Most of those are already in place at this point, those offsets, but we continue to work through things through the quarter. But by the back half of the year for certain, I wouldn't expect to be taking hit as a result of those increased fuel costs.

Operator: One moment for our next question, and that will come from the line of Jeff Stevenson with Loop Capital.

Jeffrey Stevenson: First, I was wondering if you could provide some more color on how the MoistureShield assets fit into your long-term Deckorator strategy and then the opportunity to leverage your Deckorators products at existing MoistureShield distribution partnerships that you previously were not working with?

William Schwartz: Yes. You hit the nail on the head. There's a combination. That was certainly an opportunity that we were happy to be able to take advantage of. We needed additional capacity. We've been challenged there. We needed a secondary plant. And so we had budgeted. It was reflected in the CapEx expectation for another plant. That eliminated that need. So we got immediately a product that's really, really good, a manufacturing plant that satisfies that additional capacity need. But I'll tell you the cool deck technology and being able to apply that across the Deckorators portfolio of products also is extremely exciting.

And then lastly, coming with it, as you described, some other distributor partners that we think are extremely valuable and potentially, we can expand on that. So it was a win all the way around.

Jeffrey Stevenson: That's great to hear. And then at a high level, how should we think about the margin cadence over the next several quarters in your retail business, given the full load-in of your low-end summer decking products across the 1,500 retail stores and then the new Deckorators capacity coming online here in mid-April. Just any more color there would be helpful.

William Schwartz: Yes. And let's go back to last quarter, we kind of re-pivoted on that 1,500 stores. It's a little different. So store count, where products flow in from distribution centers, et cetera, and that's why we really explained the $100 million of additional Deckorator sales that we expected to get. You'll see that continue to build throughout the year. So describing back to the last question, we've only been limited by the production that we've had. So as that additional capacity comes on, Jeff, you'll see those sales build and revenues grow. So super excited about that.

Operator: And that will come from the line of William Carter with Stifel.

W. Andrew Carter: What I wanted to ask is on the kind of inflation, the energy pass-through. I think just to make sure, you are saying that when it's a headwind, it's transitory like in March. Could you give us a sense of how big that transitory headwind particularly was in the first quarter? How long you live with the lag? And then if it's just we see diesel stop or whatever, then the lag goes the other way. Any other incremental color to get some clarity around that incremental headwind this year?

William Schwartz: Yes, absolutely. I think Mike is chomping at the bit to get a word in. So I'm going to let him kind of jump in here.

Michael Cole: Yes, it was about a $3 million headwind in March, [ Andrew, ] and it did increase in April. But the good news is that in April, as Will had indicated, that's when we started taking actions with our customers and now through freight surcharges and price increases on the products, depending on which approach the customers prefer, we're now beginning to pass that through. And so working through that process, like Will said, and I expect that's going to be completed here in pretty short order in Q2.

W. Andrew Carter: And I 100% apologize if you all answered this to Jeff's question because I actually cut out, but it's kind of something that we were chomping at the bit to ask about. The MoistureShield locations, basically, if you look at the kind of the dealer locations for MoistureShield and kind of Deckorators where you are today, it's highly incremental in terms of incremental distribution points. So I guess the first thing is, obviously, MoistureShield is going to go more 2-step. Is it an easy conversation to pick that up for Deckorators or Surestone? Obviously, you'd also be the factory constrained that you -- kind of your kind of playbook for launching MoistureShield.

And I guess, long term, what's the brand strategy here? Is it keep MoistureShield, is it kind of -- and make it more of the brand, or just anything to help out there?

William Schwartz: Yes. Good question. And I'm going to start with the last question first or the last point. So the intent is to run the MoistureShield brand for the remainder of the year and in 2027, we'll start to transition moving that under the Deckorators umbrella and starting to introduce some of those products into the mix as well as the cool deck technology, applying that towards the whole portfolio of products where we deem fit.

Yes, we're excited, and we're working through that with those customers and partners that were part of MoistureShield that weren't part of the Deckorators customer mix, and we're working through that right now and -- but very, very excited about the opportunities that presents to us.

Operator: One moment for our next question, that will come from the line of Reuben Garner with Benchmark.

Reuben Garner: Let's see, this may be too early days, but any plans from a branding perspective? Will the MoistureShield assets ultimately become Deckorators wood/plastic composite, or is there a need or a reason to keep the separate branding longer term?

William Schwartz: Yes. So Reuben, I think you probably cut out in the queue for asking the question. And yes, so we will transition that MoistureShield brand under the Deckorators umbrella at some point in 2027. So we'll carry it through the year, and then we'll start that transition process.

Reuben Garner: Got it. Sorry, I missed that. And then the -- a lot of moving parts the last couple of years with both demand and the supply you've been adding and now MoistureShield. Can you give us an idea of what total wood/plastic composite business you have today, what total Surestone business you have today? And then like what the capacity is today, and where it's ultimately headed in each of those so we can kind of level set it on a go-forward basis?

Michael Cole: Yes. So I'll work off with the 2025 numbers, Reuben. I think we finished the year in total decking and railing sales of about $245 million. I think of that $245 million, there was $165 million of decking. And of the $165 million in decking, about $90 million was mineral based with Surestone and about $75 million was wood/plastic composite. And the balance there, I think it's $80 million was railing. Now to your point about capacity, prior to this year, we had about $100 million, I think, in capacity of mineral-based or Surestone. We had about $100 million in wood/plastic composite.

We've now doubled as a result of the -- or have the ability to double as a result of the MoistureShield acquisition, wood/plastic composites. So that's going to go from $100 million to $200 million. And as a result of [ Soma ] and Buffalo, we go from $100 million of capacity to adding another $250 million. So we'll be at $350 million of capacity for Surestone. And some of that will be -- most of it will lion's share be for decking, but we don't want to forget about the churn product that we're launching this year as well.

Reuben Garner: Perfect. Very helpful. And then a question about -- you mentioned -- I think you used the term price mechanisms and maybe there being a lag for offsetting some of the inflationary pressures that you've seen. What exactly are those mechanisms? Are you using surcharges for fuel and transportation and they're delayed for some reason? Just walk me through that comment.

William Schwartz: Yes, it's a combination. And so you're exactly right. Fuel surcharges in certain situations, others want repricing, building that into the price. So each of those scenarios is different. So when we speak mechanisms, we have a lot of business that we quote each time. And so you obviously take that into account the new updated costs, and what's reflected in the market. So it's just a combination of all of those and each of the segments we serve have different pricing time lines. So site built is very different than retail, an example.

Operator: And that will come from the line of Ketan Mamtora with BMO Capital Markets.

Ketan Mamtora: So sticking with the flavor of the day, which is Deckorators. So just help me understand a little bit on Q1. Obviously, Surestone and wood/plastic composite both grew quite nicely in Q1. Yet overall Deckorators sort of bucket was up 2%. So what are the other offsetting sort of factors there?

Michael Cole: Yes. Railing was off 6%. I think we called that out in the release. So that was an offset. And then the other product categories that are sitting inside the Deckorators business unit are decorative aluminum fencing, deck accessories, generally post caps, [ basters ] and then vinyl lattice is also in the category. So those are areas that were softer. And obviously, the decking sales themselves are obviously very strong.

Ketan Mamtora: I see. Okay. No, that's helpful. So as I think about sort of decorators and now with MoistureShield coming into the fold, Mike, is the right way to sort of think about as $100 million incremental sales you all talked about previously. And now we've got MoistureShield for probably 8 months of the year or something like that. So is that the way we should be thinking about Deckorators growth in '26?

Michael Cole: Yes, that's exactly right. The $100 million that we originally talked about with the capacity coming online that goes a long way towards helping us achieve that and now the incremental increase from the MoistureShield transaction.

Ketan Mamtora: Got it. Okay. That's helpful. And then just switching to the construction side. In Site Build, are you seeing sort of continued price competition among players, or is that sort of largely leveling out at this point given that we've been at it for a while now?

William Schwartz: Yes. That's the hardest part of the business for us today. Obviously, that business is very tough. And when you talk about even some of the cost inputs that we recognized in the first quarter, it's hardest to pass along. So that's reflected in margins, too, when you talk fuel increases, lumber costs going up during the quarter. And so it continues to be a very pressured market for us on the margin side.

Ketan Mamtora: Understood. But has the competitive dynamics changed at all since the start of this year? Obviously, at the start of this year, there was expectation that things will -- that housing activity will get better. And then with sort of the geopolitical events, it sort of feels like things have become a little softer since then, has there been any change?

William Schwartz: Yes. I think your assessment is exactly right. From the start of the year until today, it has certainly not gotten better in the geopolitical tensions, interest rate increases, consumer sentiment, all those factors in play, it's a tough environment.

Michael Cole: Although we did expect a tougher front half of the year. We had tougher year-over-year comparisons. Obviously, housing was pretty tough coming into the beginning of the year. We had anticipated it being tougher. But yes, exactly the recent events have made it even more so.

Ketan Mamtora: Okay. That's fair. And then just final one for me. On capital allocation, are you -- sort of how are you thinking about M&A opportunities? And it seems like that pipeline is growing and you are seeing more opportunities versus kind of the other tool that you have on share repurchases. How are you stacking those two at this point, and if you were to rank order?

William Schwartz: Yes, we are definitely more focused on growing. That's where we start. We talk about that a lot, but never losing sight of return. And I would tell you the pipeline is the best we've had in 5-plus years. I think a lot of that is intent and action. We've done a lot more prospecting. I personally have done more prospecting, allocated more time towards it for strategic opportunities that fit where we want to take the corporation. And so when you think about the liquidity, we want to put that to work, but it's got to be the right opportunities.

Operator: I'm showing no further questions in the queue at this time. I would now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Will Schwartz for any closing remarks.

William Schwartz: Thank you for joining us this morning. While the operating environment remains challenging and visibility limited, we're confident in the strategy we have in place and the actions underway to strengthen our business. We're staying disciplined. We're focused on what we can control, investing thoughtfully in our core businesses and managing costs while remaining patient in how we deploy capital. I want to thank our employees for their continued execution and commitment and our customers and shareholders for their trust and support. Thank you, and have a great day.

Operator: This concludes today's program. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

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