Trex Company, Inc. 2026 Q2 Earnings Call

Please go ahead. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today to discuss our second quarter results and outlook.

With us on the call are Adam Zambanini, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Prith Gandhi, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. The company issued a press release earlier this morning containing financial results for the second quarter 2026, a copy of which is available on the company's website. This conference call is also being webcasted and will be available on the investor relations page of the company's website for 30 days. Before we begin, let me remind everyone that statements on this call regarding the company's expected future performance and conditions constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. These statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements.

For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, please see our most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, as well as our other filings with the SEC. Additionally, non-GAAP financial measures will be referenced in this call. A reconciliation of these measures to the comparable GAAP financial measure can be found in our earnings press release at trex.com. The company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. I will now turn the call over to Adam.

Adam? Thank you, Lee, and good morning, everyone.

As Lee mentioned, we pre-released our second quarter net sales and adjusted EBITDA results earlier this month, so I won't spend much time recapping the numbers. The key takeaway is straightforward. We delivered an excellent quarter with net sales well above expectations, driven by strong execution and strengthening of end market demand. Importantly, that growth was broad-based across our product portfolio, channels, and price points. We were particularly encouraged by the momentum we saw as the quarter progressed. Demand accelerated through May and June, supported by strong sell-through activity across the portfolio, and those trends have continued into the third quarter. That performance, combined with our strong execution and improved visibility, gave us the confidence to raise our full-year guidance and increase our planned share repurchases for the remainder of the year.

We also generated strong free cash flow during the quarter, allowing us to reduce debt and return capital to the shareholders through share repurchases. Reflecting our confidence in both the business and our long-term outlook, we plan to repurchase up to an additional $150 million of shares during the balance of the year. While our sales performance was exceptionally strong, profitability reflected the pace at which demand accelerated during the quarter, along with several strategic choices that supported our long-term growth objectives. First, growth was particularly strong in railing in our entry-level decking products. We view this as a positive development, underscoring the growing consumer engagement across the product portfolio and successful execution of our wood conversion strategy. Although the mix moderated consolidated gross margin, it meaningfully accelerated revenue growth and enhances the scale of our long-term value creation opportunity.

Second, we continued investing in branding, talent, and organizational capabilities consistent with our strategy and our expectation to spend approximately 18% of sales on SG&A this year. These investments are intended to strengthen our competitive position and support sustained growth over time. Finally, demand strengthened significantly as the quarter progressed. To support that growth and ensure excellent customer service, we increased production levels throughout the quarter. That created some short-term manufacturing inefficiencies, but utilization improved steadily and production performance returned to expected levels by the end of June. Taken together, we are very encouraged by these dynamics and what they tell us about our business. Stronger demand, continued gains in key growth categories, and disciplined investment in our strategic priorities reinforce our confidence in both our near-term outlook and our long-term growth potential. Overall, we are pleased with our first half performance and increasingly confident in the opportunities ahead.

Our strong results, improving demand trends, and progress against our strategic priorities reinforce our belief that we are well-positioned to achieve our long-term objective of $2 billion in annual sales by 2030. One of the priorities is to optimize our channels for growth. As we recently announced, we have taken decisive steps to further strengthen what we believe is the industry's leading distribution network in North America, ensuring that our products remain readily available to both pro contractors and homeowners. While we discussed these changes during our July call, I want to spend a few minutes reiterating some key points. This was not simply a response to tremendous changes in the broader building products industry. It was a proactive decision designed to position Trex where the industry and the market are headed, and to support our long-term growth objectives.

I have full confidence in our distribution network we have assembled, built on relationships with companies that share our commitment to growth, innovation, and customer service. Importantly, these actions create a meaningful incremental growth opportunity. Across our distribution network, we estimate there is more than $100 million of decking and railing currently represented by small tertiary brands, representing a substantial conversion opportunity as we continue to win, share, and transition customers to our brand. While this opportunity will take time to develop, we believe the strength of the Trex brand, our product portfolio, and our channel partnerships position us well to capture a meaningful share of that business over time. Ultimately, these actions are about building a distribution network that is simpler, faster, and more effective, enabling us to execute our strategy and achieve our long-term financial goals.

Another decisive step we are taking, which I'm pleased to announce, is the acceleration of the decking production at our Little Rock manufacturing facility. Little Rock is strategically located near key raw material sources, large residential markets like Texas, a strong pool of skilled labor, and a major transportation hub, which will help optimize freight costs for the customers in the central U.S. who are currently being serviced by our existing facilities in Virginia and Nevada. Equally important, this location positions us closer to several key growth markets for wood conversion, particularly in the Southern Sun Belt. The Sun Belt region remains heavily weighted towards wood decking, specifically pressure-treated Southern Yellow Pine, representing a significant conversion opportunity for Trex. Given these factors, Little Rock is poised to become our wood conversion growth engine.

Together with this decking capacity expansion, we have been actively investing in our wood conversion strategy through refreshed branding and marketing initiatives. These efforts are already gaining traction with our Trex Enhance Basics decking products, our primary driver towards wood conversion, also delivering strong sales during the quarter. The opportunity remains substantial. Wood continues to represent almost 75% of the decking category, with Southern Yellow Pine accounting for the majority of the wood decking sales. As a reminder, every 1% share we take from wood represents about $80 million of incremental sales opportunity for Trex. With the performance attributes of Trex Enhance product line, we believe that we have one of the best solutions in the market to accelerate this conversion opportunity. We will not stop there.

We will continue leveraging our world-class material science capabilities to develop innovative, high-performing, and more cost-effective products that further expand the opportunity ahead. I'll now turn it over to Pris, who'll provide you more detail on the quarter and our outlook.

Pris? Thank you, Adam, and good morning, everyone.