Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. With me today are Avner Applbaum, President and Chief Executive Officer John L.

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 26 results.

Both the release and the presentation for today's webcast are available on the Investor 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 Investor site. We will begin today's call with prepared remarks and then open it up for questions.

A reminder that today's presentation and Q&A include 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 2 of today's presentation and in the risk disclosures in our most recent Form 10 and subsequent Forms 10-Q available on our Investor Relations website and sec.gov. With that, I would now like to turn the call over to Avner.

Thank you, Renee. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us.

Turning to Slide 4. I would like to start by highlighting 3 important takeaways from the quarter.

First, we delivered another quarter of sales and earnings growth. Net sales increased 5.5% and operating margin expanded 22 basis points.

Earnings per share rose 25.3%. The progress we are making reinforces our confidence in achieving our long-term financial objective.

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 growers' 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.

Strong 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 5. I will 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 29. My recent conversations with key utility customers reinforce our view that we are still early in a multi-year investment cycle.

1 customer told me it has tripled its project management and field teams over the past 2 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 is why we are focused on not just adding capacity but also on improving throughput and meeting delivery commitments. Through the third quarter, we have 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 1 of the largest galvanizing networks in the industry, our coatings business plays an important role in improving the durability and life cycle 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 utility customers. In lighting and transportation, transportation markets are healthy, while lighting continues to be affected by softer residential and commercial construction activity.

We are 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 long-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 are 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 6.

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 a broader market recovery. The landscape is similar in Brazil.

Interest rates and input costs remain elevated, and 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 27 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 are adding, align our operations with demand across the portfolio, and recover higher input costs through disciplined pricing.

I will now turn the call over to John to review our third quarter financial results and updated 2026 outlook.

Thank you, Avner, and good morning, everyone. Turning to slide 8.

I will begin with our consolidated results. Net sales of $1.1 billion increased 5.5% year over year driven by growth in infrastructure, notably North America Utility and Coatings.

Operating income increased to $172.8 million and operating margin expanded 22 basis points to 15.7%. Our tax rate was approximately 26%.

Diluted earnings per share was $6.24, a 25.3% increase from prior year. Moving to our segment results on slide 9.

Beginning with Infrastructure, Sales of $882.1 million grew 9.1% year over year. North America utility sales increased 23% driven by higher pricing and volume growth supported by a robust market environment.

Sales in North America Lighting and Transportation declined 2.2% due to lower volumes. North America coating sales increased 13.8% supported by healthy infrastructure and data center demand.

North America telecom sales decreased 33.8% reflecting lower carrier spending as customers shifted capital allocation priorities. International sales increased 5.5% driven by pricing actions and favorable foreign exchange impacts.

Operating income increased to $154.8 million or 17.6% of net sales. Compared to $143.4 million or 17.8% of net sales.

Higher pricing and volumes in Utility and Coatings helped offset higher material costs, the costs of ramping utility capacity, and lower telecom contribution. We are addressing the margin pressure through contractual pass throughs and broader pricing actions.

As capacity ramps, we are focused on strategic sourcing, productivity enhancements, and improving material flow. Let me provide some context on the price cost timing we are experiencing.

Average steel prices on the third party index we use for contractual pass throughs were approximately 50% above prior year levels. This increase is visible in the chart we have in the appendix.

Because of the size and duration of our utility backlog, these costs affect results. Before the related pricing adjustments reach revenue.

When input costs stabilize, we expect pricing will catch up and support infrastructure margin expansion. This usually takes 2 to 3 quarters to fully realize.

These near term pressures do not change our view of the long term earnings potential of this business. Turning to slide 10.

Third quarter agriculture sales decreased 6.4% year over year to $226 million North America sales increased 15.8%, led by storm replacement orders and favorable pricing. International sales decreased 25.3%, driven primarily by Lower Middle East and Brazil volumes.

We also saw continued growth in our higher value offerings with aftermarket parts sales increasing approximately 12% and technology services growing 7%. Despite softer equipment demand.

Operating income increased to $40.1 million or 17.9% of net sales. Compared to $23.2 million or 9.7% of net sales.

Lower credit losses and certain recoveries in Brazil and higher North America volumes contributed to the year over year increase, which was partially offset by lower international volumes. Moving to slide 11, for cash, liquidity, and capital allocation.

Operating cash flow was $100.5 million. This includes $40 million of accelerated receivable collections.

Working capital increased during the quarter, driven in part by increased sales volume and raw material inflation. We remain focused on improving cash conversion.

We ended the quarter with $122 million of cash, and net debt leverage of approximately 0.9 times. The strength of our balance sheet continues to be reflected in our investment grade credit ratings.

with S&P reaffirming our BBB+ rating during the quarter and Moody's reaffirming our Baa2 rating subsequent to quarter end. Turning to capital deployment.

During the quarter, we invested approximately $46 million in capital expenditures primarily to support utility capacity expansion. We returned $97 million to shareholders through $82 million of share repurchases.

and $15 million of dividends. At quarter end, approximately $367 million remained available under our current share repurchase authorization.

This balanced deployment of capital reflects our focus on investing in the highest return growth opportunities, while maintaining financial flexibility and returning capital to shareholders. Turning to our full year outlook on slide 12.

We are reaffirming our net sales outlook of $4.3 billion to 4.45 billion and raising our adjusted diluted earnings per share guidance. Our infrastructure sales outlook is unchanged at $3.4 billion to $3.5 billion.

It reflects favorable pricing and volume growth in North America utility and coatings and continued softness in telecom. Our agriculture sales outlook is also unchanged at $900 million to $950 million as current market conditions remain broadly consistent with our prior assumptions.

Looking to the fourth quarter, we expect earnings and margins to moderate from third quarter levels, Our outlook reflects increasing input cost pressures, business mix effects, and the absence of certain third quarter benefits. Following the strong third quarter performance, we now expect full year adjusted diluted earnings per share of $22.75 to $23.75.

Finally, our capital expenditure outlook remains unchanged at $170 million to $200 million. With that, I will now turn the call over to Renee.

Thank you, John. At this time, the operator will open up the call for questions.

Good morning, everyone.

Morning.

I guess I will start on price cost. I am sure it is going to get a lot of attention.

You know, there is obviously been significant steel inflation freight cost inflation, all of that kind of stuff. I wonder if you would be able to just talk about what the impact to margins or what the impact to earnings was for that.

Does it get worse in 4Q before it gets better as you start to catch up on price cost? I know we have seen this movie before with Valmont, We know there is a lag between the cost and the price catch up.

Just any more color you can give us around what the impact in the quarter was what you would expect it to be next quarter and how much margin upside there is assuming costs stabilize at some point. Thanks.

Thank you, Nathan, for the question. So I will not go through the movie as we have seen it before.

As we said, But the answer is there was impact to the margins here in Q3. They were modest impacts.

There was no, let's say, negative dollar impact to it, but there were impacts to the margins. As we look to Q4, we expect that to get a little more pressured.

So what we have seen since the last earnings call is that the pace of the inflation in our input costs have accelerated. So we expect more pressure in Q4 on the margin side If we look further out, as you know, it usually takes 2 to 3 quarters to sort of fully pull through our price mechanisms to results.

In a stable environment. I would say even if it moderates, we will see some growth again in margins.

You know, we do not need a full stabilization, but some moderation of the pace of input costs.

Okay. that is helpful.

I guess the other 1 I will ask is there. Is on the ag side.

Obviously, the 16% North American growth is something influenced by the storm. Revenue, and the margins there are also impacted by storm revenue.

it is it is much higher margin, I know. Can you talk about the impact that, that had to the quarter Maybe what it contributed to earnings?

If you can break it down that far just so we kind of have a better idea of what the underlying run rate was.

Yeah. Perfect.

So, Nathan, I will start off, then I will hand it over to John For some more detail. So I think it is important to understand that you know, when these storms occur, our farmers have choices.

And they chose to come to Valmont for several reasons. 1, it is critical time for our farmers to be able to get back up and running And our operations team are able to manufacture and support with manufacturing these pivots.

Our dealers are ready to support our customers. And able to get them back into Valmont's ecosystem with our technology and other offerings.

So we are very pleased with our ability to support our farmers and. Which contributed strongly to our results.

And maybe, John, you could add little bit more color there.

Yep. Sure.

To your question about the impact to revenue growth and then also the margins, On the revenue side in North America, that was substantially responsible for the growth. In North America that we saw in Q3.

If we go through the margins so 17.9% was exceptional and exceeded our expectations. So sort of 2 areas to touch on.

As we mentioned in the prepared remarks, we did have some onetime benefits in ag. It amounted to about $7 million.

Those were mainly related to recoveries that we made in South America. If we take the impact of those onetime items out, we are just north of 14% for the operating margin.

And, really, that was above what we had discussed in terms of low-teen expectations for the second half of the year. And that delta really is the effect of the storm, is the effect that it is a higher mix with regards to North America, better accretive, and then also better pricing as well.

Thanks for taking my questions.

Good morning, everyone.

Morning. How are you?

Thank you for taking my questions. If you could talk about infrastructure backlog has increased, to $1.8 billion Could you break down what is driving the increase across customers and if you could talk about, competitive landscape as well from the current environment.

Thank you.

Sure. So, for the majority of the increase, majority of the backlog is related to our utility customers.

Now it is important to understand the entire context. The backlog is part of the equation.

We also monitor our pipeline. And our pipeline with our alliance customers have actually strengthened as well.

And the backlog represents those orders converting from the pipeline to our backlog. The environment continues to be extremely robust.

Our customers are strengthening their orders. They are increasing their spend.

Our pipeline through 2029 has increased. Over the last several quarters.

So the market continues to be extremely strong. As it relates to the competitive landscape, the industry is constrained.

And being the leaders in this industry, with the engineers and the relationship that go over for many decades. I visited.

As I mentioned, I visited some of our customers, and it is clear that they come to us for our engineering expertise, for our on time delivery, for the reliability overall, we continue to win in this space. We are booking well into 2028, and our customers are looking for us to secure our capacity.

So we are continuing to see robustness in this industry.

Thank you, Avner. And then just 1 quick follow-up on North America utility was up 23% in Q3.

Could you quantify the contribution from volume versus price? And how should we think about Q4 in your guidance?

Thank you.

Thank you for the question. So 23% was a result we were pleased with.

So the majority of the driving factor there was volume in this case. For Q3.

Although it is noteworthy that price was right at double digits as well, so both contributed. If we look at the full year, we are expecting mid twenties in terms of growth rates for utility.

And we are expecting to hit our target of double digit volume growth for the full year.

Thank you, John.

Yep. Thank you.

First on the project in North Africa, congratulations on that win. Can you talk a little bit more specifically on the timing of revenue recognition there?

And the cadence of that? And also the margins you know, relative to typical ag margins.

Yeah. Sure.

So overall, right now, we are expecting to start delivery on that project. In the first half of 27.

it is going to be like an 18-month, you know, up to 2 years project. But maybe just take a step back.

I mean, in this environment, we are very pleased on our ability to win a project in the region as well as to support it with our global footprint we are able to support it from our Dubai facility as well as from other facilities around the world. Which allows us to continue to support that region with.

Which has strong demand for food security and water scarcity. So that is that is a good win for the team.

And so, overall, I to just summarize, Probably go over 24 months, and, John, maybe share a little bit about the margin profile.

Sure. So on the margin side, we are, of course, very disciplined in our intake process as it relates to these projects.

This particular project, like most large projects, is slightly below baseline operating profit margin. But not significantly and not expected to really make an impact necessarily.

Okay. Thank you.

And then just switching to utility. I mean, you guys sounded, of course, very positive on the utility outlook at the Investor Day.

You sound to me maybe even more positive now. I was a little surprised just now to hear that volume accounted for more than half of the growth in the quarter given what is going on with price.

But has your outlook become more positive even just since the recent Investor Day? And do you have more visibility now You talked about visibility to $6.7 billion in revenue through 2029.

How has that number maybe changed?

And you know, just the overall sentiment The answer is yes. We are more confident now in our goal, and that is based on several factors.

1, we are actually seeing the spend. We saw our backlog increase.

The pipeline we spoke about for the $6.7 billion that number now, of course— we are shipping against that as well. Has increased.

So we are getting better coverage through our 2029. And the confidence is driven based on our conversations with our customers it is with our customer spend.

it is their customers committing to them for load growth and committing to, you know, spend within seeing more in the industry around additional spend in areas like AI. We are seeing even areas that we do not talk about that much, but we are seeing that the EV spend has also increased.

We are seeing more energy out of that area. As well as all the other factors of onshoring, manufacturing.

Unfortunately, we have seen some storms. Over the last several weeks.

Which just emphasize the point that we need to keep on focusing on grid hardening and resiliency. So we keep our eye on the market.

We are booking well into 2028. The utilities have plans going through 2030 and some of our conversations with the customers, our plans are going through 2032.

And we have also seen that in the industry that, you know, the lead times are expanding. And we are seeing now they are going well beyond the year where they are going to 60 and 70 weeks.

So it just shows the entire strength in the market, and we are very pleased with how we are adding our capacity, supporting our customers, and looking pretty positive for us.

Thanks very much.

Brent. Thanks.

Avner or John, just back on North American utility would you expect pricing to sustain at a double digit run rate as we go into 2027, just considering all this inflation? It seems to be a pretty significant factor to your growth rate.

For that business next year.

Brent? The answer is yes.

Okay.

Okay. And then, I guess, just in terms of the telecom you know, obviously, utility is outgrowing.

But any sense from customers when we might see a change? I know you mentioned that through this year, I mean, any sort of inklings and you are hearing next year and what could be some catalysts to turn the business around?

At telecom, we do not have great visibility into the market. Of course, we do talk to our customers and we are seeing that they are being more selective around their spend following the peak of the 5G rollout.

And some of the site modification or capital allocation moved out into 2027, So right now, we are looking to, you know, continue same environment going into 2027. We do know that they are going to spend more on the spectrum.

They are waiting for some technology advancement. But, overall, they need to continue their build.

So we know it is coming. it is just a matter of timing.

For some indications that we see some coming back more towards the latter half of 2027. But, again, we do not have great visibility So right now, what we are doing is we are focusing on our cost.

We are focusing on new product development with our customers. We are looking into other spaces like private networks.

Overall, you know, we are working on what we could control but expect that these conditions to remain at least through the end of the year.

Okay. Thank you.

Hey. Good morning.

Thanks for taking a couple. So maybe just 1 more on the steel catch up.

So obviously, Q3 was a little bit of pressure. Q4 is going to be a little bit more Double digit pricing is going to continue into 2027.

From where you sit today, assuming some normalization of steel pricing, would that imply that we start to see kind of a little bit incremental margin improvement in Q2? Or is that more back half?

Thanks for the question. So the pace of margin expansion really will be defined in part by how quickly these costs continue to accelerate or stabilize.

So Q2 is a bit far for us to really tell where these costs are going to.the trajectory of these costs. What we can say is that the actions that we are taking to expand margins are taking hold.

And so, as you know, our focus on scaling profitably, on improving operating leverage, You can see improving leverage over SG&A. You can see that in the SG&A number that we posted here this year and in this quarter.

Those things we will continue to be working on to try to offset any price/costs, any sort of price/cost pressure that we have.

No. I just wanna add 1 point, which I think you know this, but you know, as we are talking about the dislocation, which has an impact on our on our margins in the short term.

But as we look forward, right, the pricing actions we take are mostly to offset the cost. Of course, there is some margin there, but, you know, as we get into next year and we see higher pricing, that does not necessarily mean, you know, that is all dropping to the bottom line.

that is really offsetting some of the steel cost. So the pressure right now is more of the dislocation, and as they stabilize, that.

that is when our margins stabilize as well.

Got it. No.

That makes sense. And maybe just 1 more within the competitive landscape within an infrastructure.

Obviously, demand is you know, off the charts at this point in time. Just specifically, you know, Nucor is a relatively new entrant here.

Just near term, perhaps long term, any do you see that as any impact on the infrastructure kind of landscape at all from where you guys are sitting at this stage?

Yeah. So we monitor capacity industry consistently, and your point.

Nucor just announced that they are going to add capacity. Even with all the capacity adds, there is still more demand than supply in the industry.

So we feel very comfortable with our ability to continue to support our customers, without having the industry at full capacity. But it is also important to understand that our customers and the large utility customers, they come to Valmont not because, you know, we have 4 walls and press breaks.

They come to us because of our engineering expertise, for our reliability, on time delivery, and the fact that they do not want to take risks, and they come to Valmont. that is 1 area that they do not have to take.

So, of course, we have our eyes and competitors, but we feel very good that this industry continues to be well in balance, and we do not have any concerns. On that element.

Sounds good. I will leave it there.

I appreciate it, guys. Thank you.

Hey, thanks. Maybe just 1 follow-up on ag.

The margins have been outstanding. This year, and I know there is some mixed factors to that.

But why would not we see a carryover benefit to margins in that segment into the fourth quarter? From what you saw in 3Q?

Yes, great question. Thanks, Brent.

So we really, the story here is the mix between North America and international. So Q3, you are very familiar with, is usually a very strong international quarter.

And as you saw, because of the storm demand that we had that was exceptional, it was much stronger on the North America side. And then also with that, the preferred pricing that we get, in those in those circumstances.

So that really drove a much better business mix in Q3. If we look to Q4 to your point, it is that we are expecting sort of a more normal return to the business mix between North America and that will put some pressures on the margins compared to Q3.

Okay. And maybe if I could just to follow-up, what is been the headwind from I know, the issues in The Middle East, the closure of the facility, what is been the overall headwind to the business this year so we can kind of think about that going into 2027?

Just from a numbers perspective compared to last year, you are right that it is been in the Middle East. I mean, the biggest delta from a top line perspective versus last year has been the lack of project revenue through ag this year.

Other than that, it is really just been the sort of the market conditions, the soft market conditions that we see, and the fact that we are we have not quite seen line of sight yet to the recovery.

Yeah. So if you, right, so if we just order, right, I would say definitely The Middle East, and then we did see continued softness in Brazil.

that is, you know, we are North America, you know, is 1 area that we are bumping along the bottoms. Right?

And that is that market keeps on kind of supporting those conditions. And we have seen that in Q3.

Actually, we had strength, but that is our expectation is that North America does not go further down with more upside opportunity in North American market.

Understood. Thank you.

Thank you for joining us today. A replay of this call will be available for playback on our website and by phone for the next 7 days.

We look forward to speaking with you again next quarter.

These slides and the accompanying oral discussion contain forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 2 thousand. These statements are based on assumptions made by management considering its experience in the industries where Valmont operates.

Perceptions of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other relevant factors. It is important to note that these statements are not guarantees of future performance or results They involve risks, uncertainties, some of which are beyond Valmont's control and assumptions.

While management believes these forward looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, numerous factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These factors include, among other things, risks described in Valmont's reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, company's actual cash flows and net income, future economic and market circumstances, industry conditions, company performance and financial results, operational efficiencies, availability and price of raw materials, availability and market acceptance of new products, product pricing, domestic and international competitive environments, geopolitical risks, and actions and policy changes by domestic and foreign governments.

In tariffs. The company cautions that any forward looking statements in this release are made as of its publication date and does not undertake to update these statements except as required by law.

The company's guidance includes certain non GAAP financial measures, adjusted diluted earnings per share and adjusted effective tax rate, presented on a forward looking basis. These measures are typically calculated by excluding the impact of items such as foreign exchange, acquisitions, divestitures, realignment, or restructuring expenses, goodwill or intangible asset impairment, changes in tax law, or rates, change in redemption value of redeemable noncontrolling interest, and other nonrecurring items.

Reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are not provided as the company cannot do so without unreasonable effort due to the inherent uncertainty and difficulty in predicting the timing and financial impact of such items. For the same reasons, the company cannot assess the likely significance of unavailable information, which could be material to future results.