Reliance, Inc. Reports Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results

- Net sales of $4.63 billion, up 15% sequentially with record tons sold up 7.0%

- EPS of $6.29; non-GAAP EPS of $6.27, up 42% year-over-year, exceeding expectations

- Pretax income of $429.8 million, up 41% year-over-year

PHOENIX, July 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reliance, Inc. (NYSE: RS) (‘Reliance,’ the ‘Company,’ ‘we,’ ‘our,’ or ‘us’) today reported its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2026.

Management Commentary

“Reliance delivered another excellent quarter, building on the positive momentum of the first quarter,” said Karla Lewis, President and Chief Executive Officer of Reliance. “Market conditions remained constructive, supported by improving customer activity, extended mill lead times, and strong pricing across our broad product portfolio. We achieved the second highest quarterly revenue in our history, as well as record quarterly tons sold, and continued to outperform industry shipment trends. In April, we began to see initial contributions from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security border wall contract we were awarded earlier this year with activity levels well above our expectations delivering a meaningful contribution to our second quarter earnings. Elevated pricing levels, along with strong execution by our teams, also drove meaningful growth in our profitability, including a 40% increase in non-GAAP pretax income year-over-year and non-GAAP earnings per share of $6.27, our highest results since the second quarter of 2023.”

Mrs. Lewis continued, “Our balance sheet and liquidity remain key competitive advantages, supporting disciplined capital deployment including strategic growth investments and ongoing returns to stockholders. Additionally, our scale, processing expertise, and strong mill partnerships are increasingly important as lead times extend and inventories tighten, ensuring dependable material availability and positioning us to better serve our existing customers and capture new opportunities. As customer optimism builds and activity strengthens across infrastructure, semiconductor, general manufacturing and aerospace, Reliance remains exceptionally well positioned to capitalize on the many meaningful opportunities that will continue to emerge throughout the second half of 2026 and into next year.”

Second Quarter 2026 Financial Highlights

Earnings per share of $6.29 and non‑GAAP earnings per share of $6.27 exceeded the high end of management’s guidance range of $5.15 to $5.35 and were up 42% year-over-year. Results included $1.64 per share of LIFO expense compared to management’s expectation of $0.54, representing an incremental $1.10 per share negative impact, primarily due to higher-than-anticipated carbon steel and aluminum product costs. Earnings also included a $0.41 per share contribution from the U.S. border wall project, more than doubling our expectation of $0.15 to $0.20 per share.

Quarterly tons sold increased 7.0% sequentially, exceeding management’s expectation of a 1.0% to 3.0% increase. Notably, the sequential increase in second quarter tons sold included a 5.1% contribution from the U.S. border wall project. Reliance’s second quarter year-over-year growth in tons sold of 10.8% outperformed the industry-wide increase of 5.5% reported by the Metals Service Center Institute (“MSCI”) by over 5 percentage points.

Average selling price per ton sold increased 7.8% sequentially, also surpassing management’s expectation of a 1.5% to 3.5% increase, supported by higher carbon steel and aluminum pricing. The U.S. border wall project impacted our product mix, offsetting the sequential growth in average selling price per ton sold by 1.6% due to higher than anticipated shipment levels during the quarter.

Gross profit dollars per ton continued to rise across the majority of our product categories. However, gross profit margin of 28.1% decreased 100 basis points sequentially mainly due to increased LIFO expense and the impact of the border wall project. Excluding LIFO, non‑GAAP FIFO gross profit margin, which represents management’s ongoing assessment of operating performance, increased sequentially to 30.5% from 30.1% in the first quarter of 2026, including the negative impact of 40 basis points attributable to the U.S. border wall project. Importantly, the project’s below-average operating costs per ton more than offset its impact on gross profit margin, adding approximately 30 basis points of expansion to pretax income margin in the second quarter.

Higher shipments and improved gross profit dollars per ton, supported by strong pricing discipline, continued market share gains, and contributions from the U.S. border wall project, drove strong growth in pretax income of 41% year-over-year to $429.8 million.

End Market Commentary

Non-residential construction demand (including infrastructure), Reliance’s largest end market by tons, improved compared to the second quarter of 2025. The Company expects non-residential construction demand to continue to improve, with potential headwinds from supply availability in the third quarter of 2026, supported by strong activity across data centers, energy infrastructure, and public infrastructure projects.

Demand across the broader manufacturing end market Reliance serves improved compared to the second quarter of 2025, supported by continued strength in industrial machinery, shipbuilding, military, consumer products and construction machinery sectors. The Company anticipates demand for its products across the broader manufacturing sector will remain healthy in the third quarter of 2026 and experience its customary seasonal decline from the second quarter.

Demand in aerospace improved compared to the second quarter of 2025. Reliance anticipates commercial aerospace demand to modestly improve in the third quarter of 2026 with gradual build-rate increases and growing backlogs supporting continued improvement throughout the year. Demand in the defense and space related portions of Reliance’s aerospace business is expected to remain robust in the third quarter of 2026.

Demand for the toll processing services Reliance provides to the automotive market improved from the second quarter of 2025. The Company expects demand for automotive toll processing to remain relatively steady at healthy levels in the third quarter of 2026. Reliance’s toll processing operations remain flexible and able to quickly adapt to the variable demands of the automotive market.

Demand for certain products Reliance sells into the semiconductor market meaningfully improved compared to the second quarter of 2025 supported by increasing data center activity. The Company anticipates demand for its semiconductor products will continue to improve in the third quarter of 2026.

Balance Sheet, Cash Flow and Stockholder Returns

As of June 30, 2026, Reliance had $235.4 million of cash and cash equivalents and total debt of $1.7 billion, including $520 million outstanding under its $1.5 billion revolving credit facility. We generated $162.2 million of cash flow from operations in the second quarter of 2026, despite a significant working capital increase related to strong shipment volume and higher metals pricing.

Reliance returned $63.8 million to stockholders through dividend payments in the second quarter of 2026. Although no shares were repurchased during the second quarter, Reliance has repurchased $3.4 billion of its common stock since 2021 at an average price of approximately $234 per share, reducing shares outstanding by 22%. As of June 30, 2026, approximately $529 million remained available under our share repurchase program.

On July 17, 2026, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.25 per share of common stock, payable on August 28, 2026 to stockholders of record as of August 14, 2026.

Third Quarter 2026 Business Outlook

Reliance anticipates third quarter 2026 demand and pricing to remain generally consistent at healthy to improving levels across the key products and end markets it serves, despite ongoing domestic and international trade policy uncertainty and the continued conflict in Iran, which could pose supply availability and macroeconomic risks.

Excluding the impact of the border wall project, the Company expects third quarter tons sold to be down 2% to 4% compared to the second quarter of 2026 due to normal seasonality and average selling price per ton sold to be up 1% to 3%.

Including an estimated 2% sequential and 7.5% year-over-year contribution from the U.S. border wall project, we anticipate tons sold will be up 9% to 11% compared to the third quarter of 2025. Additionally, we anticipate our average selling price per ton sold in the third quarter to be flat to up 2.0% compared to the second quarter of 2026, which includes an estimated mix-related 1% reduction in consolidated average selling price per ton sold attributable to the U.S. border wall project.

Based on these assumptions, and inclusive of LIFO expense of $75.0 million, or $1.10 per diluted share, the Company anticipates non‑GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $6.40 to $6.60 for the third quarter of 2026, representing year‑over‑year growth ranging from 76% to 81%. This outlook includes approximately $0.60 of earnings per share from shipments associated with the U.S. border wall project at pretax income margin levels above the Company average.

Conference Call Details

A conference call and simultaneous webcast to discuss Reliance’s second quarter 2026 financial results and business outlook will be held on Thursday, July 23, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time / 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time. To listen to the live call by telephone, please dial (877) 407-0792 (U.S. and Canada) or (201) 689-8263 (International) approximately 10 minutes prior to the start time and use conference ID: 13761219. The call will also be broadcast live over the Internet hosted on the Investors section of the Company's website at investor.reliance.com.

For those unable to participate during the live broadcast, a replay of the call will also be available beginning that same day at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on August 6, 2026, by dialing (844) 512-2921 (U.S. and Canada) or (412) 317-6671 (International) and entering the conference ID: 13761219. The webcast will remain posted on the Investors section of Reliance’s website at reliance.com for 90 days.

About Reliance, Inc.

With over 85 years of operating experience, Reliance, Inc. (NYSE: RS) is a leading global diversified metal solutions provider and the largest metals service center company in North America. Through a network of approximately 310 locations in 41 states and 10 countries outside of the United States, Reliance provides value-added metals processing services and distributes a full line of over 100,000 metal products to more than 125,000 customers in a broad range of industries. Reliance focuses on small orders with quick turnaround and value-added processing services. In 2025, Reliance’s average order size was $3,120, approximately 49% of orders included value-added processing, and approximately 40% of orders were delivered within 24 hours. Reliance’s press releases and additional information are available on the Company’s website at reliance.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain statements that are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, discussions of Reliance’s: industry and end markets; business strategies; acquisitions; expectations concerning the Company’s future growth and profitability; ability to generate industry leading returns for its stockholders; future demand and metals pricing; results of operations; margins; profitability; taxes; liquidity; cash flows; capital expenditures; expectations for and impacts from macroeconomic conditions, including inflation and the possibility of an economic recession or slowdown; anticipated effects from regulations and regulatory changes, including taxation, tariffs and other trade barriers; litigation matters and capital resources. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “preliminary,” “range,” “intend” and “continue,” the negative of these terms, and similar expressions.

These forward-looking statements are based on management's estimates, projections and assumptions as of today’s date that may not prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including, but not limited to, actions taken by Reliance, as well as developments beyond its control, including, but not limited to: changes in domestic and worldwide political and economic conditions; changes in U.S. and foreign trade policies and programs, including tariffs and trade policies and programs specifically affecting metals product markets and pricing; slowing economic growth, inflation, rising unemployment or other macroeconomic factors that could materially impact Reliance, its customers and suppliers; metals pricing; demand for Reliance’s products and services; the possibility that the expected benefits of government contracts, including the U.S. border wall project, acquisitions and capital expenditures may not materialize as expected; and the impacts of labor constraints and supply chain disruptions. Deteriorations in economic conditions, including as a result of tariffs or trade barriers, economic policies, inflation, economic recession, slowing growth, outbreaks of infectious disease, or geopolitical conflicts such as in Ukraine and Iran, could lead to a decline in demand for the Company’s products and services and negatively impact its business, and may also impact financial markets and corporate credit markets which could adversely impact the Company’s access to financing or the terms of any financing. The Company cannot at this time predict all of the impacts of domestic and foreign tariffs and trade policies, inflation, product price fluctuations, economic recession, outbreaks of infectious disease, or geopolitical conflicts and related economic effects, but these factors, individually or in any combination, could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

The statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof, and Reliance disclaims any and all obligations to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or for any other reason, except as may be required by law. Important risks and uncertainties about Reliance’s business can be found in “Item 1A. Risk Factors” of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 and in other documents Reliance files or furnishes with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

CONTACT:

(213) 576-2428

investor@reliance.com

or Addo Investor Relations

(310) 829-5400

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