Ryerson (RYZ) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

DATE

Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026

CALL PARTICIPANTS

• Investor Relations - Justine Carlson
• Chief Executive Officer - Eddie Lehner
• President and Chief Operating Officer - Rick Marabito
• Chief Financial Officer - Jim Claussen
• Chief Accounting Officer and Corporate Controller - Molly Kannan
• Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Olympic Steel - Rich Manson
• Executive Vice President of Ryerson and President of Olympic Steel - Andrew Greiff
• Senior Vice President of Supply Chain and Ryerson Processed Metals - Trent McFarland

TAKEAWAYS

• Revenue -- $2.18 billion, representing 8.6% sequential growth driven by higher shipment volumes and average selling prices.
• Net Income -- $32.0 million, or $0.61 per diluted share, an increase from $15.5 million in the prior quarter.
• Adjusted EBITDA, Excluding LIFO -- $115.0 million, which exceeded the company's guidance range of $88 million to $92 million.
• Olympic Steel EBITDA Contribution -- $30.2 million, surpassing management expectations of $21 million to $23 million.
• Tons Shipped -- 814,000 tons, a 1.2% sequential increase that outperformed company guidance for a 3% to 5% seasonal decline.
• Average Selling Price -- $2,675 per ton, an increase of 7.2% quarter over quarter led by rising carbon steel pricing.
• Same-Store Tons Shipped -- 1.8% sequential increase, representing the highest quarterly volume for the legacy business in more than five years.
• Data Center and Power Generation Revenue -- 9% of total sales, increasing from 6% in the second quarter.
• Synergy Realization -- $13 million in the third quarter, reaching an annualized run rate of $52 million.
• Q4 Revenue Guidance -- $1.96 billion to $2.04 billion, reflecting three fewer business days and seasonal holiday softness.
• Q4 Net Income Guidance -- $16 million to $20 million, or $0.30 to $0.38 per diluted share.
• Q4 Adjusted EBITDA Guidance -- $100 million to $104 million, including a projected $28 million to $30 million contribution from Olympic Steel.
• Q4 Synergy Guidance -- $14 million to $15 million, driven by procurement, efficiency, and network optimization actions.
• LIFO Expense -- $30.0 million, an increase from $17.0 million in the prior quarter due to rising carbon mill pricing.
• Gross Margin -- 17.2%, a contraction of 50 basis points from the second quarter reflecting higher material costs.
• Adjusted Gross Margin -- 18.7%, excluding LIFO and a $4 million inventory purchase accounting adjustment.
• WDSG&A Expenses -- $326.1 million, a 1.6% sequential increase primarily due to higher variable compensation.
• Total Debt -- $1.01 billion, an increase of $51 million from the prior quarter to support higher working capital requirements.
• Global Liquidity -- $865 million, up from $757 million in the previous quarter as the borrowing base expanded.
• Leverage Ratio -- 3.2x, representing a reduction from 4.0x in the second quarter based on trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA.
• Share Repurchases -- $3.8 million, totaling approximately 159,000 shares at an average price of $23.85 per share.
• Dividends -- $9.8 million returned to stockholders through a quarterly cash dividend of $0.1875 per share.
• Capital Expenditures -- $21.3 million in the third quarter, with full-year 2026 spending expected at $75 million.
• North American Market Share -- 8.8% same-store volume growth year to date, outperforming industry growth of 5%.

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RISKS

• Jim Claussen stated, "As anticipated in our second quarter outlook, we experienced gross margin compression as higher cost inventory, particularly for carbon products, flowed through our cost of sales ahead of corresponding price adjustments for program customers," noting the negative impact of material cost timing.
• Eddie Lehner stated, "Although growth remains uneven and we continue to operate in a two-speed economy with AI infrastructure, energy, defense, aerospace driving substantial growth, while agriculture, consumer, and other interest rate-sensitive markets remain more subdued," highlighting sector-specific weakness.

SUMMARY

Ryerson Holding Corporation (NYSE:RYZ) reported third-quarter results that surpassed guidance for revenue and adjusted EBITDA, driven by unexpected shipment growth and the rapid integration of Olympic Steel. Management reported that the company achieved its first-year merger synergy target ahead of schedule, reaching an annualized run rate of $52 million. While the broader industrial economy remained uneven, demand from data center infrastructure and power generation projects provided a significant offset to seasonal softness. The company continues to prioritize capital allocation toward debt reduction and dividend maintenance while executing a strategic shift toward high-margin transactional business.

• CEO Lehner reported that the margin differential between a transactional pound and a program pound "has gotten up to about 1,000 basis points," illustrating the current profitability gap between market segments.
• Marabito stated that approximately 90% of Olympic Steel's inventory and transaction data is now incorporated into Ryerson's information system, enabling coordinated fulfillment across the network.
• The company is progressing on its Connecticut consolidation, which brings together Olympic Milford and Ryerson Specialty Alloys to create a stronger operating platform by the first quarter of 2027.
• Management noted that North American shipments in the data center sector increased by approximately 65% in the third quarter compared with the first quarter of 2026.
• Lehner identified "tangible evidence of the manufacturing revitalization" as more manufacturers return sourcing and production to the U.S., a trend the company expects to support through its processing network.
• Manson indicated that 36 administrative positions were eliminated through attrition by the end of the third quarter, resulting in $9 million in annualized savings.
• Greiff noted that hot roll carbon steel supply is expected to remain tight through the first half of 2027, favoring distributors with strong mill relationships.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

• Adjusted EBITDA: A non-GAAP financial metric that measures earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, further adjusted for one-time or non-recurring items.
• Basis Points: A unit of measure for percentages where 100 basis points equals 1 percentage point.
• Carbon Steel: A metal alloy where carbon is the main alloying element, commonly used in structural and manufacturing applications.
• Cash Conversion Cycle: The amount of time, in days, it takes a company to convert its investments in inventory and other resources into cash flows from sales.
• LIFO (Last-In, First-Out): An inventory accounting method where the most recently produced or purchased items are the first ones recorded as sold.
• Service Center: A facility that purchases bulk metal from mills, processes it into specific shapes or sizes, and distributes it to end users.
• Transactional Business: Spot-market sales typically involving smaller volumes and immediate delivery, often carrying higher margins than long-term contracts.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Operator: Good day, and Welcome to the Ryerson Holding Corporation's Third Quarter 2026 Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. There will be a question and answer session after the prepared remarks. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad at any time. Again, that is star one to ask a question. Now, at this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Justine Carlson. Please go ahead, ma'am.

Justine Carlson: Good morning, and thank you all for joining Ryerson Holding Corporation's third quarter 2026 earnings call. On our call, we have Eddie Lehner, Ryerson's Chief Executive Officer. Rick Marabito, our President and Chief Operating Officer. Jim Claussen, our Chief Financial Officer, and Molly Kannan, our Chief Accounting Officer and Corporate Controller. Rich Manson, Ryerson's Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Olympic Steel. Andrew Greiff, Executive Vice President of Ryerson and President of Olympic Steel, and Trent McFarland, our Senior Vice President of Supply Chain and Ryerson Processed Metals will be joining us for Q and A. A recording of this call will be posted on our investor relations website at ir.ryerson.com.

Please read the forward-looking statement disclosures included in our earnings release issued yesterday, and note that it applies to all statements made during this call. In addition, our remarks today refer to several non-GAAP measures. Reconciliations of these adjusted numbers are also included in our earnings release. I will now turn the call over to Eddie.

Eddie Lehner: Thank you, Justine. Good morning, and thank you all for joining us. Ryerson delivered its strongest quarter of the year, exceeding guidance across the board while eclipsing its first-year synergy run rate target ahead of schedule in what continues to be a high-friction industrial economy. These achievements reflect our teammates' commitment, passion, and ability to execute together as one unified organization, building toward the industry's best customer and stakeholder experience. Our results were supported by improved market demand, which allowed us to give the CapEx investments we've made over the past several years a good run around the track under better overall industry conditions.

As we move through the first month of the fourth quarter, quote and order activity remains strong, carrying forward the momentum we experienced in Q3 when daily shipment volumes and invoice counts increased each month of the quarter. We played the score sheet well in Q3, hitting the high notes as we gained market share, outperformed typical industry seasonality, increased net book value per share, managed asset efficiency at a high level, and bought back $3.8 million in shares below book value. When looking at the bigger and brighter picture, we see the continuing validation of the timing and substance of Ryerson's merger with Olympic Steel this past February.

Our collaborative effort, teamwork, resourcefulness, combinative scale, and playmaking ability is really shining through as we see the tremendous potential available to us as RYZ. With that, I will turn the call over to Rick to discuss market conditions and how we are executing operationally across the business.

Rick Marabito: Thanks, Eddie, and good morning, everyone. On a total company basis, Ryerson generated third-quarter net sales of $2.2 billion on shipments of 814,000 tons. That's a volume increase of 1.2% sequentially, better than our guidance for a seasonal decline of 3%-5%. Same-store shipments increased by 1.8% to their highest quarterly level in more than five years. Our performance reflects strong customer demand across many of our end markets and our team's dedication to meeting that demand through commercial collaboration and strong execution across our expanded network, even amid tight product availability. On a year-to-date North American basis, Ryerson's tons shipped increased by 57.3% compared with the first nine months of 2025.

On a same-store basis, Ryerson's North American shipments increased by 8.8% during the same period. That implies market share gains when compared to the industry's growth of 5%, and that's according to the Metals Service Center Institute. Ryerson's year-to-date volume growth continues to be led by strong double-digit growth in its transactional business and is also now supported by year-over-year improvement in our contract book of business. Data center and power generation projects remained strong drivers of customer demand in the third quarter, representing an estimated 9% of revenues, compared to 6% in the second quarter. Our data center volumes increased by approximately 65% in the third quarter of 2026 when compared with the first quarter of this year.

Our participation in this secular mega-trend comes through our direct exposure to OEMs, as well as through our support of subcontractors, and spans applications like power, IT, hardware, cooling, and fabrication. This demand is illustrated across several of our traditional end-market categories, including climate, where North American same-store volumes increased nearly 9% sequentially. Growth was led by larger HVAC customers serving both data center projects and traditional product lines, with additional strength in air purification, exhaust, and blower applications. Data center and power generation activity also supported growth in our fabrication and welding sector, with growth in tank and metal enclosure sub-industries, as well as growth in our machinery and equipment sector.

Our scale, processing capabilities, product breadth, access to inventory, and customer relationships position us to meet more of these customer needs and win additional business in these growing markets. Beyond these markets, commercial transportation remains another area of strength, with North American same-store volumes increasing nearly 3.5% quarter-over-quarter, led by our truck cab and tractor-trailer sub-sectors. We are optimistic about the developing recovery in Class 8 demand as healthy backlogs support production into 2027, despite persistent inflation and interest rate headwinds. Meeting this demand required our teams to coordinate resources across the network and develop tailored customer solutions.

For example, in Minneapolis, our Shaw Stainless and Ryerson Coon Rapids teams worked together to build out and share production operations to service a customer with growing demand for cooling components. Enabled by our merger, this collaboration is turning a new business opportunity into a meaningful contributor to our commercial synergies. Internally, our IT teams are unlocking more of the combined network's potential, with approximately 90% of Olympic Steel's inventory and transaction data now incorporated into Ryerson's information system. This creates the visibility needed to connect available material with customer demand across our facilities, enabling more effective inventory sharing and coordinated fulfillment. With mill lead times extending and inventories exceptionally lean, this capability is especially valuable.

Our increasing interconnectivity also supports our ongoing work of aligning customer programs with the facilities best equipped to serve them. We continue to evaluate opportunities to direct program volumes to Olympic facilities best suited for that business, increasing asset utilization, and lowering our cost to serve our program customers, while at the same time creating capacity for additional transactional business within Ryerson facilities. This enables us to grow our transactional book of business with greater speed and reliability. What enables success in all of these efforts is the willingness of our people to share their expertise, to solve problems together, and to perform for our customers. Our recently introduced shared core values builds on the cultural strengths of both organizations.

Our Tulsa teams offer a great example of our two core values in action, and that is customer commitment and teamwork. Neighboring Ryerson and Central Tube and Bar facilities are coordinating production capabilities and combining recruiting efforts to support newly awarded business while working with local educational institutions to develop a shared pipeline of skilled talent for future growth. I want to thank our teams across Ryerson for putting our shared values to work every day, helping our customers succeed, and turning the possibilities of our combined network into new business and stronger results.

Now I will turn the call over to Jim Claussen to review our performance relative to our third quarter guidance, discuss our expectations for the fourth quarter, and provide an update on synergy attainment and capital allocation.

Jim Claussen: Thank you, Rick, and good morning, everyone. Ryerson's third quarter performance exceeded our expectations across the board. As Rick noted, we generated record revenue of $2.2 billion on shipments of 814,000 tons and produced net income attributable to Ryerson of $32 million or $0.61 per diluted share. These results reflect effective execution by our teams, supported by strong shipment activity that persisted through a quarter when we typically experience seasonally softening demand. As anticipated in our second quarter outlook, we experienced gross margin compression as higher cost inventory, particularly for carbon products, flowed through our cost of sales ahead of corresponding price adjustments for program customers.

Our third quarter results also include a $4 million inventory purchase accounting adjustment to cost of materials sold, which reduced our gross margin and net income generation. This adjustment was approximately $12 million lower than the one recorded in the second quarter, and we expect these impacts to continue declining through the fourth quarter as we sell through the remaining acquired inventory. Adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO, was $115 million in the third quarter, which exceeded our guidance range of $88 million-$92 million. Olympic Steel's contribution to adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO, was $30.2 million, which also exceeded our guidance.

Our LIFO expense was $30 million in the third quarter compared to our guidance of $16 million-$18 million, as material costs increased more than anticipated during the quarter, led by continued increases in carbon mill pricing. Turning to our outlook for the fourth quarter, we expect that shipments will decline by 6%-8% sequentially, reflecting fewer business days and some mild seasonal softness around the holidays. We also anticipate that average selling prices will be flat to up by 2% as higher carbon pricing is expected to slightly offset relative softness in stainless and aluminum pricing. We therefore expect that our fourth quarter revenues will be in the range of $1.96 billion-$2.04 billion.

Excluding residual inventory purchase accounting adjustments, we anticipate net income generation in the range of $16 million-$20 million or $0.30-$0.38 per diluted share in the fourth quarter. We expect to record LIFO expense in the range of $28 million-$32 million in the fourth quarter, leading to adjusted EBITDA excluding LIFO in the range of $100 million-$104 million, with $28 million-$30 million of that generation expected to be contributed by Olympic Steel. We anticipate that higher trailing 12-month EBITDA generation, in combination with our expectation for seasonally lower working capital requirements, will reduce our leverage ratio to below 3.0x by year-end.

Turning to our progress on synergies, we realized approximately $13 million across our four synergy pillars in the third quarter, in line with the expectations we communicated last quarter. On an annualized run rate basis, this brings our achievements substantially above the $40 million target we set for our first year together, well ahead of our February 27 merger anniversary. This is a significant milestone in delivering on the merger's value thesis, reflecting our team's success in translating the scale and capabilities of our combined network into customer solutions and earnings contributions. Through the third quarter, we incurred $2.6 million in one-time costs to support these synergy initiatives.

Based on actions already implemented and those underway, we expect to realize approximately $14 million-$15 million in synergies in the fourth quarter, or $56 million-$60 million on an annualized run rate basis. Of our fourth quarter synergy attainment, we expect that our procurement synergies will generate approximately $6 million in synergies. Efficiency and public company cost savings will create approximately $2.5 million in savings and approximately $2 million of expected benefits from network optimization actions. This network optimization category is picking up steam, and we are building on the completed project in Mexico by progressing on our Connecticut consolidation, which brings together Olympic Milford and Ryerson Specialty Alloys.

This consolidation is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2027 and create a stronger operating platform with improved workflow, expanded processing capabilities, better product availability, lower fixed costs, and more efficient logistics. Turning to our commercial enhancement pillar, we continue to see performance ahead of our expectations, as Rick mentioned. Our fourth quarter forecast includes approximately $4 million in realized commercial synergies, which annualizes to $16 million and is closing in already on our two-year commercial target of $20 million in annual synergy benefits generated by commercial strategies.

This performance has been enabled by the collaboration of our commercial, supply chain, and operations teams across the enterprise as they leverage the scale of our combined facilities, equipment, customer relationships, and geographic reach. These actions are expected to continue to support EBITDA performance while enhancing our ability to serve customers during a period of extended lead times and constrained availability. I want to thank the Ryerson team for advancing our integration ahead of plan. With our first-year synergy targets surpassed ahead of schedule, we remain increasingly confident in our ability to achieve our two-year target of $120 million in annual run rate synergies.

Turning to our investments in the business, capital expenditures totaled $21 million in the third quarter and included investments in the maintenance of our facilities as well as projects supporting our transactional and value-added growth. Year-to-date, we have invested $50 million in CapEx, and we still expect our full year 2026 spend to be approximately $75 million, $50 million of which we anticipate to be allocated to legacy Ryerson and $25 million to Olympic Steel. During the third quarter, we returned $3.8 million to shareholders through the opportunistic repurchase of approximately 159,000 shares with an average price of $23.85. Following these repurchases, the company has $96.2 million remaining under its share repurchase authorization through April 2028.

Our board has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.1875 per share, which is consistent with the prior quarter and will be paid on December 17th to shareholders of record as of December 3rd. Overall, our capital allocation strategy continues to be focused on enabling free cash flow generation and reducing debt. That means maintaining a disciplined approach to capital expenditures, evaluating M&A opportunities against a high strategic and financial bar, continuing to support our dividend, and preserving the flexibility to prudently exercise our share repurchase authorization as conditions warrant. I'll now turn the call over to Molly Kannan to discuss our financial performance highlights for the third quarter.

Molly Kannan: Thanks, Jim, and good morning, everyone. In the third quarter of 2026, Ryerson generated net sales of $2.2 billion, an increase of 8.6% compared to the prior quarter, with tons shipped 1.2% higher and average selling prices 7.2% higher. On a same-store basis, revenue was $1.58 billion, an increase of 9.3% sequentially, with average selling prices 7.3% higher and tons shipped 1.8% higher. Due to the material cost pressures and the one-time purchase accounting adjustment that Jim mentioned, gross margin contracted during the third quarter by 50 basis points to 17.2%, compared to 17.7% in the prior quarter.

Excluding our third quarter LIFO expense of $30 million and the impact of inventory purchase accounting, adjusted gross margin contracted by 60 basis points to 18.7%, compared to gross margin excluding LIFO and purchase accounting adjustments of 19.3% in the second quarter of 2026. Warehousing, delivery, selling, general and administrative expenses, or WDSG&A, totaled $326.1 million in the third quarter, an increase of 1.6% compared to the second quarter, driven by variable compensation and inflationary cost pressures. WDSG&A decreased as a percentage of sales quarter-over-quarter from 16% to 15%, but increased marginally on a per-ton basis from $399 per ton to $401 per ton.

In all, we generated net income attributable to Ryerson of $32 million, or $0.61 for diluted share in the third quarter, compared to net income attributable to Ryerson of $15.5 million or $0.30 per share in the second quarter. Third quarter adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO, totaled $115 million, compared with $101 million in the second quarter. Olympic Steel contributed $30.2 million, up from $23.5 million in the prior quarter, while same-store adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO, reached $84.8 million, our highest quarterly amount achieved in three and a half years.

Turning to cash flow, Ryerson used $18.2 million in cash from operations in the third quarter as net income generation was offset by higher working capital requirements, which supported our higher revenue generation. Our inventory remained well managed in the third quarter as our days of supply remained consistent quarter-over-quarter at 73 days, which is within our target range of 70-75 days. Our cash conversion cycle also remained consistent sequentially at 71 days. We ended the quarter with total debt of $1.01 billion and net debt of $966 million, which represents sequential increases of $51 million and $53 million, respectively, due to higher working capital requirements.

Our leverage ratio decreased from 4x in the second quarter to 3.2x in the third, driven by higher trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA excluding LIFO. As Jim discussed, we anticipate that our leverage ratio will continue its downward trend, given our expectations for higher trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA excluding LIFO and lighter working capital requirements in the fourth quarter. Finally, total global liquidity increased from $757 million at the end of the second quarter to $865 million at the end of the third, as our borrowing base continued to expand with our working capital. Overall, our third quarter results reflect stronger sales, improved earnings, and consistent working capital management with ample liquidity to support our growth strategy.

With that, I will turn the call back to Eddie to conclude our prepared comments.

Eddie Lehner: Thank you, Molly. Although growth remains uneven and we continue to operate in a two-speed economy with AI infrastructure, energy, defense. Aerospace driving substantial growth, while agriculture, consumer, and other interest rate-sensitive markets remain more subdued. We are getting a good look at how our company can perform when manufacturing activity is invigorated with much-needed investment that drives higher productivity, quality jobs growth, and broader-based prosperity. We are encouraged by recent survey findings which show more manufacturers bringing sourcing and production back to the U.S. with a growing pipeline of reshoring projects and plans for further investment in U.S. production capacity.

This is tangible evidence of the manufacturing revitalization we have long believed can strengthen America's economic resilience, create quality jobs, and expand opportunities in the communities where we live and work. This renaissance is in its early phase, and it will take time to take root, but we have to stick with it and keep it a front and center priority. Our investments in people, technology, and processing, together with the greater density and product availability of our combined intelligent network of industrial metal service centers, position us to support the revitalization and grow alongside our customers. Bringing our two organizations together was and it is the smart play.

There is a real joy in seeing that work rewarded as our people put our plans and investments into action to deliver results that are highly accretive to enterprise value and demonstrate that we are making good on what we set out to accomplish for the benefit of all Ryerson stakeholders. With that, we look forward to your questions. Operator?

Operator: As a reminder, that is star 1 if you would like to ask a question. We will take our first question from Katja Jancic with BMO Capital Markets.

Katja Jancic: Hi. Thank you for taking my questions. Maybe starting on the program business, it seems that the margins remain pressured there. Can you talk a bit more about why that is? Are you seeing any signs that could start inflecting?

Eddie Lehner: Hey, Katja. Good morning. This is Eddie. On the program side, we've noted that we've been catching up because you've got COGS that, throughout the years, increased faster than the pass-throughs to average selling price. We've seen improvement on the program side, both in volume and in margin, and it really is a catch-up, especially on the carbon side, given that aluminum and stainless have inflected somewhat. But carbon, as you know, continues to power higher. We do see improvement in that book. It's been a welcome surprise in Q3, especially on the volume side. We are seeing margins start to kick higher. But I'm going to have Andrew Greiff give some more color on that.

Andrew Greiff: Yeah, Eddie, I think you said it well. I think we've been encouraged by seeing the program business growing. The real side, Katja, what we're seeing is on the transactional side of the business. That really has taken to a different level. I think that we'll continue to see that into the fourth quarter. We're finishing up negotiations for 2027, both for the customer side and for the mill side, so we'll have a better feel in the next month what that's going to look like. But certainly, what we've seen in the third quarter will continue into the fourth quarter.

Katja Jancic: And maybe as a follow-up, when you look at the margins on the program business versus the transactional, has that difference narrowed, or how is that tracking?

Eddie Lehner: Yeah, it's a good question. Well, I'm happy to say that Q4 is really off to a very promising start, and we've seen the margin differential between a transactional pound and a program pound, even though both of them are moving higher. That spread has gotten up to about 1,000 basis points, which really, I think, indicates the robustness of that transactional spot building material market. While the program side continues to move higher, but not at the rate that we're seeing on the transactional side. I would ask Rick to go ahead and just add some additional color to that.

Rick Marabito: Yeah. Thanks, Eddie, and Katja, you know on the contractual side, the majority of the contractual business has quarterly resets on pricing. As Eddie commented earlier, it is just the steady rise, especially in the carbon pricing through the year. You get the bump up in the pricing at the beginning of each new quarter. Then as you work your way through the quarter, as costs keep rising on the price of steel, your COGS rises, and you get the reset. But we are really pleased and promising how the quarter started out. I think Eddie mentioned it earlier, the contract business is, in two ways, really starting to show some good resilience.

Number one is the volumes are strengthening on some of those some of those accounts, so it is always good when you have got the demand side of the equation starting to pick up, and we are starting to catch up a little bit on that lag. More to come on that. But I think as we look at the start of the fourth quarter, we are encouraged.

Eddie Lehner: Let me append one thing to that to kind of join the two questions together, and that is, on the transactional side, one of the synergies we have with the combined Ryerson Olympic enterprise, we have seen Olympic's assets really rise to the occasion and find the ability to find material in the channel. We are even exchanging carbon through both companies, but Olympic's transactional business, that half truckload, full truckload business has really picked up in the third quarter going into the fourth. That has added a really nice synergy to the overall margin and even the profile as we come into Q4 and even look forward into 2027.

Rick Marabito: Yeah. Not to keep prolonging our answers, but another good point to what Eddie just commented on, and I mentioned it in the prepared comments. One of the other real positives is how quickly we have been able to integrate the two systems. So I commented that we are about 90% of the way there. The transparency and visibility of the entire company's network of inventory now being available is a huge benefit to those things that Eddie just commented on.

Katja Jancic: Thank you.

Rick Marabito: Thanks, Katja.

Operator: As a final reminder, that is star one if you would like to ask a question over the telephone. We will now take a question from Samuel McKinney with KeyBanc.

Samuel McKinney: Hi. Good morning.

Andrew Greiff: Hi, Sam. Good morning.

Samuel McKinney: Start with the third quarter volumes increasing just a little bit quarter-over-quarter versus your guidance of a 3%-5% decline. Whether it was tight customer inventory, you guys getting more of the product you need from the mills given your stronger buying power or something else, can you give us some more details on what drove such an upside surprise during the quarter?

Eddie Lehner: Yeah, I think it was the ability to respond to quotes to meet lead time need from our customers. It is really kind of an all the above answer. Very pleased with the performance of the RYZ team. Productivity was up. We did get expense leverage in the quarter and really did a nice job turning over the backlog. As much resourcefulness as really was required to go find material given the number of past due tons we have on order with the mills. Really proud of the organization. We responded to the demand opportunity to increase those volumes, Sam. Again, I will ask Andrew to go ahead and add some more color to that.

Andrew Greiff: Well, Sam, I would say two parts. Certainly on the program contract side of the business, we started to see some life from some of our traditional. So heavy duty equipment, truck trailer, all of those key industries that we have seen on the transportation side and even the climate side really started to improve. As you know, there was a real flatness, I would say, if you go back second half of 2023, almost through the end of 2025. But we did start seeing some life in 2026, and certainly in the third quarter, we started to see that.

The other part of it, which I think is really important, is the ability for in the growth of the transactional, the success really comes from the ability to keep inventory on the floor and continuously replenishing that inventory and growing it so that you can meet the needs of the customers because the lead times which traditionally may have been two or three days, customers are looking for more like 24-48 hours. If you do not have that inventory available on the floor, you are going to lose out.

Ryerson has done an extraordinary job to We have used to capitalize on the assets that are available to put more inventory on the floor and to be able to respond better to the customer.

Samuel McKinney: Okay, thanks. The fourth quarter volume guidance, it is relatively in line with seasonal patterns normally, but the fewer shipping days and the holiday-related seasonal softness that you cited in the release impact the fourth quarter every year. Given all the positive dynamics you just talked about remain in place, you mentioned today, Eddie, that the October ordering trends have been really strong. Why would not fourth quarter volumes do better than just meeting normal seasonality?

Eddie Lehner: Hey, Sam, that is a great question. I guess we are going to have to wait until February to answer that, but we are really pleased with the start of the quarter. Looking at historic seasonality and just what happens going into the holidays and coming out of the holidays. I think we wanted to guide thoughtfully to that effect, while noting that the business is performing very well and we are very encouraged with the start of the fourth quarter as we look out through most of October being the first month of the quarter.

Samuel McKinney: All right. Last one. Just excluding the higher LIFO expense, the third quarter gross margins were down just a little bit versus the second quarter, and you guys dealt with rising material costs, pricing program lags that you talked about, and non-ferrous pricing declines. When are you expecting to see those dissipate and margins maybe to more fully reflect the strength of this new combined business?

Eddie Lehner: Sam, we recognize that margin growth is one of our biggest opportunities as a combined company, as we really start to elevate and realize the potential that we have as a combined enterprise. I would say that the real culprits in Q3 that maybe were a drag on margins, we had some mark-to-market hedging amounts come through that were subtractors from margin. In addition to that, you do have the contract pricing lags that might have caused a little bit of margin compression.

But in general, really feel positive about where we can go with respect to our gross margin profile as we move forward based on the synergies that we know are available to us and the plans that we have to grow the transactional business and also beneficiate the program side of our commercial portfolio.

Samuel McKinney: All right. Thanks, guys, and congrats on a great quarter.

Eddie Lehner: Thanks, Sam.

Operator: It appears there are no further telephone questions at this time.

Eddie Lehner: We did have a couple questions come in online, so we will go ahead and take those at this time. The first question is, are you approaching the mills as one buyer now? What is the competitive environment like for accessing tons to fuel profitable share gains? What I would like to do is kick that question over to Andrew and then have Trent go ahead and append to that answer as well.

Andrew Greiff: Yeah. The easy answer is yes. We are speaking as one voice to the mills. I would tell you that on the supply side, the collaboration has been exactly as we had expected. Trent will speak more in a minute, but I will tell you on the carbon and on the white metal side of it has been a singular voice to the mills, talking about tonnage and where we expect to be next year. Certainly, we have seen challenges, in particular on the carbon side of the business. The domestic mills, fortunately for the combination, we have excellent relationships with the mills, and we have been very pleased so far, although the negotiations are not over.

We have been very pleased so far in our ability to be able to get the inventory that we have asked for and expect that our enterprise will be able to grow our business in 2027 and certainly support the growth of our longtime gold-standard customers, as well as supporting the increasing transactional business. We are seeing this on the carbon side. Hot roll is going to be very tight through the first half of 2027 and maybe even through 2027. Aluminum will also have some tightness. I think stainless will have a very appropriate year from the mills, but I think we are going to be in very good position to be able to support our customers.

Trent, if you want to talk a little bit more about that.

Trent McFarland: Yeah. Thanks, Andrew. Yeah, I would say post-merger 2026, even, the combination of the group proved very attractive in our synergy savings as we went through this year. As we approach 2027, as noted, we are looking for opportunities to expand our supply chain network and also optimize that network where we have opportunities to grow and place material at a transactional level close to our customers. Whether it is contract or transactional packages, the enterprise supply chain agreements are shaping up nicely for 2027.

Eddie Lehner: Thanks, Trent. The second question that came in online is, looking out two to three years, what would allow operating expenses to grow slower than shipments? I thought we would go ahead and kick this over to our synergies czar, Rich Manson, to go ahead and take that question.

Rich Manson: Sure. Thanks, Eddie. I think it's a function of the synergies, and we've highlighted a number of those. On the warehouse side, we've already consolidated operations in Mexico and didn't miss a beat. In fact, we'll actually increase sales, which will be a further commercial synergy. Jim highlighted in his comments that the Connecticut operations will be combined by first quarter, again, reducing fixed costs without missing a beat on the commercial side. We've got a lot of opportunities like that. I think Rick highlighted the one about Tulsa, where we're literally across the street from each other. We're going to move equipment into the building that has capacity to maximize the assets.

I think you talk about it all the time, Eddie. It's about sweating the assets. I think we have a number of opportunities, whether it be in Cleveland, Minneapolis, outside of Atlanta. A lot of those type of projects are underway and will show fruition within the next year or two. On top of that, on the administrative side, we've done a great job of eliminating duplicated expense. Also we've been really smart. Where people have just chosen to leave, we're filling the positions with existing people. I think as of the end of the third quarter, something like 3 dozen positions were essentially eliminated without causing any friction. It's a $9 million annualized savings.

There's probably another $3 million to go with another dozen and a half positions that we know of in the next quarter. So very optimistic that those will be very achievable the next two to three years. As we've highlighted, we're only nine months into this thing, and we've already exceeded the $40 million of savings. We're in the $60 million run rate, and feel very committed to achieving the $120 million at the end of the two-year anniversary of the merger.

Eddie Lehner: Thanks, Rich. I would also reference our productivity this quarter at 2.25 tons per employee per day was really well above our benchmark. I think that is evidence already of the opportunities we have to create expense leverage as we grow the business and really take full advantage of the assets and network that we do have. Do we have any more questions? Good. We have one more. All right.

Justine Carlson: Yeah, we had one more.

Eddie Lehner: We're just getting warmed up.

Justine Carlson: It kind of plays on the last one. It asks if we could talk more about the learnings from the commercial enhancement synergy efforts and how are we expanding those best practices across the network?

Eddie Lehner: Yeah. So Rick, what do you think?

Rick Marabito: Yeah, I think that area, in terms of synergy, has been probably the biggest pleasant surprise. When you go into a merger, you always have some concerns on the commercial side where you may have overlap or customer concentrations. But boy, that's been an area I think our teams have really done a great job. Andrew Greiff led that effort with our presidents and our senior commercial people. I think we got on it literally day one. We were organized and committed to have one voice to the customer, listen to our customers in terms of how they would like us to serve them going forward as a new united company. I think that's been fantastic.

I think the other part of it is we are continuing to pick up a lot of new business, and I think that just speaks to some of the benefits we knew going into the merger in terms of expanded footprint, availability of processing capabilities. So we've been really pleased with that and it ties in. You're right, Justine, it ties in with the last question also. Boy, when you've got kind of the demand engine going and you're picking up new business, and that's our expectation to continue to do that, you also gain some nice expense leverage and productivity. So, thanks for the question. That's been really an area that we're really proud of the progress we've made.

Eddie Lehner: Seeing that there are no more questions, we want to wish everybody a safe and happy holiday season, and we look forward to being with all of you again in early 2027. Thank you.

Operator: Once again, that does conclude today's conference. We thank you all for your participation. You may now disconnect.

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