Alamo Group Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
August 4, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Second-quarter results improved, with sales up 7.6% year over year to $415.7 million, adjusted EBITDA up to $63.9 million, and adjusted EPS up 7.2% to $2.82. Organic sales grew 1.3%, although gross margin declined 120 basis points to 24.6% due to mix and growth investments.
  • Positive Sentiment: The Industrial Equipment Division delivered 12.8% sales growth, supported by organic demand and the Petersen and Ring-O-Matic acquisitions; rental and Ring-O-Matic reported record performance. Management said acquisition integration is progressing well and expects continued share gains, though the division’s book-to-bill was 0.85 and industrial end markets are expected to remain flattish in the near term.
  • Neutral Sentiment: Vegetation Management sales were essentially flat for the second consecutive quarter, while adjusted EBITDA margins held at 10.4%. Manufacturing throughput improved in agriculture and tree care, but management remains cautious on the broader market because of weaker farm income, lower crop prices, elevated borrowing costs, tariffs, and a lack of expectation for a rapid recovery.
  • Positive Sentiment: Alamo ended the quarter with $195 million of cash, $262.7 million of debt, and net leverage below one times, providing substantial capacity for acquisitions. Management identified M&A as its top capital-allocation priority, with a strong pipeline focused primarily on industrial tuck-ins, while continuing dividends and opportunistic share repurchases.
  • Positive Sentiment: Management reiterated its long-term target of 18% adjusted EBITDA margins and believes roughly 300 basis points of improvement is within its control through procurement savings, aftermarket growth, manufacturing efficiency, and portfolio actions. Procurement benefits are expected to begin late in 2026 and flow more meaningfully in 2027, while near-term organic growth is expected to remain broadly flattish.
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Earnings Conference Call
Alamo Group Q2 2026
00:00 / 00:00

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Operator

Good day, welcome to the Alamo Group second quarter 2026 conference call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Kevin Carter, Vice President, Strategy, Finance, and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Kevin Carter
Kevin Carter
VP of Strategy, Finance, and Investor Relations at Alamo Group

Thank you. By now, you should have received a copy of the press release. If anyone is missing a copy and would like to receive one, please contact us at 212-827-3746 and we will send you a copy of the release and make sure you're on the company's distribution list. There will be a replay of the call, which will begin 1 hour after the call and run for 1 week. The replay can be accessed by dialing 1-855-669-9658 with the passcode 750-9167. Additionally, the call is being webcast on the company's website at www.alamo-group.com, and a replay will be available for 60 days. On the line with me today are Robert Hureau, our President and Chief Executive Officer, and Agnes Kamps, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Kevin Carter
Kevin Carter
VP of Strategy, Finance, and Investor Relations at Alamo Group

Management will make some opening remarks, then we will open up the line for your questions. During the call today, management may reference certain non-GAAP numbers in their remarks. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP results to applicable GAAP numbers are included in the attachments to our earnings release. Before turning the call over to Robert, I would like to make a few comments about forward-looking statements. We will be making forward-looking statements today that are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the company's actual results in future periods to differ materially from forecasted results.

Kevin Carter
Kevin Carter
VP of Strategy, Finance, and Investor Relations at Alamo Group

Among those factors which could cause actual results to differ materially are the following: adverse economic conditions which could lead to a reduction in overall market demand, supply chain disruptions, labor constraints, increasing costs due to inflation, disease outbreaks, geopolitical risks, including tariffs, trade wars, and the effects of the war in Ukraine and the Middle East, competition, weather, seasonality, currency-related issues, and other risk factors listed from time to time in the company's SEC reports. The company does not undertake any obligation to update the information contained herein, which speaks only as of this date. I would like now to introduce Robert Hureau. Robert, please go ahead.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

Thank you, Kevin. I'd like to thank everyone for joining our second quarter earnings conference call. We appreciate your continued interest in Alamo Group. Overall, we're pleased with the second quarter results. We made good progress across our key initiatives, highlighted by strong sales, improved adjusted earnings, and solid Adjusted EBITDA performance. We're encouraged by the volume, the pace, and the quality of customer activity we continue to see across our business. Our teams remain focused on operational improvement and disciplined execution of our strategic priorities. I'll turn the call over to Agnes to review our financial results in detail. When she's finished, I'll come back and discuss the performance of each of our divisions and make some remarks regarding our long-term strategic priorities. Agnes?

Agnes Kamps
Agnes Kamps
EVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Alamo Group

Thank you, Robert. Good morning, everyone. Net sales for the second quarter of 2026 were $415.7 million, an increase of 7.6% compared to the second quarter of 2025. Organic net sales increased 1.3% compared to the second quarter of 2025. Gross profit for the second quarter of 2026 was $110.9 million compared to $108.3 million for the second quarter of 2025. Gross margin for the second quarter of 2026 was 24.6%, down 120 basis points compared to the second quarter of 2025. The year-over-year decline in gross margin reflected the impact of net sales mix and investments we are making to support long-term growth, partially offset by favorable pricing, procurement savings, and continued operating disciplines. Selling, general, and administrative expense or SG&A expense for the second quarter was $60.1 million, up 5.1% from the second quarter of 2025.

Agnes Kamps
Agnes Kamps
EVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Alamo Group

SG&A expense in the second quarter of 2026 included acquisition and integration expenses, restructuring expenses, and the addition of Petersen and Ring-O-Matic businesses. SG&A expense as percentage of net sales in the second quarter of 2026 was 13.3% compared to 13.6% in the second quarter of 2025. Excluding acquisition, integration, and restructuring expenses in both periods, SG&A expense as % of net sales was approximately 12.5% in the second quarter of 2026. Compared favorably to approximately 13.5% in the second quarter of 2025. We remain focused on the productivity of our teams, including early efforts to apply artificial intelligence across the organization. We expect these efforts to help us manage SG&A as percentage of net sales over time.

Agnes Kamps
Agnes Kamps
EVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Alamo Group

Net interest expense for the second quarter of 2026 was $3.6 million, compared to $2.5 million in the second quarter of 2025, higher year-over-year, primarily as a result of Petersen acquisition and related financing activity. The effective income tax rate was 25.6%, in line with our current and long-term expectations. During the second quarter of 2026, we recognized $4.3 million of acquisition integration and restructuring expenses. These costs included $0.3 million of acquisition integration expense and $4 million of restructuring expenses, which were inclusive of investments to transform our manufacturing activities and supply chain function, leadership changes, and cost to consolidate and streamline certain manufacturing facilities. Of the $4.3 million, $3.5 million was recorded in SG&A. All of these amounts are treated as adjustments to certain non-GAAP measures as shown in the press release.

Agnes Kamps
Agnes Kamps
EVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Alamo Group

Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter of 2026 was $63.9 million or 14.2% of net sales, compared to $58.8 million or 14% of net sales in the second quarter of 2025. Adjusted earnings per share on a fully diluted basis for the second quarter of 2026 were $2.82, up 7.2% compared to $2.63 in the second quarter of 2025. Now I'll share some comments regarding the results of each of the divisions. Net sales in the Industrial Equipment Division for the second quarter of 2026 were $271.6 million, an increase of 12.8% compared to net sales of $240.7 million in the second quarter of 2025. The year-over-year increase reflected organic demand and the contribution from Petersen, which was acquired earlier in 2026, as well as the contribution from Ring-O-Matic, which was acquired during 2025.

Agnes Kamps
Agnes Kamps
EVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Alamo Group

Organic net sales in the Industrial Equipment Division increased 2.6% compared to the second quarter of 2025. Adjusted EBITDA in the Industrial Equipment Division for the second quarter of 2026 was $45.3 million or 16.7% of net sales, compared to $40.3 million or 16.8% of net sales for the second quarter in 2025. We are pleased with the continued strong performance in this division, and particularly with the successful integration of our recent acquisitions. Net sales in the Vegetation Management Division for the second quarter of 2026 were $179.1 million, an increase of 0.4% compared to net sales of $178.4 million in the second quarter of 2025. Sales were relatively stable compared to the prior year, despite continued pressure in certain end markets. This marks the second consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth in this division after eight quarters of declines.

Agnes Kamps
Agnes Kamps
EVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Alamo Group

Adjusted EBITDA in the Vegetation Management Division in the second quarter of 2026 was $18.6 million or 10.4% of net sales, compared to $18.5 million or 10.4% of net sales for the second quarter of 2025. We remain focused on improving margins through operational execution, cost discipline, and targeted actions across the portfolio. Moving on to the balance sheet and cash flow. For the six months ended June 30th, 2026, cash provided by operations was $22.7 million. Investing cash outflow was $171.6 million, primarily reflecting the Petersen acquisition and capital expenditures. Financing cash inflow was $37.3 million. Looking at the last 12 months ended June 30th, 2026, free cash flow, which we define as cash flow from operations less capital expenditures, was $135.3 million or 134% of net income, which continued to compare favorably to our long-term target of 100%.

Agnes Kamps
Agnes Kamps
EVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Alamo Group

In May 2026, we renewed our credit facility on improved terms across the facility, extending maturity to 2031 and further strengthen our liquidity profile and financial flexibility. The renewed facility provides $602.5 million of committed capacity, including $400 million revolving credit facility and $202.5 million term loan facility, supporting ongoing capital deployment priorities, working capital needs, and long-term growth initiatives. At June 30th, 2026, we had $195 million of cash and total debt was $262.7 million. We ended the quarter with strong liquidity position, supported by substantial cash balances and available borrowing capacity on the recently renewed credit facility. The net leverage at quarter end was less than one times, leaving a significant capacity to fund our capital deployment priorities. Regarding our capital allocation activities during the quarter, we paid $4.1 million in dividends, and our board once again approved a quarterly dividend of $0.34 per share.

Agnes Kamps
Agnes Kamps
EVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Alamo Group

We repurchased $9.4 million of shares under 2024 $50 million board-approved share repurchase program, or approximately 19% of total authorization. We repaid $25.9 million on the revolver, which was drawn to finance the Petersen acquisition. All of these activities demonstrate the strength of our cash generation and a disciplined, balanced approach to deploying it. As we move forward, we remain well-positioned to drive growth, further strengthen operation, and return value to shareholders through disciplined capital allocation. Thank you. I turn it back over to Robert.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

Thank you, Agnes. Let me start by providing more color on the operating performance for each of our divisions. First, the Industrial Equipment Division. As Agnes mentioned, net sales in the Industrial Equipment Division increased by 13% during the quarter. The increase was led by our excavators and vacuum truck businesses, where sales grew despite an end market that was relatively flat. This performance reflects the strength of our brands, our close partnerships with our dealers and customers, and the share gains our teams continue to drive. Our rental business also contributed meaningfully and is on pace for a record year in both sales and Adjusted EBITDA. Separately, Ring-O-Matic, which we acquired just over a year ago, is also delivering record results as the group continues to benefit from new commercial opportunities. Sweepers and safety sales also increased, primarily reflecting the addition of Petersen.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

Excluding Petersen, sales in this group were relatively flat, though order activity strengthened during the quarter. Snow sales were lower year-over-year, reflecting the deliberate actions we've taken to focus on the most attractive commercial opportunities, which has meaningfully improved the profitability of this business. Snow and roadway maintenance remains an attractive space for us, and it's an area we will continue to invest. Adjusted EBITDA margins in the Industrial Equipment Division were 16.7% in the quarter, roughly unchanged from the same quarter last year. The division benefited from higher volume, ramping procurement savings and cost efficiency initiatives, and the contribution from Petersen. These gains were partially offset by higher input costs, namely freight and steel, and cost to streamline certain manufacturing activities. Regarding the Petersen business, we're very pleased with its financial performance through the first half of 2026 and the direction of the leadership team.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

Integration efforts and the advancement of commercial and operational synergies are progressing well. Petersen's EBITDA margins are performing in line with our expectations and are benefiting from the early synergies we're capturing. We'll keep you updated as the business continues to perform. The book-to-bill in the Industrial Equipment Division for the second quarter of 2026 was 0.85x, as net orders were down 2% compared to the same quarter in the prior year. Orders varied across the division. Orders were strongest in our snow business, which saw continued year-over-year growth, reflecting the strength of our team, our products, and our brands. Sweepers and safety orders also grew, both on an inorganic and organic basis, meaning excluding Petersen, as we began to see the positive activity we had been anticipating with many states and municipalities entering the new budget year.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

We also continue to grow this business in the contractor market, where activity and opportunity tied to data centers and other large-scale development remains attractive. Excavators and vacuum truck orders were lower, reflecting the lumpiness and timing of orders in this business and some pockets of softness in the construction markets. Regarding the lumpiness, it's important to note that the second quarter of 2025 was a record quarter for net orders for the excavator and vacuum group. It was the highest quarter in this group's history. Lead times in all the business within the Industrial Equipment Division are in good competitive position. Today, our Industrial Equipment Division represents 59% of our total sales. As a reminder, the products in the Industrial Equipment Division serve end markets, including public works, construction, utilities, and infrastructure. These are very attractive long cycle markets.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

Consistent with broader construction industry commentary, we're seeing a market that is stable but selective, with the near-term rate of growth moderating after several years of double-digit growth supported by infrastructure investment. In that context, we expect certain industrial end markets to be flattish in the shorter term, but we remain very positive on the long-term outlook given the continued need for infrastructure maintenance, public works investments, utility modernization, and specialized vocational equipment. Now the Vegetation Management Division. Net sales in the Vegetation Management Division were slightly higher compared to the second quarter of 2025. The overall result reflected growth in North American agriculture, tree care and recycling, and our European businesses, offset by lower sales in municipal mowing in South America. In North America agriculture, sales improved, particularly in U.S. agriculture, which benefited from stronger manufacturing execution.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

Tree care and recycling sales also increased, similarly supported by improved manufacturing throughput. Our European businesses also grew with particular strength in the Netherlands and France. Adjusted EBITDA margins in the Vegetation Management Division in the second quarter of 2026 were 10%. This was up significantly from the second half of 2025, reflecting the progress our teams have made in improving the efficiency of our manufacturing facilities and flat compared to the second quarter of 2025. The Adjusted EBITDA margin of 10% compared to the second quarter of 2025 reflects favorable pricing and improved operational execution, offset by inflation, tariffs, and unfavorable sales mix. The book-to-bill in the Vegetation Management Division for the second quarter of 2026 was 0.9 times, where net orders were 1% lower compared to the same quarter in the prior year, with mixed performance across businesses.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

Municipal mowing orders showed strong momentum in the quarter, an encouraging sign of the improving activity among municipal customers, similar to what we're seeing in our sweepers business. Tree care and recycling orders also grew, reflecting the work our teams have done to strengthen our dealer network, including the new dealers who were added in parts of the country where we had gaps. North American agriculture orders were roughly flat year-over-year, continued to build on a strong year-to-date order pattern and a healthy backlog. Today, our Vegetation Management Division represents 41% of our total net sales. As a reminder, the products in the Vegetation Management Division serve end markets including tree care and recycling, agriculture, public works, and landscape maintenance. These end markets have declined from the elevated levels experienced during the 2021 and 2023 period, in the aggregate, they appear to be stabilizing in 2026.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

External market commentary has similarly described farm equipment demand as cautious, with pressure from lower farm income, elevated borrowing costs, and tariff-related cost uncertainty. We're encouraged by the signs of stabilization and remain confident in the long-term relevance of our brands, dealer relationships, and product categories, but we don't expect a rapid recovery across the entire vegetation management portfolio. I'd now like to share some comments regarding the broad framework of our long-term strategy. As mentioned before, there are four pillars of the strategy on which we'll focus and devote resources. One, people and culture. Two, commercial excellence. Three, operational excellence, and four, capital deployment. Within each of these strategic pillars, there exist a series of prioritized initiatives on which our teams are working. We made good progress on all initiatives again during the quarter.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

During the past year, we said we would review our portfolio and take action on businesses or product lines that are not aligned with our long-term strategic direction. As part of that review, we recently announced our decision to exit a small business in the Netherlands that serves the waterway vegetation management market. We expect to complete that exit either through a sale or closure of the business before the end of 2026. In addition, we're continuing our portfolio review and expect to make certain further decisions during the second half of 2026. These are not large businesses or product lines in the context of Alamo Group, but these decisions are important. They reflect our disciplined approach to capital deployment and operating performance, and they're consistent with our long-term strategy of owning and operating businesses that are leaders in their markets and strategically relevant.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

Regarding capital allocation, our philosophy is disciplined and balanced. I'd like to summarize a few key important components of that strategy. First, we'll continue to invest in our people, our products, our facilities, and technologies to support profitable growth and productivity with capital expenditures running at approximately 2% of net sales on average. Second, we'll maintain a strong balance sheet, targeting net leverage of up to 2.5x, which preserves the flexibility to act opportunistically. Third, acquisitions remain a top near-term priority. As we've mentioned before, our focus is largely on tuck-ins close to our core, meaning product categories, sales channels, and geographies close to where we operate today that hold leadership positions in their markets, carry attractive EBITDA margins, and can be acquired at attractive multiples. Our goal is one to two of these transactions in a typical year.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

Petersen's a great example of what that looks like in practice. Finally, we'll continue to return capital to shareholders in a balanced manner through opportunistic repurchases under our $50 million share buyback authorization and a quarterly dividend, currently $0.34 per share per quarter. That reflects our target payout ratio of approximately 15% of net income. In summary, I'd like to express our thanks and appreciation to all our employees who work tirelessly to produce, sell, and develop the very best brands of vocational trucks and mowing and tree care products in the industry. I'd also like to thank our customers and our investors for their trust and support. This concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, please open the lines for questions.

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star then two. The first question comes from Chris Moore from CJS Securities. Please go ahead.

Chris Moore
Chris Moore
Senior Analyst at CJS Securities

Hey, good morning, guys. Thanks for taking a couple. Maybe we will start with backlog. Now that the order patterns lead time's been normalized, just trying to understand a little bit better how we should think about backlog moving forward. Just for example, what percentage of Alamo revenue is backlog dependent? And how quickly will the vast majority of industrial backlog turn versus the vegetation backlog?

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

Yeah. Chris, great question. Let me talk a little bit about this, and I'm going to mention three things. When we look at orders and backlog, we're looking not only at those metrics, but as you pointed out, we're looking at lead times, and we're looking at market share. Let me talk a little bit about each of these three, and then we can drill down further. First, just a recap of some of the comments we tried to emphasize in the prepared remarks as it relates to orders. We'll start with the vegetation division. I think the most important thing in the vegetation or the most notable thing in the vegetation business is the return to growth within our Municipal Mowing Solutions Group. This is the group that manufactures mowing attachments.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

We sell to dealers who in turn sell to state DOTs and local municipalities. That business was softer in the first six months of the year, but it's returned to growth. We saw orders up double digits in the second quarter as we had expected, as many of these municipalities shifted from one budget year to the next. That was a really positive sign. The U.S. Ag business, as I mentioned, positive order trends. We've got a healthy backlog. Tree care, positive orders, particularly in the large industrial segment and European softish. Overall, in the aggregate, as we said, order pattern was roughly flattish on a year-over-year basis, which is consistent with where we pegged the end markets. On the industrial side, orders down 2%, as we mentioned. Here again, the most notable thing is on the sweeper side.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

On an organic basis in our sweepers group, we saw a return to order growth, again on a double-digit basis for the same reason as I just commented on the municipal mowing business. Many of those products serve the local state DOTs and municipalities. Sales were softish during the first part of the year as those municipalities shifted from one budget year to the next. That order pattern, that quoting activity has improved up year-over-year, double digits. That's another very positive sign. Snow continues to perform quite well. That's been a huge success story for the last three, four quarters, if you will. Importantly, I want to emphasize in the excavation business. Excuse me. In the excavation business, orders were down, again, those orders, when they come in, are large, and they're lumpy.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

The comparison in the second quarter this year to the second quarter of last year, it's a tough comparison. That Q2 2025 was a record quarter for orders for that business. I just wanted to highlight those and emphasize certain groups within each of those divisions that really the tone has shifted in a much more positive manner. The second part, which gets to some of your questioning, is around the backlog. One of the ways we think about it is in terms of lead times. Today, in the aggregate, those lead times, if you look at our backlog and our quarterly revenue, we've got four to five months of revenue sitting in backlog in the aggregate and similarly within the Industrial Division.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

If you skip for a minute the boom years of 2023 and 2024, where things were really, really strong, up 20% year-over-year, et cetera, that four to five months of revenue and backlog is pretty consistent with where we were historically. That's a good sign. When we talk with our customers, they're pleased with the lead times right now. We're pleased with them. We feel like we're in a really good competitive position. The last thing, the third point I think it's really important, because we look at all of these metrics in the aggregate, is when we look at market share. We can see where the data is available, that many of our brands are continuing to gain from a market share perspective in both the Industrial and the Vegetation Division.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

All three of those are important when we assess where we are with backlog, how we expect it to roll out, et cetera, and the current order pattern. In the aggregate, we feel good. We feel very excited about where things are going heading into 2027. Does that hopefully get to some of your questions?

Chris Moore
Chris Moore
Senior Analyst at CJS Securities

Absolutely. Very helpful. Vegetation, I think you're pretty clear that longer term certainly looks good. At the end of Q1, you had talked about a little bit reduction in the way you're looking at it. Basically, it was flat Q2. I'm looking at the second half of the year and wondering if that's perhaps a reasonable expectation for Q3, and the Q4 compass is pretty light off of 2025. Is that a reasonable way to look at it? Maybe in that flattish area in Q3, and perhaps we could do a little bit better than that in Q4?

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

Yeah. Good question. Let me come at this from two different angles, and I'll focus predominantly on vegetation, but we can cover the industrial markets as well. You're right, at the end of the year, we were looking at the vegetation end markets to be flattish to maybe slightly down or thereabouts. We viewed 2026 as somewhat of an improving year versus the down double digits that we had experienced. We were calling the end markets flattish to down slightly. As we moved from the end of the year to the end of the first quarter, we got a little bit more cautious with some of the trends in the third-party data. I would say that as we sit today, the trends in that third-party data continue. We continue to remain cautious over the balance of the year, the third and the fourth quarter.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

You certainly can see crop prices, farm income, housing, and tractor sales in that key 40 to 100 horsepower category that's still being down. Despite that, we see really good order pattern in many of our groups within that division. In the aggregate, I would call that end market to be flattish to down mid-single digits, somewhere in that zip code. Nonetheless, a remarkable swing in trajectory versus the prior two to three years. That's the first piece I would look at. When you step back and look at the business as a whole, and including the Vegetation Division, when you think about our financial results sequentially, and you look at historical averages and historical seasonality, excluding any big acquisitions, the second quarter tends to be the peak quarter financially in terms of sales and earnings.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

From there, as you move from the second to the third and the third to fourth, the top line and the bottom line tend to move down slightly from Q2 to Q3 to Q4. That's historical seasonality, if you will. I think if you take the latest perspective we have on end markets and some of that historical financial patterns around seasonality, and you mirror them, you get a good sense as to where the company's likely to move in the absence of an acquisition or anything major over the next two quarters. Now, on a year-over-year basis, it'll get progressively better, of course, as the fourth quarter was quite a low point in the Vegetation Division. Does that help?

Chris Moore
Chris Moore
Senior Analyst at CJS Securities

That is very helpful. I will leave it there. Thank you, Robert.

Operator

The next question comes from Mircea Dobre from Baird. Please go ahead.

Peter Kalemkerian
Peter Kalemkerian
Analyst at Baird

Hey, good morning, guys. This is Peter Kalemkerian. I'm from Baird this morning. Thank you for taking my question. Robert, I have a bit of a two-part question here. When we think about that 18% consolidated margin target, at 18%, where do you see margin for each division shaking out? Vegetation specifically, is there any way to frame the margin runway from where we're at today, call it 10%-11%, to where you see this segment longer term? I guess my question is, how much can margins improve from current levels without any sort of volume improvement, how much of the margin progression from here would necessitate recovery across your end markets?

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

Yeah. Good question. First thing I would say is I would continue to confirm, if you will, confidently our long-term through the cycle operating and Adjusted EBITDA margins. We have come out, we've said that before. The target is 15% adjusted operating income margins and 18% Adjusted EBITDA margins. We're roughly about 400 basis points away from that today. Again, first thing, these are long-term through the cycle targets, if you will. To get there, we still believe that there's 300 basis points or thereabouts directly within our control, it's some combination of procurement savings that we're getting after as we're centralizing some of those procurement negotiating efforts. Parts and service, which we feel is a huge opportunity for us. We're a little bit underserved relative to history and benchmark and continued manufacturing operations efficiency. Those are the things we can control.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

Of course, as we continue to review the portfolio, particularly in the Vegetation business, and either close or sell certain very, very small product lines, that will contribute as well. Those things are within our control. I see that 300 basis point opportunity to exist within both of the Industrial and the Vegetation business. If you're looking at a 10%, 10.5% Adjusted EBITDA margin in the Vegetation business, those should be able to go to 13% or 14%, similar with the Industrial business. If we get a little bit of volume tailwind, this year the sales in the Vegetation business have been flattish.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

If we get a little bit of volume tailwind, some support from the end markets, which we certainly expect over the next three to four years, you're going to not only get leverage on some of that fixed cost, but the momentum builds around procurement savings and manufacturing efficiencies. Some gains to be come as the volumes in end markets recover, the majority of it within our control. Then, of course, the cherry on the top is accretive M&A to the extent we continue to add businesses like Petersen, which run at 23%, 24% Adjusted EBITDA. I feel really good about where we're going over the next three to four years. 2026 is a bit of a transition year. Does that help, Peter?

Peter Kalemkerian
Peter Kalemkerian
Analyst at Baird

That was great, Robert. Thank you for the color. You kind of anticipated where I was going with my last question here on M&A. Your balance sheet is obviously in a strong spot. Net leverage, extremely low. What's the current pipeline looking like? Where in the portfolio might you be looking to add, or what would be the appetite, I guess, for a larger, more transformational deal as opposed to continued bolt-ons? I'm just curious what you're seeing out there in the current deal environment and any color or update that you could provide on the acquisition strategy.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

Absolutely. I think it starts with the capital allocation framework and strategy. We spent a lot of time thinking about it. We tried to pull together everything concisely and share that with you on this call. As you can tell from that, with the framework, where we feel very confident and comfortable going up to 2.5x net leverage. We've got a lot of dry powder. We can add a lot of earnings to this business and accelerate the growth of our earnings trajectory over the next several years. It starts there. Again, as I said in the prepared remarks, M&A is the top priority, but we'll be opportunistic with that buyback program as we were in the second quarter. I would say the M&A pipeline is strong.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

If you don't know, Edward Rizzuti is taking on a full-time role in Corporate Development, spearheading that. Not only because of his talents and leadership, but that area is just rich with opportunity for us, and he's building a team to go after some of those targets. Third thing I would say is from a where are we targeting perspective, we're still focusing predominantly in the industrial space. It's not necessarily because there aren't opportunities in vegetation, but we want to give that vegetation team and those businesses a little bit more time to continue to fine-tune manufacturing operations before we add any more complexity. Of course, building on the momentum over the last couple of quarters there. Within the industrial space and the M&A pipeline, there are a lot of things that are active today. We're talking with a number of people and excited about it.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

I think for now, the primary focus will remain tuck-ins. Things in that $15 million, $20 million, $30 million EBITDA range probably are the sweet spot. Might we go to something that's $40 million or $50 million? We could, and it would just really need to be a strong strategic fit with good synergies. I think anything larger than that at this time is probably unlikely. Hopefully that color is helpful to you, Peter.

Peter Kalemkerian
Peter Kalemkerian
Analyst at Baird

That was great. Thank you, Robert. I will jump back in queue.

Operator

The next question comes from Mike Shlisky from D.A. Davidson. Please go ahead.

Mike Shlisky
Mike Shlisky
Analyst at D.A. Davidson

Yes, hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions here. First, a quick housekeeping question. Agnes, maybe I missed this, how much was currency a factor in the year-over-year revenue change?

Agnes Kamps
Agnes Kamps
EVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Alamo Group

It wasn't that impactful, I think. Gosh, I don't remember the exact number.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

Yeah, it's in the back of the press release, Mike. I think it was 0.4%.

Agnes Kamps
Agnes Kamps
EVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Alamo Group

0.4%.

Mike Shlisky
Mike Shlisky
Analyst at D.A. Davidson

Got it. Okay. Yep. Thanks for that. I also wanted to ask about vegetation. You said it might not be opportunistically in the very near term. Are you doing anything within the segment to maybe get more aggressive or help speed things up? Anything you can do to talk with your dealer network or some internal folks to do a little bit more outreach then, as opposed to reacting to the broader market here? Are there any share opportunities or new irons you can put out there to help gain some share? Just anything that you're doing beyond just kind of riding the day-to-day waves of the vegetation end market here.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

Yeah. I really appreciate that question, Mike. That's spot on. I would say in the last several quarters, we've had a lot of those discussions internally and with the Board. We are hyper-focused on what we refer to as alternate sources of growth. We want to maintain and continue to grow our share in the existing channels with existing dealers and partners and contractors. Yeah. That's really important. We want to love those customers and continue to win with them. Many of them that we're aligned with are really strong and healthy, and we'll grow with them. At the same time, we need to and are looking at those alternate sources of growth. Are there slightly different channels? Are there product categories that we can move into? There's things occurring in both the Vegetation Management Division and the Industrial Equipment Division that are pretty exciting.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

Probably a little bit too early for us to talk about publicly, you're spot on, the team's doing a great job thinking a little bit differently about how to go to market and win and accelerate growth beyond the movements in the end markets.

Mike Shlisky
Mike Shlisky
Analyst at D.A. Davidson

Okay. I'll ask that one on a future call, perhaps.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

Definitely.

Mike Shlisky
Mike Shlisky
Analyst at D.A. Davidson

Some of your comments around M&A, Robert. You've been asking-- you've been saying you wanted to do one deal or two a year. Excuse me. I know you had Petersen wasn't that long ago, technically it was not during 2026. Curious as to what the pipeline looks like today, do you feel confident that you'll actually get at least one deal done during 2026?

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

Yeah. The pipeline is really full. There's a lot of activity going on. Of course, we like the ones where we're building the relationship one-on-one. We will get involved with auctions, but prefer to stay away from those, generally speaking. There's a lot of activity. There's a lot of good relationships that our teams, our business leaders, division presidents, Ed and his team, Agnes, are fostering. We've met with many of them over the course of the last six months in person. I'm feeling pretty good about the direction over the balance of the year. Can't, of course, say that we will get one done for sure. There's a lot of variables that come into play, but we're pretty positive on the momentum of the M&A.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

If for some reason something doesn't happen, you might see three in 2027 or four. We're pretty bullish on this, and we're going to use that dry powder that we have on the balance sheet.

Mike Shlisky
Mike Shlisky
Analyst at D.A. Davidson

Great. Thanks so much for the color. I'll pass it along.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

Okay.

Operator

As a reminder, if you have a question, please press star one. The next question comes from Greg Burns from Sidoti & Company. Please go ahead.

Greg Burns
Greg Burns
Analyst at Sidoti & Company

Good morning. Could you just give us an update on the status of the facility consolidations in the vegetation management business? Where do they stand? Is throughput where you think you could get it, or are there more efficiency gains to be had there? How should we think about that impacting the second half from a revenue and margin perspective?

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

Yeah. Good question, Greg. I appreciate the opportunity to talk a little bit about it. I feel really good about the progress that's been made in the last two quarters. Recall that we have in the tree care business, the Morbark and Rayco brands consolidated, and then in U.S. agriculture, we had the Bush Hog and the Rhino brands consolidate. There was, as you can see in the back half of 2025, a fair amount of disruption that occurred. The team's done a wonderful job getting their hands around that, getting those production lines up and efficient. The best data and evidence to point to that things have recovered nicely is the growth in those two groups within the second quarter. They were up nicely in terms of sales. That wasn't end market strong recovery. That was manufacturing throughput.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

You can take a look at the vegetation Adjusted EBITDA margins in the second quarter. They're about flat to where we were at the same time last year before a lot of that disruption took place. I feel really good about it. We're monitoring it closely. We put in some new leadership. We've supported many of the team members that have been there for a while. I feel really good. There's still more opportunity to continue to improve and drive efficiencies and continue to take costs out. We're in a pretty good spot from where we came in the back half of 2025. Does that help?

Greg Burns
Greg Burns
Analyst at Sidoti & Company

All right. Yep, it did. On the industrial side, seems like there's good order trends or some momentum in certain areas there. How should we think about the remainder of the year from an organic perspective? Are you still thinking like flat to up a little bit, or has your view changed on the near-term trajectory of that business from an organic perspective?

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

From an organic perspective, I would say flattish consistent with the end markets, right? If you use construction as a proxy for the end market, while construction spending in the U.S. is still at a very elevated level, the year-over-year growth has flattened. It actually went a little bit negative, as I think you can see in some of the data. We're waiting for more news around further federal stimulus funds in the infrastructure space. I think some things have passed the Senate and are waiting the House, or vice versa. Those are encouraging signs.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

All in all, I would look at the industrial end markets as flattish over the back half of 2026. Of course, as we move beyond that, obviously just a wonderful space, wonderful end market to be in with much mandated demand-driven activity. Bullish long term, positive short term, but flattish end markets.

Greg Burns
Greg Burns
Analyst at Sidoti & Company

All right. Thank you.

Operator

The next question comes from Ross Sparenblek, from William Blair. Please go ahead.

Analyst at William Blair

Hi. Good morning. This is [Sam Carlavan] on for Ross. Thanks for taking my questions. I guess starting off, I know procurement savings have been a big focus for the team recently. Could you give an update on your progress here and maybe frame the timeline for these benefits to start flowing through?

Agnes Kamps
Agnes Kamps
EVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Alamo Group

Oh, hi, [Sam]. The procurement program we started earlier this year is going really well. We're very happy with it. We're organized ourselves around the commodities and other spend. We're progressing really nicely. The savings that we're expecting will start coming in towards the end of this year. Largely next year. This is due to just the timing of the project as well as turnover of inventory. The project's going really well. We're happy with it. We're progressing nicely.

Analyst at William Blair

Got it. That's good to hear. A similar question here. Just curious how the aftermarket business performed in the quarter. How you've seen some of your initiatives around the aftermarket business progress here.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

Yeah. During the quarter, aftermarket parts and service was good. We were up a smidge on a year-over-year basis. That one's taken a little bit longer to get going. A lot of activity to drive that around pricing and parts availability and things of that nature. Bullish that that's gonna be a strong contributor over the next couple of years in terms of improved profitability and margin profile.

Analyst at William Blair

Got it. That's helpful. I will leave it there. Thanks, guys.

Agnes Kamps
Agnes Kamps
EVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Alamo Group

Thank you.

Operator

This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to management for closing remarks.

Robert Hureau
President and CEO at Alamo Group

Thank you. In parting, I'd like to say that Alamo Group remains a compelling long-term investment for several reasons. We serve large, attractive end markets with customer-trusted brands and leadership positions. Our scale supports meaningful commercial and operational synergies. We generate strong free cash flow through the cycle and deploy it through a disciplined capital allocation framework, supported by a robust pipeline of attractive M&A opportunities. We have an experienced management team and nearly 4,000 employees who share a common set of values, an entrepreneurial spirit, and a commitment to winning together. Again, we appreciate your support and interest in the Alamo Group, and look forward to speaking with you on our next call.

Operator

The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

Executives
    • Kevin Carter
      Kevin Carter
      VP of Strategy, Finance, and Investor Relations
    • Agnes Kamps
      Agnes Kamps
      EVP, CFO, and Treasurer
Analysts
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