Mohawk Industries Aktie

Good day, and welcome to the Mohawk Industries Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Joe Ahlersmeyer, Vice President of Finance, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thanks, Chloey. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining the call. With me today are Paul De Cock, Chief Executive Officer; and Nick Manthey, Chief Financial Officer. Today, management will detail our new strategic and capital allocation framework discuss an update on the company's third quarter performance and provide guidance for the fourth quarter of 2026.

I'd like to remind everyone that our press release and statements that we make during this call may include forward-looking statements. which are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those set forth in our press release and our filings with the SEC.

This call may include discussion of non-GAAP numbers. For a reconciliation of any non-GAAP to GAAP amounts, please refer to our Form 8-K and press release in the Investors section of our website.

I'll now turn the call over to Paul for his opening remarks.

Thank you, Joe. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today on my first earnings call as CEO. Before we get started, let me first thank Jeff Lorberbaum for his leadership, drive and passion for Mohawk. The leadership transition has been seamless, and we are fortunate to have his continuing support as Chairman.

This morning, I will begin with our results for the quarter and the market conditions we are navigating across our businesses, I'll then share my vision for Mohawk, the actions already underway to drive outperformance and what you can expect from me and my leadership team. Let me start with our results.

We delivered a solid quarter, and I'm proud of how our teams executed. Our overall operating result was in line with our expectations even as demand softened late in the quarter. The quarter reflected progress in 4 main areas. We grew sales and executed price increases in response to rising inflation. Growth in Global Ceramic was led by U.S. retail and countertops and in Flooring North America by retail and commercial. Flooring Rest of the World sustained pricing gains despite lower market volumes.

We acted decisively to offset the impacts of higher underlying inflation with the combination of price, mix and productivity, more than offsetting the impact of higher underlying inflation. We converted our performance into cash, generating cash from operations of $471 million and free cash flow of $390 million in the quarter, bringing our year-to-date free cash flow to $626 million. And we substantially increased share repurchases, returning $261 million to shareholders in the quarter, more than double what we did in the first half.

Now let me take you through the performance of our end markets. In our U.S. market, where we generate a little more than half of total company sales, market conditions remain challenging. Following the recent rises in rates, demand weakened exiting the quarter and has remained soft across most products and channels during October, particularly in the builder channel.

We are executing well and are focused on improving our leading market positions across all channels. We continue to differentiate our products and service advantages.

In residential repair and remodel, which we estimate represents approximately half of our U.S. sales, consumers continue to defer larger projects and the outlook for existing home sales has weakened entering seasonally slower months. Activity through the specialty retail channel is holding up better and improved sequentially while larger format retail point-of-sale trends remained slow. Even in this environment, our retail business grew in the quarter and gained share across most of our product categories, led by residential carpet where adoption of our industry-first asthma and allergen-friendly carpet is exceeding our expectations.

Our laminate business continues to outgrow the category on scratch resistance and real wood visuals, our ceramic remodel business improved for a fourth consecutive month and countertops grew on new card designs and our concierge program.

Our market-leading accessories assortment continues to build attachment across our hard surface platforms.

In residential new construction, which we estimate represents about 1/4 of our U.S. sales, the builder market continues to soften. Single-family starts have fallen with higher mortgage rates and declining builder confidence. Affordability is constraining buyers in most regions and large builders are managing construction costs. This is the most challenging environment across our end markets, and we expect it to remain so in the near term.

We added new builder program wins in both ceramic and laminate during the quarter. Our laminate is gaining with homebuilders as a better-performing alternative to LVT, and our stair and accessory solutions are becoming part of builder specifications. While these wins do not fully offset the market decline, they strengthen our position in this important channel, and we expect them to compound when the market improves.

Finally, in commercial, which we estimate represents the remaining 1/4 of our U.S. sales, demand is more constructive than residential with repair and remodel activity holding up better than new development. Industry activity among architects and designers is soft as new project awards slowed in August and September.

In ceramic, commercial sales declined as projects were deferred, and we are responding by concentrating on the active segments. Hospitality, health care and education are the most active segments and return to office continues to support carpet tiles, driving strong performance in office.

Our commercial LVT category continued to build momentum, delivering a sixth consecutive month of order growth while sales of carpet tile, commercial accessories and our rubber platform also grew in the quarter.

Now pivoting to Europe. In Europe, which represents approximately 1/3 of our total company sales, consumer demand remains soft, with weak residential activity and showroom traffic, though commercial projects are holding up better. Our premium collections continue to outperform, and in ceramic, our large format and slab offerings are growing. In laminate, our innovation leadership continues to win with customers. European natural gas prices have roughly doubled since the start of the third quarter, and we have responded quickly, bringing our ceramic price increase forward and announcing November price increases in our European panels and installation businesses to recover even higher energy and chemical costs.

Outside of the U.S. and Europe, which represents the rest of total company sales, demand remains soft with consumers pressured by inflation and high rates, although we continue to outperform.

These market conditions reinforce why our focus must remain on the actions within our control. As the largest flooring and design services company globally, Mohawk has built many unique strengths and advantages, which include our leading market positions, our recognized brands, our innovation expertise, our strong customer relationships and the scale and efficiency of our manufacturing and distribution operations. Our strategy builds upon these strengths and advantages. We are aligning our actions and investments to a strategic framework comprising 4 pillars each supporting our goal of delivering more value to our customers, along with more value per share for our investors.

Now let me take you through the 4 pillars. The first pillar is outperforming our markets. This is our catalyst for compounding value creation through demand cycles. We estimate that our industry grows low single digits annually on average over the long term. We participate in cyclical end markets that our team members found ways to succeed and perform against any market backdrop. When the industry is expanding, we must grow faster than the market, and when it is contracting, we will relentlessly pursue share wins that will compound through the next expansion.

Our go-to-market approach will be consistent through cycles, focused on the most attractive segments of the market. We will deepen customer relationships and solidify Mohawk as the vendor of choice across all channels. We will use digital tools to create downstream demand and pull our product offerings through the value chain.

We are committed to continuously improving our competitive position through expanded partnerships, new customer wins and growth in differentiated routes to market. We will be transparent about conditions, but our focus, like the expectations I have set for our leaders, will be outperformance through cycles and over the long term.

The second pillar, product innovation and brand strength, deals with the solutions that drive the first pillar. Innovation is a core competency underpinned by our 3 global innovation hubs, ceramic surfaces in Italy, hard surfaces in Belgium and soft surfaces in the U.S. We own a portfolio of patented technological innovations that further support our advantage. We will continue to build on the strength of our brands, and we see immense opportunities in the evolution of consumer preferences towards high-quality, trusted brands over commoditized offerings.

Our focus will be on bringing more distinctive products and solutions to the categories and channels where we can create the greatest value.

The third pillar, profitability and operational excellence, is how we will aim to ensure the highest level of service to our customers while we continuously improve margins and incremental returns. We will be defining Mohawk's operating model, building around a culture of productivity, continuous cost improvement and operational excellence supported by strong digital capabilities.

We believe our quality and service will extend our competitive lead and deepen our relationships with the retailers, distributors and contractors who sell and install our products.

The fourth pillar, cash generation and capital discipline deals with how we convert profitable growth into cash and how effectively we redeploy that capital to enhance shareholder value. We will have a sharp orientation toward cash returns, timing and risk, and this is not unique to capital expenditures. Every dollar of deployable cash we have will pass through a strict framework. From operating expenses to capital investments to inorganic investments, we will invest sufficiently in the core business, exercise discipline in evaluating inorganic opportunities and return capital to shareholders through consistent share repurchases.

My team and I are energized by the opportunity ahead and committed to demonstrating strategic traction delivering operationally and deploying capital in ways that meaningfully enhance shareholder value.

And with that, I will turn it over to Nick.

Thanks, Paul, and good morning, everyone. In a moment, I will talk about our capital deployment priorities in support of our newly defined strategy. But first, let me cover the results and outlook for the fourth quarter as well as a few preliminary planning assumptions for 2027.

Net sales for the third quarter were $2.8 billion, up 1% as reported and essentially flat adjusting for foreign exchange and an extra shipping day. Volumes were down 4% due to soft market demand while the combination of price and mix was up 4% as we benefited from price increases to offset the impacts of inflation along with positive mix.

Net earnings for the quarter were $163 million or 5.9% of net sales. Adjusted EBITDA was $353 million and adjusted EBITDA margin was 12.7%. Operating income was $188 million and adjusted operating income was $200 million, down $5 million versus the prior year.

The combination of price and mix of $85 million and productivity gains of $47 million was sufficient to offset underlying input cost inflation of approximately $117 million, which was in line with our expectations.

Earnings per share was $2.72 and adjusted earnings per share was $2.72.

Now turning to the segments. In Global Ceramic, net sales were $1.1 billion, up 2% and up slightly, excluding favorable currency and an additional shipping day. Volumes were down 1% on a constant basis despite the soft market conditions impacting demand across geographies. Price/mix improved 2%, benefiting from our inflation-driven price increases as well as positive mix.

Operating income was $66 million and adjusted operating income was $74 million or 6.5% of sales, a decrease of 160 basis points versus the prior year, driven by $53 million of underlying inflation, primarily from higher energy and fuel costs, partially offset by price/mix of $19 million and productivity of $22 million. Year-to-date, the combination of price, mix and productivity of $108 million has offset the majority of the $117 million of underlying inflation impacting Global Ceramic.

In Flooring North America, net sales were $950 million, up 1%. Excluding the 2% benefit from an additional shipping day versus the prior year, adjusted net sales were down less than 1%. And Volumes declined approximately 3% on a constant basis and price/mix improved by approximately 3%, benefiting from our inflation-driven price actions and positive mix.

Operating income was $72 million and adjusted operating income was $77 million or 8.1% of net sales, up 80 basis points year-over-year. Productivity gains of $24 million, price and mix of $15 million and tariff refunds of $10 million were partially offset by underlying inflation of $25 million.

The combination of lower constant volumes and an extra shipping day was a $3 million net headwind.

During both the third quarter and year-to-date, price, mix and productivity collectively have been sufficient to fully offset total underlying inflation, and we expect that to continue through the fourth quarter.

In Flooring Rest of World, net sales were $707 million, down approximately 1%. Excluding unfavorable currency of less than 1% and an additional shipping day, adjusted net sales declined approximately 2%. Volumes were down approximately 10% on a constant basis, primarily due to soft market demand. Strong gains in price and mix continued from the second quarter into the third, contributing approximately 7% of sales growth, the result of price increases implemented earlier this year.

Operating income was $66 million and adjusted operating income was $66 million or 9.3% of sales, up 100 basis points as positive price and mix of approximately $51 million were partially offset by inflation of approximately $35 million and a combined $14 million net headwind from lower constant volumes and an extra shipping day.

Year-to-date, the combination of price, mix and productivity has more than offset total inflation, though in the fourth quarter, we expect these to be more in line as higher costs work through inventory.

Now turning to cash flow and capital deployment. In the quarter, cash from operations was $471 million, and capital expenditures were $81 million, resulting in third quarter free cash flow generation of $390 million, up 26% versus the prior year. That brings our year-to-date free cash flow to $626 million, up 78% versus the prior year. We now anticipate the full year 2026 capital expenditures of approximately $445 million versus our prior expectation of $460 million.

We returned $261 million to shareholders in the quarter through repurchases, reducing our outstanding shares by more than 3%, while our net debt leverage improved sequentially to 0.7x at the end of the quarter. Thus far in the fourth quarter, we have already returned an additional $34 million to shareholders, completing the previous share repurchase authorization.

Now turning to our outlook. On the second quarter call, we shared the following assumptions with you. We had assumed soft market conditions. Demand remained challenging and weakened further as we exited the quarter. We had indicated that sales could decline sequentially by more than typical seasonality, which played out as anticipated as volumes normalized following the initial placement benefit in the second quarter. We'd also expect that our pricing actions, along with productivity would be sufficient to offset inflation for the year, and our year-to-date execution has positioned us well to deliver that.

And finally, we allow for the possibility that inflation could rise further. And as it has, we have responded appropriately.

So looking ahead to the fourth quarter, which has 4 fewer shipping days versus the prior year and 3 fewer days versus the third quarter of the current year, we assume flowing market conditions will remain challenging, and our outlook reflects recent trends that suggest demand will be softer in the fourth quarter relative to the third. We anticipate single-digit adjusted net sales growth versus the prior year. Our total underlying inflation on a year-over-year basis is expected to be similar to the third quarter, and we are committed to fully offsetting inflation through the combination of price, mix and productivity actions.

Together, we expect the fourth quarter -- altogether, we expect fourth quarter adjusted earnings per share to be between $1.35 and $1.45. Further assumptions embedded in this guidance can be found in our earnings release.

Now turning to some thoughts going into next year. We'll provide a more formal outlook in our February call, but we feel it is important to provide some planning assumptions.

On demand, we are planning for market volumes to decline next year. Assuming that backdrop, we believe we can continue to outperform. Setting aside tariff refunds that we received during 2026, our underlying cost of sales inflation accelerated from low single digits in the first half of 2026 to mid-single digits in the third quarter and is expected to remain up mid-single digits in the fourth quarter. We will carry the same rate of underlying cost of sales inflation into early 2027, and we have taken actions across the business that we believe position us to keep up with inflation and continue offsetting it on a dollar-for-dollar basis.

Three things support that belief. First, carryover benefits realized from realized pricing we announced earlier this year as well as new pricing actions we are taking now. Second, mix improvement across many products and geographies. And finally, productivity initiatives that we expect will improve our cost structure. Next year, we expect to continue generating strong free cash flow as we have in recent years, benefiting from solid operational performance, focused working capital management and lower capital expenditures.

As we move forward, we are committed to a disciplined and consistent deployment of this capital in support of our strategic framework.

Now let me outline our capital deployment priorities. First, we will invest in the highest returning organic opportunities to sustain our core strengths and enable our strategy. This includes maintenance, productivity initiatives and innovation projects. With limited need for any added capacity, we estimate the baseline capital expenditure needs of the business to be approximately $375 million annually.

Second, we will be disciplined in evaluating bolt-on inorganic investments that align with our growth strategy. And third, capital that is not deployed in support of the above will be returned consistently through share repurchases. The Board of Directors has approved a new $500 million share repurchase authorization, enabling us to continue executing on this priority.

In addition, we will maintain a strong and efficient balance sheet with a long-term net debt to adjusted EBITDA target of up to 2x, subject to a continuous assessment of cyclical risk and a commitment to our investment-grade ratings.

Taken together, this framework is designed to give us the flexibility to invest through the cycle while ensuring that the stable and durable cash flow generated by our business is allocated purposefully towards creating the greatest long-term value for shareholders.

And with that, I'll turn it back to Paul.

Thank you, Nick. Let me close with the thesis because it is simple. Our markets will recover, but we are not waiting for that recovery to act. Our focus is on outperforming in any market, leading with our innovation and brands, driving operational excellence and converting profit into cash and turning cash into value per share. The strength that built this company remain firmly in place. The discipline around them gets sharper. Our framework for investing and deploying our capital is clear. We will return cash to shareholders where it does not earn a high incremental return.

And with that, we are happy to answer your questions.

[Operator Instructions] The first question today comes from Phil Ng with Jefferies.

Paul, Nick, congrats on your new roles and a lot of exciting news today. I guess, Paul, to kind of kick things off, when allocating capital to different business units going forward, how is that process perhaps different now from a guardrail standpoint, the decision-making process? And then when you've laid out the CapEx framework for the next few years, it's about 80% of what you guided earlier in the year. Is that enough to kind of drive growth as the market recovers? Is there a big R&D piece that we need to appreciate as you kind of get back on that growth not going forward?

Phil, I'll take the first part, and then Nick can follow up on the second part. So we have provided our capital allocation framework and it's really built around disciplined investment and high return on capital. I think our job as capital allocators is as important as our operating responsibilities at Mohawk, and the value creation that we will generate is directly tied to the incremental returns we generate on the capital we deploy. And so we are hyper-focused on cash returns around the globe in all our businesses, and we'll be very disciplined and consistent in how we allocate our cash. And the whole leadership team has bought into this cash-based mindset.

Yes. Thanks, Phil. And regarding your your comment around CapEx, we've provided in the past that roughly about 80% of our spend this year is focused on maintenance, productivity and innovation. So that all stays fully funded. Maintenance and safety are obviously mission-critical and innovation and productivity are persistent enablers of our business. And so all of these are important, and that's why we've grouped them.

Our current footprint position us well to support volumes in a multiyear demand recovery scenario. So I think we feel comfortable with that.

Helpful. And then honestly, the concern here is obviously energy price is great that's really dialed up. Remind us, just given the lag, when does that flow through? Is it going to kick in largely in 1Q? And it's pretty impressive that you're expecting price plus productivity to offset that. So any color you're comfortable sharing guidance in terms of early feedback in terms of pricing and support from competitors, certainly, it's still a pretty challenging demand environment right now?

Yes. On the first part, given our inventory turns, the input prices flow through our P&L on an average of 4 to 5 months later, and that will vary by -- a little bit by business and product. For context, input prices stepped up in the first half of the year. And so when you look at our underlying cost of sales inflation, it went from low single digits in the first half of the year to mid-single digits in the third quarter, and it's expected to remain there both in the fourth quarter and entering next year.

So the key point there is we've taken actions in the business to offset inflation, and that's a combination of the pricing actions some mix improvements in productivity, and that's both in the third quarter and year-to-date, and we intend to continue that.

The next question comes from Michael Reha with Melius Research.

Wanted to zero in first on the 4Q outlook and just confirm the on a smaller detail side that the 4 less shipping days that represents about a 6% year-over-year headwind. But secondly, more bigger picture, against the soft market backdrop, you're expecting core sales to grow low single digits. I just want to understand where that strength is coming from? If you could give a little more color if it's across all 3 segments? Or are there particular end markets that you feel like that you're executing some share gains or relative strength?

Yes. Thanks, Mike. I'll take the first part of that and Paul add some color. Just in terms of the shipping days versus prior year, that's really the largest single factor in EPS versus prior year. We have 4 fewer days. So we have 61 versus 65 to be precise, and that represents about a 6% headwind. And so you're correct that we expect adjusted net sales to be up low single digits in the fourth quarter, and that is days and FX adjusted consistent with how we define that in our release.

Yes. And then from the demand in some of our end markets, we really see new construction to be the most impacted here in the short term by the higher interest rates, and we even see greater impact in multifamily with lower starts and permits. Our retail business grew, and we gained share. And so that's really a bright spot. The teams are executing well in our retail business. And I would say the same on the commercial side. Our commercial business has outperformed residential for years in current market circumstances. And when you look at commercial, it's really driven by renovation projects rather than new construction activity, and we have performed well in that segment.

Great. Secondly, just on the capital allocation framework that you laid out, going from 0.7 leverage net debt to EBITDA to 2x implies a pretty big potential for incremental share repurchase. Just wanted to get your sense of the timing, let's say, of getting to that 2x leverage? Is that something that you would anticipate could happen relatively quickly, like over the next 12 months or maybe a longer time frame?

Thanks, Mike. So we aren't going to guide to specific timing, and we're not committing to a specific pace. But I'd point you to a couple of things. We repurchased $261 million in the third quarter. And so that's a demonstration of our commitment to deploy capital through share repurchases. We also said that we'd be consistent in our repurchase. And so given, as you mentioned, our leverage ratio and the free cash flow generation of the business, we have capital to deploy above that over time.

The next question comes from Stephen Kim with Evercore.

I'm going to follow up on that leverage question that Mike was just asking about. I'm curious about the 2x. Is that a firm ceiling or not? How long would you be willing to stay above that level in the event of a M&A transaction that took you above that? Or is your intention to even with any opportunistic M&A to still stay below that?

And relatedly, I assume you have some sort of level of leverage that you regard as appropriate given the current environment. I know you've indicated you'd be dynamically evaluating and then so forth. But at this state, if we were to see a situation like today at some point in the future, what would you regard as appropriate generally leverage target at that time?

Yes. So thanks, Steve. Our balance sheet is in a strong place. Maybe to answer the second part of your question, we'll be sensible about how much leverage we carry from a risk management perspective. That said, we believe it could be more efficient and we'd be comfortable operating up to 2x net debt to adjusted EBITDA over time. So think of it as more of a ceiling. Even in down markets, we've generated very strong and durable free cash flow and we'll continue to do that. And so as I mentioned earlier, we're not going to commit to a specific pace, only that it will move higher over time as we deploy cash flow.

Okay. I guess, let me ask another question about your leverage. You got a couple of debt maturities, I think, coming up in the next couple of years. Are you planning to refinance those? Or would you be willing to take on additional debt in order to bring leverage into whatever targeted range you have at the time?

Aside from free cash flow, we have a range of options to manage liquidity as we execute on our capital deployment priorities. So we have flexibility in the near term, and we'll work through the right capital structure over the long term.

But specifically, with respect to those maturities, would your expectation be to refinance those?

Yes, I think we'll manage as we go through. We obviously are doing planning. And so we will work through the right capital structure, and we believe we have the right level of flexibility.

I'd just reinforce the net leverage target is up to 2.0.

The next question comes from Adam Baumgarten with Vertical Research Partners.

Just on sort of the current portfolio of businesses you guys have, do you expect to take a hard look at that and maybe divest some potentially underperforming assets over time?

Yes, we are beginning a comprehensive portfolio analysis of our businesses. And so every business will go through the same screen. We'll look at market attractiveness, we'll look at the competitive advantages we have in each of those businesses, we'll look at cash profitability and also return on invested capital, and then we'll reposition some of the businesses. We might have to fix some of the businesses. We might have to rethink some of the businesses that fall short of our expectations. And we will share our conclusions if we have decisions to communicate on the future calls.

Okay. Great. And then just on the days impact in 4Q, you're pretty straightforward on the 6% top line hit. But can you remind us how we should think about the EBIT impact there? Should we use sort of where margins are in terms of the flow-through? Or should it be more of a sort of incremental or decremental margin, I guess, in this case?

I think it's similar incremental decremental to what we provided in the past in the past in that 20% to 30% range, given Q4 is a seasonally slower quarter and a smaller quarter, it might be slightly worse. But I'd say, think about it in terms of the decremental margins.

Next question comes from Trevor Allinson with Wolfe Research.

Question on your expectations for price, mix and productivity to again offset inflation headwinds as we get into 1Q '27. You've got January price increase out there across categories in the U.S. You talked about some pricing internationally. How should we think about the realization necessary on those increases to offset inflation? Are you expecting to be similar to what you saw over the summer for those increases? Or just how should we think about what you need to get in order to offset those inflation headwinds as we step into early next year?

Yes, you're correct that we had to announce further increases given the inflationary environment. And our expectation is that the realization on these future increases will be in line with our expectations on the past increases. We believe the whole industry needs to absorb the same inflation, and we need pricing to recover it. And so if inflation keeps rising, we will have to take further actions as we have throughout the year, and our teams have really been doing a fantastic job implementing those increases and supporting our efforts to keep up with inflation

.

And, Trevor, just to reinforce the point you made earlier of the offset to inflation is really a combination of price, mix and productivity. And so we're -- our intent is to offset that on a dollar-for-dollar basis.

Okay. And then second question is related to what you just mentioned, Nick, on the mix side. You've had a number of price increase announcements. Can you talk about how elasticity or any trade down has played out versus what you would expect? I think you called out mix as being a positive tailwind. So just any color there? And are there any elasticity or trade down headwinds expected as you push more pricing over the next year?

Trevor, thank you for the question. I will take that one. So broadly speaking, we don't expect our increases to meaningfully impact the consumer demand. I think the market right now has an overhang on housing affordability and consumer confidence. And so I think these trends are more influential on the short-term intent to purchase floors than really the list plies of flooring on the shelf. And specifically to mix, what you normally see in highly inflationary environments is that you see slight demixing in the different categories, but we've been able to outperform that through our innovations and new placements and new product strategies that we put out in the market. And so we've been able to offset that market mix, I would say, with strong delivery of innovation in our markets.

The next question comes from John Lovallo with UBS.

Maybe starting off just on the 4-point plan, Curious with each of the different facets, some seem a little bit more short-dated than perhaps some of the others. Curious if you have kind of a basic time line of how you're thinking about achieving kind of the full run rate or full -- hitting full stride for each of these components?

Well, the 4 pillars are really the long-term strategy on how we are building our performance in the market. It's our goal to continue to outperform the market. It's our goal to continue to deliver very strong innovation to the market. It's our goal to stay operationally excellent and our capital budget provides for that. And it's our goal to be very disciplined in our capital allocation. And so these are really the pillars on how our organization runs the business. And that there is no specific time line to that. It is a continuous evaluation of opportunities and a continuous progress on these pillars, and we will provide proof along the way with examples and with successes on how we outperform the market focusing on those 4 pillars.

Okay. Understood. And then the implied fourth quarter operating margin outlook seems to imply being down about 100 basis points or so year-over-year, which would be an acceleration from the third quarter despite the fact that you guys are expecting price, mix, productivity versus cost to be positive and adjusted net sales to be up low single digits. So what do you attribute the margin pressure, too?

John, it's Nick. I think, as I said earlier, the big piece is the 4 fewer shipping days, along with the weaker market condition is really driving lower volumes. And so the cost of both the lower volume and the fewer days is certainly the margin but also the fixed cost absorption, and that's all on top of our normal seasonally slower Q4 dynamics that we have.

And I'd just say that as a reminder, that the price/cost comments are on a dollar neutral basis. And so that would potentially imply some margin pressure, and that's consistent with what we've said in the past.

The next question comes from Matthew Bouley with Barclays.

Just wanted to ask another one on the CapEx side, the $375 million of baseline CapEx is, I guess, something like 3.5% of sales. And for Mohawk, that's a number that, I guess, once upon a time, 15, 20 years ago, we used to see. Just maybe you kind of unpack a little around sort of what's changed around the need for CapEx in the overall business?

I think where we are in the cycle today and with the current capacity utilization, I think we don't see a need for significant capacity increases in the near future. And so that, I think, is a very important part of it. And then besides that, we are full gas on innovation, we're full gas on cost reduction and productivity in our factories and in our operations and our distribution activities. And so the current amount that we've disclosed that we think is sufficient for the next few years will provide ample opportunity to continue to fuel improvement in the business.

Okay. Got it. I appreciate that color, Paul. Secondly, on inflation, you gave some commentary that it had stepped up to mid-single digits. And it sounded like you're expecting that to continue, both in Q4 and also early 2027. And so my question is really just sort of looking at where oil and European natural gas and everything else is, why wouldn't that mid-single-digit inflation number be any different in the beginning of '27 relative today? It would just seem like maybe there's a range around mid-single digits, but it would seem like it's moving higher. So maybe just kind of unpacking that a little bit.

Thanks, Matt. So there is obviously a range around mid-single digits. I just would maybe say that the impacts of inflation have been pretty broad-based, touching not just raw materials, but freight, fuel, energy, labor costs across a variety of different markets and different segments. And so we have visibility to that. Given our inventory turns, I think the key point as well, the takeaway is that we're taking actions in the business to offset that through the combination of price, mix and productivity. And so we've done that Year-to-date, we've done that in the third quarter, and we expect that to occur in Q4 and into early next year.

The next question comes from Mike Dahl with RBC Capital Markets.

One more on the cost side and maybe specifically to European nat gas. I think you have kind of a hedging program in place there. And in the past, there have been situations where there were differences in hedging strategies that caused some disruptions in the market. Can you just talk a little bit more about how your -- like your mitigation strategy? Obviously, you've talked about we're going to take price. But just on the hedging side, what you're doing, what you think the industry is doing? And again, it's been -- Europe in particular, I think it's been hard for the industry to generally sustained price there. So what's different this time?

Yes. We have a variety of strategies really to handle inflation. And so in Europe on natural gas, forward buying is one of them. We've incorporated various assumptions in our outlook and our commentary, including energy in Europe. And the drivers of overall inflation across our business or wide and natural gas is only one of the components. We have other components with raw materials and logistics and energy and labor that are also significant at this time.

And so natural gas, we handled through these forward buys and it's been helping us to postpone somewhat the filtering through of the inflation.

And Paul, just a quick clarification or a follow-up then. Is it your sense that competitors are doing the same there?

And my second question is just back on the capital return. I mean, I think it's admirable that your company has got the leverage position it has in a downturn like this. I think a lot of other companies would actually be envious of that. And so I fully appreciate longer term, the deployment of capital and your framework around that. But I guess from a near-term standpoint, given conditions continue to to weaken, can you elaborate more on why the prudent decision in the near term would be to relever into this environment?

So on your first comment, I cannot really talk about how the competition is hedging. I think everybody manages his business how he thinks he should manage the business. And as far as the timing on the repurchases, I think we're not going to comment on the timing. I just point you back to the comments we've already made on the repurchases. They will be consistent. We have stepped them up significantly. We've done EUR 300 million so far in the second half. We have a new authorization, and we will work with that.

The next question comes from Sam Reid with Wells Fargo.

I'll start off with a big picture question, circling up on your pillars. You talked about there being some hurdles for organic growth opportunities. It sounds like there's going to be some discipline in evaluating those. Can you just talk through maybe some of the specific hurdles you're looking at?

Well, the first pillar is about outperforming our markets. And this pillar really is about having a growth mindset in the company. It's about leveraging your go-to-market capabilities and really focusing on the most attractive market segments to outgrow the markets we serve. And we can do that in a lot of multiple ways. We can do that with richer channel mix, better product mix. We can do that through share gains within categories, and we can do that also by expanding on our customer relationships with new technological and digital solutions.

And so the baseline capital expenditures we laid out include all of those investments to continue to grow and outperform our markets. And as far as the operating expenditures to support the pillar, we also don't have any meaningful plans to augment our operating expenditures in support of the pillars. These funds exist in our current cost base today, and we will reallocate as appropriate to fund the initiatives.

And Sam, I would just add that in terms of your question on the hurdles, I mean, ultimately, we're maximizing value per share. And so that's the ultimate hurdle, Sam.

Really helpful. Switching gears, just looking at productivity. Historically, you've been able to generate, I guess, around $80 million to $100 million in annualized productivity. Any sense as to what that could potentially look like in 2027? It sounds like you are planning to start the year off with kind of consistent productivity. But just curious how that lands as we go through the year?

Yes, Sam. So it's obviously a little early to guide 2027, but we'll continue to focus our efforts on both identifying and executing on our productivity initiatives, our continuous improvement initiatives, our restructuring initiatives. This year, we have executed on productivity savings that have run at about $40 million a quarter. A large part of next year, we announced a restructuring program last quarter with $60 million in annualized savings. A large part of that will fall into 2027. But I'd say also, keep in mind, we'll see less year-over-year benefit from the previous restructuring programs. And so the restructuring savings we've realized over the last few years are out of our structural cost base, and they're not coming back, but they'll make the year-over-year tougher as we go forward.

I think in the future, how we think about productivity as it becomes margin expansion, and it's not just needed when we need to cover inflation.

The next question comes from Susan Maklari with GS.

My first question is on the innovation and the brand pillar within those initiatives that you outlined. Can you give us a bit more detail on how you're thinking about driving innovation in the business? And how that contributes to your ability to build brand strength? And then how you're also communicating the value that these products provide to the consumer to make sure that people are understanding what you're bringing to the market? And how we guess that also goes back to then building the brand, especially in an industry where maybe brand is underappreciated?

Yes. Thank you, Susan. A very good question. Look, innovation is very important for Mohawk. That's why it's a pillar in our framework. And when we focus on our capabilities to generate innovation and create unique services, we're really trying to create unique products, and we're always trying to create those products through a unique combination of 3 things, what customers and consumers are looking for. They're always looking for a superior aesthetic or a superior realism. So the product needs to look good. They're always looking for a differentiated performance that caters to their use, and they're always looking for some improved sustainability characteristics, and that's really where Mohawk leads.

And so if you come through really through decades of experience in our 3 global innovation hubs that we have, we combine all these different things in unique products. And so you really need the right people. And in our case, that is the right people across the world with decades of experience to really bring those unique products to market, to develop them, to patent them and our industry cannot always replicate that.

And as I think about innovation and how we take that to market, I think as a company, we will, step-by-step, be evolving kind of from a manufacturer of their designs to a designer that develops and delivers customer solutions. And as you do that, brands are indeed very important. And so our brands are a fantastic vehicle to bring that message to market.

Okay. That's great color, Paul. And then turning to the cash balance, as you think about executing on these pillars, what does that mean in terms of the ability to generate cash, which is obviously already really strong given what we've seen this quarter in the last couple of years?

And then within that, what is the optimal level of cash that you are comfortable carrying through the cycle?

Susan, it's Nick. When I think about the strategic pillars, they're really all in support of cash generation and obviously, capital discipline and increasing value per share, as we mentioned, we're focused on EBITDA growth, we're focused on free cash flow growth and returning that to shareholders. And so when we outlined things in the pillars like outperformance, things like product innovation, brand strength, operational excellence, I certainly see that as an opportunity to profitably grow the business and profitably grow cash flow over time.

In terms of cash balance, we want to be efficient. And so we'll manage that appropriately.

The next question comes from Keith Hughes with Truist.

Thank you, Paul, at the beginning of this call, you talked about some strength at retail in the United States. Could you talk a little bit more about that? What types of retailers are doing well? What kind of markets are they winning at right now?

Yes. Thank you, Keith. Yes, specialty retail was performing pretty well for us. I think we grew the business in the U.S. We gained share, although our momentum slowed a little bit in September, as we said in our opening comments. I think you also have a K-shaped economy that has been talked about. The higher end is performing significantly better than the low end. And with our brands and with our products, I think we are benefiting from that.

That being said, consumers are still deferring larger projects, and it's a difficult environment. And then when you compare specialty retail to home centers, the home center point of sale remains slow and that market is more impacted, maybe also by the K-shaped economy.

Okay. One other question, the guidance for fourth quarter has a tax rate of 23.5%. That's a good bit higher than what we've historically seen. Is that due to lower days? Or what's driving the higher tax rate?

Keith, I'd say the rate moves quarter-to-quarter with the geographic mix of our earnings plus some discrete items that can shift in the quarter. So if you look at our full year 2026 tax rate, it's consistent with our prior expectations. Q3 was a little bit lower at 19.3%, and as you mentioned, Q4 seems 23.5%. So on a full year basis, it's in line with our expectations.

The last question today comes from Rafe Jadrosich with Bank of America.

Can you just talk about the third quarter volume in Rest of World. What was the headwind there? Did you see any destocking? Was there a pull forward? And then how do we think about that into 4Q?

Yes, we saw some soft residential demand across Europe, but also in Australia and New Zealand. And -- but if we look year-to-date, volumes have been trending in line with the market. We were also comping some strong volume performance in the prior year in insulation and panels. And so we had a little bit of headwind as we were comparing year-over-year. And with weak volumes, I want to point out that profit came in above our expectations. The team is really managing the cost environment very well, and they're also managing the price environment very well. And so we are navigating very difficult market circumstances, but I think we're doing it in a very successful way.

That's helpful. And then I think for the fourth quarter, the low single-digit growth on an organic basis that you're talking about, I think you are lapping a destock from last year. Can you just remind us sort of what happened last year? And then is there any color by segment in terms of like what the growth outlook is for the fourth quarter? Or any other like considerations that we should have?

Yes. Rafe, I'd just say that generally across all of our segments, they are facing challenging market conditions. And so I think that's pretty consistent across the U.S. and Europe and our other markets. We're -- our goal here is to outperform even in those weak markets. And so I think that generally, we think we'll all be in the relatively similar range.

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Paul De Cock for any closing remarks.

Thank you for joining us today. Our teams are focused on executing our strategy, and we really look forward to updating you further in February on our progress. Thank you.

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

Good day, and welcome to the Mohawk Industries Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Joe Ahlersmeyer, Vice President, Finance and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thanks, Megan. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Mohawk Industries quarterly investor conference call. Joining me on today's call are Jeff Lorberbaum, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Paul De Cock, President and Chief Operating Officer; and Nick Manthey, Chief Financial Officer.

Today, we'll update you on the company's second quarter performance and provide guidance for the third quarter of 2026. I'd like to remind everyone that our press release and statements that we make during this call may include forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those set forth in our press release and our periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

This call may include discussion of non-GAAP numbers. For a reconciliation of any non-GAAP to GAAP amounts, please refer to our Form 8-K and press release in the Investors section of our website.

I'll now turn the call over to Jeff for his opening remarks.

Thank you, Joe. Our second quarter results significantly exceeded our expectations as we outperformed our markets. Our net sales were $3 billion, up 6.8% versus the prior year as reported or up 5% on a constant basis. Our performance benefited from volume growth, pricing and product mix. Across our regions, our teams effectively executed our strategies and capitalized on opportunities with new and existing customers. We successfully introduced new collections, expanded product placements and improved our mix. In the period, volume benefited from initial stocking of new product placements and limited increases in inventory by some customers ahead of announced price increases.

Our second quarter reported EPS of $3.22 and adjusted EPS was $3.67, including a benefit of approximately $0.63 from tariff refunds, which were not included in our second quarter guidance. These refunds represent the reversal of costs that we have absorbed from higher tariffs.

As part of our buyback program, we purchased over 600,000 shares during the quarter for approximately $60 million. Our second quarter forecast had reflected uncertainty related to the Middle East conflict, but market conditions proved more resilient than we anticipated.

Residential channels remained soft during the quarter, and we believe we outpaced the market and gained share in most regions. The commercial sector continued to outperform residential and our differentiated offering enhanced our mix and margins. The new home construction market remains pressured and existing home sales continue to be affected by affordability challenges. In the softer environment, we're proactively managing the controllable aspects of our business, including enhancing our sales strategy, pricing, operational improvements and managing our inventory levels and costs. Across many of our products and geographies, we executed price increases in response to higher materials, energy and transportation costs.

In the second half of the year, these higher input costs will flow through inventory and impact our margins. With continued uncertainty, additional price increases may be required this year. We are bringing innovative products to the market with differentiated features to strengthen our sales mix. Across the business, our teams are delivering significant productivity gains, and our results are benefiting from our prior restructuring projects. In addition, we've initiated new projects focused on operational simplification, organizational realignment, warehouse consolidation and capacity optimization, which will reduce our cost approximately $60 million with most completed by the end of 2027. These savings will require cash restructuring costs of approximately $50 million.

We recently released our 17th annual impact report, which highlights the successful completion of our 2025 sustainability goals, which lowered our emission intensity by 31%, waste to landfill intensity by 55% and water intensity by 50% from our base year. To read the report and see all of our accomplishments, visit the Sustainability section of our website.

On a personal note, we announced that I would be retiring as CEO and would be turning over the reins to Paul. With 25 years as Mohawk's CEO, I've taken great pride in watching our talented organization transform Mohawk into the world's largest flooring manufacturer. Together, we've established leading market positions on 4 continents, grown our operations to 19 countries and built a product portfolio encompassing every major flooring category as well as expanding into other product adjacencies.

I truly believe that Mohawk's best days are ahead and the actions we have taken over the past years will strengthen our offering, streamline our operations and enhance our competitive advantage. I've worked closely with Paul for over 2 decades, and I'm confident that he will lead Mohawk to new heights. I look forward to continuing to support him as Chairman of the Board. I want to also express my gratitude to all those at Mohawk as well as our customers, suppliers, analysts and investors. Your trust, partnership and unwavering commitment have been integral to Mohawk's success and all that we've accomplished together.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Paul.

Thank you, Jeff. Congratulations on your career with Mohawk and your retirement. It's been a privilege to work with you, and I could not be more optimistic about our future. I'm confident with our strong foundation that we can grow profitably and enhance our shareholder returns.

Now I'll take you through our operational performance in the quarter. In Global Ceramic, net sales were $1.2 billion, up 7.9% as reported and up 4.6% on a constant basis. In the U.S., we gained momentum with new premium tile and countertop placements.

In our Latin America businesses, we grew volumes and improved our market positioning. We are leveraging the innovation and technology capabilities of our Italian R&D center to drive product development across the world. New collections and expanded customer placements have positioned the business to accelerate as demand improves.

In Flooring North America, net sales were $976 million, up 3.1% as reported and up 4.7% on a constant basis. We estimate that our market share has increased in both hard and soft surfaces. Soft surfaces benefited from new product introductions and in hard surfaces, we expanded our presence in key channels. We're also strengthening our position in retail and our laminate products continue to provide a compelling solution to homebuilders.

In Flooring Rest of the World, net sales were $806 million, up 9.7% as reported and up 6.2% on a constant basis. We are launching new collections in LVT and laminate to strengthen our position in the premium segment of the market. Our insulation and panels businesses delivered strong results through disciplined pricing and cost management in a challenging environment.

Across all 3 segments, our teams delivered meaningful productivity gains and our results are benefiting from our previously announced restructuring projects. We have initiated new projects that will deliver incremental annual savings once complete. These are permanent structural improvements to our cost base, not temporary measures, and they will support our earnings power when our markets turn supportive. Importantly, this operational excellence is generating consistent cash flow. Cash generation is one of the strengths of this business, and it underpins our ability to both invest for growth and return capital to shareholders. We are focused on delivering profitable sales growth through new product innovation and expanding our competitive advantages.

Our higher-end residential and commercial collections continue to perform well and enhance our mix and the collections we have launched this year have quickly gained traction in the market. We are increasing our share with our customers, which will benefit us when the market improves. We are committed to returning capital to shareholders, and we continue to purchase shares during the quarter. We will continue to focus on generating cash flow to fund investments in growth and drive enhanced returns through capital discipline.

With that, I will turn the call over to Nick to review our financial results in more detail.

Thanks, Paul. Looking at our Q2 2026 financial results. Net sales for the quarter were $3 billion, up 6.8% as reported and up 5% on a constant basis with growth across all 3 segments. Sales grew as we implemented price increases, improved our mix and grew volumes by expanding placements in key retail channels.

Gross margin was 26.6% as reported and 27.4% on an adjusted basis, up 100 basis points from the prior year as the benefits of tariff refunds, pricing and productivity offset the impact of higher inflation. SG&A expenses were 18.1% of net sales as reported and 17.7% on an adjusted basis. That's a 70 basis point improvement versus the prior year. Operating income was $254 million and adjusted operating income was $290 million or 9.7% of sales. That's an increase of approximately 170 basis points versus the prior year as the benefits of price and mix of $54 million, our restructuring and productivity initiatives of $43 million and higher volumes of $13 million offset inflation.

Net inflation for the quarter was $28 million, inclusive of the tariff refunds with underlying inflation of $77 million. Net interest expense was $5 million, consistent with the prior year. Our adjusted tax rate was 21.1%, and we expect our Q3 tax rate to be approximately 22%. Our earnings per share for the second quarter was $3.22 as reported or $3.67 on an adjusted basis.

Now turning to the segments. Global Ceramic had net sales of $1.2 billion. That's a 7.9% increase as reported and a 4.6% increase on a constant basis. The Ceramic segment delivered approximately 3% volume growth, led by strength in the U.S. and Europe as well as improved price and mix. Adjusted operating income was $99 million or 8.2% of net sales, including the benefit of tariff refunds. The underlying results were driven by productivity initiatives of $20 million and positive price/mix of $13 million, which were offset by the underlying inflation of $35 million.

Flooring North America net sales were $976 million, a 3.1% increase as reported or a 4.7% increase on a constant basis. Sales growth was led by volume strength in retail channels with price and mix improving sequentially. Adjusted operating income was $111 million and adjusted operating margin was 11.4%. Adjusted operating income increased $42 million, including the benefit of tariff refunds. The underlying improvement in our adjusted operating income was partially driven by productivity of $21 million, offset by underlying inflation of $16 million.

In Flooring Rest of the World, net sales were $806 million, that's a 9.7% increase as reported or an increase of 6.2% on a constant basis. Sales growth was driven by the pricing actions we implemented to address higher energy and material costs, along with a modest mix improvement. Adjusted operating margin was $97 million or 12% of sales, an improvement of approximately 160 basis points compared to the prior year as price and mix of $41 million more than offset increased input costs of $23 million. Corporate expenses and eliminations were $17 million in the quarter, and we estimate the full year 2026 expenses to be approximately $55 million.

Turning to cash flow. Year-to-date, we have generated free cash flow of $236 million, and we expect strong free cash flow generation in the second half of the year. Capital expenditures in the quarter were $88 million, and we now plan to invest approximately $460 million in 2026, focused primarily on cost reduction initiatives, product innovation and maintenance.

The balance sheet remains in a very strong position with net debt just under $1.1 billion and a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 0.8x. Our second quarter results reflect strong execution by our teams in a dynamic environment, and our business continues to generate strong free cash flow.

I will now turn the call back over to Paul, who will cover our outlook in greater detail.

Thank you, Nick. We delivered strong second quarter results even though the market has not yet improved. Across the world, the home resale market remains near multi-decade lows and new home construction remains soft. Looking ahead to the third quarter, we anticipate flooring market conditions will remain challenging. We expect commercial to keep outperforming residential and our higher-end offerings will continue to improve our mix. We expect our sales to seasonally drop from the second quarter to the third quarter, excluding the impact of FX and shipping days.

Given our stronger performance in the second quarter, this seasonal pattern could be more pronounced than in past years. We will have 1 additional shipping day in the third quarter compared with both the prior year period and the second quarter of 2026.

In the third quarter, we will see higher input costs and further benefits from our price increases, and we will continue our productivity efforts. We expect higher costs to persist into the fourth quarter, and we may need to take additional pricing actions. Given these factors, we expect our third quarter adjusted earnings per share, excluding any restructuring or other onetime charges, to be between $2.50 and $2.60, including approximately $0.12 from additional tariff refunds we have already received. Excluding these tariff refunds and any restructuring or other onetime charges, our outlook contemplates a baseline EPS range of between $2.38 and $2.48.

Since the announcement that I would become CEO, I have been engaging with employees around the globe to build on our strong foundation. Our operational excellence, leading market position and financial profile will drive long-term value creation. With our strong balance sheet and robust cash generation, we have the flexibility to invest in growth initiatives while at the same time returning capital to shareholders.

And with that, we are happy to take your questions.

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Susan Maklari with Goldman Sachs.

Jeff and Paul, congrats to both of you on your moves here. Jeff, certainly well deserved and Paul as well. And I look forward to working with you more, Paul. So my first question is the share gains are really impressive, right? And when we think back to NeoCon and the buzz that was clearly evident in the showroom in Chicago, can you talk a bit more about the product categories that are leading some of these gains and maybe the end markets as well as you think about residential versus commercial customers and where you're seeing a lot of this coming from?

Yes. Thank you, Susan. It was indeed good to see you at NeoCon. That's our main U.S. commercial showcase of all our products, and we can show our products in an integrated way, soft surfaces, hard surfaces and our innovations were in full display there, as you've seen. We also showed our new Hero Rubber flooring product that is made with recycled Nike Regrind, and that product won 3 Best of NeoCon awards. And so this is just a testament of our innovation capabilities in the company. And those same capabilities exist also in our residential business. And like you alluded to, we've seen the benefit of that in all the new product placements that we got from our customers in the second quarter.

Okay. That's helpful. And then, Paul, you mentioned that you are engaging with the teams globally as you look to transition into the CEO role. I guess, can you talk a bit about what you're hearing from the teams and how that's motivating you? And any initial areas of focus?

So we're going to definitely continue on the strong foundations that Mohawk has. We have a very strong operational excellence culture. We are serving our customers very well. We're very focused on product innovation, and we have all our leading market positions across the world. And so we're going to continue focusing on those strengths. And then combined with our financial strength that those will be very powerful drivers of future value creation. And so we really have with the strong balance sheet we have and the strong cash flow generation, a lot of flexibility to invest in profitable growth opportunities and at the same time, also return capital to shareholders.

Next question comes from John Lovallo with UBS.

The first one is just in relation to the seasonal sales decline in the third quarter being a little bit more pronounced perhaps than in prior years. I'm curious what's driving that? I mean the second quarter was strong, but was that strength driven by pull forward ahead of the price increases and the initial stocking? In other words, why wouldn't that strength in the second quarter continue into the third to some extent?

Yes. Thank you for the question, John. Well, we saw some limited prebuying. We cannot precisely quantify that. But in many of our businesses, we control the distribution between Mohawk and our customers. And so we really believe the prebuy impact is limited. Our volume mainly benefited from initial stocking positions of new product placements. And those will obviously benefit us as the business moves forward. And our third quarter is seasonally slower. And so any prebuying effect that there could be is factored into our outlook.

Okay. Understood. And then in terms of potentially taking additional pricing actions later this year, I mean, how are you guys kind of thinking about that as we sit today? I mean, things are a little bit softer than most people had hoped, I think. And I'm curious the ability of -- or the thoughts on the ability to take more pricing. And along those same lines, have you seen substantial product mix shifts across the portfolio following the pricing actions that have been taken?

Well, with costs rising as much as they have, the whole industry really needs to take pricing to cover them. And the realization so far has been in line with our expectations, and the teams have executed well. We have many increases going in different products in different geographies with some products lagging and some products leading. And we still expect inflation to step up as we move through the second half year. And so all these efforts for the year, we think that the combination of price, mix and productivity should suffice to offset inflation.

The next question comes from Trevor Allinson with Wells Fargo.

Can you talk about what drove the surge in Flooring Rest of the World revenue growth? I think your core revenue went from down 4% to up 6% on a similar comp. So was that incremental pricing ahead of inflation? Or what drove the acceleration? And would you expect similar levels of core growth rates in Flooring Rest of the World as we step into the third quarter?

So the market has been showing improvement earlier in the year following the rate cuts we saw in Europe. But after the start of the war, consumer confidence declined somewhat and also inflation affected discretionary income. And also in Europe, inflation is running well ahead of other regions in the world. And so we had to manage with price, and we also had to manage with the productivity.

But that being said, our teams are executing very well and our new product introductions have done very well. And so we have premium LVT and laminate collections going into the market, and those are gaining momentum and also allowing us to improve our mix. And also our panels and insulation volumes outperformed in a difficult market. And so I would say that we've executed very well in a challenging market.

And Trevor, I would just add that in Q2, sales, as Paul mentioned, really grew with positive price and mix as the teams implemented the price increases. FX also benefited us in the first half given the current -- at the current rates, we don't expect those benefits to continue in the second half. And then as we move into Q3, the positive price and mix should continue going forward.

Okay. That was very helpful. And then second question, maybe just following up on the price/cost commentary that was in your answer to the previous question. It sounds like you are still anticipating offsetting the inflation headwinds in the back half of the year. If you think about 3Q specifically, do you expect that to be the case in each of your segments? And then you mentioned maybe having to take additional price. As we step into 4Q, will you need that incremental price, you think, to also offset the inflation in 4Q as well?

So from a price/cost perspective, in Q2, price mix and productivity exceeded our underlying inflation headwinds. Excluding the tariff benefits, we saw underlying inflation step up by about $35 million from Q1 to Q2, and we'll see a similar step-up from Q2 to Q3. Based on what we know today, we think that price mix and productivity should offset that underlying inflation for Q3 and the year.

And then to your last question, obviously, the cost environment remains dynamic, so more pricing may be required to offset if there's further inflation.

The next question comes from Adam Baumgarten with Vertical Research Partners.

Just curious if you're seeing any shift back to wood or tile from maybe LVT or even laminate broadly in the market at this point?

We haven't really seen any large product category shifts recently. Now of course, most recently, LVT demand has trended more in line with the overall flooring industry, given that LVT is becoming a more mature category. But besides that, relative market shares of different categories are relatively stable at this moment.

Okay. Got it. And then just on the sort of new placements that you said drove a good amount of volume growth. Any way to size the impact there in the quarter?

Well, those new product placements are obviously helping us to get new positions with our customers. And so they're driving up the volumes in our business. And so as we get reorders on those new placements, they will also give us additional benefits in the periods to come. And a large part of our outperformance in the second quarter really was the success of these placements.

The next question comes from Phil Ng with Jefferies.

Congrats on the strong quarter. And then Jeff, appreciate all the help over the years and Paul, looking forward to working more with you going forward. I guess on the -- following up on the question right before on the share gains and placement.

Paul, any color in terms of what categories, channels or markets where you picked up share? I know you called out quartz countertops perhaps gaining momentum in retail. I believe there's some dumping duties for imports. Is that like an opportunity for you as a local producer to take share or at a minimum, take price? Just give us a little color in terms of where you're gaining share and seeing momentum in the business.

Yes. So even with the flooring market down, we saw volume growth across many of our categories and many of our channels. And so we're focused on delivering these innovative products and an industry-leading service to the market. And we really saw strength across the world in many products, in many categories, in many geographies. And so on top of that, our strong brands are preferred by the customers, the professional customers, retail customers, consumers and also in the commercial channel. And so we've really seen strong performance across the board.

As far as your question on countertops, you're correct. The International Trade Commission has proposed minimum tariffs of 25% to protect the domestic industry. We're waiting on the final decision by the President, but it's expected soon. And so we've just expanded a second line of U.S. domestic manufacturing in countertops. And so we expect that line to ramp up quickly now.

Okay. Super. And in the prepared remarks, I couldn't help notice you guys highlighting the cash flow generation of the business and then perhaps returning more cash to shareholders. Paul, any subtle shifts in terms of your approach in terms of capital deployment priorities? And how do you assess where you want to put capital to work, call it, in the medium term?

Yes. So our strong balance sheet provides us lots of flexibility and a lot of opportunity. And our capital allocation framework remains the same. First, we will continue to, first and foremost, invest in our business to drive the innovation we just talked about, enhance our product mix, improve our productivity. We'll also continue to evaluate profitable growth opportunities. They obviously have to meet our strategic priorities, the strategic fit to the company and the strategy. And then also they need to achieve our financial return criteria. And then share repurchases will remain also a very important part of our capital allocation policy going forward.

Will the buyback approach be more opportunistic or it's going to be more regimented in terms of your philosophy? Certainly, it's going to be tied to free cash flow generation. But any more color to expand on that front?

No, I would just say that the share repurchases will remain an important part of our capital allocation policy.

Next question comes from Stephen Kim with Evercore ISI.

Appreciate all the color so far. Yes, Jeff, we're going to miss you. Best of luck in all your future endeavors. Paul and Nick, I guess I wanted to talk about a little bit more on this comment that you made that the strength -- the outsized strength you saw in 2Q may not transmit entirely into 3Q. You said prebuy really wasn't a big impact. It was really more from the initial stocking of the new products.

And you said you've had a lot of success with those placements. So I just wanted to press on that a little bit. Have you seen these placements show up in increased sell-through yet? And why wouldn't this strength transmit into 3Q if these placements put you in such a good position. Why is it that we wouldn't expect to see at least some of this strength transmit into 3Q? Yes. So that's the first question.

Yes. Thanks, Stephen. So you're right. Our adjusted EPS came in about $1 ahead of our guidance in Q2. The tariff refunds weren't included in that guidance, and that was about $0.63.

Our teams, particularly in Flooring Rest of the World, did a good job of navigating the cost environment and executing well on the price increases. So that contributed to the Q2 results. And then, of course, volume growth was a bit stronger than expected across many of our categories and channels.

Looking at -- moving to 3Q, we expect the current demand trends to continue with the soft market conditions. And so we typically see normal seasonality from Q2 to Q3. And then the items that Paul mentioned earlier contribute to maybe more pronounced seasonality. And then at the EPS line, the big driver there is input cost headwinds will ramp up into the third quarter, really similar in magnitude to the underlying inflation we saw a ramp up from Q1 to Q2. So that's the key drivers.

And as far as your product placement question, it's a normal pattern, right? You get the initial inventory when you get the placement for the product. And then as the product gains success in the market, you get reorders in the subsequent periods. And so we've seen the initial feedback on these product introductions to be very strong. And so we expect them also to significantly contribute in the next quarter.

Yes. Okay. I know that you talked a little bit about the seasonality, the typical seasonal drop from 2Q to 3Q. That all makes sense. If we go back and look over the last 5 years, it looks like you've had an average reduction of about 4.5% as you move from 2Q to 3Q in terms of sales. Are you messaging that you think that the drop in sales in 3Q will be greater than that sequential quarter-on-quarter of 4.5%.

Yes. I mean we're not quantifying the exact amount, but I think Q2 was stronger than anticipated given those new stocking positions Paul mentioned. And then Q2 is typically our strongest quarter. And so those 2 contribute to the sequential movement maybe being a little more pronounced than normal.

The next question comes from Timothy Wojs with Baird.

Jeff, we'll miss you. So good luck. I guess maybe just on the refunds, I guess, how do you anticipate the market kind of handling and absorbing the refunds? Do you expect kind of your customer base to ask for some of that back in terms of reinvestment? Are there any specific product categories that kind of applied to? Maybe just kind of how you think about the market kind of digesting and absorbing these refunds from you, and I assume others.

Well, tariff refunds offset the costs that we previously incurred. And so for years, we have absorbed these higher costs and our pricing has not fully covered these costs. And we also really see continued additional inflation flowing through all of our costs. And so I think you have to see the tariff refunds in that environment.

Okay. Okay. I guess second question, just on the commercial market, how did that kind of track sequentially Q1 to Q2? Is it relatively stable, getting a little better? Just kind of any sort of data points or color you can provide there would be great.

Yes. So around the world, the commercial market continues to outpace the residential market. And our commercial performance across all of our segments, broadly speaking, across all the products and all the geographies we are active in, it was stable-ish when you look at quarter-over-quarter sales performance in commercial.

The next question comes from Sam Reid with Wells Fargo.

I wanted to ask another pricing question here. So just give me your sense as to the market's appetite for additional pricing. I believe you indicated you might need to take additional pricing later in the year in order to offset inflation. And do you need that pricing in order for normal Q3 to Q4 seasonality?

Well, in the second half, we expect the market conditions to remain soft. And so we're not really counting on a near-term recovery. And so we're driving our own results. We're expanding these new product placements, and then we're implementing the price. And so with the conflict escalating and with the current volatile environment and new news filtering through every day, costs could rise further.

And if that's the case, we have to probably take more additional pricing actions. And so what we're also doing is given the difficult environment we are in, we're also driving our productivity and our restructuring actions to manage through this difficult environment, and our teams are also executing very, very well on those.

And then lastly, like Nick said, for the whole year, we expect the combination of price/mix and productivity to offset the inflation.

That helps. And maybe let me ask a quick modeling question here. You mentioned you got an extra day in the third quarter. Any sense as to how much that's impacting earnings, incremental margins from that we should be assuming? And then any day count noise in the fourth quarter we should be aware of?

Yes. So it's 1 extra day -- 1 extra shipping day in Q3. And so similar to Q2, we had 1 day variation. The bigger impact, Sam, is really Q4. We have 4 less shipping days in Q4. And so that will be probably bigger in magnitude than adjustment we see in Q3.

The next question comes from Mike Dahl with RBC Capital Markets.

Jeff, congrats, heck of a run and Paul, congrats to you, too. Sorry, one more follow-up on the inflationary dynamic. Appreciate that it sounds like the 3Q guide assumes another kind of $35 million-ish sequential step-up. As costs sit today as far as you can see them, what does that mean in terms of 4Q? Would you still see another sequential step higher in inflation if current costs hold? Or any color you can give us on kind of the cadence, assuming current input costs were to persist?

Yes. Thanks, Mike. You're correct in how you're thinking about it from Q2 to Q3. Obviously, there's some more uncertainty in Q4 given energy prices are still fluctuating. But based on what we know today, we would expect the Q4 to remain elevated. It might be slightly higher on a year-over-year basis, but we don't expect the same level of step-up that we saw from Q2 to Q3. And again, obviously, things can change in this environment pretty quickly.

Okay. Yes, of course. That's still helpful context. And then just shifting gears, one of the retailers reported last night, and it sounds like they're seeing pressure in laminate and vinyl and talking about excess capacity and maybe making it harder on pricing in those categories. Can you speak to -- I know you have some different channels and positions within those markets, but can you speak more specifically to that and what you're seeing from your ability to push through price and price/cost dynamics in those categories?

Yes. In those categories, we're really focused on the execution of our strategy. And that means we're bringing the best quality to the market, the best service. And like we said before, our new innovations in those 2 categories are being very well adopted by the market. And so the product placements that we've gotten is a testimony that our strategy is working. And so we're really focused on the execution of our strategy there. Specifically in laminate, we see very strong adoption in the new home construction channel. And then in LVT, we have built out our portfolio in LVT, in WPC and also in hybrid products, which is a very fast-growing subcategory of the LVT market. And so we really have a very broad product portfolio that can serve any market and any price point. And so that's what we're focused on in those 2 categories.

The next question comes from Keith Hughes with Truist.

My congratulations, Jeff. It's been a tremendous run. I know the last couple of years have been tough in the macro, but the Mohawk today is so different than when you took over. So again, congratulations. Just a quick question on Flooring North America. Can you talk about the products within this 5-ish percent growth, which products or markets were above or below the average?

So in residential carpet, we are focused on the mid- to high price points. And so we're adding new features. And one of the products that we've been very successful with is an anti-allergen carpet product, and that product is off to a strong start since the launch. And then as I mentioned before, on the laminate side, we see very strong adoption in the new builder construction channel and the products that we bring to market there or our laminate products offer a superior value proposition versus all the alternative choices that are currently being offered in that channel. And so those were some of the highlights for the quarter.

I assume commercial was still better than average in the segment. Is that correct?

Yes. Commercial is performing better. We have a large exposure in our Ceramic segment to the commercial market. And then also in our Flooring North America segment, we have a large commercial exposure, and we were happy with our performance. And like you say, commercial was performing more or less in line also with prior quarter.

And final question on this. Was carpet still below -- obviously, you got some wins here. Is carpet still below the average and hard surface growing faster than that in Flooring North America.

Yes. I mean I think, Keith, we gained share in both categories. The longer-term trend has been a shift to hard surfaces. So I think we're more or less in line with that.

The next question comes from Matthew Bouley with Barclays.

Congratulations and best of luck to Jeff and to Paul as well. So one more on the prebuy. I know you said it wasn't as large and it's hard to really quantify it. My question is really if there's any kind of finer point you can kind of put on that, just sort of any estimations around what you may have seen, which type of customers you may have seen that? And if you could sort of characterize inventories across the channel as a result.

No. Like we said, look, we control the distribution in a lot of our markets. And so we really hold the inventory for the customer to service the customer. And so that's why the impact of prebuying with us is limited. And also, our customers have limited capability to store all the goods. And so -- that's why we thought it was a limited impact. It's not easy to quantify it because we have no visibility on the inventory position of our customers, but we think the impact was limited.

Okay. I appreciate that. And then secondly, just maybe one focus point in terms of the input costs with European natural gas, given that's a fairly important cost for you. I guess, number one, if you could maybe remind us how your hedging program has changed. Obviously, years ago, you used to not hedge it. And does that -- or I guess, if we kind of look forward, you spoke about the incremental input cost impacts in Q3 and Q4. How would you think about perhaps spreading out that input cost increase? And would any more kind of carry over into 2027 as a result?

Natural gas has been less affected in North and South America compared to Europe. And so European gas markets are under more pressure. And we have purchased a portion of our near-term requirements, and we really do that to limit the impact of the volatility of the input costs, and we will continue to do so. We'll continue to buy forward as conditions change and as we see opportunities to hedge our volatility.

The next question comes from Rafe Jadrosich with Bank of America.

Can you talk about the cadence of the market performance and your share gain through the quarter? It seems like the improvement might have come after you gave the second quarter guidance at the end of April. So can you just talk about sort of maybe the monthly trend? And then maybe you could touch on the exit rate into July as well.

Yes. We entered the quarter assuming the conflict and inflation would soften demand, but our results ultimately exceeded our expectations as we outperformed in many markets and as we got the volume lift from these initial stocking positions and these new product placements. And so we see the continued benefit that in our current sales, and we haven't really seen a very large volatility across the different months recently.

Yes. And Rafe, I would just add that, obviously, all the segments are managing through a challenging environment. And in the near term, we don't expect the market demand to improve. And so we're focused on managing what we can control, which is all the actions that Paul has highlighted in terms of pricing and mix and new placements and productivity.

The improvement you saw relative to expectations through the quarter, was that -- did the market trend change? Or did the share gain like the outlook change? If you can sort of just sort of break those apart and how it went through the quarter?

Yes. Look, our expectations changed from the initial expectations or the impact of the conflict on the market, we felt there was more resilience in the market and that the market was less affected by the conflict. And then secondly, we also outperformed on our new product placements. I mean the new innovation that we are currently putting into the market, and it's just a testament to the capability of this company in many geographies, in many product categories. We have really leading innovation going into the market and the customers are really taking that on, and we see some very good initial response to all that innovation going into the market.

And then Paul, maybe if you could just talk because you're coming into the CEO role, like a little bit about your background, like you initially came into Mohawk and sort of the breadth of your experience across the different businesses, I think, would be helpful.

Yes. So I was acquired by Mohawk in 2005 when Jeff acquired Unilin. And so after Jeff acquired Unilin, I moved to the U.S. and out of our Dallas office, I was managing the Unilin business in the U.S. And after that, I went back to Europe to manage our European flooring business. And then 7, 8 years ago, I came back to run the Flooring North America segment. And then last year, in preparation for this transition, I took the COO role. And now I've been working with Jeff on the transition, and it's really going great. I have a good knowledge of our business around the globe given these experiences. And I have also a good contact with all our leaders around the world. And so I've been focused on talking to them recently, hearing their ideas, and that's been very exciting and motivating. And so together with our teams, we'll focus on actions to improve our business as we go forward.

The next question comes from Brian Biros with TRG.

So it's been talked about a lot, Q2 significantly outbeat expectations. It sounds like a large part of that was the success of the new product placements that you mentioned. Can you talk about the initial expectations you had for the product placements and kind of what drove the outperformance relative to what you thought was going to happen on the product placements?

Yes. Given the volatile market circumstances and given the current volatility in the market, it's not so easy to kind of predict what the initial success is going to be under the current market circumstances. But as we said, and that's really across the world, the market didn't seem to be that affected by the war and people that needed flooring, they continue to buy flooring, and they continue to adopt and take on our new innovations in their stores. And so it has exceeded our expectations. That's really what we have to say.

And Brian, just to be clear on your question, a lot of the new product placements were contemplated in our guide. And so when we're talking about it, that drives a lot of the year-over-year growth. And then as Paul mentioned, the guidance is really about our expectations of the market as well as just general momentum across our geographies and channels.

Okay. And secondly, I guess, can you just talk about what you're seeing in the market from competitors kind of in this challenging backdrop that has been for a while and it seems like it will persist for a little bit more. Are you seeing any outsized irrational behavior and how you're kind of just reacting to the battle that always happens between margin versus market share?

Yes. With costs rising as much as they do, the whole industry really needs to put the pricing through to cover them. And now we're active in a lot of geographies and a lot of products and a lot of channels. And so there's always very specific color to each of those. But in general, our realization of the price increases has been in line with our expectations. And so although it is a very competitive environment, chasing volume, given the slow end market, we think our teams are executing well in this environment. And so we'll continue to monitor the situation. And if inflation continues to rise, we will take additional pricing actions, and we'll continue to manage the business when circumstances change.

And this concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Paul De Cock for any closing remarks.

Thank you, Megan. We're excited about Mohawk's future. We are proud of how our teams are executing, and Mohawk is positioned well to outperform and create long-term value. Thank you for joining us today.

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

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Mohawk Industries First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please also note today's event is being recorded.

At this time, I'd like to turn the floor over to Nick Manthey, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Thanks, Jamie. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Mohawk Industries quarterly investor conference call. Joining me today on the call are Jeff Lorberbaum, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Paul De Cock, President and Chief Operating Officer.

Today, we'll update you on the company's first quarter performance and provide guidance for the second quarter of 2026. I'd like to remind everyone that our press release and statements that we make during the call may include forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, those set forth in our press release and our periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This call may include discussion of non-GAAP numbers. For a reconciliation of any non-GAAP to GAAP amounts, please refer to our Form 8-K and press release in the Investors section of our website.

I'll now turn the call over to Jeff for his opening remarks.

Our performance for the first quarter was in line with our expectations despite a challenging environment. Our adjusted EPS was $1.90, up approximately 25% versus the prior year. Our results include benefits from productivity, restructuring and product mix, offset by inflation and volume. Last year was emptied by the system conversion and had 4 fewer days. Our net sales were approximately $2.7 billion, an increase of 8% as reported or decreased 2.6% on a constant basis. Across our regions, the commercial sector continue to outperform residential, new home construction remains soft and consumers continue to defer home purchases and remodeling projects due to economic uncertainty.

We're implementing productivity actions and executing our previously announced restructuring projects to enhance our results. During the quarter, we repurchased 607,000 shares of stock for $64 million as part of our current stock buyback authorization. Our strong balance sheet provides strategic and operational flexibility to take advantage of opportunities that arise. At the end of February, the conflict in the Middle East intensified increasing volatility in global energy markets. The full impact of the conflict is unpredictable given the disruption to the worldwide supply of oil and natural gas. Higher gasoline and diesel prices were the fastest and most visible impact of supply disruptions and are contributing to a more cautious consumer outlook. Energy prices as well as the cost of oil and natural gas derivatives are also increasing, which affects the cost of many of our products.

Depending on the duration of the conflict, the economic impact will vary across our markets, with increased inflation reducing consumer sentiment and discretionary spending. U.S. natural gas prices have been less impacted due to the significant domestic production, though oil prices in the U.S. have risen as they follow worldwide trends. In the U.S., 10-year treasury yields have increased, creating a corresponding rise in mortgage rates. The European continent will be more affected due to the dependence on oil and gas from the Middle East, and we have made forward purchases to limit our exposure. European governments are reviewing initiatives to lessen the impact on businesses and consumers such as cutting energy taxes, implementing fuel price caps and coordinating European gas storage. The energy markets will remain volatile until the global supply normalizes.

We're implementing price increases across many products and geographies and further pricing cases could be required. The impact of higher cost of raw materials will be greater in the second half of the year due to our flow-through of our inventory. We are continuing to launch new product collections with industry-leading designs and features to enhance our sales and margins. We're implementing operational strategies that we've used to navigate past disruptions which prioritize adaptability and cost control. We're maintaining flexibility to align with evolving demand, supply availability and volatile costs. We're focused on the controllable parts of our business, including sales initiatives inventory levels and discretionary spending and investments.

Now Nick will provide the details of our financial performance for the quarter.

Thanks, Jeff. Looking at our Q1 2026 financial results. Net sales for the quarter were $2.7 billion, up 8% as reported and a decrease of 2.6% on a constant basis. Our Global Ceramic segment delivered stronger mix and we lapped the impact of the order management system conversion in Flooring North America, which partially offset the slower market conditions across our markets. Gross margin was 23.5% as reported and 24.8% on an adjusted basis. This is up 70 basis points from prior year as the benefit of restructuring and productivity initiatives of $32 million and favorable FX of $20 million offset the increased input costs of $28 million.

SG&A expenses were 19.4% as reported and 19.3%, excluding charges, in line with prior year levels. That gave us an operating income as reported of $112 million or 4.1% of net sales. We had $38 million in nonrecurring charges primarily related to our restructuring actions initiated last year. Our adjusted operating income was $149 million or 5.5% of sales that's an increase of 70 basis points versus prior year. The benefits of lapping the prior year order management system conversion of $30 million and our restructuring and productivity initiatives of $36 million were partially offset by increased input costs of $38 million. Lower volumes given the weaker market conditions were offset by extra days in the quarter.

Interest expense was $2 million, a decrease compared to prior year due to the reduction in short-term debt and the benefit of increased interest income. Our adjusted tax rate was 19.4%, and we are forecasting the full year tax rate for 2026 to be between 19% and 20%. That gave us an earnings per share on both a reported and adjusted basis of $1.90.

Turning to the segments. Global Ceramic had net sales just under $1.1 billion. That's a 10.4% increase as reported and basically flat on a constant basis. The ceramic business delivered positive price/mix, given strength in the commercial channel and continued success in the countertop business, offset by lower volumes in the residential channel. Adjusted operating income was $55 million or 5% of sales -- that's an improvement of 20 basis points compared to the prior year as the combination of productivity initiatives of $21 million and positive price/mix of $13 million were only partially offset by an increase in input costs of $30 million.

Flooring North America net sales were $880 million. That's a 2% increase as reported or 4.1% decrease on a constant basis as sales were impacted by slower conditions in both new residential construction and residential remodeling. We had an adjusted operating income of $35 million or 4% of sales. That's an improvement of 100 basis points compared to prior year, as we lap the impact of the order management system conversion of $30 million, which was partially offset by increased input costs of $13 million and the net impact of lower volumes. In Floor and Western World, we had sales of $751 million as reported. That's a 12.2% increase or a decrease of 4.4% on a constant basis. With the decrease in volumes in the residential remodeling market impacting our flooring categories, partially offset by volume growth in both our panels and insulation businesses. Adjusted operating income was $74 million or 9.8% of sales. That's an improvement of 70 basis points compared to prior year as the combination of productivity gains and lower input costs of $14 million were more than enough to offset negative price/mix.

Corporate expenses and eliminations were $14 million in the quarter, and we estimate the full year 2026 expenses to be between $52 million and $55 million.

And now looking at the balance sheet. Cash and cash equivalents ended the quarter at $872 million, with free cash flow of $8 million in the quarter, which is in line with seasonal trends. Inventories were just shy of $2.7 billion up less than 1% compared to prior quarter due to inflation. Property, Plant & Equipment ended the quarter at just under $4.7 billion. CapEx spending in the quarter was $102 million, and we plan to invest approximately $480 million in 2026, focused on cost reduction initiatives, product innovation and maintenance.

The balance sheet remains in a very strong position with net debt of $1.2 billion and a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 0.9. In summary, our strong balance sheet provides us flexibility to navigate a challenging macro environment, while staying positioned to pursue opportunities as the market recovers.

Now Paul will review our Q1 operational performance.

Thank you, Nick. Our Global Ceramic segment delivered improved sales and profitability year-over-year. All regions are responding to their local markets with new styles and sizes that are improving our average price and distribution in both residential and commercial. Our premium collections increased our mix with advanced technologies that enhance the visuals. Across all regions, productivity improvements and restructuring actions or improving our results. In the U.S., we benefited from stronger commercial sales and increased retail partnerships, which offset ongoing weakness in the builder channel. In March, we introduced our spring collection, which emphasizes higher end the corrective volatile and large polished floor tile to enhance our mix. We announced price increases on ceramic Dagan cars countertops to offset the higher material and transportation costs.

We continue to expand our countertop business with quartz volume growing as we ramp up our new production and introduce higher-value products. The U.S. International Trade Commission recently ruled that imported cars countertops from around the world are harming domestic production and the commission is determining tariffs and quotas to safeguard the industry. In our European ceramic business, we delivered solid sales and margin improvement with investments in sales personnel, showrooms and new collections. In the region, we have greater participation in the commercial channels, which is outperforming the residential markets. The industry has announced limited price increases at this point given the market softness. We have purchased a portion of our natural gas requirements this year, which will reduce the impact of higher energy prices.

Our Latin American ceramic businesses have been less impacted by the conflict. We are raising prices in Mexico and Brazil in response to increasing natural gas and transportation costs. In Mexico, our volume improved as we expanded distribution, improved service times and grew sales with large-sized polished porcelain collections. In Brazil, our new product introductions are improving our mix with growth in the higher value porcelain category. U.S. reciprocal tariffs on Brazil were significantly reduced, which will improve our export volumes to the United States. Brazil's economy remains sluggish and the Central Bank is now cutting interest rates to stimulate growth.

Our Flooring Rest of the World segment result were driven by productivity, cost improvements and additional days in the period. As the new year began, the European market was showing some improvement after multiple central bank rate cuts and lower inflation. With the war in Iran, consumer confidence declined as fuel and energy costs increased. We are implementing price increases to offset the higher costs impacting our business. In the quarter, our laminate sales benefited from growing retail partnerships and the success of our new collections, which combine elevated style and performance. We updated our LVT designs added offerings at new price points and expanded our retail distribution.

Our sheet vinyl sales to the Middle East were disrupted and alternative transport options are improving shipments. Our panels business improved sales and margins with our premium products, and we implemented price increases. We have since announced additional price increases to cover further inflation. Our new MDF recycling plant is expanding production and will further benefit our costs. Our insulation business performed well and improved our cost by reengineering our products. We're growing our installation sales in Germany and Eastern Europe to support the start-up of our manufacturing facility in Poland.

Our businesses in Australia and New Zealand improved results with favorable pricing mix and cost. Our new carpet collections, national promotions and increased participation in the new construction channel enhanced our performance. Our Flooring North America segment remained slow during the quarter, given lower remodeling and new construction activity and inventory reductions in the channel. Our results were positively impacted by restructuring, system improvements and additional days in the period, partially offset by lower volume and inflation. Commercial continued to outperform residential and we are improving our position in retail and new construction channels. During the quarter, we announced pricing actions in response to material, energy and transportation increases.

Mortgage rates rose almost 0.5 point in March, leading to slower new home sales and declining builder sentiment. While new home sales softened, we have increased our presence in the top national and regional builders. We improved our hard surface mix with our best-in-class laminate hybrid and LVT collections. Our proprietary accessories coordinate with our hard surface offering, increasing complementary sales. Our new corporate introductions are being well received with a focus on our premium polyester and SmartStrand collections. In February, we launched the industry's first carpet collections certified by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation to significantly reduce household allergens using natural probiotics. Our commercial order backlog has seasonally improved with our carpet tile collections outperforming our recently acquired rubber flooring products are being embraced by architecture designers and are creating additional specification opportunities for our other commercial products.

And I will now return the call to Jeff.

One month into the second quarter, we continue to adapt our business to changes caused by the Middle East conflict. Thus far, we've announced price increases across much of our portfolio due to inflation, and our order backlog has continued to grow. Across our regions, the commercial channel remains solid, while residential remodeling and new home construction could be impacted by lower consumer confidence. Our high-end collections are performing better in the market and our new products are enhancing our mix. We're maximizing our flexibility to react to changes in our supply chain, operating costs and market demand.

Presently, we're containing cost reengineering products and limiting capital expenditures. We'll not see the full impact of our pricing actions and rising costs until the third quarter, the degree to which the Middle East conflict will impact our markets depends on the duration of the disruptions and the inflationary pressure. Given these factors and 1 less shipping day in the second quarter, we expect our adjusted EPS to be between $2.50 and $2.60 excluding restructuring or other onetime charges.

We are managing our aspects of the business we can control and responding to market changes as they arise. In the past, Mohawk has adapted the cyclical changes as well as dramatic market disruptions while enhancing our business for the long term. Increased new home construction is necessary to satisfy growing household formations, and we expect deferred remodeling of aging housing stock across our regions will significantly increase flooring demand. As we navigate the current conditions, we're prepared to capitalize on the rebound in our industry that lies ahead. We'll now be glad to take your questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question today comes from Trevor Allinson from Wolfe.

Jeff, I appreciate there's a lot of uncertainty in the market right now. At times in the past, you've given a range of outcomes for your business. Can you talk about what that range of outcomes looks like here as we move through '26 and into early next year, what drives the high end versus the low end? And how are you running your business today to account for the uncertainty and prepare for either in the best spectrum?

There's a lot of uncertainty in the marketplace, and we're preparing for multiple options and staying flexible. If we look at the best case as we think forward, the supply to the Middle East could open up in the near-term and could return the supplies to normal over the next 6 months. This would remove the economic uncertainty and would improve the category in the flooring industry in the second half.

We would expect the inflationary pressures to remain tough throughout the year. The alternative view is that the disruption in the Middle East stays for a significant period of time. The inflation continues to increase, and it could result in a pullback by both consumers and businesses. In this case, we have alternative plans to adjust our business strategy to manage through at lower rates. Our strategy is to remain flexible and to adapt to the changes that occur. As a reminder, most flooring projects being initiated today are really to meet the changing needs because they've been down since '22 and should limit some of the downside if it gets worse, we expect a significant cover given these 4 years of postponed flooring purchases.

Okay. That was very helpful. And then a second question, perhaps related to those comments last quarter, you talked about expecting both sales and adjusted earnings to be up on a year-over-year basis in 2026. -- just given all the macro uncertainty, should we still think that is a good base case for you guys to be able to grow those sales in adjusted earnings this year?

On February, we had expected the category to improve -- so we're really focused on maximizing the opportunities this year with the war interrupting things, the environment has really changed and we're focused on managing the inflation impact on our margins. At this point as we just went through the potential impacts are really unpredictable and is sorry to tell where it's going to end up. We'll have to see how the conditions evolve.

Our next question comes from John Lovallo from UBS.

The first 1 is, can you provide some additional color on just maybe the magnitude of the price increases across regions and some of the key products? And what type of realization are you expecting given some of the challenges from a volume standpoint in the market?

Well the Middle East conflict has really dramatically increased our material, energy and transportation costs across all the different product categories. We're seeing some differences in each region and product categories given the different dynamics and as you'd expect, Europe is more effective given that the use of the energy from the Middle East. Some of our products are also we deliver are delivered -- so we have to increase the prices to cover the freight cost as well. We've announced increases across the businesses generally in the mid- to high single digits with significant variations by both product and geography. And just to note, the imported products that we and the industry have really long supply chains and the price increases due to that will lag some of the others.

Got it. And then maybe just to push a little bit more on this, if I can. Let's just say that things stay as they are today, do you believe that you have enough pricing in the market to offset -- excuse me, the current level of inflation? Or would additional pricing be needed just to offset what we know today?

Yes, John, thanks. I think if you look at Q1, our price mix and productivity offset the impact of inflation, we expect similar dynamics -- as Jeff outlined, we announced some more price increases in response to the inflation. And we'll really see the full impact of both the inflation and the pricing in the second half and we will adjust as necessary as the environment evolves.

Our next question comes from Susan Maklari from Goldman Sachs.

My first question is around the benefits of the new products. Can you talk about how the momentum you're seeing there is helping you to enhance the mix and incrementally perhaps offset some of that inflationary pressure that you're seeing? And do you also think that you're continuing to gain share with these new products?

In each of the different businesses, the new product introductions, there's a significant portion of them that are higher-value products with more differentiation and command higher prices in the marketplace. With that, each of the different businesses is introducing unique products with different features and benefits. Ceramic is driven a lot by technologies of different sizes as well as different visuals with different decorating technologies to be able to create them.

On the other side, we're introducing LVT collections with all the latest technologies and multiple alternatives for PVC in the marketplace with better performance, better scratch resistance and other characteristics. The carpet categories we're introducing premium products in polyester and the anti-allergen carpets, which have never been done, which is a concern by many consumers. And in each of the categories, I could go on with you, there's different products in each 1 to provide reasons for the consumers to trade up and spend more money.

Okay. And then turning to the margins done a lot in terms of cost cutting and you're realizing some nice productivity across the business despite the headwinds. Can you talk about the ability to continue to see further productivity? And then any thoughts on how we should think about second quarter margins across the 3 segments?

Yes, Susan. So I think on the productivity, we generated over $200 million of productivity and restructuring savings last year. This year, we have another $50 million to $60 million of restructuring savings that we should realize. And then in addition to that, over the last few years, we've had additional productivity ranging from $80 million to $100 million -- we'll continue to evaluate different ways to rationalize our cost structure as we go forward and the environment changes. I think you asked about Q2 we're really assuming the present demand trends continue through the second quarter, and there's somewhat of a limited impact from the conflict -- the market volumes have been declining, and we've seen oil and gas prices increase, which will begin to impact our costs in Q2. We do expect price and mix will improve and help address that higher inflation and then back to your original point, productivity and restructuring, we'll continue to lower our costs similar to Q1.

Okay. So is it reasonable to assume that you see a fairly normal seasonal sequential lift in the margins?

Yes. Typically, Q2 is our strongest quarter of the year. So going from Q1 to Q2, that's what you would expect.

Our next question comes from Adam Baumgarten from Vertical Research.

Just a question on input cost headwinds. Can you maybe size as it stands today, what you're thinking about for the back half as you said, you're going to kind of see the peak levels at that time frame?

Yes. I think we're seeing inflation across the different materials and energy and transportation. We're not going to quantify a precise impact given it's changing pretty much daily. And really, as you said, in terms of cadence, the impact will begin in Q2 and ramp up into Q3.

If you look at each of the different product categories, they're all driven by different things. So you have our carpet, LVT and installation that are oil-based and energy intensive. So the materials are being driven by the changes in gas and oil and the materials as well. In the ceramic business, it is really heavily caused by natural gas and transportation costs and the transportation costs are both for raw materials as well as for shipping our products. And the other businesses are wood based, which is laminate, wood and panels, they have significant chemical costs in them to put them all together as well as energy and transportation costs for those.

We said before, just to remind you that we're assuming -- I'm assuming the inflation in Europe is higher, and we purchased a portion of the natural gas ahead to limit the volatility -- we do see that U.S. and Mexico have more stable natural gas prices and are less affected by it. And we've announced price increases to cover all this again as we go through it.

Okay. Great. That's helpful. And then just -- I believe you guys and maybe your competitors had some price increases out on certain products earlier in April, and we've been about a month. Just curious how those are going as it advances today.

Yes, that's correct. We've recently announced more price increases of mid- to high single digits. And with this level of inflation, the industry must pass them through.

In the marketplace, I mean all the prices are going up. The market seems to be understanding it, and we think we're going to have to push them through because we need it. And it's possible given what's going on with the energy markets, we could need more.

Our next question comes from Stephen Kim from Evercore.

I think I heard you say in Flooring Rest of World that inputs were a positive, even though I think for the company as a whole, it was a headwind of, I think you said $38 million. So just trying to understand, can you give us some context around that -- and I imagine you're anticipating that will probably flip negative again based on your comments, but could you just provide some context around the inputs in Flooring Rest of World.

Yes, Steve. We did see some positivity in Q1 on a year-over-year basis. And you're right, we're seeing -- given the conflict, we're seeing the natural gas and oil prices go up in Europe. And so we would expect that inflation to begin in Q2 and ramp up in the back half.

Okay. And okay. That's helpful. Secondly, and maybe a little more broadly, I want to touch on the innovation comments that you made. There was a comment in your press release about reengineering products, and I wanted to get some understanding of what that meant like are there certain products that you particularly want to call out?

And then maybe at a higher level, we don't -- there's a lot about the wars, the lingering impact of the word that we don't know. But the 1 thing we do know is that it's put a pause on shipments and yet innovation is continuing, I assume, uninterrupted. And so what I'm curious is do you actually have a situation where that delay, this pause, if you will, in actually production and shipping could actually be a positive for you as you continue to work on innovation and R&D. Is this something that could actually lead to a competitive advantage for you as you develop new products such that when the conflict ends when consumer confidence improves, you could actually capitalize on the R&D that was done during, let's say, a more quiet period. Is that a reasonable way of thinking about it? Or is that not?

It's a continuous process. And when you bring new products to market, it depends on which market it takes anywhere from 9 months to 1.5 years to put them into the marketplace and then to mature over time. So it's not an immediate impact to get them pushed through the marketplace as normal is it. So I mean the other part is just the big piece is that the industry and categories started going down in '22. It started with consumers pushing out things, housing sales going down around the world and there's a huge kind of demand and need for people in housing. The housing stock continues to get older and when the more confidence comes back, we're expecting many years of catch-up from what hasn't been spent the last 3 or 4.

And the role of new products in that and particularly, I'm thinking in areas like the hybrid products in North America, for example. I'm curious as to whether or not you think that, let's say, that category will be more -- a little more settled and allow you to scale up production better than if, let's say, the consumer response had occurred last year, for example. Is that a reasonable way of thinking about it?

I don't think there's going to be that much difference relative to the new products because we're going to have -- we have the capacity to support whatever is needed in the marketplace and react to it as we go through. So I think what the bigger impact is helping us increase the margins as the business increases and you get leverage and all the fixed costs over the business as it occurs.

Our next question comes from Rafe Jadrosich from Bank of America.

Just to start, can you give an update on the Russia business, just like how big it is and then how it's been performing.

We don't break it out in that detail, but the Russian business has been performing well. There's been no impacts on the business and how we operate it. We continue to generate cash in the business. The business has slowed down with the general economy over there, and we're adapting to it. We have a leadership position in the category and we're complying with all the regulations.

Okay. That's helpful. And then I think last quarter, you gave a little bit of color like what you're expecting full year for inflation. And obviously, it's like the environment is moving around a lot. Is there any way to sort of quantify the level of inflation in the first half relative to what you're expecting in the second half?

Yes, Rafe, the inflation will really begin to increase in Q2 and ramp up into the second half. Our pricing and other actions are intended to pass through those costs. As Jeff outlined, it really varies by product and region and we will adjust our pricing as the levels of inflation change.

Just asking click another way. Just the first half, do you have an aggregate like what's the inflation, I guess, embedded in the first half?

Yes. I mean we're not going to break it out in that detail, but we do have inflation in the first half of the year, just given the different aspects of our input costs.

Our next question comes from Phil Ng from Jefferies.

I think it's more of a recent practice, but any color on how much you buy ahead in Europe on the gas side of things? And were able to lock in some of that price before the war. And then, Jeff, I think in 2022, some of your competitors in Italy had some issues on the gas side of things in Italy is the big imported LNG. Are any of your competitors having trouble sourcing energy? Are they hedged? I was a little surprised on the comment that pricing in Europe for ceramics was a bit more muted.

Yes, we are -- we did buy gas before it went up. We continue to buy gas in the period, and we continue to make decisions of what to buy on a going-forward basis to reduce the volatility of the European gas prices. We'll have to see what happens in the marketplace with the inventories and the gas prices and the volatility if the gas keeps going up, the industry will have to respond to as we go through. There are other areas around the world like India where they don't have enough natural gas that cut back the industry and the ceramic production, we believe is off almost by 80% because they don't have the gas to do it, that should also create opportunities as we go around.

Okay. That's helpful. On the North American carpet, I believe you and your biggest competitor have a large concentration in share there's a bunch of the smaller guys. Can you give us some perspective, how does the cost curve look for Carp in the U.S. between the 2 of you guys? And does that drop off pretty hard -- and just given where raws are kind of shaping up in the back half, if you don't see much traction, I mean, are Sunday smaller guys like cash flow negative, like operating and loss? And how would you guys kind of stack up in that situation as well?

Yes. Thank you for the question. The market is softer in carpet in general. -- remodeling and new construction sales have slowed, and we've announced the price increases to cover the inflation. We're introducing the new products to also improve our mix and we're taking further actions to cut our costs. And carpet volumes, we expect should improve as the market recovers.

There has been some limited capacity taken out in the industry by other than others. -- and there have been some smaller ones to go out, but not enough to change anything.

Our next question comes from Sam Reid from Wells Fargo.

I just wanted to circle back to the prepared remarks. I heard a comment about your order backlog growing. I'm just curious is that restricted to any particular end markets or categories we just love some additional context there. And then I also heard a comment about some of your channel partners reducing inventories. So perhaps 2 things that might be a little diametrically opposed there, just want to flush those out.

Lance, Well, first, the -- as we came into the new year, the expectations for way in the entire industry was greater than they've turned out with the war. So as we came into the year, there were channels that started lowering some of their inventories as we started into the year. The backlog, as we've gone through what we've said is the trends of our business from March to April haven't changed. The incoming orders are similar to those. The backlog has actually increased in April. And so we don't see any dramatic change in it.

Now on the other side, when you have price increases like we're having. There is some pull forward of it, but we don't have enough view into the inventories of our customers to know how much that is.

That's helpful. And maybe switching gears. It's great to hear the commercial end market strength. Maybe just restricting the question to the U.S. In the past, you've called out institutions and hospitality as areas where you've been growing. Just curious what's the latest on commercial end markets and where are the areas where you're seeing the most strength?

Yes. So around the world, we see the commercial channel continuing to outperform residential. And so the segments that are performing better would be the hospitality segment, Education segment and also health care and government are doing well. And so to increase specifications, we are expanding our showrooms, product features and specialized sales forces to go after those segments.

Our next question comes from Collin Verron from Deutsche Bank.

I just wanted to follow up there on the April backlog building. Is that across the portfolio? Or are you seeing pockets of weakness and strength just given what's going on in the Middle East. I thought it sounded like there was probably a little bit of caution so maybe some downside volume trends into April, but it sounds like they're building. I guess just any clarification there would be helpful.

It's generally across all the businesses. The backlogs are generally higher than they were a month or so ago. And again, we're having difficulty separating the ongoing business trends from inventory changes in the customers and we're not going to be able to know that for a while.

Okay. That's helpful. And then just following up on the natural gas, is there any way to help us understand how much of the gas you have already hedged for this year versus how much you would need to buy just a service sort of production levels for the remainder of the year?

It's different by business. It's different by country. In some countries, you can't do it that the country purchase it and the price is the same in other countries we can purchase a head. So it's not as simplistic and answer as you'd like to have.

And our next question comes from Mike Dahl from RBC.

This is Mike, just a follow-up on the near-term demand comments. What are you guys specifically assuming in the 2Q guide in terms of demand trends? It sounds like -- is it more of the same from what you've seen in April? And then on that order backlog comment and the sequential increase, is there any way you could help frame that on a year-over-year basis?

Yes. Thanks, Mike. So again, we're really assuming that the present demand trends continue through the second quarter, and there's a limited impact from the conflict market volumes are declining now for a little while. And so we don't expect any big change in Q2. So at this point, we haven't seen a decrease in the sales and order trends is it. And we're going to have the impact of the increase in prices as we go through starting the second quarter and ramping up in the third quarter. And we just have to see how things evolve. The core question, which we all have to answer is what's going to happen to the consumer confidence and spending patterns given the inflation that's coming through the marketplace and how is the consumer going to react. We're all going to get to find out together.

Right. Fair enough. And I guess just on that, the -- from all the pricing that you've announced, are there regions or products where you can kind of rank order where you think the most pricing power versus the lease or if it's easier, just by segment, when we think about modeling the pricing tailwind?

I'm not sure there's a dramatic difference in any of them. The biggest differences would be the amount of inflation based on how big the cost increases impact each product category. And then it may sound different, the ones with the highest ones may be the easiest because the industry has to force through more is that on the other side, as we said earlier, the imported products with loan backlog was long supply chains, those product categories it's going to take a while before the chemical costs flow through it, but they're going to flow through it.

Our next question comes from Michael Rehaut from JPMorgan.

First question, I just wanted to circle back to the price increases relative to the cost inflation that you expect to see in the back half. Just wanted to be sure of 2 things. First, when you talk about the cost increases, it's the ones that you've already announced in April, mid- to high single digits, if that's really -- at this point, what we're talking about.

And second, as you see the cost inflation today is the -- are the price increases sufficient to offset the back half cost inflation.

Yes, Mike, I think, again, our pricing that we've announced, along with other cost actions are intended to offset the higher costs. We have announced mid- to high single digits across most of our categories. And that as inflation is really changing daily and weekly, we will adjust and adapt as we go through the second half of the year, but our intent is to pass them through.

As possible, we'll have to announce additional price increases if the things keep inflating.

Right, right. Okay. And I guess, the second question just on mix. If you're seeing any green shoots of mix, I'm really thinking about North America here, ceramic and North America flooring, how do you characterize the mix trends in residential? Have they improved at all? And could this be any help at all as well in the back half as you combat some other margin pressures.

Let me try to frame it. the consumers today, the higher-end consumer has more money and it's spending more. So that's happening on 1 side. On the other side, the guys in the middle are either postponing or trading down, and there is huge pressure in the builder market to put in low-cost products in order to keep the price of the home. So you have both things going at the same time. I think that the people with money, we'll continue to spend. We talk to some of our retailers, they say, some of them have the traffic slower, but the people coming in are spending more money. So we're going to have to see how the whole thing evolves. A lot of it is really around consumer confidence and how they react to all this stuff. We could show you some help from some positive comments out of our leadership.

Our next question comes from Keith Hughes from Truist.

Last time we saw this kind of inflation a couple of years ago during Covid saw some pretty significant debt on mix. Is there anything that's changed in the industry? Any reason we wouldn't feel at least some of that pressure is a pretty significant price increases you're talking about.

It's possible that we could see some declining mix in the piece, but we're raising all the product categories to cover it, but it's not abnormal that some of the customers trade down as given the -- as I said before, the higher-end customers have money. So it's not going to affect them. So the higher end of the business has been doing better. But it is possible there will be some mix decline as people try to maintain budgets.

Okay. And we talked a lot about price increases and cost increases on this call. is carpet where you're seeing the biggest inflation coming right now just based on the fibers that you use.

No. We see inflation across the board in all the different categories. And we have all the chemical input costs going up with similar levels. And as that filters through, we'll have to take up the prices. And then in Europe, we see higher increases, like we said, the impact of energy in Europe is much more significant. And so in some of our product categories, we see much higher impact than on the flooring side, and we are acting appropriately.

So if I had to pick 1 that was highest. We have in Europe a polyurethane insulation business and the chemical is a large part of it, and there are some shortages in the marketplace -- so I mean we're putting through really significant increases in the category along with the competitors in the marketplace.

Our next question comes from Matthew Bouley from Barclays.

You have Nikki on for Matt today. So first off, we've seen industry peers announce price increases over the past few months. But as they too see some degree of incremental cost inflation, have you seen a continuation in disciplined pricing across the industry? Or is there evidence of share gain coming at the expense of price, either for Mohawk or competitors across LVT, carpet and ceramic.

The increases are flowing through the marketplace. It takes a while to go through. We will not see the full impact of them for another few weeks or even more. So we'll have to see. But so far, we're seeing more discipline than normal given the amount of the increases, everybody needs more to cover the costs.

Okay. That's helpful. And then second, I wanted to talk a little bit more about the setup in Europe. So you mentioned Europe has understandably become -- it's more impacted following the Middle East complex. Any color on the trends you guys are seeing since last quarter, specifically are consumers deferring projects? Or is it more a function of mix down?

The market was showing some improvements in January following the multiple rate cuts that the European Central Bank had executed -- but after the start of the word, consumer confidence declined and so that reduced the discretionary spend in the market. As we discussed, energy prices are higher in Europe, they're causing growth, greater inflation, and we'll have to push up the prices more but consumers have record savings and mortgage rates are much lower in Europe, and that should support growth as the confidence come back.

Our next question comes from Brian Biros from TRG.

I guess how quickly -- can you pass on price in today's market relative to previous price increases? Inflation pressures are well known, but the demand side isn't really there. So curious how those conversations go and kind of just how quickly that can be reflected in today's market once you announce an increase?

The entire world knows this is going on. Our customers know what's going on. Our competitors have the same pressures we do -- so the marketplace understands it has to happen. And in some cases, it may feel a little easier up to this point or not, but we're not through fully implementing it. On the other side, there is a concern that there's more to come at. And so all of those things are affecting the way the industry at.

And then margins expanded in Q1. I think that might be the first time in maybe 5 or 6 quarters here. So it's nice to see some level of expansion even after all the restructuring efforts and that was on lower volumes still -- so it feels like there's still going to be pressures for the rest of the year. But do you guys look at Q1 as some type of indicator of kind of what financials you can put up when things start to turn. I'm kind of putting that in context would be helpful if you're thinking about Mohawk beyond the next few quarters?

Yes. I think Q1, the market conditions were still very pressured. And so we think that looking forward, in the near term, our margin will depend on how the conflict evolves, we'll have the inflation, and we're taking price to mitigate it. As Jeff mentioned, consumer confidence could be lower and could impact volumes, but we're really focused on our productivity and restructuring efforts to lower our costs. And we do believe that over the long term, there is a potential for margins to grow from here.

As we started earlier, we talked about potential good outcomes and bad outcomes either 1 is still possible, and we have to be prepared to adapt to either one, we're hoping for the best.

Our next question comes from David MacGregor from Longbow Research.

I guess I wanted to focus on the commercial business for a moment, and maybe it's a strategic question, Jeff. But just given the relative resilience of the commercial business as well as maybe a different competitive structure and more opportunities for growth in that market segment. Have you considered allocating capital to the expansion of that side of your business and bringing the residential commercial mix more into balance?

The commercial business is much smaller than the residential business. The opportunities are much less. So achieving at the same market share as the commercial business is dramatically smaller than the other. With that, we continue to invest more money in product innovation in the commercial market it's easier to sell and promote features and benefits that are differentiated. So we continue to invest to create differentiated offerings that we can specify in the marketplace -- we're investing in more showrooms. We're investing in our sales organization to create more specifications. So we agree with you that it's a good place to be.

I guess I was sort of asking the question more from an M&A standpoint.

Yes. From M&A, we would consider the right commercial businesses that fit with ours that we think we can add value to and their opportunities should arise over time in both the U.S. markets as well as the world markets.

Got it. Okay. Second question is just the obligatory tariff expense question, I guess, a lot of noise and moving parts on this, but what's your current expectation for 2026 gross tariff expense prior to mitigating actions?

Yes. The tariffs were reduced from a few months ago, but really with the inflation occurring because of the conflict, the net effect is our costs are going to increase and that's why we're taking the pricing adjustments to mitigate the higher costs.

Okay. But you haven't quantified that for -- the Street?

No, I think the tariff environment is changing. And so we'll see how it evolves.

And with that, ladies and gentlemen, we'll be concluding today's question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the conference call back over to Jeff Lorberbaum for any closing remarks.

We've been -- we've managed global turmoil many times in our history, and it's always followed by an industry recovery, and we expect multiple years of above growth trend when it happens this time. As that occurs in our industry, the pricing and margins increased, our mix improves with people buying higher-value products, and we have significant leverage off of our cost structures and all the actions we've taken over the past few years.

We appreciate you taking the time and being with us today. Thank you very much.

The conference has now concluded. We thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines.

Good day, and welcome to the Mohawk Industries Fourth Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note today's event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to James Brunk, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead, sir.

Thanks, Rocco. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Mohawk Industries' quarterly investor conference call. Joining me on today's call are Jeff Lorberbaum, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Paul De Cock, President and Chief Operating Officer; and Nick Manthey, who will succeed me as Chief Financial Officer on April 1.

Today, we'll update you on the company's fourth quarter and full year performance and provide guidance for the first quarter of 2026. I'd like to remind everyone that our press release and statements that we make during the call may include forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those set forth in our press release and our periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

This call may include discussion of non-GAAP numbers. For a reconciliation of any non-GAAP to GAAP amounts, please refer to our Form 8-K and press release in the Investors section of our website. I'll now turn the call over to Jeff for his opening remarks.

Thank you, Jim. Our fourth quarter net sales were approximately $2.7 billion, an increase of 2.4% as reported and a decrease of approximately 3.3% on a constant basis versus the prior year and in line with our expectations. Across our markets, commercial demand remained stable during the quarter, though continued weakness in housing turnover and sluggish home construction in the U.S. impacted our volume.

Our adjusted EPS for the quarter was $2, up approximately 3% versus the prior year, with benefits from productivity, restructuring initiatives, product mix and lower interest expense offset by market pressures and increased input costs. For the quarter, we managed the impact of the U.S. tariffs covering the cost as planned. For the full year, our sales were approximately $10.8 billion, flat with the prior year as reported.

Approximately 55% of our sales were in the U.S., 30% were in Europe and 15% in other geographies. Our adjusted EPS for the full year was $8.96, a decrease of approximately 7.5%. For the year, we generated free cash flow of approximately $620 million and repurchased approximately 1.3 million shares of our stock for [ $149 million ] as part of our current stock buyback authorization. The fourth quarter reflected a continuation of the macroeconomic factors our industry has faced since the second half of 2022. Housing turnover in our major regions remains at historical lows due to affordability challenges and economic uncertainty.

Consumer confidence remained weak due to inflation, employment concerns and geopolitical tensions. As a result, many of our large discretionary investments such as home renovations continue to be postponed. Remodeling activity that did take place was primarily driven by more affluent customers or those addressing essential needs. Throughout 2025, most central banks took actions intended to stimulate economic growth in housing markets, including recent interest rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

While 2025 U.S. existing home sales did not improve, sales in December increased over the prior year. Currently, U.S. mortgage rates are at their lowest levels since September 2022, and we anticipate these lower rates, combined with potential government actions, will benefit housing turnover. In Europe, interest rates are also the lowest since late 2022. In addition, consumers have built record inventory, record levels of savings, inflation has eased and employment has remained steady.

These conditions should support greater participation in the housing market as consumer confidence improves. Across our markets, housing construction levels have not kept pace with household formations since the great financial crisis. In the U.S., builders completed fewer homes in the fourth quarter as they focused on reducing inventories and lowering the supply of new homes.

In Europe, high building cost and land shortages and labor constraints continue to impede residential construction. Completed housing units in Europe have declined in 2025,though moderate building recoveries in Southern and Eastern Europe have emerged. As housing demand increases, European governments are evaluating options to stimulate construction. The commercial channel outperformed residential throughout the year with strengths in health care, education and hospitality.

We anticipate that lower interest rates will encourage additional investments in commercial construction and renovation. In response to ongoing conditions, we took actions during the year to stimulate sales and enhance our mix in soft markets through innovative product introductions, marketing actions and promotional activity. Our premium product launches deliver differentiated design and performance features to incentivize remodeling and our new commercial collections help us gain momentum in both new construction and remodeling projects. As residential demand remains weak, heightened competition to absorb the industry fixed cost continues to observe pressure on pricing.

To partially cover inflation, we took pricing actions in regions and product categories as market conditions allow. In the U.S., we managed the impact of tariffs through pricing actions and supply chain optimization. If necessary, we will adjust our strategies based on the Supreme Court's upcoming rulings and changes in the global trade landscape. During 2025, we initiated numerous restructuring actions and operational improvements that lowered our cost position and will benefit our longer-term performance. In 2025, our markets did not improve. And in response, we reduced capital spending to $435 million, about 30% below our depreciation levels. We continue to take the proper actions to manage the present environment, pursue profitable growth opportunities and strengthen our position when housing markets rebound. Now Jim will share our financial report.

Thank you, Jeff. Sales for the quarter at $2.7 billion or 2.4% increase as reported and a decrease of approximately 3% on a constant basis. The Global Ceramics segment, led by improved channel and product mix and favorable FX had the strongest year-over-year sales performance. Gross margin for the quarter was 23% as reported and 24.3%, excluding charges, in line with the prior year as the benefit from our productivity and restructuring initiatives of $41.5 million, favorable FX of $21 million and improved price and mix offset weaker volume of $29 million and increased input costs of $22 million.

SG&A expense was 19.8% as reported and 18.7%, excluding charges, also in line with prior year levels. That gave us an operating income as reported of $68 million or 2.5%. Our nonrecurring charges were $84 million during the quarter, primarily related to restructuring actions undertaken by all segments and legal settlements. That gave us an operating income on an adjusted basis of $152 million or 5.6%. That was only 50 basis points decline versus prior year as the benefits from our productivity and restructuring initiatives of $51 million, our pricing actions to offset the impact of new U.S. tariffs and improved product mix were offset by the reduction in volume of $29 million, competitive market conditions and an increase in input costs of $32 million.

Interest expense for the quarter was $1 million. That's a decrease versus prior year due to a reduction in short-term debt and a benefit of increased interest income. Non-GAAP tax rate for the quarter was 17.1% versus 17.8% in the prior year, and we're forecasting the full year tax rate for 2026 to be between 18.5% and 19.5%. That gave us an earnings per share on a reported basis of $0.68 or an adjusted basis of $2.

Turning to the segments. Global Ceramic had sales of just under $1.1 billion. That was a 6.1% increase as reported and basically flat on a constant basis. We experienced softening in the U.S. builder channel, offset by gains in our international markets led by Europe as well as improvements in price and mix driven by the U.S. and our European operations. Operating income on an adjusted basis was $63 million or 5.9%. That was an increase of 60 basis points as the combination of our productivity initiatives of $22 million and the benefit of improvement in price and mix of $16 million offset the increase in input costs of $22 million and decreased volume of $13 million.

In Flooring North America, our sales were $893 million. That was a 4.8% decrease as reported or 6.2% on a constant basis. The decrease was primarily in our residential soft surface business directly impacted by the slower builder channel, partially offset by our hard surface performance through home centers and retail, which were relatively flat versus the prior year. Gave us an operating income of $39 million or 4.4%. That was a decrease of 130 basis points as the lower volume of $12.5 million in conjunction with an increase in shutdown costs of $12 million and input costs of $17 million offset the benefit of productivity and restructuring actions of $24 million and an improvement in price and mix.

And in Flooring Rest of the World, we had sales of $737 million or 6.5% increase as reported and a 3.5% decrease on a constant basis, with the decrease in volume, especially seen in residential remodeling impacting our flooring categories as both our panels and insulation business units saw an increase in year-over-year volumes. That gave us an operating income of $65 million or 8.8%, excluding all charges for a 120 basis point decrease from the prior year. This was led by a weakening in price and mix of $15 million and lower volume, partially offset by increases in productivity and lower input costs.

Corporate and eliminations were $15 million for the quarter, in line with the prior year. In 2026, we estimate the full year impact of corporate expenses to be between $52 million and $55 million. And now the balance sheet. Looking at cash and cash equivalents of $856 million with free cash flow of $270 million in the quarter and $620 million on a year-to-date basis. Inventories were just shy of $2.7 billion. The growth in inventory year-over-year was mainly a result of the weakening dollar as inventory days ended the year at 139 days. Property, plant and equipment was just shy of $4.8 billion, with CapEx for Q4 at $180 million -- $189 million and full year at $435 million.

The company plans to invest approximately $480 million in 2026 with D&A of $626 million. The capital expenditures will be focused on product innovation, cost reduction and general maintenance of the business. The balance sheet ends the year in a very strong position with gross debt of $2 billion and leverage of 0.9x adjusted EBITDA. The company enters 2026 well positioned to leverage the housing recovery.

Now Paul will review our Q4 operational performance.

Thank you, Jim. Our Global Ceramic segment delivered improved sales and profitability year-over-year as each region executed specific strategies to overcome market challenges. Across our geographies, our performance benefited from successful product launches over the past 2 years. In particular, our premium collections improved our mix and helped to offset pricing pressures from competition. We extended our advantage at the high end of the market by combining advanced design expertise with proprietary printing technologies to deliver collections with more sophisticated visuals and textures.

Though residential remodeling and construction remains soft in most of our regions, our innovative commercial collections continue to enhance our results. We have worked in all markets to expand our customer base across channels by emphasizing the breadth of our product offering and our superior service. Operationally, we continue to find ways to drive productivity gains, reengineer products and contain SG&A costs to protect margins against higher input costs and pricing compression. In the U.S., our volumes were challenged as new home construction slowed in the quarter. We offset this impact through productivity gains as well as improved product and channel mix. Our price increases mitigated the effect of tariffs on our sourced offering.

With lower ocean freight costs and suppliers absorbing some of the expense, tariffs have thus far impacted the U.S. ceramic market less than expected. As our countertop business continues to grow, the ramp-up of our new quartz production line remains on schedule and will deliver higher-value products through an advanced [ veiling ] technology that creates unique visuals. In Europe, we improved our volumes despite soft demand as we increased sales in the higher-end categories. Spending on large discretionary purchases remains under pressure from consumer uncertainty related to geopolitical events.

Pricing weakened during the quarter as excess industry capacity led to heightened competition. We partially offset this through improved mix, productivity gains and lower energy costs. The commercial channel remains stronger than residential in most parts of Europe, though we also saw improvements in our higher-end residential offering. We enhanced our porcelain slab production with state-of-the-art printing technology that delivers higher-value products. In Latin America, demand remains soft and competitors are pursuing volume with aggressive pricing. In Mexico, we are expanding our customer base, improving service with our expedited shipping programs and gaining sales with our large-sized polished collections.

And lastly, in Brazil, the Central Bank's restrictive policies have increased the benchmark interest rates to 15%, compressing the flooring market. In our Flooring Rest of the World segment, our panels and insulation businesses delivered improved sales and margins, while the flooring category experienced lower volumes as well as pressure on our pricing and product mix. Rising building costs, elevated home prices and economic uncertainty continue to suppress both residential remodeling and new construction. To manage these factors, we continue to reduce our cost structure through product reengineering, supply chain optimization and SG&A controls. While we pursued volume to improve plant utilization, we also selectively announced price increases in most product categories to offset higher input costs.

To benefit our flooring category, we expanded our presence in home centers and extended our participation in better-performing geographies. In the European LVT market, we maintained our volume through expanded retail partnerships, and we are enhancing our rigid and loose lay collections this year. Our panel business increased volume, grew sales and expanded margins across product categories. We are improving the production and operational processes at our new MDF recycling plant, which will improve our material costs when optimized. Though insulation markets remain soft, we increased volumes in most geographies and continue to prepare for the start-up of our new plant in Poland with expanded distribution and growth in Germany and Eastern Europe.

Our Flooring North America results this quarter varied by channel. In the quarter, we saw inventory reductions in the retail channel given softer conditions. In the builder channel, sales declined as new home and multifamily construction remained weak and builders slowed new home starts. With lower interest rates improving affordability, we do expect residential construction to improve slightly as we progress through the year. Our commercial business remained stable with strength in hospitality, education and health care, offsetting softness in office and Main Street.

Given this, overall volume for the quarter was lower, though productivity gains and benefits from our restructuring actions helped offset the impact of the decline. We initiated pricing actions across most residential product categories to mitigate higher material, labor and tariff costs. Our hard surface category continued to outperform, driven by our laminate, hybrid and LVT collections, which are expanding across sales channels. Our PureTech PVC-free hybrid flooring is growing as an alternative with authentic visuals, better scratch resistance, waterproof performance and dimensional stability.

The success of our hard surface portfolio is also benefiting our accessories sales as consumers select coordinating trim, stair threads and moldings. In residential soft surfaces, our high-end fashion collections improved our product mix, and we are expanding our premium polyester collections to grow sales in the mid-price range. To offset higher input costs and tariffs, our commercial business announced selective price increases. The commercial order backlog remains solid and our enhanced commercial LVT offering will create additional opportunities for the business. To support sales growth in the high-performance commercial channel, we acquired Hero Flooring, a small niche U.S. rubber flooring company and authorized licensee of products made with Nike Grind rubber.

I will now return the call to Jeff for his closing remarks.

Thank you, Paul. As we previously announced, Jim Brunk will retire as CFO in April and will continue with us in a consulting role to ensure a smooth transition. Jim has been with Mohawk for 20 years and has played a leading role in growing our business into the world's largest flooring company. His leadership is reflected in the strength of our financial team as well as our financial position. In April, Nick Manthey many will assume the CFO role after serving as VP of Corporate Finance and Investor Relations for the past year and leading the Flooring North American finance team for the prior 5 years. Nick brings to the role strong financial expertise and extensive knowledge of our business.

Now turning to our outlook. First quarter market conditions thus far have been similar to the fourth quarter. While home renovation remains soft, the NAHB remodeling index has shown improvement for the last 2 quarters. We expect our markets to remain competitive, and we are implementing price increases across most regions and product categories. We continue to manage the impact of tariffs through pricing actions and supply chain optimization. We anticipate benefits from product mix, productivity and cost reductions to offset headwinds from higher energy and labor costs. Our 2026 product introductions are entering the market throughout this quarter, and the initial feedback has been positive.

Our first quarter seasonality is our slowest, and this year includes 4 additional shipping days. Given these factors, we expect our first quarter adjusted EPS will be between $1.75 and $1.85, excluding any restructuring or onetime charges. The global flooring industry has been in a recession for almost 4 years, and historically, we have multiple years of higher growth as markets recover. This year, we anticipate economies in most of our regions will improve with housing markets benefiting from mortgage rates and greater availability. We expect some increases in industry volume as we proceed through the year, though pricing pressures are likely to remain.

In response, we'll execute our announced restructuring actions and continue to implement productivity initiatives to lower our cost. Given this, we expect our 2026 sales and earnings to improve. The extent of our growth this year will depend on economic conditions, interest rates, geopolitical events and most importantly, the degree to which residential remodeling rebounds. With our global reach, product advantages and operational strengths, Mohawk is uniquely positioned to deliver long-term profitable growth as we transition into the recovery cycle.

We'll now be glad to take your questions.

[Operator Instructions] And today's first question comes from Eric Bosshard with Cleveland Research.

Just curious, as you look into '26, what you're expecting in terms of price and mix and mostly focused on receptivity of retail and what the actions of consumers are in terms of trading up or trading down?

Well, Eric, as we look at price and mix, we're anticipating continued pressure in the market. Inflation levels should be somewhat similar to '25, really led by energy, labor and tariffs. For the year, we would see both the combination of pricing, improved mix and productivity should help offset that inflation.

That's helpful to know that there's an offset. Is that -- can you just give us a sense of the magnitude of the assumption on price and mix? Is that in the market today? Mostly trying to figure out, is that a number that's there? Or is that a number that has some degree of risk to it based on how the consumer or retail behaves?

The price increases are being implemented, the market conditions are pressured, some have been postponed as the competitive environment evolves and we react to it. We anticipate covering tariffs with pricing and supply chains with all the actions that we're taking.

And our next question comes from Philip Ng with Jefferies.

Jim, congratulations. Thanks for all the great help. Really appreciate the partnership.

I guess to kind of kick things off, demand obviously trailed off a bit in the fourth quarter. Some of that is the builders seeing a weakness, and you called out some destocking. Any early read out of the gates in terms of how the channel is managing inventory ahead of spring selling season, whether it's wholesale, retail or the builders? Any green shoots to call out, I guess, at this point?

The inventories were taken down in the fourth quarter by different to the channels as the business softened. We think most of the inventory has been taken out and is close to where they need it to be. We're in the middle of the different shows we're in, and we're a little surprised at the optimism that many of the customers are expecting this year.

Jeff, any color between channels in terms of optimism? Is it more heavy in R&R, retail, just builder side of things? Just give us a little more perspective on that front.

The residential side of the business, people are optimistic about customers coming back into the market that the existing home sales will pick up a little bit. And on the other side, the commercial and builder is mostly expectations are stable, which is in line with most of the forecast by the marketplace.

And our next question today comes from Mike Dahl at RBC Capital Markets.

I guess just to start picking up on that last comment, Jeff, I'm still trying to square like what's an expectation versus what you're seeing because your comments are that 1Q is actually tracking similar to 4Q, but then there's this hope or this optimism that things can get better. Is the -- so what you're hearing from the customers, are they actually seeing activity come back or they're just expressing the same type of hope, hey, look at these macro indicators, maybe things can get better because the consumer confidence readings and some of the recent housing readings certainly don't seem to have inflected.

I think it's the -- what I'm reflecting is the attitude that people are giving us in the -- that I'm getting feedback from the sales organization in all the markets that we're having. As an overview, our view is that 2026, we call it a transitional year with some improvement in the remodeling activity. The expectation we have is that the lower mortgage rates, higher home equity levels and the increased housing supply should benefit existing home sales. There's pent-up demand for large renovations that have been postponed since '22. We're anticipating both pricing mix as well as volume increasing somewhat as we go through the year. Our restructuring and productivities will lower our own cost structures. And given that where our expectations are, which we've said is to exceed last year's earnings.

Okay. Got it. The second question, I guess, just drilling down on that expectation. And then, Jim, I think I heard you say that inflation levels similar in '26 as '25 and that price mix productivity should help to offset. So when we think about the earnings bridge, I guess 2 questions. One would be when you make that comment about earnings expected to improve, you did have the headwind in 1Q '25 from the systems conversion. So is that relative to the [ $896 million ] or are you also saying relative to kind of a further adjusted number ex that conversion? And then on that point about inflation and productivity and price mix, are you suggesting that, that net combination will be neutral to slightly negative for the year?

No. On the contrary, so 2 parts to your question. One is the increase in earnings would be against that adjusted number, number one. And number 2 is that the -- my comment on the combination of price/mix and inflation -- or excuse me, price/mix and productivity that will offset the inflation. Because remember, what you have also in there is in both price actions and inflation, tariffs is included in that number.

And our next question today comes from Susan Maklari with Goldman Sachs.

My first question is going back to some of the product side of things. Can you talk a bit about what you're seeing in terms of your ability to gain share, especially perhaps with the home centers and how that's helping you in the channel? And then with that, you remarked about some of the momentum you're seeing on hard surfaces. Can you talk about how that's coming through and the benefits you'll see this year?

Yes, Susan, so on the home center side, the home center channel is very important to us, and we are providing leading products, leading innovation, leading merchandising. We're supporting their efforts to grow their business on the consumer side and the Pro side with differentiating products. And so we're continuing to optimize our business together. And then the comment on the hard surfaces, yes, our hard surface business is doing well. That is fueled by our waterproof laminate business that continues to provide an excellent alternative to LVT.

And our domestic laminate is also benefiting from the tariff increases that have increased the cost of other alternatives. And in general, in LVT, our new hybrid alternatives with improved visuals and performance are being very well respected and accepted by the market. And in general, we see the LVT category kind of continuing to perform in line with the flooring market.

Okay. That's helpful color. And then maybe a question for Nick. As you step into that CFO role, can you talk about how you're thinking of the initiatives and the areas of focus there and any change to capital allocation? And also I want to add my congrats to Jim on your retirement.

Thank you, Susan.

Thank you, Susan. From a strategy perspective, I don't think there's really any change at this point. We're obviously navigating a difficult business environment, and so we'll continue our focus on cost and capital discipline. And we'll also continue to invest in new products and they'll able to take advantage when the market recovers.

And our next question today comes from Michael Rehaut with JPMorgan.

Jim, great working with you. All the best. And Nick, congrats on the promotion.

First question, I wanted to focus on the outlook for '26. Jeff, I believe you said that you expect price, mix and volume all to be up. And so I was wondering how that squares with the market outlook and underlying market outlook? And if -- what are the reasons for that optimism aside from maybe some of the optimism that you quoted in the channel, which could arguably be somewhat premature just relative to what we're seeing at least in the fourth quarter into the first.

Pricing, we have announced a lot of initiatives across the marketplace to try to recover some of the inflation that we've been having. We have the tariff pricing that we're putting through. So we see pricing compared to the prior year improving. We have our mix, which are internal actions to create higher-value products that have more margin in them. And then our view is, as we've stated earlier, that we see the commercial business and the new construction business being relatively stable, and we are anticipating some improvement in the remodeling business as we go through -- along with the existing home sales, which are supposed to increase somewhat.

Okay. I appreciate that. I guess, secondly, I'm curious around the outlook for ceramic in the U.S. Obviously, there's been a lot of movement with tariffs. And I believe you kind of said that the impact of tariffs from a cost standpoint have been less than anticipated. I'm curious if there's been any share shifts as a result of your domestic manufacturing and advantage there or if the impact of tariffs being a little bit more muted did not kind of translate to any type of significant share shifts because of your manufacturing advantage?

We believe that we're doing better than the marketplace in our U.S. ceramic business. We have a much larger commercial business in that business than the other parts of our U.S. businesses. So the commercial business is doing better. We have been enhancing our style and design using the knowledge that we have in our Italian businesses so that we're able to offer higher-value products and replace some of the products that are coming in at higher cost from Europe as we go through.

As you know, the volumes declined recently with the residential new construction markets. So we're getting -- the balance is we're getting improvements out of price and mix, and then we've been able to have better service than the importers bringing the stuff in as well. We're also increasing our participation in the countertop business where we put in a new quartz countertop line to enable us to expand that business further.

And our next question today comes from Stephen Kim, Evercore ISI.

I guess you referred a couple of times to, I guess, a higher end or a high-end proprietary printing technology. And you just mentioned, Jeff, about the Italian style and design allowing you to compete better against imports. I'm just kind of curious if you can talk a little bit more about the innovation that you have been working on over the last few years. Are we at a point now where you're starting to see a particularly significant impact or benefit from some of these innovations, whether it be this state-of-the-art printing technology or whether it be this hybrid [ PVC ] freeze. I think this is -- I just want to make sure that we understand how significant in your mind these innovations are as they come into the market this year.

It's not just an immediate process. We've been doing this for a period of time -- so in the ceramic industry, as in other ones, it takes specific equipment to make higher-end products and the complexity is dramatically different as you go up in the scale. And so we've been investing in new equipment as well as the ability to execute the complexity in the factories, which have allowed us to improve our higher-end business. At the same time, you're making both larger sizes, which the equipment has to be modified. And if you go to the other extreme, think of a 2-inch piece is much different than handling something that's 3 feet by 3 feet.

So all of it is very specialized. In all of our different markets across the world, we are enhancing the style and design and sizing across, which is helping us get product mix to offset some or a lot of the inflation, which at different times, we're not able to pass through. In our other product categories, you mentioned hybrid products that are made out of different materials than LVT. And so those come with different performance features as well. In all the categories, we're putting in new designs and strategies to differentiate them as you go through.

And in each category, we're trying to find new ways like in the countertop business, where it's moving from stone products to man-made products, and we're putting in new equipment that has design capabilities we're introducing as we speak that aren't in the market at this point. So every division is taking different strategies to get there.

Yes. That's really helpful. I wanted to switch gears, if I could, to your -- the transportation side of your business. Yesterday, there was a lot of noise about AI potentially dramatically reducing deadhead rates and things of that nature. I was curious if you could talk a little bit about the distribution side, if you will, or the transport side of your company? And to what degree that you have been seeing improved deadhead rates over the past, let's say, the past year? Has that been something notable to call out? And is there -- do you expect AI tools to be a needle mover to your input costs this year?

The ability to find freight back and forth and enabling it to lower the cost has been going on for a significant period of time. And AI will just add another incremental improvement over the top of it. The biggest freight differences right now are the international freight coming in where the freight rates have dropped as the capacity has increased and the volume has decreased. So those are making up for a lot of the tariff costs or a significant portion of the tariff costs.

And then in our own system, most of our system set up with our own transportation from our factories to our regional distribution points. In most cases, we're backhauling our own raw materials. And that gives us a significant advantage on the fill rates and the time it takes to go through, which is why it costs us less to run our operations than it does to go on third parties.

Our next question today comes from Keith Hughes at Truist.

You talked a lot about input costs going up in this call -- or costs going up in the call. Can you talk or give us kind of just rank order of what -- where you're facing the most inflation causing this finished good increase to offset?

Well, for the full year, when you look 226 versus '25, the first thing you always have is you have wage and benefit increases. So that's probably looking at this year, number one. Also, we've seen energy costs, as Jeff said in the prepared remarks, kind of fluctuate. So you see energy, especially in the U.S. somewhat spiking. So we'll have to see how that kind of materializes over the full year.

Obviously, tariffs is part of that, as I said, that inflation footprint as well and then just kind of general expenses. The wildcard right now is really on material costs as I think I said earlier, it kind of varies across our different regions. In some cases, we're seeing reductions. But in others, we're still seeing some inflation.

So following up on that, we've seen crude come off and moving down pretty ratably through the year. Is there any sign that carpet or LVT inputs are starting to lighten up as we head into the new year?

We anticipate continued inflation in the cost. The -- at this point, at least for the first 4, 5 months, whatever we have in inventory is what's going to flow through our costs as we go through. And so how they evolve over time, we'll have to see if they come down or not. Most of the manufacturers supplying us, we think their margins are very low. So we'll have to see how it evolves in the market cost.

Our next question today comes from Sam Reid at Wells Fargo.

Congrats, Jim, on the pending retirement. Great partnership there. I wonder if you could text a little bit on the benefit you're expecting to get in 2026, specifically from productivity. You've done a good job of pulling costs out of the business. So I just love to see how big of a lever productivity could be in isolation in 2026. And then remind us, but I believe you have about $60 million to $70 million in restructuring savings planned for this year. Just want to double confirm and make sure that's the right number.

Yes. It's a good place to start, Sam. On restructuring, as both Jeff and Paul said, we've taken numerous actions over the last few years. We've delivered in 2025, about $115 million cumulative savings from restructuring. You're right, we're looking at somewhere in that $60-plus million range of carryover into '26. And we also did announce some additional actions in the fourth quarter, most of which it's about $30 million of savings. Most of that will actually help and carry over into 2027 given the timing of those projects.

In addition, we continue across the company, both in manufacturing and on the administrative side to look for ways to reduce our day-to-day operating costs. So we also have on top of that, just normal productivity. For the year, when you look at '25 versus '24, we hit over about $200 million, '25 or '26 versus '25. Certainly, we will be building and working towards achieving the highest level we can. But again, it's kind of restricted to restructuring about that $60 million range and then other projects.

No, that's all helpful, Jim. And then maybe switching gears here. It does sound like the builder channel was particularly weak in the fourth quarter. Obviously, we know the builders are pushing back aggressively on price in particular. Can you contextualize maybe what the pricing backdrop looks like specifically within that piece of your business? And I'm obviously talking here in the context of the U.S. business.

As you described, the category is weak. There's plenty of pressure to maintain prices with it. Our input costs are going up, and we're trying to get some of it covered through the marketplace as we go through. We've announced targeted price increases in the different pieces to offset inflation. And as you said, it's not easy.

Our next question today comes from John Lovallo at UBS.

I guess, Jim, embedded in that first quarter EPS outlook of $1.75 to $1.85, I mean how are you kind of thinking about sales and margins ideally by segment, either year-over-year or sequentially? And can you confirm that there's 4 extra selling days year-over-year and 1 extra day sequentially?

Yes. So you are correct that there is 1 extra day sequentially and 4 extra days from a year-over-year perspective. With respect to the guidance, a couple of things I would say is as we're coming into January and Q1, we've said that market conditions are expected to remain soft and lower volumes right now versus the prior year. Obviously, in the first quarter, you have -- tend to have a slower in terms of sales and volume and weather obviously never helps the situation as well.

Housing turnover and consumer confidence are continuing right now to constrain the industry, but we are taking actions, and Jeff talked about a number of them on the product side and on the cost side to try to protect our earnings the best we can. The international markets continue to be pressured by geopolitical events as well. And overall, we will, again, continue to see benefits from our productivity and restructuring initiatives.

Okay. Got you. And then you guys generated $620 million of free cash flow in '25. Is it fair to assume that you're targeting above that for this year? And along those same lines, I think there was $40 million of stock repurchased in each quarter over the past 3 quarters. In the event that free cash flow is stronger, I mean, would you anticipate being able to step up the repurchase activity?

We did, as you said, generated about $620 million of free cash flow in '25 with CapEx of about $435 million. CapEx, we do expect, as I said in the prepared remarks, to be a little bit higher at $480 million, and that's a combination of about 80% is cost reduction, product innovation and maintain the business. And then we're also looking at about 20% on targeted growth initiatives, mainly around the quartz, laminate, porcelain slab and then also investing in new insulation production as well. We should continue in 2026 to see and generate strong cash flow. And with respect to the share buybacks, we will continue to use that as part of our strategy as we move forward.

Our next question today comes from Rafe Jadrosich with Bank of America.

You mentioned that tariff impacted a little bit less than you were expecting. Can you just quantify what the mitigated and unmitigated headwind was in '25? And then what you expect for '26?

Well, the tariffs that we're paying range from about 15% to 50%. We've taken action to offset them in all different ways in the supply chain with the freight rates we talked about earlier. We've announced price increases as required to go with them and offsetting those as we go through. We're continuing to implement more price increases as we speak, and we have to adjust to the market conditions that we're in the middle of, and we're expecting to cover all the costs of them with all those actions combined.

I think earlier in '25, you mentioned $50 million of -- is there a dollar amount that we should be thinking about for '25 versus -- for '26 versus '25 that you need to cover?

Well, I think you need -- Rafe, you need to look at kind of over the span of when this started on annualized impact, we had said that we're about $100 million of cost impact. As Jeff said, over '24 or '24 to '25, '25 to '26, we have taken actions both in pricing, supply chain management, freight costs coming down from an ocean freight standpoint is helpful as well. But our commitment is to offset that over that time period.

And our next question today comes from Collin Verron with Deutsche Bank.

Congratulations, Jim and Nick. I guess just wanted to start on Flooring Rest of World. That's seen a lot of price pressure. I guess, any comment on to how has pricing stabilized sequentially and sort of how you're thinking about prices on a full year basis in 2026? And do you see any further margin pressure in that business in '26? Or have margins really bottomed here?

Yes. So in general, the geopolitical events in Europe are still impacting consumer confidence as we speak. Markets continue to see slow demand, and there is a strong price competition. That being said, in a lot of our geographies and a lot of product categories, we have announced targeted price increases, and we are at such low levels that they seem to be sticking as we speak. So we think we will have a slightly positive price effect as we move through the year in our Rest of World segment.

Okay. That's helpful. And then just a clarification question on the EPS growth expectation in 2026. After you add back the system conversion, can you grow EPS if volumes are flat? Or does that growth expectation include volumes growing in 2026?

Yes. It includes the assumption that the top line would grow as well in terms of volumes at least somewhat.

And our next question comes from Matthew Bouley with Barclays.

So I just want to follow up on the pricing side. I mean you've spoken about some being implemented. I think I heard you say some postponed and obviously, the overall comments around the competitive environment. So maybe just be specific around soft surface, hard surface, commercial, residential, just kind of the specific categories where you're most confident that price is going to increase in 2026 versus kind of which categories may still be a bit softer.

We've announced price increases generally in the range of 3% to 5% across most of the categories in different places. In some cases, we have focused more on the higher-value products and different pieces that have less competition. The pricing is going in the market as we speak, and we are having to react to competitive situations as we always do. No surprises there.

And Matt, I think you have to also remember, you're kind of dividing those price increases. One, you have very specific tariff situations, and we talked about LVT and some of the -- and ceramic that some of the price increases that we announced in '25 and then having to react to the changes in those tariff rates. So you have kind of a box of tariff-related pricing actions. And then as Jeff just pointed out, you also have general inflation that we're having to attack as well.

Okay. Got it. Secondly, maybe if we look back on the tariffs and how that's impacted your competitive positioning. I guess I'm looking for sort of a postmortem on it. Maybe that's too strong a word. But can you point to, at this point, tariffs, you guys are a domestic manufacturer. Any specific areas where the tariffs have really led to share wins or better margins as you've raised price? Or we're still kind of too early in this to see any of that happening?

We have seen benefits in different areas. The ceramic imports out of Europe, we've been able to increase our share of higher-value products and help our mix in those categories, for instance, we talked about the difference in the sizes and design pieces. We're seeing our laminate business having some benefits from the LVT prices going up in some cases as we go through. We think that the service levels and pieces are helping us when the markets have difficulty with getting the products in and keeping them in stock. So we have seen some pieces with -- in the categories, and we have picked up some business with individual accounts.

That concludes the question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Jeff Lorberbaum for any closing remarks.

Mohawk is well positioned today to take advantage of the recovery when it occurs. We can't predict the inflection point, but we're going to have to come off the bottom that we've been at for a long time. We appreciate you joining us, and have a nice weekend.

Thank you. That concludes today's conference call. We thank you all for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines, and have a wonderful day.

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Mohawk Industries Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please also note today's event is being recorded.

At this time, I'd like to turn the floor over to James Brunk, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Jamie. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Mohawk Industries quarterly investor conference call. Joining me on the call are Jeff Lorberbaum, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Paul De Cock, President and Chief Operating Officer. Today, we'll update you on the company's third quarter performance and provide guidance for the fourth quarter of 2025.

I'd like to remind everyone that our press release and statements that we make during this call may include forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those set forth in our press release and our periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This call may include discussion of non-GAAP numbers. For a reconciliation of any non-GAAP to GAAP amounts, please refer to our 8-K and press release in the Investors section of our website.

I'll now turn the call over to Jeff for his opening remarks.

Thank you, Jim. Our third quarter net sales of $2.8 billion were in line with our expectations, slightly ahead of prior year as reported and flat on a constant basis. Though economic conditions across our regions weakened more than anticipated compared to the prior quarter, we believe we outperformed in most of our markets. Our sales and product mix continue to benefit from the success of our premium residential and commercial offering and collections introduced during the past 2 years.

Our adjusted earnings per share of $2.67 reflected benefits from ongoing productivity and restructuring initiatives as well as the impact of favorable currency exchange and lower interest expense, offset by higher input costs and temporary plant shutdown. Across our markets, material and energy expenses are now improving from peak levels, though higher costs from early in the year will still impact our fourth quarter earnings as expected.

With our markets remaining challenged, we're executing targeted actions across the organization to drive performance such as operational enhancements, administrative process improvements and technology advancements. We are lowering our cost structure without impacting our long-term growth potential when the market recovers. We've identified additional restructuring opportunities to rationalize less efficient assets and streamline logistics operations and administrative functions. These new actions will result in annualized savings of approximately $32 million at a net cash cost of approximately $20 million after asset sales. Combined with our previously announced restructuring actions, we anticipate delivering $110 million in savings this year.

During the quarter, we continue to focus on our working capital management and generate approximately $310 million in free cash flow. We repurchased 315,000 shares in the quarter for approximately $40 million as part of our current stock buyback authorization. Year-to-date, we've purchased $108 million of our outstanding shares. Across our geographies, consumer uncertainty continues to limit discretionary spending on large projects, particularly if financing with debt is required. Postponement of large renovation projects and declining home sales have been the primary driver of weakness in the residential remodeling during the current cycle, while the commercial sector has remained stronger.

And most of our market central banks have lowered interest rates to encourage economic growth and benefit housing turnover. The Federal Reserve's September rate cuts and potential future actions should benefit the U.S. housing market by bringing in potential buyers who have waited for better rates. As the supply of existing homes on the market rises, price increases have slowed, which should benefit future sales.

Builders are attempting to offset weakness in the new home sales with price cuts, rate buydowns and closing cost assistance. The Fed's actions should also stimulate future business investment in nonresidential new construction and remodeling. European consumers have accrued record levels of savings since the pandemic and are now experiencing lower inflation rates, both of which should encourage greater discretionary spending. To address the ongoing housing shortage in Europe, several governments are initiating programs to incentivize new home construction.

Our industry is currently at various stages of passing through the impact of higher tariffs on imported products and should compensate for increased product costs over time. As previously stated, we continue to address the situation by optimizing our supply chain and implementing price adjustments on affected product categories. Ocean freight costs have been declining and are partially offsetting the tariff impact for U.S. importers. Based on the recent changes, engineered wood and laminate imports will now be subject to reciprocal tariffs like our other flooring product categories, which should benefit domestically produced products. Because the evolving tariff situation will require some time to reach equilibrium, we will continue to adjust our strategies with the changing rates and market conditions.

With that, Jim will review our financials for the quarter.

Thank you, Jeff. Sales for the quarter were just shy of $2.8 billion. That's a 1.4% increase as reported and flat on a constant basis, as our hard surface and commercial business continued to outperform the overall residential channels. In addition, FX benefited our business on a reported basis.

As we noted in the earnings release, Q4 has one additional shipping day. And for planning purposes, Q1 of 2026 will have 4 additional shipping days and Q4 of '26 will have 4 less. Gross profit for the quarter was 23.7% as reported and 25.3%, excluding charges, as strengthening productivity of $57 million and favorable impact of FX of $15 million were offset by higher input costs of $39 million, continued pressure on price mix of $20 million and lower volume and temporary shutdown costs of $23 million.

SG&A expense for the quarter was 18.8% as reported and 17.9%, excluding charges. That gave us an operating income as reported of 5%.

Nonrecurring charges for the quarter were $69 million, primarily related to our ongoing restructuring initiatives. Combining the projects announced in Q3 with our previous actions, we should have savings of approximately $110 million this year. That gave us an operating income on an adjusted basis of 7.5%. That's a decrease of 130 basis points as the impact of inflation of $52 million, lower volume temporary shutdown costs of $22 million and unfavorable price mix of $20 million offset the benefit of productivity and restructuring actions of $62 million for the quarter. Interest expense was $5 million. That's a decrease versus prior year due to lower overall debt balance and the benefit of our interest income activity.

Our non-GAAP tax rate was 17% versus 19.8% in the prior year, mainly due to geographic dispersion of our income. We are forecasting in Q4 and for the full year, a tax rate of approximately 18%. That resulted in earnings per share as reported of $1.75 and on an adjusted basis of $2.67.

Turning to the segments. Global Ceramic had sales of just over $1.1 billion. That's a 4.4% improvement as reported and 1.8% on an adjusted basis due to favorable price mix in both channel and product categories, partially offset by lower unit volume. Operating income on an adjusted basis was $90 million or 8.1%, which was a decline of approximately 50 basis points, as higher input costs of $31 million and lower sales volume were partially offset by favorable price/mix of $8 million and strong year-over-year productivity gains of $24 million.

Flooring North America had sales of $937 million. That's a 3.8% decrease as residential new construction and remodeling remain under pressure. From a product perspective, our LVT and our laminate categories continued with positive gains versus prior year. Operating income on an adjusted basis was $68 million or 7.2%, which is 190 basis points decline versus the prior year as productivity gains of $29 million were offset by higher input costs of $22 million and the impact of lower sales and increased temporary shutdown costs of $17 million and unfavorable price/mix of $10 million.

In Flooring Rest of the World had sales of $716 million. That's a 4.3% increase as reported and an increase of 0.9% on an adjusted basis. The volume growth was driven by expansion in our Insulation and Panels business as well as in our laminate flooring category, partially offset by continued pressure in price and mix. Operating income on an adjusted basis was $59 million or 8.3%. It's a 220 basis point decline versus the prior year, primarily due to unfavorable price mix of $18 million, partially offset by continued productivity gains of approximately $8 million. Corporate costs for the quarter were $12 million, in line with the prior year and for the full year should be approximately $50 million.

Turning to the balance sheet. Cash and cash equivalents were $516 million, with free cash flow for the quarter of $310 million. Inventories were just shy of $2.7 billion. That's an increase of approximately $80 million, primarily due to the impact of foreign exchange and inflation and some increase in imported goods. Property, plant and equipment were just shy of $4.7 billion with CapEx of $76 million and D&A of $170 million in the quarter. We have lowered our full year CapEx plans to approximately $480 million with D&A of $640 million.

Overall, the balance sheet is in a very strong position with gross debt of $1.9 billion and leverage at 1.1x positioning the company to be able to take full advantage of the changing market conditions.

Now Paul will review our Q3 operational performance.

Thank you, Jim. In the Global Ceramic segment, our performance benefited from our premium collections, commercial sales and expanded distribution. All of our markets faced pricing pressure due to excess industry capacity, though we were able to offset due to the strength of our product and channel mix.

Across our markets, our commercial business is stronger as the A&D community embraces our industry-leading product innovation and design. Tire market trends are shifting to 3D surface applications that create premium visuals and our advanced technology and design expertise position us to lead the market in this transition. We are the only manufacturer in our markets to offer coordinated collections for very small to oversized options for both floors and walls, which makes selecting our products for a project easier for consumers.

In the U.S., our commercial performance outpaced residential due to growth in the hospitality, health care and education sectors. We are leveraging our national distribution footprint to expand our relationships with contractors, specialty retailers and commercial specifiers. In the period, we announced price adjustments based on the current tariff rates. Due to importers building inventories earlier in the year, the tariffs have not significantly impacted the U.S. ceramic market at this point.

Our countertop business grew in the quarter through new retail and high-end builder partnerships that will support increased production from our new [indiscernible] line that features advanced veining technology for greater realism.

In Europe, we improved sales volume in a difficult market. Pricing pressure persists with low market demand and our mix and productivity gains offset higher-than-anticipated input costs. Residential remodeling and new construction remain constrained, while the commercial channel shows continued strength, particularly in hospitality. Across Europe, our regional showrooms and education sessions for architects and designers are enhancing sales of premium collections and our commercial participation.

Our porcelain panel sales continue to grow due to our advanced printing technology, yielding more authentic marble and stone looks. In Latin America, markets have softened due to persistent inflation and weakness in housing. In Mexico, we are capturing volume by introducing new textures and a wider variety of sizes and expanding our distribution. In Brazil, our volumes increased across most channels as we enhance promotional activity. In both markets, we are enhancing our product offering to improve our mix and lowering our costs with productivity and restructuring actions.

In our Flooring Rest of the World segment, our results benefited from strength in panels and insulation with rising volumes increasing plant utilization. Our core European markets continued to experience weak remodeling and new construction, which is constraining flooring sales. In response to these conditions, we implemented selective price increases continue to reduce our cost structure and lower input costs by optimizing our supply chain.

In the segment, we are rationalizing less efficient assets consolidating operations and reducing administrative and manufacturing overhead. During the quarter, sales outside Western Europe were more stable, with the U.K. performing better as the government [ increased ] investments in social housing. With the laminate category remaining under pressure, we have increased participation in the DIY channel, and we are expanding our distribution in Southern and Eastern Europe.

Pricing and mix remained difficult during the quarter, and we are executing promotional activities to optimize our sales. The European LVT market is becoming more competitive, and we are addressing this with product innovation, including new [ battling ] technology and [ park at wood ] looks. We're expanding sales of both [indiscernible], which is used in commercial applications.

We are also reorganizing our sales teams to maximize opportunities with residential builders. In a difficult market, our Panels division delivered sales growth in MDF boards and decorative panels, which we are expanding into new markets.

Our installation business delivered solid results in a competitive market. We increased our customer base and volumes, which improved our utilization. To support our forthcoming insulation plant in Poland, we are growing sales in Eastern Europe, where the economy is growing faster.

In Australia, our expanded hard surface offering is gaining traction with our customer base, while pricing actions and productivity initiatives benefited our soft surface results. We have entered into an agreement to purchase a small New Zealand manufacturer of premium wool carpet, which we will integrate into our existing business.

In our Flooring North America segment, we believe Mohawk's hard surface categories outperformed the overall market due to our growing relationships with major retailers and builders, successful promotions and our innovative products with superior visuals and performance features. Our restructuring projects in the segment remain on track as we retire high-cost assets, consolidate logistics operations and reduce overhead. We delivered productivity gains that offset higher energy, material and labor costs flowing through.

Retail volume was affected by low consumer confidence that continues to impact large purchases, though some retailers reported improvement in store traffic as the quarter progressed. Market pricing remained competitive, and in response to recent tariff changes, we announced pricing adjustments. To address pressure from input and labor costs, the industry also announced price increases in carpet collections.

Our hard surface volume rose during the quarter as we expanded placement of our industry-leading laminate, hybrid and LVT product offering. As we expand our accessories portfolio, consumers are increasing attachment of these accessories with our hard surface collections. To grow our commercial participation, we continue to increase sales and marketing activities to expand our customer base. We are implementing promotions to grow volume in Main Street soft surface sales and we also enhanced our commercial LVT offering to align with current decorating trends.

I will now return the call to Jeff for his closing remarks.

Thank you, Paul. All of our markets face a shortage of avasable housing as supply has failed to keep pace with household formation. To meet growing demand, new home construction and remodeling must expand, which will also lower housing inflation pressures. Most central banks have shifted from prioritizing inflation reduction to stimulating economic growth. Declining interest rates in the U.S. and around the world should gradually encourage increased home sales and remodeling. While we believe these actions will benefit the housing market over time, we remain focused on optimizing the controllable aspects of our business including our sales strategies, product innovation and operational productivity.

Our previously announced restructuring initiatives continue to benefit our results by streamlining our operations and reducing our cost structure. We have identified additional restructuring projects that should deliver approximately $32 million in annualized savings. We are leveraging the scope of our product portfolio, distribution advantages and industry-leading brands to expand our relationships with current and new customers. Our product mix continues to benefit from our premium collections and commercial sales, which is mitigating some of the pricing pressures in our markets.

We are managing the impacts of tariffs on our U.S. imported product offering through pricing actions and supply chain optimization, and we are reinforcing the value of our domestic manufacturing.

Based on current trends in our regions, we believe that market volume should remain soft through the end of the year. Given these factors, we expect our fourth quarter EPS to be between $1.90 and $2, with 1 additional shipping day and excluding any restructuring or other onetime charges. For more than 3 years, the flooring industry has been impacted by both consumers postponing large discretionary purchases and low home sales, which have reduced new construction and remodeling activity. Housing turnover has a significant effect on our industry with U.S. consumer spending an estimated 5x as much on remodeling their flooring in the first year after buying a home than non-movers.

Declining interest rates, increased disposable income and higher home equity should support greater home sales and remodeling in our markets. The housing stock in our regions is aging and requires significant renovation to preserve property values. During the cycle, we have enhanced our operations, cost position and product offering to capitalize on the future market recovery. While the inflection point remains unpredictable, market fundamentals, significant pent-up demand and Mohawk's unique business strengths support long-term profitable growth.

We'll now be glad to take your questions.

[Operator Instructions] And our first question today comes from John Lovallo from UBS.

The first one is, in July, I believe you guys noted that 4Q EPS could potentially outpace the normal seasonal decline of about 20% quarter-over-quarter. I guess the question is, what do you view as the most significant changes that have occurred since then that sort of lower those expectations? And how are you thinking about revenue and margins by segment embedded in that outlook?

John, conditions did weaken since we last talked during the quarter, with interest rates remaining elevated. The other aspect is consumer confidence decline, which affected our remodeling. Builders have actually slowed a little bit from a construction standpoint and international markets have softened. Inflation has eased, but our costs are still higher than the prior year.

Got it. Okay. That's helpful. And then there was a couple of mentions of outperforming the market. I know hard services in North America was one area you called out in particular. But just curious if there were other product categories and regions where you guys outperformed, what do you kind of attribute the outperformance to?

Our ceramic sales in the third quarter grew. We think more than the markets due to our improved product and channel mix, we have a larger commercial business than our other segments, which also enhances it. We benefited from new product introductions as well as operational improvements. And then we continue to get benefits from the restructuring in the Flooring Rest of World. As we mentioned in the original remarks, we also had the insulation business and the Board's businesses volumes were up. And then across the business in the U.S., we had our hard surface business and we're doing well as some examples.

Our next question comes from Matthew Bouley from Barclays.

Question on the price increases that are related to the tariffs. I'm curious, it sounded like some of the initial price increases may not be fully flowing through yet, if I heard you correctly, given some of the inventory in the channel. So if you can just kind of delve into a little detail on kind of what's happened with the initial price increases and then some of these additional price increases that you've announced, when might those begin to benefit you guys?

Yes. So the priorly announced price increases are flowing. And so we have also announced in the third quarter additional price increases, both to recover the tariffs and to recover inflation in carpet for the tariffs, we announced an additional price increase between 5% and 10%. And for carpet, we have announced approximately 5%. And so as they are now announced and as we see realization of that, that will take us some time until it reaches equilibrium.

And then given the volatility, we will also adjust our strategies if tariffs would change or market conditions would change because things are quite volatile, as you know.

Just as a comment, most of our tariffs today range between 15% and 50% of the pieces. We've taken actions to optimize the supply chain, which is negotiating different pieces, moving products between countries, dropping and adding different product categories, and we're implementing price increases to offset the balance. We've also got some benefit from lower freight rates that have been declined during the period, which is helping, and it will take some time for the market to equilibrate as he said.

Okay. Got it. Maybe I guess that then leads to the tariff question then. Just curious since the reciprocal tariffs ended up in place. So over the summer, if there's an update or if you can quantify perhaps sort of the mitigated or unmitigated headwind and if any of that is in your fourth quarter guide? Or we should think about more of a Q1 impact as those tariffs flow through?

If you take the average of what we're paying, it's probably approximately 20% on all the imported products in general. That relates to, on an annual basis, about $110 million impact before any mitigations that we've done is with the -- we just talked about the different things we were doing is that we have announced price increases, and it will take a while for them to flow through in the markets to absorb them as we go through. So we think as we go into next year, we're hoping to have everything aligned.

Yes. Matt, right now, to answer to the second part of your question, we have seen some impact from a cost perspective. In the third quarter, I expect to see it continue in the fourth quarter. But also, we've seen the benefit of the initial price increases both in the third quarter and the fourth. And yes, it is contemplated in our guidance.

Our next question comes from Collin Verron from Deutsche Bank.

You guys also called out raw material and energy costs have come down from their peak. Can you just help us think about the magnitude of decline that you see in your raw material costs? And maybe how early in 2026, they'll begin to help margin just given the normal lag from when it will move from your balance sheet to your P&L? And maybe touch on the order of magnitude you can expect in each segment?

From an inflation standpoint, in the fourth quarter, we will see raw material prices easing from their peak earlier in the year. Energy and wages will continue to be higher than last year. And as I just noted, tariffs will also increase our costs. We do anticipate continued inflation in our input costs next year. And those can be across both from a material perspective, wages and benefits and energy.

Okay. Understood. That's helpful color. And then Rest of World, they reported adjusted sales growth, I believe, in the quarter. It was a little bit better than normal seasonality from 2Q to 3Q. I was just wondering if you could comment on -- you think you found the bottom here in Rest of World. And are you anticipating year-on-year growth in the fourth quarter in that segment?

Yes, conditions in general in Europe and the housing market in Europe have continued to be slow. We also have the geopolitical events in Europe that are reducing consumer confidence. And most of the Western European countries budgets are stretched. And so we think with the decreasing interest rates down to 2% in Europe, that housing should improve over time. We also know that households have built record savings levels and that inflation is coming down in Europe. And so both of those would fuel a recovery.

And then lastly, also, energy prices are continued to decline a little bit in Europe. That's kind of the European conditions we see at this moment.

Our next question comes from Rafe Jadrosich from Bank of America.

I just wanted to follow up on the last question. Just on the material costs, like looking at oil prices have come down and natural gas come down, I think some of recycled like poly is lower. I'm understanding like just a lag when you guys realize it like what's sort of the visibility on inflation into 2026, -- like could there be a relief as we go into next year?

Well, to answer the first part of your question, it usually takes 3 to 4 months for it to cycle through the inventory. And as I stated, as we look forward into Q1, you'll have the normal wage and benefit increases. And right now, we still see impact on the tariffs, obviously impacting Q1 and still some minor impact on the higher material costs.

Got it. Okay. And then can you just -- the cost savings initiatives that you've previously announced and then the additional one that you just announced this quarter. Can you just walk us through like the cumulative tailwind to the fourth quarter and then what you expect to carry into 2026. And then just remind us, do you expect additional productivity on top of that? Or is that inclusive?

Sure. As we previously said, we were looking at savings about $100 million, fairly evenly spread across the quarters with the additional actions we announced, plus with a little better performance on the previous ones, we're up to about $110 million. So a little bit more in the fourth quarter. As I look forward to 2026, just from the restructuring actions, we should have approximately $60 million to $70 million favorable impact next year. And again, fairly evenly spread across the quarters.

In addition to that, you are correct that we continue to have our normal ongoing productivity initiatives really across the business.

Our next question comes from Susan Maklari from Goldman Sachs.

My first question is going back to the new products. and knowing that there's a lot that's going on across the business, but maybe focusing mostly on the North America piece. Can you talk about where those launches are in terms of their life cycle, how much more momentum we could see next year? And any plans for additional products that could come through that could allow you to realize favorable mix or even outgrow the market in 2026, if macro and the housing environment stay more challenging?

Every one of the businesses has product innovation coming through it. So in ceramic, the business is going towards three-dimensional tiles and different surface textures to make them look different. There's also new decorating technologies to enhance them further. In the LVT collections, they are updating the decorating trends as well as with introducing PVC alternatives that we just lump into a group we call hybrid. And we have a new quartz countertop line that's coming in that should be helpful today with the increased tariffs on those, especially because a large part comes out of India [indiscernible] so that's starting up, and it has new technology that will introduce new looks that I don't believe anyone else in the world can make.

And then we continue to always increase the realism in the laminate introduce new formats and sizes and shapes and then continually all the businesses are incrementally improving the offering.

Okay. That's helpful. And then, Jeff, can you talk a bit about how you're thinking about the path for margins next year? How do we think about what the businesses can achieve given the company specific elements in the macro that you'll likely be facing? And how that compares to the longer-term target that you've set for the business in kind of that high single, low double-digit range?

Jim and I can get that together for you. First and next year, we're looking at next year as being a transitional year from the cyclical low and we're expecting it to improve somewhat as we go through. Central banks, we believe with the lower interest rates everywhere should improve spending on housing around the world. We see the mortgage rates are declining. There's high home equity rates as the price of houses have gone up and the increased housing supply around the world should help them benefit the category.

There's also where we're going into and this is a really long cycle. I don't remember, but one, I think, in my career that's lasted more than 3 years like this one has, and so there's a huge pent-up demand in the remodeling business as people have postponed larger projects. We anticipate with this higher volume and improved pricing and mix next year. We should see the restructuring and productivity initiatives that Jim talked about earlier should help lower our cost and improve the margins. And the exact point of the inflection point and when it's going to happen, we don't know exactly when, but we know what it's going to. And then when it happens, there's usually multiple years of above-trend growth as we recover from the bottom of the cycle.

And I would build on to that, certainly emphasizing the cost structure reductions that we've made to leverage our margins as we start to see those volumes increase. Input costs as we go into the first quarter of next year, as I said, we'll continue to go up in total. But productivity and tariff price increases should help us offset. As Jeff said, tough to predict when the turn actually happens, but we're anticipating better results for the year based on the combination of our product innovation and our cost reduction actions.

Our next question comes from Sam Reid from Wells Fargo.

Wanted to know if you could quantify the benefit to ceramic volumes in the third quarter from that new Daltile initiative into Lowe's. And then any sense as to whether there's plans for additional sell-in benefits in the fourth quarter that might be embedded in the guidance?

Lowe's purchased ADG and so we are a long-standing partner of both of them. At this point, it really hasn't impacted the business in the third quarter one way or the other. Our goal with every -- like with every customer is to optimize our business together and maximize our results together.

That helps. And then maybe just more of a housekeeping question. But if I heard correctly, I believe there's going to be 4 additional shipping days in the first quarter and then a corresponding 4 fewer days in the last quarter of '26. Can you be able to just quantify the impact from those shipping days, maybe the top line and bottom line, especially in that first quarter, just so we have some context there for modeling?

It is a reset year for us in terms of the calendar. And those 4 additional days from a year-over-year perspective, it's about 6.5% benefit on the sales line. And obviously, it really depends on by segment, the flow-through of which products and such for a margin perspective. But from a sales perspective, you can plan on kind of every day is roughly 1% to 1.5% change. And then to [indiscernible] obviously has, as you pointed out, it has the same reduction in days.

Our next question comes from Keith Hughes from Truist.

[indiscernible] Paul's comments about some improved retail traffic in the quarter and really didn't show up on sales, it looks like you talk more about that, where you're seeing it and has that continued into October?

Yes. As we went through the quarter, we saw slightly improving retail traffic. We had some information from our customers. But in general, the current consumer uncertainty continues to limit remodeling activity. And so the postponement of large discretionary projects and also the declining home sales have significantly reduced the flooring sales through the specialty retailers. And so we are now like just said, 3 years in to consumers deferring these projects. And so we anticipate when it turns that it could lead to a relatively strong recovery in that channel.

Our next question comes from Michael Rehaut from JPMorgan.

I just wanted to start off -- wanted to start off with maybe just going back to tariffs for a moment. And wanted to better get a sense of -- I think it kind of started to quantify a little bit of the impact from a cost standpoint on your own business. Just wanted to make sure -- maybe if you could just repeat those numbers? And what I'm really looking for is if you kind of think about 1Q, 2Q, 3Q now, what the cost impact has been on your business. And for each of those quarters, what have you been able so far to recover in price? I understand you expect 2026 for it to be fully offset. But kind of where we are today in that quarter by quarter?

As Jeff talked about earlier, right now, we're doing -- we're seeing about an average impact of about 20% or just over $100 million to $110 million before the mitigating action. Again, that's an annualized amount. We started to see in Q3, as I previously stated, some impact on from a cost perspective. But as planned, we are offsetting that with pricing, both in Q3 and in Q4. And then we'll continue, I imagine to see it build as you go into the first quarter of next year. But remember, from a pricing perspective, we are on our second price increase due to the tariffs on those specific products that are impacted.

Okay. I appreciate that. I guess, secondly, I just wanted to shift to the balance sheet and capital allocation. I know you kind of edged down, I believe, your CapEx outlook for this year. Your balance sheet remains pretty strong. I know you bought back a little bit more stock this quarter. Just trying to get a sense of what's kind of holding you back for being a little more aggressive in the share repurchase department. I know historically, all else equal, if it's a healthy market, you have a pretty active M&A program and certainly like to keep a certain amount of dry powder. I'm wondering if the reason for maybe this more continued restrained share repurchase approach, it is you have eyes on the M&A market over the next couple of years, if there are certain assets that are coming up because otherwise, I feel like people might have expected a little bit more on the share repurchase side?

Well, really, from share repurchases to recap, we've bought about $108 million back year-to-date. And that's on free cash flow from a year-to-date perspective of about $350 million. We're going to continue to use that as part of our overall capital allocation strategy, and we expect to continue investments in our businesses as the market improves. Remember, that's one of our priorities to try to drive an increase in our margins and our results. We will optimize our product offering and continue to increase productivity during that period.

We should see, to your point, more opportunities to acquire businesses as the environment strengthens. And again, share buybacks will continue to be part of our strategy as we go forward.

Our next question comes from Adam Baumgarten from Vertical Research.

Given some kind of relative stability on the tariff front, again, relative beating the key term. Are you kind of the industry now is a bit more coordinated from a tariff-driven price increase perspective versus maybe over the summer when things are a bit more hectic and everyone was trying to figure things out, maybe it's a bit more kind of broad-based at this point?

I'm not sure it's coordinated. The whole industry has the same impacts from the tariffs going up. The industry, like other ones tried to increase inventories, not knowing what's going to happen to reduce it. So there's high inventories going into it. So -- and then with the changes in place, we put through an increase to the first of the year. At the moment, most of the industry has announced increases about now going into the fall, and it has to flow through all the pieces and get done. And we're assuming it will take until the first of the year for it to level out, given there's -- everybody has got different inventories and different strategies. But we assume that somewhere about the first of the year that'll equalize out.

Okay. Got it. And then just on commercial, I know that's been a nice outperformer relative to residential for a while now. But you had at least last quarter, kind of talked about maybe some leading indicators pointing to some potential slowing. Are you actually seeing any signs of that demand in that channel slowing at this point?

So yes, you're correct. Around the world in the different markets and segments that we are active. The commercial channel continued relatively to outperform the residential market and our backlogs have remained stable. But we also see in some markets and segments some slowing activity. And so we are trying to compensate that by pushing our higher-end products with unique advantages, which helps in pricing and in margins. And in general, also, our ceramic segment and our ceramic businesses have a higher exposure to the commercial segment than Flooring North America and Flooring Rest of World.

Our next question comes from Philip Ng from Jefferies.

Now that you actually have a better view on where tariffs could land. Remind us how you stack up from a cost standpoint in the U.S. in some of your major categories versus your competitors, like whether it's ceramic, laminate, LVT and then, of course, [indiscernible] you kind of pointed out, a lot of that is coming from India. So there's some pretty sizable tariffs coming in. Is your laminate product becoming even more competitive versus [indiscernible] products and a better substitute for LVT? And have you started seeing any new placement from your channel partners, whether it's the builders, retailers or the [indiscernible] set of things?

Yes. So you're right. Our waterproof laminate collections continues to be an excellent alternative to LVT, and we are indeed seeing builders shifting to our laminate given its performance and aesthetic and also installation advantages. And so with imported laminate, now also included in the reciprocal tariffs this should benefit us because, as you know, all our laminate products are produced here in the U.S.

Okay. Do you have a big cost advantage for most of these at this point, our products, some of these bigger categories that are impacted by tariffs?

I mean, laminate is a very good value-oriented product in the market compared to other options. And so with our domestic assets in North Carolina, we have a very competitive setup in that category.

And then in ceramic, most of our portfolio comes -- is manufactured in the U.S. and Mexico, which is advantage as tariffs increase.

Okay. That's helpful. And then a lot of moving pieces. Certainly, there's a price cost element lag with your prices coming through early next year. And then obviously, input costs have come down, and there's a lag associated with that as well, and you got the productivity gains. I think, Paul, in your prepared remarks, you mentioned the word equilibrium. And then Jim, can you kind of help us unpack all that? I know a lot of moving pieces here. But when we look to early next year, is the goal that productivity, restructuring plus price cost is kind of neutral? And then whatever volume growth you have will ultimately drive EBITDA and profitability. Is that the right way to think about things?

Jim will answer, but the equilibrium we were talking about was in the tariffs and the passing the tariffs through and the industry equilibrating so that it's a little confusing with the different inventories and strategies as people implement them. So we think by the first of the year, the tariff situation will equate. Jim, do you want to answer the second part?

The second part, Phil, is if we kind of start with Q1, we'd expect somewhat normal seasonality, obviously, adjusting for the 4 shipping days I noted. Input costs -- and again, when we say input costs, it's everything. So it's not only material, it's wages, it's labor, it's energy and shipping costs, and that should continue to go up, but productivity and tariff price increases really should offset. And although it's difficult to kind of predict the volume trajectory, we do anticipate that the results should improve from a year-over-year perspective.

So Jim, did I hear you correctly, so the productivity and price not that should offset inflation. That's like in equilibrium. Is that right?

Yes. The combination of all those, that is the plan right now that they should -- should be able to basically offset.

Our next question comes from Stephen Kim from Evercore ISI.

This is Atish on for Stephen. Just going back to the commercial question. Can you give us an idea of how large the commercial piece is for the company overall and by segment as well? And then which of the larger verticals, maybe like on a dollar profit basis, are you seeing strength in and which ones are the most challenged?

Well, overall, from a company perspective, we have about 25% exposure to commercial, but a larger piece of that is in our Global Ceramic segment. And so you see strength not only in the U.S., but in Europe as well. And then in our U.S. business in Flooring North America, you have seen the backlog remained fairly stable led by the government and education channels.

The Rest of World channel has the lowest amount, very limited commercial in it.

That's helpful. And then -- just kind of taking a step back, overall, during this kind of challenge period, how are you managing your sales force? And then is there any distinction between how that's managed between commercial and resi? Any kind of color there would be helpful.

[indiscernible] what you're looking for. The sales forces, we have different sales forces in each business in each region, depending upon the region and the size of the business, they are more or less specialized depending on where it is. The most specialized ones would have very specific sales groups calling on retail. They have national accounts that would have multifamily would be separate and builder and you would have a unique sales force calling on each one of those. And then same thing and you get in the commercial categories. They would be broken down by different segments, and each of the segments would have specialists in it to be able to convey the value of the products to each. Now those would be the most specific, and then depending upon country and product category and how big it is, it could be a very limited segmentation up to the extreme of every category segmented.

Our next question comes from Trevor Allinson from Wolfe Research.

A follow-up question on the latest round of restructuring. Can you just talk about what you're accomplishing with this round that you didn't complete with the previous restructuring? Is it just incremental capacity coming off line? And does the recent restructuring impact either different product categories or geographies and previous actions? Just how should we think about that being distributed across your [indiscernible]?

It's fairly spread, Trevor, across all 3 segments. The segments continue to kind of challenge each of their structures. And so there's not necessarily specific, but we're looking at unprofitable products or plants that we could do a consolidation in as well as just exiting inefficient assets.

And it's also taking out costs in the administration as well as sales and marketing in addition to the operational costs everywhere.

Okay. That's helpful. And then I think Paul mentioned the LVT market in Europe becoming more competitive. Do you think that's due to more products moving into Europe from Asia due to the U.S. tariffs? Or is it simply just due to a weaker European market overall?

Yes. The LVT is the largest imported category in Europe. And although it's a lot smaller than in the U.S. It's also growing a little faster than the market. And so imports from China are growing and the market continues to be competitive. And then in Europe, we are combining both manufactured and sourced products to optimize our position in the market.

And our next question comes from Mike Dahl from RBC Capital Markets.

It's Chris on for Mike. Just going back to North America price mix. I'm just trying to get a better sense of net of the tariff dynamics, the key drivers there. Could you just provide a little more color on the competitive pricing pressures you talked about, how much of that is driving the inflection lower in price mix this quarter? And how much is just mixed down?

Sure. What we're seeing, obviously, is demand is lower and less than last year that's creating competition is very aggressive and promotions are being used. Residentiary modeling has probably impacted the most by consumer confidence, which is deferring projects and also creating some trade down. Internationally, political events are certainly constraining those markets. And in the midst of all this, we are continuing to see our ceramic with its commercial penetration, outperforming the other segments.

Got it. Okay. And then in terms of the outlook on price mix and layering in the tariff pricing out there. Do you guys have a best guess in terms of when we could see that segment return to positive price mix or some of the offsets and uncertainty around tariffs and so leave that uncertain?

From an overall company perspective, I would anticipate from a year-over-year variance that we will see some improvement in the fourth quarter as more pricing comes online. And then again, as we go into next year, continued improvement in that area.

And just to clarify, is that improvement sequentially in terms of full year in headwind, but moderating or year-on-year growth?

I'm talking about year-on-year.

We do have 1 additional question. It looks like it's from Timothy Wojs from Baird.

Maybe just 1 clarification and 1 question. So the clarification just on Phil's question, when you were talking, Jim, about kind of pricing and productivity kind of offsetting material costs. Were you talking more as you kind of enter 2026? Or were you kind of saying that should kind of be the expectation for '26?

I was talking about it as we entered 2026 looking at the first quarter into even the second quarter, depending on obviously what happens to material prices as we exit the year.

Okay. Okay. And then the second question, just in areas like ceramic, where your competition is raising prices because of tariffs and you're advantaged. How are you kind of approaching situations like that with regard to kind of optimizing price and volume? Are you trying to take price at the same time? Or are you kind of keeping price consistent and really pushing for volume in placements?

This is really a balance between all of them. You have to take each market, each product and what's going on and depending, you can see in our carpet business, the industry has been absorbing the pricing for 3 years. We haven't had a price increase. We have inflation every year. So the industry -- we announced prices and the whole industry has announced prices to try to get some of the coverage of the inflation back. We have to go through each product and category and evaluate it at the time.

And ladies and gentlemen, with that, we'll be ending today's question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the floor back over to Jeff Lorberbaum for our closing remarks.

Mohawk is taking many actions to prepare for the recovery of the markets that we're in. We are at the bottom of the cycle. We can't determine the exact inflection point, but there is significant demand for housing, remodeling that's been postponed and with the interest rates coming down, we know we're going to see better times ahead. We just can't pick the moment.

We appreciate you joining our call, and thank you for taking time to be here.

And ladies and gentlemen, that will conclude today's conference call and presentation. We do thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.