Hayward Holdings, Inc.

Second-quarter net sales increased 6% year over year to $318 million. Gross profit increased 8% to $155 million, gross margin declined 50 basis points to 48.7%, adjusted EBITDA increased 5% to $93 million, and adjusted diluted EPS increased 8% to $0.26. North America sales rose 9% to $278 million, while Europe and Rest of World fell 8% to $41 million. For the first half, net sales were up 9%, adjusted EBITDA was up 9%, and adjusted diluted EPS was up 18%. Management kept full-year 2026 guidance unchanged: net sales up approximately 5%, adjusted diluted EPS up approximately 9% to 13% to $0.84 to $0.87, free cash flow around $200 million, net interest expense of about $45 million, normalized tax rate around 24%, and CapEx of about $40 million.

Kevin Holleran framed the quarter as another strong result and said Hayward is gaining traction through its installed-base aftermarket model, product innovation, and disciplined execution. He emphasized strategic initiatives around the OmniX platform, dealer training hubs, AI-enabled customer service, nearshoring, and dual sourcing to support both growth and resilience. His tone was confident and upbeat, repeatedly stressing share gains, profitability, and long-term industry fundamentals.

Eifion Jones focused on the numbers and balance sheet improvements. He highlighted $318 million of sales, $155 million of gross profit, 48.7% gross margin, $93 million of adjusted EBITDA, and $0.26 adjusted EPS, while noting North America gross margin was 50.4% and Europe/Rest of World gross margin improved to 37.9%. He also detailed the refinancing of a $960 million Term Loan B, the new $425 million revolver, reduced annual interest expense by about $6 million, $483 million of cash and short-term investments, net leverage at 1.5x, $154 million of free cash flow in the first half, and about $64 million spent on repurchasing 4.4 million shares.

Analysts focused on channel inventory, competitor dislocation, pricing power, and margin outlook. Management said channel inventories were “very normal,” around just over four months in aggregate exiting June, and noted Q2 sell-out was healthy, with Hayward sales-out slightly better than the broader equipment category. On pricing, management said it can continue to pass through inflation dollar-for-dollar while using cost actions and productivity to protect structural margin; on IEEPA refunds, they said the expected total is less than $10 million, mostly $8 million to $10 million, and nothing is embedded in guidance yet.