Ryerson Holding Corporation

Ryerson reported Q2 2026 net sales of $2.01 billion, up 28.1% sequentially, with ton shipped up 22.6% and average selling prices up 4.5%. Same-store revenue was $1.44 billion, up 11.5% sequentially, with same-store tons up 4% and same-store average selling prices up 7.2%. Gross margin was 17.7%, down 70 basis points from 18.4% in Q1, while adjusted gross margin excluding LIFO expanded to 19.3% from 19.1%. Net income was $15.5 million, or $0.30 per diluted share, versus $4.5 million, or $0.10 per share in Q1; adjusted net income was $27.6 million, or $0.52 per diluted share. Adjusted EBITDA excluding LIFO was $101 million, above guidance of $88 million to $92 million. For Q3, the company expects revenue of $1.87 billion to $1.95 billion, volumes 3% to 5% lower sequentially, ASPs flat to up 2%, adjusted net income of $19 million to $21 million, EPS of $0.37 to $0.40, and adjusted EBITDA excluding LIFO of $88 million to $92 million. Management also expects $16 million to $18 million of LIFO expense and approximately $5 million to $7 million of additional purchase accounting adjustments through year-end.

Eddie Lehner said the quarter showed Ryerson making progress toward higher-quality earnings through the cycle, with merger-related synergies, better customer experience, and market share gains starting to show up in results. He emphasized that demand is improving in selected end markets such as AI, aerospace, defense, semiconductor, and electrification, while transaction wins are being driven by better service levels, inventory placement, and quoting speed. His tone was constructive and confident, but he acknowledged that the company is still early in realizing the full value of the Ryerson-Olympic Steel combination.

Jim Claussen highlighted the quarter’s financial outperformance, including $2.01 billion of revenue, $15.5 million of net income, $27.6 million of adjusted net income, and $101 million of adjusted EBITDA excluding LIFO. He noted that Q2 gross margin was reduced by a $15.7 million purchase accounting adjustment and that the company recorded $17 million of LIFO expense. On liquidity and capital allocation, he said capex was $16 million in Q2, year-to-date capex was $29 million, full-year capex is expected to be about $75 million, net debt was $913 million, total liquidity increased to $757 million, and the board maintained the quarterly dividend at 18.75 cents per share. He also said working capital should moderate in Q3, supporting free cash flow and net debt reduction toward about 3x net leverage by year-end.

Analysts focused on why transactional business is outperforming contractual business and how wide the margin gap is between the two. Management said the gap is currently about 700 to 800 basis points, versus a more typical historical spread of 600 to 700 basis points, and attributed the current weakness in program business to index-based contract timing, supply-side constraints, and lingering price-cost lag. They also addressed freight and delivery cost pressure, saying pass-throughs exist but can lag, especially on program business, while the company works to reduce miles and trips through network optimization and synergies.