Eagle Materials Inc (EXP) 2027 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Eagle Materials first-quarter of fiscal 2027 earnings conference call. This call is being recorded.

各位好，歡迎參加 Eagle Materials 2027 財政年度第一季財報電話會議。本次電話會議將被錄音。

At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Eagle's President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Michael Haack. Mr. Haack, please go ahead, sir.

此刻，我想把電話會議交給 Eagle 總裁兼執行長 Michael Haack 先生。Haack 先生，請開始。

Thanks, Chuck. Good morning. Welcome to Eagle Materials conference call for our first quarter of fiscal year 2027. This is Michael Haack. Joining me today are Craig Kesler, our Chief Financial Officer; and Alex Haddock, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations, Strategy and Corporate Development. There will be a slide presentation made in connection with this call. To access it, please go to eaglematerials.com and click on the link to the webcast.

謝謝你，Chuck。各位早安。歡迎參加 Eagle Materials 2027 財政年度第一季電話會議。我是 Michael Haack。今天與我一同出席的有：財務長 Craig Kesler，以及投資人關係、策略與企業發展資深副總裁 Alex Haddock。本次電話會議將搭配投影片簡報。如需存取，請前往 eaglematerials.com 並點選網路直播連結。

While you're accessing the slides, please note that the first slide covers our cautionary disclosure regarding forward-looking statements made during this call. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ from those discussed during the call.

在您開啟投影片的同時，請注意第一張投影片涵蓋我們對本次電話會議中所作前瞻性陳述的警示性揭露。這些陳述存在風險與不確定性，可能導致實際結果與本次電話會議中討論者有所差異。

For further information, please refer to this disclosure, which is also included at the end of our press release.

如需進一步資訊，請參閱該揭露內容；該內容亦收錄於我們新聞稿的末尾。

Thank you all for joining us today. Against the backdrop of macroeconomic uncertainty, we are pleased to report steady results for the first quarter of the fiscal year. Our first-quarter revenue was a record $651 million. We generated earnings per share of $3.29 and our gross margin was 24.8%. These results highlight how our low-cost producer position allows us to successfully navigate and execute in dynamic environments.

感謝各位今天加入我們。在宏觀經濟不確定性的背景下，我們很高興報告本財年第一季取得穩健的業績。第一季營收創新高，達 6.51 億美元。每股盈餘為 3.29 美元，毛利率為 24.8%。這些結果凸顯我們作為低成本生產者的定位，使我們能在多變環境中成功因應並有效執行。

Last month, we published our annual report, shareholder letter, and an updated corporate sustainability report highlighting our progress across Eagle for FY26. These documents highlight how we strive to consistently make our operations safer and our assets more efficient to maintain our low-cost producer position is our belief that a safe, efficient operation also yields better shareholder returns.

上個月，我們發布了年度報告、致股東信，以及更新後的企業永續報告，重點呈現 Eagle 在 26 財年（FY26）的各項進展。這些文件說明我們如何持續努力讓營運更安全、資產更有效率，以維持低成本生產者的定位；我們相信安全且高效率的營運也能帶來更佳的股東報酬。

Everything we do at Eagle starts with protecting our employees' health and well-being. Candidly, our safety results weren't where we want them to be. We are not at zero. We will continue to expand our use of technology, training, and the sharing of best practices to further improve our safety culture at Eagle.

在 Eagle，我們所做的一切都始於保護員工的健康與福祉。坦白說，我們的安全表現未達到我們期望的水準。我們尚未達到零事故。我們將持續擴大科技應用、訓練，以及最佳實務的分享，以進一步強化 Eagle 的安全文化。

Environmentally, across our asset footprint, we have driven down our CO2 intensity and overall emissions levels while increasing the usage of alternative fuels at our facilities. Our drive for efficiency led us to explore alternative uses of previous waste streams across all of our businesses.

在環境面向上，於我們的資產版圖中，我們在提高替代燃料使用比例的同時，已降低 CO2 強度與整體排放水準。我們對效率的追求，也促使我們在所有事業中探索過去廢棄物流的替代用途。

Moving mine material multiple times is not efficient and is costly. Through testing and analysis, we have found new uses for a lot of the material that was once considered waste. Most of this material will be converted to revenue streams, while the remainder will help improve manufacturing processes.

礦料多次搬運既沒有效率，也成本高昂。透過測試與分析，我們為許多過去被視為廢棄物的材料找到了新用途。其中大部分材料將轉化為營收來源，其餘則將有助於改善製造流程。

To this extent, I'm happy to report that we utilized over 550,000 tons of materials that were reclaimed or would have been placed back in the quarry in previous years during fiscal year '26. Importantly, our safety and operational investments are not influenced by changing macroeconomic fluctuations.

在此方面，我很高興報告：於 26 財年，我們利用了超過 55 萬噸的材料，這些材料是回收再利用的，或在以往年度本會被回填至採石場。重要的是，我們在安全與營運方面的投資不會受到宏觀經濟波動變化的影響。

Our strategy is to execute through cycles on projects that have compelling paybacks. We seek to increase the long-term profitability potential of our core businesses with a multi-cycle approach focused on resilience, peak-to-trough, and compounding earnings potential peak-to-peak. This is especially valuable in the current demand environment when our end markets continue to be in different points of their respective cycles.

我們的策略是在景氣循環中持續執行具備可觀回收效益的專案。我們以跨循環的方法，聚焦於韌性、由高峰到谷底（peak-to-trough）以及由高峰到高峰（peak-to-peak）的獲利累積潛力，來提升核心事業的長期獲利能力。在目前的需求環境下，這點尤其重要，因為我們的終端市場仍處於各自循環的不同階段。

On the Heavy side, our Cement and Aggregates volumes continue to be supported by elevated infrastructure spending driven by Federal IIJA bill and elevated State DOT budgets. Even as questions remain about what comes next from the potential new federal infrastructure bill. Or the growth profile of state dot budgets, our customers report a robust pipeline of multi-year infrastructure projects.

在重型（Heavy）業務方面，我們的水泥與骨材出貨量持續受惠於基礎建設支出維持高檔，主要由聯邦《IIJA》法案以及各州交通部（State DOT）預算偏高所帶動。即便市場仍對潛在的新聯邦基礎建設法案後續走向存有疑問，或對各州交通部預算的成長輪廓有所疑慮，我們的客戶仍回報多年度基礎建設專案管線相當強勁。

Similarly, our customers across all of our regions are seeing growth in data center construction. We are still quantifying the impact on our volumes of rapid data center growth. What we do know is our customers are seeing an increased number of projects. Building footprint sizes, and visibility from project announcement to actual construction.

同樣地，我們各區域的客戶也看到資料中心建設的成長。我們仍在量化資料中心快速成長對我們出貨量的影響。我們確知的是，客戶看到的專案數量正在增加，建築占地規模擴大，且從專案宣布到實際動工的可視性提高。

They are also seeing this growth spill over into other categories, such as utilities, warehousing, and community buildouts. The volume growth in the Cement and Aggregates was also supported by our pricing initiatives in these businesses, with the gross price of cement up about 1% year over year.

他們也看到這股成長外溢到其他類別，例如公用事業、倉儲，以及社區開發建設。水泥與骨材的量增也受到我們在這些業務的定價措施支持，水泥毛價年增約 1%。

The strength of our cement sales volumes was offset by an approximately $6 million earnings impact resulting from unexpected equipment failure at the Mountain Cement facility, some of which we expect to recover through our insurance coverage.

我們水泥銷售量的強勁表現，被 Mountain Cement 廠意外設備故障所造成約 600 萬美元的獲利影響所抵銷；其中一部分我們預期可透過保險理賠回收。

The kilns at Mountain are 1960s vintage and they are showing their age, further underscoring the rationale and importance of the new modern kiln line we are installing. The fact that our sales volumes were not impacted shows how robust the cement network we've built is, as we were able to bring in cement from across our footprint to meet customer demand without any disruption.

Mountain 的窯爐為 1960 年代的設備，已顯老態，進一步凸顯我們正在安裝的新型現代化窯線的合理性與重要性。我們的銷售量未受影響，顯示我們所建立的水泥供應網路相當強韌；我們得以從整體版圖內調度水泥以滿足客戶需求，且未造成任何中斷。

Here in late July, the equipment issues have been largely resolved. These additional movements and elevated freight rates broadly impacted our net cement prices. The net volume growth, however, should set up nicely for better net price realization over the medium term, further benefiting from energy costs that should normalize.

截至 7 月下旬，設備問題大致已解決。這些額外調度以及整體偏高的運費，普遍影響了我們的水泥淨售價。然而，淨出貨量的成長應可在中期帶來更佳的淨價實現，並進一步受惠於能源成本可望回歸常態。

Infrastructure and non-residential construction make up about 80% of our Heavy side end market exposure, so growth in those markets has offset the softness in residential construction.

基礎建設與非住宅建築約占我們重型（Heavy）業務終端市場曝險的 80%，因此這些市場的成長已抵銷住宅建築的疲弱。

On the Light side of our businesses, residential construction represents about 80% of our Wallboard end market exposure.

在輕型（Light）業務方面，住宅建築約占我們石膏板（Wallboard）終端市場曝險的 80%。

While there has not been a near-term catalyst to help bring down mortgage rates and spur a rebound in home construction, we have seen relatively stable demand levels. Our Wallboard is priced on a delivered basis, so the increased freight rates we saw last quarter were the primary driver for our June 1 price increase in Wallboard, which would not be typical in this volume environment.

雖然短期內尚未出現能夠壓低房貸利率並帶動住宅開工反彈的催化因素，我們仍看到需求水準相對穩定。我們的石膏板採到貨價（delivered basis）定價，因此上季所見的運費上升是我們 6 月 1 日調漲石膏板價格的主要原因；在目前這樣的出貨量環境下，這並不常見。

We believe Wallboard pricing additionally reflects the cost pressures that the rest of the industry other than Eagle are facing and that go beyond the elevated freight costs.

我們認為，Wallboard 的定價也反映了除 Eagle 之外、產業其他同業所面臨且超出高企運費成本的成本壓力。

Outside of freight, our costs were relatively benign this quarter, especially given our unique raw materials position with decades of low-cost gypsum across our upward footprint. Both the dynamic macroeconomic environment and the freight cost disruptions we've seen clearly demonstrate the benefits of our strategy to reinforce our position at the low end of the cost curve and to invest in high-return projects through the cycles.

除運費之外，本季我們的成本相對溫和，尤其考量到我們在原材料方面具備獨特優勢：在我們向上延伸的版圖中，擁有數十年低成本石膏資源。動態的總體經濟環境以及我們所見到的運費成本擾動，清楚展現了我們策略的效益：鞏固我們在成本曲線低端的位置，並在景氣循環中投資於高報酬專案。

Whether through our typical capital projects across our plants and quarries or larger modernizations that meet our strategic and financial criteria. We are making excellent progress on two larger and unique high-return modernization projects currently underway.

無論是我們在各工廠與採石場推動的常規資本專案，或是符合我們策略與財務標準的較大型現代化改造。目前我們正在進行兩項更大型且獨特的高報酬現代化專案，進展非常順利。

The project at our Laramie, Wyoming cement plant will reduce the facility's operating cost by 25% and the Duke, Oklahoma Wallboard Plant modernization will reduce the operating cost of that facility by 20%. Construction for Laramie Cement Plant is still on track to be completed late this year and commissioning plan for the first part of next year and the Duke Wallboard Plant should commission towards the latter half of 2027.

我們位於懷俄明州拉勒米（Laramie）的水泥廠專案將使該設施營運成本降低 25%，而奧克拉荷馬州杜克（Duke）的 Wallboard 工廠現代化改造將使該設施營運成本降低 20%。拉勒米水泥廠的施工仍按計畫於今年稍晚完工，並規劃於明年上半年進行第一階段試車投產；杜克 Wallboard 工廠則預計在 2027 年下半年左右試車投產。

Through the investments we make, larger modernizations or routine smaller capital projects, we remain well positioned despite cost spikes and challenged end market dynamics like we're seeing in housing today. With our capital expenditures from these two projects reaching a peak this year, we are still able to pursue additional high return growth opportunities organically or through M&A and return capital to our shareholders.

透過我們所進行的投資——無論是大型現代化改造或例行的小型資本專案——即使面臨成本飆升以及如同當前住宅市場所見的終端市場動態挑戰，我們仍維持良好定位。隨著這兩項專案的資本支出於今年達到高峰，我們仍能以內生成長或透過併購（M&A）追求其他高報酬成長機會，並回饋資本給股東。

With those comments, let me turn it over to you, Craig.

以上是我的補充，接下來交給你，Craig。

Thank you, Michael. As mentioned, we delivered record first quarter revenue of $651 million, up 3% year-over-year. The increase was driven primarily by higher cement sales volume, record Recycled Paperboard sales volume and increased aggregate sales. The revenue growth was offset by higher operating costs, primarily in Cement and Wallboard.

謝謝你，Michael。如前所述，我們第一季營收創下新高，達 6.51 億美元，年增 3%。成長主要來自水泥銷售量增加、再生紙板銷售量創新高，以及骨材銷售增加。然而，營收成長被較高的營運成本所抵銷，主要發生在水泥與 Wallboard 業務。

Increased freight costs and unexpected downtime at our Mountain Cement plant were the primary drivers, contributing to a 13% decrease in first quarter earnings per share. This impact was partially offset by a 5% reduction in our fully diluted shares as a result of our share repurchase program.

運費成本上升以及我們 Mountain Cement 工廠的非預期停機，是主要驅動因素，導致第一季每股盈餘下降 13%。此影響部分被我們股票回購計畫帶來的完全稀釋股數下降 5% 所抵銷。

Turning now to segment performance highlighted on the next slide. In our Heavy Materials sector, which includes our Cement and Concrete and Aggregate segments. Revenue was up 8%, driven primarily by increased cement and aggregate sales volume, underscoring healthy underlying demand.

接著看下一張投影片所示的分部表現。在我們的重型材料（Heavy Materials）事業群（包含水泥與混凝土，以及骨材分部）中，營收年增 8%，主要由水泥與骨材銷售量增加所帶動，凸顯基礎需求依然健康。

Sales volume growth in both business lines was supported by continued strength in public infrastructure spending, as well as key areas of private nonresidential construction, such as data center development. Operating earnings in the sector were down 11%, primarily because of the impact of higher freight and raw material costs. And the $6 million impact from the downtime of mountain Cement.

兩條業務線的銷售量成長，受惠於公共基礎建設支出持續強勁，以及部分民間非住宅建築的關鍵領域（例如資料中心開發）。該事業群的營業利益年減 11%，主要因運費與原材料成本上升的影響。以及 Mountain Cement 停機帶來的 600 萬美元影響。

Moving to Light Materials sector on the next slide. First quarter revenue in our Light Materials sector declined 5%, reflecting lower Wallboard sales volume and sales prices, which were partially offset by record Recycled Paperboard sales volume. Operating earnings in the sector were down 16%, reflecting lower Wallboard sales volume and higher freight costs.

接著看下一張投影片的輕型材料（Light Materials）事業群。本季輕型材料事業群營收下滑 5%，反映 Wallboard 銷售量與售價下降，但部分被再生紙板銷售量創新高所抵銷。該事業群的營業利益下滑 16%，反映 Wallboard 銷售量下降以及運費成本上升。

Looking now at our cash flow, we continue to generate strong cash flow and allocate capital in a disciplined manner, consistent with our long-term strategic priorities. During the first quarter, operating cash flow increased 13% to $154 million, reflecting the strength of our businesses, the resilience of our operating model, and the expected tax benefits from the capital spending program.

再來看我們的現金流：我們持續創造強勁現金流，並以紀律方式配置資本，與我們長期策略優先事項一致。第一季營運現金流年增 13% 至 1.54 億美元，反映我們業務的強勁表現、營運模式的韌性，以及資本支出計畫帶來的預期稅務效益。

Capital expenditures totaled $121 million during the quarter, driven primarily by investments in the modernization and expansion of our Mountain Cement plant in Laramie, Wyoming, and the modernization of our Duke, Oklahoma Wallboard facility. These projects will enhance operating efficiency, improve reliability, and further strengthen our competitive position.

本季資本支出合計 1.21 億美元，主要由對懷俄明州拉勒米 Mountain Cement 工廠的現代化與擴建投資，以及對奧克拉荷馬州杜克 Wallboard 設施的現代化投資所帶動。這些專案將提升營運效率、改善可靠性，並進一步強化我們的競爭地位。

We continue to expect fiscal 2027 capital expenditures to range between $490 million and $525 million to fund these strategic growth initiatives as well as ongoing sustaining capital investments across the company. Capital spending is expected to peak in fiscal 2027 with construction at Mountain Cement scheduled to be completed later this year and the Duke project anticipated to be completed in mid-fiscal 2028.

我們仍預期 2027 會計年度資本支出將介於 4.90 億至 5.25 億美元，用以支持這些策略性成長計畫，以及公司各項持續性維持資本投資。預期資本支出將於 2027 會計年度達到高峰；Mountain Cement 的施工預計於今年稍晚完成，而杜克專案預計於 2028 會計年度中期完成。

At the same time, we remain committed to returning capital to shareholders, a goal enabled by our strong balance sheet. During the first quarter, we returned a total of $92 million through our quarterly dividend and the repurchase of approximately 406,000 shares for $84 million. We ended the quarter with approximately 2.5 million shares remaining under our current repurchase authorization.

同時，我們仍致力於回饋資本給股東，而這項目標得以實現，仰賴我們強健的資產負債表。第一季我們透過季度股利，以及以 8,400 萬美元回購約 406,000 股，合計回饋 9,200 萬美元。季末在現行回購授權下，尚餘約 250 萬股可供回購。

Let's look now at our capital structure. We remain committed to maintaining a prudent capital structure that gives us significant financial flexibility, which is especially important in uncertain economic conditions. At June 30, 2026, our net debt-to-cap ratio is 51% and our net debt-to-EBITDA leverage ratio is 2.1 times.

接著看我們的資本結構。我們仍致力於維持審慎的資本結構，以提供顯著的財務彈性，這在不確定的經濟環境下尤其重要。截至 2026 年 6 月 30 日，我們的淨負債占資本比率為 51%，淨負債對 EBITDA 槓桿倍數為 2.1 倍。

We believe these levels are both prudent and supportive of our growth strategy. We ended the quarter with $234 million of cash on hand and nearly $1 billion of total committed liquidity. Importantly, we have no significant near-term debt maturities, positioning us well to continue investing in the businesses while returning cash to our shareholders and maintaining a strong and flexible balance sheet.

我們認為這些水準既審慎，也能支持我們的成長策略。季末我們持有現金 2.34 億美元，總承諾流動性接近 10 億美元。重要的是，我們近期沒有重大到期債務，使我們能在持續投資業務的同時，回饋現金給股東並維持強健且具彈性的資產負債表。

Thank you for joining today's call. Chuck will now open the line for questions.

感謝各位參與今天的電話會議。接下來 Chuck 將開放提問。

(Operator Instructions)

（接線員指示）

Trey Grooms, Stephens.

Trey Grooms，Stephens。

I wanted to touch on Wallboard volume. So it held in really well, especially given the tough comps and you saw the strong industry numbers as well. Just curious to maybe get your thoughts on what's going on there. The starts data has just been bouncing around still pretty subdued levels and Wallboards seem to really outperform, in this most recent data and in your results. So anyway, just curious your take on the relative strength there?

我想談一下 Wallboard 的出貨量。在比較基期很艱難的情況下，它仍維持得非常好，而且你們也看到產業數據表現強勁。我只是想請教你們對於背後發生什麼事的看法。開工數據仍在波動，整體水準偏低，但 Wallboard 在最近的數據以及你們的結果中似乎明顯優於整體。所以，想請教你們對於這種相對強勢的看法？

Yeah, Trey, we've talked a lot about where housing is today and has been now for quite some time. What I would typically look at is trough level activities. And so, again, with interest rates being a little bit higher over the last period of time, that's kept the activity level a little lower. But there's still good demand, and we're still structurally short supply of homes in the US, so there's a balance there.

是的，Trey，我們已經談過很多關於目前住宅市場的狀況，而且這樣的狀況已持續一段時間。我通常會看的，是谷底水準的活動量。因此，再次強調，過去一段時間利率稍高，使得活動水準偏低一些。但需求仍然不錯，而且美國在結構上仍存在住宅供給不足，所以兩者之間仍有一個平衡。

But the activity levels are hanging in there, as you say, better than anticipated. But that's just given the environment and the low construction activity we've been at for many years now.

但如你所說，活動水準仍然撐得住，表現比預期更好。不過這主要是考量到整體環境，以及我們多年來一直處於偏低的建築活動水準。

Yeah, okay. I didn't know if there was anything unique going on in the quarter, but it doesn't sound like that's the case. Okay, and then you mentioned on cement kind of better net pricing realization maybe over the medium term, which brings up the question around maybe the Canadian tariffs on cement. I'd love to get your take on any potential impacts that this could have in your markets, maybe any impact of supply or potential pricing in any of your, maybe your more Midwest markets?

好，了解。我不確定這一季是否有什麼特殊因素在發生，但聽起來似乎不是這樣。好，另外你提到水泥在中期可能有較好的淨價格實現，這也引出一個問題：加拿大對水泥的關稅。我很想聽聽你對這可能在你們市場造成的任何潛在影響的看法，例如供應面的影響，或是在你們某些市場（也許是較偏中西部的市場）對價格的潛在影響？

Yeah, when you look at that tray in particular, you look at, you got to take a step back and look at the US as a whole first and then kind of drill into where those impacts would happen and we are pretty balanced on cement supply demand dynamics across the US and you can see the volume movements that we've had. This past quarter to kind of reflect that with it.

是的，當你特別看那個盤勢時，你得先退一步，先從整體美國市場來看，然後再深入到影響會發生在哪些地方；而我們在全美的水泥供需動態相當均衡，你也可以從我們的出貨量變動看出來。而這一季的表現也某種程度反映了這點。

Any pressure on that will have a little bit of a waterfalling effect with it. We don't participate as much in the northeast section where most of that cement comes in. However, there probably would be a waterfall type impact to that. So any tightening of the supply chain is just it's already tight today with the supply demand dynamics. So any tightening of that would be beneficial for a pricing environment or for supply-demand environment.

任何在那方面的壓力都會帶來一些連鎖式的瀑布效應。我們在東北部的參與度沒那麼高，而大多數進口水泥是進到那個區域。不過，確實可能會有那種瀑布式的影響。因此，任何供應鏈的收緊——其實在目前供需動態下供應鏈本來就已經很緊。所以任何進一步收緊，對定價環境或供需環境都會是有利的。

That makes sense. Thanks for that. Last one for me, and this one's looking out a bit, a little bit higher level, but you guys continue to put up nice cash generation. You continue to buy back stock. Your capital projects are going well, and they're going to be winding down, I guess, in the next 12 months or so, just roughly. And presumably, we would be in a better demand environment at that point.

這很合理。謝謝你的說明。我最後一個問題，稍微往前看、也比較高層次一些：你們持續創造不錯的現金流。也持續回購股票。資本專案進展順利，而且我想大概在未來12個月左右會逐步收尾。而且到那時候，推測需求環境也會更好。

And with the lower cost operations that you're going to have in those plants, it seems like you'd be in a position of very strong free cash flow generation when we get -- especially once we get past these capital projects. So my question on that is longer-term thinking on, are there other, internal projects that you see where there's -- because it seems like it's a continuous kind of effort from you guys that you've seen over the last several decades.

再加上那些工廠將具備更低成本的營運，看起來一旦——尤其是等這些資本專案結束之後——你們會處在能夠非常強勁地創造自由現金流的位置。所以我想問的是，從更長期的角度來看，你們是否看到其他內部專案——因為看起來你們在過去幾十年一直在做這種持續性的努力。

But any additional, internal projects worth noting, thoughts on, how you would approach. The stock buyback, M&A, et cetera, because you're going to have a lot of cash flow generation once these projects are behind you.

是否有任何額外值得一提的內部專案？以及你們會如何思考與採取作法，例如股票回購、併購等，因為一旦這些專案告一段落，你們將會有大量的現金流產生。

Yeah, Trey, when we look at it, we look at all of our operations continuously. Each of our operations, we do a set strategy for and look at where they reside, what the health of that facility is, what the investments of that facility need to be, and plan those out over a multi years with it.

是的，Trey，我們在看這件事時，會持續檢視我們所有的營運據點。對於每一個營運據點，我們都會制定一套策略，評估它所處的位置、該設施的健康狀況、需要哪些投資，並把這些規劃拉到多年期來安排。

The main thing on the growth side with that with the unique projects we have with regards to Mountain and Duke still revolve around the permitting aspect of a lot of those facilities. It is very difficult to get a permit just to even expand a facility. So that's where, like I said, we continue to look at everything that would make sense to improve, but it still resides back down to a long permitting process if we could even get that permit and then what those investments are with it.

在成長面上，關於我們在 Mountain 和 Duke 的一些特殊專案，主要仍然圍繞在許多設施的許可（permitting）議題。即便只是要擴建一個設施，要取得許可都非常困難。所以就像我說的，我們會持續評估所有合理、能帶來改善的事項，但最終仍取決於能否取得許可、以及漫長的許可流程，然後才是相關投資金額。

On the M&A front, we've always continuously looked at M&A. We are value buyers in a lot of ways, so we will look at M&A with our financial criteria that makes sense for us. That determines -- the price really determines what we'll do on the M&A front and where it's located and it fits into our strategic footprint.

在併購（M&A）方面，我們一直都持續在看。我們在很多方面是價值型買家，因此會依照對我們合理的財務標準來評估併購。這取決於——價格其實真正決定了我們在併購面會做什麼，以及標的所在地是否符合我們的策略版圖。

With that, we look at a lot of transactions every year. We will continue to look at a lot of transactions and if they make sense from our financial perspectives, we will be -- definitely buyers. We have the financial balance sheet to do M&A transactions with it, but they have to meet those strict criteria we have.

因此，我們每年都會看很多交易案。我們也會持續看很多交易；如果從財務角度來看是合理的，我們就會——確實會成為買方。我們的資產負債表足以支撐併購交易，但前提是必須符合我們那些嚴格的標準。

Then I'll turn it over to Craig on the share buyback side and some of the other uses of capital that we have on that side.

接著我把問題交給 Craig，請他談談股票回購以及我們在資本運用上的其他用途。

I think you pointed it out, we position ourselves with a good balance sheet, good free cash flow. We can continue to balance the approach of capital allocation, whether that's good growth projects, as Michael highlighted, whether that's organic or M&A. And then we've been a serial acquirer of our own shares for not just the last five or 10 years, but for 20 years. And we continue to see good value in the shares. And so, it will be a continued balanced approach to how we deploy capital.

我想你已經點出來了：我們以良好的資產負債表、良好的自由現金流來定位自己。我們可以持續在資本配置上取得平衡：不論是好的成長專案（如 Michael 所強調的），不論是有機成長或併購。另外，我們回購自家股票不是只有過去5到10年，而是20年來一直如此。我們仍然認為這些股票具有不錯的價值。因此，我們在資本部署上會持續採取一個平衡的做法。

That's it for me. Thanks for all the color, guys. I'll pass it on.

我這邊就到這裡。謝謝各位提供這麼多細節。我把時間交給下一位。

Brian Brophy, Stifel.

Brian Brophy，Stifel。

It looks like cement volumes were a little bit stronger than some of the other peers that have reported. Just any color that you're seeing on what's driving this and where the sources of strength have been? Thanks.

看起來你們的水泥銷量比一些已經公布的同業稍微更強。能否分享一下你們觀察到的驅動因素是什麼、強勁動能主要來自哪些來源？謝謝。

It was pretty broad-based across our markets, Brian. And look, it's consistent with what we've been talking about in terms of the primary driver for demand in the US for cement is public infrastructure. We have very supportive federal spending levels. State levels continue to be very supportive, so strength there.

Brian，我們各個市場的表現都相當廣泛、普遍偏強。而且你看，這也符合我們一直在談的：美國水泥需求的主要驅動力是公共基礎建設。聯邦支出水準非常有支撐。各州層級也持續非常支持，所以那邊的力道很強。

The private non-residential construction activity, especially around data centers and the activities that follow along with that, continue to be strong, probably in the early innings of some of that activity. So we've been very happy with our footprint, and our footprint continues to perform very well.

民間非住宅建築活動，特別是資料中心以及隨之而來的相關活動，仍然很強，可能還在早期階段。所以我們對自己的布局感到非常滿意，而我們的布局也持續表現得非常好。

Yeah, that's helpful. And then just as a follow up to that, are there any notable differences in cement pricing that you're seeing across your footprint? And I'm particularly curious as to what you're seeing in Texas at the moment. Thanks.

是的，這很有幫助。再追問一下，你們在整個布局範圍內看到的水泥定價是否有任何顯著差異？我特別好奇你們目前在德州看到的情況。謝謝。

Cement's a very regional business. The shipping radius is pretty limited. So you will see different regions have different dynamics, whether that's demand-oriented or supply-oriented. So we had definitely some markets where we were able to move pricing in the springtime, if you will, here in the early summer.

水泥是一個非常區域性的產業。運輸半徑相當有限。因此你會看到不同地區有不同的動態，可能是需求端導向或供給端導向。所以我們確實在一些市場於春季（如果你這麼說的話），也就是初夏這段時間，得以調整價格。

And then, other markets weren't conducive to that. So it's really market by market as how we manage the business.

然後，其他市場則不利於這麼做。所以我們管理業務時，確實是逐一市場來看。

Anthony Pettinari, Citi.

Anthony Pettinari，花旗。

Your net Cement sales price was down 2%, and if I look at last year at fiscal 1Q, they were also, I guess, flat year over year. So we're kind of on two years of maybe flat to down prices. I'm just wondering from the big picture if you could give any context in terms of what you think is driving the flattish pricing in the face of rising costs, is it really just come down to the housing market?

你們的水泥淨銷售價格下滑了2%，而如果我看去年會計年度第1季，我想也是年對年持平。所以我們大概是連續兩年價格可能持平到下滑。我想從更宏觀的角度請你提供一些背景：在成本上升的情況下，究竟是什麼在驅動這種偏平的定價？是否真的只是回到房市的問題？

Are there changes to import dynamics? Are there really strong regional changes? I'm just wondering stepping back, how you characterize the last year and a half in terms of pricing and what's driving that?

進口動態有變化嗎？是否存在非常強烈的區域性變化？我想退一步看，你會如何描述過去一年半的定價狀況，以及背後的驅動因素是什麼？

Yeah, Anthony, good identification. I would say it's two separate issues. If you go back to a year ago with pricing being flattish, you'll recall that we were coming off of two consecutive years with nationally cement consumption being down in the US. And so much tougher environment to get a price increase. So that's a year ago.

是的，Anthony，你觀察得很到位。我會說這是兩個不同的問題。如果回到一年前，當時價格偏平，你會記得我們剛經歷美國全國水泥消費量連續兩年下滑。因此要推動漲價的環境要困難得多。那是一年前的情況。

Now, we've continued to see. Improvements in volume over the last 12 months. And so, that's why we bifurcated in the earnings release gross prices versus net. So the second issue, which is this year's issue, so we actually did have some markets that saw a gross price increase, but with elevated freight costs that more than offset those price increases.

而現在，我們在過去12個月持續看到，銷量有所改善。因此我們在財報新聞稿中把毛價與淨價做了區分。第二個問題，也就是今年的問題：我們其實確實有一些市場出現毛價上漲，但在運費成本居高不下的情況下，運費上升幅度超過了這些漲價，因而被抵銷。

So that's why we tried to separate the two, but we did see some gross price improvement, but on a net basis, net of freight, they were down slightly.

所以我們才試著把兩者分開說明；我們確實看到毛價有所改善，但以淨額來看、扣除運費後，則是小幅下滑。

Okay, that's very helpful. And then that spread, that $3 a ton, gross up 1%, net down 2%. Any view on how that would be trending in July or thinking about fiscal 2Q, understanding it's a very volatile situation on fuel freight?

好的，這很有幫助。另外，那個差距——每噸3美元，毛價上升1%，淨價下滑2%。考量燃料與運輸費用非常波動，你們對7月的走勢或對會計年度第2季有什麼看法嗎？

Yeah, look, I think probably a little early to call a lot of geopolitical issues across the globe right now that is really driving a lot of that. Certainly, oil still being elevated, diesel being elevated, that's driving some of that. And we've also seen underlying freight rates go up. So I don't want to say it was all diesel oriented, which in some ways is a good thing, the truckers are busy. But a little early to try to speculate if and when that comes down.

是的，你看，我覺得現在要下定論可能還太早，因為目前全球有很多地緣政治議題，確實在驅動其中很大一部分變動。當然，原油仍在高檔、柴油也在高檔，這推升了部分成本。我們也看到基礎運價上升。所以我不想說這完全是柴油因素；某種程度上這也是好事，代表卡車司機很忙。但現在要推測何時、以及是否會回落，還太早。

Timna Tanners, Wells Fargo.

Timna Tanners，富國銀行。

I wanted to approach the question a little differently, perhaps, if I could, for some color on any market color from your Wallboard price hike you mentioned. And you mentioned it was abnormal. So how is that being received to the extent you can talk about that? And similarly, what's the latest on cement price increases as well? Thanks.

我想用稍微不同的方式來問，若可以的話，想請你就你提到的石膏板（Wallboard）漲價提供一些市場面的補充說明。你提到那是「不尋常」的。所以在你能分享的範圍內，市場對此的接受度如何？同樣地，水泥漲價的最新情況如何？謝謝。

Yeah, we did have a price increase that went through late in the quarter in June. We pushed it through. Given the elevated freight environment that we've experienced for the last five or six months, and you see it in our numbers, the freight moved meaningfully. And so we did push through a price increase in June. Michael highlighted in his comments that not typical in this demand environment, but given freight rate increases, it was necessary.

是的，我們確實在本季末、6月時有一波漲價落地。我們把它推過去了。鑑於過去五到六個月我們所面臨的高運費環境——你也可以從我們的數字看到，運費有顯著變動。因此我們在6月推動了一次漲價。Michael在他的評論中也提到，在這樣的需求環境下這並不常見，但考量運價上升，這是必要的。

Wallboard price increases were largely in the April timeframe. As I mentioned earlier, we did see increases across a couple of our markets. There was some offset with higher freight costs. Too early to speculate the next round of increases at this point.

石膏板的漲價主要發生在4月左右。如我先前提到的，我們在幾個市場確實看到價格上調。但部分被更高的運費成本所抵銷。至於下一輪漲價，目前還太早做推測。

I appreciate it. And then I know there is a question about Canadian tariffs, but I guess it's also appropriate to ask about any thoughts on 301 tariffs and the chatter around those?

了解，謝謝。另外我知道有人問到加拿大關稅，但我想也適合請教一下你們對301條款關稅，以及相關討論聲量的看法？

Look, longer term, and Michael highlighted this, the US cement industry is structurally undersupplied. We haven't built a new cement plant in the US for pushing 20 years, if not more than that. Modernizing and expanding existing facilities continues to be very difficult.

你看，從長期來看——Michael也強調了這點——美國水泥產業在結構上是供給不足的。美國已經將近20年、甚至更久沒有新建水泥廠了。要現代化並擴建既有設施仍然非常困難。

And given that, we have more demand than we do supply, so we require imports to meet that demand need. Trying to get wage or guess where tariffs may go and what their exact input is hard to guess at this point. Those things can be changed. We've seen that over the last 18 to 24 months.

在這樣的背景下，我們的需求大於供給，因此需要進口來滿足需求。要去推測或猜測關稅可能走向何方、以及其確切影響，目前都很難判斷。這些政策是可能改變的。過去18到24個月我們已經看到這種變動。

So we're not all that fixated on that and long-term, we continue to see an opportunity to push pricing and therefore margin expansion, especially with the mountainous cement expansion coming online over the next year or so.

所以我們不會過度聚焦在這件事上；從長期來看，我們仍然看到推動價格、進而擴大利潤率的機會，尤其是在未來一年左右 Mountainous 的水泥擴產產能將陸續上線之際。

Okay, fair enough. And if I could sneak in a last one, also asking for your thoughts on maybe things that are tough to speculate on. But on the state budget side, some preliminary numbers have come in. Any thoughts about those? They seem to be trending down in some regions. So any thoughts about your experience with state budgets or the outlook for 2027?

好的，合理。如果我可以再塞最後一題，也是在問一些可能很難推測的事情。在州政府預算方面，有一些初步數字已經出來。你們對這些數字有什麼看法嗎？看起來某些地區的趨勢在下滑。所以你們對州預算的實際經驗或對2027年的展望，有什麼想法？

Yeah, look, I don't know that you have some states that have actually passed higher budgets. You have an example here recently with Oklahoma having had a very significant increase, I think more than double the miles and more than double the funding levels. So we've seen in our markets continued very healthy state budgets.

是的，你看，我不確定你是否注意到，有些州其實已經通過更高的預算。最近的一個例子是奧克拉荷馬州出現非常顯著的增加，我認為里程數增加到兩倍以上、資金規模也增加到兩倍以上。所以在我們所處的市場，我們持續看到州政府預算非常健康。

Adam Thalhimer, Thompson Davis

Adam Thalhimer，Thompson Davis

Craig, I don't know if you mentioned this, but where was Wallboard pricing at the end of the June quarter?

Craig，我不確定你是否提到過，但在6月季度末，牆板（Wallboard）定價處於什麼水準？

Yeah, we pretty much exited at the same level as the average for the quarter.

是的，我們基本上是在與該季度平均水準相同的價位結束。

Okay. And do you have any cement price increases announced for fiscal Q2?

好的。那麼，你們在會計年度第2季有宣布任何水泥漲價嗎？

No, all of our increases were for April. We have not announced anything yet.

沒有，我們所有的調漲都是針對4月。我們目前還沒有宣布任何新的調漲。

And then lastly, on data centers, how many of your cement plants do you feel like are well positioned for that?

最後一個問題，關於資料中心，你覺得你們有多少座水泥廠在這方面具備良好布局？

It is across our network, Adam. We've bid double the number of data centers in the first half of calendar '26 versus what we bid on in the first half of calendar '25. And some markets a little more or some a little less, but we're seeing it pretty broadly across our footprint.

這是遍及我們整個網路的，Adam。在2026曆年上半年，我們投標的資料中心數量是2025曆年上半年的兩倍。有些市場多一些、有些少一些，但我們在整個營運版圖上都相當廣泛地看到這股趨勢。

Can you just unpack the mechanics there a little bit? I would figure it would be your ready-mix customers who are bidding on that and then they come back to you, or how does that work?

你能否把其中的運作機制再拆解說明一下？我原本以為會是你們的預拌混凝土客戶去投標，然後再回頭向你們採購；還是實際上是怎麼運作的？

Depending upon the job, but we're not, it's kind of like a highway job where it's going to be a multi-year engagement. So it's a little more than just your day-to-day activity, so you'll be looking at those projects specifically.

要看案子而定，但我們不是——這有點像公路工程，會是一個多年期的合作。所以不只是日常的例行業務，你會針對那些專案做更具體的評估。

Yeah, when you look at it, that has a couple different things depending on where you are in the country. So when you look at it is like a highway job. If you have soil stabilization, then we work with soil stabilization groups. If you have tilt-up, then you have tilt-up. The foundation side, you work with ready mix. So it's a broad mix of who we work with.

是的，當你去看時，會因你所在的地區而有幾種不同情況。所以看起來就像一個公路工程。如果有土壤穩定化，我們就會與土壤穩定化團隊合作。如果是傾倒式（tilt-up）施工，就會有傾倒式施工的合作方。在基礎工程方面，則會與預拌混凝土合作。所以我們合作的對象相當多元。

The consumption trends for the soil stabilization of some of these is very beneficial for us and very high demand. So we're seeing it from multiple aspects of end users.

其中一些案子的土壤穩定化用量趨勢對我們非常有利，而且需求非常高。因此，我們從多個終端使用者面向都看到了這股需求。

Garrett Greenblatt, JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Garrett Greenblatt，摩根大通。請發言。

Just a quick follow-up on the Wallboard pricing as you saw in 2Q. I think you got price increases as of June 1. So how did pricing trend as we moved to the quarter month by month?

關於你們在第二季看到的牆板定價，我想快速追問一下。我記得你們自6月1日起有調漲價格。那麼，隨著季度推進，按月來看定價走勢如何？

And then on the cost side of Wallboard, I said there's much more pressure in 2Q or 1Q as opposed to 4Q. In terms of those cost factors on a go-forward basis, how should we think about those impacts?

另外在牆板成本端，你提到相較於第4季，第2季或第1季的壓力大得多。就這些成本因素在未來的走勢而言，我們應該如何看待其影響？

And then last one on the recent announcements from the administration on the coal industry investments in that production, increase in production in coal, how do we think about the long-term impact of those investments on the cost dynamics between synthetic versus natural gypsum?

最後一題，關於政府近期宣布對煤炭產業的投資、以及提高煤炭產量，我們應如何看待這些投資對合成石膏與天然石膏之間成本動態的長期影響？

Thank you.

謝謝。

Yeah, I'll try to address all your questions as best I can. So in Wallboard, and we generally don't talk month by month in terms of pricing. I mentioned earlier that we exited the quarter around the -- at the end of June around the quarterly average.

好的，我會盡我所能把你的問題都回答到。關於牆板，我們一般不會按月討論定價。我先前提到過，我們在6月底、也就是季度末時的水準大致接近該季度平均。

We also pointed out there a lot of the sequential change on the net basis was driven by freight. Freight was up $5/1,000 as you'll see when we file the 10-Q. That had the most meaningful impact, if you will, for the entire quarter and really drove the majority of the change in net pricing and Wallboard this quarter, at least on a sequential basis.

我們也指出，按序（季比）來看，淨額的變動很大一部分是由運費所驅動。如你在我們提交10-Q時會看到，運費上升了每1,000美元5美元。若要說最具實質影響的因素，這對整個季度的影響最大，也確實推動了本季牆板淨定價變動的大部分，至少就季比而言是如此。

On your last question, we've not seen any significant change in synthetic gypsum availability. The freight cost issues that are being seen across the country. We no doubt have seen as you've had to move synthetic gypsum further and further around the country in order to satisfy some of these Wallboard plants. I don't see that changing dramatically.

至於你最後一個問題，我們尚未看到合成石膏供應有任何顯著變化。全國各地都在面臨運費成本問題。毫無疑問，為了滿足部分牆板工廠的需求，你必須把合成石膏運送到更遠的地方、在全國範圍內調度，我們也確實看到了這點。我不認為這種情況會出現劇烈改變。

I think you were asking about cement first quarter costs. This is our quarter when we do the vast majority of our maintenance programs across our cement footprint. So the June quarter always has an elevated operating cost because of those annual outages that happened in April and May. And then that abates into September and the December quarter.

我想你一開始是在問水泥第一季的成本。這一季是我們在水泥業務版圖中執行絕大多數維護計畫的季度。因此，6月季度因為4月與5月發生的年度停機檢修，營運成本一向會偏高。之後在9月季度與12月季度就會回落。

And this will conclude our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Michael Haack for any closing remarks. Please go ahead, sir.

問答環節到此結束。我想把電話會議交回給Michael Haack先生作結語。先生，請。

In closing, I want to acknowledge the efforts and focus of the whole Eagle Team during this extended period of changing macroeconomic conditions. It's their focus and commitment that enables us to execute our strategy and deliver results for our shareholders through cycles and over the long-term.

最後，我想在這段宏觀經濟環境持續變動的延長期間，肯定整個Eagle團隊的努力與專注。正是他們的專注與承諾，使我們得以執行策略，並在景氣循環中以及長期為股東交付成果。

Thanks for joining our call today, and I look forward to updating you next quarter.

感謝各位今天參與我們的電話會議，我也期待在下個季度向各位更新。

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

本次電話會議到此結束。感謝各位出席今天的簡報。您現在可以掛線。