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DATE

Thursday, May 7, 2026 at 11 a.m. ET

CALL PARTICIPANTS

  • Chairman & Chief Executive Officer — Donald G. Macpherson
  • Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer — Deidra Cheeks Merriwether
  • Vice President, Investor Relations — Kyle Bland

TAKEAWAYS

  • Total Company Sales Growth -- Up 10.1% reported and 12.2% daily organic constant currency, reflecting both price and volume gains.
  • Operating Margin -- Recorded at 16.7%, a 110-basis-point improvement year over year aided by UK market exit and segment leverage.
  • Diluted EPS -- $11.65, up 18.2%, with no adjusting items affecting comparability.
  • Operating Cash Flow -- $739 million, facilitating $345 million returned to shareholders by dividends and repurchases.
  • Dividend Increase -- Quarterly dividend raised by 10%, marking the 55th consecutive year of increases.
  • High-Touch Solutions Sales -- 10.5% reported growth, 10% daily constant currency, with price comprising approximately 5 percentage points.
  • High-Touch Solutions Gross Margin -- Finished at 42.6%, up 20 basis points, due to positive mix, favorable freight, and partial W.W. Grainger (GWW +5.49%) sales meeting offset.
  • High-Touch Solutions Operating Margin -- 18.3%, up 60 basis points; margin strength from leverage on sales and SG&A control.
  • Endless Assortment Sales -- 19.6% reported growth, 21.9% daily organic constant currency; Zoro U.S. up 18.7% daily, MonotaRO up 24.3% in local days/local constant currency.
  • Endless Assortment Operating Margin -- 10.6%, up 190 basis points, driven by margin expansion at both Zoro and MonotaRO.
  • Gross Margin -- 40%, up 30 basis points, and above the anticipated 39%, helped by price realization and segment mix.
  • Guidance Update -- Full-year 2026 expectations now 9.5%-12% daily organic constant currency sales growth; EPS raised to $44.25-$46.25, nearly 15% growth at the midpoint.
  • Preliminary April Sales -- Up over 13% daily organic constant currency, supporting second-quarter sales outlook above $4.9 billion.
  • Fuel Cost Headwind -- Increased fuel costs are pressuring margins and were incorporated into updated guidance.
  • UK Exit Impact -- Cromwell and Zoro U.K. exits contributed a 45-basis-point positive impact to consolidated margins and account for a 210-basis-point and 110-basis-point reduction in total company and Endless Assortment sales, respectively.
  • Private Label Inventory -- Cost pressure from higher-cost private label inventory will shift from Q1 to Q2, expected to negatively impact margins next quarter.
  • SG&A Growth Expectation -- Projected 5.5%-6% growth for the remainder of the year, balancing productivity leverage and ongoing investments.
  • Seasonality & Margin Trajectory -- Sequential operating margin expected to decline to low-15% in Q2, explained by normal seasonality, fuel, and private label timing.
  • Dividend Commitment -- W.W. Grainger's policy remains to return cash through a "balanced and return-focused approach," now with 55 consecutive years of dividend raises.

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RISKS

  • Management stated, "these heightened costs are pressuring our margins and this will likely continue until our next pricing window," indicating margin risk from fuel volatility.
  • CFO Deidra Cheeks Merriwether said, "We anticipate this cost pressure will now hit in the second quarter," referring to higher-cost private label inventory sell-through expected to impact future margins.
  • CEO Donald G. Macpherson noted that continued conflict in the Middle East "it could become so depending on how long it goes." for MonotaRO, particularly on energy-dependent SKUs, suggesting exposure to supply chain shocks in Japan.

SUMMARY

Management increased 2026 guidance following a quarter in which healthy price realization and broad-based volume gains outperformed initial expectations. UK market exit provided a significant boost to both margins and segment comparability, while cash returned to shareholders and a substantial dividend hike reinforced capital deployment priorities. Business momentum accelerated into April, underpinned by double-digit organic revenue expansion and strong segment contributions.

  • Contractual free shipping clauses with large customers have created "leakage" in fuel cost recapture, restricting W.W. Grainger's ability to pass through all new surcharges.
  • North America price realization contributed about five percentage points to segment growth; price contribution is expected to moderate to around four points for the full year.
  • The timing of higher-cost private label inventory sell-through on FIFO accounting will result in a "U shape" margin pattern, with an adverse impact forecasted for the second quarter.
  • MonotaRO benefited from increased web traffic and sales due to a competitor cyber outage, with this effect diminishing as the quarter progressed.
  • AI and digital investment priorities target both internal productivity (e.g., customer service and supply chain) and external customer experience improvements.
  • Salesforce coverage continued to expand at a 3%-4% annual net growth rate, with region-by-region progress expected to complete by 2027.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

  • High-Touch Solutions: Segment encompassing personalized, relationship-driven MRO distribution with direct sales and on-site support, primarily North America-focused.
  • Endless Assortment: E-commerce-driven segment (includes Zoro and MonotaRO) offering a broad MRO product range via online platforms, focused on both B2B and B2C customers.
  • LIFO (Last-In, First-Out): Inventory accounting method where latest purchased inputs are considered sold first, affecting cost and margin recognition during periods of inflation.
  • FIFO (First-In, First-Out): Inventory accounting where oldest stock is expensed first; significant for margin timing in private label inventory cost cycles.
  • IEPA tariffs: U.S. government import tariffs (International Emergency Economic Powers Act-related duties), affecting cost and pricing dynamics for directly imported products.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Operator: Greetings and welcome to the W.W. Grainger, Inc. First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce Kyle Bland, Vice President of Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.

Kyle Bland: Good morning. Welcome to W.W. Grainger, Inc.’s first quarter 2026 earnings call. With me are Donald G. Macpherson, Chairman and CEO, and Deidra Cheeks Merriwether, Senior Vice President and CFO. As a reminder, our comments today may include forward-looking statements that are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Additional information regarding factors that could cause actual results to differ materially is included in the company’s most recent Form 8-Ks and other periodic reports filed with the SEC. This morning’s call includes non-GAAP financial measures, which reflect certain adjustments in previous periods as noted in the presentation. There were no adjusting items in the first quarter 2026 period.

We have also included organic revenue adjustments in the presentation, which normalize sales growth to reflect our exit from the U.K. market, including the Cromwell divestiture and the closure of Zoro UK, both of which were completed in 2025. Definitions and full reconciliations of our non-GAAP financial measures with their GAAP measures are found in the tables at the end of this presentation and in our earnings release, both of which are available on our IR website. We will also share results related to MonotaRO. Please remember that MonotaRO is a public company and follows Japanese GAAP, which differs from U.S. GAAP, and is reported in our results one month in arrears.

As a result, the numbers discussed will differ from MonotaRO’s public statements. Now I will turn it over to Donald G. Macpherson.

Donald G. Macpherson: Thanks, Kyle. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining today. We are off to a strong start in 2026 with both our business segments performing well. Despite the ongoing tariff uncertainty and the broader geopolitical climate, we are encouraged by the positive signals we are seeing in the demand environment. By staying focused on what we can control, we continue to drive performance through solid execution and by consistently delivering value to our customers. I had the opportunity to experience this firsthand on a recent visit with a major agricultural customer.

While many of our large customers are complex, our approach is simple: start with the customer, stay curious about how their operation works, and then bring our full suite of capabilities to solve their MRO challenges end to end. What differentiates W.W. Grainger, Inc. with this customer and with other contract customers where we are seeing growth is our ability to deliver highly coordinated capabilities beyond the products themselves. That same coordinated approach was on display at our most recent W.W. Grainger, Inc. sales meeting in March.

This event showcased the breadth of our products, services, and solutions, with more than 10 thousand customer, supplier, and team member attendees; the event demonstrated the power of listening, asking good questions, and staying focused on the problem the customer is trying to solve. We invest in this meeting because it results in stronger teams, stronger partnerships, and ultimately improved performance. Earning trust and building strong relationships is also at the core of how we approach our workplace and culture. While awards are not the goal, they serve as useful signals that we are executing the right way. In recent weeks, W.W.

Grainger, Inc. was once again recognized as a top workplace, this time being named one of the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For and a 2026 Platinum Employer on the Where You Work Matters list, which is powered by the American Opportunity Index. We do not take recognition like this for granted; we are proud that it reflects the experiences we create for team members and the outcomes we deliver to our stakeholders. On the subject of team members, you may have seen that several of our senior leaders recently took on new roles within the organization. We are fortunate to have a broad and deep set of leaders at W.W.

Grainger, Inc., a clear strategy, and a high-performing company. Having such a strong foundation allows us to provide leaders with new experiences to develop for the future. Now moving to Q1 results. We delivered a strong quarter of profitable growth, meaningfully outpacing the expectations we communicated back in February. Results benefited from healthy price realization, strong operational execution across both segments, and improved market demand. The broader MRO market showed positive momentum as we moved through the quarter and appears to have sustained that strength in April. At the same time, our high touch growth engines are gaining traction and the Endless Assortment segment is continuing to power the flywheel.

Total company reported sales for the quarter were up 10.1%, or 12.2% on a daily organic constant currency basis. Operating margin was strong at 16.7%; diluted EPS finished the quarter up over 18%. Operating cash flow came in at $739 million, which allowed us to return a total of $345 million to W.W. Grainger, Inc. shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. I also want to mention that we recently announced a 10% increase to our quarterly dividend, marking the 55th consecutive year of dividend increases. This reflects our continued commitment to returning cash to shareholders through a balanced and return-focused approach.

Overall, the quarter finished ahead of expectations; we are increasing our 2026 guidance to reflect the strong start and continued momentum we are seeing. I will now turn it over to Deidra Cheeks Merriwether for the financial results.

Deidra Cheeks Merriwether: Thanks, DG. As mentioned, we had a great start to the year, with total company sales up 10.1%, or 12.2% on a daily organic constant currency basis, which included strong growth across High-Touch Solutions and Endless Assortment. Gross margin for the quarter was healthy at 40%, up 30 basis points versus the prior-year period as we saw expansion in both segments. Operating margin was up 110 basis points year over year as gross margin flow-through and leverage in both segments helped drive results. Both gross margin and operating margin benefited from the exit of the U.K. market. Overall, we delivered diluted EPS for the quarter of $11.65, up 18.2% versus 2025. Moving to segment-level results.

The High-Touch Solutions segment delivered sales growth of 10.5% on a reported basis, or 10% on a daily constant currency basis. Sales growth included roughly equal contributions from price and volume. From an end-market perspective, we believe that MRO market demand gained momentum in the period. This view is supported by various market indicators as well as the activity we are seeing on the ground with customers. For W.W. Grainger, Inc. specifically, we saw broad-based acceleration across end markets with strong contributions from manufacturing, government, and contractor customers. On profitability, gross margin finished the quarter at 42.6%, up 20 basis points versus the prior year as positive mix and freight were partially offset by the impact of the annual W.W.

Grainger, Inc. sales meeting. We also continued to experience LIFO inventory valuation headwinds in the quarter. Relative to our verbal guide, gross margin results exceeded expectations for the quarter as price/cost was roughly neutral, feeling better than anticipated on stronger price realization. Further, we saw cost timing favorability compared to expectations on lower sell-through of certain SKUs within our private label inventory. We anticipate this cost pressure will now hit in the second quarter. On SG&A, we gained nice leverage year over year as we benefited from strong sales, productivity, and a tailwind from the W.W. Grainger, Inc. sales meeting.

This more than offset continued marketing investment and higher payroll and benefits expense, including higher incentive-based compensation given our strong start to the year. This helped drive operating margin for the segment to 18.3%, up 60 basis points versus the prior-year period. All told, it was a great start for the High-Touch segment and we are excited about the momentum we have as we move through the rest of the year. Now focusing on the Endless Assortment segment. Sales increased 19.6% on a reported basis, or 21.9% on a daily organic constant currency basis, which normalizes for the closure of the Zoro U.K. business and the impact of foreign currency exchange.

Zoro U.S. was up 18.7% on a daily basis, while MonotaRO achieved 24.3% in local days/local constant currency. At a business level, Zoro saw strong growth from its core B2B customers along with improving customer retention rates. The team continued to deliver on core foundational capabilities, improving the customer experience across pricing, fulfillment, and website functionality. At MonotaRO, sales were strong with continued growth from enterprise customers, coupled with solid acquisitions and repeat purchase rates with small and mid-sized businesses. Additionally, MonotaRO continued to benefit from an increase in web traffic stemming from a competitor cyber outage, which provided a meaningful tailwind to sales in the period. As expected, this impact waned as we moved through the quarter.

On profitability, operating margins increased 190 basis points to 10.6%, with favorability across the segment. MonotaRO margins remained strong at 12.9%, up 90 basis points, and Zoro margin improved to 7.3%, up 210 basis points, with both businesses benefiting from healthy top-line leverage. Overall, it was another strong quarter for the Endless Assortment team. Before moving on, I wanted to share a brief update on the inflationary environment as we navigate tariffs and geopolitical cost pressures. We continue to manage the business with the goal of maintaining price/cost neutrality over time.

With this, we passed further price increases in January, in response to previously delayed tariff inflation and to offset annually negotiated cost increases with our suppliers, which were largely in effect as of February 1. These actions were net of a partial rollback on certain Chinese tariffs announced at the end of last year. As it relates to the recent Supreme Court ruling on IEPA tariffs, we are only anticipating a modest impact on the business since the tariff rate differential with prevailing Section 122 duties is minimal. With this, our May pricing actions were net neutral in total. Where we have seen modest cost reductions, namely on products that W.W.

Grainger, Inc. is directly importing, we adjusted prices as part of our May update. For the remainder of our assortment, we are working with supplier partners to assess cost reduction opportunities and will take subsequent pricing actions as warranted. Moving forward, the team is busy evaluating further inflationary pressures from recently announced tariff changes and the knock-on effects from the conflict in the Middle East. On fuel, we are working with our supplier and transportation partners to minimize cost headwinds that have risen as diesel prices remain pressured. We ultimately strive to pass these costs through to customers, but there is some leakage since a number of our customers do not fully pay for partial shipping.

While currently only modest in total, these heightened costs are pressuring our margins and this will likely continue until our next pricing window. We have included this fuel impact in our updated guidance. On the recently announced Section 232 modifications, given the significant complexity, we are still working to understand what the full impact might be across our assortment, but our initial analysis suggests it is likely minimal. Separately, we are starting to see supply pressure from the conflict in the Middle East related to certain raw material inputs on some categories like nitrile-based gloves.

As of now, this is minimal in the U.S. business, but we are starting to see more strain in Japan given the region’s reliance on energy inputs which move through the Strait of Hormuz. We will continue to assess the situation and are working with our suppliers and manufacturing partners to minimize supply impacts, including changing our sourcing strategy where needed. Despite these challenges, we are not anticipating a step change in cost inflation from these pressures at this time, and thus have not included any impact in our updated guidance. However, if the conflict persists, these impacts could result in incremental costs for the business and this will be felt more quickly in the U.S. based on LIFO accounting.

Lastly, we are also monitoring for the potential recovery of previously paid IEPA tariffs where W.W. Grainger, Inc. is the importer of record, but the timing and the magnitude of any recovery remains uncertain at this time. As you might imagine, the broader inflationary landscape remains highly fluid, as it has been for the last several quarters. Importantly, our team is staying agile, and we continue to be confident in our ability to maintain supply for our customers while adhering to our core pricing tenets. Now turning to our guide. As a result of our strong start and continued momentum, we are raising our full-year 2026 guidance.

On the top line, our new outlook includes expected daily organic constant currency sales growth between 9.5% and 12%, reflecting first-quarter strength, continued strong execution, and improved MRO market demand. Our operating margin expectations for the full year have ticked up slightly at the midpoint to incorporate our first-quarter outperformance. This is partially offset by headwinds from higher incentive-based compensation and leakage related to increased fuel costs. While incremental margins remain healthy, you will see that the added revenue dollars for the balance of the year are less profitable because of these transitory headwinds. Taking all this together, EPS is expected to be between $44.25 and $46.25, representing nearly 15% year-over-year growth at the midpoint.

This represents a $1.75 improvement at the midpoint versus the prior guidance range. We have also updated our supplemental guidance in the appendix, which includes an increase in total company operating cash flow compared to the prior guide. We have continued our strong momentum into the second quarter, with preliminary April sales up north of 13% on a daily organic constant currency basis. This start supports our expectations for second-quarter sales north of $4.9 billion, or approaching 12% on a daily organic constant currency basis, which is 330 basis points lower on a reported basis when normalizing for the U.K. market exit and currency headwinds.

We expect operating margins will be down sequentially in the second quarter compared to the first quarter. Beyond normal seasonality, we expect this step-down will be exacerbated by headwinds from fuel costs, along with increased costs on our private label inventory, the latter of which is in line with what we had expected to hit in the first quarter. All told, we anticipate second-quarter operating margins will be in the low-15% range for the total company. With that, I will hand it back over to DG for his closing remarks.

Donald G. Macpherson: Thanks, Dee. Overall, we feel good about how the business is operating and are confident in our strategy. I am encouraged by our ability to continue to grow profitably in this ever-evolving environment while staying focused on creating value for the long term. Looking ahead, we will continue to focus on what matters most for our customers and earn their trust through strong execution, differentiated capabilities, and a consistent focus on doing the right thing. We recognize significant uncertainty in the macro, but we will stay nimble to serve customers and perform well in any environment. We will now open the call for questions.

David John Manthey: Good morning. First off, I appreciate that you finally moved away from the myopic quarter-to-quarter share gain discussion, particularly in a quarter where you could have taken a major victory lap. So thanks for that. We will draw our own conclusions. My first question is on price. Could you just tell us in simple terms what was price contribution by each segment and overall?

Deidra Cheeks Merriwether: Dave, thank you for the question. When you look at North America, we are about five points of price.

David John Manthey: Okay. All right. And then, Dee, maybe you could update us on the pacing of margins through the year. When I look back to last quarter, you said seasonally, gross margin would deviate from its normal pattern. You had LIFO, price/cost, and the show impacting that. And you said that first-half gross margins would be at or slightly below the annual guide and then rebounding in the back half, and operating margins would follow a similar trajectory. I was just wondering if you could give us an update on your view there.

Deidra Cheeks Merriwether: Yes. I would say now we believe it is going to have more of a U shape. Part of that is because Q1 performance did very well from a price realization perspective, as price continued to build based upon the changes that we made in 2025 and then, of course, the change we made in January. You heard in prepared remarks that we had expected to sell through more of our private label inventory in Q1, which would have created a drag. Not as much sold through; we are starting to see that sell through already in Q2, so we expect that negative impact to hit in the second quarter.

We also have the normal seasonality decline that happens from Q1 to Q2 because we take a larger price increase in January and that bleeds off through the year. As you also heard us talk about, the impact that we have related to fuel will build. That was not necessarily anticipated in the original guide, so that is new news here that we have added to the guide. The challenge that we have with the majority of our very large customers is free parcel shipping in their contracts, and as a result of that, it is more difficult for us to pass on accessorials and other fuel charges to them. That is going to take us some time.

We noted that we will have some leakage and then we are going to have some timing implications. However, we are confident that we will find a way to work through that—i.e., the U shape—and as the year goes on, we will have a means to pass some of that price onto those customers and some of our broader customers while still remaining competitive in the marketplace.

Jacob Frederick Levinson: Good morning, everyone. It might be a little too early to really see any impact here, but if we look at Japan, I think that is probably a blind spot for a lot of us on this call. Is the team at MonotaRO seeing anything to be concerned about? I know they have certainly borne quite a bit of the energy shock here.

Donald G. Macpherson: You are right that East Asia, in particular, bears more of the brunt here given most of their oil and natural gas, frankly, comes through the Strait of Hormuz. What we have seen is some price pressure with some products there, and we have seen a little bit of buying at the end of the first quarter of those products that are potentially at risk. It has not been material yet, but it could become so depending on how long it goes.

Jacob Frederick Levinson: Okay. That makes sense. And just on the private label side, I assume no news is good news, but that was a potential concern last year. Have you been able to adapt that business given the tariff environment? It is kind of hard for us to know what all the moving pieces are there.

Donald G. Macpherson: It is not a simple challenge either. There have been some private label products where the cost spread between them and the national branded products has compressed, and we have seen some impact there and some more buying of national branded versus private brand. Some of that will probably work its way out over time, and we think we will get back to having an appropriate gap and having very high-quality products at reasonable prices for customers in a private brand. I would also note we are having tremendous success with leveraging the W.W. Grainger, Inc. brand for certain areas of our private brand as well, so we are pretty excited about the path there.

Overall, we are still very confident in our private brand path, but there has been some impact for sure.

Ryan James Merkel: Nice job this quarter. Question is just on the demand environment. DG, what was the surprise for you on revenue in the quarter? Was it just better end-market demand, or is the company-specific story also a part of it?

Donald G. Macpherson: I think it is a bit of three things. One is the end-market demand. We did flip; it had been negative for several years, and most signals would suggest volume growth in the market turned slightly positive. That is a benefit. Our price realization has been higher than we had anticipated to start the year, so that is a benefit. And our share gain has been strong as well. All of that has conspired to create a really strong demand environment for us.

Ryan James Merkel: Got it. That is great. Okay. And then second question is on gross margin for Dee. You did 40%. I think you thought it would be 39%. So is all of the beat this mix/timing? What drove the mix/timing? And then can you unpack why in the second quarter the cost increase in the private label is a negative? Thank you.

Deidra Cheeks Merriwether: We achieved better price realization in the first quarter than what we had anticipated, based upon some of the SKUs that customers were purchasing. That was very helpful to us. On the private label inventory, we had assumed that with some of this growth, we would be selling through much more of our lower-cost private label inventory and have that impact in Q1. We sold through a lot less than anticipated, and we are now seeing it come through already in April; it will hit in the second quarter. In addition, we have normal seasonality with gross margin because of the price increase that we take in January that then normally subsides as we go through the year.

Donald G. Macpherson: While we are mostly on LIFO, our private brand inventory is on FIFO, which adds complexity. That has always been the case; it is just that in the last year it has become more necessary to talk about. We did not sell through layers yet that are higher cost, and now we are.

Christopher M. Snyder: Thank you. I appreciate the question. Could you talk about the impact that the leading on the price/cost—primarily on the private brands—had on Q1 gross margin?

Deidra Cheeks Merriwether: It was about 20 basis points in the first quarter.

Christopher M. Snyder: Thank you. And then on the price conversation, to make sure I am understanding it right: you did the typical January start-of-year price increase, and then there was another round in May. Was May in response to all the inflation we are seeing now between metal, freight, tariffs, everything? Could you provide any relative sizing for either of those two?

Donald G. Macpherson: January 1, May 1, and September 1 are our normal price cycles. The May 1 action was not in response to anything in particular; that is simply the timing at which we can take it, and we incorporated relevant factors in that cycle.

Deidra Cheeks Merriwether: January incorporated any lag we had from being able to take tariff actions from 2025 plus what we were negotiating late in the year that would impact us in 2026. That was a slightly positive pricing action and net of certain Chinese tariff rollbacks announced in November. May, which is a normal time to take pricing actions, was really net neutral—true-ups and corrections related to January, incorporation of 122 actions, offset by IEPA rollback for our private label products that we directly source where we know the standard price changes.

Christopher D. Glynn: Thanks. Good morning. You talked in the past few quarters about an elevated backdrop for a chunkier contract cycle. What pace are you seeing those rolling into the outgrowth, and how long is the tail for a more elevated cycle for chunkier wallet share pickup?

Donald G. Macpherson: I would not describe it as significantly chunkier than the past. Our contract business has been net positive to start the year. We have had a number of successes in implementations. We are seeing a lot of customer demand to serve them on-site in ways that are important to them. There is less labor with many of our customers, so we are being asked to do more things, and we are providing more services on-site than we have historically. It is not a significant departure from the past, but we have had success in growing our large customer volume in the last six months.

Christopher D. Glynn: And what are you now seeing in terms of the most productive use cases for AI?

Donald G. Macpherson: There are many use cases. I would put them in a couple of categories. First, use cases that drive productivity in the business—customer service tools assisting our agents, finance and back-office applications, and supply chain applications to drive more one-piece flow in our warehouses. Second, customer experience use cases that are critical for long-term success—improving search and merchandising capabilities. It is pervasive and will be even more so. Pointing at the right things to create advantage, in addition to driving productivity, is really important.

Christopher D. Glynn: Zoro—website functionality as a driver—what are the implications for margin and outgrowth as that normalizes, implementing lessons learned?

Donald G. Macpherson: Website changes and improvements are in process; we probably have not seen too much benefit yet from those. We have seen a lot of benefit from improving repeat business and the quality of customer acquisition, and the business improved both margins and growth rate as a result. The website improvements will be a fast follow and drive a lot of benefit too. We are excited about what they are building.

Analyst: Can you hear me?

Donald G. Macpherson: Yes, we can.

Analyst: Question on the guidance range. A lot of debate on the stock has been about your ability to push pricing, and I think gross margin this quarter reflects success. But most of the raise reflects the beat in the quarter. How should we think about sustainability of this pricing momentum into the second half?

Donald G. Macpherson: That debate has not been happening internally. As we went through the tariffs, we said we would lag in terms of getting to price neutrality; we did it—you see that in the first quarter. Now there are some things—fuel and private label timing—that may cause the U shape and we will do it again, and that is partly because we are on LIFO. The fundamental of price/cost is strong and very stable. As for not flowing through more for the second half, it is the things we talked about—potential fuel costs, private brand costs coming through, and seasonality. You can argue whether we are being conservative on increased fuel cost—there is a lot of uncertainty.

If the conflict ended and the Strait opened quickly, that would be great, but we are forecasting some challenge with fuel and that is the reality.

Analyst: Could you size the LIFO impact this quarter relative to other quarters, just directionally?

Deidra Cheeks Merriwether: LIFO never goes down; it normalizes and subsides. From Q4 to Q1 at the total company level, we think it is about 70 basis points.

Stephen Volkmann: Good morning, everybody. A couple of growth questions. On your slide where you show the various end markets—pretty nice inflection. Would you say any of these were specifically benefiting from share gains more than the others, or is it more broad-based?

Donald G. Macpherson: It is more broad-based in terms of share gain. Share gain for us typically comes from providing great service, helping customers find the right product, and providing on-site support for inventory management. It is a set of core things that we do, and generally those impact most segments at the same time if we are performing well. That is what is reflected here.

Stephen Volkmann: Any potential that you saw some customers buying a little extra inventory given uncertainty around price and availability?

Donald G. Macpherson: Not in the U.S. We have also not seen customers stop projects given the uncertainty. Things are kind of normal status in the U.S. We mentioned in Japan at the end of the first quarter we saw a little buying ahead to secure petroleum-based products, but not in North America.

Stephen Volkmann: Competitively, we hear pockets of availability issues. Are you seeing competitors do more or less pricing, be able to pass through diesel, or having issues getting anything?

Donald G. Macpherson: It is too early to really know that. In North America, we do not anticipate challenges. If there were challenges, it would be things going on in Southeast Asia where we are all procuring the same things. So far, we have not seen trouble getting product in the U.S., and we have not seen any unusual competitor behavior.

Deane Michael Dray: Good morning, everyone. What was the benefit to margin in the quarter from the two European exits, and what would be the benefit for the year?

Deidra Cheeks Merriwether: Year over year, it is about 45 basis points, equally split between gross margin and SG&A. As it relates to top line, Cromwell sales are about a 210-basis-point impact on total company and a 110-basis-point impact on Endless Assortment for the Zoro U.K. exit.

Deane Michael Dray: For DG, is free shipping on partial shipments non-negotiable—just part of the service you need to offer? What is the impact—small sliver or meaningful?

Donald G. Macpherson: It is a meaningful portion of the total. It is very common to build free partial shipping into contracts with large customers in our space. We have the ability to do certain things to mitigate this over time depending on how long it goes, so we are not concerned about it; in the short term, it creates a headwind. Part of the issue with large customers is their average order value is significantly higher, so parcel costs as a portion of the overall are pretty small relative to smaller customers.

Guy Drummond Hardwick: Hi, good morning. Excellent results—congratulations. You have had about six months now, if you include April, of better-than-expected trading and are guiding to double-digit organic growth this year. DG, does that give you room for investing more for organic market share gains, or do the inflationary pressures preclude that? Are your marketing/investment budgets for this year set, or subject to change?

Donald G. Macpherson: If we have the ability to invest profitably for growth, we will do it. We do not have a cash problem. I do not expect our budgets this year to change much. We set our budgets based on what we have seen from a cause-and-effect basis in areas like marketing and Salesforce coverage. In general, added growth does not mean we will invest more mid-year, and in difficult times you often will not see us invest much less either—if something is worth doing for the long term, we will do it to be successful through anything.

Guy Drummond Hardwick: And for Dee, on SG&A growth of 6%, is that a sensible number to use for the rest of the year?

Deidra Cheeks Merriwether: Five and a half to six is what we look at, so for the rest of the year that is a fair range.

Patrick Michael Baumann: When you are looking at the sequential move in margin into the low-15% range for the second quarter, is all of that decline coming from gross margin sequentially? Could you bridge the drivers between seasonal versus the private label costs, fuel costs, or meeting timing?

Deidra Cheeks Merriwether: It is about a one-point difference on gross margin. Roughly 60 basis points is normal seasonality. About 20 basis points relates to the increased cost of private label inventory moving from Q1 to Q2. The remainder is leakage we expect from increased fuel costs. Some of that is timing because fuel hits now and we are not in a pricing cycle to address it; our next pricing cycle is when we can start to recoup some of that back. That gets you from about 40% gross margin to about 39%. On operating margin, we also have normal seasonality in stock comp and merit, where we delever from Q1 to Q2.

Patrick Michael Baumann: That would imply SG&A growth goes from about 6% to high single digits, but you said 5.5% to 6% for the year. What is the difference?

Deidra Cheeks Merriwether: If we continue to grow, we still have investments that we are making through the year. On average, we expect 5.5% to 6%.

Patrick Michael Baumann: What is embedded now for the guide for the year in terms of market outlook and for price?

Donald G. Macpherson: Market outlook is around 0% to 1% volume growth—we think it will be positive for the year. Price probably moderates and goes down from maybe five in the first quarter to around four for the year.

Thomas Allen Moll: Good morning and thank you for taking my questions. DG, you made some comments at the Annual Shareholder Meeting last week on sales force adds. I think you added 110 last year across two geographies. Is that a gross or a net add number, and what do you have baked in for this year?

Donald G. Macpherson: That is a net number. We have been adding fairly consistently over the last several years, probably between 3% and 4% to the Salesforce every year, and we expect this year to be in the same general area. Some of the value from having better customer data has allowed us to identify places we can fill in coverage. We have been doing it region by region. We should be mostly done with those changes by 2027.

Thomas Allen Moll: On your distribution network, you commented on the progress in Houston and in the Northwest facility. Looking ahead, are there other big geographies where you are contemplating a greenfield opportunity or a substantial increase in an existing footprint?

Donald G. Macpherson: Portland is going live this year; it is ramping up as we speak. Houston will go live in 2028. It is a very big building, which expands our capacity in the Texas market, which is important. As we go forward based on our growth, there may be other areas where we add to existing positions or scale from midsized to much larger positions. We are not really missing geographies at this point. There will still be investments, but they are more likely to be expansions or moves rather than fully new greenfields.

Operator: Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I will hand the floor back to management for any final remarks.

Donald G. Macpherson: Thank you for joining the call. We really appreciate your time. We feel good about the way things are going. There is uncertainty in the world, but our job is to perform through that uncertainty and to make sure we are building for the future. We are focused on doing those things, we are a resilient business, and we are in good shape. We are optimistic about where we are headed. Thank you, and have a great rest of the week.

Operator: Thank you. This concludes today’s conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.