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DATE

Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026 at 10 a.m. ET

CALL PARTICIPANTS

• Vice President of Investor Relations - James Ryan
• Chair and Chief Executive Officer - Lynn Bamford
• Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer - K. Christopher Farkas

TAKEAWAYS

• Adjusted Diluted EPS -- $3.72, representing a 15% increase over the prior year period driven by strong operational performance.
• Total Sales -- $924 million, representing 5% growth reflecting demand across both aerospace and defense and commercial markets.
• New Orders -- $1.1 billion, increasing 8% year over year and resulting in a book-to-bill ratio of 1.16x.
• Adjusted Operating Margin -- 19.4%, expanding 110 basis points behind favorable absorption on higher revenues and restructuring savings.
• Free Cash Flow -- $160 million, representing a 37% increase driven by higher cash earnings and lower working capital requirements.
• Free Cash Flow Conversion -- 116%, exceeding management's target of 105%.
• Defense Electronics Orders -- grew nearly 50% year over year, driven by alignment with strategic growth priorities for U.S. and allied militaries.
• Aerospace & Industrial Sales -- $268 million, rising 12% due to higher demand for electromechanical actuation and sensors equipment on fighter jet programs.
• Naval & Power Sales -- $410 million, a 7% increase primarily attributed to the timing of production on submarine programs and higher shipyard aftermarket revenues.
• Defense Electronics Sales -- $246 million, declining 3% as higher embedded computing equipment sales were offset by the timing of tactical communications equipment orders.
• Full-Year Sales Guidance -- projected to increase 8% to 9%, reflecting improved expectations in defense and general industrial markets.
• Full-Year Adjusted Diluted EPS Guidance -- raised to a range of $15.10 to $15.40, representing 14% to 16% growth.
• Full-Year Free Cash Flow Guidance -- raised to a range of $585 million to $605 million, including a nearly 30% increase in capital expenditures.
• Total Backlog -- $4.5 billion, representing a 10% increase from the end of 2025.
• General Industrial Sales Guidance -- increased to a new range of 1% to 3% growth, driven by a 21% year-to-date increase in industrial vehicle orders.
• Industrial Base Funding -- reached approximately $95 million to date, an increase from $70 million reported at the end of March.
• Chesapeake Facility Investment -- $80 million multiyear project to expand naval and commercial nuclear capacity to meet growing market demand.
• Adjusted Operating Income -- $179 million, up 12% from the prior year period.
• R&D Investment -- increasing at a faster pace than sales, with total spending of $25 million in the second quarter.
• Working Capital -- management expects working capital as a percentage of sales to reach a record level below 18% for the full year.

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RISKS

• Bamford noted, "the supply chain pressures have definitely increased in the first half of this year," specifically highlighting constraints on certain rare earth materials and compounds used in surface treatment.
• Farkas noted that third quarter operating income and margin are "expected to be down sequentially" as favorable mix from the first half normalizes and R&D investments increase.
• Farkas mentioned that ground defense revenues were impacted by the "timing of prior year orders" for tactical communications equipment, resulting in lower segment sales for the quarter.

SUMMARY

Management reported the execution of its strategy to drive revenue growth, as evidenced by a book-to-bill ratio of 1.2x for the first half of the year. The company stated that it raised full-year 2026 guidance for sales, operating income, and diluted earnings per share to reflect demand in defense and commercial nuclear markets. The company noted that increased capital expenditures are being directed toward facility expansions and research and development to support long-term programs like the AP1000 nuclear reactor and naval defense platforms. Management indicated that operational efficiencies and restructuring benefits are expected to drive what it projects will be record operating margins for the full year.

• CEO Bamford stated that the company expects an AP1000 order this year, noting that launch customers "were overwhelmingly impressed with the quality of our critical manufacturing processes."
• The company reported it is preparing to support a goal of quadrupling U.S. nuclear generation capacity to 400 gigawatts, with management noting the Department of Energy is expected to finance long-lead equipment for up to 10 reactors by 2030.
• CEO Bamford attributed record demand in Defense Electronics to "alignment to the strategic growth priorities of the U.S. and allied military," with orders up 30% year to date.
• Management announced that third quarter sales are expected to show modest growth relative to the second quarter, while operating income and margins are projected to remain flat sequentially.
• CEO Bamford indicated the company is prioritizing acquisitions as the top use of capital, despite high market multiples and a disciplined approach to strategic and financial fit.
• Management confirmed that the Indirect Fire Protection Capability program is on track for a sizable funding increase in the fiscal year 2027 budget.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

• AP1000: A Generation III+ nuclear reactor designed by Westinghouse Electric Company.
• Blackwell chips: Advanced graphics processing units (GPUs) developed by NVIDIA for high-performance computing and AI applications.
• Book-to-bill: The ratio of orders received to units shipped and billed for a specified period; a ratio above 1.0 indicates strong demand.
• COTS: Commercial Off-The-Shelf products, which are ready-made hardware or software available for purchase and use in military or industrial systems.
• CVN-75: The USS Harry S. Truman, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier undergoing refueling and complex overhaul.
• DPAS: Defense Priorities and Allocations System, a U.S. regulation that prioritizes contracts for materials and services to support national defense.
• IFPC: Indirect Fire Protection Capability, a U.S. Army program designed to protect fixed sites from rockets, artillery, mortars, and unmanned aircraft.
• MIB: Maritime Industrial Base, a funding source intended to support and expand the shipbuilding and repair industry.
• Rheinmetall: A major German automotive and arms manufacturer with which Curtiss-Wright maintains a supply relationship for ground vehicles.
• SMR: Small Modular Reactor, a type of nuclear fission reactor that is smaller and more flexible than conventional nuclear power plants.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Operator: Thank you for your continued patience. Your meeting will begin shortly. Star 0, and a member of our team will be happy to assist. Please stand by, your meeting is about to begin. Welcome to the Curtiss Wright Second Quarter 26 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen-only mode. I would now like to turn the call over to Jim Ryan, Vice President of Investor Relations.

James Ryan: Thank you, Angela, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Curtiss Wright's second quarter 26 Earnings Conference Call. Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Lynn Bamford and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, K. Christopher Farkas. A copy of today's financial presentation and the press release are available in the Investor Relations section of our website. Our discussion today includes certain projections and forward looking statements that are based on management's views of future performance. We detail those risks and uncertainties associated with the forward looking statements in our public filings with the SEC.

As a reminder, the company's results and guidance include an adjusted non GAAP view that excludes certain costs in order to provide greater transparency into Curtiss Wright's ongoing operating and financial performance. GAAP to non GAAP reconciliations are available in the earnings release and on our website. Now I would like to turn the call over to Lynn to get things started.

Lynn Bamford: Thank you, Jim, and good morning, everyone. Curtiss-Wright delivered excellent second quarter results that exceeded our expectations. We also raised our full year earnings guidance to reflect the strong first half results record backlog and the outlook for the balance of the year. The successful and ongoing execution of our pivot to growth strategy has been the key to our quarterly performance, and I am proud of our team's ability to deliver consistently strong results for our shareholders. With that and turning to today's presentation, I will begin with the highlights of our second quarter 2026 results. Sales of $924 million grew 5% year over year, reflecting solid growth across our overall A&D and commercial markets.

Operating income increased 12% year over year, exceeding our sales growth and resulted in 110-basis-points of operating margin expansion. As a result, diluted earnings per share increased 15% year over year and was slightly ahead of our expectations, driven by the strong operational performance. Also generated $160 million of free cash flow representing a year over year improvement of 37% and a strong cash conversion rate of 115%. Free cash flow generation continues to be an important focus for the team, driving funding for continued investments back into the organization to support our future profitable growth. I will provide more information about these targeted investments and our alignment to growth factors across our markets later in my prepared remarks.

Regarding our order book, we experienced strong demand in the second quarter as new orders increased 8% and reflected an overall book to bill in excess of 1.1x. We have a robust and growing pipeline, which continues to demonstrate positive momentum across our Digging into the details by segment, I will start with Defense Electronics, which delivered a record performance as orders grew nearly 50% year over year and are now up more than 30% year to date. Reflecting the team's alignment to the strategic growth priorities of the U.S. and allied military Notable bookings within the segment included some significant awards for turret drive stabilization systems supporting international ground vehicles along with tactical communication equipment supporting the U.S.

Army, Marine Corps and Air Force operations. We also received numerous awards supporting the modernization of existing helicopter UAV and fighter jet platforms, some initial orders on Golden Dome and various development contracts supporting next generation programs. Next, in the A&I segment, Enstar experienced strong demand for our industry leading EM actuation technology supporting the U.S. Army's IFPC program. This program is on track to receive another sizable increase in funding under the FY 2027 budget and maintains continued healthy growth projections. I would also emphasize our industrial vehicle order book, which has achieved strong growth for 3 consecutive quarters and is contributing to our more positive outlook in the general industrial market.

Chris will discuss this further in his remarks. Lastly, within the Naval & Power segment, following a strong Q1 order book, second quarter orders were down year over year, principally due to the timing of naval defense orders on submarine programs. Aside from that, we continue our commercial nuclear aftermarket supporting plant outages at restarts and also experienced a strong demand for valve equipment in our process markets To sum up, our overall orders thus far in 2026, orders are up 12% year to date exceeding sales growth of 9%, to yield an overall book-to-bill in excess of 1.2x.

In addition, Curtiss Wright's strengthening pipeline enhances our confidence in meeting our near-term targets and establishing a strong foundation for sustained medium and long term growth across our end markets. Turning to our full year 2026 guidance. Overall sales are now projected to increase 8% to 9% driven by more favorable outlook in our defense and general industrial markets. We continue to expect that operating income growth will outpace sales growth and our increased guidance reflects 50 to 70 basis points of margin expansion in pursuit of a record 19.1% to 19.3%. As a result, diluted EPS is now projected to grow 14% to 16% as we continue to compound our earnings at a mid teens pace over time.

Lastly, we raised our free cash flow guidance and continue to expect strong free cash flow conversion in excess of 105%. Overall, Curtiss Wright's strong growth in revenue during the first half of 2026, along with gains and operational efficiency have positioned our team to continue to deliver outstanding financial performance. Now I would like to turn the call over to Chris to provide a more in-depth review of our financials.

K. Christopher Farkas: Thank you, Lynn. Turning to Slide 4, I will begin by reviewing the key drivers of our second quarter 2026 performance by segment. Starting with A&I, sales grew 12%, which was in line with our expectations. Beginning with the segment's defense markets, our results reflected higher sales of actuation and sensors equipment within our aerospace defense market, supporting various U.S. and foreign fighter jet programs. In addition, we experienced solid sales growth for EM actuation equipment supporting ground based mobile launcher systems. Within the commercial aerospace market, we experienced solid OEM sales growth supporting increased production on both narrow body and wide body platforms.

And in the general industrial market, our results reflected modest growth in sales for industrial vehicle products, Regarding the segment's operating performance, operating income and margin grew 25 percent and 180 basis points respectively driven by favorable absorption on higher revenues favorable mix and restructuring savings which were partially offset by continued investments in development programs. Next, in the Defense Electronics segment, overall sales were down 3% and essentially in line with our expectations. Within the segment's ground defense market and, as anticipated, our results reflected lower sales of tactical communications equipment due to the timing of prior year orders, which were partially offset by higher Turret Drive stabilization systems revenues supporting international programs.

Growth in the aerospace defense market was driven by higher domestic sales of embedded computing equipment supporting various aircraft modernization, UAV and next generation development programs. Regarding the segment's operating performance, it delivered stronger than expected second quarter operating margin of 28%, up 120 basis points year over year. Reflecting a favorable mix of business and cost containment more than offset higher investment in research and development. Moving to the Naval & Power segment. James growth of 7% was primarily driven by strong growth in our Naval Defense market, associated with the timing of production on submarine programs.

We also experienced a solid uplift in aftermarket revenues supporting naval shipyards, including increased support for the CVN-75 Refueling and Complex Overhaul program. Growth in the Power and Process market was mainly driven by increased revenues in the commercial nuclear market, supporting advanced small modular reactors. We also experienced higher government nuclear revenues supporting various DOE projects at national laboratories. Regarding the segment's operating performance, operating income grew 12%, generating 80 basis points on operating margin expansion mainly reflecting favorable absorption on higher revenues. To sum up, Curtiss-Wright's second quarter results, our solid top line performance generated a strong operating margin of 19.4% driving 110 basis points in operating margin expansion.

Turning to our full year 2026 guidance, I will begin on Slide 5 with our end market sales outlook. Where we now anticipate total sales to grow 8% to 9% driven by improved expectations in both our defense and general industrial markets. Starting in aerospace defense, we raised our full year outlook to a new range of 12% to 14%, reflecting increased sales of actuation and sensors equipment supporting both domestic and international fighter jet programs. Additionally, we continue to project strong year over year sales growth for defense electronics, which we expect to accelerate across the remainder of this year.

Within ground defense, while confident in the pipeline and growing strength in the 2026 order book, we maintained our full year 2026 outlook based on the timing of production for our tactical communications equipment. Beyond the timing matters, we continue to expect increased actuation sales supporting the IFPC program as well as increased demand for Turret Drive Stabilization Systems supporting international ground vehicle programs most notably through our relationship with Rheinmetall. Naval Defense, following our strong first half results, we now project full year sales growth of 7% to 9% mainly due to expectations for higher production revenue on submarine programs while we continue to expect solid growth on the CVN-81 carrier program.

This raise in guidance also reflects increased aftermarket revenues, so supporting the CVN 75 Refueling and Complex Overhaul program. Moving to Commercial Aerospace. Our guidance continues to reflect the strength of our backlog supporting the ramp up in OEM production across both major narrow body and wide body platforms, our outlook for 10% to 12% sales growth remains unchanged and will remain on track to deliver steady sequential growth over the remainder of the year. Wrapping up our aerospace and defense market outlook, we now expect total sales in these markets to increase 7% to 9% Moving to our commercial markets.

In Power and Process, we maintained our outlook for full year sales to increase 13% to 15% Starting in the commercial nuclear market, we expect to deliver mid- to high teens sales growth this year, driven by the continued underlying strength of our order book. Of note, we anticipate sales in this market to be flat sequentially in Q3, fewer outages are expected during peak electricity demand followed by a strong fourth quarter performance. Shifting to the process market, we remain on track to demonstrate solid growth based on higher sales of MRO valves and instrumentation solutions as well as higher revenues from subsea pump development and then similarly deliver a strong fourth quarter performance.

Lastly, in General Industrial, as Lynn mentioned earlier, we are seeing steady improvements our industrial vehicles order book and now anticipate full year sales growth of 1% to 3%. We remain encouraged by the improving outlook and expect continued momentum in this market as we approach 2027. Wrapping up our total commercial markets, we continue to project total sales in these markets will increase 8% to 10%. Moving on to our updated full year 2026 financial outlook by segment on Slide 6.

I will begin in 8% to 10%, driven by the strong first half performance in the segment's A&D markets continued growth in our order book and the anticipated ramp up in commercial aerospace production, Regarding the segment's profitability, operating income is now projected to grow 15% to 17% and drive operating margin expansion of 110 to 130 basis points ranging from 18.5% to 18.7% In addition to the improved top line guide, this revised outlook reflects a more favorable absorption and mix on higher sales. For your modeling purposes, we expect strong second half growth in total sales and profitability with the results fairly evenly distributed between the third and fourth quarters.

Moving to Defense Electronics, where we continue to anticipate sales will grow 4% to 6%, principally driven by strong growth in Aerospace Defense and partially offset by the timing of revenues in Ground Defense, Regarding the segment's profitability, we now expect operating income growth of 5% to 7% and operating margin expansion of 20 to 40 basis points, marking continued improvement in our industry leading margins to a new range of 27.5% to 27.7%. For your modeling purposes, we expect the segment's third quarter sales to be flat with our second quarter results mainly due to the timing of ground defense revenues followed by a strong finish to the year.

In addition, third quarter operating income and margin are expected to be down sequentially as favorable mix experienced in the first half of this year is anticipated to normalize by year end while we also expect a higher level of second half R&D investments. In Naval & Power, we now expect sales to grow 10% to 11%, reflecting the increased naval defense market outlook and overall solid growth across the segment's commercial markets.

Regarding the segment's profitability, we now expect operating income growth of 14% to 16% and operating margin expansion of 50 to 70 basis points with this uplift mainly driven by the stronger revenue outlook For your modeling purposes, we remain on track to deliver steady sequential sales growth over the remainder of the year In addition, expect the segment's third quarter operating income and margin to be in line with our second quarter results with higher absorption mainly being offset by increased R&D investments.

So to summarize our 2026 outlook, overall, we now anticipate total Curtiss Wright operating income will grow 11% to 13% and expect operating margin to range from 19.1% to 19.3%, now up 50 to 70 basis points. For your modeling purposes at the overall purchase rate level, we expect third quarter 26 sales to reflect modest growth relative to our second quarter results, while operating income and margin are projected to be flat sequentially based on the timing of revenues unfavorable mix in Defense Electronics, and overall higher R&D investments. We anticipate the fourth quarter will reflect a record top line performance, resulting in a strong operating margin in excess of 20% conclude the year.

Continuing with our financial outlook on Slide 7 and starting with our EPS guidance, Building upon our strong first half performance, we have increased our full year 2026 diluted EPS guidance to a new range of $15.10 to $15.40 up 14% to 16%. And based upon the timing of sales and profitability as previously discussed, we expect our third quarter 26 EPS will be on par sequentially with our second quarter 26 results followed by a strong finish to the year. And lastly, turning to free cash flow.

Based upon our strong second quarter and first half free cash flow, and the confidence that provides in execution, we raised our full year outlook and now project record free cash flow of $585 million to $605 million Please note that this guidance includes a nearly 30% increase year over year in capital expenditures associated with ongoing growth investments which will be more than offset by strong growth in earnings and a record level of working capital as a percentage of sales, below 18%, as we continue to deliver a free cash flow conversion rate approximately 105% again this year. Now I would like to turn the call back over to Lynn.

Lynn Bamford: Thank you, Chris. And turning to Slide 8, As we have discussed today, the team continues to deliver tremendous results under our pivot to growth strategy, reinforcing our confidence in achieving record financials across all major metrics in 2026. Our success in meeting these objectives is supported by the strength of our order book close alignment with our customer priorities, focused investments back into the business and our commitment to drive sustained margin improvement. At the same time, we are targeting record levels of profitability and are delivering strong results as we continue to accelerate investments in R&D at a faster pace than sales.

This steady drive for top-quartile financial performance, combined with substantial and targeted reinvestment in the business, remains fundamental in our ability to compound earnings at a mid teens pace over time. It also supports our ability to deliver strong and consistent free cash flow generation for our shareholders and drive strategic investments in growth CapEx across the portfolio. These efforts will ensure that our workforce and factories have the necessary tools, systems and resources to continue to drive strong growth in sales, and operational efficiency. I wanted to highlight 1 of those critical investments investment opportunities shared in a recent press release.

In July, we announced an $80 million multiyear investment to expand our Chesapeake, Virginia facility within our Naval & Power segment to support growing market demand across our naval businesses and also in anticipation of future commercial nuclear awards. This expansion, which began in 2025, will be financed through various channels, including internal capital investment, maritime industrial base or mid funding, and state assistance. Regarding the MIB funding, we have spoken quite bit about it recently and the growing support from our U. S. Navy customer. This continues to accelerate Curtiss Wright has now been awarded approximately $95 million in industrial based funding to date. Note, this award value was $70 million as of the end of March.

Overall, this funding provides us an opportunity to gain increased content and potentially become a second source to further support our customers' efforts as they look to expedite production on U. S. Navy's most critical platform. This is 1 of many investment opportunities that we have been pursuing across our operations to position Curtiss Wright for long term growth Turning to the right hand side of the slide, and taking a broader perspective across Curtiss Wright's entire portfolio, we continue to build momentum. Our teams remain focused on executing in the short term while investing to capture the strongest medium and long term growth sectors globally in the markets in which we compete.

While the slide outlines many of the meaningful end market drivers, I will direct our focus to the commercial nuclear market. For those less familiar, Curtiss Wright possesses long established and significant commercial nuclear expertise dating back to the industry's inception. Today, our technology support the entire life cycle from the new build to the aftermarket. The company's extensive portfolio of aftermarket technology supports the continued performance, state safety and modernization of operating reactors worldwide including content on every reactor across North America, and South Korea in The U. S, the administration has exhibited a clear dedication to expediting life extension of existing nuclear facilities and expanding the reactor fleet with the goal of quadrupling U. S.

Nuclear generation capacity to 400 gigawatts in restarts and new builds Curtiss Wright remains well positioned to serve this massive acceleration in demand. Leveraging our established foundation, we also anticipate a substantial near and long term opportunity to support the construction of Westinghouse AP1 thousand reactors. On that front, AP1 thousand efforts in The U. S. Continue to advance. In June, the Department of Energy issued a conditional $17.5 billion loan commitment through its Office of Energy Dominant Financing to support the deployment of up to 10 new AP1 thousand reactors.

The loans are expected to finance long lead equipment purchases for up to 5 projects with 2 reactors at each site potentially bringing all 10 reactors under construction by 2030 which will remain in line with the President's 2025 executive order. It is anticipated that the long lead equipment purchases would include Curtiss Wright's reactor coolant pumps and that these components will be procured prior to the project's reaching final investment decision. As a proof point, I would like to highlight something which is not directly within the public site regarding the progress being made between Westinghouse, the Department of Energy and the launch customers.

During the month of July, 1 of the DOE's initial launch customers which we cannot name, visited our operation and they were overwhelmingly impressed with the quality of our critical manufacturing processes and our preparedness to support the impending build out of AP1 thousand reactors Overall, we continue to expect an AP1 thousand order this year. We remain excited for the opportunity to support the build out of AP1 thousand reactors, not only domestically through the DOE, but also through the Department of Commerce and across Eastern Europe and internationally.

We intend to fully capitalize on the tremendous growth ahead in our commercial nuclear power business In summary, we anticipate another record financial performance this year driven by the team's steadfast focus on execution. We can confidently state that we are on track to exceed all of the major financial metrics issued at our 24 Investor Day at the top and bottom line. Looking forward to the coming year, we expect to share updated long term financial targets during our next Investor Day which is currently being planned for the second quarter of 27.

The future remains extremely bright as the momentum continues to build at Curtiss Wright across all these end markets and we remain well positioned to continue to deliver long term value for our shareholders Thank you. And at this time, I would like to open up today's conference call for questions.

Operator: Thank you. The floor is now open for questions. And then queue up again with any additional. Thank you. Our first question today comes from Nathan Jones with Stifel. Your line is now open.

Nathan Jones: Good morning, everyone.

Lynn Bamford: Hi, Nathan. How are you?

Nathan Jones: I am very well. Thanks. Order orders have been, you know, exceptionally strong for several quarters here in the 1.1 billion to 1.2 billion for the last 3 quarters, which is significantly above the revenue level that is averaging kind of $925 million in the first half of 26. Can you talk about the duration of the backlog and how we should expect those strong order rates to translate into higher revenue levels.

K. Christopher Farkas: Yes. Thanks for pointing that out, Nathan. I mean, it is we are really, really pleased with what is happening here in the order book, and you can see the momentum And I will start by saying, I think Q3 is shaping up to look pretty good as well. But when you step back and you take a look at what happening in the Curtiss Wright order book, there is a few dynamics at play. Number 1 is just kind of the alignment of our technologies to the overall strength in the defense budgets here in the U.S. and also internationally.

But if I dive a little bit deeper into that, we started off the year talking about some of the delays in the Defense Electronics order book associated with the CR. We were forecasting earlier this year that it would take about 60 to 90 days for that to kind of clear itself up. And given the strong Q1 orders in DE that were up 18% year-over-year, And now what we saw here in Q2, we will put the record order being up 47% year-over-year. that is corrected itself. But embedded within some of the Defense Electronics order book, there are some things that are a little bit longer term in nature.

We have the C-17 program, press release that we talked about earlier this year. that is multiyear We had an incredibly strong second quarter order book within ground defense, and that included some long term production orders relative to turret drive stabilization systems, and we are seeing some things pick up. Just overall on the CR&D front. And that all speaks very positively not only to this year, but then as we look outward. And then looking across Commercial Aerospace, continued strength following the ramp and what is happening across the Boeing and Airbus and Lynn talked a little bit on the call here, too, about general industrial surge in orders in Q4.

We saw a strong surge in orders in Q1, here again in Q2. And the order book there is up 21% year-to-date. And again, that business is having a strong July, again, 1 month, but yes, the order book is very strong. I think it speaks very positively not only to what is happening here in the current year, but also as we look forward into 2027 and beyond.

Nathan Jones: Thanks for that color. Okay, the second question I will ask is on supply chain. it is obviously very high demand for chips and electronics and things like that these days from data center demand. I know you guys generally are in a priority position given the industries that you are in and managed through it extremely well during COVID, but can you talk about any challenges that you are seeing in the supply chain any inventory prepositioning that you are doing or anything like that we should be thinking about? And thanks for taking the questions.

Lynn Bamford: Thank you, Nathan. it is a very worthy topic to bring up because the supply chain pressures have definitely increased in the first half of this year and would not say it is back like COVID, but there are some similarities to back in 2022. But as we talked about back then, we learned a lot of things in 2022 We installed a bunch of different tools, took on some different approaches to how we managed our inventory and those are serving us well. And I think we are in very good shape. Really, the team is we are largely secured for our 2026 revenue, and the real focus at this point is positioning for 2027.

So I feel positive about that. But we talked about things you mentioned, the DPAS rating and some different things. And we have often mentioned also the relationships we have with our supply base that we really focused on in a new and different way back in 2022.

And kind of a recent example of where that is playing out is that some of our leadership attended a meeting in Manassas, Virginia on May 22nd that was initiation of the Alpha-1 DVR Made in America event at the Micron facility that was attended by the CEO of Micron and the Secretary of Commerce. so a really big deal, and during that time, with the presence and their understanding of what we do, we have been assured that we have priority allocation out of Micron.

And that is just 1 example, which was in the press, so it is something that people can look at that I thought it would be fun to mention for the work that this team is doing. But it is very systematic and it is across the board. And they collaborate across defense electronics very much with the industrial team who also has dependencies on the electronics industry and we make our power of our business work together in that area. And it is not just electronics, I would mention that there are some pressures on some rare earth materials like across our surface treatment business. We use a couple of compounds that have become under pressure.

And again, there the team is figuring out where which ones are going to have dual sources. And then also qualifying other powders with the customer bases to make sure we can support ongoing production and they are doing a good job with that and where there can be movement, we are making sure we are adjusting our prices to reflect the increased pressure on the supply chain. So it is not something you can never take your eye off of, but the team is doing a great job of managing it. Thanks for the color.

K. Christopher Farkas: Thank you, Nathan.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from Kristine Liwag with Morgan Stanley. Your line is now open.

Kristine Liwag: Hey, good morning everyone.

Lynn Bamford: Good morning.

Kristine Liwag: So Lynn, Chris, Jim, I mean, pivot to growth strategy has clearly delivered. You are tracking well ahead of that 24 Investor Day targets on margins, EPS, revenue growth, etcetera. I know it is premature to lay out another formal outlook today. But conceptually, from what you have said about the building blocks, whether it is Golden Dome, submarine production acceleration, commercial nuclear with AP1 thousand and SMR. Plus you have got a very strong underlying cycle for your end markets and aerospace and defense. Are these enough to support double digit revenue growth in the next 3 years? Maybe even potentially mid teens as we look out?

Lynn Bamford: So I very much appreciate you starting out with running through our targets and that we are exceeding them because that is something we are very proud of as a team. And yes, it is I mean, we are as you said, we are well above the 5%. We are 9% organic and 10% overall revenue growth. Just focusing on that because revenue growth gives you so much opportunity to have all the other metrics fall in line behind it. Really, when you do think of things that are coming in our end markets, a 2027 defense budget of maybe $1.5 trillion with clear support for where we are focused.

Commercial aerospace continuing to ramp, it is early days in this new build commercial nuclear that really we confidently are stating that we expect our first AP1 thousand order this year. I know you remember well what that can do for Curtiss Wright. And just really across the board, whether it is some of the businesses that had been a little bit more flattish, seeing the trends in our industrial vehicles and process markets that when you have good momentum across the board, then the areas that are really strong just uplift the whole organization and are not over overshadowed by covering maybe some other areas that is not growing.

So things are absolutely great I really emphasize that we have been investing in R&D. and it pays faster than sales for the past 5.5 years and 6 years by the end of this year. And the team knows where to invest to drive growth. And when you think 1 of the things I think there is a perspective that says helps you understand why the future is so bright is our industries are the long term industries. And we bring new products forward or work on custom projects with customers. It would take several years for those to turn into production revenues.

And when you think of when we started this and how you have seen our growth build and grow, over the past several years in the pivot to growth strategy, early investments are beginning to pay off. We have just a compounding list of those investments we have made year after year after year and continue to pay that are going to build for the future. And I think our Investor Day in Q2 of next year is going to be pretty exciting. And so we will hold the thunder till then, as you know we would, but I think the future is really bright for Curtiss Wright. Thank you, Lynn.

Kristine Liwag: Super helpful. And if I could follow-up, you guys have also been very historically disciplined about how you run the business. When you think about defense end markets and commercial, you have also brought in that commercial style approach for your defense business that is why you are getting a pretty good margin. I was wondering, as you see the new generation of defense tech companies in the private markets where they succeed by moving fast, iterating quickly, getting capability into customer hands earlier, but also investing more of their internal R&D and spending CapEx ahead of programs of record How do you see that opportunity?

Do you think that your business model lends itself to be more successful in potentially doing more of that kind of approach and getting technology faster to customers? Or do you see this as a potential win for market share or risk for margins?

Lynn Bamford: How do you think that ecosystem evolves? So it is early days with it, but the thinking today is it is a great growth opportunity for Curtiss Wright. And I say that for some very specific reasons. And that is that if you think of what most of the nontraditional defense are trying to do and the products they are promoting, they are end products that will be delivered to our military. They are UAVs, they are underwater vehicles, they are ground vehicles, they are different weapons capabilities. And not many of them are focused on the Tier 2 and Tier 3 type of supply chain, which is really where we play.

We are our Tier 2 and a Tier 3 supplier, And that is not the focus out of those. And their mantra is quick, nimble, agile, fast and what supports that better than COTS capabilities that we have across our portfolio, specifically in Defense Electronics, but also some of the capabilities out of our A and I segment, also most specifically. We can get them products that they can use as part of their delivering those end systems in weeks, where the development cycles for these products are well over a year, 2 years, even longer. And so from our standpoint, it is increased opportunities for different levels of capabilities and additional customers.

And another element I would say that we have done very successfully over the past 5 years that makes that even more relevant is we have always had really some of the state of the art technology, and we have talked about our NVIDIA processing line with the Blackwell chips and such that are really geared for some of the most complex systems that the militaries are needing. But we have also very much broadened our product offering to work very much across the size, weight and power offerings to be able to have products at different price points with different weights and different processing capabilities that fit a much broader range of products.

And so when you think of the types of things, these guys, a lot of the nontraditional defense contractors are bringing to market, they are not the largest, most complex radar systems. They are nimble things. And I think our product offering has the span that very much fit that wide range of capability needs. I feel like we are very well positioned. Our sales team is very active in being engaged across The U. S. With many of these different companies. and we are sought after as a supplier to them. Thank you for the color.

Operator: Our next question will come from Jan-Frans Engelbrecht with Baird. Your line is now open.

Jan-Frans Engelbrecht: Good morning, Lynn, Chris and Jim. Congrats on another set of strong results. I think I will start with Aerospace and Industrial. I think the guidance implies around 20 percent second half margins, and I think you did around 17% in the first half. Can you just sort of just describe the various puts and takes? It does look like aerospace defense accelerates in the second half of the year sequentially, but commercial aerospace looks like it is down around 8% sequentially despite Boeing and production rates going higher. So just wanted to understand that better. Thanks.

K. Christopher Farkas: Yes. So I think as we step back and just specifically talk about commercial aerospace, We continue to see strong growth in orders. We are planning to be up 11% or up 11% here in Q2. And we feel very confident in the guide of 10% to 12% on the full year. As you take a kind of a more holistic view across the Aerospace and Industrial segment, and we did just recently lift our sales guidance. We raised it another 15 million to $17 million and that was primarily driven by what is happening in aerospace defense and then also general industrial. We definitely expect to see continued strong revenue growth in commercial aerospace going forward.

And some of the good things that are happening in there from a margin perspective and absorption is part of that, but mix is also part of that story. We are going to see that we raised our margin 10 basis points or $3.5 million. So that sales volume absorption is in line with historical levels. 20% to 25% on higher sales but favorable mix in products. And you have heard us talk a lot about EM actuation. that is another example of commercial technology being spun off into the defense space, and that is got great margins that are associated with it.

We are also getting equally strong uplift this year from our current year and prior year restructuring actions. And despite that, I mean, we still are investing in R&D. We will We will see that increase here in the back half. And deliver 110 to 130 basis points of margin. Perfect.

Jan-Frans Engelbrecht: Thanks, Chris. And then if I may, a quick follow-up. Just if you look at the second half for Defense Electronics, strong growth, it looks like high single digits, low double digits. Just how much of that second half revenue for that segment is already in backlog, and can you give us a sense of how many sort of book and ship business that you still need to book in the second half? To meet the guidance?

K. Christopher Farkas: Yes. I would say I am not going to provide an exact percentage of sales and backlog figure. We are very well positioned following the record second quarter. And as I had mentioned, Q3 expected to be very strong as well. I think as you take a look at the second half revenue profile, really what you are seeing there, and we talked about this on last quarter, is the pressure that is associated with the timing of those orders coming in. And the ability to quickly turn that here at year end. So we will see relatively flat revenues to down in Defense Electronics here in the third quarter. Sequentially from Q2.

And we will have a big fourth quarter We have had those in the past. We have been doing a lot of work to make sure that we are not facing those. but unfortunately, given the timing of the orders, it is going to be a big fourth quarter for that business. Perfect. Thanks for taking my questions.

Operator: Thank you. Go next to Myles Walton with Wolfe Research. Line is now open.

Myles Walton: Morning. Lynn, Chris, Jim, you have Hi, this is Louis on for Myles. Hi, Louis. You guys have these or not you guys, but that there were these large contracts signed for subs. What if any flow through have you seen from these? Or do you think you could see?

Lynn Bamford: So there was a lot of press around that. And it is great to see. It shows the commitment in the willingness of the government to make sure that starting at the shipyards, which is where the bulk of that $77 billion go into our 2 main shipyards. Really, that was fully funding work that is in our pipeline of which some we were already under contract for. So it is good for the industry. it is good for the shipbuilders, which is good for Curtiss Wright. So I do not want to minimize it, but it is not a dramatic change in our order flow or how our business is going to transpire over the next couple of years.

Okay, great.

Myles Walton: And maybe, Lynn, just latest thoughts on the M&A market.

Lynn Bamford: Yes. So we adamantly state that it is still our top priority for our use of CapEx and we are very active. We have been our last acquisition was closed at the end of 24. So it is been a bit of time since we closed on an acquisition. I will assure you and everyone that we have been very active during that time. We have looked at a lot of properties The markets are just frothy right now, and you have seen some of the multiples that have properties that have executed within our space.

And we remain very disciplined in understanding that we are going to assure that we want the strategic fit and the financial fit that is going to create value for our shareholders. So look at that very carefully and we have a significant property that we are looking at right now that seems optimistic, but I have learned in the process in the process that many seem optimistic until they are not. And so we shall see, but absolutely will continue using capital for acquisitions. Over time, but we will also put our capital to work. So we look broadly at the various use of capital.

I am proud to say that over the past few years, we have increased our capital quite significantly investing back into ourselves to assure our factories are ready. And that is going to continue into the next couple of years. So it is great to be able to fund that out of our free cash flow.

And really, as stated in the prepared remarks, make sure we are prepared for the growth that is coming our way and whether that is potentially taking on second source work, which really would be incremental and new for Curtiss Wright but making sure we are a top quality supplier into all of our customers, not just our military customers, but with that as a focus. Thank you very much.

Operator: Thank you. We will move next to Louie Dipalma with William Blair. Your line is now open.

Louie Dipalma: Good afternoon.

Lynn Bamford: Hello. Morning, depending on where you are. Yes.

Louie Dipalma: Earlier this year, you announced the C17 Globemaster Modernization Award. How have those upgrades progressed? And are there similar electronics modernization upgrades in the pipeline.

Lynn Bamford: Yes. So thanks for bringing it up. The program is off to a great start. We have had quite a few face to face meetings with Boeing on a lot of the early stage parts of a program. But I personally sit on a monthly review of the project given the significance, and it is really kind of a different scale of work. Than we have traditionally done out of that team to monitor the progress and team is doing a great job executing to it and keeping the customer happy The customer is very happy.

And so, you know, other items like that, there is a chance that Boeing will leverage that capability specifically on to some other platforms, which would be quite exciting. there is always great to see what you have been we have done the work to develop. Finding more production homes. So that is very exciting But this is really going to focus across the team for the past several years is to take on greater scopes of work with our customers. And so there are definitely other things in the pipeline like this that I hope we will be able to make announcements on later this year.

A lot of things that we do in that team are customers do not want us making press releases around the scope that we have won. And so there is a lot of some other things that we have won that we just cannot talk about publicly. But the team is doing a great job.

Louie Dipalma: Great. And also, is Lynn, what is your long term view of the ground defense end market. Right now, it is your smallest end market and it is been shrinking And there is a viewpoint that ground defense vehicles are highly vulnerable to drones on the modern battlefield. but do you see any improvement on the horizon? I know you have said in the past that you are involved in the Army's next generation command and control program. But are there other catalysts that could turn around that end market?

Lynn Bamford: Well, I think, the connectivity on the battlefield and across Golden Dome with a lot of land equipment that is either radars or effectors to thwart incoming attacks from our adversaries. That is obviously a fairly new program that we have not seen reach volume yet. And that is going to be a great growth driver for Curtiss Wright. We are very well positioned across so many aspects of how that will be rolled out. there is a major push within, I mean, there are changes, and you are right. Building the very large tanks and stuff, there are shifts in that.

But again, as we talked about with the nontraditional defense contractors, we have changed our product portfolio to be much more relevant to different size, weights of vehicles, whether it is track vehicles, or wheeled vehicles and not even tracked vehicles to be prepared for that. And the build out across Europe with Rheinmetall, I mean, really, it is early days to see where that is going to take us. And so there is both international opportunities that are very, very strong and the domestic opportunities.

And there is some new things going on with ground defense and how everyone's talking about munitions and restocking the munitions stockpile, and we have been transparent saying that it is not that we have no content. it is relatively minor, and it is not necessarily at this point. They might be able to change that, I would say. But at this point, going to be a significant revenue driver for Curtiss Wright. But there is also a big push towards different ways of shooting down incoming missiles that are not shooting off munitions, but directed energy and lasers. And those are 2 areas that we are very active in and have very relevant technology for.

So again, I think the team just is always knows the industry so well inside and out and where trends are going that we are making sure we are talking to the right people and have the right products to solve the challenges as the markets evolve, and they always evolve. And so we cannot be afraid of that. You got to embrace it and it is opportunities to differentiate yourself. Great. Thanks, Lynn, Chris and Jim.

K. Christopher Farkas: Thank you. Thank you.

Operator: We will move next to Scott Deuschle with Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open.

Scott Deuschle: Hey, good morning. Sorry, I joined a bit late, so I apologize if this is already addressed. But just Chris, for tactical comms specifically, are you expecting growth to step up in the second half?

K. Christopher Farkas: Yes. I think if you take a look at Tactical Communications, we are expecting growth to improve in the second half now. Given some of the pressure here and the timing of the order book, you are not going to see that in Q3, but you will see that in Q4. We are expecting a very strong fourth quarter. Okay.

Scott Deuschle: And then, Lynn, have you seen any signs as to whether the timing delays in defense electronics could be more than timing? Potentially reflecting customers evaluating the actual products they want to buy, have you gotten pretty explicit signals from the customer that it really is just timing?

Lynn Bamford: It definitely feels like it is timing. And I think you can see the evidence of that of a really great Q1 order book, a really great Q2 order book. We had a strong July. And are anticipating a very strong Q3. And then that carrying into Q4. So I think we have seen the snapback in our order book there is obviously a delay to being able to turn that all into revenue. But yes, I do not believe there is any demand destruction. it is just timing. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you.

Operator: Our next question comes from John Godyn with Citi. Your line is now open.

Bradley Eyster: Hi, good morning. This is Bradley Eyster on for John Godyn. Thanks for taking my question. I just wanted to circle back on your prepared remarks. Where you initially received awards for both UAVs and Golden Dome? I was hoping you could take a step back and just talk a bit about the opportunities in these 2 end markets for Curtiss Wright. What role do you play here, and how these opportunities take shape throughout the fullness of time for you guys?

Lynn Bamford: Yes. So you are correct. We did make this comment. So the opportunities across Golden Dome are really multiple. In the kind of-- of do not want to repeat myself. It was really just speaking about that, that there is the major detector systems whether they are radars or different types that we have established footprint in, and they are looking to evolve those systems. that is a rich opportunity base fundamental point of Golden Dome is to deploy these systems first and foremost, which has never has never been done before, But then have them work together as a network capability that is all interconnected with communications networks.

And our communications equipment and our tactical data links are absolutely right in the sweet spot, and we are winning work in those areas to help with that networking and the secure networking, even more importantly, across those. And then we do things with a lot of launchers, and we talked very much about the IFPC program, which will be part of it. But we have definitely talked about other platforms over the years where we have content and we are continuing very much to pursue new content across those. And that is those launchers for munitions and then things like directed energy and laser systems that are coming on as new ways that are more sustainable.

For being able to have your defenses. And so it is really across those areas that we are pursuing things is kind of the main focus. And across UAVs, I mean, we have participated in the UAV market for decades, starting back with Global Hawk years ago when the major systems on that. And so it is just a broad focus for us. Our technology is very relevant. I mean, there obviously need high-tech systems to be able to fly unmanned to process sensor data from surveillance types of missions. Command and control types of capabilities.

And so there is quite a variety of pursuits we have going on there that you can see how our technology just aligns to that. Got it. that is very helpful.

Bradley Eyster: And also, I just wanted to touch base on the general industrial outlook. I know you called this out a couple of times throughout this call and the strength you are seeing in industrial vehicles. I know this end market is not really the focus point with so much other things going on in the business. But I was hoping you could shine the spotlight here in terms of what you are seeing. What gave the confidence of this increase. And what is the future opportunity here, Thank you.

K. Christopher Farkas: Yes. So just starting maybe with last year, we talked about the fourth quarter orders. They were up 26%. We entered into the year and Q1 was strong as well. Q2 has been strong. Year to date, our order book's up 21%. July following a very similar pattern. We are seeing some very strong signals here that are within our order book. But also, as you dig into the order book and you look at where that growth is happening, seeing some pretty positive things in On Highway. We are now forecasting that On Highway is going to be up high single digits. For the year, tracking in line with North America, Class 5 through 8 and Rest of World.

And when you look at Off Highway, we had some good things happen here in the order book here for the second quarter. We are now forecasting that, that will be up mid single digits, and that is tracking ahead of global construction and ag per the industry forecast. We are still seeing a little bit of delays in specialty vehicles and industrial automation and services. We are forecasting those 2 submarkets to be down low single digits on the full year. But certainly, with what is happening here in the order book and continues to happen, it is improving our confidence in not only what we are seeing here for 2026 to 2027.

And I will also say that as you look at ACT and Off Highway Research, those outlooks for 2027 and beyond are looking good as well. So there it was a 1% to 3% guidance raise here on the year. We remain somewhat conservative. Given the order book in the macro environment. And we are looking forward here to seeing what happens in Q3 and it definitely represents an opportunity for us on the year. Great. Appreciate all the color.

Operator: Thank you. Thank you. I am showing no additional questions at this time. I will now turn the floor over to Lynn Bamford, Chair and Chief Executive Officer for additional or closing remarks.

Lynn Bamford: Thank you everybody for joining us today and we look forward to seeing many of you again on the road or at our third quarter results. Have a great day. Thanks everyone.

Operator: Thank you. This concludes today's Curtiss Wright earnings conference call. Please disconnect your line at this time and have a wonderful day.