Bill Waltz: It’s really — I’d say it’s almost, Chris, I’m teasing because we did not do this, but if you were to give me a softball question here. To your point, it’s a multiyear process, but what I’m proud, I think we did a press release here in the last month or 2, was NECA, which is the National Electrical Contractors Association so represents all the construction contractors in the electrical space that are union, that is equivalent nonunion organization, named us as one of like the premier partners. And to give you a feel, there’s around 13 give or take premier partners, and that’s everything from a freight carrier to electrical — like energy generator company for their plans, tools. So in our space across PVC products, across steel conduit products, across metal framing products, you just go through, we are the only premier partner basically for all of our set of products there.
There are some other product manufacturers in certain spaces. But it just shows the relationships that Atkore is building out there. It’s a real complement to our organization, our products, our value in the partnership we’re doing. So it’s exciting, Chris.
Chris Moore: Got it. I appreciate that. I will leave it there.
Bill Waltz: Thanks Chris.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Alex Rygiel from B. Riley. Your line is open.
AlexRygiel: Thank you. Good morning, gentlemen. A very nice quarter.
Bill Waltz: Thank you, Alex.
AlexRygiel: A couple of quick questions here. First, as we think about the second quarter guidance versus the first quarter, directionally, what does your guidance imply for price and volume? And I guess what I’m getting at here is, have we seen the correction in raw materials sort of fully reflected in either the first quarter or the second quarter guide?
David Johnson: Well, I would say in the second quarter guide, we get from our comments, that our volume year-over-year we expect it to be lower than it was in Q1 as a growth year-over-year. But still a growth — modest growth year-over-year. I would say pricing, when you look at one of these, and there’s been — steel’s been its way up now, maybe on its way down, what have you. I think that, that gets reflected fairly quickly in our numbers. We are able to price on a daily basis. We might not see an increase or decrease as for weeks as we work through our inventory. So I would say it’s pretty dynamic. So there isn’t really a situation where it lags in any meaningful way, except for the S&I segment where that tends to be more quarterly based. And so a little bit behind when steel is on its way up, a little bit of headwind steel is on its way down. But that, again, tends to normalize over a couple of quarters.
Bill Waltz: And then Alex, if I can bridge off your question a little bit. Again, David’s better giving you the bridge. But just for you or other shareholders out there, the way we think about our profit and pricing, first thing is just general industry volume. Obviously, there’s tight capacity like any product, you can sell for more, because you have multiple options and multiple customers that want it. So volume. Second thing where, I think, we are absolutely the industry leader is our capability, and we’re really doubling down on this like a one order, one delivery, one invoice that just is a competitive, sustainable advantage that I don’t think anyone else can match period in the next decade. My own personal opinion. Then it gets to where your question was to go, okay, steel up, is steel down. And I think David answered there, we do a nominal — real-time pricing that it’s not a large driver of our EBITDA, for example.
AlexRygiel: And then secondly, can you give us an update on the expansion of your distribution centers?
Bill Waltz: Yes. So great — wow, great question there, not that every other question hasn’t been good. We’re right on track with the following things. We have several of them up and running well. Now we’re working on one in the Dallas area and one in the Atlanta area. We have the facilities, purchased, leased, we’re putting in racking, starting to bring products up. It’s really also — and then as David talked earlier to other questions, so we talk about this fiscal year and go, Hey, to Deane Dray’s question, like bridge me the average $210 million to the $250 million the second half of the year, I think, the RSCs are more of a thing that’s going to help us in fiscal year ’26 just to go until we fully get them up and fully get the value prop. We’re getting it now, but the leverage of that as we go forward is what again gives us confidence in the $18-plus EPS that we put out there a couple of years ago now.
AlexRygiel: Very helpful. Thank you very much.
Bill Waltz: Thank you, Alex.
Operator: Your final question comes from the line of Chris Dankert from Loop Capital. Your line is open.
Chris Dankert: Hi, morning guys, thanks for taking the question.
Bill Waltz: Thanks Chris.
Chris Dankert: I guess, first off, you mentioned there was probably some — a little bit of rebate buying to hit those break points at the end of the year here. Do you feel like distribution inventories are still in a good place as we kind of move into the second quarter here? So maybe any kind of comment on how you see the inventory landscape at the distribution level?
Bill Waltz: Yes. I think we’re back, and God bless here, to normal pre-COVID. In other words, there’s inventory out there, but its appropriate amount for this — at this time of the year. And then as we get, like, it’s hard to predict to David’s earlier point, with one or two weeks of backlog, are we talking in March or April. But sometime, customers will even put more in because they know the spring season and summer season will be stronger, and therefore, will start to stock up more. But at this stage, right on track. And I wouldn’t say they’re low, but they’re definitely not high. And there’s no reason to be. In other words, back to earlier questions, commodity prices are pretty stable. We could talk about steel going down a little bit, PVC may be going up a little bit, those type of things. And even our pricing, while we always aspire to increase our pricing. So there’s no dramatic swings or supplier shortages. So business is back to normal.
Chris Dankert: Glad to hear that. And then maybe just to zoom out to the 30,000 feet for a second. Obviously, competitive dynamics don’t swing too much quarter-to-quarter. But certainly, we’re getting a lot of questions on just are there any changes in the competitive landscape? I mean pricing would suggest there’s nothing dramatic going on at the moment. But maybe just a quick comment on how you see the competitive landscape and what’s going on and what might be changing a little bit incrementally here?
Bill Waltz: Nothing of significance. There’s always minor players that try to enter noise level things, so somebody importing a product because of things. But literally, there’s as much opportunity without me getting specific on things the U.S. government may do. Or he saw flashes this morning if Trump was elected, he would stop imports and all the different things. At the end of the day, it’s the earlier questions of, there’s the demand out there, almost nine months of contractor backlog. It’s our self-help things of growing with the solar industry, growing with HDPE and so forth, that those are really the drivers of the business.
David Johnson: Yes. And Chris, just remember, I mean, I think we’ve talked about this many times. You still have to have agents, you have to have distribution, you have to have a brand that people know. I mean, so there are a lot of reasons why like we do well and that the competitive landscape is fairly stable year-over-year.
Chris Dankert: Makes sense. Well, thanks so much guys and congrats on a nice start to the year here.
David Johnson: Thank you.
Bill Waltz: Thank you, Chris.
Operator: This concludes the question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the call back over to Bill Waltz for closing remarks.
Bill Waltz: Thank you. Let me take a moment to summarize my key three takeaways from today’s discussion. First, Q1 was a solid start to the year with organic volumes up 13%. Second, the declaration of our first quarterly dividend is another recognition of our structural improvements in transformation over the past several years. Third, with a great team, product portfolio and strategy, supported by strong secular tailwinds, we believe the best is yet to come at Atkore. Before we conclude today’s call, I would like to mention a planned rotation of key talent that demonstrates the Atkore business system at work. John Deitzer will be transitioning into the role of VP of Electrical Finance; and Matt Kline, who is currently our VP of Electrical Finance as well as the General Manager of our Fiberglass Conduit business unit will be moving into the Treasury and IR role.
We wish them both continued success in their new positions. With that, thank you for your support and interest in our company. We look forward to speaking with you during our next quarterly call. This concludes the call for today.
Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. You may disconnect.
