Wesco net sales up 13% in record second quarter
Wesco International reported record second quarter net sales of $6.7 billion, up 13% year over year and up 10% sequentially.
Other higlights included:
- Organic sales up 13% YOY
- Data center sales of $1.5 billion, up ~45% YOY
- Record total company backlog, up ~60% YOY
- Second quarter operating margin of 5.7%, up 20 basis points YOY; adjusted EBITDA margin of 7.3%, up 60 basis points YOY
- Second quarter diluted EPS of $4.23; record adjusted diluted EPS of $4.57, up 35% YOY
- Second quarter operating cash flow of $54 million; free cash flow of $32 million
- Raising 2026 outlook reflecting exceptional results in first half of the year and accelerating business momentum
"We delivered another exceptional quarter marked by continued market outperformance and accelerating business momentum," said John Engel, chairman, president, and CEO. "Sales, backlog, adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted earnings per share all increased versus the prior year and achieved records that exceeded our plan. Free cash flow generation was also positive and exceeded our expectations.
"We have now posted four consecutive quarters of double-digit sales growth fueled by data centers. Beyond our outsized growth in data centers, demand remained strong across the rest of our diversified portfolio and end markets as customers continue to invest in major infrastructure projects. Especially noteworthy, backlog was up approximately 60%, to a new record level, reflecting the benefits of the ongoing secular growth trends and the continued effectiveness of our One Wesco cross-selling strategy.
"We achieved a major milestone this quarter with a significant multi-year Grid Services award in our UBS business from a hyperscale data center customer. This win represents an important step in diversifying our UBS customer base and expanding our comprehensive data center offerings to include power solutions in addition to our extensive white space and gray space product and service offerings. As recently announced, we also strengthened our end-to-end capabilities and cooling solutions for data center customers through the acquisition of Singapore-based Newark Engineering," said Mr. Engel concluded, "We are very pleased with our second quarter results and continued positive business momentum as we enter the second half of the year.
"Our backlog growth was fueled by multi-year customer commitments demonstrating our transformation into a leading infrastructure solutions provider serving communications, security, electrical, utility and power markets. The power of our customer value proposition, global capabilities, and leading portfolio of products, services and solutions is clear as we continue to outperform the market. As a result, we are significantly raising our full-year 2026 outlook reflecting the favorable secular growth trends and our confidence in continued strong execution. As the market leader, and with positive momentum building, I'm bullish that Wesco will continue to outperform our markets and deliver superior value to our customers, suppliers, and shareholders in the second half of 2026 and beyond."
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