Stocks/BRC

BRC

Brady Corporation
Industrials·Security & Protection Services
$86.08
$4.1B market cap
Claude Rating
5/10HOLD
Revenue
$1.6B
Free Cash Flow
$181.3M
Rev Growth
+13.8%
FCF Margin
11.2%
P/FCF
22.4x
EV/FCF
21.9x
Fwd EV/EBITDA
9.5x
Fair Value
$76.00
Upside
-11.7%

Brady Corporation manufactures and supplies identification solutions (IDS) and workplace safety (WPS) products to identify and protect premises, products, and people in the United States and internationally. The IDS segment offers safety signs, floor-marking tapes, pipe markers, labeling systems, spill control products, and lockout/tagout devices for facility identification and protection; materials, printing systems, RFID and bar code scanners for product identification, brand protection labeli

2-Year Price History

$87.52+31.3%
$65$70$75$80$85$90$95volMay 24Sep 24Jan 25May 25Sep 25Jan 26May 26

Quarterly Financials & Projections

Quarterly Waterfall ($ M)
PeriodRevEBITDAOpInNIOCFFCFCapExCashDebtSharesROICIntCovEV/EBITDA
Est2028-Q3760.0130.7--62.3--72.2-21.3586.4----------
Est2028-Q2730.0122.6--56.9--51.1-20.4514.2----------
Est2028-Q1700.0115.5--52.5--35.0-21.0463.1----------
Est2027-Q4720.0115.2--50.4--68.4-21.6428.1----------
Est2027-Q3740.0119.9--53.3--59.2-23.7359.7----------
Est2027-Q2710.0112.2--48.3--39.1-23.4300.5----------
Est2027-Q1680.0105.4--44.2--27.2-23.8261.5----------
Est2026-Q4420.077.7--53.8--58.8-10.5234.3----------
Act2026-Q3435.273.273.257.878.267.2-11.1175.588.547.833.8%57.7x12.6x
Act2026-Q2384.174.062.248.153.342.4-11.0176.5144.947.726.9%74.8x13.4x
Act2026-Q1405.380.768.053.933.422.4-11.0182.7176.847.731.0%66.8x12.6x
Act2025-Q4397.372.059.349.958.349.4-8.9174.4158.647.831.1%63.0x11.6x
Act2025-Q3382.676.967.252.359.955.6-4.3152.2161.648.135.2%82.1x11.9x
Act2025-Q2356.763.351.240.339.632.5-7.1138.5130.248.329.4%48.2x12.4x
Act2025-Q1377.170.358.946.823.416.1-7.3145.7159.048.233.4%51.9x12.7x
Act2024-Q4343.476.566.255.584.073.3-10.7250.1129.748.143.2%90.9x10.6x
Act2024-Q3343.472.563.450.972.764.4-8.3160.591.648.447.7%99.6x10.1x
Act2024-Q2322.664.253.943.636.1-13.5-49.6143.973.448.739.6%81.2x10.5x
Act2024-Q1332.067.659.747.262.351.0-11.3175.480.048.848.9%88.3x9.5x
Act2023-Q4345.972.362.149.479.373.0-6.3151.580.749.448.8%110.8x8.8x
Act2023-Q3337.171.263.048.172.567.7-4.8135.179.650.048.2%94.5x10.3x
Act2023-Q2326.358.248.838.029.425.1-4.3108.2110.550.037.7%47.0x9.6x
Act2023-Q1322.659.951.439.428.024.1-3.9114.5128.750.143.5%67.0x9.2x
Act2022-Q4324.063.252.941.153.232.2-21.0114.1129.250.442.5%123.3x10.5x
Act2022-Q3338.660.052.940.140.935.2-5.7103.1110.251.645.8%182.5x--
Act2022-Q2318.150.842.933.8-3.2-8.3-5.1147.4119.952.232.1%201.5x--
Act2022-Q1321.553.444.335.127.516.2-11.3157.6107.652.433.0%293.3x--

AI Analysis

LLM Evaluations

Claude5/10HOLDFV: $76.00

Brady's legacy identification and safety business is a high-quality compounder generating 30%+ ROIC with sticky consumable revenues and strong pricing power. However, the $1.4B Honeywell PSS acquisition fundamentally changes the investment thesis. BRC is going from a pristine, net-cash balance sheet to ~2.5x net leverage, acquiring a declining business in a commoditized, hyper-competitive space (Zebra, Datalogic). The deal may prove accretive on a headline EPS basis ($0.80 Year 1), but the risk-adjusted return is questionable given PSS's negative organic growth trajectory, the massive integration challenge, and the fact that Honeywell was a motivated seller. The simultaneous departure of three board members and insider selling pattern suggest internal skepticism. At ~21x trailing FCF on legacy earnings (and much higher on pro-forma post-deal earnings given margin compression), the stock prices in significant execution success with limited margin of safety.

Catalyst Successful PSS integration with synergy realization above $40M, stabilization/return to growth of PSS revenues, and faster-than-expected deleveraging could drive re-rating. Near-term, data center capex cycle sustaining Wire ID demand is a positive catalyst.
Risk Integration failure on the Honeywell PSS acquisition — a deal that doubles the company's size, funded entirely with debt, in a competitive market where the acquired asset was already declining. Board departures and insider selling amplify governance concerns during this critical period.
Trend
IMPROVING
Mgmt
6/10
Quarter
8/10
Exp. Move
-3.0%

Latest Earnings Call

Transcript Summary

Brady Corporation delivered a record-setting Q3 2026, featuring a 23% increase in adjusted EPS to $1.50 and 8.2% organic sales growth. Performance was driven by a 19% surge in Wire ID sales, particularly within the data center market, and the successful launch of new portable printer technology. The Americas led regional growth at 10.1%, while Europe remained positive at 4.5% despite macro headwinds. The highlight of the quarter was the announced acquisition of Honeywell’s Productivity Solutions and Services (PSS) business, which is expected to add $0.80 to adjusted EPS in its first year. Management expects to close the deal by August 1st, funding it through $1.3 billion in new debt while maintaining a clear path to deleveraging. During the Q&A, CEO Russell Shaller addressed recent board resignations, attributing them to the intense time commitment required for the PSS deal rather than internal conflict. Reflecting this momentum, Brady raised its full-year EPS guidance to $5.20–$5.30. The company remains in a strong net cash position with robust operating cash flow, supporting its long-standing dividend policy and strategic R&D investments.

Valuation & Metrics

Market Stats

Price$86.08
Market Cap$4.1B
Enterprise Value$4.0B
P/S Ratio2.5x
P/FCF22.4x
EV/FCF21.9x
FCF Margin (TTM)11.2%
FCF Yield4.5%
Dividend Yield (TTM)--
Annual Dilution-0.5%
CurrencyUSD

TTM Financial Snapshot

Revenue$1.6B
Net Income$209.7M
Free Cash Flow$181.3M

Revenue Growth (YoY)+13.8%
EBITDA Margin18.5%
Net Margin12.9%
FCF Margin11.2%
CapEx % of Revenue2.6%
SBC % of Revenue0.7%
ROIC30.7%
WC Change % Rev-3.9%
Interest Coverage144.7x

DCF Fair Value Estimate

$66.13
-23.2% upside
Fair Enterprise Value$3.1B
− Net Debt$-87M
= Fair Equity$3.2B
Revenue Growth14.1% → 3.5%
FCF Margin11.2% → 11.0%
Discount Rate15.0%
Terminal EV/FCF15.0x

Forward Outlook & Risk

Short Interest

Short % of Float1.3%
Short Shares0.5M
Days to Cover1.8
Change (vs Prior)+9.6%
Short % Float History
1.30%+0.10pp
0.4%0.6%0.8%1.0%1.2%04-3007-1509-1511-1401-1504-30

Options

Call IV (ATM)20%
Put IV (ATM)29%
ATM Spread5.5%
Call $OI (near money)$71K
Put $OI (near money)$32K
ATM ExpiryJuly 17, 2026 (56D)
ATM Strike$85.0
Major Expirations3
Near-money chain · July 17, 2026
StrikeCall Bid/AskCall OIPut Bid/AskPut OI
$70.00$15.50/$20.000--/$4.800
$75.00$10.50/$15.000--/$4.800
$80.00$6.00/$10.500--/$4.800
$85.00$2.05/$6.900$0.25/$4.900
$90.00--/$4.800$3.30/$6.500
$95.00--/$4.800$6.80/$10.000
$100.00--/$4.800$11.20/$15.000
$105.00--/$4.800$15.70/$20.000
Snapshot: 2026-05-22

Forward Projections & Estimates

NTM Revenue Growth+57.2%
Forward FCF Margin7.2%
Forward EBITDA Margin16.3%
Forward P/FCF22.0x
Forward EV/FCF21.5x
Forward Int. Coverage6.2x
Model Risk Score7/10
Bankruptcy Odds4%
Est. Borrow Rate5.8%
Terminal EV/FCF15.0x
LT Growth3.5%
LT FCF Margin11.0%

Employees

Headcount5,700
Revenue / Employee$284,550
Gross Profit / Employee$145,426
2022: 5,700 → 2023: 5,600 → 2024: 5,700 → 2025: 6,400 (4% CAGR)

Institutional Ownership

Headline & net flow

NET BUYING

In Q1 2026 so far (quarter still filing), institutions are net buyers — bought 7.2% of float, sold 2.6%. 1 filer moved >1% of shares (1 buying, 0 selling).

Net flow · Q1 2026still filing
+4.6% of float (net)
Bought 7.2% · Sold 2.6%
308 filers reported (last quarter: 305)

Ownership composition

Active
50.2%(+10.3% YoY)
293 filers
hedge / family / endowment
Retail funds
Fidelity, Schwab, 401(k)
Passive
15.9%(-7.5% YoY)
6 filers
Vanguard, iShares, SPDR
Market makers
0.1%(+0.0% YoY)
6 filers
Citadel, Susquehanna
Insiders
3.2%
Form 4 — latest per insider
0%25%50%75%100%2022-062023-032023-122024-092025-062026-03
ActiveRetail fundsPassiveMarket makersRetail direct

Top holders

Fund$ valueCost basisΔ QoQΔ YoYα lifeFund AUM
FMR LLC$531M$70.41+$10.4M+$139M+0.3%$1.89T
BlackRock, Inc.Passive$336M$75.09+$6.1M−$19.6M-0.2%$5.69T
Neuberger Berman Group LLC$195M$71.08−$5.2M+$63.5M+0.1%$131.37B
FIRST TRUST ADVISORS LP$136M$62.11+$3.8M+$62.9M-0.9%$139.72B
FRANKLIN RESOURCES INC$130M$79.06+$33.2M+$130M-0.2%$403.03B
STATE STREET CORPPassive$128M$47.01+$3.9M+$170K-0.2%$2.89T
DIMENSIONAL FUND ADVISORS LPPassive$117M$53.66−$1.9M−$3.1M-0.4%$480.92B
KAYNE ANDERSON RUDNICK INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LLC$78.0M$81.00+$77.8M+$78.0M-0.8%$34.05B
RENAISSANCE TECHNOLOGIES LLC$74.1M$59.45−$3.3M−$13.3M+1.2%$63.91B
ROYCE & ASSOCIATES LP$52.0M$57.71−$8.1M+$1.4M-0.9%$10.09B
GEODE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLCPassive$45.0M$58.02+$1.4M+$2.7M+2.3%$1.61T
DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale$42.8M$56.98+$0+$5.8M-0.5%$60.54B
CHARLES SCHWAB INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC$38.4M$72.63+$630K−$2.1M+1.0%$645.81B
Qube Research & Technologies Ltd$36.1M$58.92+$2.9M+$17.0M+0.3%$70.36B
WELLINGTON MANAGEMENT GROUP LLP$29.0M$46.23−$3.7M−$23.9M+0.1%$533.98B
LORD, ABBETT & CO. LLC$28.8M$53.40−$603K−$16.0M+0.4%$30.58B
MORGAN STANLEY$26.9M$55.54−$1.6M−$1.3M-0.3%$1.65T
ACADIAN ASSET MANAGEMENT LLC$21.2M$63.52+$14.6M+$19.8M-0.5%$70.48B
Allianz Asset Management GmbH$20.9M$66.02−$1.7M−$21.0M+4.6%$86.14B
WILLIAM BLAIR INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, LLC$20.6M$44.26−$8.0M−$15.7M-0.4%$30.11B
Cost basis is a volume-weighted estimate from accumulation periods within our 13F history; holders who built their position before our window started will show a stale basis. % above the cost basis is the unrealized gain at the current price.

Trading behavior

Smart-money alpha (lifetime, %/qtr)NEUTRAL
Holders
+0.05%
avg per quarter
Holders (ex-self)
+0.05%
excl. this stock
Buyers (this Q)
-0.35%
148 buyers · $0.29B in
Sellers (this Q)
-0.62%
108 sellers · $0.08B out
alpha coverage: 100% of $ has a lifetime-alpha record
Holder behavior on this stocksource: stock
On big dips (−10%+)
-11.9%
how holders react when this stock falls
On quiet Qs
-11.8%
−10% to +10% baseline
On rallies (+10%+)
-16.3%
how they react when this stock rises
Holders' portfolio flow this Q
+1.4%
inflows — adds are organic
Sellers' portfolio flow this Q
+2.4%
Sellers grew AUM elsewhere — opinionated cut of this stock.
▸ Compare to holder-profile behavior (across all their stocks)
Holder dip (any stock)
-4.9%
Holder mid (any stock)
-2.7%
Holder rally (any stock)
-2.9%

Top Holders Over Time

5-year share-count history (top 10 holders by peak, incl. exited) + price

03.6M7.2M10.9M14.5M$39$50$60$71$812021-062022-062023-062024-062025-062026-03
hover the chart for per-quarter detailprice (right axis)
FMR LLC6.5MNeuberger Berman Group LLC2.4MJANUS HENDERSON GROUP PLC19KJPMORGAN CHASE & CO158KFIRST TRUST ADVISORS LP1.7MT. Rowe Price Investment Management, Inc.157KFRANKLIN RESOURCES INC1.6MPRICE T ROWE ASSOCIATES INC /MD/75KRENAISSANCE TECHNOLOGIES LLC913KKAYNE ANDERSON RUDNICK INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LLC960K

Corporate

Insider Trading (last 12mo)

Open-market only (Form 4 P-Purchase + S-Sale). Excludes grants, option exercises, tax withholding, gifts.
Officers & directors
Buys ($, 12mo)
$0
0 txns · 0 insiders · 0 sh
Sells ($, 12mo)
$7.92M
10 txns · 7 insiders · 101,170 sh
Recent transactions
DateSideInsiderTitleSharesPriceDollarsOwned $
2026-01-05SELLDeBruine Thomas Fofficer: Chief Operating Officer5,538$81.00$449K$825K
2025-12-19SELLThornton Annofficer: CFO and Treasurer4,080$81.95$334K$2.37M
2025-12-10SELLWilms Brettofficer: President - EMEA & Australia3,791$78.13$296K$599K
2025-11-25SELLGorman Andrewofficer: General Counsel&Corp Secretary6,059$80.01$485K$1.13M
2025-11-25SELLShaller Russelldirector, officer: President & CEO17,130$81.25$1.39M$11.49M
2025-11-21SELLRICHARDSON BRADLEY Cdirector1,000$78.33$78K$57K
2025-11-19SELLBRUNO ELIZABETH Pdirector23,705$74.71$1.77M$24.34M
2025-11-19SELLWilms Brettofficer: President - EMEA & Australia10,894$74.44$811K$571K
2025-10-06SELLBRUNO ELIZABETH Pdirector5,230$76.27$399K$24.94M
2025-09-18SELLShaller Russelldirector, officer: President & CEO23,743$80.07$1.90M$10.82M

Order Flow (FINRA, ~3w lag)

15.1%retail-1.6pp
32.1%dark+3.9pp
week of 2026-04-13
10%20%30%40%50%24-1125-0225-0525-0825-1126-0226-04retail (non-ATS)dark (ATS)
Off-exchange volume from FINRA. Retail = non-ATS (wholesaler PFOF + broker internalization). Dark = ATS (dark-pool crossing networks, institutional). Lit-exchange = remainder.

Revenue Breakdown

Revenue Segments

By Product (2023-Q4)
Workplace Safety$75.1M+6%
By Geography (2013-Q3)
Region$305.7M+1560%
Americas$178.6M+1687%
Europe$94.0MNEW
Asia Pacific$33.1M+332%

Filing Risk Analysis

Filing Risk Scores

Brady Corp: Aggressive Allowance Adjustments Amidst a $1.4B Transformational Acquisition Risk

Overall Risk
5/10
Fraud
3/10
Dilution
2/10
Insolvency
6/10
Earnings Overstated
4/10
Hidden Liabilities
7/10
Legal
3/10
Audit Warnings
2/10
Hidden Upside
5/10
Contextually Acceptable
7/10

Counter-Thesis

Counter-Thesis & Recent News

📰 Recent News

While Brady Corporation (BRC) reported record adjusted EPS of $1.50 for Q3 2026 on May 18, 2026, the company is undergoing a massive and risky transformation. In April 2026, BRC announced the acquisition of Honeywell's Productivity Solutions and Services (PSS) business for $1.4 billion—nearly doubling its revenue base but drastically altering its risk profile. Additionally, May 2026 saw a sudden cluster of leadership changes, with three board directors (Deidre Cusack, Anne De Greef-Safft, and Christopher Hix) resigning or stepping down within the same month (Source: Investing.com, MarketBeat).

🐻 Bear Case

The bear case centers on 'Acquisition Indigestion' and debt. BRC is pivoting from a high-margin, low-debt industrial name to a levered 'industrial-tech' hybrid. To fund the $1.4B Honeywell deal, the company is taking on $1.3 billion in new debt, pushing net leverage from a net-cash position to approximately 2.5x (Source: Seeking Alpha). Skeptics argue that integrating a business larger than BRC’s legacy divisions is prone to failure, especially since the PSS unit saw a 2% sales decline in 2025. Furthermore, organic growth in key regions like Europe and Australia turned negative (-1.1%) in Q2 2026, suggesting underlying core business softening (Source: Brady Corp IR).

🚩 Red Flags

A major red flag for short-sellers is the aggressive insider selling. In the six months leading up to May 2026, insiders—including the CEO Russell Shaller and the COO Thomas DeBruine—executed 13 open-market sales totaling millions of dollars, with exactly zero insider purchases (Source: Quiver Quantitative). This 'unanimous' exit of capital by leadership, combined with the sudden departure of three board members just as the company takes on its largest debt load in history, suggests internal lack of conviction regarding the PSS integration.

⚔️ Competitive Threats

The acquisition of Honeywell's PSS business places BRC in direct, fierce competition with tech giants like Zebra Technologies and Datalogic in the data capture and workflow automation space. Unlike BRC's traditional niche identification markets, these sectors are highly commoditized and subject to rapid technological obsolescence. PSS’s historical flat-to-negative growth (declining 2% in 2024-2025) indicates it was a 'laggard' asset that Honeywell was eager to offload, raising concerns that BRC is overpaying for a melting ice cube in a competitive field (Source: MarketBeat, Timothy Sykes analysis).

💬 Customer Sentiment

While broad investor sentiment remains high due to the 'headline' earnings beat, customer-facing indicators show stress in international markets. Organic sales declines in Europe and Australia (-0.9% to -1.1% over the last two quarters) signal that the company’s identification and safety solutions are losing traction or facing budget cuts from industrial clients in those regions (Source: BRC Q2/Q3 Earnings Transcripts). The market may be overly optimistic about the 'synergies' of the Honeywell deal, ignoring the reality that customers in the scanner/mobile-computing space are notorious for low loyalty and high price sensitivity compared to BRC's legacy sticky label business.

Full Earnings Call Transcript

Full Earnings Call Transcript — Q3 • 2026-05-18

Operator: Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Brady Corporation Third Quarter 26 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press *1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press *1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the call over to Ann E. Thornton, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.
Ann E. Thornton: Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to the Brady Corporation fiscal 2026 Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. The slides for this morning's call are located on our website at www.bradycorp.com/investors. We will begin our prepared remarks on slide number 3. Please note that during this call, we may make comments about forward looking information. Words such as expect, will, may, believe, forecast, and anticipate are just a few examples of words identifying a forward looking statement. it is important to note that forward looking information is subject to various risk factors and uncertainties, which could significantly impact expected results. Risk factors were noted in our news release this morning and in Brady's fiscal 2025 form 10 k, which was filed with the SEC in September. Also, please note that this teleconference is copyrighted by Brady Corp. And may not be rebroadcast without the consent of Brady. We will be recording this call and broadcasting it on the Internet. As such, your participation in the Q&A session will constitute your consent to being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Brady's President and Chief Executive Officer, Russell R. Shaller. Russell?
Russell R. Shaller: Thanks, Ann, and thank you all for joining today. I am pleased to announce a fantastic quarter. We reported a new record high adjusted earnings per share of $1.5, an increase of 23% versus the third quarter of last year. Organic sales grew 8.2% and gross profit margin was nearly 52% while both regions reported significant growth in operating income and profitability. We are growing in our key product lines in both of our regions and we continue to see positive response to the new products we have introduced over the last several years. Launched in February, our I4.31 thousand is a 4-inch portable printer, which is tailored for plant safety and manufacturing professionals. it is selling well above expectations. Our development team worked with a wide variety of users to create this product and customer feedback has been fantastic. We are seeing continued growth in wire and identification this quarter. Particularly in data centers, which is a key end market for this highly critical identification solution. Our top priorities are profitable sales growth and a constant focus on cash generation, and this quarter absolutely delivered both. In addition to 23% adjusted earnings per share growth, in the quarter, our cash generation was nearly $80 million. Operating cash flow is up 35% so far this fiscal year. Last month we announced that we entered into an agreement to acquire Honeywell's productivity solutions and services business. This marked an exciting moment in Brady's history and we are looking forward to combining our highly engineered durable labels, printers, software with the data and devices powering the entire supply chain. This is an exciting moment in our company's history. Over the past several years, Brady has carefully evaluated the competitive landscape while identifying new growth opportunities that expand our addressable market. With this acquisition, the PSS more than doubles the markets Brady can serve. At the same time, we believe emerging marking and identification standards including GS1 and Europe's digital product passport initiatives along with new applications for RFID based product identification, support a long runway for future growth. Additionally, our early work with AI augmented products points the way to exciting new use cases to improve our customer safety and efficiency. We see PSS as a unique opportunity to expand our-- into leading-edge mobility, and scanning solutions trusted by some of the world's largest transportation, warehousing, and logistics companies. By combining Brady's high performance printers, software, and specialty adhesive materials with PSS's full suite of mobility and scanning solutions, we will be able to offer a single source solution to a broader set of customers. The PSS business has an incredible product portfolio, a talented R&D team with deep technical expertise, and critical sales and support functions who know their business extremely well. We are looking forward to closing the transaction and bringing our businesses together. We have a bright future ahead of us, and we know this is an opportunity to drive a significant amount of long term value for our shareholders. I will turn the call over to Ann to provide details on our financial results and then I will return to discuss our regional results and to share some additional thoughts regarding the PSS transaction. Ann?
Ann E. Thornton: Thanks, Russell. Our record adjusted earnings per share results this quarter were the result of strong organic sales growth, improved gross profit margin, efficiencies throughout SG&A, and growth in operating income throughout our global businesses. Organic sales grew 8.2%, which was driven by both of our regions. The Americas and Asia grew 10.1%, and Europe and Australia grew 4.5%. We also funded a significant increase in research and development, We reduced our SG&A expense as a percentage of sales, and we increased our net cash position to $149 million Our financial position allows us to continue to invest in our organic business, and it puts us in an incredibly strong position to finance the PSS transaction. All while remaining committed to our dividend and to opportunistic share buybacks. Slide number 4 details our quarterly sales trends. Organic sales grew 8.2% this quarter, acquisitions added 2.1% and foreign currency translation increased sales by 3.5% for total sales growth of 13.8% in the quarter. Turning to Slide number 5, this details our quarterly gross margin trending. Our gross profit margin was 51.8% this quarter, compared to 51% in the second quarter of last year. Last year, we took actions to streamline our cost structure. And we closed manufacturing facilities in Beijing, China and in Buffalo, New York. These actions reduced gross profit margin by 30 basis points last year. So we are seeing the gross profit margin benefit from cost reduction actions taken last year along with our sales growth led by our highly engineered products. All of which resulted in the 50 basis point improvement in our gross profit margin this quarter. Slide number 6 details our SG&A expense trending. SG&A was $129 million this quarter, compared to $109 million in the third quarter of last year. As a percent of sales, SG&A was 29.6% If you exclude an amortization expense, and acquisition related expenses from the current year, and exclude amortization expense and facility closure and other reorg reorganization costs incurred last year, then SG&A was 25.3% of sales, compared to 26.5% of sales last third quarter. Which is a reduction of 120 basis points. We continue to invest in growth through targeted additions to our sales force. And we are realizing the benefits of our facility closure and other cost structure actions that we took last year. Turning to slide number 7, you will find the trending of our investments in research and development. We continue to increase our investment in new product development throughout our key product lines. And we are seeing these multiyear investments paying off in our organic sales growth. Printer unit sales are up nearly 8% this quarter compared to last year's third quarter. Which is exactly what we are looking for because the consumable revenue will follow. R and D expense was 23.5 million or 5.4% sales this quarter, was an increase from $19.219200000 or 5% of sales in last year's third quarter. We funded a 23% increase in R and D in the quarter while improving our profitability and reporting record adjusted EPS. Slide number 8 details the trending of our pretax earnings. Pretax earnings on a GAAP basis increased 11.6%. From $65.7 million to $73.4 million in the quarter. If you exclude amortization and acquisition related expenses in the current period, and exclude amortization and the facility closure and other reorganization charges we incurred last year, pretax earnings increased 23.8%. From 74.4 million to 92.1 million. Moving to slide number 9, this outlines trending of our net income and earnings per share. Net income increased 10.6% from $52.3 million to $57.8 million Adjusted net income increased 22.3% from 58.8 million to 71.9 million. GAAP diluted earnings per share was 1.21 compared to $1.09 last year. And our adjusted GAAP diluted earnings per share was $1.50 compared to $1.22 last year, which was 23% growth and a new quarterly record. Our investments in R&D and in our sales force are paying off, and we are growing in all of our major product lines and improving our profitability. Cash generation is detailed on Slide number 10. Operating cash flow increased 30.7 percent $78.2 million in the quarter from $59.9 million in the third quarter of last year. And free cash flow increased 20.8% to $67.2 million this quarter compared to $55.6 million in last year's third quarter. Year to date, our operating cash flow was up nearly 35% versus last year. Which shows our consistent focus on cash based decision making and our high quality earnings. Earnings. Slide 11 details the impact that our cash generation has had on our balance sheet. As of April 30, we were in a net cash position of $149 million, which is more than triple our net cash position from a year ago. We are in an excellent position to finance the acquisition of the PSS business, We plan to structure our financing with 500 million in term loan a bank debt, and 800 million of private placement debt. And our expectation is that our interest rate will be below 6%. Our net leverage ratio will be approximately 2.5x at the time of closing the transaction, and we expect to delever quickly to below 2x within 2 years of the close. Our financial strength and our ability to generate a high amount of cash allows us to service our debt and delever quickly. While always investing in our business through R&D and our sales force. And we are focused on consistently increasing our dividends. At the beginning of this fiscal year, we announced our 40th consecutive annual dividend increase. Which is a milestone that we are very proud of. Our strong balance sheet also gives us the ability to buy back shares when the opportunity arises. And this quarter, we bought 63 thousand shares for $5.2 million. Which was an average price of $81.59 per share. This fiscal year, we bought 184 thousand shares for $14.1 million, which was an average price of $76.76 per share. Slide number 12 details our fiscal 26 guidance. We are raising our full year adjusted EPS guidance range from $4.95 to $5.15 per share to $5.20 to $5.30 per share. And we are raising our GAAP EPS guidance range from $4.62 to $4.82 per share to $4.66 to $4.76 per share. Our adjusted EPS guidance range represents a range of growth of between 13% to 15.2% compared to 2025. We expect organic sales growth in the mid single digit percentages for the full year ending 07/31/2026. Other elements of our guidance include depreciation and amortization expense of approximately 44 million capital expenditures of approximately 45 million and a full year income tax rate of approximately 21%. Our income tax rate generally tends to be slightly lower in the fourth quarter compared to our full year expectation based upon our historical profit mix and the expected timing of other discrete adjustments. Potential risks to our guidance among others include potential strengthening of the US dollar, inflationary pressures that were unable to offset in a timely enough manner, or an overall slowdown in economic activity. With that, I will turn it back over to Russell to cover our regional results and to share additional information about the PSS transaction announcement before Q&A. Russell?
Russell R. Shaller: Thanks, Ann. Slide 13 shows the financial results of our Americas and Asia region. Organic sales growth was excellent at 10.1% in the quarter, ending at a record high $290 million. Acquisitions added 3.1% and foreign currency translation increased sales 1.2% for total sales growth of 14.4%. We grew sales in all of our key product lines with another strong result in Wire ID. Data centers are making a meaningful impact in our growth in this product category this year. Wire ID represents 20% of our revenue in Americas and Asia, and sales were up 19% this quarter. We are also seeing strong sales of our portable benchtop and automated printer units driving sales growth in Wire ID, as well as product ID and safety and facility ID globally, printer sales were up 7.8% in the third quarter. Breaking down the region further, organic sales in Americas grew 9.7% and organic sales in Asia grew 11.9%. We were pleased to see America's bounce back after a slower second quarter this year. Finished the quarter with momentum and we feel positive about a strong finish to the year. Our reported segment profit in the Americas and Asia region increased 20.2% to 68.7 million. And segment profit as a percentage of sales increased from 22.5% to 23.7% in the third quarter. If you exclude the impact of amortization in both the current quarter and last year's Q3 as well as the facility closure and other reorganization activities from last year, segment profit increased 16.4% segment profit as a percentage of sales increased from 24.3% to 24.7%. Sales growth in our engineered products along with cost reduction activities from last year are driving our improvement in both profit and profitability. Slide 14 details the financial results of our Europe and Australia region. We returned to growth in Europe and Australia with strong sales results in this quarter In light of the weak manufacturing environment in Europe in particular, makes our sales growth results even more impressive. I am happy with the team's ability to navigate the weak macro conditions as well as the conflict in the Middle East and still grow sales 4.5% organically in the quarter. Foreign currency increased sales 8.1% for total sales growth of 12.6% to $145 million in Q3. We grew in all of our major product lines in Europe and Australia this quarter. Data centers are a key end market in Europe and Australia as well, Wire ID represents 13% of our sales in Europe and Australia, and this product line grew 13% in the quarter. We are monitoring the conflict in the Middle East, and modifying our own approach to procurement in targeted areas where it makes sense. We also evaluate the buying pattern of our customers and channel partners we do not believe there were meaningful changes in the quarter that could indicate sales may have been brought forward due to customers' concerns about supply chain or energy constraints. Segment profit significantly improved again this quarter. Our reported segment profit in Europe and Australia increased 22.8% in the quarter to 21.5 million. And segment profit as a percentage of sales increased from 13.6% to 14.8%. If you exclude the impact of amortization in both the current quarter and last year's Q3, as well as the facility closure and other reorganization activities from last year, segment profit increased 15.5% compared to last year. We took several actions last year to reduce our cost structure in Europe and Australia and now we are seeing the benefits in our results this year. We finished the quarter with momentum in Europe and Australia, and we feel positive about finishing the year on a high note. Turning to the future, we are excited about the growth potential from our announced acquisition of Honeywell's productivity solutions and services business. Brady's strong foundation in identification and safety and PSS adds a critical third pillar, enterprise level workforce productivity. To the value we bring our customers today. The combination of Brady and PSS represent a meaningful shift in the AIDC competitive landscape. A broader portfolio, a more complete solution set for enterprise customers, and the scale to invest behind a differentiated roadmap. Just as important as the products are the people and partnerships PSS has built. The global reseller network and the dedicated enterprise accounts that have built deep, long standing customer relationships are central to what makes this combination compelling. And our intent is to preserve those relationships and build on them. Customers and channel partners should expect continuity in the teams they work with today, a sustained investment in R&D, and in software offerings, including operational intelligence voice, and the Swift decoder. That are increasingly embedded in customer workflows and a continued commitment to the resilient vertically integrated supply chain that is long differentiated PSS in the market. We see the combination of Brady's resources and PSS's customer facing strengths as a clear opportunity to accelerate investment in these areas once the transaction closes. I would also like to provide some additional background on the recent financial performance of the PSS business. As well as our expectations for the first year post close. The PSS business was operated as a portion of a larger segment within Honeywell Several years ago, PSS was part of the safety and productivity solutions segment which is abbreviated SPS. In 2024, the PSS business was moved into Honeywell's new industrial automation segment where it continued to be operated as a portion of a larger business unit. So to provide clarity around recent sales results specific to PSS, PSS's sales declined slightly by just under 2% in the calendar year 2025 compared to calendar year 2024. and in 2026, PSS's sales grew nearly 5%. Last month, we announced that we expect the PSS business to be immediately accretive We expect the business will add approximately $0.80 of adjusted EPS accretion in the first year. The business is highly complementary to Brady and we expect it will deliver significant long term value to our shareholders. With that, I would like to turn it over for Q and A Operator, would you please provide instructions to our listeners?
Operator: If you would like to ask a question at this time, please press *1 and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press *1 again. Our first question comes from Steve Ferazani with Sidoti.
Analyst (Steve Ferazani): Good morning, Russell. Good morning, Ann.
Ann E. Thornton: Morning.
Analyst (Steve Ferazani): Morning.
Russell R. Shaller: Russell. Obviously, very positively surprised about the organic growth this quarter. I mean, I am looking back at the numbers you were under 5% organic growth for, it looks like, almost 10 straight quarters under 3% for 5 This quarter, over 8%. I know you talked about printers, but that was only 8%. So the strength here was broader than just the new product development. Can you give us a little bit better sense of what got you here? And also, given that you raised guidance, it had to have slightly surprised you as well. Yeah, so I think a couple things went on. Q2 was definitely a little weaker than we had anticipated. And there were some timing issues of some small contracts The net result was that a little bit of our growth not to diminish it, but a little of our growth was still in gonna say, maybe 1% or 2% was still in from what we thought was a slightly weaker Q2 than we expected. Now with that said, you know, clearly Q3 came in very strong. On data centers. You know, if you do the math, it is 20% of our business. And it grew at almost 20%. And so if you do the math, was a 4% uplift in the Americas and Asia and then less in Europe. So if you take those into account and you take the what we felt was just generally strong environment for Brady's products, you get to the organic result. That we posted, which, again, we are hoping continue through the rest of the fiscal year. How much of a difference maker is the I4.31 thousand? Is that a share taker? it is not only I would not even say it is a share taker. it is literally new to the world. There is no equivalent product to a portable 4 inch printer We are up 50% over what we normally expect in for a printer launch, which is both surprising and we think, quite frankly, awesome because we are very good traditionally at predicting printer placements because we have been doing this for a very long time. You know, Again, I want to remind everybody that no 1 in Brady is super significant. On both they also create and I think this new printer also creates a little bit of a halo where pulling along other products as well because it is truly unique out in the industry of being able to go to a location without having to go back to a printer station and still be able to print a 4-inch, which is comparatively large format thermal transfer product. So, we are excited about the product. We are excited about what is happened so far. Is that meaningful to our growth? Not really. But will it be? We think so.
Analyst (Steve Ferazani): Got it. Very helpful. Russell, I think you make sure I heard you right, you said the in year 1, the acquisition would add $0.80 to adjusted EPS. I think you were more I think you had said double-digits before.
Russell R. Shaller: Correct. As time goes on, of course, we are going to hone in on exact answers. And we are still in the integration phase and understanding the complete cost structure. And the add backs and what have you. You know? So directionally, we feel comfortable with $0.80. You know, is that going to move up a little or move down a little bit as we get closer to close? Certainly, and then we will continue to unpack more detailed numbers as we get to the next quarter.
Analyst (Steve Ferazani): Is the expectation that there is some synergy realization with that, or is that without synergies? That first quarter or excuse me. That first year is no synergies. Wow. Okay. And timing on the deal, any change?
Russell R. Shaller: August 1st is our best estimate pending regulatory filings and some other things. But if we miss the August 1 date, it will likely be due to factors beyond Honeywell's or Brady's control. Got it. Thanks, Russell.
Operator: Our next question comes from Keith Housum with Northcoast Research.
Analyst (Keith Housum): Good morning, guys. And I wanna echo, congratulations on a great quarter. it is great to see. You know, Russell, in terms of the data center business, obviously, a driver of your business, 3% to 4% overall. Do you guys have any increased visibility there Obviously, we all see the same headlines and data centers are expected to grow some incredible amounts over the next several years, you know, even more than what we have seen. Any visibility that you guys have that you guys will be partaking in that as well Spending several quarters now at least seeing this as a growth driver for you guys.
Russell R. Shaller: Yeah. So you know, so far, the data centers are keeping pace. You know, we neither see an acceleration from the current trend or a deceleration on the backlog. In data centers. From our perspective, the physical building of data centers seems to be at a virtual capacity limit. So while there is announced data centers and there is a huge 1 just up the road from the Brady plant, In the end, there is some limit to how fast the infrastructure can be put in place, which frankly we see as a good thing because that ensures that we will see a tailwind for this product category for several years as opposed to I will say, a data center sugar high, which I am hoping turns out not to be true.
Analyst (Keith Housum): Yeah. And when in the process of the data center being built, are you guys your products being used? Is it toward the completion of the data center? Is it earlier? Maybe any context you can provide there.
Russell R. Shaller: Yeah. So I am gonna say it is kind of all along the way depending on how the data center itself is put together. So in some cases, there is a lot of prewiring that happens before the data center is actually fully built. In that case, we would be a little bit earlier and then sometimes it is on premises. But even from the taken from the very beginning, once they break ground you know, there are Brady products showing up in safety and facility on all the way through to full commissioning. So the biggest part tends to be when they install the rack themselves and they are doing that wiring between them. And that is where we would see the single biggest slug of work.
Analyst (Keith Housum): But from Brady's perspective, we like it all along the way. Because until the plan's fully operational, we are seeing revenue from groundbreaking all the way through and then at some point we believe in the 3-year to potentially 4-year timeframe, they will do block upgrades of the data centers to get them to the next generation, and then we will see a recurring revenue when that happens as well. So fundamentally, we just see this as an awesome opportunity for the company. And being able to identify products within data centers. it is a question on data centers for me. And who is the buyer of this? Is it the builder of the data center themselves? Is it the server companies? who is the buyer?
Russell R. Shaller: So I would say depending on the regional location, a whole host of people have their fingers in it. So sometimes it is actually the cable manufacturers themselves Sometimes it is the data center Sometimes it is the on prem data center I am gonna say hooker upper, which is not really a scientific term. So, I am going to say there is it depends. And we have seen just so many permutations. As you can imagine, this whole field has exploded so quickly that there is not necessarily a single optimal way of doing anything. And so a lot of people have sprung up different points in the value chain, and we are selling to a variety of different people depending on whose it is, whether it is AWS or somebody else on data center, they all tend to do this a little bit differently.
Analyst (Keith Housum): Okay. I appreciate that. Gross margins, benefiting obviously from data centers, but it sounds like also with the printer growth there, you are going to be benefiting from consumables. You had great number this quarter, the 51.8%. As we kind of think about going forward, how are you thinking about gross margins? Is 50% no longer the floor? Are we thinking maybe 51%, 52% you know, possible here as we look forward?
Russell R. Shaller: Yeah. So we you know, just to remind everyone, we never target gross margin. We target area under the curve because in some of our product categories, we could clearly push up pricing and we could get even much higher gross margin than we stand right now, but we know that would come at the point of demands destruction because a lot of our products are used as a labor savings or as a way to do something different or more professional than say picking up a Sharpie. So we are always very careful to look at the market and look at market update. Our goal is long term growth and product placement. As opposed to, say, pushing margins to 52% or 53%. You know, I think given our mix today, and the tariff regime as it exists today, 52% is a good place for us. You do not know where tariffs are going, and you know, mix could go slightly 1 way or another, but I do think it is important to realize our number 1 goal is long term profitable growth, not hitting some particular profit margin. I mean, excuse me, gross margin.
Analyst (Keith Housum): Appreciate that. Thank you. In terms of the $0.80 number that you gave for the Honeywell PSS acquisition, the first full year, what is included in that context? I mean, I have got an opinion that they have under invested R and D and sales and marketing over the years. You are obviously closer to the numbers than I am. Perhaps, you any thoughts on what that includes in terms of any additional investment versus what they were doing?
Russell R. Shaller: So I will give a little bit, and then I will turn it over to Ann to give you a better unpacking of the number. So they have in the last couple of years, rebuilt much of their R&D infrastructure. I would say that 2022-2023 marked a low point. Of R&D investment for the PSS business. But fortunately, even they realized that they needed to add back R and D most of which has happened. I think at the margins we know there is some things that we can do. But, you know, at this point, it is not a significant build back. You know, will we add 5 million potentially 10 million in R&D? I think that is possible. Will we add some to the Salesforce? Absolutely. And some of their customer facing supply chain, Absolutely, But is it yeah. I would say is it really significant in the scheme of things? No. So the business is, you know, I think there are things we can do to kind of nip and talk, but as I told everybody, it is a fantastic business with a fantastic perform. Portfolio. And I think it is got a great home in Brady. But I will let Ann talk about some of the details.
Ann E. Thornton: that is perfect. So, Keith, in addition to those items that Russell mentioned is that, yes, this does include some bit of potential additional investment in R&D and in the Salesforce. What our estimate that we that we provided of $0.80 of adjusted EPS would exclude would be any truly onetime integration costs related to, you know, truly integrating the business, standing it up, and all of that. And then that would also include our expectations for interest expense. Which we provide a little bit of clarity around what how we are expecting that to shape up. And we will provide full clarity. We will disclose that You know, post-close, we will provide the visibility into the those puts and takes.
Analyst (Keith Housum): Okay. Appreciate it. And I guess last question for me, guys. And I do not usually ask questions on board resignations because usually do not think much about Oh, you should. This time here, obviously, the stock being down last week. You know, you had 2 board members resigned a little bit over a week ago. You announced on a Friday afternoon. Stock was down 10%. Obviously, you made the Honeywell acquisition announcement about less than a month ago. Maybe any clarity you can give there in terms of the Board thought process in this? And any relationship? Maybe you are limited in what you can speak, but I have gotta ask that question.
Russell R. Shaller: Oh, of course, Keith. And, frankly, I would have answered it even if you had not. So, you know, let's turn back the clock a little bit about Brady and my appreciation for the board we have and what they have had to go through for the last several months. So if you were to take Brady pre Christmas time, we were I would say, very, very stable almost monotonous earnings grower and cash flow generator that required you know, of course, required input from our board, but let's be frank. It was a very stable business, and our board was perfectly capable of meeting once a quarter and giving us our steering and guidance and working with management. Over the last really the last, I would say, 4 or 5 months, I feel like I owe our board overtime pay because we have gone from once a quarter pretty regular cadence meetings to at 1 point as we are working through the acquisition and working through all of the details we were meeting on a weekly basis. And sometimes on the weekends, This was a significant and frankly unexpected from most of our board members level of commitment that was never anticipated as we constituted our board. I mean, if you can imagine going from once a quarter to now you have to call in every single week, sometimes for hours, and be directly engaged in a whole host of workflows and this same amount of work is actually going to continue because again our board is very involved, very professional. I cannot say enough about their participation and the amount of time they have had to spend but this is going to go through at least our fiscal year and likely through the rest of the calendar year of very significant involvement. And so some of our board members simply said, I cannot commit to that level of engagement. I cannot you know, I have a regular calendar. I have other board commitments. I cannot be on the call weekly continuously for all of these different work streams. And I can understand it, I recognize the optics are awful. And I can say anything in the world and people can decide how much they believe or how much they do not. But the fact of the matter is the board members who were there for the Honeywell acquisition all voted affirmatively. There was no dissent. There was actually no question that the deal was an awesome deal for Brady. But the level of time commitment was and will be staggering. And, I am going to give tremendous credit to the board members that we do have for sticking through all this and being available for significant amounts of time to make this deal happen.
Analyst (Keith Housum): Okay. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks for asking the question.
Operator: That concludes today's question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the call back to Russell Schaller for closing remarks.
Russell R. Shaller: that is great. Thank you all for your time this morning. We reported an excellent quarter. I am proud of our entire team globally with our ability to deliver 8.2% organic sales growth in this disruptive geopolitical and economic environment is impressive. Growing in all of our major geographies. Our investment in R&D is paying off. Our new products are performing well, and we finished the quarter with momentum. In a great spot to finish the year on a high note. Thank you for your time this morning, Operator, you may disconnect the call.
Operator: This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.