Timothy Larson
Analyst · CJS Securities
Thank you, Ellen, and good morning, everyone. Our second quarter reflects the momentum of the Champion Homes team as we continue to deliver year-over-year organic growth, gain share and advance our strategic initiatives. The strong results include sequential and year-over-year double-digit increases in manufacturing orders. The team's execution of our strategic priorities is enabling continued outperformance versus the broader housing market, reflecting the strength of our diversified channels and product portfolio. We continue to expand our retail channel as reflected in last month's announcement of our definitive agreement to acquire Timberline Homes. I'll discuss the acquisition in more detail shortly. First, let's turn to our second quarter results. Net sales increased 6.2% compared to the prior year, in line with our expectation for mid-single-digit growth. Total homes sold during the quarter were 6,922, a 2.2% increase compared to the prior year. Our retail strategy continues to gain momentum. Captive retail represented approximately 39% of consolidated sales during the quarter compared to 37% in the prior year. We continue to see the benefits of our investments in retail capabilities and the customer experience. Manufacturing orders increased 17% versus the prior year quarter, resulting in a quarter-end manufacturing backlog of approximately $500 million. This represents an 18.6% sequential increase and $78 million of additional orders. Backlog lead times averaged approximately 11 weeks at quarter end compared to 9 weeks last quarter. We strategically ramped production by location and geography, and we'll continue to manage production responsibly by balancing customer demand and seasonality. Manufacturing capacity utilization, including idled facilities, was 62% during the quarter and up from 60% in the same period last year. Turning to our strategic initiatives within our retail channel. Our integration of Homes Direct, which closed on August 1, is progressing well. The team is focused on expanding Champion products throughout the network and leveraging best practices across our retail platform. As we've experienced with our prior retail investments, we anticipate the acquisition will be accretive to both our retail and manufacturing operations. On October 5, we announced a definitive agreement to acquire Timberline Homes, a leading independent retailer with 9 locations across Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. This planned acquisition reflects our commitment to align our capital to our strategy to drive long-term accretive value while continuing the diversified strength of our balance sheet. Timberline's presence in the Southeast provides opportunities to leverage the strength of our existing manufacturing and retail footprint while expanding our ability to serve customers in the region. Timberline's 9 locations have annualized revenue of over $100 million. Subject to customary closing conditions, the transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2027. From a channel perspective, we achieved strong results across our portfolio, reinforcing the resiliency of our diversified go-to-market model in a dynamic environment. Sales to our independent retail channel continued to grow, delivering solid results in the quarter. We continue to support our independent dealers through investments in lead management tools in our dealer portal, digital initiatives that engage consumers and product offerings that are a fit for today's homebuyers. Our captive retail channel delivered another quarter of growth, benefited from continued execution across the network and contribution from 2 months with Homes Direct. Our 95 captive retail stores represent approximately 39% of consolidated sales, up from 37% in the prior year period. Community customer demand remained stable in the quarter. We continue to work closely with community operators offering a variety of price points and products that fit with their priorities. As we noted on our last call, we remain encouraged by the engagement from our large community customers. Demand in our builder-developer channel remains strong, driven by our team's focus on delivering attainable homeownership and faster construction time lines. One recently launched development that illustrates the channel's breadth of opportunity and what's possible is the Cottonwoods project in Sterling, Colorado. This previously stalled community has been revitalized by Champion, consisting of 3-bedroom, 2.5-bath homes that are priced below comparable site-built offerings. This project reflects the growing interest and pipeline we are experiencing from builders and developers. Each project becomes a proof point and a catalyst that demonstrates how offsite-built homes improve affordable housing supply with shorter construction time lines and faster return on capital. Turning to financing. Our joint venture with Triad continues to perform well. We remain agile on offering a range of financing solutions to our channel customers and homebuyers to ensure each can offer and purchase the right home at their target monthly payment. On the regulatory front, the encouraging momentum continues. Our team remains actively engaged with HUD as rulemaking associated with the ROAD Act continues to evolve. We were pleased to recently host HUD Secretary Scott Turner and his team at our Chandler, Arizona facility, provided an opportunity to showcase firsthand our commitment to quality, innovation and our customer experience. We are so grateful for Secretary Turner's advocacy for affordable housing, and we appreciate his unwavering leadership as rulemaking proceeds. In September, Champion was featured in HUD's Innovative Housing Showcase on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. We were proud to debut the industry's first 2-story HUD code home with a second floor built without a chassis. The home plan is called New Horizon. It's American's urban infill solution with a small building footprint for higher density housing. This 3-bedroom, 2.5-bath, 1,700-square-foot home is built to the HUD code. The response to our homes and operations from policymakers continues to be tremendously positive. While the updated code implementation time lines remain undefined, these developments reinforce our belief that manufactured housing will continue to play an increasingly important role in addressing the nation's housing affordability challenges. Looking ahead, while the macroeconomic environment remains dynamic, we are encouraged by customer engagement trends, order activity and the opportunities we see across our business. Our broad product portfolio meets customers' needs with a range of options and price points that are increasingly important as inflation and rate dynamics persist. Our strong balance sheet, disciplined capital allocation and differentiated channel platform continue to position Champion well for growth and shareholder value creation. With that, I'll turn the call over to Dave.