Core & Main’s fiscal year 2025 results showed steady progress in share gains, margin improvement and cash generation, while management set a cautious but focused tone for fiscal 2026 amid private construction uncertainty and pricing crosscurrents. The company posted strong aggregate numbers, highlighted strategic growth engines like meters and treatment plant solutions, and signaled continued commitment to buybacks and disciplined capital allocation. This piece walks through the key metrics, operational drivers and what executives see ahead without sugarcoating the risks.
Executives framed fiscal 2025 as a year of “disciplined execution” even as end markets were “roughly flat overall.” Core & Main reported net sales of $7.65 billion, Adjusted EBITDA of $931 million, adjusted diluted EPS of $2.97, and operating cash flow of $650 million. Those headline figures underline steady cash generation and the company’s ability to grow despite mixed demand across segments.
Management pointed to continued market share gains and above-market organic growth, with roughly 3 points of organic outperformance for the year. Municipal volumes were a bright spot, rising low- to mid-single digits, while residential lot development faced a low double-digit decline. Non-residential activity was described as muted overall but showed pockets of strength in data centers, street and highway work, and multifamily projects.
The fourth quarter carried calendar and weather noise that masked underlying trends: net sales decreased 7% to $1.58 billion, a quarter that included one fewer selling week versus the prior year. On an average daily net sales basis, however, sales ticked up about 1%, and severe winter weather in the final week temporarily curbed activity in several regions. That nuance helps explain the quarter’s headline drop while keeping the operational momentum intact.
Margins and cost discipline held up in the quarter, with gross margin at 27.1%, up 50 basis points year over year, and SG&A down 5% to $264 million thanks to lower variable costs and cost actions. Adjusted EBITDA in the quarter was $167 million, down 7%, while adjusted EBITDA margin edged up 10 basis points to 10.6%. Those numbers reflect a business defending profitability even through uneven sales weeks and product pricing shifts.
Strategic initiatives remain the loud drumbeat for growth: meters, treatment plant solutions, fusible HDPE and geosynthetics. Management noted strong rates of growth in those niches, and President Brad Cowles said Key initiatives have averaged roughly 14% annual growth over five years. Cowles also highlighted what the company believes is the “largest metering contract in U.S. history” and a “high rate of success on large, complex projects,” which signals a deliberate push into higher-capacity, higher-margin work.
Treatment plant and large water-delivery projects have been a standout, driven in part by the National Critical Infrastructure Group, which helped deliver nearly 25% average annual growth over the past five years. Core & Main plans to add manpower to support that pipeline, expecting to invest “upwards of another 30 people” in fiscal 2026. Geographic expansion also continued, with 10 new branches opened during and after the year and six greenfield openings completed in fiscal 2025.
Private label is another margin lever management is pushing hard, representing about 5% of sales in fiscal 2025 with a clear path to at least 10% over time. The company expanded distribution capacity and added more than 6,000 SKUs year over year to broaden assortment and control margin. Those moves, combined with disciplined purchasing and pricing, are core to the margin improvement playbook.
M&A remains an active part of the strategy, delivering about 2% of growth in fiscal 2025 via acquisitions including Canada Waterworks and Pioneer Supply, which added five branches. Core & Main now operates seven branches in Ontario and evaluates more than 50 opportunities per year on average. Net debt finished near $1.95 billion with leverage at 2.1x, liquidity of $1.45 billion including $220 million of cash, and a buyback program that returned $155 million in fiscal 2025 plus $39 million after year-end.
Looking to fiscal 2026, management guided to net sales of $7.8 billion to $7.9 billion and Adjusted EBITDA of $950 million to $980 million, with operating cash flow conversion targeted at 60% to 70% of Adjusted EBITDA. They expect overall end markets to be roughly flat, confident on municipal demand but cautious on private construction because of geopolitical volatility, tariff uncertainty, interest rate dynamics and builder confidence. Pricing crosscurrents are meaningful: PVC pricing was down about 15% in fiscal 2025 and could pressure the first half into the next year even as other categories saw positive pricing.
Operationally, residential is expected to be the most cyclical, projected down low double digits to mid-teens early in fiscal 2026 before improving to roughly flat by the back half as comps ease. For the full year, management sees residential down mid-single digits, non-residential roughly flat, and municipal growing low single digits. Executives reiterated a focus on extending advantages, compounding share gains and expanding structural earnings power through margin progress, cost actions and continued investment in capabilities and footprint.
