Reliance Q3 EPS $8.02 Crushes Guidance; Buyback Raised to $2.5B
RS sits 64% above its 52-week low of $260.31.
Summary
Reliance reported Q3 non-GAAP EPS of $8.02 versus $6.40-$6.60 guidance on record $5.21B sales, guided Q4 to $7.40-$7.60, and raised its share repurchase authorization to $2.5 billion.
Key Events · Earnings and Guidance · RS
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Q3 EPS Blows Past Guidance
Non-GAAP diluted EPS of $8.02 versus guidance of $6.40-$6.60, up 120% year-over-year; GAAP EPS was $7.84.
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Record Sales and Tons Shipped
Net sales of $5.21 billion rose 12.6% sequentially and 42.8% year-over-year; tons sold of 1,867.2 thousand were a record, up 4.3% sequentially.
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LIFO Headwind Absorbed
LIFO expense of $2.74 per share exceeded the $1.10 expectation by $1.64 per share, so FIFO non-GAAP EPS reached $10.76, up 169.7% year-over-year.
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Q4 Guidance Above $7.40
Q4 2026 non-GAAP EPS guided to $7.40-$7.60, up over 200% year-over-year, including about $0.70 from the U.S. border wall project.
Analysis · RS · Trade & Services
Reliance beat its own guidance by a wide margin: non-GAAP EPS of $8.02 against a $6.40-$6.60 range, with pretax income more than doubling year-over-year to $531.9 million. The beat came despite $2.74 per share of LIFO expense versus the $1.10 expected, meaning underlying FIFO earnings were even stronger than the headline. Management guided Q4 to $7.40-$7.60, up over 200% year-over-year, and the board raised the buyback authorization to $2.5 billion with no expiration. For a $21.5B market cap company trading near its 52-week high, this confirms the earnings upcycle rather than changing the thesis — but the size of the beat and the expanded capital return are what move the stock.
How filings like this one have moved
In the 30 days to Oct 21, 2026, 37.2% of the 984 measured filings Wiseek scored 8 moved their stock by 5% or more by the next session's close. The median move was -0.83%. These are measured outcomes after filings of this importance, not a forecast for this one.
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At the time of this filing, RS was trading at $425.90 on NYSE in the Trade & Services sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $21.5B. The 52-week trading range was $260.31 to $433.02. This filing was assessed with positive market sentiment and an importance score of 8 out of 10.