AZZ entered fiscal 2027 with the comparison it had spent all of fiscal 2026 explaining: a year ago, the AVAIL joint venture sold its Electrical Products Group to nVent, and a $165.8 million excess distribution flowed through AZZ's equity-in-earnings line in a single quarter, producing $170.9 million of net income and a $5.66 GAAP diluted EPS that no quarter since could match. Strip that one-time accounting gain out, and the picture flips. Sales rose 6.3% year over year to $448.5 million, a fresh record for any first quarter. Adjusted EPS rose 3.9% to $1.85. Adjusted EBITDA of $99.5 million was lower than the prior-year quarter only because the year-ago figure carried $7.7 million of AVAIL equity earnings; underlying operating earnings were higher. The two reportable operating segments both delivered record first-quarter sales, and management responded by raising full-year guidance for the third time in two quarters. The thesis is now the operating engine, not the JV cash event, and the question for the year is whether the Washington, Missouri plant and the hot-dip galvanizing capacity expansion translate the new guidance into Adjusted EBITDA approaching the top end of the $375 to $415 million range.