BDC

Strategic & Acquisition Milestones

• Q2 2026 was the strongest quarter in Belden's company history, with both revenue and adjusted EPS exceeding the high end of prior guidance. • On July 1, 2026, Ruckus Networks officially joined Belden; the acquisition immediately hits Belden's 20% solutions mix target three years ahead of the original 2028 schedule, and is immediately accretive to revenue growth, EPS, and EBITDA. • The combined business becomes a full-stack converged IT/OT networking and automation platform spanning passive infrastructure, active switching, wireless, and AI-driven cloud software, with an estimated $3.6 billion annual revenue, 43% gross margin, 18% adjusted EBITDA margin, and 35% active product mix. • Ruckus adds a >60% gross margin platform business combining Wi-Fi 7 access points, enterprise switching, and cloud network management software, with high single-digit organic growth and access to the fast-growing enterprise wireless upgrade cycle, creating meaningful cross-sell opportunities with Belden's existing industrial customer base.

Key Q2 Business Wins

• Closed a $20 million fiber connectivity contract with a tier-one hyperscaler for AI data center white space (data hall), with production underway; total hyperscaler orders in Q2 hit ~$40 million including continued gray space (facility control, cooling, power) wins. • Secured a full specification win with a leading global retailer to network autonomous systems across U.S. distribution centers (physical AI use case), with a total $20 million opportunity over four years across more than 4,500 installations and first orders already received.

Growth Strategy Execution

• Belden now holds full-stack capability for every layer of industrial and enterprise networks, with Ruckus One managing IT network layers and Belden Horizon managing OT network layers under a single accountable partner, creating a deep competitive moat. • Data center and AI infrastructure is a top priority growth vector, split into three distinct segments: established enterprise data centers (=$75 million annual run rate), fast-growing AI/hyperscale data centers, and long-term physical AI. • Belden's differentiator in hyperscale data centers is its ability to serve both white space and gray space with reliable, high-margin solutions; competitors typically only focus on individual product categories, leaving Belden's combined offering unique in the market.

• Third quarter 2026 revenue guidance (includes full-quarter contribution from Ruckus) is $950 million to $970 million, with organic growth of 6-8% year-over-year for legacy Belden. • Adjusted Q3 2026 EPS is expected to be $2.15 to $2.30, representing 9% to 17% YoY growth; the net impact of Ruckus on Q3 EPS is 12 cents, net of new debt interest expense. GAAP EPS is expected to be between 69 cents and 84 cents. • Post-Ruckus acquisition, net leverage is expected to hit ~3.9x net debt to adjusted EBITDA at the end of Q3 2026, with a clear deleveraging path: ≤3.6x by end of 2026, ~2.9x by end of 2027, and reaching the long-term target of 1.5x by end of 2029. • Over the next 18 months, the combined business is expected to generate more than $500 million in free cash flow, all to be deployed for leverage reduction; Ruckus is a capital-light business with strong cash conversion that meaningfully contributes to this target. • Management expects incremental EBITDA margins to remain in the 25% to 30% range, with Ruckus' high margin profile making it likely results will land closer to the high end of this range. • Ruckus is expected to deliver high single-digit organic growth, an upgrade from its prior mid-single-digit growth projection, with the acquisition's core financial model otherwise unchanged. • For Q3 2026, EBITDA margins (excluding one-off benefits) are expected to be ~17.6-17.7%, consistent with Q2 2026 excluding tariff benefits; temporary integration inefficiencies from transitioning Ruckus off transitional service agreements and sequential mix shift toward slightly lower-margin segments will offset Ruckus' higher margin in the short term. Automation is expected to deliver steady ~10% YoY growth in Q3.

Belden reported standalone Q2 2026 revenue of $750 million, up 12% year-over-year with 8% organic growth. Record total orders reached $836 million, up 19% year-over-year and 23% sequentially, for a book-to-bill ratio of 1.11. Adjusted gross profit was $297 million (up 14% YoY) with a margin of 39.6%, while adjusted EBITDA hit $146 million (up 28% YoY) at 19.5% margin, and adjusted EPS came in at $2.34 (up 24% YoY), including a 25 cent net benefit from IEPA tariff recovery. By market segment: 1. Automation: Delivered double-digit year-over-year organic growth, with orders up 27% sequentially and a 1.14 book-to-bill. Discrete and process manufacturing verticals led with double-digit YoY growth, driven by accelerating industrial automation demand. 2. Smart Buildings: Orders were up 11% sequentially with a 1.08 book-to-bill, and core growth verticals delivered double-digit organic growth (led by data centers and healthcare). Non-core verticals resulted in flat headline YoY organic growth for the quarter, while first half 2026 organic growth hit over 6%, reflecting healthy underlying demand. 3. Broadband: Organic growth was flat YoY in-line with expectations, while orders rose 22% sequentially for a 1.07 book-to-bill. Management expects improved growth in the second half of 2026 driven by DOCSIS upgrades and new fiber product share capture. Excluding Ruckus, Belden's combined data center and AI infrastructure business currently has an annual run rate of over $175 million, with hyperscaler business alone reaching a $100 million+ annualized run rate growing rapidly.

• Short-term temporary inefficiencies are expected during Ruckus integration as the business transitions from shared services under its prior owner to Belden's shared services, which will impact Q3 2026 margins. These inefficiencies are expected to resolve within 1-2 quarters. • Memory component pricing inflation and tight supply exists in the wireless market, though Belden reports it has largely locked in supply for the second half of 2026, and the issue is not a major concern at this time with inflation already reflected in guidance. • Hyperscale and physical AI growth is still in early stages, with scaling to double-digit percentage of total revenue expected to take multiple years, and broad adoption of autonomous physical AI operations is expected to take 2-3 years to reach an inflection point.

Q: What drove Belden's recent hyperscale white space fiber win, what is the margin profile, and how large could this business grow medium-term? / A: The win came after years of building relationships via Belden's established enterprise data center business, and was won based on Belden's differentiated high-density fiber product, standardized architecture, and reliable supply chain—key strengths that competitors currently lack amid delivery reliability issues. The deal has healthy gross margins at the high end of Belden's fiber product range, above Belden's overall blended gross margin. Hyperscale/data center business is already growing over 40% YoY, and while it is currently low single-digit percentage of total revenue, management expects it can grow to double-digits over time, with additional cross-opportunities into physical AI.

Q: What is Belden's strategy for covering both data center white space and gray space, and what is the advantage over more established competitors? / A: Belden's core strategy has always been to offer combined solutions spanning both white space (data hall) and gray space (facility support systems), with entry possible from either side; the recent large white space win expands this capability after earlier focused gray space growth. Most competitors are only strong in individual product categories, and no other competitor offers a combined end-to-end solution spanning both environments, which is Belden's key differentiator. Pipeline for combined offerings is currently larger than it has ever been.

Q: What customer demand have you seen for the combined Belden-Ruckus offering, and how does Ruckus position against larger enterprise networking competitors? / A: Customers across industrial, hospitality, venue, warehouse, and healthcare segments are already demanding converged IT/OT, wired/wireless, and edge/cloud solutions, and there is strong early pipeline for combined offerings, including an existing retail physical AI customer that has already requested Ruckus Wi-Fi 7 to support its autonomous robots. Ruckus is differentiated by its best-in-class RF antenna technology engineered for high-density, high-interference environments, a niche where it outperforms larger generalist competitors. The combined Belden-Ruckus end-to-end industrial-grade converged solution is unique, and Belden focuses on high-value specialized verticals rather than competing directly for broad general enterprise campus contracts.

Q: Now that 20% solutions mix is achieved three years early, what is the new target for solutions mix, and how does Ruckus contribute? / A: Management has not formally set a new target yet, but expects to continue growing solutions mix at the same historical rate and reach ~30% solutions mix by 2028. Ruckus meaningfully accelerates this growth trajectory, as it is a solution-oriented business that inherently increases Belden's solutions mix.