You are given a text that consists of multiple sentences. Your task is to perform abstractive summarization on this text. Use your understanding of the content to express the main ideas and crucial details in a shorter, coherent, and natural sounding text. 
Text: The Toro Company delivered very strong results for the second quarter of fiscal 2021, driven by robust broad-based demand across our Professional and Residential segments.
Our team continued to execute well in this dynamic environment, managing the supply chain challenges affecting our industry and the global economy and working together with our channel partners to serve customers and fulfill retail demand.
As a result, net sales for the second quarter were up 24% year-over-year.
Professional segment net sales increased 25%, continuing the growth trend for this segment and setting a new record.
The increase was primarily driven by a strong demand for golf, landscape contractor, irrigation and rental and specialty construction products.
Our lineup of innovative products combined with increasing business confidence in the economic recovery helped fuel exceptional demand.
Residential segment net sales for the second quarter were up 20% year-over-year, setting another record.
This growth was led by a strong demand for zero-turn riding mowers and our all-season Flex-Force 60-volt home solutions products.
In addition, enhanced retail placement boosted sales of our snow equipment and late-season snowstorms helped clear the channel.
The introduction of innovative new Residential products coupled with the refreshed marketing and expanded mass retail distribution continue to strengthen our brand and drive growth for this segment.
We also set records for earnings in both segments this quarter, as we drove productivity and operational synergies enterprise wide.
Professional earnings were up 57%, and Residential earnings grew 24%.
Reflecting on the outstanding results this quarter, we note three prevailing themes.
First, demand has been exceptionally strong.
We see this continuing for the foreseeable future, albeit with year-over-year growth rate comparisons that will ultimately stabilize off a higher base.
This demand is driven by improving consumer and business confidence coupled with public and private investment priorities and current lifestyle trends.
We expect to capitalize on these drivers with our commitment to new product development, best-in-class distribution channel, and a strong balance sheet that provides the financial flexibility to invest in the future.
Second, along with the exceptionally strong demand, we've seen escalating supply chain and inflation challenges.
These challenges are not unique to The Toro Company and are having a global impact.
Our teams have worked effectively to keep up with increased demand while navigating the current supply chain environment.
We've also focused on mitigating material, freight and wage inflationary pressures through productivity and synergy initiatives, disciplined expense control and market-aligned pricing actions.
We'll continue to prioritize important investments to support growth.
Third, we're leveraging our strong balance sheet to position the Company for future growth.
As we continue to generate strong free cash flow, we are allocating capital to best drive value for all stakeholders.
This year, we've made strategic investments in technology accelerators through the acquisitions of TURFLYNX and Left Hand Robotics.
These teams have immediately helped us advance our innovation roadmap.
At the same time, we've continued to invest organically in key technologies, including alternative power, smart connected and autonomous.
As an example, our expanding line of Flex-Force 60-volt products will soon include a battery-powered two-stage snow thrower, which is ready to launch and is generating a lot of excitement in the field.
Our healthy cash flow also allows us to return capital to shareholders, while maintaining ample liquidity.
Year-to-date, we've paid down $100 million of debt, invested $107 million in share repurchases, and paid out $57 million in dividends.
While we work to capitalize on this period of great growth, we remain committed to our employees and channel partners, and continued to diligently manage and mitigate COVID-related risks.
We're keeping the health and safety of our team in the forefront, while executing operationally to get the right products to the right places at the right.
Through the SoWeCan [Phonetic] campaign we're incenting our employees to get vaccinated.
Looking ahead, we remain focused on our enterprise strategic priorities of accelerating profitable growth, driving productivity and operational excellence, and empowering people.
We will continue to execute against these priorities to position the Company for long-term sustainable growth.
I'll discuss our outlook further following Renee's more detailed review of our financial results.
Our record second quarter was driven by robust demand across our Professional and Residential segments, coupled with strong operating performance.
We grew net sales by 23.6% to $1.15 billion.
Reported earnings per share was $1.31 per diluted share, up from $0.91 last year.
Adjusted earnings per share was $1.29 per diluted share, up from $0.92 in the prior year.
Moving to our segment results for the quarter.
Professional segment net sales were up 25.3% to $828.4 million.
This increase was primarily due to strong demand for golf, landscape contractor, irrigation, and rental and specialty construction products, slightly offset by lower sales of underground construction equipment driven by supply chain disruptions that impacted product availability, and continued softness in oil and gas market.
Professional segment earnings were up 57.3% to $167.1 million; and when expressed as a percent of net sales, increased 410 basis points to 20.2%.
This increase was primarily due to productivity improvements, including COVID-related manufacturing inefficiencies in the second quarter of last year that did not repeat, net price realization and volume leverage, partially offset by higher commodity costs.
Residential segment net sales were up 20.2% to $315 million.
This increase was primarily driven by strong retail demand for zero-turn riding mowers due to new and enhanced products, higher sales of Flex-Force battery electric products mainly driven by successful new product introductions, and higher shipments of snow equipment as a result of late-season storms and expanded retail placements.
Residential segment earnings were up 23.9% to $46 million; and when expressed as a percent of net sales, up 40 basis points to 14.6%.
The increase was primarily driven by productivity improvements, including COVID-related manufacturing inefficiencies in the second quarter of last year that did not repeat, net price realization and product mix, partially offset by higher commodity costs.
Turning to our operating results for the second quarter.
We reported gross margin of 35.1%, an increase of 210 basis points from the prior year.
Adjusted gross margin was 35.1%, up 170 basis points.
These increases were primarily due to productivity improvements, net price realization and favorable mix, partially offset by higher commodity costs.
SG&A expense as a percent of net sales decreased 10 basis points to 19.4%.
This favorable performance was primarily driven by volume leverage and lower indirect marketing expenses, partially offset by higher incentives due to improved performance and the reinstatement of certain costs that had been part of the Company's fiscal 2020 pandemic-driven expense reductions.
Operating earnings as a percent of net sales increased 220 basis points to 15.7%.
And adjusted operating earnings as a percent of net sales increased 170 basis points, also to 15.7%.
Interest expense was down $1.5 million to $7.1 million, driven by reduced debt and lower interest rates.
The reported effective tax rate was 19.8%, and the adjusted effective tax rate was 20.9%.
Now, turning to the balance sheet and cash flow.
At the end of the second quarter, our liquidity remained consistent at $1.1 billion.
This included cash and cash equivalents of $500 million and full availability under our $600 million revolving credit facility.
We have no significant debt maturities until April of 2022.
Accounts receivable totaled $391.2 million, down 2.3% from a year ago, primarily driven by channel mix.
Inventory was down 12% from a year ago to $628.8 million, primarily as a result of increased demand.
Accounts payable increased 28.8% from last year to $421.7 million.
This was primarily due to increased purchases of components, as well as more normalized expenses.
Year-to-date free cash flow was $292.4 million, with the conversion ratio of 115%.
This positive performance was largely the result of higher earnings and lower working capital, driven by higher payables and reduced inventory levels.
Our disciplined capital allocation strategy fueled by our strong balance sheet includes investing in organic and M&A growth opportunities, maintaining an effective capital structure and returning cash to shareholders.
Our capital priorities remain the same, and include: reinvesting in our businesses to support sustainable long-term growth, both organically and through acquisitions; returning cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases; and maintaining our leverage goals to support financial flexibility.
At the midpoint of the fiscal year, demand momentum is strong, and our leadership position in the markets we serve is solid.
Like many other companies, we are continually adjusting through these dynamic times.
The economy is experiencing a surge in demand, while suppliers struggling to keep pace.
In the long run, we expect the positives from the heightened demand trends across our markets to endure and outweigh the near-term pressures.
While we continue to drive productivity and synergies and take appropriate market-based pricing actions, our operating margins in the second half of our fiscal year will be pressured.
This is driven by the escalation in supply chain challenges, as well as material, freight and wage inflation, which we expect will result in manufacturing inefficiencies and higher input costs relative to our prior guidance.
With that backdrop, we are updating our full year fiscal 2021 guidance.
We now expect net sales growth in the range of 12% to 15%, up from 6% to 8% previously.
We expect Professional and Residential segments net sales growth rates to be similar to the overall Company, with Residential trending slightly ahead of Professional.
This is due to the strong demand we continue to see across our businesses.
Looking at overall profitability, we continue to expect adjusted operating earnings as a percent of net sales for the full year to be slightly higher than fiscal 2020.
This reflects a strong performance in the first half coupled with a more challenging supply chain and inflationary environment in the second half.
Given our strong balance sheet and future growth expectation, we are increasing our estimated capital expenditures for the year to $130 million, up from $115 million.
This aligns with our priorities of investing in key technology areas and ensuring we have the capacity to meet future growth.
Based on current visibility, we now expect full year adjusted earnings per share in the range of $3.45 to $3.55 per diluted share.
This increase reflects the robust demand environment, while also taking into account the near-term supply chain and inflationary pressures.
We anticipate the impact of these pressures to be the most pronounced in the third quarter before our mitigating actions are more fully realized.
We expect adjusted earnings per share per diluted share in the fourth quarter to be similar to fiscal 2020 against a very strong Q4 of last year.
Looking to the rest of the fiscal year, we remain excited about the broad-based demand for our product.
We are well positioned as we continue to execute on our long-term strategic priorities and invest in innovation to capitalize on future growth opportunities.
As we look ahead to the remainder of the year, we're watching a number of key drivers in our end markets: for Residential and certain Professional businesses, continuing consumer interest in home investments; for landscape contractors, capital investments, including catch up purchases of prior deferrals, driven by improved business confidence; for golf, continued strong momentum, in general, the reopening of international courses and the return of resort golf; for grounds equipment, the prioritization of outdoor space maintenance and improvement by municipal and other tax-supported entities; for underground, increased government support and funding for infrastructure spending, this includes broadband build out, alternative energy investments and critical need infrastructure rehab and replacement; for rental and specialty construction, strong demand by both professional contractors and homeowners; for snow and ice management, channel demand, given lower end of season inventory levels.
In short, these end market drivers should continue to support robust demand.
Our biggest challenge for the remainder of the year will be our ability to produce at the desired rate, given the supply chain constraints we are facing.
We believe the constraints will improve as key commodity availability normalizes, global vaccination rates improve, COVID restrictions ease, and logistical capacity finds a balance.
We anticipate demand will remain strong even after supply chain constraints ease.
At that point, we expect to be in a position to rebuild field inventory levels across our channels.
Our operations team remains committed to doing everything possible to meet the increased production demands.
With our team's dedication, our innovative suite of products, and our market leadership, as well as our consistently strong cash flow to support growth investments, we are well positioned to capitalize on this demand opportunity.
We're also well positioned to capitalize on the electrification trends, given our expertise and leadership across our markets.
We are committed to developing electric products that offer both power and durability with no compromise on performance.
For example, in March, our 60-volt Personal Pace Recycler Mower was named Editor's Choice by Popular Mechanics in its evaluation of electric lawn mowers; build quality and cut quality were cited as the two reasons.
Toro mowers have received more Editor's Choice awards than any other brand.
In addition to the Residential Flex-Force line, we have an increasing number of Professional battery-powered products, including our all-electric Greens Mowers and lithium-ion Workman utility vehicle.
Sustainability is fundamental to our enterprise strategic priorities, and our focus on alternative power, smart connected and autonomous technologies is embedded as part of our sustainability into our strategy.
It's the right thing to do and provides the opportunity for our Company to create value for all stakeholders while helping our customers achieve their sustainability goals.
A recent win highlights this focus.
One of our European channel partners, Jean Heybroek of Reesink group, was awarded a four-year preferred supplier agreement and fleet management partnership with the City of Amsterdam.
The city has an objective of zero emissions by 2030, and we are excited to partner with them in achieving this goal.
Another example is our new 20-year partnership with the National Links Trust in Washington, DC.
Their mission is to protect and promote accessible and affordable municipal golf courses to positively impact communities.
We are honored to support this mission together with our distributor Turf Equipment and Supply Company, as well as our longtime partner Troon, the world's largest golf management company.
Involvement in this project exemplifies who The Toro Company is, a team focused on long-term carrying relationships, our communities and the environment.
In closing, we are optimistic as we begin the second half of our fiscal year.
We believe our updated guidance appropriately reflects the risks we face in the current operating environment, while also accounting for the robust demand we expect.
We have strong momentum across our businesses and are positioned to capitalize on future growth drivers.

user
compname posts q2 earnings per share $1.31.
q2 adjusted earnings per share $1.29.
q2 earnings per share $1.31.
q2 sales $1.15 billion versus refinitiv ibes estimate of $1.13 billion.
sees full-year fiscal 2021 adjusted earnings per share in range of $3.45 to $3.55.

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