In short, the environment in which we conduct business remains uncertain.
Our talented global team of more than 9,000 remained resilient and solution-oriented.
Looking at the results for the quarter, our residential segment continued to excel with 38% year-over-year net sales growth and strong margins.
Professional segment net sales for the quarter declined 8% year-over-year, which was better than expected.
In this environment, we grew third quarter net sales by 0.3% to $841 million.
Reported and adjusted earnings per share was $0.82 for the quarter, compared to reported earnings per share of $0.56 and adjusted earnings per share of $0.83 last year.
For the first nine months, net sales increased by 0.6% to $2.54 billion.
Diluted earnings per share was $2.37, compared to $2.18 in the first nine months of fiscal 2019.
Year-to-date adjusted diluted earnings per share was $2.38, compared to $2.52 a year ago.
At the end of the third quarter, our liquidity was $992 million.
This included cash and cash equivalents of $394 million and availability under our revolving credit facility of $598 million.
Now, to the segment results, residential segment net sales for the third quarter were up 38.3% to $205 million, mainly driven by strong retail demand for zero-turn riding and walk power mowers, and our expanded mass channel.
Year-to-date fiscal 2020 net sales increased 20.4% compared to the same period of fiscal 2019.
Residential segment operating earnings for the quarter were up 76.7% to $28.5 million.
This reflects a 300 basis point year-over-year increase to 13.9% when expressed as a percent of net sales.
Year-to-date, residential segment operating earnings increased 70.2% to $87.2 million.
On a percent of sales basis, segment operating earnings increased 400 basis points to 13.8%.
For the third quarter, professional segment net sales decreased 7.9% to $623.6 million.
For the year-to-date period, professional segment net sales increased 1.3% compared to the same period of fiscal 2019.
Professional segment operating earnings for the third quarter were up 39.3% to $113.7 million, and when expressed as a percentage of net sales, increased 610 basis points to 18.2%.
Year-to-date professional segment operating earnings increased 0.8% compared to the same period in the prior fiscal year.
When expressed as a percentage of net sales, operating earnings remained constant, 17.2% year-over-year for both fiscal periods.
We reported gross margin for the third quarter of 35%, an increase of 330 basis points over the prior year period.
Excluding acquisition-related costs, adjusted gross margin decreased 70 basis points to 35.2%.
For the first nine months, reported gross margin was 35%, up 160 basis points compared with 33.4% in the prior year period.
Adjusted gross margin was 35.2%, compared with 35.3% in the first nine months of fiscal 2019.
SG&A expense, as a percent of sales, decreased 170 basis points to 21.2% for the quarter, primarily due to lower travel and meeting expenses, acquisition-related charges and employee salaries.
For the first nine months of fiscal 2020, SG&A expense, as a percent of sales, was 21.9%, up 20 basis points from the prior year period.
Operating earnings, as a percent of net sales, increased 500 basis points to 13.8% for the third quarter.
Adjusted operating earnings, as a percent of net sales, increased 50 basis points to 13.9%.
For the first nine months of fiscal 2020, operating earnings, as a percent of net sales, were 13.1%, compared with 11.7% a year ago.
Adjusted operating earnings, as a percent of net sales, for the first nine months were 13.4%, compared with 14.2% a year ago.
Interest expense decreased $700,000 for the third quarter compared to a year ago, due to lower interest rates.
Interest expense increased $4.7 million for the year-to-date period compared to a year ago.
For the full year, we continue to expect interest expense of about $33 million.
The effective tax rate was 19.8% for the third quarter, and adjusted effective tax rate was 20.9%.
For the first nine months of fiscal 2020, the effective tax rate was 19.2% and the adjusted effective tax rate was 20.6%.
For the full year, we continue to expect an adjusted effective tax rate of about 20.5%.
Accounts receivable totaled $294.7 million, down 5.6% from a year ago.
Inventory was up by 5.7% to $656.2 million, and accounts payable decreased 11.8% to $268.7 million.
Year-to-date free cash flow was $259.3 million with the net income conversion of 100.7%.
We increased our cash dividend for the third quarter of fiscal 2020 by 11.1% to $0.25 per share as compared to the prior year period.
We anticipate continued year-over-year growth in the residential market.
Adjusted earnings per share will be similar to that of the fiscal 2019 fourth quarter.
We continue to expect total net other income for fiscal 2020 to be about $13 million.
We continue to expect depreciation and amortization for fiscal 2020 of about $95 million and capital expenditures of about $80 million.

Summary:
In short, the environment in which we conduct business remains uncertain.
In this environment, we grew third quarter net sales by 0.3% to $841 million.
Reported and adjusted earnings per share was $0.82 for the quarter, compared to reported earnings per share of $0.56 and adjusted earnings per share of $0.83 last year.
We anticipate continued year-over-year growth in the residential market.
Adjusted earnings per share will be similar to that of the fiscal 2019 fourth quarter.