Quanex Building Products Corp (NX) 2026 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the third-quarter 2026 Quanex Building Products Corporation earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions)

Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Scott Zuehlke, Senior Vice President, CFO, and Treasurer. Please go ahead.

Thanks for joining the call this morning. On the call with me today is George Wilson, our President and CEO. This conference call will contain forward-looking statements and some discussion of non-GAAP measures. Forward-looking statements and guidance discussed on this call and in our earnings release are based on current expectations.

Actual results or events may differ materially from such statements and guidance, and Quanex undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect new information or events. For a more detailed description of our forward-looking statement disclaimer and a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures, please see our earnings release issued yesterday and posted to our website.

I will now turn the call over to George for his prepared remarks.

Thanks, Scott, and good morning to everyone on the call. Similar to prior calls, I will start with our perspective on the current macroeconomic environment, then I will walk through our results for the quarter, and I will close my prepared remarks with our priorities for the balance of the fiscal year. Three months ago, I described housing demand in North America and Europe as showing early signs of stabilization with a recovery that would proceed gradually.

Since then, the data has been mixed. On the new construction side of the market, activity has been weaker than we anticipated. The July New Residential Construction put single-family starts at an annual rate of 808,000, which is down roughly 16% from a year ago and the lowest monthly reading since late 2022.

Single-family completions, the more direct driver of demand for our products, came into 878,000, which represents a decrease of about 13% year-over-year and down about 10% year-to-date. Units under construction were down roughly 7% from a year ago. That said, there is a moderately positive signal underneath these numbers. Permits have held up nicely.

Total permits in July were up 3% year-over-year. Single-family permits were modestly higher, and the number of homes authorized but not yet started is up about 10% from a year ago. This means that builders are keeping their entitlement pipelines intact but are choosing not to break ground. That is a decision that can reverse relatively quickly when affordability and consumer confidence improve, and it's why we continue to view the current market as being demand deferred rather than demand destroyed.

In the UK and Europe, we see the same general dynamics as in North America, though the impact varies significantly by region. We believe recovery is underway in the new build glazing and fenestration markets in both Iberia and Scandinavia while softness persists in the UK, Germany, France, and Italy. We expect that future recovery in these segments will be driven by consumer confidence improvements and government sponsored social housing initiatives across the continent.

Turning to the ongoing inflationary pressures around input costs, the picture remains highly variable. The inflation we described on our last call in June has not stopped, but it does appear that the pace has diminished.

Raw material energy, freight, and logistic costs all remain elevated, and the disruption to international shipping routes continues to add both cost and lead time. Our response has not changed since we last discussed this issue in June. We said then that we would implement targeted price increases in the mid-single-digit to low-teens range phased in through the third quarter and tailored by product line, and we have executed on that plan.

Scott will provide more color in his comments, but we believe we have meaningfully narrowed the cost price gap. That said, we also recognize that any further change in this dynamic will require additional discussions with our customers or additional surcharges to protect margins.

Moving on to operational performance for the quarter. Despite the macro headwinds the market continues to face, volumes were in line with our expectations, and our operational teams performed well. As you know, shortly after we acquired Tyman a little over two years ago, we initiated a project to resegment our business units to better support our customers, enable organic growth, and improve both operational and financial performance.

A great deal of heavy lifting and integration work goes into this type of project, and I am pleased with the progress to date. Since the acquisition, the plan has always been to execute our strategy in three stages: Stabilization, optimization, and growth. I am extremely pleased with the progress made across all our reporting segments as we have worked to steady the combined business over the past two years. As we now move into the optimization stage, we continue to advance strategic projects built around the 80/20 principle and are completing several value stream mapping exercises.

These projects are designed to improve our customer performance, optimize our footprint and cost structure, and strengthen our margins. We will continue focusing on serving our customers while improving our footprint and cost structure so that when the markets do improve, we are ready to capitalize on those opportunities.

Finally, I'd like to comment on free cash flow generation and capital allocation priorities. As we have said previously, most of our free cash flow is generated in our final two fiscal quarters. Given the normal seasonality we have been experiencing, this year should be no different. I am very pleased with the work of our team in managing working capital, which enabled us to pay down debt and repurchase shares during the quarter.

Going forward, our focus on reducing inventory through 80/20 projects, simplifying our footprint, and reducing intercompany transfers should translate into stronger cash flow generation. For the current quarter, our cash priorities will be to continue paying down debt and to fund organic projects that drive financial returns.

I will now turn the call over to Scott, who will discuss our financial results in more detail.

Thanks, George. On a consolidated basis, we reported net sales of $501.8 million during the third quarter of 2026, which represents an increase of 1.3% compared to $495.3 million for the same period of 2025. The increase was mainly due to favorable impacts from pricing, partially offset by the impact of IEEPA tariff reimbursements to customers.

We estimate that volumes were flat, pricing was up about 3%, and the negative tariff refund impact was approximately 2%. Foreign exchange didn't really influence the quarter. We reported net income of $26.5 million or $0.58 per diluted share during the three months ended July 31, 2026, compared to a net loss of $276 million or $6.04 per diluted share during the three months ending July 31, 2025.

The reported net loss during the third quarter of 2025 was primarily the result of a $302.3 million non-cash goodwill impairment related to the resegmentation of our business. The effective tax rate in the third quarter of 2026, excluding discrete items, was approximately 23%, which matched our expectation. On an adjusted basis, we reported net income of $36 million or $0.79 per diluted share during the third quarter of 2026, compared to net income of $31.6 million or $0.69 per diluted share during the third quarter of 2025.

The adjustments being made to net income are primarily related to severance and other expenses associated with manufacturing footprint and operational performance optimization, including reorganizational and restructuring charges, transaction and advisory fees, amortization expense related to intangible assets, foreign currency impacts, and goodwill impairment.

On a consolidated basis, the increase in reported earnings for the third quarter of 2026 compared to the third quarter of 2025 was mainly due to improved pricing, lower depreciation and amortization expense, and lower interest expense. On an adjusted basis, EBITDA for the quarter was $72.7 million, compared to $70.3 million during the same period last year.

Now results by operating segment. We generated net sales of $220.9 million in our Hardware Solutions segment for the third quarter of 2026, a slight decrease compared to $227.1 million in the third quarter of 2025. We estimate that volumes were down about 0.5%. Pricing was up by about 1.5% in this segment. The negative tariff impact due to customer reimbursements was roughly 4%. The absence of the operational issues we had in Monterrey, Mexico last year had a positive impact of about 0.5%, and foreign exchange translation had a negligible impact.

Adjusted EBITDA was $27.1 million in this segment for the third quarter of 2026, compared to $24.7 million in the same period of 2025. The increase was largely due to improved pricing and the absence of operational issues in Monterrey, Mexico that impacted Q3 of last year.

Our Extruded Solutions segment generated revenue of $179.3 million in Q3 of this year, an increase of 2.8% compared to $174.4 million in Q3 of last year. We estimate that volumes for the quarter were down about 0.5% year-over-year in this segment, with pricing up almost 3.5% and a very minor negative foreign exchange translation impact. Adjusted EBITDA declined slightly to $35.6 million in this segment for the quarter versus $37.1 million during the same period of last year, mainly due to general inflationary pressures partially offset by improved pricing.

We reported net sales of $111 million in our Custom Solutions segment during the quarter, which represented growth of 8.5% compared to prior year revenue of $102.3 million. For the quarter, we estimate that volumes were up about 3%, pricing increased by about 5.5%, and the pass-through of tariffs was a minor benefit. Adjusted EBITDA declined to $12 million from $12.9 million in this segment for the quarter mostly due to inflationary pressures we have already discussed, partially offset by improved pricing.

Moving on to cash flow and the balance sheet. Cash provided by operating activities was $58.6 million for the third quarter of 2026, which compares to $60.7 million for the third quarter of 2025. Free cash flow increased by 3.5% to $47.8 million in Q3 of 2026 compared to $46.2 million in Q3 of 2025.

We generated sufficient cash to repay $42.25 million of debt during the third quarter of 2026, and we also repurchased $1.7 million of our stock. As of July 31, 2026, our liquidity, which is really just the borrowing capacity under our revolver combined with the cash on the balance sheet, was approximately $363 million, an increase of 10.5% versus Q2 of this year.

We expect liquidity to improve again in the fourth quarter. As of July 31, 2026, our leverage ratio of net debt-to-last 12 months adjusted EBITDA decreased to 2.8 times. We continue to believe we will exit 2026 with an even lower net leverage ratio as we continue to generate cash and repay debt. Our long-term view for the residential housing market remains positive. However, due to the ongoing macroeconomic challenges, we remain cautious on the near-term outlook.

We continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East, which is still having an impact on transportation costs and the price of raw materials and energy. We do believe that the initial rate and magnitude of inflationary cost pressures have somewhat subsided. For modeling purposes, please use the following cadence for the fourth quarter of 2026 versus the fourth quarter of 2025.

On a consolidated basis, we expect revenue growth of 2% to 3% and adjusted EBITDA margin expansion of 50 basis points to 75 basis points. In addition, we believe an estimated tax rate of approximately 24% should be reasonable for the fourth quarter of 2026. As always, we will stay focused on the things that we can control, with near-term emphasis on generating cash to reduce debt while opportunistically repurchasing our stock and identifying further operational improvements and efficiencies that can benefit us when economic conditions improve.

Operator, we are now ready to take questions.

(Operator Instructions)

Julio Romero, Sidoti.

Great. Thanks. Morning, George and Scott. Hey, good morning. Wanted to start on the Hardware Solutions segment. You realized year-over-year gross margin improvement of about 160 basis points there. Can you speak to how much of the margin expansion reflects price realization from the increases phased in during the third quarter versus operational improvements versus 80/20 initiatives?

And then also, can you speak to how much of the announced price increases were realized and how much of the benefit is yet to come in the fourth quarter?

I do not know if I can get into specifics about that, but in general, I would say that the price increases we implemented in the third quarter were phased so that we do expect a bigger -- or a more impact or full impact in the fourth quarter of this year since we will get the full quarter impact there. From a pricing standpoint, I would say that year-over-year, quarter-over-quarter in Hardware Solutions, I am talking about adjusted EBITDA price improved by about $3.1 million of the increase.

Okay. And how much is the -- if we are speaking about the EBITDA line, can you speak to the 80/20 benefit in the quarter for that segment?

Yeah. So as it relates to the 80/20 projects that we have going on right now, I would say the benefits are minimal versus prior year because they are just now starting. I would say we have taken some actions on reducing some SG&A. But we are in the infancy stages of that, so I think you will see those continue to pick up in the fourth quarter, and then in the next year, you will see more meaningful benefits. So pretty negligible year-over-year for Q3. But the momentum and progress of those projects will continue to pick up and continue to add benefit as we go forward.

Okay, great. And then last one for me is, Scott, I think you called out in the prepared that the tariff reimbursements to customers was a 2% headwind in the quarter. How much of a headwind remains for the fourth quarter?

A lot less than that. So magnitude really mostly in the Hardware Solutions segments was roughly $9 million on the revenue side impacting the third quarter. So something significantly less than that in the fourth quarter is expected.

Got it. I will pass it on. Thanks, guys.

Adam Thalhimer, Thompson Davis.

Hey, good morning, guys. Congrats on the solid Q3. Hey, Scott, your margin guidance for Q4 struck me as particularly impressive at least up 50 basis points, I guess sequentially and year-over-year. Is that -- where should we model that from a segment standpoint? Where do you think that strength comes through?

Yeah, I would focus more on the Hardware Solutions segment mainly because if you think back to last year 4Q, we saw had a pretty big impact from the Monterrey issues that shouldn't be there this year.

And the other piece along with that like we just talked about with Julio is that you are obviously going to get the full benefit of a full quarter's worth of the pricing impact. So those two things compared on an annual year-over-year basis especially in the Hardware Solutions segment stick out the most.

Okay. And you had good SG&A control in the third quarter, so I guess that continues in Q4.

It's obviously a focus of ours. You do know, as we have gotten all of the new segments stabilized, finalized, and we are operating in a really pretty efficient manner, we can identify opportunities to continue to improve. Obviously, the basis of everything that we are doing from an 80/20 principle perspective evaluates the amount of SG&A that you are using to support very little levels of revenue, and we are trying to address those. So appreciate the comment. I think that it is a focus of ours, and you will continue to see improvements both in fixed costs and SG&A.

Great. And I wanted to ask about because the revenue growth was impressive in Custom Solutions. And within Custom Solutions, it's particularly impressive within Wood Solutions. So I was curious, within Wood Solutions, how does the growth break down between kind of core volume, price, and then the outsourcing opportunity that you had this year? And what is the outlook for that segment?

So, yeah, for wood, there is a couple things playing into the improvement in revenue from a volume perspective. Market in general is still soft in that business. However, I think we commented on this before, we were able to win some new business that started hitting us earlier this year to the tune of like $10 million a year. So that is definitely helping that business this year, which is in contrast to what the market is doing.

On a go-forward basis, we started picking up that business at the very end of our Q4 and really Q1 of this year. So you will probably see one more quarter of year-over-year benefit. And as we discussed the tariffs and obviously what is going on between the US and Canada, depending on where all those tariffs settle out, that could be an opportunity for more insourcing of cabinet products because of the reliance on the wood and the wood tariffs between the two countries. So more to come. Its fluid as it relates to the tariffs, and it seems to change every day. So could be some upside there, but more to come.

Are you having active discussions on those or you are just saying that the backdrop remains favorable?

What I would tell you is that the quoting activity has significantly picked up, and I think customers that are sourcing product from Canada are trying to find options to determine what it needs to be on a go forward basis. They are doing their due diligence by finding opportunities, and we are actively quoting. So again, really fluid. Every day is different.

Okay. Sounds great. And then lastly, obviously very good cash flow debt paydown. I wanted to think big picture multi-year, because before you bought Tyman, you had actually flipped to net cash. I just wonder, as you let the model run out here, maybe we get into a better demand environment. Is getting back to net cash a goal, or would you rather get back to doing tuck-in M&A?

One of the important part of our thesis in acquiring Tyman and resegmenting is that we've identified opportunities for future growth down the road. So I don't think it would be prudent for us to be in a net cash plus position. I think if we can't find opportunities to grow both organically and inorganically in adjacent markets, we're not doing our job.

So I think -- of we get down to 1.0, 1.5 times, I think you would see us probably looking to do more transformative type of things. But again, we're a fairly conservative company in that regards, and we manage our debt, I think, very prudently. So I think you'll see the near-term focus continue to be paying down debt and reducing the interest expense so we can grow organically. And then once we continue to drive it down, our goal is to expand into adjacent markets, both organically and inorganically. So it's not a goal to be in a net cash plus position.

Okay. Good color. Thanks, guys.

Steven Ramsey, Thompson Research Group.

Hey, good morning, everyone. Yeah, wanted to start with the spacers product within Extruded Solutions segment. Very strong results year-to-date and again in the quarter, and it's a high margin product for you. Can you go into some details on the demand and the pricing in that category? Can you talk about the mix impact it's bringing to the segment margins?

Yeah. As we -- obviously, I don't think we gave any breakdown by product line, but that's obviously a part of the Extruded Solutions segment. And that market has grown very nicely. And the warm-edge spacer markets are very much tied to high-end energy efficient windows. So I think as energy costs continue to be elevated and our people are being able to justify replacing windows to get energy savings, the demand for our spacer product will continue to grow.

That started long ago in Europe, which has always been kind of the leading indicator for what's going to happen in North America, and I think we're seeing that. It's been influenced, most of that product line, especially in North America, are on index pricing mechanisms, and a lot of that is petroleum based. So a lot of the price of that product we've been able to pass through and cover inflation very good. So overall, I would say our margins have done well. It's a very efficient plant, and we have pricing mechanisms in place to protect us from inflationary pressures.

Yeah. The only thing I'll add there, Steven, is within that Extruded Solutions segment, yes, you have the IG spacers business, which everybody knows is a good profitability business for us, but you also have the linear business in the UK, which is the vinyl extrusion business, which is also a very good, highly profitable business. So the reasons for those -- that segment being high-margins is because of the product mix. Those two product lines make up, from a revenue perspective, like 65% to 70% revenue of that segment. That should give you some color.

Yes, that's great color and great performance there. Also wanted to dig into the screens performance. Very good in the quarter and up on a year-to-date basis. Can you talk about the screens performance within Hardware? What the outlook is implied there in the fourth quarter, and do you see the strength sustaining beyond this fiscal year?

The screens segment and product line within the Hardware segment has been a good growing business for ours. We continue to service the customers well. It is an area that at times has outpaced market growth because the OEM window makers, the ones that insource that, it is one of the first things that they can look to outsource if they are having a hard time getting labor or taking up too much floor space in their manufacturing facilities. So we have been able to grow share probably a little faster than the market has grown, and we continue to like that business.

I think we're working very hard on footprint optimization things to drive more efficiency. So over the course of the last couple years, we closed a couple facilities in the West Coast and are able to service that area from bigger plants and get some operational performance benefits out of that. And I think we will continue to focus on that. So in terms of our portfolio, the entry-level screens business is near commodity product that we sell, but I think we are doing some really nice things to continue to buffer that margin, and I think the future is bright for that group.

Okay, that is helpful. Thanks for the color.

Reuben Garner, StoneX.

Hey, good morning, guys. This is John McGlade on for Reuben Garner. So most of my questions have been asked or at least touched on to an extent. Just one quick one. Just kind of based on the prepared remarks there, it sounded like the tariff refunds and passthroughs were a detriment to Hardware Solutions, but then it sounded like you said there was a benefit in Custom.

I was just wondering if you could outline, was that a full pass-through you did to customers? Was it kind of product by product or categorized in some extent? Any details there? Just -- we have seen a lot of companies of late hold onto those refunds, and kind of justify that in the sense of new tariff policies and the inflationary pressures. Just anything you could provide color wise on the impacts there and strategy of passing those along.

Yeah. So the tariff refund really only impacted the Hardware Solutions business during the quarter. The slight improvement or benefit in the Custom Solutions segment was just talking about passing through tariffs like we had done prior to last quarter in most of the other businesses. There is just a nuance there.

And on your last point, I think it is important that I do note, as it relates to giving back or retaining and holding tariffs, our philosophy has been we are not trying to use tariffs as a margin generating item, especially in a market or an environment where the consumers are pressured so hard. So our philosophy has always been that we are going to be very transparent with our customers.

I think it is the way we try to do business. And so if we have passed through or pushed a tariff through and we have gotten a refund as a result about it is not our money to keep. And it's just a core operating philosophy of how we are going to treat our customers. So everything we have done has been a direct pass-through, and if we get refunds, we will pass it directly back through the customer. It is not meant to be a margin grab for us.

All right. That's great color, and I am sure your customers appreciate that as well. Good luck in the quarter ahead, guys.

Thank you. I am showing no further questions at this time. I will now turn it back to George Wilson for closing remarks.

I would like to thank everyone for joining the call today, and we look forward to providing the next update in early December. Thank you.

Thank you for participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.