CMT

- Interested in Core Molding Technologies Inc? Here are five stocks we like better. - Q3 sales grew sharply: Production sales rose 19.7% year over year, while total revenue including tooling increased more than 54%. Growth was led by medium- and heavy-duty trucks, but lower-margin tooling mix and Mexico expansion costs pressured profitability; adjusted EBITDA margin fell to 7.1% from 11%. - Fiscal 2026 guidance was maintained: Core expects sales to be flat to up about 5% and gross margin of 16% to 17%, with tooling mix potentially weighing on Q4 margins. It has secured $30 million in new awards year to date and targets $50 million for the full year, subject to Q4 award timing. - Expansion spending is nearing completion: The Monterrey facility is operational, and two Matamoros presses are expected online by year-end. Core forecasts $28 million to $30 million in 2026 capex, while manufacturing consolidation is expected to generate more than $1 million in annual savings starting in 2027. - 3 Small-Cap Stocks to Buy as the Russell 2000 Extends Its Rally Core Molding Technologies (NYSEAMERICAN:CMT) reported third-quarter fiscal 2026 production-sales growth of 19.7% from a year earlier, while total net revenue, including tooling, increased more than 54%, as new program launches and a major tooling project contributed to results. President and Chief Executive Officer Eric Palomaki said the company has secured $30 million in new business awards year to date and remains on track toward its full-year objective of $50 million, depending on the timing of fourth-quarter customer awards. He said Core has won more than $90 million in annualized revenue opportunities over the past 18 months across more than 30 programs, with about two-thirds of those wins coming from end markets outside truck and powersports. → 3 Waste Services Stocks With More Growth Than You Might Expect Chief Financial Officer Alex Panda said revenue gains were led by a 44.8% year-over-year increase in the medium- and heavy-duty truck vertical. Building-products sales rose 17.7% on new program launches, while industrial and utilities revenue increased 21.5%. A major tooling project contributed revenue earlier than initially planned following a change in revenue-recognition methodology for a customer, Panda said. However, the elevated proportion of lower-margin tooling sales and commissioning costs tied to the company's Monterrey, Mexico, expansion affected margins during the period. → AbbVie's Humira Era Is Fading, But Its New Growth Engines Face Another Test Core said gross margin, excluding the tooling-mix impact and one-time commissioning charges, would have been about 18.6%, within its historical guidance range of 17% to 19%. SG&A expense was $11.8 million, or 13.1% of sales. Excluding $1.8 million in one-time Mexico expansion and footprint-optimization expenses, SG&A would have represented 11.1% of sales, compared with 13% in the prior-year period. → Big Tech Is Spending Billions on AI—These 5 Stocks Are Getting Paid Operating income was $1.6 million, down from $2.6 million a year earlier. Net income totaled $1.5 million, or $0.17 per diluted share. Adjusted EBITDA was $6.4 million, equal to 7.1% of sales, compared with 11% of sales in the prior-year quarter. Management said its Monterrey facility is now fully operational and is producing structural foam, structural web and DCPD products with integrated paint capabilities. Two new 4,500-ton presses in Matamoros, Mexico, remain on schedule to become operational by year-end. The company is also consolidating hood and battery-enclosure systems at its Gaffney, South Carolina, facility as part of a centers-of-excellence strategy. Panda said the footprint initiative is expected to generate more than $1 million in annualized savings beginning in 2027, following about $2 million in one-time costs during the second half of fiscal 2026. Mexico-related and portfolio-optimization costs totaled $5.2 million through the first nine months of the year. Core expects an additional $1 million of final optimization costs during the balance of 2026. Palomaki said the company executed the Mexico expansion, manufacturing changes and program launches with minimal disruption to customer service. He also pointed to employee turnover below 7% for the year and said the company plans to invest 18,000 hours in employee, internship and management-development training during 2026. Core generated $3.4 million of cash from operating activities during the first nine months of fiscal 2026, while capital expenditures totaled $19.7 million, primarily for Mexico expansion projects. The company expects full-year capital expenditures of $28 million to $30 million, including roughly $20 million related to its Mexico investments. Panda said the company expects capital spending to return closer to sustaining levels in 2027, which it targets at approximately 3% to 3.5% of sales. He said Core's annual sustaining-capital level would currently be about $10 million, although the company could exceed that level for projects with sufficiently attractive returns. At quarter-end, Core had $5.4 million in cash and $4.8 million outstanding on its revolving credit facility. Its capital structure includes a $50 million revolving credit agreement and a $50 million delayed-draw acquisition facility, according to management. The company repurchased 8,411 shares during the third quarter at an average price of $22.71, followed by 106,659 shares in October at an average price of $23.42. Panda said the company has reached its $2.5 million annual repurchase target and does not expect to repurchase additional shares during the remainder of the year. Core reiterated its fiscal 2026 guidance, calling for total sales ranging from flat to up about 5% year over year. It expects $9 million to $11 million in project revenue during the fourth quarter and full-year gross margin of 16% to 17%, though fourth-quarter margin could fall below that range because of tooling mix. Management said the majority of $63 million in new program awards secured in 2025 are expected to begin contributing meaningfully in the second half of 2026 and reach full annualized run rates in 2027. Palomaki said truck original equipment manufacturers are seeking to increase production but are facing supply-chain constraints. He said OEMs expect demand to remain strong through the first half of 2027 and are not forecasting a sharp production decline at the start of the year related to emissions-rule changes. In industrial and utility markets, Palomaki said Core has secured a grid-infrastructure battery-storage project for molded battery boxes and expects the program to begin launching soon. The company is also pursuing related opportunities in grid, data-center energy and underground utility-vault applications. Panda said Core is considering issuing fiscal 2027 guidance earlier than its historical March timetable, potentially by late December or January, once its budget has been finalized and reviewed with the board. Core Molding Technologies, Inc is a manufacturer of composite materials and molded plastic products. The company primarily serves original equipment manufacturers and other industrial customers that require lightweight, durable, and corrosion-resistant components. Its products and capabilities include sheet molding compound, bulk molding compound, liquid molding compound, and other fiberglass-reinforced composite materials. Core Molding also produces finished components using processes such as compression molding, resin transfer molding, hand lay-up, pultrusion, structural foam molding, and injection molding. The company's products are used in heavy-duty trucks, automotive vehicles, agriculture and construction equipment, power generation systems, and other industrial applications. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. The article "What Core Molding Technologies (CMT) Said on Its Q3 Earnings Call" was originally published by MarketBeat. View MarketBeat's top stocks for November 2026.

Core Molding Technologies (CMT) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.17 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.06 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.22 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +183.33%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this maker of fiber reinforced plastics would post earnings of $0.21 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.21, delivering no surprise. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates two times. Core Molding Technologies, which belongs to the Zacks Rubber - Plastics industry, posted revenues of $90.24 million for the quarter ended September 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.71%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $58.44 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates three times over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. Core Molding Technologies shares have added about 12.7% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 10.2%. While Core Molding Technologies has outperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Core Molding Technologies was unfavorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to underperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.17 on $67.9 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $0.50 on $275.39 million in revenues for the current fiscal year. Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Rubber - Plastics is currently in the bottom 12% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1. Esab (ESAB), another stock in the broader Zacks Industrial Products sector, has yet to report results for the quarter ended September 2026. The results are expected to be released on November 4. This maker of welding and cutting equipment is expected to post quarterly earnings of $1.33 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +0.8%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 5.7% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. Esab's revenues are expected to be $780.72 million, up 13.6% from the year-ago quarter. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Core Molding Technologies Inc (CMT) : Free Stock Analysis Report ESAB Corporation (ESAB) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Our analysts just identified a stock with the potential to be the next Nvidia. Tell us how you invest and we'll show you why it's our #1 pick. Tap here. - Management characterized 2026 as a deliberate 'investment and execution' year, absorbing startup costs to position the business for accelerated growth and margin expansion in 2027. - Production sales grew 19.7% year-over-year, driven by a 44.8% increase in the medium- and heavy-duty truck vertical and 21.5% growth in industrial and utilities markets. - The company is executing a 'Center of Excellence' strategy, consolidating hood and battery enclosure systems in Gaffney, South Carolina, to leverage specialized manufacturing expertise and improve scalability. - Gross margins were impacted by an unusually high mix of lower-margin tooling revenue and one-time commissioning costs associated with the Mexico expansion in Monterrey. - Management identifies its corporate culture as a 'fortified moat,' citing an all-time low employee turnover rate of just below 7% as a key driver of operational discipline during complex transitions. - The company has secured $30 million in new wins year-to-date, with two-thirds of the last 18 months' wins coming from diversified end markets outside of truck and powersports. - Management expects 2027 to be the 'payoff' period when the benefits of current investments become visible through accelerating revenue, stronger margins, and improved cash generation. - Full-year 2026 sales guidance remains flat to up approximately 5%, assuming $9 million to $11 million in total project revenue for the fourth quarter. - The majority of the $63 million in new program awards secured in 2025 are expected to reach full annualized run rates during 2027. - Truck production demand is anticipated to remain strong through the first half of 2027, as OEMs prepare for a smooth transition period regarding potential emissions technology changes. - Capital expenditures are expected to normalize to approximately $10 million annually (3% to 3.5% of sales) starting in 2027 following the completion of major Mexico expansion projects. - Mexico-related expansion and portfolio optimization costs totaled $5.2 million through the first nine months of the year, with $1 million in final costs expected in Q4. - The footprint optimization initiative in Gaffney is projected to generate recurring annual savings of approximately $1 million beginning in 2027. - The company hit its $2.5 million annual share repurchase target in October and will pause further buybacks for the remainder of 2026 to reevaluate pricing in 2027. - A change in revenue recognition methodology for a major customer resulted in tooling revenue contributing earlier than originally planned in the third quarter. One stock. Nvidia-level potential. 30M+ investors trust Moby to find it first. Get the pick. Tap here. - Management noted that truck OEMs are currently limited by supply chain challenges and would likely build more units if possible. - The transition to new emissions technology in 2027 is expected to be a 'smooth transition' rather than a 'light switch' change on January 1st, lending confidence to 2027 demand. - The company has half a dozen 'imminent' projects in the pipeline that could push them past the $50 million goal, though final customer timing remains the primary variable. - Management is exploring creative ways to help non-truck customers manage initial tooling investments to accelerate organic growth wins. - Core secured a major grid infrastructure project for molded battery boxes, citing composite advantages in flameproofing and design flexibility over traditional metal. - Management sees significant tailwinds in the 'flush cover vault' business driven by underground residential interconnects and data center energy requirements. - The large tooling revenue in Q3 is tied to Volvo roof production in Mexico; Core expects to be ready for initial shipments by late December or early January. - Full production ramp-up is dependent on Volvo's progress in completing their 1.7 million square foot facility north of Monterrey.

Image source: The Motley Fool. Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026 - President and Chief Executive Officer - Eric Palomaki - Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer - Alex Panda - Three Part Advisors - Sandra Martin Operator: Good morning, and welcome to the Core Molding Technologies Fiscal 2026 Third Quarter Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Sandy Martin, Three Part Advisors. Please go ahead. Sandra Martin: Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for the Core Molding Technologies Conference Call to review our fiscal 2026 third quarter results. Joining me on the call today are the company's President and CEO, Eric Palomaki; and CFO, Alex Panda. This call is also being webcast and can be accessed through coremt.com via an audio link on the Investor Relations, Events and Presentations page. Please be advised that any time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the date of any replay or transcript reading. Statements made in today's discussion that are not historical facts, including statements or expectations or future events or future financial performance are forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are uncertain and are outside the company's control. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied, and today's earnings release includes our forward-looking disclosures. Risk factors and uncertainties are described in detail in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Core Molding Technologies assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements publicly. Management will refer to non-GAAP measures, including adjusted EPS, adjusted EBITDA, the debt to trailing 12 months EBITDA ratio, free cash flow and return on capital employed. Reconciliations to the nearest GAAP measures are available at the end of our earnings release, which has been submitted to the SEC on Form 8-K. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Eric Palomaki. Eric? Eric Palomaki: Thank you, Sandy, and good morning, everyone. As many of you know, we hosted a successful Investor Day in September, where we outlined key initiatives supporting Why Core and Why Now. Over the last several years, we have systematically strengthened Core by improving execution, deepening customer relationships, investing in our people, enhancing our manufacturing network and expanding our commercial capabilities. We believe these efforts have positioned Core to enter its next phase of growth, leveraging a proven operating platform to pursue larger opportunities with additional capacity and to build on even greater diversification across our end markets. Over those 2 days in Brownsville and Matamoros, we communicated a clear objective to accelerate profitable growth, generate increasing levels of cash flow and deliver attractive returns on capital for our shareholders. Our experienced teams work across materials, engineering, designs, manufacturing, quality and operations to solve customer problems and execute complex programs. With culture as a competitive advantage, we have captured some of the industry's highest employee retention rates with employee turnover at an all-time low, just below 7% for the year. During 2026, we are investing a total of 18,000 hours in employee and internship training and management development. The vast majority of our leadership roles have been filled internally over the last several years. These purposeful investments in our team continue to strengthen the culture that we view as Core's highly competitive fortified moats. We hold ourselves accountable through a measured scorecard that tracks both financial results and operating indicators that drive long-term performance, improvements such as safety, quality, cost, delivery and customer satisfaction, talent development and commercial execution are helping us build a stronger company and support our long-term growth objectives. Turning to our third quarter results. The investments we have been making across the business translated into strong commercial momentum and revenue growth. Production sales grew 19.7% year-over-year and total net revenue, including tooling, expanded by over 54%. Year-to-date, we've secured $30 million in new wins as we continue to execute on our invest for growth strategy. Depending on the timing of the fourth quarter awards, we remain on track to achieve our full year objective of $50 million in additional new wins. As expected, margins were impacted by the mix of tooling revenue and onetime commissioning costs as we ramp up our Mexico expansion. This year's must-win battle included successfully executing our Mexico expansion strategy while continuing to optimize our manufacturing footprint. Today, Monterrey is fully operational, producing structural foam, structural web and DCPD products with integrated capabilities, while 2 new 4,500-ton presses in Matamoros remain on track to be operational by year-end. At the same time, we are optimizing our manufacturing footprint by advancing our center of excellence strategy by consolidating hood and battery enclosure systems in Gaffney, South Carolina, which Alex will discuss more in a moment. Together, these initiatives expand capacity, enhance operational efficiency and create a scalable platform for future growth across multiple end markets. Importantly, we executed these projects with minimal disruption to customer service or our ongoing operations. Our teams continue to deliver strong performance across the network while simultaneously installing new capacity, relocating assets and preparing for future program launches. I am exceptionally proud of what our team has accomplished so far this year. Successfully executing a greenfield start-up, expanding capacity, optimizing our manufacturing footprint and supporting our new program launches simultaneously required tremendous commitment and operational discipline. The professionalism and dedication demonstrated across the organization give me great confidence in our ability to execute the next phase of the growth strategy. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Alex to review the financials in more detail. Alex Panda: Thank you, Eric, and good morning, everyone. For the third quarter, production sales grew by 19.7% year-over-year. The medium- and heavy-duty truck vertical increased by 44.8%. New program launches increased building products sales by 17.7% year-over-year and industrial and utilities end market revenues grew by 21.5% over the prior year. As we discussed with investors in September, a major tooling project contributed revenue earlier than originally planned due to a change in our revenue recognition methodology for our customer. Higher production volumes improved fixed cost absorption. However, margins were impacted by the unusually high mix of lower-margin tooling revenue and Monterrey commissioning costs. Excluding the tooling mix impact and onetime commissioning charges, gross margin was approximately 18.6%, consistent with our historical guidance of 17% to 19%. SG&A expenses were $11.8 million or 13.1% of sales. And excluding $1.8 million of onetime Mexico expansion and footprint optimization expenses, SG&A would have been 11.1% of sales compared to 13% in the prior year period. As part of our portfolio footprint optimization efforts, we expect over $1 million in annualized savings beginning in 2027, which I will discuss more in a moment. Operating income for the quarter was $1.6 million compared to $2.6 million in the prior year period, reflecting elevated SG&A investments discussed above. Net interest expense was $39,000 in the third quarter compared to $34,000 in the prior year quarter. The quarter's tax rate benefited from country mix and the impact of Mexico-related expansion expenses. Net income was $1.5 million or $0.17 per diluted share. Adjusted EBITDA was $6.4 million, representing 7.1% of sales compared with 11% in the prior year period. Our results reflect deliberate investments that position us to deliver accelerated growth, capacity and positive cash flow in 2027. We generated net cash provided by operating activities of $3.4 million during the first 9 months of the fiscal year. We are carefully managing elevated working capital tied to new launches and higher production levels. Capital expenditures to date totaled $19.7 million, primarily related to our Mexico expansion initiatives. For full year 2026, we expect capital expenditures to be $28 million to $30 million with approximately $20 million related to our Mexico expansions. As Eric mentioned, our work in Monterrey is now complete, positioning us with meaningful capacity to support launch programs and future growth opportunities. We ended the quarter with $5.4 million in cash and $4.8 million outstanding on our revolver. Our balance sheet remains a significant strategic advantage. We have substantial liquidity, minimal debt and ample flexibility to support future growth initiatives. Our capital structure includes a $50 million revolving credit agreement and a dedicated $50 million delayed draw acquisition facility, both of which provide us with meaningful capacity to pursue attractive M&A opportunities while maintaining a conservative financial profile. Return on capital employed was 5% based on trailing 12-month pretax operating income, which is impacted by our onetime investments. As we continue to launch new programs, we expect this metric to improve by leveraging top line performance more effectively and driving higher asset utilization and returns. We fully expect return on capital employed to strengthen to our long-term goal of 14%. Additional details, including GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations, are available on our earnings release. Given our confidence in the long-term outlook, we continue to repurchase shares during both the third quarter and October. We repurchased 8,411 shares during the third quarter at an average price of $22.71. Then in October, we repurchased another 106,659 shares at an average price of $23.42. Our capital allocation philosophy remains unchanged. We will continue to invest in the highest return opportunities available to us, whether through organic growth initiatives, strategic acquisitions or opportunistic share repurchases. With significant available liquidity and a growing pipeline of opportunities, we believe we are well positioned to deploy capital from a position of strength while maintaining a disciplined focus on long-term shareholder value creation. Today, we are reiterating our fiscal 2026 guidance and continue to expect the following: one, total sales to be flat to up approximately 5% year-over-year with $9 million to $11 million expected in total project revenue for the fourth quarter. The majority of the $63 million new program awards secured in 2025 begin contributing meaningfully in the second half of 2026 and reach full annualized run rates during 2027. Three, truck production volumes continue to improve, supporting a more favorable demand environment heading into 2027. And lastly, full year gross margin for 2026 is expected to be between 16% to 17%, although fourth quarter may fall below that range based on tooling mix. Regarding nonrecurring costs, the combination of the Mexico-related and portfolio optimization costs totaled $5.2 million through the first 9 months of the year. And with the majority of the work now complete, we expect $1 million of final optimization costs to be incurred during the balance of 2026. This footprint optimization initiative is consistent with the strategy we outlined in detail at our Investor Day, creating specialized centers of excellence across our manufacturing network. Similar to Columbus for SMC compounding and Monterrey for DCPD and topcoat paint, Gaffney is becoming a dedicated hub for hood and battery enclosure systems. Concentrating these activities in specific facilities allows us to leverage decades of manufacturing experience, improve operational efficiency and create a stronger platform to support future growth opportunities while generating meaningful cost savings over time. While this project will result in approximately $2 million in onetime costs for the 2026 second half, we expect it to generate recurring annual savings of approximately $1 million and enhance the business' long-term scalability. With that, I will turn the call back to Eric. Eric Palomaki: Thank you, Alex. One of the clearest indicators that our strategy is working is the commercialized business we've already secured. Over the last 18 months, we have won over $90 million of annualized revenue opportunities, spanning more than 30 new programs across a broad range of customers, markets and applications. Importantly, 2/3 of those wins have come from diversified end markets outside of truck and powersports, validating our efforts to broaden the business while leveraging our core manufacturing and engineering capabilities. These are not theoretical opportunities. They are customer awards that are moving into launch and production, providing tangible visibility into our future growth trajectory. From the outset, we knew 2026 would be a year of investment, execution and positioning the business for our next phase of growth. We absorbed start-up costs associated with our Mexico expansion, advanced our footprint optimization initiatives and continued investing in people, capabilities and infrastructure needed to support our strategic expansion. While those investments impacted near-term profitability and cash flow this year, these were intentional decisions designed to strengthen our competitive position and create longer-term value. Looking ahead, we believe 2027 and beyond represent the period when the benefits of these investments become increasingly visible through accelerating revenue growth, stronger margins, improved cash generation and expanding returns on capital. As we wrap up, I'd encourage investors to review our Investor Day materials if you have not done so already. The presentations provide a detailed look at the strategy, investments and growth opportunities that are shaping Core's next phase of development and support our confidence in the long-term outlook for the business. With that, I want to thank our employees for embracing change, executing at high levels and maintaining an unwavering commitment to our customers. Their efforts have enabled us to undertake some of the most significant operational initiatives in the company's 30-year history while continuing to deliver to our customers every day. I also want to thank our customers, suppliers, shareholders and Board of Directors for their continued trust and support. We remain focused on converting today's investments into tomorrow's growth, profitability, cash generation and long-term shareholder value creation. Before we move to questions, I would note that we will be participating in the Southwest IDEAS Conference in Dallas on November 19. We look forward to meeting with investors and discussing the meaningful opportunities we see ahead for Core. With that, we'll open the line for questions. Operator? Operator: [Operator Instructions] The first question will be from Chip Moore with ROTH Capital. Alfred Moore: I wanted to ask, I guess, more end market related, particularly trucking. It sounds like confidence in volumes there is pretty solid. Just maybe you can expand on what you're seeing. I know there were some emissions mandates out there, but what's your sort of view into early 2027 on the trucking side? Eric Palomaki: Chip, thanks for the question. On the end market for truck, there's no doubt all of the truck OEMs are increasing to the point where they're trying to increase and running into supply chain challenges. So they would build even more trucks in the fourth quarter, I think, if they could. And we've seen that probably for the last couple of quarters. And you'll see by the end of the year, the entire year, we'll be ramping truck quarter-over-quarter-over-quarter. All of them are anticipating the first half of '27 to remain strong. None of them are forecasting, for example, an emissions change January 1, '27, none of them are forecasting the first quarter to be low. They're expecting that demand to continue right into next year. So we're excited about that. From the emissions change, it seems as though -- I think that vote has not happened. I think it's sometime in November. I'm not sure when the official response from the EPA will be out, but all of the OEMs seem prepared to deliver some of the '26 technology into '27 and have a period of transition. So it won't be a light switch change on January 1, '27. So I think that also helps lend confidence to a smoother '26 into '27 demand in the transportation industry. Alfred Moore: Great. That's helpful. And maybe the follow-up, powersports, I think it was down a little bit in the quarter, although it's up here year-to-date. Just what are you seeing there with -- maybe the consumer is a little more challenged with some of the gas prices and things like that. But just curious on that side, what you're seeing? Eric Palomaki: Yes. I think there's a couple of things there. Certainly, fuel prices and interest-rate-sensitive product. There's no doubt you have that overlying. Our year-over-year continues. You probably heard us a few times talk about that skid plate launch that's now about a year old. So you'll now start to see that in every comparable year-over-year. That's been a huge increase for us. And then I guess, from a quarterly basis, we had a very good first quarter in powersports. If you probably noted that in our first quarter earnings, I believe. Q3 tends to be a little bit softer. So with our watercraft business, it's the end of the summer. They definitely are in their model year change in Q3, and then they start ramping up Q4 and Q1 to build next summer season, generally spoken as an annual type season for that watercraft business. Alfred Moore: Perfect. And I guess just in terms of the near-term awards, I think right to that goal of $50 million, it seems like you've got pretty good line of sight on it, specific projects, but obviously, timing can play a role there. Just sort of handicap that and what you're tracking? Eric Palomaki: Yes, excited to be at $30 million of the $50 million. We'd like to be a little bit north of that. It seems like Q3 even last year, when we look at the data was a little bit less awards in the third quarter to us, and the fourth quarter was strong. In our pipeline, we have half a dozen projects that are kind of imminent, right? There's nothing else left to do besides our customers making that final decision being willing to embark on new tooling project or new design or whatever each one of them happens to be. But we do have a number of them, and they do add up to make us get past $50 million. We're modeling that as that's our goal and have some pretty good confidence around a few of them. Alfred Moore: Great. And maybe one last one, and you talked a lot about this in good detail at the Investor Day, but future growth, I guess, organic, inorganic, just updates where you might invest internally? And then just any update on the M&A pipeline? Eric Palomaki: Yes. Thanks. I'll let Alex comment a little bit on the M&A, but I'll start with organically. We still continue to have so many opportunities, Chip. And we are -- like I said, there's half a dozen projects that could happen in the next month or 2. And we think a number of them will. It's just which ones and which ones bleed over into January or February. But we need to have capital ready for those. And there's some substantial presses or tooling jobs and things like that, that we will always prioritize that organic growth when it's an opportunity because we really understand that part of the business, and we have a lot of control over it. On the M&A side, we've got to look at a few, but I'll let Alex comment on it. Alex Panda: Yes. We've looked at a few. Some of our SG&A costs in Q3 actually relate to us contracting some outside service consultants to help us through some stuff. But ultimately, we're still looking and the key there is staying disciplined to our approach and requiring that 14% to 16% return by year 2 is the goal. And so we're not going to go out of our way and lever up the company without making sure that, that return is there. And so we're still looking through it. We're still looking at different companies and going from there. Operator: The next question will come from Erik Volfing from Grand Slam. Erik Volfing: Congratulations on everything you've achieved this year. So you mentioned in the release that you had some win in the battery energy storage systems. Could you talk a little bit more about that? Is that sort of generally for the grid? Is that for data centers? Where are you seeing that rolling out? Eric Palomaki: Erik, thanks for the question. Yes, we've won one major project that would be a grid infrastructure battery project. So you think of that the energy grid, especially in North America, probably needs a lot of upgrades. And as the consumer starts consuming a lot of energy in the afternoon and evening, there's a high energy demand load. And so the idea is that you store that energy in industrial warehouse-looking buildings like very large buildings that are just giant battery banks. And so they would charge on the evening and then be able to discharge during those peak energy requirement times. And so we would build the box that, that battery is stored in. So it would be a molded deep draw that is very difficult to make out of a metal and you get a lot of advantages with composites of flameproofing, fireproofing and your ability to design in molded in features in a single part. So we have one of those that is secured and tooled up, and we're hoping it should be launching in the any day period. You wouldn't see it in our P&L yet today, but that should be imminently launching. And then we are quoting another one with a competitor that has a very, very similar design. And I wouldn't say these are 100% or directly going into data centers, but there's definitely a lot of work on grid, data center energy. And the other project that I think is worth that's very closely related is some of our flush cover vault business that we have both won this year through a transfer program. We went from transferring a tool from a competitor to us to revenue in under a month, which we're proud of any time that can happen because we often talk about the long lead time as well as one of the other wins this year is with a new product and we're launching one size of that technology in January and one in March of '27. So those go in the ground certainly are related to data center, related to grid, related to construction market anywhere you're doing new residential homes, they're not putting that kind of thing on poles anymore. It's all underground, and you need these vaults and flush covers every 500, 700 feet for all of the interconnects. So we love that composites goes in the ground, doesn't rust, doesn't oxidize. So it's a great area for us, adjacent to both grid and data center. Erik Volfing: That's great. And maybe a quick one for Alex. With all the stuff that's going on, do you think we might get to see some guidance for '27 before the end of the year? Alex Panda: Yes. Good question, Erik. So we've been discussing that. Historically, we've given 2027 guidance in our March earnings release. Sandy, Eric and I have all talked, we are going to put together a press release that announces it earlier. Right now, we're working on do we do it at the end of December? Do we wait for the beginning of January? But right now, our game plan would be to finalize the budget, work with the Board and then give out some guidance earlier than we've historically done it. I don't know the exact timing yet, but I think I'm confident that the latest it would be would be January. Operator: [Operator Instructions] The next question is from Bill Dezellem from Tieton Capital. William Dezellem: A group of questions here. Just want to be clear that relative to the time line for the $50 million of potential business that's in your sales pipeline that -- each of those 6 you said could happen anytime in the next 30 to 60 days. Is that correct? And is there anything at all that you all need to be doing or can be doing to accelerate those wins? Eric Palomaki: Yes. Bill, thanks for the question. Absolutely, there's always something we can be doing with any customer. So we -- I appreciate that question and comment. And the answer is yes, awarding in the next 30 to 60 days. It doesn't mean -- as I think we've talked before, it doesn't mean that it produces revenue immediately. Some of them may have still 12, 9-, 12-month, 18-month lead time tooling or different projects. And I can confirm for you for sure that some of our sales team last week was at a few of those customer sites. And so I am proud of the team for continuing to follow up, go make sure we're answering questions, coming up with creative ways. Sometimes they're asking us about creative ways to help them with a tooling project. And so we're looking at ways that we can help them from an initial start-up cost, let's say, for some of those non-truck markets. There are areas that aren't used to having tooling spend. Sometimes that's a little bit of a shock for them to have an initial tooling investment. And so we're trying to find ways that we can, as we talked about, use our capital for organic growth. That's something we have confidence in. If we can help a customer, we'd be happy to do so. William Dezellem: And Eric, taking that just one step further, what's your confidence level in these 6 wins? Is it just simply a matter of time? Or is there still a competitive battle in place? Eric Palomaki: Some, there's a competitive battle. Some of them, it is just time. And so it's -- I am -- I don't want to give you hard numbers, but there might be 1 or 2 in there that I'd be 90% confident. But I don't know if it's going to be November, December or it's going to wait until January. I don't know how many people are going to watch the news all evening tonight and watch all the statisticians all night and make their big investment decisions after they see what happens tonight. Those sorts of things certainly play into people's thinking when it comes to tariffs or Build in America. We have customers that are looking for all of those different aspects. So yes, I hope that helps clarify. William Dezellem: That is helpful. And then relative to timing, on the tooling revenues, $25 million or so this quarter, what's the timing before those tools convert to revenue or convert to revenue production? Eric Palomaki: Yes. So the biggest tooling job for this third quarter is related to our investment in Mexico that supports Volvo roofs. And we will be ready for one of those versions of roofs to be able to build a roof by December. So they will -- we anticipate them to start ramping next year. Ultimately, that volume is tough for us to forecast. I would hate to give you a number, but we should be ready to start shipping initial roofs by the end of December or first week of January. And I haven't gotten to visit their new plant, but I do have an invite in December to go visit the Volvo plant. And so we'll get our eyes on how far. I mean, they're building a 1.7 million square foot plant just north of Monterrey, Mexico. So that will be exciting to see and where the progress is because ultimately, at least part of that is related to their success in installing their plant. Could be delays, could be pulled ahead. We don't necessarily know for sure. Alex Panda: Yes, Bill, I think that's our biggest hangup right now too, and why it's difficult to forecast is where -- what is the progress on Volvo's plant. We talked back at the -- on the Investor Day was there's -- I think there's an opportunity to potentially ship some roofs back to the United States. We haven't yet received an official green light from the customer on that. But we're -- we think that there's an opportunity there, but it's really going to come down to when is the Volvo plant down in Monterrey fully operational and starting to accept product. And we really haven't received a strict time line on that from Volvo. William Dezellem: Great. And then relative to CapEx, this year, you're spending $28 million to $30 million. What is that number looking like at this point in '27? Alex Panda: Yes. So we target sustaining CapEx is in between 3% and 3.5%. When I work with the plants and give them targets for '27's capital budget, that's where we really want to be between. We will make exceptions. And if there's a project that has a higher level of return that we feel that it's important to get done and to put in, will we go over 3.5%? Yes. But I can tell you right now, with all of the investment we've done over the years, right, I'm working with the plants to make sure that we are staying disciplined on those investments. And if I were to give you a number, right, I would say, right now, on average, we're right around $10 million on an annual basis with our current sales level. William Dezellem: Great. So basically, we're done with the larger CapEx numbers and that we're now back to a more normalized rate starting next year? Alex Panda: Yes, correct. William Dezellem: Great. And then one additional question, please. Relative to your stock repurchases, I think you said that you bought a little over 8,000 shares in the third quarter, but over 100,000 shares in the month of October. Assuming that we heard you correctly, talk to us about the thought process and what's going -- or what changed in October relative to the Q3? Alex Panda: Yes. So we have a long-term strategy with the stock, the stock buyback, the repurchase program. Obviously, we increased our -- the buyback price in -- starting in Q4. Our stock price also came down a little bit in Q4. And so we were buying stock. I think the average was just over $23 at the beginning of Q4. What I can tell you is when we communicated the stock buyback program, right, our target is $2.5 million a year. We've officially hit that, and we will not be buying any more stock for the rest of the year, and then we will be reevaluating in 2027 what price is appropriate and when we will implement that. Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back to Eric Palomaki for any closing remarks. Eric Palomaki: Thank you for your continued interest in our company. We look forward to providing an update on our progress when we report on our fourth quarter and full year results in a few months. Have a great day. Operator: Thank you, sir. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect. Before you buy stock in Core Molding Technologies, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Core Molding Technologies wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. 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As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Core Molding (CMT) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript was originally published by The Motley Fool

Product Revenue Grows 19.7%; Mexico Expansion and Footprint Optimization Position Company for Further End-Market Diversification and Growth COLUMBUS, Ohio, Nov. 03, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Core Molding Technologies, Inc. (NYSE American: CMT) ("Core Molding", "Core" or the "Company"), a leading engineered materials company specializing in molded structural products, principally in medium- and heavy-duty truck, powersports, building products, and industrial and utilities industries across the United States, Canada and Mexico today reports financial and operating results for the fiscal periods ended September 30, 2026. Eric Palomaki, the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "Our third quarter results reflect continued progress against our strategic initiatives that will shape our next phase of growth. While the quarter absorbed several one-time start-up costs associated with our Mexico expansion, footprint optimization, and higher external input costs, we achieved key operational milestones that position us for improved performance. Monterrey is now operational, and the two 4,500-ton presses in Matamoros, which many of our investors saw under construction at our recent Investor Day, are on track to come online by year-end, further expanding our capacity and supporting long-term growth. As highlighted at our September Investor Day, demand trends continued to improve across several of our key markets. Medium- and heavy-duty truck production continued to recover during the quarter, while building products and industrial and utilities end markets remained healthy. Our commercial pipeline continues to strengthen. So far this year, we have secured approximately $30 million in new business awards and see a path to approximately $50 million in new business awards through six major projects currently in our last stage of our sales pipeline funnel. We also continue to expand our position in attractive long-term growth markets, including a significant award for battery energy storage systems. As electrification, grid hardening and increasing power demand drive infrastructure investment, we believe we are well-positioned to capitalize on these opportunities and further diversify our end-market exposure while advancing sustainable long-term growth," commented Palomaki. Alex Panda, the Company's EVP and Chief Financial Officer, said, "Third quarter financial results reflected strong underlying business activity and continued execution of our strategic growth investments. Product revenue increased nearly 20% year-over-year, driven by improving heavy-duty truck demand, new program launches, and continued strength in our building products and industrial and utilities end markets. While profitability was impacted by one-time commissioning costs in Monterrey, portfolio footprint optimization activities, and higher external input costs, these investments are supporting additional capacity, improving operating efficiency, and future growth. Additionally, tooling project revenue accounted for a larger portion of sales during the quarter, which impacts our reported margins in the short term but creates recurring demand and revenue. Gross margin was 14.8% for the quarter and would have been approximately 18.6%, excluding the impact of tooling project revenue mix and Monterrey commissioning charges. Consistent with our outlook discussed at our Investor Day, we continue to expect full-year net sales to be flat to up approximately 5% with gross margins in the 16% to 17% range. During the quarter, we continued to invest in initiatives that support long-term growth while maintaining financial flexibility. This included approximately $0.8 million to establish a center of excellence for our hood and battery systems in our Gaffney, South Carolina facility. Consistent with our disciplined capital allocation strategy, we also remained active in our share repurchase program during the quarter and into October," commented Panda. Third Quarter 2026 Highlights - Total net revenues increased 54.4%, comprised Production revenues of $64.8 million and Tooling Project revenue of $25.4 million. - Production revenues increased 19.7% year-over-year, mainly due to higher demand from the medium and heavy-duty truck and new program launches. - Tooling Project revenue of $25.4 million compared to $4.3 million year-over-year is project-based revenue that is necessary ahead of a customer production cycle. - Gross margin of $13.4 million, or 14.8% of net revenues, compared to 17.4% of net sales in the prior year third quarter. Excluding the impact of the tooling project margins and Monterrey commissioning charges, gross margin was 18.6%. This year's gross margins were also pressured by higher raw material input costs, which were offset by favorable fixed operating leverage, operating efficiencies, and a favorable product mix. - Selling, general, and administrative expenses of $11.8 million, or 13.1% of net revenues, compared to $7.6 million, or 13.0% of net revenues in the prior year third quarter. - Third quarter 2026 SG&A expenses included $1.8 million of non-recurring costs associated with the Mexico expansion and footprint optimization costs. - Operating income of $1.6 million, or 1.8% of net revenues, which includes non-recurring costs above, compared to operating income of $2.6 million, or 4.4% of net revenues for the prior year third quarter. - Net income of $1.5 million, or $0.17 per diluted share, compared to net income of $1.9 million, or $0.22 per diluted share for the prior year third quarter. Adjusted net income1 of $2.9 million, or $0.33 per diluted share, compared to $0.24 per diluted share in the prior year period. - Adjusted EBITDA1 of $6.4 million, or 7.1% of net revenues, compared to $6.4 million, or 11.0% for the prior year third quarter. Nine-Month 2026 Highlights - Total net revenues comprised Production revenue of $183.2 million and Tooling Project revenue of $28.4 million. - Production revenues increased 3.6% due entirely to the higher demand in power sports and new program launches. - Tooling Project revenue of $28.4 million compared to $22.3 million year-over-year is project-based revenue that is necessary ahead of a customer production cycle. - Gross margin of $38.1 million, or 18.0% of net revenues, compared to 18.2% of net revenues in the prior year nine-month period. - Selling, general, and administrative expenses of $33.4 million, or 15.8% of net revenues, compared to $25.6 million, or 12.9% of net revenues. - 2026 nine-month period SG&A expenses included $6.6 million of non-recurring costs associated with the Mexico expansion, footprint optimization and severance costs. - Operating income of $4.6 million, or 2.2% of net revenues, which includes non-recurring costs above, compared to operating income of $10.6 million, or 5.3% of net revenues for the prior year nine-month period. - Net income of $3.9 million, or $0.45 per diluted share, compared to net income of $8.1 million, or $0.93 per diluted share for the prior year nine-month period. Adjusted net income1 of $9.4 million, or $1.07 per diluted share. - Adjusted EBITDA1 of $21.4 million, or 10.1% of net revenue, compared to $23.1 million, or 11.6% for the prior year nine-month period. 1Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted EBITDA are non-GAAP financial measures as defined and reconciled 2026 Capital Expenditures The Company's capital expenditures for the first nine months of 2026 were $19.7 million, including $12.2 million related to the Company's Mexico expansion project. For the full year 2026, the Company expects capital spending of approximately $28 to $30 million, including approximately $20 million allocated to the Mexico expansion. The Company generated a Return on Capital Employed1 of 5.0% for the trailing twelve months and 5.1% excluding cash. Financial Position at September 30, 2026 The Company's cash and revolving credit facility balance at September 30, 2026, was $5.4 million and $4.8 million, respectively. On July 2, 2026, the Company entered into the third amendment of its 2022 Credit Agreement. This amendment refinanced the Company's existing term loan and credit facilities. The Company has secured credit facilities in an aggregate principal amount of $100 million, consisting of a $50 million revolving credit facility and a $50 million delayed draw term loan facility at favorable rates compared to the 2022 Credit Agreement. Conference Call The Company will conduct a conference call today at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss financial and operating results for the period ending September 30, 2026. To access the call live by phone, dial (844) 881-0134 and ask for the Core Molding Technologies call at least 10 minutes prior to the start time. A telephonic replay will be available through November 10, 2026, by calling (855) 669-9658 and using passcode ID: 1960550#. A webcast of the call will also be available live and for later replay on the Company's Investor Relations website at www.coremt.com/investor-relations/events-presentations/. About Core Molding Technologies, Inc. Core Molding Technologies is a leading engineered materials company specializing in molded structural products, principally in building products, utilities, transportation and powersports industries across North America. The Company operates in one operating segment as a molder of thermoplastic and thermoset structural products. The Company's operating segment consists of one reporting unit, Core Molding Technologies. The Company offers customers a wide range of manufacturing processes to fit various program volume and investment requirements. These thermoset processes include compression molding of sheet molding compound ("SMC"), resin transfer molding ("RTM"), liquid molding of dicyclopentadiene ("DCPD"), spray-up and hand-lay-up. The thermoplastic processes include direct long-fiber thermoplastics ("DLFT") and structural foam and structural web injection molding. Core Molding Technologies serves a wide variety of markets, including the medium and heavy-duty truck, marine, automotive, agriculture, construction, and other commercial products. The demand for Core Molding Technologies' products is affected by economic conditions in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Core Molding Technologies' operations may change proportionately more than revenues from operations. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws that are subject to risks and uncertainties. These statements often include words such as "believe", "anticipate", "plan", "expect", "intend", "will", "should", "could", "would", "project", "continue", "likely", and similar expressions. In particular, this press release may contain forward-looking statements about the Company's expectations for future periods with respect to its plans to improve financial results, the future of the Company's end markets. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from those reflected in forward-looking statements relating to our operations and business include: dependence on certain major customers, and potential loss of any major customer due to completion of existing production programs or otherwise; business conditions in the plastics, transportation, power sports, utilities and commercial product industries (including changes in demand for production); the availability and price increases of raw materials; general macroeconomic, social, regulatory and political conditions, including uncertainties surrounding volatility in financial markets; the imposition of new or increased tariffs and the resulting consequences; safety and security conditions in Mexico; costs and other resources related to Core Molding Technologies' efforts to expand its customer base and grow its business, and provide on-time delivery to customers; the Company's decision to pursue new products and initiatives to quote and execute manufacturing processes for new business, acquire raw materials, address inflationary pressures, regulatory matters and labor relations; the ability to successfully identify, evaluate and manage potential acquisitions and to benefit from and properly integrate any completed acquisitions; the Company's financial position or other financial information; inadequate insurance coverage to protect against potential hazards; equipment and machinery failure; product liability and warranty claims; cybersecurity incidents or other similar disruptions; and other risks and uncertainties described in the Company's filings with the SEC. These statements are based on certain assumptions that the Company has made in light of its experience as well as its perspective on historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors it believes are appropriate under the circumstances. Actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results because of certain risks and uncertainties, including those included in the Company's filings with the SEC. There can be no assurance that statements made in this press release relating to future events will be achieved. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results over time. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to the Company or persons acting on behalf of the Company are expressly qualified in their entirety by such cautionary statements. Company Contact: Core Molding Technologies, Inc. Alex Panda Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer [email protected] Investor Relations Contact: Three Part Advisors, LLC Sandy Martin or Steven Hooser [email protected], [email protected] 214-616-2207 - Financial Statements Follow – Core Molding Technologies, Inc. Consolidated Statements of Operations (unaudited, in thousands, except share and per share data) | Three months ended September | | Nine months ended September | 2026 | | 2025 | | 2026 | 2025 Net revenue: | | | | | | | Production | $ | 64,827 | | | $ | 54,178 | | | $ | 183,179 | | | $ | 176,823 | Tooling Project | | 25,410 | | | | 4,257 | | | | 28,370 | | | | 22,298 | Total net revenue | | 90,237 | | | | 58,435 | | | | 211,549 | | | | 199,121 | | | | | | | | Total cost of revenue | | 76,854 | | | | 48,290 | | | | 173,460 | | | | 162,879 | | | | | | | | Gross margin | | 13,383 | | | | 10,145 | | | | 38,089 | | | | 36,242 | | | | | | | | Selling, general and administrative expense | | 11,793 | | | | 7,572 | | | | 33,440 | | | | 25,616 | | | | | | | | Operating income | | 1,590 | | | | 2,573 | | | | 4,649 | | | | 10,626 | | | | | | | | Other income and expense | | | | | | | Net interest (income) expense | | 39 | | | | 34 | | | | 185 | | | | 18 | Net periodic post-retirement benefit | | (117 | ) | | | (117 | ) | | | (351 | ) | | | (344 | ) Total other (income) and expense | | (78 | ) | | | (83 | ) | | | (166 | ) | | | (326 | ) | | | | | | | Income before income taxes | | 1,668 | | | | 2,656 | | | | 4,815 | | | | 10,952 | | | | | | | | Income tax expense | | 155 | | | | 779 | | | | 914 | | | | 2,840 | | | | | | | | Net income | $ | 1,513 | | | $ | 1,877 | | | $ | 3,901 | | | $ | 8,112 | | | | | | | | Net income per common share: | | | | | | | Basic | $ | 0.18 | | | $ | 0.22 | | | $ | 0.45 | | | $ | 0.95 | Diluted | $ | 0.17 | | | $ | 0.22 | | | $ | 0.45 | | | $ | 0.93 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Core Molding Technologies, Inc. Product Revenue by Market (unaudited, in thousands) | Three months ended September 30, | | Nine months ended September 30, | 2026 | | 2025 | | 2026 | | 2025 Medium and heavy-duty truck | $ | 28,191 | | $ | 19,470 | | $ | 71,898 | | $ | 80,276 Power sports | | 13,555 | | | 17,548 | | | 49,497 | | | 45,962 Building products | | 6,897 | | | 5,862 | | | 18,387 | | | 16,912 Industrial and utilities | | 7,111 | | | 5,851 | | | 18,642 | | | 17,095 All other | | 9,073 | | | 5,447 | | | 24,755 | | | 16,578 Net production revenue | $ | 64,827 | | $ | 54,178 | | $ | 183,179 | | $ | 176,823 | | | | | | | | | | | Core Molding Technologies, Inc. Consolidated Balance Sheets (in thousands) | As of | | | September 30, | | As of | 2026 | | December 31, | (unaudited) | | 2025 Assets: | | | Current assets: | | | Cash and cash equivalents | $ | 5,437 | | | $ | 38,058 | Accounts receivable, net | | 40,643 | | | | 30,831 | Inventories, net | | 26,693 | | | | 19,715 | Prepaid expenses and other current assets | | 24,557 | | | | 14,724 | Total current assets | | 97,330 | | | | 103,328 | | | | Right of use asset | | 13,775 | | | | 14,494 | Property, plant and equipment, net | | 97,121 | | | | 86,940 | Goodwill | | 17,376 | | | | 17,376 | Intangibles, net | | 2,793 | | | | 3,479 | Other non-current assets | | 2,565 | | | | 2,515 | Total Assets | $ | 230,960 | | | $ | 228,132 | | | | Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity: | | | Liabilities: | | | Current liabilities: | | | Revolving debt | $ | 4,810 | | | $ | — | Current portion of long-term debt | | | | 2,075 | Accounts payable | | 29,056 | | | | 14,924 | Contract liabilities | | 3,231 | | | | 5,018 | Compensation and related benefits | | 7,871 | | | | 4,988 | Accrued other liabilities | | 7,316 | | | | 7,168 | Total current liabilities | | 52,284 | | | | 34,173 | | | | Other non-current liabilities | | 1,800 | | | | 1,935 | Lease liabilities | | 12,524 | | | | 13,113 | Long-term debt | | — | | | | 17,639 | Post retirement benefits liability | | 3,205 | | | | 3,101 | Total Liabilities | | 69,813 | | | | 69,961 | | | | Stockholders' Equity: | | | Common stock | | 86 | | | | 85 | Paid in capital | | 49,026 | | | | 47,503 | Accumulated other comprehensive income, net of income taxes | | 2,749 | | | | 3,938 | Treasury stock | | (41,178 | ) | | | (39,918 | ) Retained earnings | | 150,464 | | | | 146,563 | Total Stockholders' Equity | | 161,147 | | | | 158,171 | Total Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity | $ | 230,960 | | | $ | 228,132 | | | | | | | | Core Molding Technologies, Inc. Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (unaudited, in thousands) | Nine months ended September | 2026 | | 2025 Cash flows from operating activities: | | | Net income | $ | 3,901 | | | $ | 8,112 | Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash used in operating activities: | | | Depreciation and amortization | | 8,743 | | | | 9,504 | Loss on disposal of property, plant and equipment | | — | | | | 4 | Share-based compensation | | 1,523 | | | | 1,646 | Losses (gain) on foreign currency | | (653 | ) | | | (285 | ) Change in operating assets and liabilities: | | | Accounts receivable | | (9,812 | ) | | | (4,759 | ) Inventories | | (6,978 | ) | | | (1,455 | ) Prepaid and other assets | | (11,039 | ) | | | (1,560 | ) Accounts payable | | 15,154 | | | | 4,060 | Accrued and other liabilities | | 2,865 | | | | (744 | ) Post retirement benefits liability | | (334 | ) | | | (357 | ) Net cash provided by operating activities | | 3,370 | | | | 14,166 | Cash flows from investing activities: | | | Purchase of property, plant and equipment | | (19,698 | ) | | | (9,305 | ) Net cash used in investing activities | | (19,698 | ) | | | (9,305 | ) Cash flows from financing activities: | | | Gross repayments on revolving line of credit | | (18,468 | ) | | | — | Gross borrowings on revolving line of credit | | 23,278 | | | | — | Payments for taxes related to net share settlement of equity awards | | (612 | ) | | | (600 | ) Purchase of treasury stock | | (648 | ) | | | (2,249 | ) Payment of principal on term loans | | (19,843 | ) | | | (1,418 | ) Net cash used in financing activities | | (16,293 | ) | | | (4,267 | ) Net change in cash and cash equivalents | | (32,621 | ) | | | 594 | Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period | | 38,058 | | | | 41,803 | Cash and cash equivalents at end of period | $ | 5,437 | | | $ | 42,397 | Cash paid for: | | | Interest | $ | 492 | | | $ | 771 | Income taxes | $ | 4,354 | | | $ | 3,341 | Non cash investing activities: | | | Fixed asset purchases in accounts payable | $ | 708 | | | $ | 207 | Non-GAAP Financial Measures This press release contains financial information determined by methods other than in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP"). Core Molding management uses non-GAAP measures in its analysis of the Company's performance. Investors are encouraged to review the reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to the comparable GAAP results available in the accompanying tables. Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures Adjusted EBITDA represents net income before, as applicable from time to time, (i) interest expense, net, (ii) provision (benefit) for income taxes, (iii) depreciation and amortization of long-lived assets, (iv) share based compensation expense, (v) restructuring and severance costs, and (vi) nonrecurring legal settlement costs and associated legal expenses unrelated to the Company's core operations. Debt-to-trailing twelve months adjusted EBITDA represents total outstanding debt divided by trailing twelve months Adjusted EBITDA. Free Cash Flow represents net cash (used in) provided by operating activities less purchase of property, plant and equipment. Trailing twelve months return on capital employed represents the trailing twelve months earnings before (i) interest expense, net and (ii) provision (benefit) for income taxes divided by (i) stockholders' equity and (ii) current and long-term debt. Adjusted Net Income represents net income before severance cost (net of tax). We present Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA as a percent of net revenue , Free Cash Flow and trailing twelve months Return on Capital Employed because management uses these measures as key performance indicators, and we believe that securities analysts, investors and others use these measures to evaluate companies in our industry. These measures have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation or as an alternative to performance measure derived in accordance with GAAP as an indicator of our operating performance. Our calculation of these measures may not be comparable to similarly named measures reported by other companies. The following tables present reconciliations of net income to Adjusted EBITDA, and Cash Flow from Operating Activities to Free Cash Flow, the most directly comparable GAAP measures, and trailing twelve months Return on Capital Employed, for the periods presented: Core Molding Technologies, Inc. Net Income to Adjusted EBITDA Reconciliation (unaudited, in thousands) | Three months ended September 30, | | Nine months ended September 30, | 2026 | | 2025 | | 2026 | | 2025 Net income | $ | 1,513 | | | $ | 1,877 | | | $ | 3,901 | | | $ | 8,112 | Provision for income taxes | | 155 | | | | 779 | | | | 914 | | | | 2,840 | Total other expenses(1) | | (78 | ) | | | (83 | ) | | | (166 | ) | | | (326 | ) Depreciation and amortization | | 2,516 | | | | 3,093 | | | | 8,614 | | | | 9,444 | Share-based compensation | | 527 | | | | 521 | | | | 1,523 | | | | 1,646 | Severance costs | | — | | | | — | | | | 1,411 | | | | 979 | Footprint optimization and Mexico Expansion Costs (restructuring) | | 1,763 | | | | 220 | | | | 5,167 | | | | 420 | Adjusted EBITDA | $ | 6,396 | | | $ | 6,407 | | | $ | 21,364 | | | $ | 23,115 | | | | | | | | Adjusted EBITDA as a percent of net revenue | | 7.1 | % | | | 11.0 | % | | | 10.1 | % | | | 11.6 | % | | | | | | | (1)Includes net interest expense and non-cash periodic post-retirement benefit cost. Core Molding Technologies, Inc. Computation of Debt to Trailing Twelve Months Adjusted EBITDA (unaudited, in thousands) | | Q4 2025 | | Q1 2026 | | Q2 2026 | | Q3 2026 | Trailing Twelve Months Net income | | $ | 3,083 | | | $ | 605 | | | $ | 1,783 | | | $ | 1,513 | | $ | 6,984 | Provision for income taxes | | | 642 | | | | 190 | | | | 569 | | | | 155 | | $ | 1,556 | Total other expenses(1) | | | (133 | ) | | | (31 | ) | | | (57 | ) | | | (78 | ) | | (299 | ) Depreciation and amortization | | | 3,386 | | | | 3,037 | | | | 3,061 | | | | 2,516 | | | 12,000 | Share-based compensation | | | 142 | | | | 495 | | | | 501 | | | | 527 | | | 1,665 | Succession plan costs | | | 476 | | | | 924 | | | | 487 | | | | — | | | 1,887 | Footprint optimization and Mexico Expansion Costs (restructuring) | | $ | — | | | $ | 2,102 | | | $ | 1,302 | | | | 1,763 | | $ | 5,167 | Adjusted EBITDA | | $ | 7,596 | | | $ | 7,322 | | | $ | 7,646 | | | $ | 6,396 | | $ | 28,960 | | | | | | | | | | Total Outstanding Debt as of September 30, 2026 | | | | | | | | | $ | 4,810 | | | | | | | | | | Debt to Trailing Twelve Months Adjusted EBITDA | | | | | | | | | | 0.17 | | | | | | | | | | (1)Includes net interest expense and non-cash periodic post-retirement benefit cost. Core Molding Technologies, Inc. Computation of Trailing Twelve Months Return on Capital Employed (unaudited, in thousands) | | Q4 2025 | | Q1 2026 | | Q2 2026 | | Q3 2026 | | Trailing Twelve Months Operating Income | | $ | 3,592 | | $ | 764 | | $ | 2,295 | | $ | 1,590 | | $ | 8,241 | | | | | | | | | | | Equity | | $ | 161,147 | Structured Debt | | $ | 4,810 | Total Capital Employed | | $ | 165,957 | | | | | | | | | | | Return on Capital Employed | | | 5.0 | % Core Molding Technologies, Inc. Computation of Trailing Twelve Months Return on Capital Employed Excluding Cash (unaudited, in thousands) | | Q4 2025 | | Q1 2026 | | Q2 2026 | | Q3 2026 | | Trailing Twelve Months Operating Income | | $ | 3,592 | | $ | 764 | | $ | 2,295 | | $ | 1,590 | | $ | 8,241 | | | | | | | | | | | Equity | | $ | 161,147 | Structured Debt | | $ | 4,810 | Less Cash | | $ | (5,437 | ) Total Capital Employed, Excluding Cash | | $ | 160,520 | | | | | | | | | | | Return on Capital Employed, Excluding Cash | | | 5.1 | % Core Molding Technologies, Inc. Free Cash Flow Nine Months Ended September 30, 2026 and 2025 (unaudited, in thousands) | 2026 | | 2025 Cash flow provided by operations | $ | 3,370 | | | $ | 14,166 | Purchase of property, plant and equipment | | (19,698 | ) | | | (9,305 | ) Free cash flow | $ | (16,328 | ) | | $ | 4,861 | Core Molding Technologies, Inc. Adjusted Net Income per Share (unaudited, in thousands) | | | | Three months ended September 30, | | Nine months ended September 30, | 2026 | | 2025 | | 2026 | | 2025 Net Income | $ | 1,513 | | $ | 1,877 | | $ | 3,901 | | $ | 8,112 Succession plan costs (net of tax) | $ | — | | | | $ | 1,404 | | $ | 773 Mexico expansion and footprint optimization costs (net of tax) | $ | 1,393 | | $ | 174 | | $ | 4,072 | | $ | 332 Adjusted net income | $ | 2,906 | | $ | 2,051 | | $ | 9,377 | | $ | 9,217 | | | | | | | Weighted average common shares outstanding - basic | | 8,581,000 | | | 8,561,000 | | | 8,606,000 | | | 8,583,000 Weighted average common and potentially issuable common shares outstanding - diluted | | 8,727,000 | | | 8,688,000 | | | 8,758,000 | | | 8,709,000 | | | | | | | Net income per share - basic | $ | 0.18 | | $ | 0.22 | | $ | 0.45 | | $ | 0.95 Severance costs (net of tax) | | — | | | — | | | 0.16 | | | 0.09 Mexico expansion and footprint optimization costs (net of tax) | $ | 0.16 | | $ | 0.02 | | $ | 0.47 | | $ | 0.04 Adjusted net income per share - basic | $ | 0.34 | | $ | 0.24 | | $ | 1.08 | | $ | 1.08 | | | | | | | Net income per share - diluted | $ | 0.17 | | $ | 0.22 | | $ | 0.45 | | $ | 0.93 Severance costs (net of tax) | | — | | | — | | | 0.16 | | | 0.09 Footprint optimization costs (net of tax) | $ | 0.16 | | $ | 0.02 | | $ | 0.46 | | $ | 0.04 Adjusted net income per share - diluted | $ | 0.33 | | $ | 0.24 | | $ | 1.07 | | $ | 1.06

This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Release Date: November 03, 2026 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. - Production sales grew 19.7% year-over-year, with total net revenue up over 54% including tooling. - Secured $30 million in new wins year-to-date and remains on track to achieve $50 million full-year objective. - Mexico expansion progressing well: Monterrey fully operational, and two new 4,500-ton presses in Matamoros on track for year-end. - Over $90 million in annualized revenue opportunities won in the last 18 months, with two-thirds from diversified end markets outside truck and powersports. - Strong balance sheet with $5.4 million cash, minimal debt, and $100 million in available credit facilities for growth and M&A. - Gross margin was impacted by lower-margin tooling revenue mix and one-time Mexico commissioning costs, with adjusted EBITDA margin at 7.1% vs. 11% prior year. - Operating income declined to $1.6 million from $2.6 million due to elevated SG&A expenses, including $1.8 million in one-time costs. - Full-year gross margin expected at 16%-17%, with Q4 potentially below that range due to tooling mix. - Return on capital employed was only 5%, well below the long-term goal of 14%, due to one-time investments. - Powersports end market was soft in Q3 due to seasonal watercraft model year change and consumer challenges from fuel prices and interest rates. - Warning! GuruFocus has detected 6 Warning Signs with CMT. - Is CMT fairly valued? Test your thesis with our free DCF calculator. Q: Can you expand on what you're seeing in the trucking end market and your view into early 2027, particularly regarding emissions mandates? A: CEO Eric Palomacki said all truck OEMs are trying to increase production and are running into supply chain challenges, and would build even more trucks in Q4 if they could. He noted the entire year will ramp quarter over quarter, and all OEMs anticipate a strong first half of 2027, with none forecasting a low Q1 or an emissions "light switch" change on January 1, 2027. OEMs appear prepared to deliver some 2026 technology into 2027 with a transition period, supporting a smoother demand environment. Q: With $30 million of the $50 million new-win goal secured, what is your line of sight on the remaining awards and their timing? A: CEO Eric Palomacki said the company has about half a dozen projects that are imminent, with nothing left to do besides the customer's final decision, and together they add up to push past $50 million. He noted Q3 has historically been lighter on awards while Q4 was strong, and expressed good confidence around a few of the pending projects. Q: What is your confidence level in the six pending wins is it just a matter of time or is there still a competitive battle? A: CEO Eric Palomacki said some involve a competitive battle and some are just a matter of time. He said one or two could carry 90% confidence, but timing is uncertain November, December or January and customer decisions are influenced by factors such as tariffs and Build in America considerations. Q: Can you provide more color on the battery energy storage systems win is it for the grid or data centers? A: CEO Eric Palomacki said one major project is a grid infrastructure battery project, involving large molded deep-draw boxes that house giant battery banks charged in the evening and discharged during peak demand. Composites offer flame/fire proofing and molded-in features versus metal. The project is secured and tooled and should launch imminently, though not yet in the P&L, and the company is quoting a similar project with a competitor. He also cited flush cover vault wins tied to grid, data center and construction markets, with new product sizes launching in January and March 2027. Q: What is the timing for the roughly $25 million in tooling revenue to convert into production revenue? A: CEO Eric Palomacki said the biggest Q3 tooling job relates to the Mexico investment supporting Volvo roofs, and the company will be ready to build a roof by December, with initial shipments expected by end of December or the first week of January and ramping next year. CFO Alex Panda added that the biggest uncertainty is the progress of Volvo's new 1.7 million square foot plant north of Monterrey, and the company has not received a strict timeline from Volvo, though there may be an opportunity to ship some roofs back to the U.S. without an official green light yet. Q: What does CapEx look like for 2027? A: CFO Alex Panda said the target for sustaining CapEx is 3% to 3.5% of sales, with exceptions for high-return projects. He said that at current sales levels, CapEx is running around $10 million annually on average, confirming the company is done with the larger CapEx numbers and returning to a more normalized rate starting next year. Q: Can you discuss the thought process behind share repurchases, given the step-up from about 8,000 shares in Q3 to over 100,000 shares in October? A: CFO Alex Panda said the company has a long-term repurchase strategy, increased the buyback price starting in Q4, and the stock price came down a bit in Q4, with an average price just over $23. He said the company has officially hit its $2.5 million annual target and will not buy more stock for the rest of the year, and will reevaluate in 2027 what price is appropriate and when to implement it. Q: Do you think we might see 2027 guidance before the end of the year? A: CFO Alex Panda said the company historically gave 2027 guidance in its March earnings release, but management has discussed issuing it earlier via a press release. The plan is to finalize the budget, work with the Board and provide guidance earlier than historically done, with timing possibly end of December or beginning of January, and he is confident the latest would be January. Q: What are you seeing in powersports, which was down a bit in the quarter though up year-to-date? A: CEO Eric Palomacki cited fuel prices and interest-rate-sensitive products as overlying pressures, but noted the skid plate launch from about a year ago is now in every year-over-year comparison and has been a huge increase. He said Q1 was very good in powersports, while Q3 tends to be softer due to the watercraft business's end-of-summer model year change, with ramping resuming in Q4 and Q1 ahead of the next summer season. Q: Can you update on where you might invest internally for organic growth and any update on the M&A pipeline? A: CEO Eric Palomacki said the company continues to see many organic opportunities, with half a dozen projects that could happen in the next month or two, and it will always prioritize organic growth where it has deep understanding and control, keeping capital ready for substantial presses or tooling jobs. CFO Alex Panda said the company has looked at a few M&A targets, with some Q3 SG&A tied to outside consultants, but it remains disciplined and requires a 14% to 16% return by year two and will not lever up the company without that return. Q: Is there anything you can do to accelerate the pending wins, and what is the timeline? A: CEO Eric Palomacki said the six projects could be awarded in the next 30 to 60 days, though awards do not mean immediate revenue given tooling lead times of 9 to 18 months. He said the sales team was at several customer sites the prior week, following up and exploring creative ways to help customers, including assisting with initial tooling startup costs in non-truck markets less accustomed to tooling spend, using company capital for organic growth where For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

Proto Labs (PRLB) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.63 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.6 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.47 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +5.00%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this custom parts manufacturer would post earnings of $0.54 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.6, delivering a surprise of +11.11%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates four times. Proto Labs, which belongs to the Zacks Rubber - Plastics industry, posted revenues of $154.32 million for the quarter ended September 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.79%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $135.37 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four times over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. Proto Labs shares have added about 79.7% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 13.1%. While Proto Labs has outperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Proto Labs was mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.48 on $143.99 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $2.21 on $581.36 million in revenues for the current fiscal year. Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Rubber - Plastics is currently in the bottom 11% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1. Another stock from the same industry, Core Molding Technologies (CMT), has yet to report results for the quarter ended September 2026. The results are expected to be released on November 3. This maker of fiber reinforced plastics is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.06 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -72.7%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 58.5% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. Core Molding Technologies' revenues are expected to be $86.18 million, up 47.5% from the year-ago quarter. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Proto Labs, Inc. (PRLB) : Free Stock Analysis Report Core Molding Technologies Inc (CMT) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Wall Street expects a year-over-year decline in earnings on higher revenues when Core Molding Technologies (CMT) reports results for the quarter ended September 2026. While this widely-known consensus outlook is important in gauging the company's earnings picture, a powerful factor that could impact its near-term stock price is how the actual results compare to these estimates. The earnings report, which is expected to be released on November 3, might help the stock move higher if these key numbers are better than expectations. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower. While management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call will mostly determine the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations, it's worth having a handicapping insight into the odds of a positive EPS surprise. This maker of fiber reinforced plastics is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.06 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -72.7%. Revenues are expected to be $86.18 million, up 47.5% from the year-ago quarter. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 58.54% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period. Investors should keep in mind that the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts may not always get reflected in the aggregate change. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Estimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. Our proprietary surprise prediction model -- the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) -- has this insight at its core. The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier. Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP readings only. A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP. Please note that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss. Our research shows that it is difficult to predict an earnings beat with any degree of confidence for stocks with negative Earnings ESP readings and/or Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell). For Core Molding Technologies, the Most Accurate Estimate is the same as the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that there are no recent analyst views which differ from what have been considered to derive the consensus estimate. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of 0%. On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #4. So, this combination makes it difficult to conclusively predict that Core Molding Technologies will beat the consensus EPS estimate. Analysts often consider to what extent a company has been able to match consensus estimates in the past while calculating their estimates for its future earnings. So, it's worth taking a look at the surprise history for gauging its influence on the upcoming number. For the last reported quarter, it was expected that Core Molding Technologies would post earnings of $0.21 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.21, delivering no surprise. Over the last four quarters, the company has beaten consensus EPS estimates just once. An earnings beat or miss may not be the sole basis for a stock moving higher or lower. Many stocks end up losing ground despite an earnings beat due to other factors that disappoint investors. Similarly, unforeseen catalysts help a number of stocks gain despite an earnings miss. That said, betting on stocks that are expected to beat earnings expectations does increase the odds of success. This is why it's worth checking a company's Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank ahead of its quarterly release. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported. Core Molding Technologies doesn't appear a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings release. Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Core Molding Technologies Inc (CMT) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 19, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Core Molding Technologies, Inc. (NYSE American: CMT) ("Core Molding", "Core" or the "Company"), a leading engineered materials company specializing in molded structural products, principally in medium- and heavy-duty trucks, powersports, building products, and industrial and utility industries across North America, today announces that it will release its third quarter fiscal 2026 results on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, before the market opens. In conjunction with the release, the Company has scheduled a conference call, which will be broadcast live over the internet the same day at 10:00am Eastern. By Phone: | Dial 1-844-881-0134 or 1-412-317-5485 (international) at least 10 minutes before the call and ask to join the Core Molding call. A replay will be available through November 10th by dialing 1-855-669-9658 and using the replay code 1960550. | By Webcast: | Connect to the webcast via the Events and Presentations page of Core Molding's Investor Relations website at www.coremt.com/investor-relations/events-presentations/. Please log in at least 10 minutes in advance to register and download any necessary software. A replay will be available shortly after the call. About Core Molding Technologies, Inc. Core Molding Technologies is a leading engineered materials company specializing in molded structural products, principally in medium- and heavy-duty truck, powersports, building products, industrial and utility industries across North America. The Company operates in one operating segment as a molder of thermoplastic and thermoset structural products. The Company's operating segment consists of one reporting unit, Core Molding Technologies. The Company offers customers a wide range of manufacturing processes to fit various program volume and investment requirements. These processes include compression molding of sheet molding compound ("SMC"), resin transfer molding ("RTM"), liquid molding of dicyclopentadiene ("DCPD"), spray-up and hand-lay-up, direct long-fiber thermoplastics ("DLFT") and structural foam and structural web injection molding ("SIM"). Core Molding Technologies serves a wide variety of markets, including medium and heavy-duty trucks, marine, automotive, agriculture, construction, and other commercial products. The demand for Core Molding Technologies' products is affected by economic conditions in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Core Molding Technologies' operations may change proportionately more than revenues from operations. Company Contact: Core Molding Technologies, Inc. Alex Panda Executive Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer [email protected] Investor Relations Contact: Three Part Advisors, LLC Sandy Martin or Steven Hooser [email protected], [email protected] 214-616-2207

Image source: The Motley Fool. Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. ET President and CEO - Eric Palomaki CFO - Alex Panda Operator: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Core Molding Technologies Fiscal 2026 Second Quarter Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I want to now turn the call over to Sandy Martin, Three Part Advisors. Please go ahead. Sandra Martin: Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for the Core Molding Technologies conference call to review our fiscal 2026 second quarter results. Joining me on the call today are the company's President and CEO, Eric Palomaki; and CFO, Alex Panda. This call is also being webcast and can be accessed through coremt.com via an audio link on the Investor Relations, Events and Presentations page. Please be advised that any time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the date of any replay or transcript reading. Statements made in today's discussion that are not historical facts, including statements or expectations or future events or future financial performance are forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are uncertain and outside the company's control. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied, and today's earnings release includes our forward-looking disclosures. Risk factors and other uncertainties are described in detail in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Core Molding Technologies assumes no obligations to update or revise any forward-looking statements publicly. Management will refer to non-GAAP measures, including adjusted EPS, adjusted EBITDA, free cash flow and return on capital employed. Reconciliations to the nearest GAAP measures are available at the end of our earnings release, which has been submitted to the SEC on Form 8-K. Now I would like to turn the call over to President and CEO, Eric Palomaki. Eric? Eric Palomaki: Thank you, Sandy. Good morning, everyone. Before we cover progress on our initiatives and second quarter results, I'd like to share that Core's story is being featured this month in the American Executive Magazine. The article highlights our transformation from a turnaround story into a growing execution-driven enterprise. As we reflect on more than 30 years of operational progress in a cyclical industry, we see how the foundation we built positions us for continued success. Looking ahead, we do so with confidence, excitement and momentum as we pursue the opportunities before us. Additionally, I want to remind everyone that we are hosting an Investor Day in September. We look forward to welcoming both our long-standing shareholders and prospective investors to see firsthand the value we create every day. And yes, they'll also get a chance to look close at the scale of our operation, including some truly impressive manufacturing equipment. Now turning to our second quarter results. We delivered solid performance that reflects the continued resilience of our diversified portfolio and the ongoing execution of our Invest for Growth strategy. We continue to build on our commercial momentum, securing nearly $26 million of net wins in the first half of 2026 and remaining on track to achieve our full year objective of $50 million in additional new business awards. Over the past 2 years, we have secured more than $112 million in new business wins and a growing number of these awards are now moving into production across a number of end markets. While many of our programs have longer quote-to-cash cycles, we continue to gain traction with customers seeking our SMC compound as their proprietary advanced composite materials. Producing this raw material compound typically offers shorter commercialization time lines. To support our top line momentum and to capitalize on the growing sales pipeline, we strategically added 2 business development managers, one dedicated to the construction and agricultural markets and another focused exclusively on expanding relationships with customers seeking proprietary SMC compounds. We remain focused on broadening our presence in attractive new and addressable markets, and our team continues to identify and engage new customer opportunities every day. This year's must-win battle includes our greenfield build in Monterrey, Mexico, where construction was completed in less than 9 months, both on time and on budget. Our Monterrey facility is now in production of structural foam, structural web and DCPD products, including installed prime paint and top coat paint application systems. Turning to our facility in Matamoros, which will be on full display at our Investor Day in September. The plant expansion continues to make impressive progress and will increase our large molding capacity with 2 additional 4,500-ton machines during the second half of 2026. Importantly, our Mexico project installations and footprint optimization have not disrupted our existing operations and progress. Throughout this process, we have maintained flawless customer delivery and quality performance, demonstrating our team's ability to successfully execute significant growth initiatives without compromising operational excellence. I am incredibly proud of and grateful for our team's hard work, long hours and unwavering commitment to making this achievement possible. Together, these strategic investments totaling $25 million across our Mexico operations position us closer to our customers and align our business to capitalize on long-term growth opportunities. Operationally, our focus on disciplined execution continues to deliver results. During the quarter, we achieved 99.2% on-time delivery and a quality performance of 49 parts per million. Our quality performance was 49 ppm, meaning fewer than 50 defective parts for every 1 million parts produced. This level of performance is considered top tier within the automotive supply chain and compares favorably with the quality expectations of leading OEM customers. Simply put, more than 99.995% of the products we ship meet customer requirements. These results reflect a strong focus on repeatable operational excellence, a culture of continuous improvement and the dedication of teams across all our facilities. This operational discipline has enabled us to improve profitability, diversify our business, expand into new markets and continue investing in productivity, capacity and continuous improvement innovations. New business wins totaling nearly $26 million in the first half of 2026 continue to transform and diversify Core Molding sales profile. These awards further broaden our revenue base, reducing our exposure to historically cyclical end markets such as trucking and powersports, which improves our consistency of earnings. Importantly, 100% of our new business awards this year represent new opportunities rather than replacement programs and approximately 65% originated outside of our traditional truck and powersports markets. 74% of this business will be produced with our existing U.S. manufacturing footprint, allowing us to leverage installed capacity, improve returns on invested capital, drive profitable growth and generate stronger cash flow. As we have previously discussed, our team has secured approximately $112 million in incremental new business awards over the past 24 months, providing a clear line of sight to production revenue opportunities that could exceed $300 million in 2027. Just as importantly, many of these programs are supported by long-term customer relationships and sole-source production of highly engineered components. This gives us visibility into demand, confidence in our growth trajectory and a strong foundation for creating sustainable long-term value for our shareholders. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Alex to review the financials in more details. Alex Panda: Thank you, Eric, and good morning, everyone. For the second quarter, production sales declined 1.2% year-over-year as strong growth across powersports, building products and industrial and utilities end markets largely offset the current softness in medium and heavy-duty truck. Excluding truck, production sales across our remaining end markets increased significantly, up 20.8%, reflecting the diversification efforts Eric discussed and the strength of our commercial execution. To provide additional context, truck represented 40% of total product sales during the quarter, and this significant market declined by 23% compared with the prior year period. While truck remained a headwind to consolidated growth, we are beginning to see production volumes improve and expect sales to continue ramping through the second half of 2026. Our powersports end markets continue to perform well, generating 7% year-over-year revenue growth. Building products, while still a smaller portion of our overall portfolio, delivered exceptional growth of 36% compared with the prior year period, driven by the successful launch of previously awarded programs and increasing customer demand. We delivered meaningful gross margin of 20.3% in the second quarter, an improvement of 220 basis points compared with the prior year period. Gross margin benefited from a capacity charge received from a customer during the quarter. Excluding this item, gross margin was 19.4%, which remains at the high end of our targeted full year range of 17% to 19% and reflects the strength of our operational execution, product mix and manufacturing performance. SG&A expense was $10.4 million or 16.6% of sales. Excluding $1.8 million of Mexico expansion and succession-related expenses, SG&A was 13.8% of sales compared to 11.5% in the prior year period. These investments support our long-term growth initiatives and leadership succession planning while we continue to maintain disciplined cost management. Operating income for the quarter was $2.3 million compared to $5.2 million in the prior year period, reflecting the elevated SG&A investments discussed above. Net interest expense was $60,000 in the second quarter compared to $32,000 in the prior year quarter. During the quarter, we recognized a noncash loss of $88,000 related to the extinguishment of term loan debt and a gain of $170,000 associated with the termination of our interest rate swap. Net income was $1.8 million or $0.21 per diluted share. Adjusted EBITDA was $7.6 million, representing 12.2% of sales compared with the 12% in the prior year period. Despite the continued softness in truck, our adjusted EBITDA margin remained stable, reflecting the resiliency of our diversified portfolio and ongoing operational discipline. Net cash provided by operating activities was $7.1 million during the first half, while capital expenditures to date totaled $12.1 million, primarily related to our Mexico expansion initiatives. For full year 2026, we continue to expect capital expenditures of approximately $25 million to $30 million, with $18 million to $20 million dedicated to our strategic investments in Mexico. Our balance sheet remains a significant competitive advantage. We ended the quarter with $12.1 million in cash and no outstanding debt. In early July, we amended and extended our credit facility. The amendment increased our debt capacity to $100 million, consisting of a $50 million revolving credit facility and a $50 million delayed draw term loan, both maturing in 2031. This refinancing enhances our financial flexibility, lowers our cost of capital and provides substantial capacity to fund future organic and inorganic growth opportunities while maintaining a conservative balance sheet. Return on capital employed was 5.7% or 6.2%, excluding cash, based on trailing 12-month pretax operating income. As recently awarded programs launch, production volumes increase and asset utilization improves, we expect return on capital employed to strengthen to our long-term goal of 14%. Additional details, including GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations are available in our earnings release. During the first half of 2026, we repurchased 24,545 shares at an average price of $18.62 per share, representing approximately $457,000 of capital return to shareholders. No shares were repurchased in the second quarter. Earlier this year, we increased our share repurchase authorization by $6.5 million and intend to continue deploying capital strategically to invest in future growth and offset share dilution. Today, we are reiterating our fiscal 2026 guidance and continue to expect the following: one, total sales to be flat to up approximately 5% year-over-year, with project-based tooling revenue weighted toward the fourth quarter; two, the majority of the $63 million new program awards secured in 2025 begin contributing meaningfully in the second half of 2026 and reach full annualized run rates during 2027; three, truck production volumes continue improving through the second half of this year; four, full year gross margin in the range of 17% to 19%, although individual quarters may fall above or below that range based on product mix, volume and timing. Regarding nonrecurring costs, Mexico expansion costs were $3.4 million through the first half of the year. And with the majority of the work now complete, we do not expect a material increase to those costs during the balance of 2026. In addition, we incurred $1.4 million of succession-related expenses through the first half and do not anticipate significant additional costs for the remainder of the year. Turning to regulatory and macroeconomic developments. While the policy environment remains dynamic, we continue to work closely with customers across North America and have not experienced any material disruption to production schedules related to ongoing USMCA discussions. Our focus remains on managing the factors within our control, and we believe our diversified manufacturing footprint, strong balance sheet and long-standing customer relationships position us well as trade policies evolve. Looking further ahead, discussions surrounding the USMCA review have increasingly centered on strengthening North American manufacturing and expanding regional sourcing. Regarding recent increases in oil prices, we maintain contractual raw material pass-through mechanisms that are expected to substantially mitigate the related cost impacts. Overall, we remain confident in our outlook, significant available capacity and a balance sheet that provides flexibility to continue investing in long-term growth. With that, I will turn the call back over to Eric. Eric Palomaki: Thank you, Alex. As we look ahead, we are increasingly aligned with some of the most compelling growth opportunities in North America. Our customers and their customers are making critical investments in utility modernization, communications infrastructure, grid resiliency and energy transition initiatives. We have secured programs supporting projects funded by the Build America, Buy America Act and other Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act initiatives. While the ongoing expansion of high-speed broadband networks continues to create opportunities for our advanced composite solutions. During the quarter, we secured a significant award for battery energy storage systems and continue to pursue opportunities tied to accelerating power demand due in part to AI data center development, utility infrastructure modernization, grid reliability and load shedding solutions. These markets require durable, lightweight and highly engineered composite products, areas where Core has set the standard in differentiated capabilities with long-standing customer relationships. Many of these opportunities are concentrated within our industrial and utilities end markets, where we continue to scale adoption of our proprietary SMC technologies. We are particularly encouraged when customers design our proprietary components and materials into their branded products serving both consumers and critical infrastructure markets. Once engineered into an application, our solution often becomes integral to the performance and value proposition of the end product, creating long-term customer relationships and opportunities to partner and grow alongside them. Our powersports and utilities markets provide strong examples of this strategy in action. In powersports, our OEM customers incorporate proprietary advanced composite materials into their watercraft, where durability, lightweighting and performance are important differentiators for consumers. These attributes help our customers strengthen their brands and distinguish their products in highly competitive markets. In utilities and industrial applications, customers increasingly utilize composite solutions as an alternative to traditional materials such as concrete. The benefits include enhanced durability, lower transportation and installation costs, reduced storage requirements and improved worker safety. For example, composite enclosures for underground transmission can often be installed by 2 technicians without a crane, simplifying deployment while reducing the risk of injury. Equally important, these products are increasingly being marketed around sustainability and performance benefits, including long-term resistance to chemicals, water and shipping. Whether serving retail customers or supporting large-scale infrastructure and hyperscale construction projects, these applications demonstrate how our proprietary materials create value for customers while expanding our opportunities for long-term growth. As Alex discussed on building products, we secured significant customer wins in 2025 that have now entered production and are generating revenue. We win programs well before revenue is realized as design, tooling, validation testing and production launch occur over multiple phases. Our building products revenue in the second quarter grew more than 35% year-over-year, reflecting the successful conversion of commercial efforts into meaningful revenue and earnings growth. At the same time, we are beginning to see improved demand trends in the truck market and expect production volumes to continue to strengthen through 2026 and are forecasted to increase into 2028. Combined with the growth of our newer end markets, these activities create a broader and more balanced platform for future performance. Looking ahead, we remain confident in the long-term strength of our business and the significant opportunities ahead. Our disciplined capital allocation strategy continues to balance investment in organic growth initiatives with a thoughtful approach to acquisitions that can enhance our scale, capabilities and market reach. While we are broadening our evaluation of potential M&A opportunities, including larger transactions, our financial and strategic criteria remain unchanged. We are committed to pursuing opportunities that are accretive, strategically aligned and capable of creating long-term shareholder value. Supported by a motivated commercial organization, a strong operational foundation and our reputation as a trusted partner, delivering comprehensive design, fabrication and finished assembled solutions, we continue to make progress towards our long-term revenue objective of $500 million. At the same time, we remain focused on profitability, cash flow generation, return on capital employed and serving customers across attractive end markets, including truck, powersports, construction, energy, industrial, aerospace and medical. I want to thank our dedicated employees for their hard work, commitment and unwavering focus on excellence. We are celebrating our 30-year anniversary this year. After 3 decades of continuous operations, we know that people are our greatest competitive advantage and the driving force behind our success. I also want to thank our customers, shareholders and Board for their continued confidence and support as we execute our long-term strategy. Before I close, I want to mention our upcoming Investor Day and plant tour in Brownsville, Texas on September 29 and 30. I'm excited for investors to see firsthand what makes Core unique, our people, our culture, our manufacturing capabilities and the operational discipline that drives our performance. We have received tremendous interest and already have a strong group of investors registered. Capacity is limited, but a small number of openings remain, and we would welcome the opportunity to showcase our business to anyone interested in learning more about our long-term value creation story. With that, we'll open the line for questions. Operator? Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our first question today is from Chip Moore with ROTH MKM. Alfred Moore: I wanted to ask on trucking. It sounds like you're starting to see some encouraging signs and you expect that to continue here in the back half. Just maybe you can expand on that and provide a little color on sort of what you're seeing and what your expectations are for go-forward? Eric Palomaki: Yes, sure. On the truck side, certainly, the first half would have been on the lower side for us, and we see that recovering second half of this year. And if you go to industry forecasts, that's over the next 2.5 years, we'll continue to see increases. And so both from, I would say, very specifically from that forecasting and industry knowledge perspective, we see that increasing as well as in the order books and the day-to-day action that's happening today. We see that across all of our truck customers. The second half will be stronger. Alfred Moore: Okay. Good to hear. And maybe on the flip side, right, the momentum in non-trucking, non-powersports, you called out some wins there and how you're broadening and diversifying. Just any more color around some of those markets, how they're trending? And what's the opportunity over the next couple of years? Eric Palomaki: Yes, I'll touch on some of the new wins, and then I'll let Alex touch on the quarter-over-quarter and improvements in some of those other industries. On the new wins, we're up to $25 million, $25.8 million, just shy of $26 million for the first half. And those are -- I think I mentioned in the script, 65% of those are outside of what we call the traditional truck and powersports business or new industries. Some of those are in the utilities market where we're trying to move underground data cables infrastructure networking, things like that into neighborhoods residentials, moving all of this data that has got to be transmitted to AI data centers and all of the modernization of those Internet connections, all of those need to interconnect boxes. And so we have had a number of years now of success. And again, this quarter, another customer that's trusting us with our composite solution. It's a better replacement than concrete. It's lighter. 2 people can put it in without a crane. You don't have any kind of corrosion or cracking problems like you do with wood or wood rotting or metals corroding. So the composite solution we have provides a good structure as well as a lighter product that's easier to install. And so it's really kind of taking off with multiple customers that are building composite solutions for anything that requires underground data cables being buried. On top of that, we had another SMC compound win this quarter, and that one is inside the trucking business. So we're excited for that one as well as an electric vehicle tailgate cover that we also won this quarter. So a number of good products, some of them inside that traditional business, sometimes some of them outside, but we'll continue to grow those and diversify. And finally, I want to add, Chip, you'll remember that we always try to use the assets we have. And so 74% of it being on our U.S. facilities that have existing presses where we don't need to buy or make a large capital investment. We just run those products on an existing asset is a very good win for us this year. So we're excited about that metric. Alex Panda: Yes. And I think the growth -- it's exciting to see the wins that we've talked about over the last couple of years are starting to come through on the P&L, right? You have powersports year-over-year. We have the skid plates launch that launched in Q3 of the previous year. So year-over-year, that's an increase. Then also in building products, the door skins that we launched in Q2 -- the end of Q2 of last year, we get a full quarter this year. And so you see an increase in building products. And then the last one I'll mention is in the other category, automotive, we've run an automotive program for a while now, and we saw some pretty significant increases on that program in Q2. So that was just a demand increase. Alfred Moore: Got it. Very helpful and good to hear great color. And maybe just my last one, guys, just around, I think you called out M&A scope sort of broadening or maybe even looking at some larger stuff out there. Just walk us through what you're thinking about on the acquisition front. Eric Palomaki: Yes. Alex and I have had the chance to visit a number of opportunities already. We're averaging about 1 a month, and some of those have been smaller in scale than what we've looked at and some of them been a little bit larger in scale. But really, the focus isn't necessarily on specifically the size, it's how it can be accretive, how it can add diversification to our portfolio, how we can make it a very good return on capital employed opportunity that fits with Core Molding. I think that's the most important thing is that we stay disciplined to something that fits our culture, our processes, our sort of DNA. Operator: [Operator Instructions] The next question is from Bill Dezellem with Tieton Capital. William Dezellem: A couple of questions. First of all, relative to the growth that you've experienced this quarter and in the first half, and I'd like you to tie that back to the year ago Q2 having nearly $18 million of tooling. Is that or was that a leading indicator for this growth? Or are they really unrelated in this case? Alex Panda: Yes. So, Bill, thanks for the question. So in this specific case, no, they are not connected. The large tooling project that we closed in Q2 of last year and in Q4 of last year related to an international truck job. That job will be launching here in the beginning of 2027, and it's a replacement program. And so, I would say, normally, yes, right? If we're recognizing revenue -- tooling revenue, project revenue that product sales revenue will follow. In this case, though, specifically, they're not connected. William Dezellem: Okay. That's helpful. And maybe you can use this to educate me what would be the normal lag in time between the tooling revenue and having production revenue if it were a normal circumstance and not this one that we're talking about here. Eric Palomaki: Yes. Bill, I would say, on average, it's 12 to 24 months. That's a pretty big range for you. But even a big program like the one Alex just talked about, an international truck program, that's probably close to a year delayed as far as the truck launch. So we've been ready as far as we being a Tier 1 supplier, a key Tier 1 to the truck OEM. But if they're not ready with all of their suppliers and don't launch the vehicle, in this case, it's not a big impact to revenue for us because it's replacement. So we would -- we just keep building the old vehicle. But as they transition to the new ones, there's a lot of great quality improvements and operational improvements that come along with that transition. So we're looking forward to that launch coming up at the end of this year to early next year. When we talk about that lag, it's why we sometimes note about SMC compounds, we're finding that we can get all of that testing and validation done in the 6-month range. We have done -- we're doing 1 tooling project for, call it, more of a molded ship. There's no assembly, no complicated add-ons, and we're doing that in about 7 months, 6 to 7 months. So we've had a few wins that we've gotten well under that 12 months. But when you think of the bigger assembled products, a hood, a roof, watercraft, they're all in the 12 to 24 months from that point of tooling to the point of production revenues and product, what we would call product revenues. William Dezellem: That's very helpful. And then you talked a little bit about the truck market and that the anticipation with -- from an industry perspective is that, there will be growth over the next, say, 2.5 years. Would you please tie that into the current new regulations that are or are not coming in? And just what are the moving pieces here? And how do you see that regulatory environment affecting the moves to new models? Eric Palomaki: Yes. So truck market recovering second half of this year or improving. Exactly how much that will grow will yet to be determined in the second half, but definitely seeing the second half stronger than the first half. The industry predicts annual volumes for the next 5 years, and they see the next 2.5 years of continued growth of both Class 8 and medium-duty trucks. You do touch correctly on the wildcard that is out there that maybe none of us know what that wildcard is exactly going to be if somebody changes it, but January 1 of '27, so 5 months away, 6 months away from now, the emissions regulations do change, and that will require powertrain differences for all of the OEMs. So that added cost or added price on a sale of a truck could create a, I would call, short-term quarter-over-quarter impact to volume, but likely not change that overall annual trend over the next 2.5 to 3 years. There's lots of conversations out in the industry about whether that emissions regulation will have slight changes to it, tweaks to it. It likely won't change drastically, but it could change its timing, could change some of the details around it. We don't have any formal insight on to exactly what that is. But as of right now, it goes into effect January 1, '27. Alex Panda: And even if they were to roll back some of the standards, the hardware changes are already done in the design. The OEMs won't be changing any hardware because of it. William Dezellem: That's helpful. And not to get too granular here, but is -- do the regulations apply to trucks produced after January 1, ordered after January 1 or delivered? What's actually the cutoff? And where I'm going with this is, is there currently, given the regulations potentially being in flux and the rumors out there, does that create an incentive for the buyers literally to wait as late in December as possible, place their order and then we see volume from Core's perspective increasing in the first half of next year. What's the reality? Eric Palomaki: That's a great question. And I will tell you what I think to be the case, Bill, but important that somebody validate this. I think it is when they issue the VIN number onto the engine, not even just the chassis. So it's finishing of the engine is where I think the emissions reg happens. So that has to -- when that is produced, relative to December 31 or January 1. So you can still deliver that truck that was built December 15, you can deliver that 2 months later or have it set at a dealership or something like that. It still qualifies as a 2026 emissions regulation versus if it was built, the block stamp and finish the engine into '27. So that was one of your questions. As far as overall, some of those industry forecasts try to predict how much prebuy is the term given to it. So are you waiting for the last of the year to place your order? Are you willing to take orders earlier? What happens is the build slots start to fill up and that will force a buyer into ordering a truck even as early as November or October or back into September. And so there could be some of that, that's creating some of the increase in run rates right now today that people are actually starting to build more trucks in August right now because of those build slots filling up at the end of the year. William Dezellem: And apologies for taking a little extra time here. But if we heard you correctly and if your understanding is correct, that the incentive then would be for the manufacturers to produce as many trucks as possible prior to December 31, have that VIN number on the engine, and at that point, you have a 2026 model year. And then they can actually either sell that truck next year at a lower price or they could actually take some higher margin with basically an umbrella pricing under the '27 regs. Are we thinking about that right? Eric Palomaki: Yes. I would tell you there is data that on the prior emissions changes suggest exactly what you just suggested. That behavior exists and has existed in the past. So we would anticipate it to happen again on this emissions change. Operator: This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Eric Palomaki for any closing remarks. Eric Palomaki: Thank you for your continued interest in our company. We look forward to providing an update on our progress when we report our third quarter results in a few months. Have a great day. Operator: The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect. 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