JBTM

On August 3, JBT Marel Corporation (NYSE:JBTM) reported second-quarter 2026 results that read as two different companies stapled together. Orders topped $1 billion, pushing the book-to-bill ratio to 1.05x and lifting backlog to $1.54 billion. But net income of $28 million included a $33 million non-cash impairment charge tied to a 2021 acquisition, a reminder that not every dollar in this business is showing up cleanly on the bottom line. The order book is the headline here. JBT Marel booked $1.03 billion in orders during the quarter, and revenue of $981 million grew 5% year over year, with about 2 percentage points of that coming from foreign exchange translation. Adjusted EBITDA rose to $168 million, up $12 million, and the adjusted EBITDA margin improved 40 basis points to 17.1%. Diluted earnings per share jumped to $0.54 from $0.07 a year earlier, while adjusted EPS climbed to $1.95 from $1.49. The Protein Solutions segment did the heavy lifting, with revenue up 11% to $467 million and segment adjusted EBITDA margin expanding 350 basis points to 24%. Management also pointed to $60 million in expected in-year cost synergy savings for 2026 and kept its full-year revenue guidance of $3.99 billion to $4.065 billion and adjusted EBITDA margin guidance of 17% to 17.5% unchanged. The company's balance sheet moved in the right direction too, with net debt to trailing twelve-month adjusted EBITDA at 2.47x, and it repurchased about 200,000 shares for $26 million under its $200 million buyback authorization. The Prepared Food and Beverage Solutions segment told a different story. Revenue there was flat at $514 million despite a 2 percentage point foreign exchange tailwind, and segment adjusted EBITDA margin slipped 70 basis points to 17.5%. The company attributed the shortfall to logistics constraints and productivity inefficiencies as it works through backlog-to-revenue conversion. Layered on top of that operational friction was the $33 million non-cash impairment charge, which the company said was non-recurring but which still dragged GAAP diluted EPS guidance for the full year down to a range of $4.20 to $4.70 and net income margin guidance to 5.5% to 6.0%. Management also flagged higher inflationary costs as an ongoing headwind it is trying to offset through pricing actions. For the full year, JBT Marel still expects to absorb $167 million in acquisition-related amortization and depreciation, $32 million in M&A-related costs, and $20 million in restructuring costs, on top of the impairment already booked. And at 2.47x, leverage is sitting just below the top of the company's own 2.0x to 2.5x target range, leaving less room to maneuver than the balance sheet headline suggests. Hedge fund ownership fell from 40 funds to 33 in the most recent quarter, a drop that reads as institutional buyers stepping back rather than piling in. Short interest sits at 9.24% of float, a level that suggests a real bear camp has formed around the stock. JBT Marel trades at a forward P/E of 12.69 as of September 4, a multiple that does not appear to be pricing in much of the growth implied by that swelling backlog. A cheap earnings multiple sitting next to elevated short interest and a shrinking hedge fund count is exactly where the disagreement about this stock lives right now. JBT Marel's second quarter leaves two threads dangling. Orders and backlog point to a company gathering momentum, and management reiterated its full-year revenue and adjusted EBITDA margin guidance as of August 3, 2026. Yet the Prepared Food and Beverage Solutions segment still has to work through the logistics constraints that held back its results, and leverage sitting just below the top of the target range leaves less cushion than it used to. Whether that backlog converts into clean revenue growth in the back half of 2026 will say more about this story than the headline order numbers already have. While we acknowledge the potential of JBTM as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 10 Best Future Stocks to Buy Under $10 and 12 Best Performing Semiconductor Stocks to Invest In. Disclosure: None. Follow Insider Monkey on Google News.

JBT Marel Corporation recently reported past second-quarter 2026 results showing higher sales of US$981 million and net income of US$28 million, updated its 2026 guidance including expected revenue of US$3.99 billion to US$4.07 billion and GAAP diluted EPS of US$4.20 to US$4.70, recognized a US$33 million intangible asset impairment, completed a US$26 million share repurchase of 200,000 shares, and its Board declared a quarterly cash dividend of US$0.10 per share payable on August 31, 2026 to shareholders of record on August 17, 2026. Beyond the earnings improvement, the combination of capital returns via buybacks and dividends alongside clarified full-year guidance gives investors a clearer picture of how JBT Marel is balancing growth, balance sheet use, and shareholder distributions. Next, we’ll examine how the stronger quarterly earnings and updated full-year guidance may reshape JBT Marel’s existing investment narrative. This technology could replace computers: discover 24 stocks that are working to make quantum computing a reality. To own JBT Marel, you have to believe in long-term demand for food processing automation and the company’s ability to integrate JBT and Marel while defending margins against tariffs and cost pressures. The latest quarter’s higher sales and earnings, plus reiterated 2026 guidance, support the earnings side of that thesis, but do not materially reduce the near term integration risk or exposure to cyclical capex and tariff driven margin pressure. The most relevant update here is the refreshed 2026 outlook, calling for US$3.99 billion to US$4.07 billion in revenue and GAAP diluted EPS of US$4.20 to US$4.70. That concrete range gives you a clearer yardstick to judge whether improving earnings, ongoing synergy capture, and expanded aftermarket and service revenue can offset risks such as tariff impacts, FX swings, and potential volatility in protein related equipment orders. Yet even with improving guidance, investors should be aware that integration and tariff related margin pressure could still... Read the full narrative on JBT Marel (it's free!) JBT Marel's narrative projects $4.5 billion revenue and $535.3 million earnings by 2029. This requires 4.9% yearly revenue growth and a $367.0 million earnings increase from $168.3 million today. Uncover how JBT Marel's forecasts yield a $178.75 fair value, a 49% upside to its current price. Before this news, the most optimistic analysts were baking in about US$4.5 billion of revenue and roughly US$871 million of earnings, a much more upbeat view than consensus and one that could be challenged or reinforced as new results and integration risks unfold. Explore 3 other fair value estimates on JBT Marel - why the stock might be worth over 2x more than the current price! Disagree with existing narratives? Extraordinary investment returns rarely come from following the herd, so go with your instincts. A great starting point for your JBT Marel research is our analysis highlighting 3 key rewards and 1 important warning sign that could impact your investment decision. Our free JBT Marel research report provides a comprehensive fundamental analysis summarized in a single visual - the Snowflake - making it easy to evaluate JBT Marel's overall financial health at a glance. Opportunities like this don't last. These are today's most promising picks. Check them out now: Capitalize on the AI infrastructure supercycle with our selection of the 56 best 'picks and shovels' of the AI gold rush converting record-breaking demand into massive cash flow. Invest in the nuclear renaissance through our list of 92 elite nuclear energy infrastructure plays powering the global AI revolution. The best AI stocks today may lie beyond giants like Nvidia and Microsoft. Find the next big opportunity with these 17 smaller AI-focused companies with strong growth potential through early-stage innovation in machine learning, automation, and data intelligence that could fund your retirement. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include JBTM. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email [email protected]

Image source: The Motley Fool. Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026 at 8 a.m. ET Senior Director of Investor Relations - Marlee Spangler Chief Executive Officer - Brian Deck President - Arni Sigurdsson Chief Financial Officer - Matthew Meister Operator: Welcome to JBT Marel's Earnings Conference Call for the Second Quarter 2026. My name is Aaron, and I will be your conference operator today. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] I will now turn the call over to JBT Marel's Senior Director of Investor Relations, Marlee Spangler. Please go ahead. Marlee Spangler: Thank you, Aaron. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our second quarter 2026 conference call. With me on the call is our Chief Executive Officer, Brian Deck; President, Arni Sigurdsson; and Chief Financial Officer, Matt Meister. In today's call, we will use forward-looking statements that are subject to the safe harbor language in yesterday's press release and 8-K filing. JBT Marel's periodic SEC filings also contain information regarding risk factors that may have an impact on our results. These documents are available on the IR website. Also, our discussion today includes references to certain non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of these measures to the most comparable GAAP measure can be found on our website. With that, I'll turn the call over to Brian. Brian Deck: Thanks, Marlee, and good morning all. First and foremost, we were very pleased with the continued robust demand environment in the second quarter. Orders increased 10% year-over-year and marked our third consecutive quarter with orders exceeding $1 billion reinforcing the strategic benefits of the JBT Marel combination. By bringing together our complementary technologies, we are strengthening our ability to serve customers around the world. Contributing to the gain was double-digit year-over-year growth in our Prepared Food and Beverage Solutions segment, which was led by our value-added Prepared Foods technology. The strong orders also reflect the success of our synergistic cross-selling initiatives. It is also clear that investment by the poultry industry remains solid and JBT Marel is uniquely positioned to benefit from investment across the entire poultry value chain from primary and secondary processing through further processing and end-of-line solutions, allowing us to capture growth wherever our customers are investing. At the same time, we continue to advance our cost synergy initiatives. As we have discussed previously, the majority of our synergy actions in 2026 and 2027 are related to supply chain and footprint optimization projects. As Arni will highlight, we have taken decisive actions to advance our footprint optimization strategy, allowing us to leverage our global scale and simplify our manufacturing and distribution network. And as Matt will discuss, we are restructuring our warehouse automation business to optimize the cost structure and take advantage of product standardization to operate more efficiently. There were temporary and other factors that impacted our second quarter, which Matt will discuss. Absent the net benefits of these factors, results fell short of our expectations in our Prepared Food and Beverage segment. That said, we remain optimistic about the short and long-term future of that segment. At the same time, we are thrilled with the continued profitable growth of the Protein Solutions segment. Taken together, our backlog visibility, integration efforts and continuous improvement initiatives gives us confidence in realizing our second half 2026 forecast and achieving our longer-term financial targets, including an adjusted EBITDA margin of 20% in 2028. Now let me turn the call over to Matt to provide an analysis of our second quarter and guidance for the remainder of the year. Matthew Meister: Thanks, Brian. Second quarter consolidated revenue was $981 million, an increase of 5% year-over-year, which made up of 3% organic growth and 2% from foreign exchange. At the segment level, strong Protein revenue of $467 million grew 11% year-over-year, which was 8% organic and 3% from foreign exchange. Prepared Food and Beverage segment revenue was flat versus Q2 last year, which included an approximate 2% favorable impact from foreign exchange. Equipment revenue in the segment was short of our expectations due to a combination of logistics constraints and production inefficiencies resulting from our efforts to optimize our manufacturing footprint. At the same time, we are quite pleased with the segment's strong order and backlog growth. Second quarter consolidated adjusted EBITDA of $168 million was impacted by the timing of equipment shipments described above and the following discrete items not included in our forecast. We recognized $17 million of IEEPA tariff refunds, which was partially offset by $4 million in higher-than-expected tariff expense associated with the prior years and $5 million in accelerated long-term incentive compensation expense. We are operating in a higher inflationary environment as the pace of higher logistics, metals and other input costs put pressure on our year-over-year margins. That said, we have taken appropriate pricing actions to address these cost pressures. As mentioned, we are investing significant effort in optimizing our manufacturing footprint, primarily impacting the Prepared Food and Beverage segment. These efforts delayed some revenue recognition in the quarter and correspondingly weighed on margins. We believe this short-term disruption is part of the transition to lower-cost operations, which are critical to achieving our 2028 margin targets. At the same time, we took action to restructure our warehouse automation business. We have made significant progress in advancing our product standardization, enabling us to more efficiently deploy engineering resources and consolidate 2 facilities into 1. These actions are expected to generate approximately $9 million in total annual savings, including approximately $3 million in the second half of 2026. While the Prepared Food and Beverage segment margins were disappointing, we expect meaningful improvement in the back half of the year, which is supported by our strong backlog visibility, pricing actions and operational improvement initiatives. Meanwhile, adjusted EBITDA margins in the Protein segment improved year-over-year, even excluding the benefit from tariff refunds, primarily due to volume leverage in our poultry business as well as benefits from our synergy and continuous improvement actions across the segment. During the second quarter, we also took a non-cash impairment charge to write-off intangibles associated with the 2021 acquisition of Prevenio within the protein segment. This impairment is a reflection of a shift in demand from Prevenio's value-added antimicrobial offering for poultry to a more commodity-based customer approach. Moving to the balance sheet. We generated $179 million in year-to-date free cash flow, representing a conversion to adjusted EBITDA of 58%. And with leverage at the end of the quarter just below 2.5x, we are pleased that we are now within our target range of 2x to 2.5x after just 18 months after the close. In terms of guidance, the actions we have taken in our operations are expected to improve production efficiency as we progress through the second half of the year. Therefore, we expect a steeper ramp in the fourth quarter results compared to the third quarter. For the third quarter, we are guiding to a year-over-year revenue growth of 2% to 4% organic, partially offset by 1% FX impact. We expect adjusted EBITDA margins of 17% to 17.5%. Given our record backlog, which provides visibility to over 90% of back half equipment revenue, coupled with our resilient aftermarket revenue and operational improvements within the Prepared Food and Beverage segment, we are maintaining our full year 2026 guidance for revenue and adjusted EBITDA. At the midpoint, that reflects consolidated revenue growth of 6% and adjusted EBITDA margin expansion of 145 basis points. Finally, we have refined our adjusted EPS guidance to reflect updated assumptions for depreciation, amortization and our effective tax rate. With that, let me turn the call over to Arni. Arni Sigurdsson: Thank you, Matt. As Brian mentioned earlier, we have made significant progress on cross-selling, allowing us to realize synergy orders of $45 million through the first 6 months of the year, and $75 million over the last 18 months. Many of our opportunities are in Prepared Foods, where we meaningfully strengthened our integrated offering through the JBT Marel combination. For example, we secured a multiline order with a leading poultry customer. We leverage technologies from across the combined portfolio, including forming, coating, frying and heating, for branded fully cooked chicken distributed to the retail channels. This is a testament to the strategic benefits of the combination and to our enhanced value proposition with customers. Additionally, as discussed at the top of the call, we continue to take decisive actions to optimize our operating footprint. To date, we have announced facility consolidations with a total of approximately 1.3 million square feet. This includes approximately 1.1 million square feet of manufacturing and distribution space and 200,000 square feet of office space and represents, in total, an approximately 15% reduction of our global footprint. Nearly 80% of the manufacturing space reduction is associated with the Prepared Food and Beverage segment as we focus on that segment's full margin potential and other opportunities do remain. But for more than just the reduction in square footage, the footprint optimization allows us to take advantage of our scale, reduce complexity, and utilize low-cost operating capacity across our global network, such as in Eastern Europe, Brazil and India. As a result of these initiatives, we expect to record a cash benefit on the sale of real estate assets in 2027 or 2028. In terms of the P&L effect, we expect these initiatives will deliver annualized savings of approximately $25 million to $30 million by 2028, while exceeding our original estimated savings of $10 million to $15 million. Of these anticipated annual savings roughly $4 million to $5 million is embedded into our 2026 forecast. Let me now turn the call back to Brian. Brian Deck: Thanks, Arni. We are pleased with the progress we are making on our NextGen strategic initiatives. The strong market reception to our integrated and full-line solutions demonstrates the differentiated value proposition we provide to customers and our cross-selling capabilities. We are in the early innings of deploying our customer-first service initiatives, which combined with the global reach and digital offering, are expected to deepen customer engagement and support our goal of increasing our aftermarket wallet share. We continue to make progress on our cost synergy initiatives. As Arni articulated, one of the most significant benefits of the JBT Marel combination is the flexibility to leverage our global scale and relocate production from higher cost and underutilized facilities to our most efficient lower cost operations. These footprint optimization initiatives are just one of the many levers we have to capture the value-creating benefits of the business combination. Supply chain optimization is another pillar as we consolidate our purchasing and execute value-add engineering projects to lower the cost and complexity of equipment and achieve further standardization of parts and subcomponents. And while the tariff environment has made these efforts more challenging, it has also motivated us to accelerate the localization of the European supply chain to the U.S. to better serve the U.S. domestic market from a lead time and cost perspective. All told, we are demonstrating the industrial logic of the JBT Marel combination. This pool of opportunities enhances confidence in our ability to deliver our profitable growth objectives and our target of 20% adjusted EBITDA margins in 2028. Before we take your questions, I'd like to thank our team. It is their commitment and hard work every day that has enabled us to make such significant progress on the integration of JBT and Marel and positions us as a stronger partner to our customers around the globe. Now let's open the call to questions. Operator? Operator: [Operator Instructions] And we will take our first question from Mig Dobre. Mircea Dobre: Just maybe a little bit of clarification on the guide and your thoughts here on Prepared Food and Beverage. I'm curious as to how you think about the margin cadence relative to what we have seen in Q2. So you've done 17.5% in Q2. How do we think about Q3 and Q4, given everything that you talked about in terms of footprint consolidation, and some of the challenges that you had in Q2? And then, is there some sort of a catch-up that we need to consider here in terms of revenue that got pushed out from Q2 into either Q3 or Q4? How do we maybe frame that as well? Brian Deck: Yes, Mig, it's Brian. I'll start and then I'll hand it off to Matt to talk a little bit about the margin cadence. So when you think about the revenues in the second quarter, you exclude the impact of FX. I would say, we were short about $20 million in revenue in the quarter, all of which being in the Prepared Food and Beverage segment. And if you take a look at that, about half of that was, I would say, from delayed associated with logistics availability and the other half associated with some of these production inefficiencies with some of the moves we're making within our facilities. So that $20 million, we do feel is really just changes the cadence moving from Q2 into Q3. And then obviously, we're trying to be very thoughtful in terms of the Q3 guidance to account for any other inefficiencies that we see or any other logistics challenges. So we've essentially redistributed that $20 million across the back half of the year. That obviously, that $20 million obviously comes with a margin impact in the quarter, again, which certainly hurt the PFB margins. So typically, we look at somewhere in the range of flow-through on margins of 25%, sometimes 30%. So it was, I'll call it, a $5 million, maybe $6 million impact on EBITDA just from the revenue. And again, that will flow-through here in the back half. So in terms of the margin cadence on PFB, I think Matt can give some color there. Matthew Meister: Yes, Mig, I think what we expect to see in Q3 for the Prepared Food and Beverage segment is about a 25 to 50 basis point sequential improvement -- sorry, year-over-year improvement from Q3 of last year, year-over-year. And then we expect to see improved margins from Q3 to Q4 probably about another 100 basis points or so. So you can see the sequential improvement from Q2 to Q3 to Q4 as we work through some of these inefficiencies and see some benefits from the higher volume. Mircea Dobre: Okay. That's helpful. I mean, that would suggest that in Q4, you would have pretty significant margin expansion in this segment year-over-year, which I guess is good to hear. And then maybe my follow-up, sticking with margins here. Protein had much better margin than I was anticipating, but presumably, there's a good chunk contribution from the IEEPA refunds, maybe you can clarify that. And a similar question here, how do we think about margins in the back half? Brian Deck: Right. Yes. So you're correct that the -- I think it's 24% margins for protein in the second quarter. There was, I would say, about 200 basis points impact from the tariff refunds. So they've been running at about -- in that low to mid-20s. We would expect that general cadence to continue through the back half. Keeping in mind that they have a higher mix of -- so it would be relatively flat for the back half of the year. And part of the reason is they'll have a higher mix of equipment versus aftermarket. So the mix is changing a little bit. And as you know, the flow-through on the equipment is a little bit less than the flow-through on some of the aftermarket. So they'll be relatively flat in the back half. And by the way, just generally speaking, in terms of the -- going back to PFB and the margin progression, keeping in mind that we are going to start to see some of the benefits of some of these facilities combinations as well as the AGV restructuring that Matt mentioned in the prepared remarks. So that's part of the reason why you're seeing maybe a faster ramp-up than you might otherwise expect. Operator: And we will take our next question from Justin Ages with CJS Securities. Justin Ages: You mentioned ongoing strength in poultry. I was just wondering if you could elaborate on some of the strength in Protein Solutions outside of that poultry category? Brian Deck: Yes. So we have pork, beef, fish and poultry. Poultry is, certainly, the largest segment and continues to show strength. We're particularly excited about some of the investments we're starting to see on the Prepared Food and Beverage side -- sorry, the Prepared Food side. You probably heard from some of our customers speaking about some of the investments we're making there, so we saw some really nice progress there. And that's actually within the PFB segment. But specific to the Protein segment, we do expect continued investments even on the primary and secondary side of poultry. And on the fish side and on the pork side, I would say, continued modest strength. It's not robust, the way we've seen from poultry. However, as beef prices continue to be high, pork and fish become alternatives from a consumer perspective, and we are seeing some decent volume there. So the backlog and the orders were fairly strong in the second quarter, and the outlook is generally positive. The weakest part by far is the beef side, right, given the lack of cattle inventory for the processors. So we're not seeing much in the way of investments on the beef side. So that's the weakest for sure. And it's -- and just for your reference, beef is less than 5% of our Protein Solutions portfolio. Justin Ages: That's helpful, Brian. And then you mentioned outside of the restructuring in the AGV business, you mentioned that the business itself was improving, I think, in the deck. So just wanted to know if you can give us an indication if you're seeing that continuing like beyond 2Q? Is that improvement being sustained? Brian Deck: Yes. Specific to Prepared Food and Beverage, indeed, yes. Again, we are seeing a lot of strength on what we call -- when you think about our PFB segment, it's Prepared Foods, it's diversified Food and Health, and its AGV. Clearly, from a demand perspective, that Prepared Food side is quite strong. And again, I think this is largely on investments not only from the poultry segment, but also other segments, including pork, et cetera. The other thing I would mention is within that segment, AGV had its strongest quarter in 6 quarters on volume. So as you may recall, AGV was a little bit more -- was a lot more impacted on the volume side from some of the disruptions from the tariffs as folks pulled back on some of their warehouse automation. And that seems to be behind us. Again, an extraordinarily strong quarter. And that increased volume that we expect in the back half, along with the restructuring has a nice ramp-up of AGV in the back half, which to be frank, was disappointed in the second quarter, while AGV saw some improvements from the first quarter to the second quarter as we had hoped, it just didn't reach the levels that we had anticipated, again, in part some of the motivation for some of the restructuring. But again, that, coupled with the higher volume is -- should have a nice ramp-up here in the back half of the year. Operator: And we will take our next question from Ross Sparenblek with William Blair. Ross Sparenblek: Maybe just starting with pricing actions. Can you remind us where we stand in the backlog from the 2025 actions? And then how we should think about the impact of this inflationary cost and the catch-up of additional pricing actions throughout 2026? Brian Deck: Yes. So I would say the -- when you think about the backlog, that's obviously 90% of the backlog is on the equipment side. And the pricing actions that we saw in the back half of last year and earlier this year associated with kind of known costs. So as we quote each project, we have known costs for goods and materials. So that's embedded into the numbers. And again, I do think that is reflected in the margin guidance that we have. I will say, in the current environment, we are seeing a fair -- a lot of inflation on logistics in particular. And I do think we didn't recover all of that in the second quarter. And so a little bit of leakage there for sure. If you think about logistics, we spent more than $100 million a year in logistics. And call it, 60%, 65% of that is on inbound logistics and intercompany logistics. That's a little bit harder to -- obviously, to pass-through. Outbound logistics, we do pass-through kind of to our customers as we go. So we do see a little bit of pressure there and a bit of a lag between the cost that we're seeing and the pricing actions that we've taken here in the second and third quarter. Again, all this is reflected in the updated guidance. Ross Sparenblek: Okay. No, that's helpful. And when we think about the guidance, I mean, it sounds like the sensitivity around 2026 on the top line remains just, I guess, this logistics issue. I mean orders are strong. The backlog is pretty much covering 2026. We have more pricing offset. I'm just trying to think through some of the caution on why we didn't see even a slight guidance range for the year or guidance increase for the year on the top line. Brian Deck: I think we're being -- given the logistics issue, and we're still moving things around some facilities to that, we thought it was really appropriate to just keep the guidance as is given a little bit of the pressure we saw in the second quarter. So we have a bit of a makeup in the third and fourth quarter from that, miss in the second quarter. However, you are right in the sense that our backlog is -- it's at record levels, both Protein and PFB segment have great backlogs. We're looking forward to -- as we get more efficient, that we get better flow-through on that. However, again, given the second quarter, we felt it was prudent to keep the revenue guidance flat for the year. Operator: And we will take our next question from Walt Liptak with Seaport Research. Walter Liptak: I wanted to ask about some of the U.S. industrial environment is getting better, the ISMs are moving up and that seems to be sort of -- you guys have been in a pretty good place with new orders, and it looks like second quarter was pretty good, too. Do you -- are you guys in a different cycle? Or is that sort of general industrial trends somehow beneficial for your outlook too? Brian Deck: Certainly, food and food production has somewhat of its own peculiarities, right? I think there is a very, very strong backdrop of protein consumption going on right now. And so I do think that in itself is a bit unique for our industry. I do think some of the pro-growth initiatives that are supporting the overall economy are good for us, right, when you think in a reasonably -- reasonable interest rates, et cetera. So I just generally think that a strong economy is -- provides confidence, but I do think this protein trend is particularly strong for us. And for your benefit, about -- when you include the protein exposure we have within our PFB segment, about 70% of our overall revenues are associated with the protein market. So I do think that's been quite helpful. And then there are -- within our businesses, you still see some other pockets of weakness that buck the overall, I'll say, industrial trends because some of the CPG companies are a little bit weaker right now, but the benefit of JBT Marel with our broad portfolio, we're there to provide support wherever our customers are investing. And right now, it happens to be very strong in proteins across both Protein segment and the PFB segment. Walter Liptak: Okay. I appreciate that. And then with the factory consolidations, those relocations are extremely difficult. So timing issues, I guess, that's totally understandable. When do we think that the consolidations are done? Do you have them completed by the end of the year? Or is it into 2027? Brian Deck: Sure. There will be a phase-in, right? We started some here in the second quarter. There's another one wrapping up here in the back half of the year. And then 2 facilities are -- I'm talking larger facilities will happen in 2027. One will be done by mid-27 and another one by the end of 2027. So I would say it's phased-in approach. Obviously, it partially depends on the local laws dealing with works councils, et cetera, as well as being -- have a -- I'll say, a moderate pace that does not overwhelm the receiving plant, right? I think that's an important consideration. Again, we saw a little bit of pressure on the receiving plant here in the second quarter. We're trying to be very thoughtful about that. I think one of the nice benefits of the plants that are being moved -- going forward here, is that the receiving plants are already manufacturing these products. So that helps out quite a bit. So it's more of a consolidation into someone who already has that knowledge. But that said, this is going to be a phase in all the way through the end of 2027. Matthew Meister: Yes. I think that's an important differentiation to make is that the experiences that we're having right now and the consolidation of some of the footprint is moving product to plants that haven't produced that product yet or before versus what Brian just said about the moves in 2027, that is really more of a consolidation of production into one facility so that the transition is going to be a lot smoother in those 2027 consolidations versus what we're experiencing in Q2 and Q3 of this year. Walter Liptak: Okay. Great. And then maybe a final one for me. On capital allocations, you guys announced a share buyback of $200 million. Can you talk about the buyback versus M&A deals or what you're seeing in the environment? Matthew Meister: Yes. I think, Walt, we're still really focused on the integration of the 2 companies. And so M&A is still something that's in the future. And so with the buyback that was announced in Q2, we are able to sort of choose between debt paydown and share buybacks. And we've chosen to do some share buybacks where it makes the most sense opportunistically relative to the price of the market versus what we expect the price to be. So that's why we made some of those share buybacks in the quarter, and we'll continue to be opportunistic going forward and make the decision in the medium term -- short to medium term, between debt paydown and share buybacks. Arni Sigurdsson: Yes. And it's Arni here. I mean, what we've also talked about is not only a balance sheet question, it is the management capacity. And like Matt said, we're laser focused now on maximizing the benefits of the combination of JBT and Marel. We spoke about all the work that we're doing. There's still a lot of work on the footprint in other areas. So -- we're really focused on that. But we do believe and anticipate there will be a time where M&A will be a lever to really accelerate our kind of strategic journey and strengthen the offering that we have. Operator: And we will move next to Ian Zaffino with Oppenheimer. Ian Zaffino: On PFB, not to kind of beat a dead horse here, but what are your customers seeing as far as their end customer demand? What are they saying maybe about the state of the consumer? Do they feel good? Because I know you gave us a lot of commentary on your customers, but maybe you could talk a little bit about your customers' customer? Brian Deck: Yes. I would say it is very mixed. Again, I think on some of our CPG customers, they are seeing some trade-offs from maybe higher branded products to more of the generic products, et cetera. So there's definitely a fair amount of activity at the consumer level. And again, it does depend on the category. And you still even have some GLP-1 impacts, which is net positive for us, given the protein focus. But in some categories like snacks and sweets, you're seeing some shifting of consumer behavior. I think the thing that we hear a lot from our customers in terms of where -- how they're focused on the consumer is that they need to be responsive in terms of product innovation, different sizing, different flavors, even adding some of this protein aspect to some of the different offerings. So there's a fair amount of noise and churn happening. However, with a, I would say, general strong backdrop with quite a bit of our customer focus, again, with 70% plus exposure to protein. We're net good in that regard. But I do see -- we still see a fair amount of noise on the CPG side that I think will take some time to settle out as inflation works its way through the system. Arni Sigurdsson: Yes. And just to add a little bit, like on the consumer side, customers on the protein side have been very specific that they still see good demand. And what you tend to see is like consumers don't stop consuming protein. That's why it's such a great category. It's more around optimizing within protein. And that's where we have kind of good exposure and diversification across the different kind of protein segment. So that's a pretty good kind of spot to be in. And then, the other trend that we see is there's more value added, more prepared foods. And we're seeing kind of that side of the market also picking up and kind of our customers are talking about that, which should help our Prepared Food and Beverage segments, just like we saw on the order side in Q2. Ian Zaffino: And then -- can you guys maybe give us an update or some color on where the USDA is as far as speeding up the inspection lines for chickens? And what does that actually mean for you guys as far as addressable market or opportunity? Any specifics you could give us there would be helpful. Brian Deck: Sure. Yes, we've been -- we do converse with the USDA. We're obviously a proponent and have given our white papers, if you will, to them and answered a lot of questions to the USDA about the line speeds. What we currently hear or understand is that we'll expect some kind of decision either late summer or early fall. Obviously, we're talking about the government, so you never know precisely where they stand, but that's our current expectation. And then just in terms of the benefits, I think one thing to understand is that the U.S. line speeds, which are currently at 140 birds per minute versus, I'm talking poultry, and with waivers 175 birds per minute, that compares to Europe of 240 birds per minute on average at the lines run. So the U.S. is at a fairly distinct disadvantage from a productivity perspective. So with over 350 lines in the U.S. and call it, less than 20% of them are running at 175 birds per minute. There we would expect a fairly durable cycle, and it will take multiple years. This will not all happen in 1 year or 2 years. This will be, I would say, a tailwind for multiple years, if we get this permanent 175 instead of needing to get to 175 with waivers. So we are hopeful and excited about what that means for us. And hopefully, we'll see a decision here sometime in the third quarter. Arni Sigurdsson: Just to highlight, like our value proposition is much stronger as the speed of the line is higher. So kind of generally, that's -- because we have the leading technology and are able to operate at that level, that really kind of helps us in terms of from a kind of a value proposition standpoint. Brian Deck: And a differentiation versus our competitors. Operator: [Operator Instructions] We'll take a follow-up from Mig Dobre with Baird. Mircea Dobre: Just one quick question for me. And Brian or Arni, when we're kind of looking at your orders here over the past 3 quarters, they've been actually remarkably consistent right between $1.30 billion and $1.70 billion. And I guess one of the concerns that I keep hearing about is this notion that we've had a pretty big investment cycle in poultry. And eventually, that's going to kind of run its course. So I'm curious how you think about this going forward in terms of visibility that you have on orders. And as you kind of think about 2027, for instance, is there a mix shift that maybe we should be thinking about here between the 2 segments, maybe away from Protein Solution and maybe more towards Prepared Food and Beverage, where at least from your comments, it sounds like demand and orders have actually picked up. So any context here, I think, would be really helpful. Brian Deck: Yes. And so I'll give you a little bit from our customers' point of view. And there is a lot of poultry demand in general right now. It's by far, the #1 protein and we may even see poultry sell more per capita than beef and pork combined at some point. So we are seeing the very strong trends. So there's an underlying backdrop of absolute demand on the protein -- on the poultry side. So I do think that general trend is good for us on the primary and secondary side. But you're right, there's been a tremendous over the last year or so investments on that primary and secondary side. And what I would tell you is the second quarter, the Prepared Foods side has now lapped the primary and secondary side in terms of investment. So we -- in our Prepared Foods business, it was about 15% order growth year-over-year. So it was really quite strong. And I think this is -- if you listen to the earnings calls from our customers, you hear about how they're shifting some of that commodity-based volume to value added volume into their prepared food side. So we saw some really nice projects out of that here in the second quarter, and it even started in the first quarter. And that pipeline is quite strong from here. However, given the overall backdrop of the demand for protein, the primary and secondary pipeline is actually quite strong, too. And it's global. I think that's one important consideration also as different regions want to become more self-sufficient in terms of protein production. We do see some other shifts from export, import and people wanting to be self-reliant. So as we sit here today, one, we have backlog going well into 2027 and the pipeline remains strong. So we feel very good about 2027 on the protein side. Operator: And this does conclude the question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the program back over to Mr. Brian Deck for closing remarks. Brian Deck: Thank you all for joining us this morning. As always, our Investor Relations team is available if you have any additional questions. Thank you. Operator: Thank you. This brings us to the end of today's meeting. We appreciate your time and participation. You may now disconnect. Before you buy stock in Jbt Marel, 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 Jbt Marel wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut are built for long-term growth and could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $399,832!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,374,595!* That performance is why people listen. With a track record of beating the S&P 500 by 4x, Stock Advisor offers a distinct advantage. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built for the long haul. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 10, 2026. This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. 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. JBT Marel (JBTM) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript was originally published by The Motley Fool

JBT Marel’s second quarter saw solid revenue growth driven by resilient demand in both the Protein Solutions and Prepared Food and Beverage segments. However, the market reacted negatively as the company’s adjusted profit fell short of Wall Street’s expectations, reflecting operational challenges. Management attributed the underperformance in Prepared Food and Beverage to logistics constraints and disruptions from ongoing manufacturing footprint optimization. CEO Brian Deck noted, “We were short about $20 million in revenue in the quarter, all of which being in the Prepared Food and Beverage segment,” highlighting the impact of these execution issues on both revenue and margins. Is now the time to buy JBTM? Find out in our full research report (it’s free). Revenue: $981 million vs analyst estimates of $982.2 million (4.9% year-on-year growth, in line) Adjusted EPS: $1.95 vs analyst expectations of $2.02 (3.4% miss) Adjusted EBITDA: $168 million vs analyst estimates of $167.7 million (17.1% margin, in line) The company reconfirmed its revenue guidance for the full year of $4.03 billion at the midpoint Management lowered its full-year Adjusted EPS guidance to $8.10 at the midpoint, a 1.8% decrease Operating Margin: 4.7%, in line with the same quarter last year Backlog: $1.54 billion at quarter end, up 10% year on year Market Capitalization: $6.36 billion While we enjoy listening to the management’s commentary, our favorite part of earnings calls is the analyst questions. Those are unscripted and can often highlight topics that management teams would rather avoid or topics where the answer is complicated. Here is what has caught our attention. Mircea Dobre (Baird) asked about the revenue and margin cadence for the Prepared Food and Beverage segment, with CEO Brian Deck clarifying that delayed Q2 revenue would be spread over the second half of the year and margins should improve as disruptions abate. Justin Ages (CJS Securities) inquired about strength in Protein Solutions outside poultry, and Deck explained that while poultry remains the growth driver, pork and fish are showing modest gains with beef remaining weak due to low cattle inventory. Ross Sparenblek (William Blair) raised questions about pricing actions and the impact of logistics inflation, with Deck noting that price increases are embedded in backlog but acknowledged a lag in cost recovery for inbound logistics. Walter Liptak (Seaport Research) asked about the timeline and challenges of facility consolidations, and Deck responded that consolidations will phase through 2027, with later moves expected to be smoother as receiving plants are already familiar with the products. Ian Zaffino (Oppenheimer) questioned end-customer demand trends, and management described mixed consumer behavior, with protein demand stable but some trade-down to value products in other food categories. In the coming quarters, the StockStory team will be watching (1) the pace and impact of manufacturing footprint consolidations on margin recovery, (2) order flow and backlog conversion in both Protein Solutions and Prepared Food and Beverage, and (3) the company’s ability to manage cost inflation and logistics pressures. Progress in warehouse automation restructuring and efficiency gains will also be critical signposts. JBT Marel currently trades at $123.04, down from $142.25 just before the earnings. Is the company at an inflection point that warrants a buy or sell? Find out in our full research report (it’s free for active Edge members). ONE MORE THING: Top 5 Growth Stocks. The biggest stock winners almost always had one thing in common before they ran. Revenue growing like crazy. Meta. CrowdStrike. Broadcom. Our AI flagged all three. They returned 315%, 314%, and 455%, respectively. Find out which 5 stocks it’s flagging this month — FREE. Get Our Top 5 Growth Stocks for Free HERE. Stocks that have made our list include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,460% between June 2020 and June 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Tecnoglass (+1,552% between June 2020 and June 2025). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.

Interested in JBT Marel Corporation? Here are five stocks we like better. JBT Marel’s orders remained strong, rising 10% year over year and exceeding $1 billion for the third consecutive quarter. Second-quarter revenue increased 5% to $981 million, while the company maintained its full-year 2026 guidance. Protein Solutions delivered 11% revenue growth, led by poultry, but Prepared Food and Beverage revenue was flat due to logistics delays and manufacturing inefficiencies. Management expects the approximately $20 million revenue shortfall to shift into the second half of the year. Integration and restructuring initiatives are progressing, with facility consolidations expected to generate $25 million to $30 million in annual savings by 2028. The company also reported $179 million in year-to-date free cash flow and ended the quarter with net leverage just below 2.5 times. JBT Marel (NYSE:JBTM) reported continued order strength in the second quarter of 2026, with orders rising 10% year over year and exceeding $1 billion for the third consecutive quarter. Management said the results reflected solid poultry-industry investment, growth in prepared foods demand and cross-selling opportunities created by the combination of JBT and Marel. Second-quarter revenue rose 5% from a year earlier to $981 million, including 3% organic growth and a 2% favorable foreign-exchange impact. Adjusted EBITDA was $168 million. The company maintained its full-year 2026 revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance, though it expects a steeper improvement in fourth-quarter results than in the third quarter. → SpaceX’s First Earnings Report Could Decide Whether Shorts or Bulls Have Control Protein Solutions revenue increased 11% year over year to $467 million, including 8% organic growth. Chief Executive Officer Brian Deck said poultry remains the company’s largest and strongest protein category, while pork and fish markets showed modest strength. Beef was the weakest category because limited cattle inventories have constrained processor investment, though Deck said beef represents less than 5% of the Protein Solutions portfolio. Prepared Food and Beverage Solutions revenue was flat from the prior-year quarter, despite an approximately 2% foreign-exchange benefit. Chief Financial Officer Matt Meister said equipment revenue in the segment fell short of expectations because of logistics constraints and production inefficiencies tied to manufacturing-footprint optimization efforts. → 3 Drone Stocks That Should Soar After the Summer Slump Deck said the company was about $20 million below its expected second-quarter revenue level, excluding foreign exchange, entirely within the Prepared Food and Beverage segment. About half of that amount was associated with delayed shipments caused by logistics availability, while the other half stemmed from production inefficiencies related to facility moves. The company expects to redistribute that revenue across the second half of the year. Management said the shortfall also weighed on segment profitability. Deck estimated that the deferred revenue reduced quarterly EBITDA by roughly $5 million to $6 million, based on expected margin flow-through. Meister said Prepared Food and Beverage margins are expected to improve by approximately 25 to 50 basis points year over year in the third quarter, followed by about another 100 basis points of improvement in the fourth quarter. → Why Rare Earth Processing Could Be the Real 2027 Opportunity Second-quarter adjusted EBITDA included $17 million in refunds related to IEEPA tariffs. That benefit was partially offset by $4 million in higher-than-expected tariff expense associated with prior years and $5 million in accelerated long-term incentive compensation expense. Meister said higher logistics, metals and other input costs continued to pressure margins. The company has implemented pricing actions, but Deck said inbound and intercompany logistics costs are more difficult to pass through to customers. JBT Marel spends more than $100 million annually on logistics, with roughly 60% to 65% tied to inbound and intercompany activity, according to Deck. Protein Solutions adjusted EBITDA margins improved from a year earlier, helped by poultry volume leverage, synergies and continuous-improvement efforts. However, Deck said the segment’s approximately 24% second-quarter margin included about 200 basis points of benefit from tariff refunds. He expects margins in the low-to-mid-20% range during the second half, with a higher equipment mix partially offsetting aftermarket profitability. The company also restructured its warehouse automation business, citing product standardization progress that will allow it to deploy engineering resources more efficiently and consolidate two facilities into one. Meister said the actions are expected to generate about $9 million in annual savings, including approximately $3 million during the second half of 2026. JBT Marel recorded a non-cash impairment charge during the quarter to write off intangibles related to its 2021 acquisition of Provenio. Meister said the charge reflected a shift in poultry customers’ demand away from Provenio’s value-added antimicrobial offering toward a more commodity-based approach. President Arni Sigurdsson said cross-selling initiatives generated $45 million in synergy orders during the first six months of 2026 and $75 million over the past 18 months. He cited a multi-line poultry order that combined forming, coating, frying and heating technologies for fully cooked retail chicken products. The company has announced facility consolidations totaling approximately 1.3 million square feet, including 1.1 million square feet of manufacturing and distribution capacity and 200,000 square feet of office space. The reductions represent about 15% of JBT Marel’s global footprint, with nearly 80% of the manufacturing-space reductions affecting the Prepared Food and Beverage segment. Sigurdsson said the initiatives are expected to produce $25 million to $30 million in annualized savings by 2028, above the company’s original estimate of $10 million to $15 million. About $4 million to $5 million of savings is included in the 2026 forecast. The company also expects a cash benefit from real-estate asset sales in 2027 or 2028. Management said facility moves will be phased through the end of 2027. Deck said two larger consolidations are planned for 2027, one to be completed by midyear and another by year-end. Meister said the 2027 transitions should be smoother because production is generally being consolidated into facilities that already manufacture the relevant products. For the third quarter, JBT Marel forecast organic revenue growth of 2% to 4%, partially offset by a 1% foreign-exchange headwind, and adjusted EBITDA margins of 17% to 17.5%. Management said its record backlog provides visibility into more than 90% of second-half equipment revenue. At the midpoint of full-year guidance, the company expects consolidated revenue growth of 6% and adjusted EBITDA margin expansion of 145 basis points. It also refined adjusted earnings-per-share guidance to reflect updated depreciation, amortization and tax-rate assumptions, without providing figures on the call. JBT Marel generated $179 million in year-to-date free cash flow, equivalent to 58% conversion of adjusted EBITDA. Net leverage ended the quarter just below 2.5 times, within the company’s target range of 2 times to 2.5 times. Management said it would remain focused on integration while evaluating debt reduction and opportunistic share repurchases under its previously announced $200 million buyback authorization. Deck said the company continues to target a 20% adjusted EBITDA margin in 2028, supported by integration, supply-chain optimization, pricing and lower-cost manufacturing initiatives. JBT Marel Corporation provides technology solutions to food and beverage industry in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. It offers value-added processing that includes chilling, mixing/grinding, injecting, blending, marinating, tumbling, flattening, forming, portioning, coating, cooking, frying, freezing, extracting, pasteurizing, sterilizing, concentrating, high pressure processing, weighing, inspecting, filling, closing, sealing, end of line material handling, and packaging solutions to the food, beverage, and health market. 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 "JBT Marel Q2 Earnings Call Highlights" was originally published by MarketBeat. View MarketBeat's top stocks for August 2026.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Revenue: Second quarter consolidated revenue was $981 million, an increase of 5% year-over-year, comprising 3% organic growth and 2% from foreign exchange. Protein Segment Revenue: Strong Protein revenue of $467 million grew 11% year-over-year, which was 8% organic and 3% from foreign exchange. Prepared Food and Beverage Segment Revenue: Segment revenue was flat versus Q2 last year, which included an approximate 2% favorable impact from foreign exchange. Adjusted EBITDA: Second quarter consolidated adjusted EBITDA was $168 million, impacted by timing of equipment shipments and discrete items. Free Cash Flow: Generated $179 million in year-to-date free cash flow, representing a conversion to adjusted EBITDA of 58%. Leverage: Leverage at the end of the quarter was just below 2.5 times, within the target range of 2 times to 2.5 times. Orders: Orders increased 10% year-over-year, marking the third consecutive quarter with orders exceeding $1 billion. Synergy Orders: Realized synergy orders of $45 million through the first six months of the year, and $75 million over the last 18 months. Third Quarter Guidance: Guiding to year-over-year revenue growth of 2% to 4% organic, partially offset by 1% FX impact, with adjusted EBITDA margins of 17% to 17.5%. Full Year 2026 Guidance: Maintaining full year 2026 guidance for revenue and adjusted EBITDA, reflecting consolidated revenue growth of 6% and adjusted EBITDA margin expansion of 145 basis points at the midpoint. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Signs with JBTM. Is JBTM fairly valued? Test your thesis with our free DCF calculator. Release Date: August 04, 2026 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Orders increased 10% year-over-year, marking the third consecutive quarter with orders exceeding $1 billion, driven by strong demand and cross-selling synergies. Protein Solutions segment delivered robust performance with revenue up 11% year-over-year and improved adjusted EBITDA margins, benefiting from volume leverage and synergy initiatives. The company is making significant progress on footprint optimization, with facility consolidations expected to deliver annualized savings of $25 million to $30 million by 2028, exceeding original estimates. Record backlog provides visibility to over 90% of back-half equipment revenue, supporting confidence in achieving full-year 2026 guidance and long-term 20% adjusted EBITDA margin target by 2028. Free cash flow generation was strong at $179 million year-to-date, with leverage reduced to below 2.5 times, within the target range, just 18 months after the merger. Prepared Food and Beverage segment revenue was flat year-over-year, with equipment revenue short of expectations due to logistics constraints and production inefficiencies from manufacturing footprint optimization. Second-quarter adjusted EBITDA was impacted by $17 million in IEEPA tariff refunds (partially offset by $4 million in higher tariff expense) and $5 million in accelerated long-term incentive compensation, masking underlying performance. The company is operating in a higher inflationary environment, with rising logistics, metals, and other input costs pressuring year-over-year margins, and pricing actions have not fully offset these pressures. A non-cash impairment charge was taken to write off intangibles related to the Prevenio acquisition due to a shift in demand from value-added antimicrobial offerings to commodity-based customer approaches. The warehouse automation (AGV) business underperformed expectations in Q2, prompting a restructuring that includes consolidating two facilities into one, with expected savings of $9 million annually but only $3 million in the second half of 2026. Q: Can you clarify the margin cadence for the Prepared Food and Beverage (PFB) segment and whether the $20 million revenue shortfall in Q2 will be recovered in the back half of the year? A: CEO Brian Deck explained that the Q2 revenue shortfall of approximately $20 million, all within the PFB segment, was split between logistics delays and production inefficiencies from footprint optimization. This revenue is expected to shift into Q3, with a corresponding margin impact of roughly $5 million to $6 million in Q2 that should flow through in the back half. CFO Matt Meister added that PFB margins are expected to improve 25 to 50 basis points year-over-year in Q3, with a further ~100 basis point improvement from Q3 to Q4, driven by higher volumes and benefits from facility consolidations and the AGV restructuring. Q: What drove the strong Protein segment margins in Q2, and how should we think about margins in the back half of the year? A: CFO Matt Meister noted that Protein segment margins of 24% in Q2 included about 200 basis points of benefit from IEEPA tariff refunds. Excluding that, margins were in the low-to-mid 20s. He expects this cadence to remain relatively flat in the back half, as a higher mix of equipment versus aftermarket revenue will offset some of the volume leverage and synergy benefits. Q: Can you elaborate on the strength in Protein Solutions outside of poultry, and what is the outlook for other protein categories? A: CEO Brian Deck stated that poultry remains the largest and strongest segment, but the company is seeing modest strength in pork and fish, driven by high beef prices making them more attractive alternatives. The weakest area is beef, which represents less than 5% of the Protein Solutions portfolio, due to a lack of cattle inventory for processors. Overall, the backlog and orders were strong in Q2, and the outlook is generally positive. Q: How is the warehouse automation (AGV) business performing, and is the improvement sustainable beyond Q2? A: CEO Brian Deck confirmed that AGV had its strongest quarter in six quarters on volume, indicating that the tariff-related disruptions that previously impacted the business are behind them. While Q2 performance didn't fully meet expectations, the combination of higher expected volumes in the back half and the restructuring actions taken should drive a nice ramp-up in AGV performance in the second half of 2026. Q: Can you provide an update on pricing actions and how they are addressing the current inflationary environment? A: CEO Brian Deck explained that pricing actions from 2025 are embedded in the backlog, as each project is quoted with known costs. However, the company is seeing significant inflation in logistics, which is harder to pass through, particularly for inbound and intercompany logistics. This created some margin leakage in Q2, but the company has taken additional pricing actions in Q2 and Q3, which are reflected in the updated guidance. Q: Given the strong orders and record backlog, why was the full-year 2026 revenue guidance not raised? A: CEO Brian Deck stated that the company chose to keep guidance unchanged due to the logistics issues and ongoing facility moves that impacted Q2. While the backlog is at record levels and provides visibility to over 90% of back-half equipment revenue, the company felt it was prudent to maintain the existing guidance given the Q2 pressure and the need to make up for the shortfall in the second half. Q: How does the current US industrial environment and broader economic trends impact JBT Marel's outlook? A: CEO Brian Deck noted that while food production has its own dynamics, the strong backdrop of protein consumption is a unique tailwind for the company, with ~70% of overall revenues tied to the protein market. A strong economy and reasonable interest rates provide confidence, but some CPG customers are experiencing weakness. The company's broad portfolio allows it to capture growth wherever customers are investing, which is currently heavily weighted toward proteins. Q: When will the factory consolidations be completed, and what is the expected impact? A: CEO Brian Deck outlined a phased approach, with some consolidations already underway in Q2, another wrapping up in the back half of 2026, and two larger facility moves expected in 2027 (one by mid-2027 and one by end of 2027). CFO Matt Meister highlighted that the 2027 moves are more straightforward consolidations into plants that already produce the same products, which should result in smoother transitions compared to the current moves. The initiatives are expected to deliver annualized savings of $25 million to $30 million by 2028. Q: Can you discuss the capital allocation strategy, particularly the $200 million share buyback versus M&A opportunities? A: CFO Matt Meister stated that the company remains focused on integrating JBT and Marel, so M&A is not a near-term priority. The buyback allows the company to be opportunistic between debt paydown and share repurchases based on market conditions. President Arni Sigurdsson added that management capacity is also a consideration, and the team is laser-focused on maximizing the benefits of the combination before considering M&A as a future lever. Q: What are your customers saying about end-consumer demand, and how is that impacting your outlook? A: CEO Brian Deck described the consumer environment as mixed, with some CPG customers seeing trade-offs from branded to generic products. However, protein consumption remains strong, and GLP-1 trends are net positive for the company. President Arni Sigurdsson added that consumers don't stop consuming protein; they optimize within it, which benefits JBT Marel's diversification. There is also a trend toward more value-added and prepared foods, which is supporting the PFB segment's order growth. Q: Can you provide an update on the USDA's decision regarding poultry line speeds and what it means for the company? A: CEO Brian Deck stated that the company expects a decision from the USDA either late summer or early fall. Currently, US line speeds are 140 birds per minute (175 with waivers), compared to 240 in Europe. With over 350 lines in the US and less than 20% running at 175, a permanent increase to 175 would create a durable, multi-year tailwind for the company. President Arni Sigurdsson highlighted that JBT Marel's value proposition strengthens as line speeds increase, given its leading technology and ability to operate at higher speeds. Q: With For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

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. Achieved a third consecutive quarter of orders exceeding $1 billion, validating the strategic logic of the JBT Marel combination and its enhanced cross-selling capabilities. Performance was driven by double-digit order growth in Prepared Food and Beverage Solutions, specifically led by value-added Prepared Foods technology. Protein Solutions segment benefited from robust poultry industry investment across the entire value chain, from primary processing to end-of-line solutions. Revenue in the Prepared Food and Beverage segment was flat due to logistics constraints and production inefficiencies stemming from manufacturing footprint optimization efforts. Management is executing a global footprint reduction of approximately 15%, shifting production to lower-cost capacity in Eastern Europe, Brazil, and India. The warehouse automation business is undergoing restructuring to improve cost structures through product standardization and facility consolidation. Inflationary pressures in logistics and raw materials are being addressed through targeted pricing actions, though some margin leakage occurred in the second quarter. Maintained full-year 2026 guidance based on record backlog visibility, which covers over 90% of expected second-half equipment revenue. Expects a steeper performance ramp in the fourth quarter of 2026 as production efficiencies improve following short-term transition disruptions. Increased annualized cost synergy targets to $25 million–$30 million by 2028, significantly exceeding the original estimate of $10 million–$15 million. Reiterated long-term financial target of achieving a 20% adjusted EBITDA margin by 2028 through supply chain optimization and footprint consolidation. Anticipates a multi-year tailwind in the U.S. poultry market if the USDA approves permanent increases to line speeds, which favors JBT Marel's high-speed technology. Recognized a $17 million IEEPA tariff refund, which partially offset higher-than-expected prior-year tariff expenses and incentive compensation. Recorded a non-cash impairment charge for Prevenio intangibles, reflecting a market shift from value-added antimicrobial offerings to commodity-based approaches. Achieved a leverage ratio of 2.5x, reaching the company's target range of 2.0x to 2.5x only 18 months after the merger close. Authorized a $200 million share buyback program to be used opportunistically alongside debt repayment while management focuses on integration over M&A. One stock. Nvidia-level potential. 30M+ investors trust Moby to find it first. Get the pick. Tap here. Management noted approximately $20 million in revenue was delayed from Q2 to the second half of the year due to logistics and production moves. Expect year-over-year margin improvement of 25-50 basis points in Q3 and an additional 100 basis points in Q4 as inefficiencies are resolved. While primary poultry investment has been high, Prepared Foods orders grew 15% as customers shift from commodity volume to value-added products. Management remains confident in 2027 demand due to global trends toward protein self-sufficiency and a strong project pipeline. A decision is expected in late summer or early fall regarding increasing U.S. line speeds from 140 to 175 birds per minute. Higher speeds increase the value proposition for JBT Marel's leading technology, which already operates at 240 birds per minute in Europe. Current disruptions involve moving products to plants that haven't produced them before; 2027 moves will be smoother as they involve consolidating existing production. The consolidation process is phased through 2027 to avoid overwhelming receiving plants and to comply with local labor regulations.

JBT Marel (JBTM) came out with quarterly earnings of $1.95 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.02 per share. This compares to earnings of $1.49 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of -3.47%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this food processing and transportation services company would post earnings of $1.49 per share when it actually produced earnings of $1.58, delivering a surprise of +6.04%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times. JBT, which belongs to the Zacks Technology Services industry, posted revenues of $981 million for the quarter ended June 2026, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.75%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $934.8 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. JBT shares have lost about 8.1% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 9.4%. While JBT has underperformed 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 JBT 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 $2.31 on $1.06 billion in revenues for the coming quarter and $8.26 on $4.03 billion 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, Technology Services is currently in the bottom 44% 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. One other stock from the same industry, Duos Technologies Group, Inc. (DUOT), is yet to report results for the quarter ended June 2026. This company is expected to post quarterly loss of $0.02 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +93.3%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. Duos Technologies Group, Inc.'s revenues are expected to be $10.7 million, up 86.4% 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 JBT Marel Corporation (JBTM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Duos Technologies Group, Inc. (DUOT) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Second Quarter 2026 Highlights: Continued strong demand with orders exceeding $1 billion; revenue was $981 million, resulting in a book-to-bill ratio of 1.05x Net income margin was 2.9 percent, and adjusted EBITDA margin was 17.1 percent Diluted earnings per share was $0.54, and adjusted earnings per share was $1.95 Leverage ratio was just below 2.5x and within the long-term target leverage range of 2.0 - 2.5x CHICAGO, August 03, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--JBT Marel Corporation (NYSE and Nasdaq Iceland: JBTM), a leading global technology solutions provider to high-value segments of the food & beverage industry, today reported financial results for the second quarter of 2026. "We are extremely pleased with the continued orders strength, which was led by robust demand in our Prepared Food and Beverage Solutions segment with strong customer investment in downstream, further processing technology," said Brian Deck, Chief Executive Officer. "While we experienced some operational inefficiencies and logistics constraints in the Prepared Food and Beverage Solutions segment in the second quarter, our record backlog, coupled with the fundamental benefits of the JBT Marel combination and ongoing operational improvement initiatives, provide visibility into our second half 2026 outlook and further our confidence in achieving our full year revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance." Comparisons in this news release are to the comparable period of the prior year, unless otherwise noted. An earnings presentation with supplemental information is available on the Company's Investor Relations website at https://ir.jbtmarel.com/events/presentations. JBT Marel Second Quarter 2026 Consolidated Results "We continue to execute on our integration and cost synergy initiatives, which we expect will enable $60 million of in-year realized savings for 2026," said Matt Meister, Chief Financial Officer. "At the same time, we are navigating a dynamic operating environment with higher inflationary costs. While these factors create near-term headwinds, our focus remains on disciplined execution, pricing actions, and operational improvements to mitigate the impact." Second quarter 2026 consolidated revenue of $981 million increased 5 percent with approximately 2 percent benefit from foreign exchange translation. Net income of $28 million increased $25 million, and net income margin of 2.9 percent improved 250 basis points. Included in net income was a $33 million non-cash, non-recurring impairment charge related to a 2021 acquisition. During the second quarter 2026, JBT Marel operated in a dynamic economic and trade environment and experienced a few discrete items, the effects of which will be discussed during the upcoming earnings call. Second quarter 2026 consolidated adjusted EBITDA of $168 million increased $12 million, and adjusted EBITDA margin of 17.1 percent improved 40 basis points. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) was $0.54 compared to $0.07. Adjusted EPS was $1.95 compared to $1.49. Orders totaled $1.03 billion, inclusive of approximately $16 million in a year-over-year benefit from foreign exchange translation, and quarter-ending backlog was $1.54 billion. Year to date 2026 operating cash flow was $221 million, and free cash flow was $179 million. As of June 30, 2026, the Company's net debt to trailing twelve months adjusted EBITDA was 2.47x. As previously announced, JBT Marel's Board of Directors authorized a share repurchase program for the purchase of up to $200 million of the Company’s common stock, effective from May 18, 2026, through May 31, 2029. During the second quarter 2026, the Company repurchased approximately 200,000 shares of common stock for $26 million. JBT Marel Second Quarter 2026 Segment Results Second quarter 2026 Protein Solutions segment revenue increased 11 percent, inclusive of approximately 3 percent year-over-year benefit from foreign exchange translation. Segment adjusted EBITDA margin improved 350 basis points. Second quarter 2026 Prepared Food and Beverage Solutions segment results were below Company expectations primarily due to the timing of backlog-to-revenue conversion resulting from logistics constraints and certain productivity inefficiencies in connection with optimizing supply chain and manufacturing operations. Segment revenue was flat, inclusive of approximately 2 percent year-over-year benefit from foreign exchange translation. Segment adjusted EBITDA margin declined 70 basis points. JBT Marel Outlook JBT Marel is reiterating its full year 2026 guidance for revenue and adjusted EBITDA margin. It has refined its guidance for adjusted EPS to reflect updated assumptions for depreciation and amortization expense and the effective tax rate. The Company also updated its full year 2026 net income margin and GAAP EPS guidance primarily to reflect the non-cash, non-recurring impairment charge incurred in the second quarter. The below table reflects consolidated guidance. For the full year 2026, JBT Marel still expects year-over-year consolidated revenue growth of 5 - 7 percent, which is inclusive of approximately 1.5 percent foreign exchange translation benefit. For the full year 2026, JBT Marel expects to incur certain one-time and acquisition related costs for previously completed transactions, which are included in net income margin and GAAP diluted EPS guidance and excluded from adjusted EPS and adjusted EBITDA margin guidance. These include approximately $167 million in acquisition related amortization and depreciation, $32 million in M&A related costs, $20 million in restructuring costs, and $33 million in non-cash impairment expense incurred in the second quarter. Full year 2026 total depreciation and amortization is expected to be approximately $263 million. Interest expense is estimated to be approximately $47 million, and other financing income is expected to be approximately $7 million. The full year tax rate is estimated to be approximately 24 percent. Earnings Conference Call A conference call is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. ET / 14:00 GMT on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, to discuss second quarter 2026 results. A simultaneous webcast and audio replay of the call will be available on the Company’s Investor Relations website at https://ir.jbtmarel.com/events/ir-calendar. About JBT Marel Corporation JBT Marel Corporation (NYSE and Nasdaq Iceland: JBTM) is a leading global technology solutions provider to high-value segments of the food & beverage industry. JBT Marel’s unique solutions of integrated equipment, service, software, and application expertise enables customers to optimize food yield and efficiency, improve food safety and quality, and enhance uptime and proactive maintenance, all while reducing waste and resource use across the global food supply chain. JBT Marel operates more than 50 manufacturing and distribution facilities globally. For more information, please visit www.jbtmarel.com. Non-GAAP Measures and Reconciliations to GAAP Measures Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin, Adjusted income, Adjusted diluted earnings per share ("Adjusted EPS"), and Free cash flow are non-GAAP financial measures. JBT Marel provides non-GAAP financial measures in order to increase transparency in our operating results and trends. These non-GAAP measures eliminate certain costs or benefits from, or change the calculation of, a measure as calculated under U.S. GAAP. By eliminating these items, JBT Marel provides a more meaningful comparison of our ongoing operating results, consistent with how management evaluates performance. Management uses these non-GAAP measures in financial and operational evaluation, planning and forecasting. These calculations may differ from similarly-titled measures used by other companies. The non-GAAP financial measures disclosed are not intended to be used as a substitute for, nor should they be considered in isolation of, financial measures prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures can be found in the supplemental schedules to this release. Presentation of Percentage Calculations Effective in 2026, percentage amounts presented in this press release have been calculated using rounded figures. In prior periods, percentage amounts were calculated using the unrounded underlying values rather than the rounded figures presented. As a result, certain percentage amounts in this section may differ slightly from percentages calculated using the figures presented in the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements or the accompanying narrative. Forward-Looking Statements This release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are information of a non-historical nature and are subject to risks and uncertainties that are beyond JBT Marel's ability to control. The inclusion of this forward-looking information should not be regarded as a representation by us or any other person that the future plans, estimates or expectations contemplated by us will be achieved. These forward-looking statements include, among others, statements relating to our business and our results of operations, our strategic plans, our restructuring plans and expected cost savings from those plans and our liquidity. The factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from expectations include, but are not limited to, the following factors: fluctuations in our financial results; termination or loss of major customer contracts and risks associated with fixed-price contracts, particularly during periods of high inflation; catastrophic loss at any of our facilities and business continuity of our information systems; loss of key management and other personnel; our ability to remediate the material weaknesses relating to the Marel financial statements; deterioration of economic conditions, including impacts from supply chain delays and reduced material or component availability; unanticipated delays or acceleration in our sales cycles; inflationary pressures, including increases in energy, raw material, freight, and labor costs; changes in food consumption patterns; weather conditions and natural disasters; impacts of pandemic illnesses, food borne illnesses and diseases to various agricultural products; work stoppages; customer sourcing initiatives; competition and innovation in our industries; disruptions in the political, regulatory, economic and social conditions of the countries in which we conduct business; changes to tariffs, trade regulations, quotas, or duties; potential liability arising out of the installation or use of our systems; the impact of climate change and environmental protection initiatives; our ability to comply with U.S. and international laws governing our operations and industries; increases in tax liabilities; risks related to acquisitions, such as our ability to integrate the acquisitions we have consummated, including the integration of the legacy businesses of JBT and Marel; our ability to develop and introduce new or enhanced products and services and keep pace with technological developments; difficulty in developing, preserving and protecting our intellectual property or defending claims of infringement; cybersecurity risks such as network intrusion or ransomware schemes; our convertible note hedge and warrant transactions; the maintenance of two stock exchange listings; fluctuations in currency exchange rates and interest rates; our level of indebtedness; availability of and access to financial and other resources; and the factors described under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and any future Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. If one or more of those or other risks or uncertainties materialize, or if our underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual results may vary materially from what we projected. Consequently, actual events and results may vary significantly from those included in or contemplated or implied by our forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements included in this release are made only as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement made by us or on our behalf, whether as a result of new information, future developments, subsequent events or changes in circumstances or otherwise. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260803130995/en/ Contacts Investors & Media:Marlee [email protected] +1 (312) 861-5784