Cabot Corporation (CBT) Q2 2026 Earnings Report, Transcript and Summary

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to Cabot's Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. I would now like to hand the call over to Robert Rist, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Latif. Good morning. I'd like to welcome you to the Cabot Corporation's earnings teleconference. With me today are Sean Keohane, CEO and President; and Erica McLaughlin, Executive Vice President and CFO. Last night, we released results for our second quarter of fiscal 2026, copies of which are posted in the Investor Relations section of our website. The slide deck that accompanies this call is also available in the Investor Relations portion of our website and will be available in conjunction with the replay of this call. During this conference call, we will make forward-looking statements about our expected future operational and financial performance. Each forward-looking statement is subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in such statements. Additional information regarding these factors appears under the heading Forward-Looking Statements in the press release we issued last night and in our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025, and in subsequent filings we make with the SEC, all of which are available on the company's website. In order to provide greater transparency regarding our operating performance, we refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures that involve adjustments to GAAP results. Any non-GAAP financial measure presented should not be considered to be an alternative to a financial measure required by GAAP. Any non-GAAP financial measure referenced on this call are reconciled to the most direct comparable GAAP financial measure in a table at the end of our earnings release issued last night and available in the Investors section of our website. I will now turn the call over to Sean, who will discuss the second quarter highlights, followed by several company and business updates. Erica will review the second quarter financial highlights and the business segment results. Following this, Sean will provide closing comments on our fiscal 2026 outlook and then open the floor to questions. Sean?

Thank you, Rob. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to our call today. I am pleased with our strong execution during the second quarter as we continue to operate at a high level in a challenging and very dynamic environment, delivering adjusted earnings per share of $1.61. While the Iran conflict introduced a new dimension of geopolitical uncertainty during the quarter, the resilience of the Cabot team and our enduring strength as a company once again served as the foundation for strong execution. Our global footprint and highly developed operating platform of commercial and operational excellence enabled us to take quick actions to support our customers' evolving needs and implement countermeasures to address rapidly rising energy and transportation costs to protect profitability. While we have an unwavering commitment to disciplined daily execution, we also remain focused on the long term, guided by our Creating for Tomorrow strategy and the pillars of grow, innovate and optimize. During these dynamic times, we continue to make important strategic choices that will strengthen the company and build long-term shareholder value. I will highlight a few of these areas of focus in my upcoming remarks, but I will first provide a bit of color on business performance in the quarter. EBIT in Reinforcement Materials segment was $93 million, down 29% from the prior year quarter and in line with our expectations. The segment's 3% higher volumes as compared to the prior year were more than offset by lower gross profit per ton driven by calendar year 2026 customer agreement outcomes and increased competitive intensity in Asia Pacific. The Performance Chemicals segment delivered a strong quarter with EBIT of $59 million, up 18% from a year ago, supported by continued momentum in our high-value battery materials and specialty carbons product lines, combined with higher gross profit per ton from an improved product mix and optimization efforts. This result was ahead of our expectation as demand levels were stronger than expected, particularly in March. Operating cash flow was again solid in the quarter. We generated $77 million in cash from operations, which allowed us to return $73 million to shareholders through a combination of dividends and share repurchases. Given the strength of our underlying cash flow generation and our confidence in the long term, earlier this week, we announced a 5% increase in our quarterly dividend. On an annualized basis, the new dividend rate will be $1.89 per share versus $1.80 per share previously. This increase is consistent with our balanced capital allocation framework where we seek to allocate cash to support long-term strategic growth and return capital to shareholders. As we did last quarter, I want to briefly highlight our Battery Materials product line, which delivered another strong quarter and continues to be an increasingly important strategic growth driver for Cabot. We remain very well positioned in this space with a differentiated portfolio of conductive additives, formulations and blends supported by deep customer relationships across the global battery value chain. While the foundation of our battery materials product line is built around our strength in conductive additives, we continue to broaden our participation in this application through our fumed metal oxide products used in cathode and separator coatings and aerogel for thermal management. Our strategy is to leverage our deep application know-how, strong customer relationships and global footprint to support customers as they build gigafactories globally. In the second quarter, Battery Materials delivered 43% revenue growth year-over-year, driven by continued growth in China as well as Europe. Trailing 12-month EBITDA margins were approximately 24%. Performance was driven by strong execution of our existing customer programs, increasing penetration in energy storage applications and the benefit of capacity that is now fully available to support customer demand. Complementing our strong revenue in Asia, we remain focused on supporting our customers in Western geographies as new gigafactory capacity comes online. The multi-year PowerCo agreement announced last quarter is a good example of this approach, reinforcing our role as a trusted partner to leading OEMs and supporting long-term growth. As a result, this business is scaling meaningfully, and we expect to generate approximately $40 million of EBITDA in fiscal year 2026. Continued investment in battery energy storage systems alongside continued EV adoption is driving robust demand for our portfolio and reinforces our confidence in the long-term trajectory of this business. Data centers are a strategic focus area for us, and I would like to highlight how Cabot's materials are supporting the build-out of data center infrastructure, particularly as AI-driven demand continues to accelerate. At the center of this ecosystem are the data centers themselves, which require highly reliable storage. Battery energy storage systems or BESS, play a critical role in data centers by providing long-duration storage, power stabilization and uninterruptible power. And our battery materials product portfolio is a key enabler of performance in these systems. Our conductive additives, formulations and blends are designed to improve battery reliability, efficiency and life cycle performance, supporting the increasingly demanding requirements of energy storage applications tied to data centers. Beyond our battery materials product line, our broader Performance Chemicals portfolio plays an important role across data center infrastructure applications. This includes materials used in power distribution cables, thermal management systems, adhesives and sealants as well as bonding paste for wind turbines that support renewable energy generation feeding into the grid. Taken together, this opportunity underscores how Cabot materials are critical across the power generation and storage value chain from renewable generation to distribution and battery storage, positioning us well as customers invest to support data center growth. Turning to our network optimization initiatives. We are taking a series of proactive countermeasures to reinforce our leadership position and sustain strong margins and cash generation in the current business environment. As a reminder, on the cost reduction front, we have been executing programs targeting $30 million in savings during fiscal '26, including procurement savings, headcount reductions in reinforcement materials and associated supporting functions and accelerated deployment of process technology to improve yield and manufacturing efficiencies. We are on track to hit this target. Furthermore, as we noted last quarter, we have reduced our capital expenditures to a range of $200 million to $230 million for the full year to align with the current environment. In addition, this quarter, we are also taking specific capacity rationalization actions to better align our manufacturing network with current demand levels and to optimize our footprint for long-term strategic value. Yesterday, we announced targeted asset rationalization actions in South America and Europe. We have ceased manufacturing operations at our Argentina reinforcing carbons facility, and we intend to cease production at multiple manufacturing lines at our Netherlands carbon black facility, subject to consultation processes. The actions in total represent approximately 120,000 metric tons of capacity, targeting an annual run rate cost benefit of approximately $22 million with full delivery of cost saving benefits targeted by the middle of calendar 2027. The expected cash cost to execute these closures is approximately $24 million over the next 2 to 3 fiscal years. Importantly, we are working with our existing customers and anticipate maintaining sales with supply from other Cabot locations across our global network. These are difficult but necessary actions, and I want to thank our employees for their significant contributions to Cabot over the years. I believe these actions will improve our operating efficiency and further enhance the competitiveness of our global network as we navigate this challenging demand environment. I will now turn it over to Erica to discuss the financial and performance results of the quarter in more detail. Erica?

Thanks, Sean. Adjusted earnings per share for the second quarter of fiscal 2026 was $1.61 compared to $1.90 in the second quarter of fiscal 2025, a decrease of 15% year-over-year. This decline was driven primarily by lower results in our Reinforcement Materials segment, partially offset by growth in our Performance Chemicals segment. Cash flow from operations was $77 million in the quarter and discretionary free cash flow was $63 million in the quarter. The cash balance at the end of the quarter was $252 million, and our liquidity position remains strong at approximately $1.3 billion. Capex expenditures for the second quarter of fiscal 2026 were $45 million. And as Sean noted, we continue to expect $200 million to $230 million of capital spending for the full fiscal year. Additional uses of cash during the second quarter included $24 million for the payment of dividends and $49 million for share repurchases, totaling $73 million returned to shareholders during the quarter. Our debt balance was $1.3 billion, and our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio was 1.5x as of March 31. The operating tax rate for the second quarter was 28%, and we continue to anticipate our operating tax rate for fiscal 2026 to be in the range of 27% to 29%. Now moving to Reinforcement Materials. During the second quarter, EBIT for Reinforcement Materials was $93 million, which was a decrease of 29% as compared to the same period in the prior year. The decrease was driven primarily by lower gross profit per ton from the outcomes of our calendar year 2026 customer agreements and increased competitive intensity in Asia. These factors more than offset a 3% increase in volumes year-over-year, driven by increases in all three regions. Regionally, volumes were up 5% in Asia, 3% in Europe and up 1% in the Americas. Looking to the third quarter of fiscal 2026, we expect higher sequential EBIT from higher gross profit per ton from a favorable product mix and yield improvements from efficiency programs. We also expect a full quarter of operations with our acquired asset in Mexico. We anticipate the sequential EBIT improvement to be in the range of $5 million to $7 million. Now turning to Performance Chemicals. During the second quarter of fiscal 2026, EBIT for the segment was $59 million, an increase of 18% compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2025. The increase was driven by higher gross profit per ton, primarily due to a favorable product mix and optimization efforts. Additionally, the second quarter fiscal 2026 volumes grew year-over-year in both the Battery Materials and Specialty Carbons product lines. Looking ahead to the third quarter of fiscal 2026, we expect segment EBIT to be relatively consistent sequentially. We anticipate stable volumes and gross profit per ton sequentially. Before I turn it back over to Sean, I wanted to briefly address how recent geopolitical developments in the Middle East and energy market dynamics impact the company. First, we have limited direct exposure to the Middle East from both a revenue and a raw material sourcing standpoint. In addition, our competitive global asset footprint enables us to support customers across geographies, providing supply chain resilience even when conditions in a particular region become disruptive. In terms of recovering rising input costs, our reinforcement materials contracts are structured with raw material pass-through mechanisms, which help protect our margins from feedstock cost volatility driven by higher oil prices. Additionally, we have taken proactive pricing actions in Performance Chemicals, including a price increase of up to 20% in our Specialty Carbons and Specialty Compounds product lines implemented in March to offset rising input costs. As input costs across our product lines are impacted, we remain dynamic in our pricing actions to ensure we maintain our margins. Finally, we have continued to have strong cash flow generation and ample liquidity to fund working capital needs that are impacted by higher energy prices. With approximately $1.3 billion of liquidity as of the end of March, we have significant capacity to absorb these dynamics while continuing to invest in our business and return cash to shareholders. Our sales volumes have remained strong to date, and we've had minimal impact from customer disruptions. Thus, Cabot is well positioned to navigate these challenging conditions, and we will remain dynamic in this uncertain environment. I will now turn it back to Sean to discuss our outlook and closing remarks. Sean?

Thanks, Erica. As we look ahead to the remainder of fiscal year 2026, we are reaffirming our adjusted earnings per share guidance for the full year to be in the range of $6.0 to $6.50 per share. There are several assumptions embedded across our guidance range, including expectations for energy prices and broader macroeconomic factors. Despite higher input costs, we anticipate that we will maintain stable margins as we expect pricing actions to offset higher costs across both segments. A significant variable across our guidance range is our assumption around customer demand levels, particularly as we move to the fourth quarter of the fiscal year. We exited the second quarter with encouraging momentum as volumes accelerated in March and remained strong into April. That said, the conflict in the Middle East introduces uncertainty, particularly as we move to the fourth quarter of the fiscal year. It is this area that we are monitoring closely, and our forecasted range contemplates various scenarios. If current demand levels largely hold with customers continuing to maintain order patterns despite elevated energy prices and macroeconomic uncertainty, we would expect performance to track toward the upper end of our guidance. If there is a softening in demand driven by potential supply chain disruptions or more cautious customer purchasing behavior in response to higher energy costs and broader economic uncertainty, we would expect lower volumes and performance to trend towards the lower end of our guidance range. These dynamics could be more pronounced in certain regions such as Asia, where customers rely more on the Middle East for raw materials. The midpoint of our guidance would assume a modest moderation in demand in the fourth quarter. While there are various scenarios possible, I have confidence that we will effectively navigate this dynamic environment. We will continue to make decisions that enhance our competitiveness and position the company for long-term success. The capacity rationalization actions that we announced in Argentina and intend to take in the Netherlands are designed to better align our production footprint with demand, improve efficiency and ensure the long-term competitiveness of our global network. In addition, as noted earlier, we continue to drive cost countermeasures, including procurement savings, headcount reductions and accelerated deployment of process technology to improve yield and manufacturing efficiencies. These actions are incremental to each other and should compound structural benefits over time. We continue to execute a balanced and disciplined capital allocation framework, prioritizing capital expenditures to maintain our world-class assets and invest in high confidence growth projects while also returning capital to shareholders. Year-to-date, we have executed $100 million in share repurchases and announced an increase in the dividend of 5%. Our investment-grade balance sheet with $1.3 billion of liquidity and Net Debt-to-EBITDA of 1.5x provides significant flexibility to execute our Creating for Tomorrow strategy, funding growth investments, particularly in Battery Materials, while sustaining a robust level of cash return to shareholders. In summary, I'm incredibly proud of the Cabot team. Our leaders have shown a remarkable ability to not only deliver solid financial results, but also to accelerate strategic initiatives despite market volatility. The dedication, experience, agility and operational focus of our management team give me immense confidence as we drive our Creating for Tomorrow strategy. Thank you very much for joining us today. And I will now turn the call back over for our question-and-answer session.

Thankyou. [Operator Instructions]. Our first question comes from the line of John Roberts of Mizuho.

It's Edlain Rodriguez on behalf of John. Sean, quick question. So if you're going to start seeing any softening in consumer demand, like when does that start to manifest itself? Like how much visibility do you have? Like when would you start seeing that if it does occur?

Sure. So maybe just a reminder in terms of our product portfolio and how that's distributed across end markets. I think it's a quite diverse end market exposure where we sell into the replacement market for tire, which generally ends up being quite resilient and largely nondiscretionary over time as well as significant infrastructure segments. And then finally, things that go into more consumer demand. So it's a fairly diverse portfolio. With respect to consumer demand, you would normally see some lag across our Performance Chemicals segment because the value chains end up there longer. There are often 4 or 5 steps between us and the ultimate consumer. And so you might see a lag there of a quarter or two before those impacts really show. I would say in Reinforcement Materials, weakness would tend to -- in consumer activity would tend to manifest a little bit faster. The value chains are a little more shallow. And so you would start to see that a little bit faster, generally maybe sort of within a quarter. So I would point out those differences between the two segments, which are really driven more by sort of the depth or length of the value chain.

Okay. Makes sense. And one last one. In terms of like the pass-through mechanism you have in reinforcement for raw materials, like how long is the gap? And like is there a lag between -- yes, how long is the lag? And also, is it the same up and down? Like do you get to keep it like longer when it's favorable to you? Or does it apply the same time frame?

Sure. You might recall that we have adjusted these formula mechanisms a number of years ago so that the pass-through matches the actual flow of the raw material. So there is no lag in our contract mechanisms. And then in the spot markets where we participate, we move quickly. As Erica commented in her remarks, we move quickly on pricing to make sure that we maintain our margins, and that's, in fact, what we're doing.

Our next question comes from the line of Laurence Alexander of Jefferies.

Two questions on Reinforcement Materials. One, can you give a sense for what's driving the mix tailwind into Q3 and how sustainable that should be? And secondly, can you give an update on how you're thinking about trade flows and the pressure from Asian imports into the U.S. market?

Yes, Laurence, the question on mix is largely a customer mix driven phenomenon. And so we would expect that to remain. So -- but that's largely what it is. In terms of the trade flows, I think there are -- it remains still a dynamic situation. Certainly, in North America, there's been some more, I would say, somewhat positive momentum here where if you look at tire imports over the last 6 months of reported data, so this would be from the September to February period, they're down 12% as compared to the 6 months prior to that. So I think a potential positive sign seeing some evidence of moderation in the tire imports into North America. So that's good. I would say Europe remains more mixed. There are antidumping measures that are under review right now in Europe, the expectation for determination is June, so next month. And so as is often the case when there are such dynamics at play, you can have a bit of movement or excess of inventory that might get shipped in advance of tires shipped in advance of the determination of those duties. So we'll have to see how that settles out. So it remains a dynamic situation, but some positive indications certainly in North America, and we're continuing to watch this and manage it and take appropriate actions where we see there are longer term trends emerging. Certainly, that's in part, influencing our decisions around our announced capacity rationalization.

Our next question comes from the line of Joshua Spector of UBS.

It's Chris Perrella on for Josh. Can you just take me through, I guess, the puts and takes of the Performance Chemicals performance in terms of mix shift? And is the 20% price increase that you guys have announced in March, is that across the entire segment? Or is that in specific value chains? And is that more about keeping up or maintaining margins? Or is there a potential for margin expansion there in the rest of the year?

Sure, Chris. So I would say the outperformance in Performance Chemicals was primarily driven by better volume and product mix, particularly in Specialty Carbons and Battery Materials, along with continued progress in optimization efforts here. So I think the mix uplift in Specialty Carbons and Battery Materials, we continue to be very positive about and continuing to grow those product lines, in particular in Battery Materials. We're seeing very, very strong growth here and have a leading position serving the global battery manufacturers and the expectation is that, that will continue. If you look at market forecast for growth driven by both battery energy storage, fueled by data center build-out, but also continued growth in EVs. The compound growth rate through the end of the decade is expected to be about 16%. So we would expect that, that lift would continue. With respect to the price increase question, the Specialty Carbons business has a mix of both contract and spot business, but I would say more spot, let's say, than typically in Reinforcement Materials. And so moving quickly on pricing is, of course, something that we do as part of managing this business. And with raw materials shooting up sharply and then associated costs, whether they're transportation costs, and other derivative costs, those are all moving up. And so the expectation is that we will recover and maintain our strong margins.

Our next question comes from the line of David Begleiter of Deutsche Bank.

Sean, nice results. So just in Battery Materials, what are your expectations for EBITDA margins this year? And as you scale the business up, how high can you go from a margin perspective in this business?

Yes, sure. Thanks, David, for that comment. In Battery Materials, I commented where our trailing 12-month EBITDA margins are at about 24%, and we think those are reflective of the high quality of this business. Certainly, as we look forward, we're thinking about the growth in this business compounding driven by a few different factors. One, of course, is just the overall volume. And as I had mentioned, the volume expectation is by the -- through the end of this decade that overall battery production will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 16%, and we would expect to certainly grow at or above given our overall strong portfolio and footprint. So the volume lever is certainly one. And then how we participate both with customers and applications is an important factor here. And we're very focused on partnering with the leading customers and the advanced products that they need. And so we're always looking to upgrade the mix as part of that by being very focused on our participation with customers and applications. And then finally, as you've heard me comment before, we believe the long term, this business really bifurcates -- right now, still 75-ish or so percent of batteries are produced in China today. And while China will remain a very, very important market for us and is the lion's share of our business today, the growth outside of China as gigafactories are built there, we believe, will be a positive for our business because we believe customers will look for local supply, and we believe we've got a unique ability given our global footprint relative to competition to serve our customers and meet their needs globally. And so building out the regional western part of this portfolio will be a driver of value here over time. On top of our core conductive materials, as I mentioned in my comments, we continue to look for ways to broaden our participation in this overall application. And so we sell fumed metal oxides today into the battery application and continue to work with customers to try to grow that application, particularly for cathode and separator coatings. And then finally, aerogel and thermal management, as you may have noticed, has been picking up in terms of demand for thermal management in batteries. And so our participation here is something that we're investing in to try to enhance our position there. So all of these factors are really kind of rolling together for, I think, what's an exciting trend for us in the battery business.

And just in Reinforcement Materials, can you talk to the 3% volume growth for the quarter? Was there any pre-buying? And especially in Europe, what's driving that positive inflection in volumes in Europe, Middle East and Africa thankyou.

Yes. So we're certainly pleased to see that volumes were up year-over-year, and they were up across all regions year-over-year. So I think that is positive. In the Reinforcement business, we really don't believe there was any real pre-buying in the quarter. There likely was a little bit of accelerated purchasing in Performance Chemicals in the quarter. But in Reinforcement Materials, we don't believe that to be the case. So in terms of the year-over-year, again, we did see growth across all three regions, which is positive, including in Europe, where we were up a few percent there. I think in some ways, there were some customer-specific opportunities that emerged where we were able to support customers and pick up some spot business. And so that was probably the largest driver. And then in North America, during the quarter, we began the production taking ownership of the New Mexico asset. And so there was some contribution from that in the quarter as that -- as we took over that asset. We'd certainly expect that to continue to ramp now that we own it fully and start to have full quarter impacts from that.

[Operator Instructions]. I would now like to turn the call back over to Sean Keohane for closing remarks. Sir?

Great. Thank you very much, Latif, and thank you all for joining today on our Q2 earnings call, and thank you for your support of Cabot, and we look forward to continuing our dialogue next quarter. Have a great day.

And this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.