MarineMax, Inc. (HZO) Q3 2026 Earnings Report, Transcript and Summary

Good day and welcome to the MarineMax, Inc. Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2026 Earnings Call. Today's call is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the call over to Scott Solomon of the company's investor relations firm, Sharon Merrill Advisors. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Operator, and good morning, everyone. Hosting today's call are Brett McGill, MarineMax's Chief Executive Officer and President, and Mike McLamb, the company's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Brett will begin the call by discussing MarineMax's operating performance, strategic priorities, and recent highlights. Mike will review the financial results and the company's fiscal 2026 financial guidance. Brett will make some concluding comments, and then management will be happy to take your questions. The earnings release and supplemental presentation associated with today's announcement can be found at investor.marinemax.com. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Mike. Mike?

Thank you, Scott. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining this call. I'd like to start by reminding you that certain of our comments are forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of today. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. These risks include, but are not limited to, the impact of seasonality and weather, global economic conditions and the level of consumer spending, the company's ability to capitalize on opportunities or grow its market share and numerous other factors identified in our most recently filed 10-K and 10-Q and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. On today's call, we will make comments referring to non-GAAP financial measures. We believe that the inclusion of these financial measures helps investors gain a meaningful understanding of the changes in the company's core operating results. These measures can also help investors who wish to make comparisons between MarineMax and other companies on both a GAAP and a non-GAAP basis. The reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures is available in today's earnings release. With that, let me turn the call over to Brett. Brett?

Thank you, Mike. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today to discuss our fiscal third quarter results. Before reviewing the quarter, I want to recognize our teams across MarineMax who make this company special. In each operation, we have such tenure and expertise that help ensure we are fulfilling our customers' needs while also driving results. As reflected in our industry-leading Net Promoter Scores, our teams work hard every day to deliver an exceptional customer experience. Whether we are helping a customer purchase their first boat, supporting them through service and marina operations or assisting with yacht brokerage, charter or finance and insurance, we strive to build lasting relationships at every stage of the journey. The customer-centric approach remains a meaningful competitive advantage and an important driver for our long-term success. Turning to our results. Our third quarter performance reflects the benefits of the diversified and resilient business we have built. As reflected in industry registration data, U.S. retail demand has remained challenged amid economic and geopolitical uncertainty with the premium end of the market generally being more resilient. In this environment, the strategic investments we have made to diversify our business, strengthen our operating capabilities and enhance the customer experience have helped to drive our performance. Perhaps the clearest evidence of the success of our strategy is the gross margin performance we delivered during the quarter. While market conditions weighed on revenue, gross margin increased 530 basis points to 35.7%. This result underscores the durability of our business model, supported by a premium product mix, disciplined inventory management and the growing contribution of high-margin, less cyclical revenue streams such as our brokerage, finance and insurance, marina operations, including IGY, our Super yachts division and our parts and service businesses. All these businesses performed well in the quarter, helping to offset lower boat revenue while driving growth in gross profit dollars. The actions we have taken to reduce inventory and maintain pricing discipline are also contributing to healthier boat margins and improved profitability. Consistent with prior comments, as industry inventory levels continue to normalize, we believe the margin environment should gradually become more favorable across the industry, particularly for well-capitalized dealers that have managed inventory responsibly. Together with our diversified business model, these dynamics support our ability to deliver attractive profitability across the cycle. In late June, supported by strong cash flow, a solid financial position and long-standing strong relationships with our lending partners, we successfully refinanced all of our term debt on improved terms, extended maturities to 2031 and further enhanced our financial flexibility. This positions us to execute our strategy with confidence, including selectively pursuing higher-margin growth opportunities aligned with our long-term objectives, while continuing to invest in initiatives that strengthen our market position and expand our premium product portfolio. During the quarter, we also launched an industry-leading certified preowned program to help capitalize on the strength and attractiveness of the used boat market. Late model pre-owned boats continue to be an excellent opportunity for individuals desiring the boating lifestyle. Thus far, the interest in the program is high and the initial successes reflect improved gross margins while providing excellent comfort to our customers. More recently, we announced a strategic partnership with NextBoat that expands the distribution opportunities for our financing and insurance offerings through our Newcoast Financial Services subsidiary. The partnership provides access to a broader network of pre-owned marine transactions and marketplace participants, creating additional avenues to grow one of our strategically important higher-margin businesses. Together, the CPO program and NextBoat announcements underscore how we are strengthening the MarineMax platform and sharpening our execution. These actions continue to enhance the quality and durability of our earnings stream. The marine market remains highly segmented, and that dynamic plays to our strengths. Demand has generally remained more resilient in premium categories where our industry-leading brands, customer relationships and service capabilities provide meaningful competitive advantages. While conditions remain challenging in some parts of the market, we continue to outperform broader industry trends in the categories that are most important to our business. And with that, let me turn the call over to Mike for the financial review. Mike?

Thank you, Brett. I also want to thank our teams across the globe for their efforts to strengthen our business while driving industry-leading performance. Third quarter revenue of $611 million reflected continued softness in boat sales across the industry. Same-store sales declined 7%, driven primarily by lower unit sales, although our performance was meaningfully better than that of the unit declines reported for the industry. Gross profit rose to $218 million for the quarter, despite lower boat sales due to strong gross margins of nearly 36%. As Brett noted, our margins were up 530 basis points over last year, reflecting the strength of our higher margin businesses and the progress we are making improving profitability across the business. For context, the tariff refund contributed approximately 110 basis points during the quarter. The remaining 420 basis points of improvement reflected a combination of stronger new and used boat margins and the growing contribution from our higher margin businesses. The third quarter marked the second consecutive quarter of improving boat margins, a positive development considering the current stage of the industry cycle. As we have commented on prior calls, as industry inventory normalizes, boat margins should rise. For the March and June quarters, that is what we experienced, with trends improving meaningfully on a sequential basis during the June quarter. SG&A expenses increased modestly year over year, excluding the items noted in the press release. The increase in expenses is largely a function of growth of our higher margin businesses, which naturally carry a higher operating expense structure, but also generate stronger margins and earnings than traditional boat sales. Interest expense declined driven by lower inventory levels and reduced borrowings, further reflecting our strong balance sheet and prudent capital management. Building on our improved profitability, adjusted EBITDA increased over 44% to $51 million from $35 million. Reported net income per diluted share was $0.66 compared with a loss of $2.42 last year, which included a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $69 million. Using the same estimated effective tax rate in both periods, adjusted diluted earnings per share improved to $0.81 from $0.05. Turning to our balance sheet, we ended the quarter with cash of almost $175 million. Inventories declined approximately $118 million from last June and are also down from the March quarter. Customer deposits at quarter end increased meaningfully from last year and modestly from March, an encouraging sign. Importantly, we completed the refinancing of our senior secured credit facilities during the quarter. Successfully refinancing the facilities on improved terms in the current environment reflects the confidence our lending group has in MarineMax, our operating performance, and our long-term strategy. Our continued focus on inventory reduction and cash flow generation contributed to improvement across all balance sheet metrics. We believe MarineMax remains well-positioned to navigate the current environment while continuing to pursue opportunities that enhance long-term value for our shareholders. Turning to guidance, after considering operating conditions, recent industry trends, retail performance, and other relevant factors, we are reaffirming our fiscal 2026 expectation for adjusted EBITDA for the year to be in the range of $110 million to $125 million, and adjusted net income to be in the range of approximately $0.40 to $0.95 per diluted share. This outlook reflects our disciplined approach to the current environment and the progress we are making in shifting our business mix towards higher margin, recurring, and service-oriented revenue streams. At the industry level, based on continued industry softness, especially in the meaningful June quarter, we now anticipate industry unit volumes will finish the year down, as much as the mid-single-digit range. Same-store sales for fiscal 2026 are now expected to be down and likely in the same ballpark, reflecting continued macroeconomic uncertainty and a slower pace of retail recovery than anticipated earlier in the year. Although industry inventory levels are improving, retail conditions remain competitive and promotional activity, while moderating, remains elevated. We believe that continued normalization of inventory is an important positive development that should support a healthier operating environment over time. We now expect our full-year tax rate to be in the range of the mid-30s, and expect our diluted share count to approximate 22.9 million shares. These estimates exclude the impact of any material acquisitions or other unexpected events, including changes in the broader global economic environment. As for July, trends have remained consistent with what we experienced in May and June. Demand continues to be uneven with periods of stronger activity followed by softer stretches. Based on what we see today, we believe July will finish with positive same-store sales. However, the final days of the month remain important as they always do in our business. Regardless though of how the month concludes on boat sales, we remain confident that our higher margin businesses will continue to perform well. And now I'll turn the call back over to Brett for closing comments. Brett?

Thanks, Mike. While macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty remains a factor across our industry, we are encouraged by the continued performance of our higher-margin businesses, the strength of our financial position and the progress being made across the industry toward more normalized inventory levels. As challenging as conditions have been at times, customer engagement and participation reinforce the enduring appeal of the boating lifestyle. The investments we've made to broaden and diversify MarineMax, combined with disciplined execution and prudent capital allocation positions us well to manage through the current cycle while remaining focused on long-term value creation. And now Mike and I would be happy to take your questions. So operator, please open up the line for Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Mike Albanese with The Benchmark.

I just wanted to ask about gross margins. And if we exclude the 110 basis points from the tariff refunds, can you just kind of bifurcate between the remaining 400, I think 420 basis points as a result of improving boat margins versus higher margin service mix?

Hey, thanks, Mike. And by the way, I'll mention we're having a little bit of issues on the call. I think I heard your question. You want to know kind of how does it break down between how the improvement in gross margins, the 420 basis points, how does it break down between growth and higher margin businesses and boat sales?

Yes. Correct.

Good question. Yes. All the higher-margin businesses continue to perform really well. And when I say that, I mean service at a store, parts at a store, finance and insurance in a store, the marinas, the stores have, obviously, super yachts, IGY are performing well. Newcoast Financial Services, they're all performing really pretty well. But this quarter, what's nice to see is as the industry inventory normalizes, boat margins themselves have really improved a lot. Of the 430 basis points or 420, excuse me, on my math, it's roughly 60% is from growth in higher-margin businesses and a little bit of mix and about 40%, maybe a little bit more than that is improvement in boat margins. So if you actually do the math, you'll see that we had something like 175 basis points, maybe a 200-point improvement in the underlying boat margins themselves this quarter versus a year ago. And if you remember, we've been saying for a while, as industry inventories normalize, the real upside even in a choppy environment is having boat margins begin to recover. We still got a ways to go to get back to pre-COVID levels of '17, '18, '19. But it's good to see in the March quarter, we had very modest improvements. And now in the June quarter, we had much more substantial improvement.

And I'll add to that a little bit. Mike said something at the beginning, our parts and service businesses within our stores is performing well. And, you know, in prior decades or other times when we've had down sales environments or tough economic backdrop, although parts and service do well, they kind of flow down also. But in this environment, we're seeing people using their boats, getting out on the water, and they're spending money with our service and parts departments at growing levels, which is nice to see.

That's great context, thank you. And I'll ask just a quick follow-up. I guess two quick ones, but relevant to what we were just talking about. First, in terms of boat margins, and I'm sure it differs, you know, segment to segment, so maybe just talk in a blended sense here. You know, where are you seeing boat margins relative to those pre-COVID levels? And then just quickly on the recurring higher margin service pieces of the business. Obviously, there's a few within that. Are they all growing when you say performing well, can you just provide a little more context into what exactly that means? Thank you.

Yes, I can address the boat margin piece. We've been saying on these calls of the last probably 4 or 5 quarters that margins are 300 to 400 points below pre-COVID averages of '17, '18, '19, thereabouts, call it 300 points, 350 points. And let's say we're up 175. So we got, you know, another 175 to go or there or something like that. But this is just one quarter. All the other quarters in the year were not up, they were down, except for the March quarter, which was up a little bit. So for one quarter, we've seen nice improvement. We would expect margin improvement in an environment where industry inventory continues to normalize. That's kind of a longer term outlook. Do you want to comment?

I was just going to say the higher margin businesses are expanding. It's not a blanket statement across the board, but they are expanding.

Our next question comes from the line of Brandon Rolle with Loop Capital Markets. Brandon Roll? : First, just on the product manufacturing side, it seems like from an operating profit standpoint, you started to almost break a profit there. How do you feel about that business heading into fiscal year '27? Is it reasonable to think that business could potentially break even or even be profitable given inventory levels that you said have started to rightsize?

Yes. Thanks, Brandon. Yes, we've kind of set a plan in place. We kind of reset things, started a new model refresh in both brands that are coming along pretty well. And yes, that trajectory, we kind of said would start to kind of tick up at the end of this fiscal year and should carry through to next year as well. Brandon Roll? : Okay. Great. And then just on the used boat market, could you just talk about what you're seeing there in terms of used boat inventory demand and maybe how that's helping out maybe your used sales?

Yes, I can comment. I mean late model used boats are pretty hot commodity. People like them, which is our trades that we take. Obviously, I think Brett mentioned in his prepared remarks, we did launch our certified preowned program this quarter, and it's early days, but the certified preowned program boats are being well received and margin improvement is being measured in that type of product also. But used boats are doing well now. Turns are improving, margins are improving.

I'd say we've had a marked increase -- usually when you launch programs like this or something new, you need several laps around the track to kind of find out what's going on. We've seen early success. Some market timing, but some is truly attributable to the program that we launched. So we're happy with the early success of the program, and we'll see it expand. Brandon Roll? : Okay. And just finally, just on your appetite for new inventory moving forward as we move to a slower period of retail in the year. Could you just touch on maybe which categories you will have stronger demand for and just kind of your overall inventory level or your desired inventory levels in the off-season?

If I heard you right, and I apologize, we're having a little bit of a connectivity issue. But yes, I think we're watching inventory trends very carefully and managing our order pipeline very carefully subject to what we're seeing at retail levels. Obviously, for the industry, April, May and the June quarter overall was not as strong as people were expecting. So when you see a quarter like that, which is an important quarter, you're obviously adjusting your orders to try to meet -- your inventory to try to meet what you're seeing at retail. I'd say, overall, there are certainly pockets that are outperforming other segments of the industry, and we just -- we order accordingly when we're looking at trends, if I'm addressing your question properly, Brandon. Brandon Roll? : No, that addressed it. Thank you.

Our next question comes from the line of Joe Altobello with Raymond James.

First question on guidance. You obviously left it unchanged in terms of EBITDA and EPS, but took down your industry outlook, took down your same-store sales outlook. What are some of the offsets that you're seeing that are allowing you to kind of stay within your prior guidance? Or should we assume that the lower end of those ranges are probably more realistic at this point?

Good question, Joe. And I would tell you, the industry has been volatile, as you know. I mean we did not expect the June quarter to turn out the way it did. We do have periods where trends are strong and followed by periods of weakness. If we can string together a couple of months in the June quarter that are stronger than, than maybe the June quarter was along with decent margins overall, it's -- the math would tell you we're going to be on the higher side of guidance. The inverse of that is true. If we keep sledging through the industry here and trends are down, and we're still seeing some margin -- some margin improvement, we'll be on the lower end of the guidance. And in all those scenarios, as I said on the call, we're pretty confident the higher-margin businesses in our stores and outside of our stores are going to keep doing very well.

Yes. And Joe, we like how July was kind of starting here, but we've seen that before in the early part of the summer and things going on in the Middle East, it sounds like an excuse, but that uncertainty does, we see it move things meaningfully at the stores. So just we got to keep the momentum going here through. August, which is a tough month, back-to-school and so on. So...

Got it, very helpful. And maybe just to follow up on that, I think both you, Brett, and Mike refer to higher margin growth opportunities now that the refinancing is behind you. Could you elaborate on what those might be?

Joe, can you repeat that question? We did not hear the first part of your question. I apologize.

Yes, sure. Both you and Brett talked about higher margin growth opportunities now that the refinancing is behind you. Can you elaborate on some of those, what they might look like?

Growth opportunities? I could make a comment in general. We always have an active acquisition pipeline, which we do. Obviously, as dealer earnings have been lackluster, most of the dealers we're talking to aren't real excited about selling off of very low earnings. As we begin to see margins improve, you know, we believe the entire industry is beginning to see margins improve, which should be good for earnings. The comments also tied to the flexibility we have with our refinanced facility, and also the confidence that our lenders have and the extension of the maturity of the debt, it just opens the door to be a little more selective and creative on the pipeline that we have.

Our next question comes from the line of Gregory Miller with Truist Securities.

This is actually a related question to what Joe asked. I'm hoping you can provide a little more context in terms of dealership health, particularly for the mom-and-pop.

Operator, we're not picking up on the audio here. If you can hear this, Greg, can you repeat that?

Sure, can you hear me better now?

Yes, we can. Yes, thank you.

Okay, sorry about that. This question is fairly similar to Joe's. I'm curious if you could provide some more context in terms of dealership health, particularly for the mom-and-pops. Do you expect any more dealer consolidation or closings?

Yes. Just repeat the last part of that question, Greg. We may have to dial back in. Yes, we're unfortunately not getting all the questions.

I'll try one more time and maybe I'll shoot you an email. Are you expecting any more dealer consolidation or closings, particularly from the mom-and-pops?

Great question. I would think that if we would have seen closings by now, I would think where industry inventory levels are normalizing and margins are beginning to improve, I think probably the worst of the closings would be behind us. Brett, what do you think?

Yes, unless things soften. Yes, we're here and people got inventories corrected, so that's a good sign. I mean, there's always something here or there, but I think we're in good shape as an industry.

And as for my second question, could you provide a little more granularity in terms of how value versus premium boat sales...

Thank you, Greg. Can you hear me?

I'll try to repeat it. I was wondering if you could provide a breakout in terms of how value and premium boat sales have been trending in the last couple of months, and if you're seeing any positive surprises in terms of changing trends for improvement to the value space?

Hey, operator, I think we've gotten disconnected somehow. Can you hear us?

No, I can hear you. I'm not sure why you're not able to hear Mr. Miller's second question. Do you want him to try again?

Can you hear me?

Can you hear me? Ladies and gentlemen, it seems we're having some technical difficulties. Please stand by a moment. I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, it seems that we have technical difficulties, but we'll need to end the call at this time. We thank you for your participation.