Eastman Kodak (KODK) Earnings Call Q3 2026: AMC-Wachstum treibt Umsatz- und Gewinnzuwächse

Kernaussagen

• Eastman Kodak meldete für das 3. Quartal 2026 einen Umsatz von 276 Mio. US-Dollar, was einem Anstieg von 3 % gegenüber dem Vorjahr entspricht, während das Bruttoergebnis um 7 % auf 73 Mio. US-Dollar stieg.
• Das GAAP-Nettoergebnis stieg um 62 % auf 21 Mio. US-Dollar. Das operative EBITDA erhöhte sich von 29 Mio. US-Dollar im Vorjahreszeitraum auf 31 Mio. US-Dollar.
• Advanced Materials & Chemicals blieb der Hauptwachstumstreiber. Der Segmentumsatz stieg um 21 % auf 99 Mio. US-Dollar und machte 36 % des Gesamtumsatzes aus.
• Der Umsatz im Bereich Print sank um 7 % auf 165 Mio. US-Dollar, was die Rohstoffpreise und -verfügbarkeit, die digitale Substitution, den Preiswettbewerbsdruck und Herausforderungen in Europa widerspiegelt.
• Kodak erwirtschaftete im Laufe des Quartals 27 Mio. US-Dollar an liquiden Mitteln und schloss den Stichtag 30. September 2026 mit 317 Mio. US-Dollar an freien liquiden Mitteln sowie einer Netto-Cash-Position von 207 Mio. US-Dollar ab.
• Das Management erklärte, weiterhin in Advanced Materials & Chemicals sowie in gezielte Chancen im Druckbereich zu investieren und sich gleichzeitig auf eine kontinuierliche Cash-Generierung und profitables Wachstum zu konzentrieren.

Wichtige Finanzdaten

In den ersten neun Monaten des Jahres 2026 stieg der Umsatz um 9 % auf 852 Mio. US-Dollar. Das Bruttoergebnis kletterte um 28 % auf 212 Mio. US-Dollar, wodurch die Bruttomarge von 21 % auf 25 % anstieg. Kodak erzielte ein GAAP-Nettoergebnis von 22 Mio. US-Dollar nach einem Verlust von 20 Mio. US-Dollar im Vorjahreszeitraum, während das operative EBITDA um 42 Mio. US-Dollar auf 82 Mio. US-Dollar zulegte.

Geschäftliche und operative Entwicklung

Advanced Materials & Chemicals

Auf den Bereich Advanced Materials & Chemicals entfiel rund ein Drittel des Umsatzes im 3. Quartal und mehr als die Hälfte des operativen EBITDA. Das Wachstum spiegelt höhere Volumina und eine verbesserte Profitabilität im gesamten Segment wider.

Kodak baute den Direktvertrieb von Filmen weiter aus und verzeichnete anhaltendes Wachstum im Bereich Kinofilme (Motion Picture Film). Im Pharmabereich startete das Unternehmen den Kodak Pharmaceutical Webstore, ergänzte das Portfolio um ein Kochsalzprodukt und arbeitete weiter an der Class-2-Zertifizierung für komplexere, höhermargige Produkte.

Zudem investiert das Unternehmen in Kapazitäten zur Elektrodenbeschichtung und nutzt seine Pilot-Beschichtungsanlage, um Batteriekunden bei der Skalierung neuer Technologien zu unterstützen.

Print

Der Umsatz im Segment Print fiel im Jahresvergleich um 12 Mio. US-Dollar. Das Management führte den Rückgang auf höhere Rohstoffpreise, Lieferverfügbarkeit, digitale Substitution, Preiswettbewerb und ein ungleiches Wettbewerbsumfeld in Europa zurück.

Kodak gab an, dass das Geschäft in ausgewählten Märkten – insbesondere in den USA – weiter gewachsen sei, und bekräftigte sein Engagement im Druckbereich. Das Management erwartet zudem, dass Eindrucksysteme signifikante Beiträge zum Digitalgeschäft leisten werden.

Bilanz und Cashflow

Kodak teilte mit, dass sich die Liquidität im Jahresvergleich nahezu verdoppelt hat, während die Verschuldung um rund 400 Mio. US-Dollar gesunken ist. Das operative EBITDA der letzten zwölf Monate hat sich auf 104 Mio. US-Dollar mehr als verdoppelt.

Die freien liquiden Mittel verringerten sich gegenüber Ende 2025 um 20 Mio. US-Dollar, was hauptsächlich auf erforderliche Tilgungen von Laufzeitdarlehen in Höhe von 101 Mio. US-Dollar und Investitionen von 18 Mio. US-Dollar zurückzuführen war. Diesen Abflüssen standen Erlöse aus der Einlösung von KRIP-Anlagevermögen in Höhe von 93 Mio. US-Dollar sowie eine verbesserte operative Profitabilität teilweise gegenüber.

Risiken und Belastungsfaktoren

• Der Bereich Print bleibt anfällig für digitale Substitution, Rohstoffpreise und -verfügbarkeit, Preiswettbewerbsdruck und Herausforderungen im europäischen Markt.
• Höhere Rohstoffkosten und gestiegene Herstellungskosten im Bereich Advanced Materials & Chemicals machten die operativen Gewinne teilweise zunichte.
• Höhere Silber- und Aluminiumkosten erhöhten den vorratsbedingten Cash-Bedarf.
• Die Vertriebs- und Verwaltungskosten (SG&A) stiegen, was in erster Linie auf höhere aktienbasierte Vergütungen und Änderungen bei den Rückstellungen für Mitarbeiterleistungen zurückzuführen war.

Vollständiges Transkript des Earnings Calls

Vollständiges Transkript der Telefonkonferenz

Ausführungen des Managements

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the Eastman Kodak Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions].

Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker, Denisse Goldbarg. Please go ahead.

Denisse Goldbarg

Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. I am Denisse Goldbarg, Head of Investor Relations for Eastman Kodak Company. Welcome to Kodak's Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. At 4:15 this afternoon, Kodak filed its Form 10-Q and issued its release on financial results for the third quarter of 2026. You may access the presentation and other materials and the webcast for today's call on our investor center at investor.kodak.com.

During today's conference call, we will be making certain forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We intend for these forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Investors are cautioned not to unduly rely on forward-looking statements and such statements should not be read or understood as a guarantee of future performance or results. All forward-looking statements are based upon Kodak's expectations and various assumptions. Future events or results may differ from those anticipated or expressed in the forward-looking statements.

Important factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include, among others, the risks, uncertainties and other factors described in more detail in Kodak's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. All forward-looking statements attributable to Kodak or persons acting on its behalf only apply as of the date of this presentation and are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements included or referenced in this presentation. Kodak undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

In addition, the release just issued and the presentation provided contains certain measures that are deemed non-GAAP measures. Reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures have been provided with the release and within the presentation on our website in our Investor Center at investor.kodak.com.

Speakers on today's call are Jim Continenza, Kodak's Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and David Bullwinkle, Kodak's Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President. We will not be holding a formal Q&A during today's call. As always, the Investor Relations team is available for follow-up.

I will now turn the call over to Jim. Thank you, and have a great day.

James Continenza

Welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining the Third Quarter 2026 Investor Call for Eastman Kodak. Kodak continues to deliver strong performance. We continue to execute our long-term plan, delivering year-over-year improvements in key metrics, including revenue, gross profit and operational EBITDA.

Let me give you some highlights for the third quarter 2026. Consolidated revenues of $276 million compared with $269 million for quarter 3 2025, an increase of $7 million or 3%. The gross profit of $73 million compared with $68 million for third quarter 2025, an increase of $5 million or 7%. One of our key metrics, operational EBITDA of $31 million compared with $29 million for third quarter 2025, an increase of $2 million. And extremely important, we generated $27 million of cash in third quarter 2026.

Moving on to Advanced Materials and Chemicals, AMC, as we like to refer. AMC, as planned, has become the company's growth engine. We've invested heavily in AMC over the last several years, and we're starting to see returns for those investments. Advanced Materials & Chemicals, revenue of $99 million compared with $82 million for third quarter 2025, an increase of $17 million or 21%. Today, the business accounts for approximately 1/3 of our revenue and approximately more than half of our operational EBITDA. It's a big turnaround and a great investment and have done an outstanding job of operating that business.

Some highlights, still film. We now offer a wide range of Kodak film sold directly to distributors, which have sold well as expected. We continue to see growth in motion picture film. Film continues to be the capture medium of choice for major features, including recently released Sense and Sensibility and Digger starring Tom Cruise, shot on Kodak film in VistaVision format.

Pharma announced the launch of our Kodak Pharmaceutical webstore and the addition of a new saline product. We continue to work towards obtaining Class 2 certification, to manufacturing more complex, higher-margin products. Battery coating, investing in capacity to coat electrodes at a large scale using the pilot coating facility to help customers scale to new technologies.

Moving on to highlight commercial print business. Print revenues were $165 million compared with $177 million in third quarter 2025, a decrease of $12 million or 7%. The decline is primarily due to challenges from higher prices and availability of raw materials. Digital substitution, competitive pricing pressure, and an uneven playing field in Europe. As we continue to focus on more profitable businesses, the print business is performing as expected. We've experienced growth in other parts of the world and particularly in the United States. It has delivered solid performance year-over-year year-to-date. We remain committed to the print business. We stated before, we'll say it again, it's our intent to be the last manufacturer standing in place in our digital business, we expect our imprinting systems business to make significant contributions.

Now let me turn it over to Dave for the third quarter financial results.

David Bullwinkle

Thanks, Jim, and welcome to the call, everybody. Thank you for joining us today. This afternoon, the company filed its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026. As I have done consistently, I encourage you to review the filing in its entirety along with today's earnings release, which provides additional detail on the results and metrics discussed during this call.

Let's begin with the financial highlights for the third quarter of 2026. Our revenue was $276 million, up $7 million or 3% driven by strong growth in Advanced Materials & Chemicals. AMC contributed 36% of the company's revenue for the quarter, up from 30% in the prior year quarter. Our gross profit increased $5 million or 7% to $73 million, driven by improved pricing and product mix and higher volumes in Advanced Materials & Chemicals and brand, partially offset by lower print volumes and increased manufacturing costs.

Our gross profit percentage was 26% compared with 25% in the prior year quarter. Our GAAP net income increased $8 million or 62% to $21 million driven by lower interest expense resulting from the significant reduction in our term loan debt over the past 12 months, operational improvements resulting in higher gross profit, partially offset by higher SG&A costs primarily related to increased equity compensation and changes in employee benefit accruals. Our operational EBITDA increased $2 million to $31 million, driven by profitability improvements and higher volumes in Advanced Materials & Chemicals, which more than offset higher commodity and SG&A costs.

Moving on to our year-to-date results for the first 9 months of 2026. We reported revenue of $852 million, up $73 million or 9% from the prior year period. Currency fluctuations had a $5 million favorable impact on revenue. Revenue reflects growth in all of our segments, led by 21% growth in the AMC segment. Our gross profit increased $47 million or 28% to $212 million primarily driven by improved pricing and product mix, higher volumes and lower print manufacturing costs, partially offset by higher commodity costs and increased manufacturing costs for Advanced Materials & Chemicals.

Our gross profit percentage was 25% compared with 21% in the prior year period. That is a 4 percentage point improvement versus 2025 or approximately 19% improvement in gross profit margin. Year-to-date, GAAP net income was $22 million compared with a $20 million GAAP net loss in the prior year period, an improvement of $42 million. This was primarily driven by higher operating earnings, lower interest expense from the term loan debt reduction and lower other charges net due to the absence of asset impairment charges, partially offset by lower noncash pension income following the KRIP pension plan termination. The company's operational EBITDA increased by $42 million to $82 million, primarily driven by the significant improvement in gross profit through the company's smart revenue approach which again more than offset higher SG&A expenses.

The results for the third quarter and first 9 months of 2026 reflect the return on investments we have been making over the past several years to improve the company's operations and infrastructure. Jim has described many of our operational improvements. As an example of the impact of our infrastructure improvements, we have gained efficiencies in our reporting processes through more automation and centralization, allowing us to take a week out of our reporting time line, which means quicker and better decision-making. We will continue our efforts to improve the functions supporting our operations.

To further illustrate the impacts of the team's efforts over the last several years, I would also like to call your attention to our Capital Management Scorecard, which we have provided on the Investor Center as part of our Q3 earnings information. The metrics provided are intended to illustrate the significant improvement in the health of both our balance sheet and our operations. Each metric presented shows impressive improvement on a year-over-year basis. For example, our liquidity has almost doubled compared with this time in 2025. At the same time, we have shrunk debt levels by approximately $400 million.

On top of the strength of the balance sheet, our operational EBITDA has more than doubled over the trailing 12 months to $104 million and the company's free cash flow has improved, which provides us with the opportunity to continue to invest in growth, as Jim has highlighted.

I'll close with a brief update on our cash and liquidity position as of September 30, 2026. We ended the third quarter with $317 million of unrestricted cash up $27 million from June 30, 2026 driven primarily by improved operating profitability. Cash decreased by $20 million from year-end 2025. However, this decline primarily reflects required term loan repayments of $101 million made during 2026 and $18 million in capital expenditures, partially offset by $93 million in cash proceeds received from the redemption of KRIP investment assets and cash used from an increase in inventories driven by silver and aluminum cost increases.

Restricted cash, supporting both our undiscounted actuarial workers' compensation obligations with the New York State Workers' Compensation Board and our letter of credit facility agreement decreased by $14 million from year-end 2025, primarily due to lower cash collateral requirements. These reductions were created in part by the strengthening of Kodak's balance sheet and the reduction of our term loan debt. We continue to pursue opportunities to further reduce restrictions on cash.

Last, our net cash position increased by $79 million to $207 million as of September 30, 2026, compared with $128 million at year-end 2025, reflecting the company's reduction of debt. We are very comfortable with our debt levels and the ability of the company to generate cash as we continue to execute on our long-term plan.

Thank you for your time. I will now turn the call back over to Jim.

James Continenza

Thank you, Dave. Let me just give a summary again on the third quarter 2026, right? As we highlighted earlier, Kodak generated $27 million for the quarter in cash. Our consolidated revenues were up 3% year-over-year. Our gross profit was up 7% year-over-year. Operational EBITDA of $2 million. Our 3 core businesses continue to contribute to our growth in Advanced Materials & Chemicals, print and brand licensing.

In summary, Kodak has built a stable, growing business and continue to deliver strong year-over-year performance and improvements. In these challenging times, we are continuing to generate cash, which strengthens our balance sheet and is an indicator of our operational strength. We continue to invest in AMC, and it is emerging as a growth engine as we have indicated it would. We will continue to look at ways to accelerate profitable growth. We continue to invest in print, which continues to perform in targeted areas globally. Our goal achieved consistent cash generation, deliver on our long-term plan, continue to create shareholder value, care for our employees and always put the customer first.

I'd like to thank all of our employees, our customers, and our investors and shareholders and directors for all their support. Thank you very much, and have a good night.

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect.