CPS Technologies (CPSH) Telefonkonferenz zum 3. Quartal 2026: Rekordumsatz, Margenausweitung

Wichtigste Erkenntnisse

• CPS Technologies verzeichnete im 3. Quartal des Geschäftsjahres 2026 einen Rekordumsatz von 8,9 Mio. US-Dollar, verglichen mit 8,8 Mio. US-Dollar im Vorjahreszeitraum und einem Anstieg gegenüber dem Vorquartal.
• Die Bruttomarge erreichte 20,9 % nach 17,1 % im 3. Quartal des Geschäftsjahres 2025 und 14,8 % im 2. Quartal 2026. Das Management führte die Verbesserung auf Preisanpassungen und operative Effizienz zurück.
• Der Nettogewinn stieg von rund 200.000 US-Dollar bzw. 0,01 US-Dollar je Aktie im Vorjahreszeitraum auf rund 350.000 US-Dollar bzw. 0,02 US-Dollar je Aktie.
• Die liquiden Mittel und Wertpapiere beliefen sich zum Quartalsende auf insgesamt 18,4 Mio. US-Dollar. CPS wies keinerlei Finanzverbindlichkeiten auf, während die Vorräte im Zuge der Vorbereitungen auf den Standortwechsel auf 10,3 Mio. US-Dollar stiegen.
• Das Management rechnet mit einem weiterhin vergleichbaren Auslieferungstempo, gestützt auf den Auftragsbestand, eine stabile Nachfrage seitens des größten Kunden sowie eine starke Nachfrage nach hermetischen Gehäusen.
• CPS geht davon aus, dass die Ausbau- und Umzugskosten für den neuen, 80.000 Quadratfuß großen Standort in Attleboro um maximal 10 % vom Nettoerlös der Kapitalerhöhung im Mai in Höhe von 9 Mio. US-Dollar abweichen werden.

Wichtigste Finanzdaten

Geschäfts- und operative Entwicklung

Die Nachfrage nach Metal-Matrix-Verbundwerkstoffprodukten bleibt der Haupttreiber für den Kapazitätsausbau von CPS Technologies. Das Unternehmen sicherte sich weitere Großaufträge von seinem größten Kunden, einem multinationalen Halbleiterhersteller. Die vertragliche Nachfrage entspricht den Lieferungen an diesen Kunden in den vergangenen 12 Monaten. Komponenten von CPS werden in Systemen für Hochgeschwindigkeitszüge, die Energieversorgung und die Netzinfrastruktur eingesetzt.

Auch bei hermetischen Gehäusen verzeichnete das Unternehmen eine starke Nachfrage aus den Bereichen Luft- und Raumfahrt, Verteidigung sowie KI-Infrastruktur. Laut Management hat diese Nachfrage zum Umsatz im 3. Quartal des Geschäftsjahres beigetragen und dürfte sich fortsetzen.

CPS erhielt den ersten Auftrag eines Rüstungsunternehmens für Wolframlegierungskomponenten, die mit dem unternehmenseigenen QuickSet Injection Molding (QIM)-Verfahren hergestellt werden. Das Unternehmen geht davon aus, den Verteidigungsauftrag noch vor Jahresende zu erfüllen. Das Management sieht in der Fähigkeit, größere endkonturnahe Bauteile mit weniger Nachbearbeitung herzustellen, eine potenzielle Quelle für künftiges Umsatzwachstum.

Das mit 1,15 Mio. US-Dollar dotierte DEVCOM-STTR-Programm der U.S. Army, das auf die skalierbare Produktion eines 40-Millimeter-Wolfram-Sprengkopfs mit kontrollierter Splitterwirkung ausgerichtet ist, liegt weiterhin voll im Zeitplan bis September 2027.

CPS und Kinetic Protection warten zudem auf mögliche Aufträge im Zusammenhang mit vom US-Kongress finanzierten HybridTech Armor-Installationen auf einer kleinen Anzahl von Zerstörerschiffen der U.S. Navy. Unabhängig davon wird die von der Navy finanzierte Forschung zur Gewichtsreduzierung des Amphibious Combat Vehicle unter Verwendung von HybridTech Armor und AlMax-Materialien fortgeführt.

Ausblick des Managements

Das Management rechnet mit einem weiterhin ähnlichen Auslieferungstempo und verweist dabei auf einen starken Auftragsbestand sowie verbesserte Wachstumsaussichten für das Geschäftsjahr 2027 und darüber hinaus. Es wurde keine spezifische Umsatz- oder Margenprognose abgegeben.

Der neue Standort des Unternehmens in Attleboro, Massachusetts, umfasst 80.000 Quadratfuß und verdoppelt damit die bisherige Fläche. Die Ausbauarbeiten werden voraussichtlich bis ins 4. Quartal 2027 andauern, wobei CPS eine Teilnutzung prüft, um bereits früher im Jahr 2027 mit dem Umzug zu beginnen. Der aktuelle Mietvertrag in Norton läuft Ende Februar 2028 aus.

CPS schätzt, dass der eigene Anteil an den Ausbau-, Aufrüst- und Umzugskosten innerhalb einer Spanne von +/- 10 % um den Nettoerlös von 9 Mio. US-Dollar aus dem registriierten Direktangebot vom Mai 2026 liegen wird. Vom Vermieter finanzierte Gebäudeverbesserungen sind in dieser Schätzung nicht enthalten.

Das Unternehmen wird ab dem 1. Juni 2027 bestimmte Nebenkosten und Steuern zahlen, während die Mietzahlungen am 1. Dezember 2027 beginnen. CPS geht davon aus, einen Großteil der für den Umzug aufgebauten Vorräte während des Standortwechsels wieder in liquide Mittel umzuwandeln, was die Barausgaben teilweise ausgleicht.

Risiken und Beobachtungspunkte

• Genehmigungen und die detaillierte Ausführungsplanung bleiben kurzfristige Hürden für den Ausbau in Attleboro. Laut Management sind die Arbeiten umfangreich und werden mehrere Monate in Anspruch nehmen.
• CPS leidet am aktuellen Standort weiterhin unter Flächen- und Kapazitätsbeschränkungen, insbesondere bei der Herstellung von Metal-Matrix-Verbundwerkstoffen.
• Die Vorräte stiegen seit Anfang 2026 um 4,7 Mio. US-Dollar. Laut Management wurden in diesem Jahr mehr als 4,5 Mio. US-Dollar an liquiden Mitteln für den Aufbau umzugsbedingter Vorräte verwendet.
• Der neue Mietvertrag führte im 3. Quartal des Geschäftsjahres gemäß Accounting Standard 842 zu unbaren Aufwendungen von 88.000 US-Dollar und wird die ausgewiesenen Aufwendungen bis zum Beginn der Barmietzahlungen weiterhin belasten.
• Das Management nannte geopolitische Konflikte, die wirtschaftliche Lage, die Marktnachfrage sowie Wettbewerbsfaktoren als Unsicherheiten, die die Ergebnisse beeinflussen könnten.

Highlights aus der Fragerunde der Analysten

Das Management gab an, dass höhere Materialkosten teilweise durch Preisanpassungen ausgeglichen wurden. Gestiegene Goldkosten werden direkt an die Kunden weitergegeben, während breiter angelegte Preismaßnahmen und operative Effizienzsteigerungen die Ausweitung der Bruttomarge unterstützten.

CPS hat Investitionen identifiziert, die auf eine Erhöhung der Produktionskapazität abzielen. Der Zeitpunkt der Anschaffungen wird mit dem Zeitplan des Standorts abgestimmt, sodass die Anlagen an den neuen Standort geliefert werden können. Die Aufteilung sieht zudem Flächen für zusätzliche Kapazitäten vor, falls die zukünftige Nachfrage dies erfordert.

Zur Kommerzialisierung von QIM erklärte das Management, dass sich die Kundenqualifizierung im Allgemeinen auf die Materialqualität und die Bauteilabmessungen konzentrieren kann anstatt auf langwierige Prüfzyklen durch Dritte. CPS führt Gespräche mit potenziellen Kunden über größere Komponenten aus Wolframlegierungen und erwartet, dass QIM einen wichtigen Beitrag zum Umsatzwachstum leisten wird.

Vollständiges Transkript der Telefonkonferenz zu den Quartalsergebnissen

Vollständiges Transkript der Telefonkonferenz

Ausführungen des Managements

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to the CPS Technologies Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions]

It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Chris Fraser, CFO for CPS. The floor is yours.

Christopher Fraser

Thank you, Sylvie, and good morning, everyone. Today, I'm joined by Brian Mackey, our President and CEO. We look forward to discussing our third quarter results with you. But first, Chris Witty, our Investor Relations advisor, will provide a brief Safe Harbor statement. Chris?

Chris Witty

Thanks, Chris, and good morning, everyone. Before we begin the business portion of today's call, I would like to point out that statements in this conference call that are not strictly historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and should be considered as subject to the many uncertainties that exist in CPS's operations and environment.

These uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, other geopolitical events, economic conditions, market demands, and competitive factors. Such factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in any forward-looking statement. Additional information can be found in our filings with the SEC.

Now I'll turn the call over to Brian to offer his perspective on the quarter, after which Chris Fraser will review the financial results in greater detail. Brian?

Brian Mackey

Thank you, Chris, and good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us today.

I'm pleased to report that third quarter revenue rose to $8.9 million this year, up sequentially as well as year-over-year. This sets a new quarterly record for the company for revenue as we continue to benefit from higher demand and increased production volumes.

At the same time, gross margins rose significantly to 20.9% versus the second quarter's 14.8% and last year's 17.1%. We're very encouraged by the positive momentum we are generating in terms of our growth and overall performance and by the fact that we're on track to move into our new facility during fiscal 2027.

I'll come back and talk more about this in a moment. But first, I'd like to turn the call over to Chris to provide further details about our financial results. Chris?

Christopher Fraser

Thank you, Brian. As we just stated, CPS reported revenue of $8.9 million for the period compared with $8.8 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2025. We anticipate shipments to continue at a similar pace going forward, given our strong book of business and improved growth outlook, positioning us well for fiscal 2027 and beyond.

We reported gross profit of $1.9 million or 20.9% of revenue versus $1.5 million or 17.1% of revenue in fiscal 2025 third quarter, with this year-over-year increase driven by enhanced economics and operational improvements. And our gross margin expanded over 600 basis points from Q2 to the best level in over 3 years.

Selling, general, and administrative, or SG&A, expenses totaled $1.5 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2026, including $88,000 of noncash charges relating to our new lease to make our lease cost consistent over its 12-year term versus SG&A costs of $1.2 million last year. The company posted an operating profit of $357,000 in the current quarter compared with slightly less than $276,000 in 2025. Including other income and taxes, we reported net income of roughly $350,000 or $0.02 per share versus net income of around $200,000 or $0.01 per share in the fiscal 2025 third quarter.

We ended the period with $2.8 million of cash and $15.6 million in marketable securities, or $18.4 million combined. In addition, we also funded a security deposit on the new lease of $0.5 million that is shown as restricted cash in noncurrent assets on our balance sheet.

This compares with $13.2 million at the beginning of 2026, which included $4.4 million in cash and $8.8 million in marketable securities. Trade accounts receivable totaled $4.7 million as of September 26, 2026, versus $5.2 million as of December 27, 2025. Inventories increased to $10.3 million at the end of the third quarter compared with $5.6 million at the start of the year, reflecting our preparation for the move to a new facility.

Turning to the liability side, payables and accruals totaled $4.6 million at the end of the third quarter versus $4.3 million as of December 27, 2025.

Now Brian will provide a more in-depth discussion of the period and outlook. Brian?

Brian Mackey

Thanks, Chris. Now I'd like to provide some additional insight around recent developments and upcoming priorities, starting with our move to a new expanded facility. As previously announced in August, we entered into a lease for 80,000 square feet of space in nearby Attleboro, Massachusetts, which is just a 3-mile drive from our current facility here in Norton.

Detailed planning is well underway with the support of Dacon Corporation, our design-build construction management partner, as well as various engineers and contractors. Upcoming activities include finalizing our floor plan design specifications, including all relevant electrical, plumbing, and mechanical requirements, as well as obtaining appropriate permits from the town of Attleboro.

Based on the amount of work required, which is substantial, it's probable that the build-out will continue into the fourth quarter of 2027. We will be working to accelerate this whenever possible as our construction plans evolve. In addition, we will naturally also be exploring partial occupancy to potentially initiate the move earlier next year.

Ultimately, we expect to relocate our corporate offices, manufacturing operations, and product development activities to Attleboro prior to the lease expiration here in Norton, which does not occur until the end of February of 2028. We wish to move quickly to our new space to benefit from the advantages it provides, but not at the expense of improper planning and design, which is crucial to our long-term success.

The new site, which is double the square footage we occupy today, represents a major milestone in our history and reflects a significant investment that will enable us to capitalize on and support the company's continued growth strategy and expanding customer base while investing in innovative new technologies.

Now that we have increased clarity regarding the work necessary to outfit our new facility and design the intended layout, we're able to generate appropriate cost estimates. As you may recall, back in May of this year, we raised $9.6 million in a registered direct offering. Our current estimate is that the cost to CPS of the build-out, as well as riggers and movers, will be within 10% plus or minus of the amount of capital that we netted from that raise, which was $9 million. This is independent of contributions to be made by our landlord for alterations, improvements, fixtures, and equipment that ultimately enhance the building per the terms of our lease.

Additionally, we continue to review our CapEx needs and lead times to ensure that those expenditures align the additional production capacity with the timing of occupancy of our new facility. It's also worth noting that during our relocation effort, we'll be able to draw from the inventory we've been building throughout the past several quarters.

As Chris mentioned, we have used over $4.5 million of cash this year to build inventories in support of the upcoming move. We expect to convert much of that back to cash during the relocation, which in addition to keeping product flowing to our customers, will partially offset the cash spend of the move.

The initial lease term for the new building started in August, 3 months ago, and runs for 12 years and 10 months. Based on the terms, there is currently no cash impact to CPS. We will begin paying certain charges such as utilities and taxes on June 1 of next year. We will not begin paying rent until December 1, 2027.

However, per Accounting Standard 842, we are now including a monthly lease cost in our noncash expenditures, which Chris alluded to. This began in September and therefore had an $88,000 impact on our Q3 results. Looking to the future, the lease also grants CPS two options to extend the term for 5 years each, generally at fair market prices.

In addition, CPS secured a right of first offer to lease available adjacent space in the building, subject to the terms of the lease, as our current 80,000 square feet represent roughly half of the overall facility size. Overall, we're very pleased with how well the space suits our needs, its close proximity to our current location, the lease terms, and the potential this facility provides to substantially grow the company going forward.

Now I'd like to move on to our current book of business. Typically, around this time of year, we share news of an annual contract with a long-standing multinational semiconductor manufacturer. So I'm pleased to announce that once again, we have secured large orders for our high-performance products from this company, which remains our largest customer.

Demand levels represented by these contracts are consistent with what we've shipped to this client over the preceding 12-month period. Such components from CPS are integrated into systems supporting high-speed rail as well as energy and grid infrastructure. These latest awards underscore our continued confidence in the company's growth outlook, fueled by an ability to deliver next-generation technologies that serve a variety of markets experiencing strong demand.

Our hermetic packaging products are also seeing robust demand, driven by the various markets they support, including aerospace and defense, as well as the build-out of AI-driven infrastructure. This demand was impactful on our Q3 revenue, and we expect this to continue as well. The numerous opportunities we see across the various industries we serve, including defense, energy infrastructure, artificial intelligence, and others, affirm our decision to double our available square footage once we have relocated.

The larger facility will enable us to capitalize on increasing demand with our core metal matrix composite products and hermetic packages, as well as support and advance various growth initiatives, including AlMax materials, HybridTech Armor, QuickSet Injection Molding, and others in ways that we cannot in our current location.

Regarding QuickSet Injection Molding, or QIM, we recently announced our first order from a military contractor for tungsten alloy components manufactured using the company's proprietary process. We're on track to fulfill this defense-related contract before the end of the year.

Our novel manufacturing process enables the production of net shape components with final dimensions and features incorporated directly into the molded product, eliminating the need for extensive post-production machining. QuickSet Injection Molding also enables the efficient production of dramatically larger components, thereby demonstrating greater scalability than traditional metal injection molding.

Although we are unable to share the details of this latest order, it represents a prime example of where our novel manufacturing process is creating new revenue opportunities. Existing injection molding techniques are unable to make these components. As a result, they've typically been manufactured using traditional machining techniques, which are simply inefficient.

We remain optimistic about the future commercialization opportunities that QIM will provide. As a reminder, while we have used QIM for many years in the volume manufacture of certain products of ours, the continued advancement of this technology has been supported through funding from an ongoing Small Business Technology Transfer Award, or STTR, from the U.S. Army DEVCOM, or Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, which is valued at $1.15 million. The work on this program, which is targeting the scalable manufacture of a controlled fragmentation 40-millimeter tungsten warhead, continues to proceed on schedule, and it will run through September of next year.

Lastly, as previously mentioned, congressional funding was approved some time ago to add ballistic shielding using our HybridTech Armor on a small number of Navy destroyer class vessels. We and our partner, Kinetic Protection, remain hopeful that such contracts can be resolved in the coming months. Obviously, we'll keep our investors apprised of new developments going forward.

Along those lines, we also continue our research funded by the Navy, targeting a reduction in the weight of the Amphibious Combat Vehicle, or ACV. Relevant technologies of ours include our HybridTech Armor, which can replace the steel plate mounted to the ACV for ballistic protection, as well as our AlMax material, which offers weight reduction as well as improved corrosion resistance relative to steel components currently used on the ACV.

With increasing demand, new volume orders from our largest customer, an expanded facility in hand, various new product and business development initiatives underway, and ongoing federal review of various proposals for research funding across several agencies, we're very well positioned for continued strong results in the quarters to come.

We believe the company, with a solid balance sheet, including zero debt, an expanding portfolio of innovative applications, and a clear strategy to accelerate growth and improve operating results, is poised for a future that benefits our customers, our employees, and our shareholders better than at any time in our history.

We can now open up the call for questions. Sylvie?

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And your first question will be from Chip Moore at ROTH Capital.

Fragen und Antworten

Alfred Moore

I wanted to maybe start with the profitability. Gross margin is very, very strong. Nice to see. I guess I thought we might have even seen some higher input costs serving as headwinds or inflationary impacts. Did you see any of that? And could they have been even higher? And what were the main drivers of that profitability?

Christopher Fraser

So some of the impact costs such as gold, and we pass on the exact increment to the customers. We have seen other material costs, but we've done a good job of improving pricing and also operational efficiencies, which have enabled that improvement in gross margin.

Alfred Moore

Got it. That's helpful. And sort of a segue there into 3 miles down the road, I assume that we can see even more efficiencies when we get there. But talk about that move. It sounds like you're planning appropriately. We can see the inventories building and you've got the cash unlock there down the road. But just any longer lead time items that you need to be thinking about? And then on the permitting side, is that sort of the biggest hurdle here near term?

Brian Mackey

Yes. The -- I'll start with the second part of your question, Chip. The permitting side is definitely a hurdle we need to get past. The large amount of effort is the amount of planning required. We have a finalized design for the layout, which we've resolved with Dacon, and now that is being gone over very carefully by the various contracting experts, plumbers, et cetera.

So they're making their detailed plans to satisfy our needs, and that entire package will then be approved for permitting. So a number of steps here. And then, of course, all that work will need to be done, which will take a number of months. So it stretches it out more than we'd like. We're eager to get over there and make use of the better space, but it is going to take a number of months for all those things to play forward.

We do expect some efficiencies over there. You've been through our building here, some others have as well. It's cramped and inefficient. So we're eager to get over there and experience the benefits that, that will offer. It's just going to take us longer than we'd like.

Alfred Moore

Yes. Understood. Yes, do it right. And good to see you thinking ahead to the potential for expanding.

Brian Mackey

So yes, sorry, your first question, we've got a number of CapEx items identified that will improve our capacity. So there's a spend there that we're earmarking, and we're timing those lead times to match our move plan. So as the move has moved a little bit to the right on the calendar, it's given us a little bit of a window to review those things before we place the actual purchase orders, but we have a number of things that we plan to do so that, that equipment is delivered to the new site.

And we also have some things that we've earmarked space for potential future capacity adds that we'll keep in mind as once we occupy that facility, we're laying it out so we have both the near-term add that we know we're going to spend on as well as potential second round of things should the need require it.

Alfred Moore

Perfect. Makes perfect sense. And Brian, your large semiconductor customer gets new annual visibility. I think that $15 million last year. Is that right? And what are you seeing in that market more broadly beyond high-speed rail, but you talked about energy grid and not just with that customer, but potentially with others.

Brian Mackey

Yes. The demand there remains consistent from last year, and we do see that entire market for metal matrix composite products. I mean that's the #1 driver of our need for additional capacity. We're space constrained and capacity constrained here in this facility. And that list of CapEx is -- that I mentioned is definitely a part of our plan for metal matrix composites.

We see that being strong across the board. We have strength in our metal matrix composite expectations as well as hermetic packaging as well as these new things. So it really is true across the board, but the primary one is metal matrix composites.

Alfred Moore

Got it. And maybe if I could sneak one last one in. The commercialization efforts around tungsten alloy, great to see that win. I know you can't speak about that contract specifically, but maybe just the broader opportunity for tungsten alloy components, does that help open things up now that you've got that and what's the potential of your QuickSet process there in that market?

Brian Mackey

Yes. We're very enthusiastic about the opportunities for our QuickSet Injection Molding, starting with tungsten alloy, but there's other materials that we're looking at as well. And part of the nice thing about it is there's not a huge iteration cycle of testing. There's not some multiyear requirement for third-party laboratories or things like that.

Obviously, the customers want to see that the material is properly manufactured, the tungsten alloy is what we say it is, and then that the components are to the right dimensions. But other than those 2 things, it enables really generally a rapid turnaround from interest by the customer to a potential PO to a potential shipment of product by us.

And that's what we're seeing on the order that we're executing now. We expect that to continue. The ability to scale these components up to larger size. We're in discussions now with customers who see that. They see the benefit of it, and we're very interested to see how this plays out, but we think it's going to be a key part of our revenue growth going forward.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Next question will be from Ron Richards, investor.

Ron Richards

I was going to ask about the possibilities for the tungsten -- the QIM tungsten, you already answered that. So I appreciate the information.

Operator

At this time, it appears we have no other questions registered. I would like to turn the conference over to Brian Mackey.

Brian Mackey

Okay. Great. Thank you, Sylvie, and thanks, everyone, for joining us today and your ongoing interest in CPS. We look forward to speaking with you again at the end of our fourth quarter. If you have any questions in the interim, we hope you reach out to our Investor Relations advisor. Thanks, and good morning.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this does indeed conclude your conference call for today. Once again, thank you for attending. And at this time, we do ask that you please disconnect your lines.