Conferencia de resultados del 3T de 2026 de Proto Labs (PRLB): ingresos récord y mejores previsiones para todo el año

Proto Labs (NYSE: PRLB) registró ingresos récord en el tercer trimestre de 2026, ya que la fuerte demanda en mecanizado por CNC, impresión 3D y moldeo por inyección impulsó otro trimestre de crecimiento a doble dígito. La rentabilidad mejoró a pesar de la presión a corto plazo sobre el margen bruto de las fábricas.

Puntos clave

• Los ingresos del tercer trimestre de 2026 alcanzaron un récord histórico para la empresa de 154,3 millones de dólares, un 14,2% más interanual en monedas constantes, lo que supone el cuarto trimestre consecutivo de crecimiento a doble dígito.
• El BPA no GAAP aumentó un 33,4% hasta los 0,63 dólares, el BPA ajustado más alto registrado desde el tercer trimestre de 2020. El EBITDA ajustado subió a 26,2 millones de dólares, lo que representa el 17,0% de los ingresos.
• Los ingresos por cliente aumentaron un 17% interanual, mientras que Proto Labs prestó servicio a casi 21.000 clientes. La directiva atribuyó este incremento a relaciones más profundas con clientes estratégicos y a la expansión a lo largo del ciclo de vida del producto.
• Los ingresos del mecanizado por CNC en fábrica crecieron un 22%, mientras que los ingresos globales por impresión 3D aumentaron un 12%. La directiva destacó la fuerte demanda proveniente de los sectores aeroespacial, defensa, espacial, drones, robótica y centros de datos.
• Proto Labs elevó sus previsiones de crecimiento de ingresos para todo el año 2026 al 10%-11%, frente al 8%-10% anterior. La directiva prevé que este sea su primer año de crecimiento orgánico de los ingresos a doble dígito desde 2018.
• Se prevé que los ingresos del cuarto trimestre se sitúen entre 143 y 151 millones de dólares, con un BPA no GAAP de 0,46 a 0,54 dólares. Las perspectivas contemplan la estacionalidad habitual de las festividades y una menor utilización de las fábricas.

Datos financieros clave

En los primeros nueve meses de 2026, los ingresos aumentaron un 12%, el margen operativo ajustado se amplió en 300 puntos básicos y el BPA ajustado subió un 46%. El EBITDA ajustado aumentó un 27,2% interanual.

Rendimiento empresarial y operativo

Los ingresos de mecanizado por CNC aumentaron un 16,7% interanual en monedas constantes. El mecanizado por CNC en fábrica creció un 22%, impulsado por la demanda procedente de la exploración espacial, satélites, drones y robótica. La directiva afirmó que los ingresos por CNC en fábricas de EE. UU. han crecido más de un 20% durante seis trimestres consecutivos.

Los ingresos por moldeo por inyección aumentaron un 12,6% en monedas constantes, impulsados por los sectores de electrónica, aeroespacial y defensa, y telecomunicaciones. Los ingresos procedentes de la impresión 3D subieron un 11,5%, liderados por la fuerte demanda en EE. UU. del sinterizado directo de metal por láser y HP Multi Jet Fusion. En lo que va de año, los ingresos de MJF en las operaciones de fábrica de EE. UU. aumentaron más de un 40%, lo que motivó inversiones adicionales en capacidad.

Los ingresos por chapa metálica cayeron un 4,6% en monedas constantes. La debilidad generalizada en los mercados finales se vio parcialmente compensada por la demanda de los sectores aeroespacial y de defensa.

Los ingresos de fábrica aumentaron un 17,5%, en comparación con el crecimiento del 3% registrado por la red de Proto Labs. El impulso de la red fue sólido en Europa, pero más moderado en EE. UU., donde más clientes optaron por la oferta de fábrica más rápida.

Proto Labs atendió a casi 21.000 clientes durante el trimestre, lo que supone un aumento intertrimestral por tercer trimestre consecutivo. Los ingresos por cliente aumentaron un 17% a medida que los clientes estratégicos de mayor tamaño ampliaron el uso de los servicios de fabricación de la empresa.

Europa registró un crecimiento de ingresos a doble dígito tras los cambios en la estrategia comercial iniciados a finales de 2025. La directiva señaló que la transformación de la región sigue siendo un esfuerzo a más largo plazo, con el objetivo de convertir a Europa en un motor de crecimiento y rentabilidad.

La empresa también amplió ProDesk con nuevos tratamientos térmicos de impresión 3D en metal, capacidades FDM y acabados superficiales CNC adicionales. Proto Labs está desarrollando verificaciones de pedidos asistidas por IA e implementando Amazon Quick en toda la empresa, enfocándose inicialmente en los flujos de trabajo comerciales y en el procesamiento desde el pedido hasta la cotización. Se prevé que la implementación continúe hasta 2027.

Previsiones de la directiva

Proto Labs prevé para el T4 de 2026 unos ingresos de entre 143 y 151 millones de dólares. El punto medio implica un crecimiento interanual de aproximadamente el 8%. Se espera que el tipo de cambio de las divisas tenga un impacto insignificante en comparación con el T4 de 2025.

La empresa elevó sus perspectivas de crecimiento de ingresos para todo el año 2026 al 10%-11%, frente a su rango anterior del 8%-10%.

Se prevé que el BPA no GAAP del T4 sea de 0,46 a 0,54 dólares. La estimación asume aproximadamente 4,1 millones de dólares en compensación basada en acciones, 900.000 dólares en gastos de amortización y una tasa impositiva efectiva no GAAP del 19%-21%.

La directiva prevé que el margen bruto del T4 se mantenga estable o disminuya ligeramente en tasa intertrimestral. Los costes de actualización de maquinaria deberían moderarse, pero se espera que unos menores ingresos, ineficiencias en las fábricas relacionadas con las festividades, la contratación de personal externo y las horas extraordinarias contrarresten parte de ese beneficio. Se prevé que los gastos generales, de venta y administrativos (SG&A) como porcentaje de los ingresos se asemejen a los niveles del T1 y T2, en lugar de al nivel más bajo del T3.

Para 2027, la directiva indicó que se espera que el crecimiento de los gastos operativos se acerque más al crecimiento de los ingresos, a medida que Proto Labs incremente la inversión en capacidad e iniciativas estratégicas. Actualmente, la empresa prevé mantener su porcentaje de margen bruto, aunque el resultado dependerá de la combinación de productos y servicios.

Riesgos y aspectos a vigilar

• El margen bruto no GAAP disminuyó debido a que los mayores costes de las materias primas, las actualizaciones de maquinaria y las inversiones temporales en mano de obra afectaron a las operaciones de fábrica.
• Se espera que la estacionalidad del T4 reduzca los ingresos y genere ineficiencias en las fábricas debido a las vacaciones de los empleados, lo que potencialmente requerirá mano de obra subcontratada y horas extraordinarias.
• La demanda de la red de Proto Labs en EE. UU. fue más moderada, aunque la demanda de fábrica se mantuvo sólida.
• Europa volvió al crecimiento a doble dígito, pero la directiva advirtió que su transformación de rentabilidad sigue siendo un proceso en curso.
• El segmento de chapa metálica continuó enfrentándose a una debilidad generalizada en sus mercados finales.
• Los analistas plantearon dudas en torno a los futuros presupuestos de defensa. La directiva respondió que la demanda está diversificada en los sectores espacial, satélites, drones, robótica y centros de datos, y mantuvo su objetivo de crecimiento a doble dígito en el futuro previsible.

Puntos destacados del turno de preguntas de analistas

La directiva atribuyó el aumento del 17% en los ingresos por cliente a la cobertura de ventas corporativas, relaciones más profundas con clientes seleccionados de alto valor y una mayor participación desde la fase de prototipo hasta la de producción. La empresa ha pasado de una innovación de amplio alcance a soluciones adaptadas a clientes e industrias prioritarias.

Sobre la caída intertrimestral del margen bruto, la directiva estimó que las actualizaciones de maquinaria representaron unos 100 puntos básicos y la mano de obra subcontratada aproximadamente 90 puntos básicos, correspondiendo el resto a los costes de materiales. La empresa adquirió más de 40 máquinas nuevas durante el último año e incurrió en ciertos costes de actualización directamente en el T3.

La directiva señaló que los costes de actualización de maquinaria y de contratistas son variables y pueden disminuir con el tiempo. Sin embargo, es probable que el menor volumen previsto para el T4 y los requerimientos laborales vinculados a las festividades limiten la recuperación del margen a corto plazo.

Transcripción completa de la conferencia de resultados

Transcripción completa de la conferencia de resultados

Comentarios de la dirección

Operator

Greetings. Welcome to the Proto Labs Q3 Fiscal Year 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Ryan Johnsrud, Investor Relations. Thank you, Ryan. You may begin.

Ryan Johnsrud

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Proto Labs' Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. I'm joined today by Suresh Krishna, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Dan Schumacher, Chief Financial Officer. This morning, Proto Labs issued a press release announcing its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2026. The release is available on the company's website. In addition, a prepared slide presentation is available online at the web address provided in our press release.

Our discussion today will include statements relating to future performance and expectations that are or may be considered forward-looking statements and subject to many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. Please refer to our earnings press release and recent SEC filings, including our annual report on Form 10-K for information on certain risks that could cause actual outcomes to differ materially and adversely from any forward-looking statements made today.

The results and guidance we will discuss include non-GAAP financial measures, consistent with our past practice. Please refer to our press release and the accompanying slide presentation at the Investor Relations section of our company website for a complete reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results. Now I will turn the call over to Suresh Krishna. Suresh?

Suresh Krishna

Thank you, Ryan. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our earnings call. I am very pleased with our third quarter performance, which provides further evidence that the execution of our strategy is translating into strong and consistent financial results. Third quarter revenue grew 14%, resulting in another record revenue quarter. This is the fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. We also delivered double-digit non-GAAP EPS growth for the fourth consecutive quarter with EPS growth outpacing revenue growth in each of these quarters.

In the first 9 months of 2026, year-over-year revenue grew 12%, adjusted operating margin expanded 300 basis points and adjusted EPS grew 46%, underscoring the consistency of our execution and the strength of our momentum. These results are driven by the tremendous work of our Proto Labs team and their continued commitment to serving our customers. I want to thank them all for everything they do every day. The trends that drove strong performance in the first half of the year continued in the third quarter.

Larger strategic customers continue to broaden their relationships with Proto Labs and turn to us for more of their manufacturing needs across the entire product life cycle. This is reflected in a 17% year-over-year increase in revenue per customer. In addition, we served almost 21,000 customers in the quarter, up sequentially for the third straight quarter. We continue to see strong demand in high-growth industries, including aerospace, defense, drones, robotics and data centers. We work with most innovative companies in these markets, including Blue Origin, Relativity Space, Raytheon, AeroVironment, Shield AI, Agility Robotics and many others. These customers need to rapidly move from ideas to prototypes and into production, making Proto Labs' speed, quality and reliability increasingly critical. We saw broad-based strength across our business in the third quarter with each of our 3 largest service lines growing double digits year-over-year.

Factory CNC Machining was particularly strong, growing 22% as our world-class speed continues to resonate with customers. Global 3D printing revenues grew 12%, led by strong demand from metals and HP's Multi Jet Fusion technology, or MJF. Year-to-date, MJF revenue in our U.S. factory operation is up more than 40%, and we are investing in additional capacity to support that growth. Proto Labs is at the center of a major shift taking place in manufacturing driven by 4 powerful macro trends.

First, reindustrialization. Companies are bringing manufacturing closer to their customers and building more resilient regional and sovereign supply chains. Second, a wave of hardware innovation moving at the speed of software. Investment is accelerating across critical and emerging industries like space, drones, robotics, data centers and other highly engineered hardware that ultimately needs to be designed, tested and manufactured from prototype to production at faster speeds than ever before.

Third, physical AI. AI is moving beyond software and into the physical world, driving a new generation of robotics, autonomous systems, intelligent machines and other advanced products that require manufacturing to leverage physical AI. And fourth, supply chain agility and scalability. As innovation accelerates, companies need manufacturing partners that can invest and scale with them without the manpower and capital constraints of traditional supply chains.

This is exactly the environment Proto Labs is built for. We help customers move quickly from idea to prototype to production while delivering the quality, reliability and scalable capacity they need. And we have an important structural advantage, our true digital thread. Proto Labs' software-native digital manufacturing model enables speed and automation today while creating a foundation to leverage AI and scale efficiently over time. And with millions of CAD files and decades of manufacturing data in our library, we have a powerful foundation to apply AI, advance our manufacturing capabilities and create more valuable solutions for our customers.

We are already seeing the benefits of these trends in our business, and we believe they create a significant opportunity for Proto Labs over the next several years. We continue to invest in capabilities to capture the opportunity ahead. We are advancing our 4 strategic pillars: elevating the customer experience, accelerating innovation, expanding into production and driving operational efficiency. I'd like to share several important business and product updates with you now.

On ProDesk, we launched new metal 3D printing heat treatments, FDM printing capabilities and additional CNC Machining surface finishes, giving customers more control over part performance, surface quality and finishing requirements. Next, we continue to enhance the Proto Labs Network with improvements designed to accelerate order acceptance, improve partner communication and strengthen quality. We are also developing AI-assisted order checks to identify specification discrepancies earlier and further automate the customer and partner experience.

With respect to improving efficiency across the organization, last week, we announced an enterprise implementation of Amazon Quick as part of our broader AI road map. Our initial focus is on go-to-market workflows where we believe AI can improve productivity, reduce response times and streamline order-to-quote processing. To accelerate implementation, we created forward deployed AI engineer roles to identify high-impact use cases and design AI-enabled workflows across the organization. Enterprise-wide implementation will continue into 2027, led by Marc Kermisch, our Chief Technology and AI Officer.

Technology is an important enabler of our strategy, and operational execution is the other. In August, Sam Ramahi was named Chief Operations Officer. Sam brings over 25 years of executive operational leadership across global companies like nVent, Eaton, Honeywell and more. Sam will help advance our strategic pillars while focusing on driving operational excellence across safety, quality, delivery and cost. We are also expanding the talent and capabilities needed to execute our strategy.

We have officially inaugurated our new global capability center in India. Engineers are on site and are working directly on our manufacturing and AI road map. The talent and capabilities we are building in India will help accelerate progress across all 4 strategic pillars. The strength (sic) [ capability ] center strengthens our investments in technologies that will meaningfully improve productivity, including AI, automation and advanced manufacturing capabilities that support our broader digital manufacturing strategy.

Turning to Europe. Revenue grew double digits in the third quarter, in part due to the go-to-market changes we initiated late last year. We are very pleased with this performance, and I want to thank our team in Europe, led by Pjotr Horowitz, for their continued execution and commitment. We continue to advance the initiatives needed to return Europe to profitability, addressing the drivers of underperformance while putting the right organizational structure, operating model, talent and capabilities in place to execute more effectively.

These efforts are designed to complement the go-to-market changes already underway and support further operational improvements. As I shared last quarter, the transformation in Europe remains a work in progress, and it's a longer-term effort. While we are encouraged by double-digit revenue growth, our objective remains unchanged, transform Europe into a contributor to both future growth and profitability.

Before I turn the call over to Dan, I want to highlight 2 recent recognitions of our commitment to manufacturing innovation. In August, we announced a partnership with MIT and a grant supporting U.S. manufacturing innovation research at MIT Industrial Performance Center. And in September, Proto Labs was one of the only 500 U.S. companies named to Business Insider's America's Most Innovative Businesses 2027 list. We are proud of both recognitions and believe they reinforce Proto Labs' position at the center of manufacturing innovation.

In closing, I am very pleased with our results through the first 9 months of the year and the progress we are making on our transformation. At the same time, I believe we are still in the early innings of what this business can achieve. We are executing our strategy at a time when some of the world's most innovative industries are moving faster, manufacturing supply chains are being reconfigured, and speed and digital manufacturing capabilities have never been more important. We believe Proto Labs is uniquely positioned for this environment and the opportunity ahead. We remain focused on building on recent momentum and delivering sustained profitable growth and long-term value for our customers and shareholders.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Dan to walk through the financials and outlook.

Dan Schumacher

Thanks, Suresh, and good morning. I'll start with an overview of our third quarter results, followed by our outlook for the fourth quarter. Third quarter revenue was a company record $154.3 million, up 14.2% year-over-year in constant currencies. U.S. revenue grew 14.7%, while Europe grew 12.2% in constant currencies. Third quarter CNC Machining revenue grew 16.7% year-over-year in constant currencies. Our largest service continues to see very strong demand in aerospace and defense, most notably space exploration, satellites and drones, as well as in robotics.

Injection Molding grew 12.6% in constant currencies, driven by strength in electronics, aerospace and defense and telecommunications. 3D printing revenue increased 11.5% year-over-year in constant currencies. As we saw in the first half of 2026, demand in DMLS and MJF remained very strong in the U.S. We continue to invest capital to expand capacity in those areas. Sheet Metal revenue declined 4.6% year-over-year in constant currencies with broad weakness across end markets, partially offset by strength in aerospace and defense.

On to profitability. Non-GAAP gross margin was 44.5% in the third quarter, down 230 basis points sequentially and 140 basis points year-over-year. The lower gross margin was driven by our factory operations, primarily reflecting higher raw material costs, machine upgrades and targeted near-term investments in labor and contractor support. These were made to accommodate the significant increase in volume over the course of the year while maintaining our standards for speed, quality and reliability. Third quarter non-GAAP operating expenses were $50.3 million, up $1.7 million compared to the prior year, primarily reflecting increased investment in demand generation, along with higher contractor, professional services and software license costs as we continue to fund our strategic priorities.

Importantly, we continue to generate significant operating leverage. Adjusted operating expenses were 32.6% of revenue, down from 34.8% of revenue in the second quarter and 35.9% in the third quarter of 2025. This operating leverage reflects both strong revenue growth and the targeted actions we have taken to improve our cost structure and reallocate resources towards our highest priority growth initiatives. We continue to invest and add resources behind our strategic initiatives while identifying additional efficiencies that can help fund future growth.

Adjusted EBITDA was $26.2 million, or 17% of revenue, up from $21.1 million or 15.6% of revenue in the third quarter of 2025. Year-to-date, adjusted EBITDA is up 27.2% year-over-year. Third quarter non-GAAP earnings per share were $0.63, up 33.4% year-over-year, driven by revenue growth, mix shift and significant leverage on our SG&A expenses. $0.63 is the highest adjusted EPS figure we've reported since the third quarter of 2020. Adjusted EPS is up 45.5% year-over-year year-to-date. We generated $22.8 million in cash from operations during the third quarter, and we repurchased $5 million of common stock. On September 30, we had $175 million of cash and investments on our balance sheet and 0 debt.

Our outlook for the fourth quarter of 2026 is outlined on Slide 14. For the fourth quarter, we expect revenue between $143 million and $151 million. At the midpoint, this implies 8% revenue growth year-over-year. As a result, we are raising our full year 2026 revenue growth outlook from a prior range of 8% to 10% to a new range of 10% to 11%. We anticipate 2026 will be our first year of double-digit organic revenue growth since 2018. We expect foreign currency to have a negligible impact on revenue compared to the fourth quarter of 2025.

Our fourth quarter earnings guidance incorporates the following assumptions: Non-GAAP add-backs will include stock-based compensation expense of approximately $4.1 million and amortization expense of $900,000, a non-GAAP effective tax rate between 19% and 21%. In summary, we expect fourth quarter 2026 non-GAAP earnings per share between $0.46 and $0.54. That concludes our prepared remarks. Nicole, please open the line for questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Brian Drab with William Blair.

Preguntas y respuestas

Brian Drab

Congrats on a great quarter. Could you just start by talking about -- it looks like revenue per customer is up about 17%. And maybe add some granularity to that in terms of -- is it driven by volume? Or is it also the breadth of services now that you're increasingly offering that's allowing for that -- that's just a very impressive result and where are you seeing the most success?

Suresh Krishna

Brian, this is Suresh. Thanks for your question. As we've talked before, we are absolutely focused on our 4 key strategic pillars, the first of them, which is elevating customer experience. And the second of them, which is accelerating innovation on behalf of the customers. And the third, which is expanding into production, are all contributing to this particular growth that we are seeing in wallet share with our core customer base. Some of the changes we've made to be able to do this well beyond the strategy, is the way we are executing.

We have an enterprise sales team. We are focused on a handful of industries that are high value for us. And those sales teams are building deep customer relationships and listening and turning it around to provide innovation that is specific to these customers. In the past, we may have innovated for the general customer base, which for us is tens of thousands of customers, to now being very focused on the customers where we see high value. So that is where we are able to drive wallet share and increase revenue per customer.

Brian Drab

And then I mean I'm seeing the stock, I'm surprised a little bit to see that the stock is indicating slightly down before the open here. I guess it could be just the guidance for -- midpoint of guidance is $0.50 for the fourth quarter after you just put up $0.63. But is there -- what is there beyond just typical seasonality for the fourth quarter that you're looking at as you guide for that fourth quarter?

Dan Schumacher

Yes. I mean, one, it is typical -- I assume the seasonality that we've seen for the prior 7 years for last quarter. So it is built in there that we expect to see some softness around the holiday time, which, as you know, impacts that EPS number. Second, gross margin, I'm assuming to be flat to slightly down quarter-over-quarter. We don't expect to see the same -- we talked about machine upgrade costs and so forth. We don't expect to see it at that high of a level.

But as we have lower revenue and we have some inefficiency in our factories around the holiday time as we bring in contractors and overtime as employees are taking time off. And then I would expect SG&A expenses as a percent of revenue to look more like the first and second quarter of the year rather than what we saw in the third quarter. So there is a pickup in SG&A expenses as well.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Austin Bohlig with Needham.

Austin Bohlig

Congrats on the great results. I was just hoping to get a little bit more color on, kind of, the growth you're seeing in the factory versus the network. I didn't see what the revenue for the network was, if you could provide that.

Dan Schumacher

Yes. So network revenue was up 3% year-over-year. So that meant that factory growth was up 17.5%. So again, we had higher growth in the factory than we had in the network. From a network side, we are seeing really strong momentum in the network in Europe, but things are a bit softer in the U.S. Our customers, as we come to them, they have a choice in this time in terms of do they need the speed that we're offering through the factory or do they need the breadth of services and maybe longer lead time of the network. And we are just seeing more of our customers in the U.S. take advantage of that speed, and you're seeing that in the tremendous growth.

Austin Bohlig

Got it. And then just one follow-up. So with all the defense or A&D success more broadly, like, with your conversations with your customers, how are you guys feeling this with, like, some uncertainty around the fiscal '27 budget continuing resolution continuing through 2027? Do you guys think that, like, this momentum can continue even with some kind of lingering uncertainty around future budgets?

Suresh Krishna

Yes. Austin, thanks for bringing that up. We are very, very broad-based in terms of the industry we serve, and A&D for us is very broad as well. While there might be some uncertainty around defense budget, we see tremendous opportunity in space exploration, in satellites, in drones, neoprimes, along with the primes. And then beyond that, we absolutely see non-A&D sectors like robotics and data centers also growing. So we are very confident that when you look out into the future that we would continue to be able to drive our goal of double-digit growth for the foreseeable future.

Operator

Our next question is from Brian Drab with William Blair.

Brian Drab

I was just wondering if you could talk maybe for Dan, a little bit further out in terms of how you're thinking about the trajectory of gross margin and expense dollars as we think about 2027, maybe just directionally or at high level, like, different projects that -- and different expenses to think about as we're modeling?

Dan Schumacher

Yes. So we're in the middle of establishing our 2027 budget and plans as we speak. But what I would tell you is we're going to continue to accelerate our investment in several areas. One is expanding our capacity. And the second is investing in our strategic pillars. So that's elevating our customer experience, accelerating innovation, expanding into production, and driving operational efficiency. So with the last one, our objective from a spending perspective is really to focus on how do we continue to increase our efficiencies as we invest.

I would expect next year from an operating expense perspective that the growth in operating expenses would be much closer to the revenue growth next year than what we saw this year as we start to make these investments. From a gross margin perspective, it really is going to depend on the mix that we're seeing and the different types of products that we have and how that plays out as we go through the year. But I would expect that we would be able to hold our gross margin percentage as we go into 2027.

Brian Drab

Okay. I'll follow up more later on that, but that's really clear.

Operator

Our next question comes from Greg Palm with Craig-Hallum.

Greg Palm

Sorry if this got, I guess, maybe explained or specified. I've been juggling a handful of calls this morning. But in terms of the -- maybe the sequential gross margin bridge from Q3 to Q2, a couple of hundred basis points, give or take. Dan, I know you listed a bunch of reasons, but just can you break that out between them? And then just in terms of sustainability or confidence in getting that gross margin level back up from here, maybe just a little bit more color on that, please.

Dan Schumacher

Just to be clear, Greg, you're talking about Q2 to Q3 gross margin?

Greg Palm

Correct.

Dan Schumacher

All right.

Suresh Krishna

Yes. So Greg, as we noted in our prepared remarks, demand has been exceptionally strong in our U.S. factory CNC. Revenues have grown over 20% for 6 quarters in a row. So while our automated model is designed to scale efficiently with this kind of volume increase, we, in this particular quarter, had to do some machine upgrades. We found opportunistically a window where we could do that. And some of our older machines were upgraded so that they could start to perform at the same rate as some of the newer machines that we have acquired more recently.

We've acquired over 40 new machines this past year. So that -- those expenses were incurred within the quarter and not capitalized. And then there were some some contract labor we had to bring in for our support services because we were chasing this growth and make sure that we could deliver everything we needed for our customers within the time frames that we provide them. Beyond that, there was raw material increases that we saw. So those are the pressures that we got in Q3 versus our Q2 performance.

Dan Schumacher

Greg, just to provide more specifics, I would say there's about 100 basis points in those machine upgrades. There's probably about 90 basis points in that contract labor and the remaining in the material cost. I just want to reemphasize that the contract upgrades and obviously, the contract labor, those are all variable costs that we can choose to move over time. And it's really focused on making sure that we have the speed, the quality and the reliability for our customers.

Greg Palm

Okay. So just to be clear, though, so does some of that -- I mean, you incur that completely in Q3 and then it goes away completely for, sort of, Q4 or go forward or...

Dan Schumacher

Yes. Well, one thing I would say is we're always using contract labor, right, to vary depending on the volume that's coming in. But yes, there is some assumption in the guide that, that cost comes down as we're in fourth quarter. But what is, kind of, counteracting that, right, is the lower volume that is in the middle of the guide as well as seasonality. So we may have to use some of that contract labor and some of that overtime as our employees take off for the holidays.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] It looks like we have no more questions in the queue. This now concludes our question-and-answer session. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation. This concludes today's teleconference. Please disconnect your lines, and have a wonderful day.