埃斯卡莱德 (ESCA) 2026年第三季度业绩电话会议：利润率与现金流改善

尽管净销售额同比下降3%，但Escalade, Inc.（NASDAQ: ESCA）在截至2026年9月30日的第三季度仍实现了更强的盈利能力和现金创收能力。得益于有利的销售组合、固定成本吸收能力的改善以及严格的运营执行力，毛利率提升了123个基点。

核心要点

• 净销售额同比下降3%至6560万美元，反映出篮球、室内游戏和乒乓球产品的疲软、公司退出部分低利润率产品以及上年同期基数较高（对比困难）的影响。
• 净利润为670万美元，即稀释后每股收益为0.48美元。EBITDA增加140万美元至1000万美元，其中包括此前支付关税的160万美元退税追回。
• 在有利的渠道和产品组合、更高的固定成本吸收能力以及出色的运营执行力支撑下，毛利率由28.1%扩大至29.4%。
• 经营活动现金流达到1490万美元，而上年同期为净使用现金100万美元，主要得益于净利润增加以及营运资金需求降低。
• 在本季度偿还180万美元债务后，Escalade在季末拥有2450万美元现金、1310万美元债务，净现金头寸为1140万美元。
• 管理层表示，进入2027年后，近期完成的收购、产品创新以及更高效的运营模式将为增长机遇和潜在的市场份额提升提供支撑。

关键财务数据

业务与运营表现

销售疲软主要集中在篮球、室内游戏和乒乓球产品。营收亦面临较高的基数对比压力，因2025年第三季度业绩受益于因港口相关市场波动而从二季度推迟的发货。此外，Escalade退出部分低利润率产品线也加剧了下滑。

射箭业务的增长抵消了部分压力。管理层将这一改善归因于直拉弓强劲的需求以及2025年9月收购的Gold Tip的贡献。安全防护用品和户外游戏产品的需求也有所上升。

有利的销售组合反映出经销商业务增长（促销活动减少）以及直面向消费者（DTC）销售的贡献加大，管理层称DTC业务通常具备更高的毛利率。Gold Tip同样对产品组合构成了支撑。

尽管通过收购Gold Tip、All Cornhole和ASL Solutions增加了存货，但存货水平仍低于上年同期。管理层继续将长期存货周转率目标设定为3次。

Escalade重点介绍了匹克球、乒乓球和台球领域的新产品，包括ONIX Eris球拍、Stiga Onyx 80乒乓球桌以及American Heritage Ann Arbor 8英尺台球桌。公司表示，对创新的投资将在进入2027年时加快新产品推出的步伐。

管理层业绩指引

管理层预计假日季将处于高度依赖促销的市场环境，并计划与零售合作伙伴合作开展更频繁的促销，旨在购买周期的更早阶段吸引消费者。公司表示，这些促销并非出于库存过剩驱动，并认为当前的库存水平处于舒适状态。

Escalade预计，随着迈入2027年，近期及即将推出的新产品将支撑多个品类的市场份额增长。管理层还表明，资本支出将在第四季度增加并延续至明年。

公司继续评估能够巩固现有平台或扩大其在具备吸引力品类中布局的收购机会。管理层表示其收购储备项目十分活跃，但未提供具体的交易时间表。

风险与关注领域

管理层指出，消费者情绪恶化、通胀以及更广泛的经济不确定性对可选消费构成了压力。公司还提到了极具挑战性的宏观经济与地缘政治环境。

预计假日季仍将充满促销竞争，这可能会增加销售组合和执行力的重要性。可比性还受到了上年同期发货时机以及公司退出低利润率产品的影响。

第三季度EBITDA受益于160万美元的关税退税追回。该项目推动了同比增加，在评估底层基础运营业绩时应将此因素纳入考量。

分析师问答亮点

• 销售组合：管理层表示，利润率的提升部分归因于向促销较少的经销商客户转移以及利润率较高的直面向消费者销售，而非仅仅源于消费者在产品品类内的消费升级。
• 假日促销：Escalade对当前的库存水平感到满意。计划中的促销活动旨在更早吸引假日购物者并在具备促销竞争力的零售环境中展开竞争，而非为了清理过剩库存。
• 资本配置：公司的目标是将现金储备维持在约为一倍EBITDA的水平。资本的潜在用途包括收购、设施及效率投资、派发股息以及择机回购股份。
• 关税相关现金：管理层确认，报告的2450万美元现金余额已包含本季度收到的关税退款。

业绩电话会议完整文本

完整财报电话会议逐字稿

管理层陈述

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to the Escalade, Inc. third quarter 2026 results conference call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then 1 on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star then 2. Please note, this call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Wes Smith, Vice President of Financial Reporting and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Wes Smith

Good morning, everyone. On behalf of Escalade, Inc., I'd like to welcome you to our third quarter 2026 results conference call. You'll hear from Patrick Griffin, our President, and Stephen Wawrin, our Chief Financial Officer. Stephen will discuss forward-looking statements about future business and financial expectations. Actual results may differ slightly from those projected in today's forward-looking statements. Various risks and uncertainties, including the risks described in our periodic reports filed with the SEC, apply. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update our forward-looking statements. At the conclusion of our prepared remarks, we will open the call for questions. With that, I will turn the call over to Patrick.

Patrick J. Griffin

Thank you, Wes, and welcome to everyone joining us on today's call. Our third quarter results demonstrate the effectiveness of our more efficient operating model in generating earnings and cash flow, even in the face of deteriorating consumer sentiment and a difficult year-over-year comparison. The strength of our innovative product offering, favorable sales mix, disciplined cost management, and strong operational execution combined to help us deliver improved gross margin compared to the third quarter of last year. Net sales declined 3% year over year, reflecting softness in our basketball, indoor games, and table tennis categories, as well as a challenging comparison to last year's third quarter, which benefited from shipments delayed from the second quarter by port-related market volatility. Our strategic exit from certain lower-margin product lines also contributed to the net sales decline. The decline was partially offset by growth in archery, driven by strong vertical bow demand and the accretive contribution from our September 2025 acquisition of Gold Tip, along with increased demand in the safety and outdoor games categories.

Gross margin expanded by approximately 123 basis points year over year to 29.4%. This expansion was driven by favorable sales mix, higher fixed cost absorption, and strong operational execution. We also continued to make progress improving asset utilization despite the additional inventory from the Gold Tip and All Cornhole acquisitions in the second half of last year, and ASL Solutions acquisition during this year's third quarter. Total inventory was $77.8 million, below the prior year level. This progress reflects our focus on driving working capital and generating free cash flow. We continue to work towards our longer-term inventory turn target of 3 times. As we move towards the heart of the holiday season, we continue to collaborate with our retail partners to deliver a more frequent cadence of promotions to highlight newness, as well as value, and engage consumers to accelerate sell-through. Although inflation and broader economic uncertainty continue to pressure discretionary consumer spending, our more resilient operating model gives us confidence in our ability to manage through these challenging market conditions. We expect recent and upcoming new product introductions to support market share gains across several key categories as we move into 2027.

In pickleball, we had several new paddle launches from ONIX, including the ONIX [ Practice Practice Features ] and an Endure from Core, designed for durability and a raw carbon fiber surface that enhances spin and control. The new ONIX Eris offers an accessible entry price range of colors and lightweight construction that helps players react quickly and stay comfortable during extended play. We've also been active in the game room with several new products in the table tennis and billiards categories. The Stiga Onyx 80 table tennis table features a quick-play design that assembles in minutes and has premium features such as integrated ball storage and locking caster wheels for easy mobility. Our new Pro Carbon Fiber Shape provides a unique profile, combining a larger optimal hitting area with carbon-powered performance. In billiards, we launched the American Heritage Ann Arbor 8-foot table, which features a modern architectural design that makes it a showpiece for the home game room. One-inch three-piece slate delivers exceptional playability and consistent ball roll. These launches illustrate our increased investment in product innovation across our portfolio. We expect our current and ongoing investment in innovation to drive an acceleration of new product introductions as we move to 2027.

Strengthening the balance sheet remains a priority. During the third quarter, we repaid $1.8 million of debt and increased our cash balance by $8.1 million, ending the quarter with a net cash position of $11.4 million. Our low-cost fixed-rate debt and higher cash balances also contributed to increased net interest income. Our consistent free cash flow and strong balance sheet also positions us to invest in innovation, accretive acquisitions, and our facilities to improve capacity as well as efficiency to support future growth. We remain focused on strategic, accretive acquisitions that enhance our existing platforms, expand our presence in attractive new categories, and strengthen our competitive position. We are encouraged by our growing pipeline of acquisition opportunities that meet this criteria. In closing, our third quarter results demonstrated our ability to improve gross margins and cash generation in a challenging macroeconomic and geopolitical environment that has impacted consumer discretionary spending. We expanded margins and improved working capital efficiency and strengthened our balance sheet. Looking ahead, we believe our more efficient operating model, recent acquisitions, disciplined capital allocation, and financial flexibility position us to continue to pursue growth opportunities and create long-term shareholder value. With that, I will turn the call over to Stephen to walk through our third quarter financial results.

Stephen Wawrin

Thank you, Patrick. For the three months ended September 30, 2026, Escalade reported net income of $6.7 million, or $0.48 per diluted share, on net sales of $65.6 million. Gross margin was 29.4% compared to 28.1% in the prior year period. The 123 basis point improvement was a result of lower operational costs driven by better absorption and a favorable sales mix. Gold Tip, which we acquired in September 2025, contributed to the favorable mix as we continue to ramp up the business over the past year. Selling, general, and administrative expenses were $11.6 million during the third quarter, a $0.4 million increase compared to the prior year period, partially related to costs associated with the All Cornhole and ASL Solutions acquisition, related professional fees, and an increase in advertising expenses. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization increased by $1.4 million to $10 million in the third quarter of 2026 versus $8.6 million in the prior year period. This increase reflects the year-over-year improvement in our gross profit as well as the benefit of a recovery for previously paid tariffs received in the quarter of $1.6 million. Cash flow from operations was $14.9 million in the third quarter compared to cash used of $1 million in the prior year period. The increase primarily reflects our higher net income and lower working capital requirements. As of September 30, 2026, the company had total cash and equivalents of $24.5 million. As of September 30, 2026, we had $13.1 million of total debt outstanding, all of which was classified as current as of the end of the quarter. With that, Operator, we'll open the call for questions.

Operator

We will now begin the question-and-answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then 1 on your telephone keypad. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. To withdraw your question, please press star then 2. At this time, our first question comes from [ Abramoff Plenty ], CEO, Kages Capital. Please go ahead.

Unknown Speaker

Good morning. Thank you. In your prepared comments, Patrick, you talked about favorable sales mix. Is that related to more, you know, consumers moving up to our premium-priced products within specific categories, or is it that kind of shift from basketball to archery? How do we think about that? Thanks.

Patrick J. Griffin

Aram, that's a great question. What we mean by the favorable sales mix is our customer base changed a little bit in the quarter. So we were doing more dealer business and customers that have fewer maybe promotions. And then also, more direct-to-consumer business, which is generally a higher margin business for us.

Unknown Speaker

Okay, that's helpful. And on a separate theme, when you talk about working through the holiday season with exciting promotions, is that kind of promotional activity a focus on, can we gain market share, or is it sensitive to any issues on inventory levels that are too high, or do we just need to burn through inventory? Is that why you're putting forth promotions such as we can think about it as well?

Patrick J. Griffin

Abstract question. We're very comfortable with our current inventory levels. For us, I think it's just about having exciting promotions. We know it's going to be a promotional environment, so we want to have regular promotions, more promotions, and we want to get the consumer sooner in that buying cycle, you know, for the holidays.

Unknown Speaker

Okay. Maybe just one last one. You have up to $25 million in cash now. Could you walk us through kind of the thought process around your plans with excess cash? Obviously, you're generating cash, just kind of building to watch for future acquisitions, or can we think about paying down debt? You know, out of the four levers you couple, thanks.

Stephen Wawrin

Yeah, no, thank you for the question. We're thinking about capital allocation in a couple of different ways, but we're comfortable having, you know, we talked about having at least a turn of EBITDA, which is around that number you mentioned on the balance sheet. So we have a pretty active pipeline of acquisition opportunities. We'll continue to look at that. So, you know, we're anticipating that some of that cash could be used towards acquisitions to the extent that we get to the finish line with those. And we've also talked about investing more in our businesses, so we've got some capital expenditure projects. You'll see probably more of that in the fourth quarter and then a little bit more into next year as well. And then we continue to pay a dividend and we buy back our shares from time to time when, you know, when that makes sense for the Board of Directors.

Unknown Speaker

Perfect. Thanks so much.

Stephen Wawrin

You're welcome.

Operator

Again, to ask a question, please press star then 1. The next question comes from Michael Legg with Ladenburg Thalmann. Please go ahead.

Unknown Speaker

Thank you. Thanks for the update on the operational progress. I wanted to ask a couple of questions related to the tariff. We found a [$9.9 million] in the second quarter, and $9 million of that was receivable that you subsequently received. Does that mean your cash is now the $24 million plus the $9 million, over $30 million?

Stephen Wawrin

No, all of that is reflective of what you see on the balance sheet, including that tariff rebate that we received.

Unknown Speaker

Okay. And and to the top impact of free cash flow, this quarter, yes, it did. Okay, thank you.

Stephen Wawrin

Right.

Operator

Michael, your question? This concludes the question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Wes Smith for any closing remarks.

Wes Smith

Thank you, Operator. Once again, thank you for your interest in Escalade. And for joining our call today, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at ir@escaladeinc.com, and a member of our team will follow up with you.

Operator

This concludes our call today. You may now disconnect.

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