Applied Aerospace & Defense, Inc. (AADX) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Greetings. Welcome to the Applied Aerospace and Defense Second Quarter 2026 earnings. [Operator Instructions]. Please note, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to [ Tom Cook], Managing Director of ICR. Thank you, Tom. You may begin.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Applied Aerospace & Defense's Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. With me on the call today are [ Trip ] Ferguson, Chief Executive Officer; [ Chris Rogers], President and Chief Strategy Officer; and Jeff McRae, Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that our remarks may include forward-looking statements about our expectations, plans, outlook and future performance, which we make pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of federal securities laws. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed today. Please refer to the forward-looking statements disclosure in our earnings presentation and our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We will also discuss certain financial measures that are not presented in accordance with GAAP. Our earnings presentation includes additional information about these non-GAAP measures, including definitions and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures as applicable. The earnings presentation is available on the Investor Relations section of our website. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Trip Ferguson. Trip?

Thank you, Tom, and welcome to everyone joining us for our first earnings call as a public company. Before we review our results as a company, I'd like to recognize and thank all of our team members from across our organization at Applied. Applied success is built on the skill and dedication of our people, and I'm proud of the work they deliver day in and day out. The second quarter saw Applied successfully complete our initial public offering and enter our next season as a public company with real momentum. The IPO meaningfully strengthened our balance sheet and enhanced our financial flexibility. It gave us new resources to invest in our people, our capabilities and our operations as we scale to support a broad and expanding range of our customers' most critical programs. Importantly, it also reduced our pro forma net leverage to 2.7x. In the quarter, we generated record revenue of $167.3 million, up 47.4% year-over-year. On a pro forma basis, giving effect to CBI in both periods, revenue grew 21.3%. We delivered record adjusted EBITDA of $36.4 million, up 38.4%. And importantly, our contract backlog also grew to a record of over $1.1 billion, providing us with a high level of forward visibility. I'd like to begin this call by spending a few minutes on who we are, where we're focused and why customers choose us. Chris will cover our end markets and our outlook for growth, and Jeff will cover financials. I'll then come back with our priorities for the second half of the year before we take your questions. Applied Aerospace & Defense is a premier provider of advanced design, engineering and vertically integrated manufacturing solutions for leading and next-generation space and defense technology companies. We build complex mission-critical hardware for extreme operating environments across 3 core end markets: space and launch systems, defense, aviation and airborne systems and C5ISR Precision Strike Systems. In the second quarter, those markets were roughly 23%, 47% and 30% of revenue. I'll note that it's not just the diversity of our business across end markets that differentiates us, it's also the high number of programs we support across the entire space and defense ecosystem. Applied sits at the intersection of 2 powerful long-term and uncorrelated demand drivers. The first is an unprecedented growth outlook for the commercial space economy. The second is a dynamic global threat environment that demands highly capable, advanced manufacturing capacity and major new investments in defense technology. Across both the ability to manufacture highly engineered systems at the speed, quality and scale our customers require has never been more important. Applied is purpose-built for this mission and we're confident our strategy provides an opportunity for asymmetric upside. What differentiates us today is the combination of 2 things: first, platform's unique and highly integrated capabilities. And second, our operating philosophy. Let's start with our capabilities. We focus on building highly engineered systems that integrate advanced and high-performance materials to operate in extreme environments. We believe that this integrated capability set is rare, and it's built on 3 foundational pillars: deep engineering talent with more than 220 engineers and well more than 400 technical such matter experts. Real material science know-how and depth across advanced resins and RF transparent materials, all forms of metals and space-grade polymers and proprietary process IP that has been built up over decades. Today, we believe roughly 88% of our revenue is tied to products produced using our IP-enabled processes. What all this delivers for our customers is faster development, higher quality, lower cost and proven performance that typically endures for the full life of a program. Now let me touch on our operating philosophy because it's just as important. First, we're prime agnostic. We serve nearly all the leaders and innovators in defense and space, and we don't compete with our customers by design. Second, we're a full life cycle partner, trusted by the proven market leaders and by the bold new innovators, and we believe there are very few companies that can genuinely serve both. Third, we have relentlessly innovative engineering culture, our people solve problems for our customers. That's how we build proprietary know-how into our processes and how we qualify into positions where in many cases, we're the only supplier that has completed the requirement qualifications. Finally, we are built to scale. With the agility and the capacity to ramp alongside our customers from early development straight through to full rate production. Here's why all this matters now. The U.S. Space & Defense industrial base needs exactly this capability set and it needs it today. We believe that primes and new entrants alike are looking for partners with deeply integrated capabilities who can carry a hard problem for prototype to full production, and there aren't many companies capable of that kind of partnership. That's the single best explanation for the demand we're seeing at Applied. Behind all of this sits our real physical capacity. We draw on more than 120 years of advanced manufacturing [ partage ] and we operate 11 purpose-built, U.S.-based facilities across 6 states with more than 1.5 million square feet of production capacity. We estimate roughly 40% of that capacity is available today, measured across floor space, equipment capacity and workforce flexibility. Some of this, we invested in strategically and proactively ahead of programs that we won but haven't yet begun to ramp. In today's market, this is proving to be a real advantage, and our entire Applied team is incredibly excited about what lies ahead. Before I turn it over to Chris, I'll note that earlier this week, we announced Chris as President and Chief Strategy Officer, giving him broader strategic and operational oversight across our enterprise, alongside the growth functions he already leads. With that, let me turn it over to Chris.

Thanks, Trip. Let me start with backlog because it's the clearest evidence of where we're headed. We grew contract backlog to a record of over $1.1 billion, up from $871 million at year-end. Backlog is one key element from which we derive forward visibility, and that's why we can talk about the second half of this year and what lies beyond with confidence. One observation I'd share from the first half is how many programs in our pipeline now draw in multiple Applied capabilities at once. As one example, we brought together complementary capabilities from across the platform to further vertically integrate our solid rock and motor case manufacturing. That's increasing speed and strengthening our ability to ramp production against the demand signal that we're seeing for a capability that supports multiple high-priority defense programs. In another case, a large defense brand came to us looking for integrated production capability on key subsystems for a strategic Precision Strike program. We organize the full breadth of our capabilities against that opportunity in a way that's very unique to Applied. This is all about complementary and differentiated capabilities that when integrated, translate into speed responsiveness and cost competitive solutions. It's the platform working exactly the way we built it to deliver. The customer comes to us for one capability and finds 3, and we win work we simply couldn't have won as separate businesses. Now turning to our markets. In space, momentum is continuing across our commercial launch and satellite programs, and we're deepening relationships with the leading innovators in the sector. Rising launch cadence and the continued build-out of proliferated constellations point in the same direction, and our capabilities for uncompromising performance and the harsh environments of watch and space sit right in the middle of it. In Defense Aviation, we're ramping on next-generation programs, including our work supporting multiple collaborative combat aircraft platforms and the [ MB75 ]. These are the programs that will define the market over the coming decade and we're positioned on them early at the point when content decisions get made. Alongside that, our aftermarket positions continue to be a powerful advantage for our platform, replacing overhauling and repairing flight-critical and life-limited parts on large installed fleets directly supports defense aviation fleet mission readiness, and it gives us high return in demand, it doesn't depend on new production rates. Demand remains high, and we're expecting solid aftermarket performance in the back half of 2026. Precision Strike is where you can really see the platform coming together. We have strong momentum in solid rocket motor cases, drawing on integrated capabilities from across Applied and serving customers we weren't working with a year ago. We've made the capacity investments these ramps require, and we're integrating our capabilities more tightly to drive speed and performance. The pipeline in this market is very dynamic and active. Our new business more broadly, we're seeing momentum on 2 fronts at once, deeper content with the large defense primes we've served for decades and genuinely exciting first-time opportunities with high potential new customers. Both of these matter. The first will always be our highest certainty growth, and there remains vast white space and the second is one of many ways that we will compound growth. A quick word on M&A. [ CBI ] is delivering these synergies we underwrote, and our M&A pipeline remains exciting and very active. We know where we want to invest internally and which capabilities we'd rather bring in from the outside. That clarity is what keeps us disciplined. Let me leave you with this. What stands out most of the sheer scale of the integrated opportunity that sits in front of us. Applied today is a coordinated platform, and that is what lets us pursue tremendous white space in a coordinated way, drive productivity improvements and approach M&A thoughtfully. That combination is what we mean when we talk about Applied having asymmetric upside. It has really shown up in our pipeline, and I'm more optimistic about the scale of opportunity set in front of us today than I was just a few months ago. We're carrying real momentum into the second half, and there is tremendous amount of energy and productive activity taking place all across the plan. With that, I'll turn it over to Jeff to walk you through our financials.

Great. Thanks, Chris, and good morning. I am very pleased with our second quarter as our results reflect strong execution and position us well to deliver on our full year expectations. Before we get into the details, one note on the basis of the numbers. Everything I discuss today related to financial results as well as our guidance reflects GAAP as reported on a non-pro forma basis. Our acquisition of [ CBI ] is only reflected for the period from its March 2 closing date forward. Where I do reference pro forma figures, I'll say so. So let's get into the results for the second quarter. Revenue for the quarter was $167.3 million reflecting 47.4% growth year-over-year. The strong revenue performance was a result of growth across all 3 of our end markets. On a pro forma basis, including revenue realized by [ CBI ] for the same period last year. Second quarter revenue grew by 21.3%. We also exceeded our internal revenue plan for the quarter due to some timing dynamics. We saw strong execution on several programs, which resulted in the incremental pull forward of revenue and contracted backlog that we had anticipated converting to revenue in the second half of 2026. This phasing does not alter our outlook for the full year. Now a few highlights on revenue by end market. Space and Launch Systems revenue was $38.8 million up 58.5% on high volumes of content supporting priority launch vehicle and satellite production programs. Specifically, we continue to see strong demand on content-enabling [ SpaceX's Falcon 9 ] program as well as ramping demand on [ Blue Origin's ] new blend program. Defense Aviation and Airborne Systems revenue was $78.9 million, up 4.8% with next -- with certain next-generation development programs beginning to move into production. Specifically, our support of [indiscernible] on their [ CCA Fury ] program and [ Bell ] on the [ MV75 ] program. This alongside sustained aftermarket demand across a large installed base of aircraft. C5ISR and Precision Strike Systems revenue was $49.6 million, up $13.7 million from the year [indiscernible]. This market benefited from significant contributions from [ CBI ] and was supported by strong demand signals across integrated air and missile defense systems and Precision Strike programs. From a margin perspective, we saw a heavier weighting of revenue from several early-stage next-generation programs that are now ramping up, and we see those programs accelerating from here. As such, we typically see some compression as we work through product development and initial learning curves with our engineering and production teams. Importantly, this is a typical short curve for us. On most programs will reach our target margin profile within the first several units. So as we ascend the learning curves and volumes ramp, efficiencies improve, and we will see margins improve as we progress through the year and into 2027. Consolidated gross margin for the quarter was 22.2%. This did reflect the impact of share-based compensation resulting from the accelerated vesting of equity units at the IPO, which impacted margins by approximately 6%. Adjusting for this, gross margins were in line with the same period a year ago, as increased volume and improved throughput offset the lower initial margins on our development programs. Net loss for the quarter was $154 million, including aggregate share-based compensation expense of $110 million from accelerated vesting of equity units. Higher levels of interest expense for the period prior to our IPO, increased intangible asset amortization when compared with the prior year quarter and other costs related to our IPO. Excluding these impacts and our corresponding income tax effects, we would have generated net income in the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter came in at $36.4 million, representing solid year-over-year growth. Adjusted EBITDA margin, which is a non-GAAP measure, was 21.8% for the quarter compared to 23.2% in the prior year period, which reflects the investment we've made in our business to expand operational support capabilities as well as investments to support operating in a public company environment. On cash flow, for the first 6 months of the year, net cash used in operating activities was $82.1 million. Three things drove this use of cash, the first 2 of which were nonrecurring. Elevated IPO and acquisition-related costs, cash interest on a portion of our debt repaid with the proceeds from our IPO, which we carry for most of the period and a working capital build of roughly $36 million in contract assets and inventory to support second half deliveries and a growing contract backlog. We expect much of that working capital to be converted back to cash as second half deliveries occur, and we project generating positive free cash flow in the second half of the year. On capital expenditures, we spent roughly $21 million in the first half of the year and expect full year spending on capital of roughly $50 million, weighted toward the qualified capacity and efficiency investments that support the production ramps Trip referenced earlier. Turning to our balance sheet. Our June offering of approximately 34.2 million primary shares at $20 per share generated $635.7 million of net proceeds and we used $626.2 million to repay term loan principal, our drawn revolver balance and accrued interest. Total debt as of June 30 was $405.8 million, down from $643.4 million at year-end. Net debt was $387.7 million, with a cash balance of $18.1 million as of the quarter end. We had our full $125 million available under our revolver. Net leverage based on pro forma trailing 12-month earnings was roughly 2.7x. Now to our outlook. For the full year 2026, we expect total revenue between $670 million and $690 million and non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA between $150 million and $155 million. It is important to note that we have strong backlog coverage supporting our outlook for the second half of the year and well into 2027 and beyond. We expect that revenue will build through the balance of 2026 with the fourth quarter being our most significant quarter. From a supply chain perspective, we are seeing the same environment many of our peers and customers are. and we are actively working to mitigate some supply chain congestion. We see path to resolution, but we'll continue to monitor closely. On the material side, we are making a number of forward investments to support growth initiatives and are seeing some raw material inflation as oil prices remain high and impact other inputs. To date, this has primarily been combined to aluminum and has thus far been relatively immaterial. Two last items for modeling. We expect our full year 2026 effective tax rate to be approximately 7%, which reflects certain items recognized this year rather than our long-term tax rate that we would expect. And we had 172.4 million shares outstanding at June 30, against a weighted average of $148.2 million for the quarter. Our expectations for the full year are essentially unchanged, relentless execution, proactively managing our supply chains and working up the learning curve on new programs that are in ramp all bode well for 2027 and beyond. And with that, let me turn it back to Trip.

Okay. Thanks, Jeff. Before we open the call for questions, I'd like to lay out our priorities for the second half of the year. There are 3. First, drive operational excellence and building Applied right. That means operational excellence at the enterprise level and within every site, playing offense within our supply chain pulling all the right levers to drive efficiencies and exceptional performance and accelerating the development programs that are ramping today into the growth programs of tomorrow. Building Applied right also means bringing our enterprise together the right way in making sure we have the right leaders in talent base for opportunity set ahead of us. That is what I mean when I say we are building Applied to endure. Second, coordinating and thoughtfully triaging a dynamic new business pipeline. As Chris said earlier, we have exceptional momentum with the large [indiscernible] who served for decades and real opportunity with high potential customers we're working with for the first time. That pipeline is dynamic enough that choosing well matters as much as winning and we're particularly excited about what lies ahead here. And third, executing on our high-growth and next-generation program ramps, while continuing to invest ahead of demand and capacity and capabilities, getting high potential programs advancing towards full rate production on schedule and at the right cost is one of the most important things we'll be doing this year. So with that, let me close where I started. Applied was purpose-built for this moment. We have differentiated capabilities and operating philosophy that our customers value, long-tenured relationships with excellent customers, diversified and embedded positions across enduring programs of record in next-generation growth programs and the qualified capacity to serve them all. Our job for the balance of this year's execution, and I'll tell you that I'm even more optimistic about what is in front of this company today than I was a quarter ago. Before we open up to questions, I'd like to once again personally thank our team members whose work produced this quarter, customers for their trust, our service members for their commitment to our nation and our shareholders for their confidence. With that, operator, we're ready to take questions.

[Operator Instructions]. Our first question is from [ Sheila Kallo ] with Jefferies.

Jeff and Chris, congratulations on the IPO and a big milestone. I wanted to ask 2 questions, if possible, please. The first one on backlog. It grew to over $1.1 billion, significantly ahead of your IPO levels. Can you maybe discuss the backlog conversion as we think about it over the next 12 to 24 months and how we think it's about it across space, defense aviation and precision strike?

Yes. Sure, Sheila. Generally, as we look at backlog, we generally view it as a 12- to 18-month forward view on the business. As we think of conversion of it for 2026, we effectively have the balance of the year sitting in firm backlog and it's all about that execution. As we look forward into '27, roughly about half of that backlog should convert to revenue in 2027. The balance of 2027 will be filled out by existing long-term agreements where additional orders drop into backlog over time. And then it starts positioning us as we start thinking in 2028. So very confident. We love the firm backlog of this business gives us great visibility as we view the forward view of the business. It really is strong across all 3 end markets. we do not provide specific values across the 3 end markets, but I would say we're in great shape, 2026, 2027 as we think backlog conversion across all 3 end markets.

And maybe as a follow-up, just to support that growth. Can you discuss some of the working capital investments you're making just to support the business going forward?

Yes. I mean we're obviously making sure that we are prepared for the growth in the business, both from a working capital but also from a capital facility and equipment standpoint. As we've talked in the past, we have forward to invest in the business to support demand signals that we have there. We continue to do that through 2026. As we mentioned, we have roughly $50 million of capital going into the business. That is combined then with working capital growth really that is supporting that ramp in revenue through the second half of the year. Sheila, I would also add, we're incredibly excited about in 2027 and beyond. We are seeing the same demand signals that many of the primes and our customers are seeing. And so we're preparing for success.

Our next question is from [ Ken Herbert ] with RBC Capital Markets.

Congratulations again on the successful IPO. Maybe just to start either Trip or Jeff, I guess, as we look at the 2026 guide, it implies a bit of a sequential step-up in the EBITDA margins in the second half. Maybe Jeff, can you just walk through some of the sort of onetime or transitory headwinds to margins you saw here in the first half and how you think about the step up? And I guess, underneath that is some implied assumptions maybe on some of the costs coming down on some of the newer programs that are ramping.

Yes. I would say that the most significant driver is that point there, Ken. As we look at the first half of the year, we did see some compression on margins related to start-up new development programs as those programs start to mature through the second half of the year, we will see margin expansion there. If I look at first half of the year, roughly 20% of the revenue related to those start-up programs and as we think about it, we tend to get through a handful of initial production units before we start seeing normalized margins. So working up the learning curve, getting through the engineering, so that is what really kind of drives the second half of the year. There are some mix dynamics as well as we always have. That's helping us in the second half of the year as we see that growth in revenue.

And maybe as a follow-up, Trip. One of your first points, as you called out second half priorities was the operational excellence piece. Can you just level set us on where you see integration across the Applied portfolio? And what would be some of the next major steps as you think about operational excellence? Or I guess with that backdrop, integration of the various businesses and where you are on that journey?

Yes, for sure. We are ahead of schedule, bottom line upfront. We have great alignment of all of our senior leaders. We have seen both people, process and systems come together extremely well. One of the things that's a really bright spot is we have seen synergies across sites driving revenue on opportunities supporting our customers. So an example with an emerging innovator who has a go-fast program, we've been able to leverage our capabilities in a new thoughtful way that's helping accelerate that program. And so just the key takeaway is we feel really comfortable with where we stand today and we believe will really benefit through the second half of the year, but most importantly, going into '27 and it will really help us grow the business in all the right ways.

Our next question is from Peter Arment with Baird.

Chris, Jeff and I'll echo everyone else's sentiment. Congrats on the quarter and the IPO. Trip, maybe you could talk a little bit about space and launch. You guys have exposure to [ New Glen ], and there's been obviously an anomaly there. Just wondering how you think about the business for the second half and going forward?

Thank you for the question. I feel really optimistic about the space economy in general. What I would say all indicators and direction from [ Blue Origin ] have been to continue moving at pace. We have not slowed down. So that reflects also their public statements. And I would say we also see a lot of good tailwinds across, I would say, other emerging areas within space. And one area that we've seen growth is really in our proprietary tank business as well. So all in all, I would say, very exciting, very positive, and we're preparing to really ramp throughout.

Got it. Appreciate that. And then just as a follow-up, if you could -- a lot of the framework agreements are starting to get firmed up or at least some of them are. Could you talk a little bit about your exposure there and when you expect to start seeing things flow to Applied?

Yes. So I'm going to pass it over to Chris and let him he's been working that directly.

Sure. To start off with, we've got deep content already across a range of the programs that you're seeing in the headlines. So a big part of our forward ramp is tied to those programs. We are also working a range of opportunities we're pretty excited about the time we were last speaking. I know we did touch on sole-source revenue, single-source revenue being kind of in the 86% range. Our expectation is that will go down in part because a lot of the opportunities we're seeing to dual source are ones that are very attractive. They offer us an opportunity to showcase a lot of what we do best in terms of kind of moving fast and being cost, so a lot there and probably some more things you'll see from us in the near term.