Dana Incorporated ($DAN)
Earnings Call Transcript · June 3, 2026
Highlights from the call
In the second quarter of fiscal year 2026, Dana Incorporated (DAN:US) reported a stable demand environment, particularly in the light vehicle segment, with management noting a 'slight volume uptick' and expectations for continued stability into the back half of the year. Revenue and earnings figures were not disclosed in the transcript, but management indicated that they are trending slightly ahead of initial guidance, particularly in the commercial vehicle segment. The company is on track to achieve $65 million in cost savings for the year, with ongoing efforts in automation and productivity improvements signaled as key growth drivers moving forward.
Main topics
- Demand Stability in Light Vehicles: Management noted 'good, steady production' from customers and a 'slight volume uptick' in the light vehicle segment, indicating resilience despite global challenges. They expect this trend to continue into the latter half of the year.
- Commercial Vehicle Demand Pickup: Dana is seeing a 'pickup in demand' for Class 8 trucks, which is 'trending a little bit ahead' of initial expectations. This could provide a slight upside in volumes for the company in the back half of the year.
- Cost Optimization Efforts: Dana has successfully executed $35 million of a planned $65 million in cost reductions year-to-date, with ongoing initiatives in automation and productivity aimed at further savings. Management emphasized their commitment to continuous cost evaluation.
- Growth in Aftermarket Opportunities: Management highlighted a potential 'couple hundred million dollar' opportunity in the aftermarket segment, particularly with OE gaskets, where they are seeing strong demand and are currently constrained by distribution capacity.
- Expansion into Adjacent Markets: Dana is pursuing growth in adjacent markets such as powersports and defense, with management noting that they are engaged with top customers and have several RFQ opportunities in front of them.
Key metrics mentioned
- Cost Savings: $35 million (on track for $65 million target for the year)
- Commercial Vehicle Demand: slight pickup (trending ahead of initial expectations)
- Aftermarket Revenue Potential: couple hundred million (increased demand for OE gaskets)
- Battery Cooling Plate Market Size: $2 billion (potential market for Dana's cooling solutions)
- Buyback Commitment: $2 billion (cumulative buybacks by 2030)
- Current Buyback Progress: $150 million (halfway through $300 million buyback for the year)
Dana Incorporated is positioned for growth with a stable demand outlook, particularly in light vehicles and commercial vehicles. The company's proactive cost management and expansion into adjacent markets present significant catalysts for future performance. Investors should monitor the execution of their automation initiatives and the impact of macroeconomic factors on demand sustainability.
Earnings Call Speaker Segments
Joseph Spak
AnalystsAll right. Welcome back, everyone. I'm very pleased to have Dana Incorporated up as our next company here at the UBS Auto Conference. Pleased to have Bruce McDonald, Chairman and CEO; and Byron Foster, incoming CEO as of July 1.
R. McDonald
ExecutivesJuly 1.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsRight around the corner.
R. McDonald
ExecutivesThat's right.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsA lot I want to get to here, why don't we just start with sort of current trends sort of what you're seeing in the business and really from an end market perspective, I know you've laid out some of the -- some of your assumptions for different end markets, light vehicle, sort of light truck, commercial vehicle, on your first quarter earnings call. We've seen some changes to third-party forecast, at least on the light vehicle side, then we had some good orders numbers on commercial trucks. So maybe you could just sort of update us sort of what you're seeing currently in the market and where sort of the push and pull is really for the balance of the year on demand side?
R. McDonald
ExecutivesYes, sure. I'll start on the light vehicle side. So we're seeing good, steady production from our customers, our large programs. We're actually seeing some slight volume uptick and the market seem to be pretty stable and resilient despite kind of all the other things going on around the world. So we feel pretty good about the demand on the light vehicle side. Our plants are humming along right now in Q2, and we expect that to continue into kind of the back half of the year. On the commercial vehicle side, on the Class 8, we're starting to see pickup in demand there. So we're starting to see that come through in our orders, and we expect kind of in the back half of the year that there should be some uptick there. Now for us...
Joseph Spak
AnalystsDid you expected that already though in your initial guidance? Or is it sort of trending a little bit...
R. McDonald
ExecutivesIt's trending a little bit ahead of kind of what we thought initially. But for us, just from a mix standpoint, we're a larger player kind of in the medium-duty space. And we're seeing that continue to be soft to flattish to soft but some uptick on the Class 8. So net-net, there should be some slight upside for us from a volume side in the back half of the year.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsAnd sticking with -- in the commercial vehicle segment with some of the international markets and whether it's Europe or China or South America?
R. McDonald
ExecutivesYes. For us, the larger markets for us are really North America. South America is fairly large. South America is kind of soft. North America, we're seeing the pickup in Europe remains kind of soft, but not a big region for us.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsSo when you reported, I think you sort of were indicating maybe towards the higher end of the guidance range. Is it really just sort of volume that's sort of going to determine here where you sort of play out within that range or even above that range?
R. McDonald
ExecutivesYes. I think for -- in terms of getting us -- continuing to see us at the top end of that range, we're looking for volume to continue to be stable. Again, we're seeing some good signs here in the quarter. The CV pickup that I mentioned earlier, should that really kind of continue to come through and the supply base to be able to react to that. That could present some upside to us. And then we've got a lot of activity around continuing to drive cost in the business. So to the extent we can accelerate some of that, all combined, that would lead us to kind of continue to the higher end of the range.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsAnd then on the cost savings side, you've done a really good job there. A big part of the story, right, being able to sort of take cost out. I think as you sort of move through the year, you start to get up against some of the comps, if you will, from when you started to take more costs out there. So how should we think about that progressing? And one of the things we've talked about in the past, right, is how you're continually evaluating the business and always looking for more and more opportunities. So where do we stand on that?
R. McDonald
ExecutivesYes, I would say a couple of things on the cost side. So first, so far year-to-date, we've taken out $35 million of a plan to get $65 million out. So we're on track to deliver that $65 million for the year. But to your point, Joe, it's -- you never stop on the cost optimization piece. So when we laid out our Dana 2030 plan, we talked about an incremental $65 million of costs that we're looking to take out over the plan period. So we're constantly working on that. And then if you think about cost in a broader sense in terms of our implant productivity, our purchasing savings, I mean, teams have road maps in place to deliver that and they're constantly looking for ways to kind of over-deliver in that regard. Things like automation, right, with a big effort on automation to drive efficiency, improve quality, improve safety in the plants. And so we're actively driving those projects and trying to go as quickly as we can.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsSince you brought up automation, I mean it's obviously something that you've talked about in the past and like maybe you could sort of just talk to us a little bit about your approach? Like are there things you automate in one plant that you then see this has applicability to a different plant and you can sort of scale it and then vice versa, there might be other areas or...
R. McDonald
ExecutivesYes, I would say -- well, first of all, we are -- if you compare our manufacturing operations to, let's just say, an investment-grade manufacture, I'm not counting automotive, but just in general, we were capital constrained, and so we're behind. So there's a lot of low-hanging fruit. But we have -- if you were to go into our manufacturing operations, I mean, some of our plants, it's well over half the people have jobs where they're loading or unloading a machine. And that is very low level single-arm robotic replacing 2 or 3 heads, 3 shifts -- 2 or 3 shifts a day. And that's where we have such a high payback. So there's a lot of opportunity. And we're -- and I'm talking about not loading something like this into a machine like we have lift assisted things, and it's banging around. It's not safe. It's ergonomically a challenge. It's not kind of jobs that the union our union colleagues like to do. So we haven't had any pushback in terms of, hey, this is where we're deploying automation. So it's not Tesla robots running on our plant.
Byron Foster
ExecutivesYes, exactly. I would just add to Bruce's points. So one, when we find an opportunity, we're very much looking to share that across plants, right, that have similar operations. So we have a road map of kind of best practices from a deployment standpoint that we can leverage. So we don't have to relearn this every time we want to deploy for a specific operation. The other opportunity is just material handling. So that's a big one for us. The movement of material through automated kind of AGV type technology is a huge opportunity for us.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsSo I think those investments are sort of contemplated in your in your CapEx budget. But like we -- like how long do you think this process sort of could take to get the plants up to more acceptable levels as you sort of [indiscernible]?
R. McDonald
ExecutivesI think in our numbers that we put in the Capital Markets Day, I think we got about $175 million of capital here over a 3-year period. So that $60-ish million a year type thing. And to Byron's point, one of the things that we are finding is we've got a team that's going out and identifying projects by plant like that. And once we go into a plant and implement, then the plants are coming back and saying, hey, we got some other [indiscernible] have now lived with this, we got some other ideas. So it wouldn't surprise me if we tick that number up.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsYes, that's helpful. I mean its not so much on the cost side, but -- or maybe it is, but it might also just be some other factors here. I think one of the other things you mentioned that the Capital Markets Day was there's a number of parts or products that are just not profitable today. So what -- maybe you could sort of talk about the effort to either get them profitable, whether automation or other aspects that are part of that or whether they make sense to remain in the portfolio?
R. McDonald
ExecutivesYes. So in the Capital Markets Day, we gave an example of one of our ceiling plants that, that particular plant has quite a few SKUs. I think it's close to 600 SKUs. And so we've been going deep into part level, SKU level profitability and understanding what our margin profile looks like. And for those parts that are not meeting our hurdles, we then have to unpack, okay, what's driving it? Is it a design issue? Is it material? Is it pricing scrap throughput? So we go through all those to see what levers we might be able to pull to keep -- get the parts to an acceptable level of profitability. And if we can't find a path, be it on a set of SKUs, on a product line, on a set of business with a particular customer or what have you, then we have those discussions, and we're more than willing to exit. I mean we just -- each product line, each SKU, each plant has to get to a level of sustainability from a profitability standpoint. And we're just attacking that in a very aggressive way.
Byron Foster
ExecutivesYes. I mean just to put it like in perspective, when you look at our numbers, like our quarterly bridges and what you're seeing the contribution margin that we have flowing through on the volume because we've got repriced product going through here. And so this year, it's in the $30 million to $40 million benefits in our plan as we build to that stuff. So it's not -- I think in your pre question, you were sort of asked about the time frame. To the extent it's with, let's just say, Ford and we got a lot of other Ford business were more constrained, but what we're finding is we've got a lot of other customers some competitors where it's fairly easy for us to implement the actions on a pretty timely basis.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsAnd as you sort of go through that process, are there some parts or maybe you think you need to reconsider whether it's something you continue to do? Or do you think these are all sort of...
R. McDonald
ExecutivesYes, for sure. I mean we have some products where the volume is very, very low. It's kind of niche to a particular -- and so some of that pruning, if you will, will definitely result in some products just coming out of the portfolio, which is okay.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsYes. Turning back to the Capital Markets Day and you highlighted a number of sort of, let's say, growth vectors for the company. One was sort of the backlog for, I guess, I'd say your existing traditional light vehicle and commercial vehicle business. And I think like especially with the RAM Dakota win you announced last quarter, most of that seems sort of in the books. But maybe you could sort of talk a little bit about that. And also some of the other drivers here, I guess the 2 I'd want to focus most on are, one, some of the adjacencies, like you mentioned A&D or maybe powersports to the aftermarket because I know that sort of seems to be a pretty sizable addressable market for you.
Byron Foster
ExecutivesSo maybe I'll start and Bruce can chime in. But on the traditional side, we were obviously very excited with the Dakota win. It fits right into our strategy, right into our sweet spot. It's in our current manufacturing footprint, a lot of carryover products. So it made a lot of sense for us and for Stellantis. So we're excited about that and that obviously plugs a bit [indiscernible] in terms of backlog. We are not done yet. We have a list of great opportunities with our customers. I think in general, our team's ability to execute from a quality, delivery, overall performance, we have green scorecards. Our customers are looking for opportunities to grow with us. So there will be more to come on the traditional growth side, even though that plugged a big part of our road map. The team is not...
Joseph Spak
AnalystsJust on that front. That means it could fall within certainly the 2030 time frame, but is there -- are there still opportunities that could be even a little bit more near term, similar to Dakota or that sort of...
Byron Foster
ExecutivesWell, I think for it to hit the business in the 2030 time frame, we need to deliver wins in the next, let's say, 12 to 18 months at the launch in that time frame. So yes, there are other active opportunities that we're chasing that hopefully, we'll be able to deliver some good news on those within the next kind of 12 months. So that work stream is well underway. Teams are focused there. On the commercial vehicle side, in addition to hopefully what continues to be a tailwind from the overall market, we are really doubling up our efforts in terms of being in the field, talking to the fleets, talking to the dealers to create that pull-through for the Dana solutions. And even though it's early days, we're starting to see some nice wins on that front. So again, our traditional commercial vehicle business should benefit from both of those efforts. Do you want to take maybe...
R. McDonald
ExecutivesAftermarket, I think where we're sort of counting on a couple hundred million dollar type opportunity here. The biggest single one is on North American sealing side of our business. And this is where we have a unique value proposition in the market in that we are an OE gasket supplier and we're competing against people that aren't. And so what we're seeing, it's a relatively inexpensive part when you're doing an engine repair to TU is an OE quality part. And so we've got excellent demand, I'll say, from the big box retailers. The way that tends to work, Joe, is if I used -- I mean, AutoZone as an example, they've got a number of regional DCs, and they typically would say, okay, you can have this in this DC and prove ourselves and to the extent we're successful, they really look to get incremental DC. So we've got a foot in the door. This is a business we really weren't in, say, 2 or 3 years ago. We're probably at like a $40 million type run rate right now. We're in AutoZone, O'Reilly, Advanced and having some discussions now, but not locked them in. So we've been very pleased with the pull that we're seeing on it. And right now, I would say we're internally constrained on our ability to take business on. We're going to have to add some distribution capacity in the U.S., and that's an investment that Byron and the team are looking at right now.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsAnd just to refresh [indiscernible] I mean like this is something you used to do, you sort of lost the license and so you're reentering? Is there a...
R. McDonald
ExecutivesWe sold a business for a 10-year noncompete. And now that expired 6 or 7 -- Craig probably remember, he was the only one who was around back then. We didn't jump back into it. And given the margin profile on it, it's very attractive. And so we have...
Joseph Spak
AnalystsIt's more of a noncompete. It wasn't like someone else was making product with your name on it?
R. McDonald
ExecutivesNo. No. And this is a market where we've got 35%, 40% share in Europe and that's our entitlement here in the U.S. And so we're very confident in that one and so far so good in terms of the effort building it up.
Byron Foster
ExecutivesOkay. The other piece relative to growth, right, it was -- we have a whole work stream around adjacent markets, applied technologies, we call it. So taking the Dana product capabilities, technologies into new spaces. We've talked about power sports as an example, being one where the customers there are looking for more automotive grade, higher quality, more robust solutions for their vehicles. They're looking for hybridization solutions, local supply. So all fits right into the sweet spot of what we can provide from a solution standpoint. So we've been engaged with the top customers in that space at their CTO levels. We've got a number of RFQ opportunities in front of us. So that one is real, it's gaining momentum, and that's going to turn into something tangible for us. And then defense is the other one we've talked a bit about, and we all kind of understand kind of the ramp-up in demand relative to defense. And again, there, we've got solutions that are relatively off-the-shelf, just kind of have to beef up some of the solutions we have because they're looking for off-the-shelf solutions that are already kind of validated and that can kind of get to market quicker. And again, there, we've got great traction with a number of the players in that space and tangible turning into real opportunities for us.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsThe reason I wanted to sort of [indiscernible] a lot of that work at the Analyst Day, and it's just sort of really sort of segue into one of the big themes that investors are sort of looking at in autos here, which is what core competencies to companies have that might have applicability to other use cases? And I think what your -- the examples you gave here, right, like, okay, well, we're good on trucks and commercial vehicles, are there applications in military, powersports, clear example of that, right, taking something you know how to do, finding a new end market. We just had a note that sort of worked through all the portfolios. And I think one of the areas that we highlighted and I'd be curious to sort of hear your views on this are is battery cooling plates, right? So clearly, you do some of that in your business for electric vehicle batteries, but batteries are in greater demand beyond electric vehicles in terms of storage systems. So maybe you could just sort of talk about what you do there, your core competencies? How portable is that like type of technology? And like do you see demand for your product in some of these other areas? And is there anything else in your portfolio that might also have some applicability?
R. McDonald
ExecutivesTag team?
Byron Foster
ExecutivesYes, yes, go ahead. I'll start. So just from a baseline capability, we have -- when we talk about the Dana product portfolio, we talk about thermal products, right? And so that can be helping regulate temperature of an ICE engine solution to the EV space, which is where we've spent a lot of time developing capability to cool batteries in an electric vehicle, right? So that product is just what it sounds like. It is a plate that is kind of sandwich between the batteries to regulate temperature, and there's a lot of intellectual properties in our solutions there. And we're on several key platforms with some of our larger customers, albeit at lower volumes than we initially thought, but we are in production with that technology today. And I'll let Bruce take kind of how we're starting to look at how we might be able to apply that to some of these other markets that you're talking about, Joe.
R. McDonald
ExecutivesYes. So as like -- ESS is the buzzword right now. In that space, we think the battery cooling plate opportunity right now is about $2 billion, like size of market. We -- our -- we have a stamped product. So basically, we stamp it and that creates the channels that we put coolant through as opposed to cast products, which are the primary product in the market today. We -- there's some technical benefits in terms of heat dissipation of our product versus the cast ones. And we think as the next-generation chips come out, we have a very good solution. So we are talking to people in this space as a Tier 1 supplier. But it's in the prototype technical solution, engineer to engineer, we're not at a point where we're coding things or going to win new business. So when Byron talked about our applied technology growth initiative, we have 5 of them. And as we said at our Capital Markets Day, look, we -- this isn't a one-and-done process in looking at our capability in that market. And so from the Capital Market Day to today, this is an opportunity that's moving pretty quickly. And we are having discussions with folks in the batter data center space and some of the chip suppliers.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsSo it wasn't really considered in your Capital Markets Day?
R. McDonald
ExecutivesNo.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsI guess just bigger picture then, like you said, like things are moving very quickly, all of a sudden, there's like an inflection of demand you have, I would say, with Indiana probably a lot of [indiscernible] technology. And whether it's best or data centers or power sports, like I'm just curious sort of how you organize internally? Like is there some sort of team that's responsible for almost like incubation of idea saying like, hey, we can do this. This is very applicable towards potentially this new use case. Let's see if we can sort of come up with a product and become differentiated.
Byron Foster
ExecutivesThat's a pretty good description of our process, Joe. So what's important is that you got to commit and dedicate the team and resources if we say, hey, we want to grow in this market. So first, we did the legwork of what's possible, what markets could have an opportunity where Dana could bring solutions to and got down to this initial list, and we're continuously looking to refresh that as we explore those markets and see if there's something there or not. And then we have dedicated teams. And this all starts out to Bruce's point, engineer to engineer, do we have a technical solution that makes sense? Do we have a value proposition that's interesting for the customer? And then as these markets and opportunities become real, right, we will kind of build the team around those accordingly.
R. McDonald
ExecutivesAnd we've -- when our -- we've maybe done ourselves a little bit of a disservice because we've really focused on a window to 2030 and like [indiscernible]. So a great example of that would be in a power sports condition that we talked about, we really saw that opportunities around drive shops and shops and things like that, replacing, say, old technology, Chinese base suppliers and things like that. And as we've gone into those discussions, what we found is a lot of opportunities for hybridization. So looking at our high-performance transmission business. We're now when demonstrator vehicles for a couple of the power sports manufacturers on a hybrid product, almost like a range extended, so a couple of miles of battery only drive. And -- but those would be things coming in beyond like in 2030, tail end and beyond. So we're not limiting it to just a 5-year window. We're looking for market opportunities that are attractive and at accretive margins. So the bogey that we've kind of given to our Applied Technologies group is 25% type EBITDA margins as a threshold type thing.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsYou mentioned maybe turning the conversation just to [indiscernible] again, just as an example here, right, that, obviously, the volumes didn't materialize as I think everyone sort of planned and capacitized for us. So -- or certainly planned for, I guess the question is, was it also sort of capacitized for? Like is that something where you do have some excess capacity on that front now? So if you do find a new use case...
Byron Foster
ExecutivesCooling plates, we definitely do.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsOkay. Yes. So that's something that obviously, it would require some investments, some retooling potentially, but there's some of it...
Byron Foster
ExecutivesSome of the core capacity is there that could be redeployed.
R. McDonald
ExecutivesAbsolutely.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsRight. And I guess it's TBD, but is it -- do you think it can be sort of fairly fungible and flexible that you could sort of switch back and forth, let's say, EV or best demand if need be or they would be [indiscernible]?
R. McDonald
ExecutivesOur technical teams are looking to -- as they explore this opportunity to see what solutions could make sense, right? They are doing that with a sense -- with the understanding of the capacity we have in place and can we leverage that process and whatever solutions we may come up with. So we'll see. I mean, again, TBD, ideally, right, this capacity could be fungible and we could kind of leverage kind of both markets, that would be ideal. But we're still in kind of...
Byron Foster
ExecutivesI think one kind of way to think about it, I'm not the smartest guy in the room in terms of this topic. But as it relates to our base battery cooling plate business today, the market is moving away from like a cooling plate on a cell that's 2x3 to something that's the size of these screens or [indiscernible] plywood. There'll be one plate for all the cells. And so we will have to invest in capacity for our existing business, which will free up because our machines can't make something that big. And we think the size that we have will fit the market demand if it comes through. So I don't see it being a very capital-intensive initiative for us.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsYes. Okay. Are there other areas that maybe even since the Analyst Day, as you sort of take a longer lens and longer scope beyond 2030 that may come into purview, like -- for instance, I think you're probably pretty good at gearing and stuff like that. So like in robotics, might there be use cases for some of your know-how.
R. McDonald
ExecutivesWe haven't really -- I would say what we have in front of us right now is kind of where we have the teams focused. And the big opportunity is in terms of the core capabilities around gearing as an example, are in these markets that we talked about because they bring pretty good scale and size of opportunity. And then on the thermal front, right, beginning to explore. One, as the vehicle architectures change, we think the need for cooling and EVs is going to increase. And so we're working on some solutions as kind of the various computer modules come together into larger pieces where we would cool that. And then we're, again, obviously starting to explore the EESS space and data centers at a very initial stage, I would say.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsOkay. And I guess just in terms of use of entry into that market, should we sort of think about it as maybe some customers that -- some customers that are already customers on a vehicle side that might also be exploring some of these opportunities? Or is it broader than that?
R. McDonald
ExecutivesI think it has the potential to be both. Obviously, some of our customers are starting to explore that. We have relationships there. They know us. They know our technology. So we'll see kind of where that could potentially go. But then there's going to be new players, right, where we're building contact, building relationships and starting to talk about what the needs are and what solutions we might have. And we've got teams kind of working in that space.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsAnd I guess just last question on this, like when you have like -- and again, maybe these conversations are very, very early stages. But as you sort of continue to sort of advance that, is the conversation centered around, a, we have capacity, we could do this. Here's what we know it to do. Or is it more around like what you mentioned before where you have a stamp for sort of casting product, which is like we actually think we have a better mousetrap here.
R. McDonald
ExecutivesIt's the latter.
Byron Foster
ExecutivesYes, exactly.
R. McDonald
ExecutivesIt's definitely the improved heat dissipation from our product and the ability to have more surface contact or maybe molded around a chip instead of just matching part of it. So it's really solving a problem.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsOkay. Let's turn the page to -- Bruce, I know one of your favorite topics here over the past couple of years, which is sort of capital allocation. Obviously, you sort of laid out some free cash flow targets for the year, some longer-term sort of capital returns as well. Maybe you can sort of just refresh us in terms of how you think about the -- not only the cash generation, but in terms of how do you want to sort of use that capital? And I am, I guess, just curious a little bit, like as we sort of start to think about and synthesize some of these potential new opportunities, is it -- are any of those -- it sounds like it's pretty capital-light. I just want to make sure it's sort of not significant enough that maybe you -- or is it significant enough for you as you may have to reevaluate some other priorities?
R. McDonald
ExecutivesNo, I think our what we laid out at our Capital Markets Day was $2 billion of cumulative buybacks by 2030. And that was that's what we sort of committed to so far. That would leave us with 0 net debt at the end, and that's not our desire. So we sort of said, look, we want to be about 1x leverage to the cycle. I think in hindsight, we had a debate with a lot of folks outside the company around to what extent would we see multiple expansion by reducing our risk profile, and we've moved up despite the fact we sold our off-highway business. I think our efforts in terms of improving our margin and our balance sheet, we've definitely been rewarded with multiple expansion. So we think it's prudent for us stay within that 1x to ride out the cycle. So we've got in the...
Joseph Spak
AnalystsYou're saying -- but that would give you more than $2 billion [indiscernible]?
R. McDonald
ExecutivesSo yes, we didn't say, hey, here's every nickel. To the extent our business continues to perform well as our leverage declines, then that we certainly have the opportunity to pull it forward and expand it in an aggregate sense. And this year, we're sort of talking about -- we've committed to $300 million of buybacks of which we're probably halfway done right now where we sit.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsOkay. The -- one of the other parts of the Capital Markets Day was sort of market share gains, right, across sort of a different sort of array [indiscernible]. I am curious there as well. What is sort of the factor that you think is sort of driving these shorter share gains from competitors into yourself? Is it -- obviously, things are always sort of some combination of price performance and durability, but...
R. McDonald
ExecutivesI think the answer is slightly different depending on which segment we're talking about. So aftermarket, which we talked a little bit about earlier is about reintroducing a brand that is recognized that we have great kind of vehicle coverage for and where our customers are looking for an alternative solution, and they're willing to give us that shot and give us some DCs and we're performing, and we expect that piece will grow. I think on the commercial vehicle side, there, it's about really getting the Dana value proposition into the market. So it's serving customers that we have underserved in terms of being in front of the fleet, in front of the dealers and obviously continuing to execute with our OEM customers. And there, again, people are looking for an alternative and given Dana [indiscernible], and we're seeing some great kind of early wins in that regard. And then in our traditional space, the light vehicle space, I mean, we were able to deliver the Dakota program because our teams come to work every day and execute in a fantastic way, high-quality deal with a lot of complexities, applying the Jeep platform and have gained the customers confidence that we can do more with them. So I think, for me, it all starts with our teams that execute every day in a world-class way and then our customers want to figure out how to grow us.
Byron Foster
ExecutivesYes, maybe just double-clicking on the CV opportunity here, Joe. We have brand-new world-class axle, CV axle plant that we built in ascabato in Mexico. I mean, it's state-of-the-art. Customers are blown away with it because I don't think there's been a new CV axle plant in a long time. And so our customers right now are very worried about the inevitable supply claim in the supply base keep up with the demand. It happens every cycle, and we've got surplus capacity. So that's helping us. I would also say our quality and our cost base. We think we have an advantage. So I think a combination of like Byron said, us focusing on the dealers and the fleets, which we have not done in the past could create additional demand as well as our ability to add capacity and reliable capacity is going to help us gain share.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsMaybe just to close here. Late last week, we -- I'm sure we all saw the article about the government pushing for certain U.S. requirement and contents on USMCA. I don't think really that's surprising that the government was sort of pushing forward. I don't know whether 50% is ultimately going to be the right number. But maybe you could sort of talk about because I think you've already internally, like you already have a decent U.S. footprint. I think you've also sort of made some efforts to sort of try to get more U.S. content to help your customers? I know that's been sort of tic by the automakers to the supplier. So maybe you can just talk a little bit about how you think USMCA might evolve and how Dana is positioned within that?
Byron Foster
ExecutivesWell, I'll stay away from trying to predict like what the final solution looks like. But I will say to your point, that because of the nature of our product being kind of large, we're within a close radius of most of our OEM customers for the final product. And then the component footprint, a lot of that is U.S., but also kind of global. So through this whole kind of tariff piece, we have worked that global supply chain to optimize it, to leverage USMCA as best we can and to partner with our customers on what the right long-term economic solutions are. And so when the new rules come out, will adapt and continue to evolve and get to the best low-cost solution for us and our customers.
R. McDonald
ExecutivesI mean, just add on that a little bit because I don't -- for me, it's not something that keeps me awake at night, maybe because I will be leaving soon. No, I would just say to our customers credit -- our customers' credit here in the U.S., they have done an amazing job working here [indiscernible] tariffs, chaotic, they have done an amazing job working with the administration, commerce department on, hey, let's try and figure this like we're willing to go there, but we got to have a proper path to get there. And they've done a great job up to this point in time. And I think I'm very confident they will do it again.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsYes, I think that's a fair point, and it's not -- we don't know all the details of a little larger potential agreement. And so I think that's a totally fair point. And I would echo your view to be set. I think -- I don't think it's the administration's intention here to sort of inflect pain on the outset here. Okay. Well, I think with that, we're perfect out of time. So thanks for joining us today. Bruce, see you off? I don't know if this is your last conference officially or?
R. McDonald
ExecutivesYes. Thank you.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsWell, take care.
Byron Foster
ExecutivesAll right. Great.
Joseph Spak
AnalystsBye.
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