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ESI · Element Solutions Inc

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$38.81 -0.20 (-0.51%) At close · Aug 14
Market Cap
$9.45B
Shares
243.61M
All earnings calls

Earnings call · FY2026 Q1

Element Solutions Inc Q1 FY2026 Earnings Call

Element Solutions Inc Q1 FY2026 Earnings Call

Concluded Apr 29, 2026 Audio replay
Apr 29, 2026 41:05 49 turns
Period
FY2026 Q1
Runtime
41:05
Sources
4 artifacts

Executive readout · one minute

What matters this quarter

Element Solutions reported a record Q1 2026 with net sales of $840 million (+41% reported, +10% organic) and adjusted EBITDA of $162 million (+21% constant currency), driven by 15% organic growth in Electronics tied to AI infrastructure demand, and the company raised its full-year 2026 guidance.

Acquisitions Integration 31 Electronics Segment Growth 21 Investment and Innovation 13 AI Infrastructure Demand 11 Industrial Solutions Weakness 10 Margin Expansion and Pricing 10

Management tone

Confident

Net tone +68 · low hedging

Grounding quotes
  • “Element Solutions started 2026 strong. We reported a record quarter yesterday that demonstrates ongoing success with our strategy of penetrating the highest value, fastest-growing subsegments in our addressable markets.”
  • “We delivered double-digit organic sales growth for the second quarter in a row and strong margin expansion, excluding the impact of pass-through metals, all while increasing investment in people, technology and plants to support customer growth.”
  • “Forecasts from customers are increasing and innovation cycles are accelerating. This trend will continue, and we're increasing investments to better serve our customers, whether in inventory to support volume growth, additional manufacturing capacity for certain high-growth product lines, or innovation to remain on the leading edge.”
  • “It's a dynamic environment and unmitigated. It's tens of millions of dollars of risk, but we expect to be able to mitigate most of it over the course of the year.”

Forward guidance

2 guided metrics

Management's latest ranges and targets are included below.

Research coverage

4 live sources

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Revenue $840.00M +41.5% YoY
Diluted EPS $0.23 -42.5% YoY
Gross margin 38.4% -3.8 pp YoY
Net income $55.90M -43% YoY

Research materials

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Key takeaways

What improved, and what deserves a closer read.

Constructive signals

  • Electronics organic net sales grew 15%, the strongest since early 2021, with every vertical up by double digits on AI/data-center demand.
  • Constant-currency adjusted EBITDA rose 21% year-over-year to $162 million, with adjusted EBITDA margin expanding 170 bps to 27.8% on a new pass-through-metals-excluded basis.
  • Assembly Solutions grew 12% organically on high-reliability alloys to data center suppliers; Circuitry Solutions grew 17% and Semiconductor Solutions grew 18%, including record sales tied to HPC/AI server builds.
  • Adjusted EPS grew 21% year-over-year, and recent acquisitions EFC and Micromax both delivered double-digit organic revenue growth in the quarter (Micromax contributed ~$65M of reported sales).
  • Company raised its 2026 full-year guidance on the strength of Q1 results and increasing customer forecasts.

Risks & pressure points

  • Reported net income fell 43% to $56 million (margin 6.7% vs. 16.5%), primarily reflecting a prior-year gain on the Graphics Solutions divestiture, and was also offset by higher interest costs from recent acquisitions.
  • Specialties/Industrial Solutions was flat year-over-year due to softer Americas automotive production, and management said the Industrial Solutions growth outlook is worse today than entering the year due to geopolitical dampening.
  • Company expects increased quarterly earnings variance from swings in metals prices and identified tens of millions of dollars of risk from petrochemically linked logistics and packaging costs, to be mitigated mostly via surcharges over the course of the year.
  • Q1 EBITDA included a recovery of several million dollars from Q4 2025 metal-hedge timing; underlying year-on-year adjusted EBITDA growth would have been in the mid-teens excluding that benefit and acquisition contributions.
  • Risk of supply-chain bottlenecks (e.g., helium, PCB availability) could impact upstream/downstream electronics supply chains, though management notes the business skews to higher-end suppliers insulated from initial disruption.

Key moments

Jump directly to management's words in the synchronized transcript.

“We anticipate reducing leverage by approximately half a turn by the end of the year, assuming no further capital deployment. This strong balance sheet position should once again give us flexibility to act on opportunities if and when they arise.” Carey Dorman, CFO
“Sales in our Electronics segment grew 15% organically as activity accelerated across our supply chain in support of the ongoing AI infrastructure build-out.” Benjamin Gliklich, CEO

Forward guidance

From the 8-K filed Apr 28, 2026.

Metric Guided
Adjusted EBITDA
full year 2026
$665M – $685M
Adjusted EBITDA
second quarter 2026
$155M – $170M

Quarter detail

How the reported period landed and where the business moved.

Revenue · segments

Electronics Segment$633.50M +60.7% YoY
Specialties Segment$206.50M +3.6% YoY

Capital returned

Dividend / share
$0.08
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