American Vanguard Reports First Quarter 2026 Results
Rhea-AI Summary
American Vanguard (NYSE:AVD) reported Q1 2026 results: net sales $124 million (up ~7% YoY), gross margin 31% (up 500 basis points), adjusted EBITDA of $10.3 million, and a net loss of $4.1 million. Cash at quarter-end was $71 million and net debt was $196 million. The company reaffirmed 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance of $44M–$48M on sales of $530M–$550M and noted a manufacturing optimization targeting at least $4M annualized savings.
Positive
- Gross margin expanded by 500 bps to 31%
- Adjusted EBITDA improved to $10.3M from $3.0M
- Quarter-end cash increased to $71M from $12M year-ago
- Inventory declined nearly $10M year-over-year to $175M
- Manufacturing optimization expected to deliver at least $4M annual savings
Negative
- Reported net loss of $4.1M for Q1 2026
- Net debt remained elevated at $196M at quarter-end
- Sales growth was modest at ~7% YoY, leaving exposure to agricultural seasonality
News Market Reaction – AVD
On the day this news was published, AVD gained 2.41%, reflecting a moderate positive market reaction. Argus tracked a peak move of +13.2% during that session. Argus tracked a trough of -9.1% from its starting point during tracking. Our momentum scanner triggered 18 alerts that day, indicating notable trading interest and price volatility. This price movement added approximately $3M to the company's valuation, bringing the market cap to $116.09M at that time.
Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.
Key Figures
Previous Earnings Reports
| Date | Event | Sentiment | 24h Move | Catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 16 | Full-year earnings | Negative | -14.0% | Reported 2025 net loss with modest EBITDA and major balance-sheet refinancing. |
| Nov 10 | Quarterly earnings | Positive | -0.8% | Q3 2025 EBITDA and margins improved while maintaining full-year guidance. |
| Nov 05 | Earnings date notice | Neutral | -1.4% | Announced timing and webcast details for Q3 2025 earnings release. |
| Jul 31 | Quarterly earnings | Positive | +9.1% | Q2 2025 showed higher EBITDA, better margins and lower debt and inventory. |
| Jun 06 | Quarterly earnings | Negative | +1.6% | Q1 2025 sales and EBITDA fell sharply amid sector weakness and cost cuts. |
24h Move is the share-price change in the day after each event; other market factors may also have contributed.
Earnings-related news has often produced modestly negative or mixed reactions, with both positive and negative operational updates sometimes met with selling.
Over the last year, American Vanguard’s earnings updates have focused on stabilizing sales, improving gross margins, and strengthening the balance sheet. Prior events showed rising adjusted EBITDA and margin gains, but also recurring net losses and restructuring charges. Share-price reactions to earnings have been mixed, with several negative moves despite operational progress. Today’s Q1 2026 update, featuring higher sales, margin expansion and reaffirmed guidance, continues that theme of gradual operational improvement after a difficult 2024–2025 period.
Key Terms
adjusted ebitda financial
net debt financial
net working capital financial
AI-generated analysis. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.
First Quarter Revenue Growth of
Gross Margin Expansion of 500 bps
Reaffirm Full-Year Outlook; Adjusted EBITDA
NEWPORT BEACH, CA / ACCESS Newswire / May 6, 2026 / American Vanguard Corporation, a diversified specialty and agricultural products company that develops, manufactures, and markets solutions for crop protection and nutrition, turf and ornamental management and commercial pest control, today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026.
Financial and Operational Highlights First Quarter 2026 - versus First Quarter 2025:
Net sales of
$124 million vs.$116 million ;Gross profit margin of
31% vs.26% ;Operating income of
$1.9 million vs. an operating loss of$4.3 million :Net loss of
$4.1 million vs.$8.5 million ;Adjusted EBITDA1 of
$10.3 million vs.$3.0 million ;EPS of
$(0.14) vs. ($0.30) ;
Dak Kaye, CEO of American Vanguard, stated "American Vanguard got off to a good start in the first quarter of 2026, with Net Sales of
Mr. Kaye concluded, "As part of our business improvement initiative, we have begun the optimization of activities at our Los Angeles manufacturing facility and are relocating synthesis operations to build on the strengths of our Axis site. The manufacturing optimization initiative is progressing as planned, and we expect annualized savings of at least
_________________________________
1Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (Adjusted EBITDA) is not a financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and should not be considered as an alternative to net (loss) income, operating (loss) income or any other financial measure so calculated and presented, nor as an alternative to cash flow from operating activities as a measure of liquidity. The items excluded from adjusted EBITDA are detailed in the reconciliation attached to this news release. Other companies (including the Company's competitors) may define adjusted EBITDA differently.
2Net debt, a non-GAAP measure, is presented as supplemental disclosure because we believe it is useful in understanding our financial condition. Net debt is calculated as total outstanding indebtedness less cash.
David Johnson, Chief Financial Officer stated, "Our first quarter financial results reflect meaningful progress across the business. Gross margin reached
Mr. Johnson continued, "With the refinancing, the balance sheet included cash of
Earnings Conference Call
The company will be hosting an earnings conference call on May 6, 2026 at 4:30 pm Eastern Time/1:30 pm Pacific Time.
The conference call will be webcast on the Company's website at https://www.investors-american vanguard.com/ or by going to the following link: https://www.webcaster5.com/Webcast/Page/3070/53902
If you are unable to listen live, the conference call will be archived for one year and may be accessed using the company's website: https://www.investors-american-vanguard.com/
About American Vanguard
American Vanguard Corporation is a diversified specialty and agriculture products company that develops and markets products for crop protection and management, turf and ornamentals management, and public health. Over the past 20 years, through product and business acquisitions, the Company has significantly expanded its operations and now has more than 1,000 product registrations worldwide. To learn more about the Company, please reference www.american-vanguard.com.
The Company, from time to time, may discuss forward-looking information. Except for the historical information contained in this release the matters set forth in this press release include forward-looking statements. These statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. Forward looking statements often use words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "project," "outlook," "forecast," "target," "trend," "plan," "goal," or other words of comparable meaning or future-tense or conditional verbs such as "may," "will," "should," "would," or "could." These forward-looking statements are based on the current expectations and estimates by the Company's management and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that may cause results to differ from management's current expectations. Such factors include risks detailed from time-to-time in the Company's SEC reports and filings. All forward-looking statements, if any, in this release represent the Company's judgment as of the date of this release. The company disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
In addition to providing results that are determined in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAP), we present Adjusted EBITDA and Net Debt, which are non-GAAP financial measures. These measures should not be considered in isolation or as an alternative to GAAP measures such as net income, or diluted earnings per share, as applicable, or other financial statement data presented in our financial statements as an indicator of our financial performance or liquidity.
We define Net Debt as outstanding indebtedness less cash and EBITDA as net (loss) income, adjusted for depreciation and amortization, provision for income taxes and interest expense. We define Adjusted EBITDA as EBITDA as further adjusted for stock compensation expense and for certain items management believe are not reflective of the underlying operations of our business, including but not limited to the exclusion of charges that are considered by management to be unusual and not representative of the Company's underlying performance and future prospects. In 2026 and 2025 that included non-recurring expenses. The resulting Adjusted EBITDA measure is aligned with the Company's metric for its credit facility agreement in the applicable periods.
We use Adjusted EBITDA to assess the operating results and effectiveness and efficiency of our business. We present this non-GAAP financial measure because we believe that investors consider Adjusted EBITDA to be an important supplemental measure of performance, and we believe that this measure is frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in the evaluation of companies in our industry. As the Company continues to work through its transformation efforts, management believes that presenting Adjusted EBITDA provides an effective comparison between the Company and its industry peers. Non-GAAP financial measures as reported by us may not be comparable to similarly titled metrics reported by other companies and may not be calculated in the same manner. These measures have limitations as analytical tools, and you should not consider them in isolation or as substitutes for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP.
The Company is not able to provide a reconciliation without unreasonable efforts of its forward-looking guidance related to adjusted EBITDA to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure due to the inherent difficulty in predicting with reasonable certainty the timing and amount of certain items that are excluded from Adjusted EBITDA, such as share-based compensation, acquisition-related expenses, and foreign exchange gains or losses, which could be material to the Company's results computed in accordance with GAAP.
Investor Representative
Alpha IR Group
Robert Winters
Robert.winters@alpha-ir.com
(917) 821-6305
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(In thousands, except share data) (Unaudited)
ASSETS | March 31, | December 31, | ||||||
Current assets: | ||||||||
Cash | $ | 70,914 | $ | 12,425 | ||||
Receivables: | ||||||||
Trade, net of allowance for credit losses of | 179,336 | 160,511 | ||||||
Other | 7,372 | 7,278 | ||||||
Total receivables, net | 186,708 | 167,789 | ||||||
Inventories | 175,038 | 176,034 | ||||||
Prepaid expenses | 7,687 | 9,668 | ||||||
Income taxes receivable | 3,203 | 4,606 | ||||||
Total current assets | 443,550 | 370,522 | ||||||
Property, plant and equipment, net | 51,721 | 53,036 | ||||||
Operating lease right-of-use assets, net | 16,031 | 16,793 | ||||||
Intangible assets, net | 136,071 | 138,746 | ||||||
Deferred income tax assets | 3,369 | 2,637 | ||||||
Other assets | 14,501 | 14,803 | ||||||
Total assets | $ | 665,243 | $ | 596,537 | ||||
Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity | ||||||||
Current liabilities: | ||||||||
Current portion of long-term debt | $ | 2,250 | $ | - | ||||
Accounts payable | 90,672 | 87,505 | ||||||
Customer prepayments | 14,438 | 33,094 | ||||||
Accrued program costs | 46,099 | 52,227 | ||||||
Accrued expenses and other payables | 30,436 | 28,261 | ||||||
Operating lease liabilities, current | 5,517 | 5,765 | ||||||
Income taxes payable | 1,512 | 2,594 | ||||||
Total current liabilities | 190,924 | 209,446 | ||||||
Long-term debt, net of current portion(2) | 264,384 | 174,000 | ||||||
Operating lease liabilities, long-term | 10,991 | 11,621 | ||||||
Deferred income tax liabilities | 8,209 | 8,150 | ||||||
Other liabilities | 1,115 | 923 | ||||||
Total liabilities | 475,623 | 404,140 | ||||||
Commitments and contingent liabilities (Note 13) | ||||||||
Stockholders' equity: | ||||||||
Preferred stock, | - | - | ||||||
Common stock, | 3,498 | 3,492 | ||||||
Additional paid-in capital | 117,530 | 117,106 | ||||||
Accumulated other comprehensive loss | (11,062 | ) | (12,000 | ) | ||||
Retained earnings | 150,855 | 155,000 | ||||||
260,821 | 263,598 | |||||||
Less treasury stock at cost, 5,915,182 shares at March 31, 2026 and December 31, 2025 | (71,201 | ) | (71,201 | ) | ||||
Total stockholders' equity | 189,620 | 192,397 | ||||||
Total liabilities and stockholders' equity | $ | 665,243 | $ | 596,537 | ||||
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(In thousands, except per share data)
(Unaudited)
For the three months | ||||||||
2026 | 2025 | |||||||
Net sales | $ | 123,568 | $ | 115,800 | ||||
Cost of sales | (85,151 | ) | (85,609 | ) | ||||
Gross profit | 38,417 | 30,191 | ||||||
Operating expenses | ||||||||
Selling, general and administrative | (27,713 | ) | (26,628 | ) | ||||
Research, product development and regulatory | (5,271 | ) | (5,682 | ) | ||||
Product liability claims | (81 | ) | - | |||||
Transformation | (2,804 | ) | (2,191 | ) | ||||
Asset impairments | (659 | ) | - | |||||
Operating income (loss) | 1,889 | (4,310 | ) | |||||
Change in fair value of an equity investment | (120 | ) | - | |||||
Interest expense, net | (5,790 | ) | (3,765 | ) | ||||
Loss before provision for income taxes | (4,021 | ) | (8,075 | ) | ||||
Income tax expense | (124 | ) | (387 | ) | ||||
Net loss | $ | (4,145 | ) | $ | (8,462 | ) | ||
Net loss per common share - basic | $ | (0.14 | ) | $ | (0.30 | ) | ||
Net loss per common share - assuming dilution | $ | (0.14 | ) | $ | (0.30 | ) | ||
Weighted average shares outstanding - basic | 28,649 | 28,271 | ||||||
Weighted average shares outstanding - assuming dilution | 28,649 | 28,271 | ||||||
AMERICAN VANGUARD CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES
ANALYSIS OF SALES
(In thousands)
(Unaudited)
For the three months ended |
|
| ||||||||||||||
2026 | 2025 | Change | % Change | |||||||||||||
Net sales: | ||||||||||||||||
U.S. crop | $ | 67,028 | $ | 57,176 | $ | 9,852 | 17 | % | ||||||||
U.S. Specialty | 16,502 | 15,601 | 901 | 6 | % | |||||||||||
Total U.S. | 83,530 | 72,777 | 10,753 | 15 | % | |||||||||||
International | 40,038 | 43,023 | (2,985 | ) | -7 | % | ||||||||||
Total net sales | $ | 123,568 | $ | 115,800 | $ | 7,768 | 7 | % | ||||||||
Total cost of sales | $ | (85,151 | ) | $ | (85,609 | ) | $ | 458 | -1 | % | ||||||
Total gross profit | $ | 38,417 | $ | 30,191 | $ | 8,226 | 27 | % | ||||||||
Total gross margin | 31 | % | 26 | % | ||||||||||||
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(In thousands)
(Unaudited)
For the three months | ||||||||
2026 | 2025 | |||||||
Cash flows from operating activities: | ||||||||
Net loss | $ | (4,145 | ) | $ | (8,462 | ) | ||
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities: | ||||||||
Depreciation and amortization of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets | 4,685 | 4,744 | ||||||
Amortization of other long-term assets | 5 | 5 | ||||||
Provision for estimated credit losses | 444 | 1,056 | ||||||
Stock-based compensation | 186 | 559 | ||||||
Deferred income taxes | (204 | ) | 1,348 | |||||
Change in liabilities for uncertain tax positions or unrecognized tax benefits | (17 | ) | 90 | |||||
Change in equity investment fair value | 120 | - | ||||||
Impairment of assets | 659 | - | ||||||
Payment-in-Kind interest | 112 | - | ||||||
Amortization of deferred loan fees | 738 | 235 | ||||||
Lease obligations and non-cash lease expense, net | (115 | ) | (109 | ) | ||||
Foreign currency transaction (losses) gains | 28 | (99 | ) | |||||
Changes in assets and liabilities associated with operations: | ||||||||
(Increase) decrease in net receivables | (19,088 | ) | 6,892 | |||||
Decrease (increase) in inventories | 1,530 | (4,721 | ) | |||||
Increase in prepaid expenses and other assets | (877 | ) | (856 | ) | ||||
Change in income tax receivable and payable, net | 385 | (1,885 | ) | |||||
Increase in accounts payable | 2,871 | 22,966 | ||||||
Decrease in customer prepayments | (18,656 | ) | (28,215 | ) | ||||
(Decrease) increase in accrued program costs | (6,170 | ) | 837 | |||||
Increase (decrease) in other payables and accrued expenses | 2,067 | (14,961 | ) | |||||
Net cash used in operating activities | (35,442 | ) | (20,576 | ) | ||||
Cash flows from investing activities: | ||||||||
Capital expenditures | (971 | ) | (431 | ) | ||||
Proceeds from disposal of property, plant and equipment | 7 | 12 | ||||||
Intangible assets | (9 | ) | (27 | ) | ||||
Net cash used in investing activities | (973 | ) | (446 | ) | ||||
Cash flows from financing activities: | ||||||||
Payments under line of credit agreement | (140,000 | ) | (89,098 | ) | ||||
Borrowings under line of credit agreement | 26,000 | 109,265 | ||||||
Borrowings under term loans | 225,000 | - | ||||||
Payment of deferred loan fees | (16,234 | ) | (687 | ) | ||||
Net receipt from the issuance of common stock under ESPP | 263 | 332 | ||||||
Net payment from common stock purchased for tax withholding | (19 | ) | (11 | ) | ||||
Net cash provided by financing activities | 95,010 | 19,801 | ||||||
Net increase (decrease) in cash | 58,595 | (1,221 | ) | |||||
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents | (106 | ) | 512 | |||||
Cash at beginning of period | 12,425 | 12,514 | ||||||
Cash at end of period | $ | 70,914 | $ | 11,805 | ||||
AMERICAN VANGUARD CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES
RECONCILIATION OF NET LOSS TO ADJUSTED EBITDA
(In thousands)
(Unaudited)
For the three months | ||||||||
2026 | 2025 | |||||||
Net loss | $ | (4,145 | ) | $ | (8,462 | ) | ||
Provision for income taxes | 124 | 387 | ||||||
Interest expense, net | 5,790 | 3,765 | ||||||
Depreciation and amortization | 4,624 | 4,749 | ||||||
Stock compensation expense | 186 | 559 | ||||||
Transformation costs | 2,804 | 2,191 | ||||||
Asset impairments | 659 | - | ||||||
Other | 217 | (216 | ) | |||||
Adjusted EBITDA(1) | $ | 10,259 | $ | 2,973 | ||||
AMERICAN VANGUARD CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES
RECONCILIATION OF TOTAL INDEBTEDNESS TO NET DEBT
(In thousands)
(Unaudited)
March 31, 2026 | December 31, 2025 | |||||||
Current portion of long-term debt | $ | 2,250 | $ | - | ||||
Long-term debt, net of current portion | 264,384 | 174,000 | ||||||
Total indebtedness | $ | 266,634 | $ | 174,000 | ||||
Less: Cash | (70,914 | ) | (12,425 | ) | ||||
Net Debt (2) | $ | 195,720 | $ | 161,575 | ||||
1 Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (Adjusted EBITDA) is not a financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and should not be considered as an alternative to net (loss) income, operating (loss) income or any other financial measure so calculated and presented, nor as an alternative to cash flow from operating activities as a measure of liquidity. The items excluded from adjusted EBITDA are detailed in the reconciliation attached to this news release. Other companies (including the Company's competitors) may define adjusted EBITDA differently.
2 Net debt, a non-GAAP measure, is presented as supplemental disclosure because we believe it is useful in understanding our financial condition. Net debt is calculated as total outstanding indebtedness less cash.
SOURCE: American Vanguard
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire