RF Industries Reports First Quarter Fiscal Year 2026 Financial Results
Rhea-AI Summary
RF Industries (NASDAQ:RFIL) reported first quarter fiscal 2026 results for the period ended January 31, 2026. Net sales were $19.0 million, down 1% year-over-year and down 16% sequentially due to seasonality. Gross margin improved 250 basis points to 32.3%, operating income rose to $177,000, and adjusted EBITDA was $1.1 million. Backlog was $14.4 million at quarter-end and stands at $18.6 million as of today. Consolidated net loss narrowed to $50,000 and non-GAAP net income was $659,000. Management expects revenue acceleration in the back half of fiscal 2026.
Positive
- Gross profit margin improved by 250 basis points
- Adjusted EBITDA increased 22% year-over-year to $1.1 million
- Non-GAAP net income rose to $659,000 from $397,000
- Backlog grew to $18.6 million as of today
Negative
- Net sales declined 1% YoY to $19.0 million
- Quarterly revenue decreased 16% QoQ from $22.7 million
- Consolidated net loss of $50,000 for the quarter
News Market Reaction – RFIL
On the day this news was published, RFIL gained 12.32%, reflecting a significant positive market reaction. Argus tracked a peak move of +24.7% during that session. Argus tracked a trough of -3.2% from its starting point during tracking. Our momentum scanner triggered 31 alerts that day, indicating elevated trading interest and price volatility. This price movement added approximately $16M to the company's valuation, bringing the market cap to $145M at that time. Trading volume was very high at 4.8x the daily average, suggesting strong buying interest.
Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.
Key Figures
Market Reality Check
Peers on Argus
RFIL gained 14.01% while peers showed mixed moves: CBAT +1.92%, ESP +1.75%, ULBI -0.30%, PPSI -1.20%, SKYX -1.69%. This points to a stock-specific reaction to earnings rather than a uniform sector move.
Previous Earnings Reports
| Date | Event | Sentiment | Move | Catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 14 | Q4/FY25 earnings | Positive | +22.6% | Strong Q4 and fiscal 2025 growth with higher margins and EBITDA. |
| Sep 11 | Q3 FY25 earnings | Positive | -13.1% | Robust Q3 sales and margins but shares fell despite solid results. |
| Jun 16 | Q2 FY25 earnings | Positive | +0.0% | Double-digit sales growth and margin gains with backlog at $18.4M. |
| Mar 17 | Q1 FY25 earnings | Positive | +8.9% | Strong rebound in sales, margin expansion and return to operating profit. |
| Jan 16 | Q4/FY24 earnings | Negative | -9.0% | FY24 sales decline and losses despite improved Q4 performance. |
Earnings releases have usually driven noticeable moves, with most reactions aligning with fundamentally positive reports and one notable selloff on strong Q3 FY2025 results.
Over the past five earnings cycles, RF Industries has emphasized revenue growth, margin expansion, and backlog strength. Reports on Jan 16, 2025, Mar 17, 2025, Jun 16, 2025, Sep 11, 2025, and Jan 14, 2026 highlighted improving gross margins, rising Adjusted EBITDA, and growing exposure to higher-value solutions. Share-price reactions ranged from a 22.61% gain to a 13.13% decline, underscoring that even strong earnings have not always translated into gains. Today’s Q1 FY2026 update continues the margin and profitability improvement theme while revenue is roughly flat year-over-year.
Historical Comparison
In the last five earnings releases, RFIL’s average move was 1.88%. Today’s +14.01% reaction to Q1 FY2026 results is a sizable outlier versus typical earnings-day volatility.
Earnings reports from FY2024 through FY2025 showed a shift from losses and declining sales toward double-digit growth, higher gross margins, and rising Adjusted EBITDA. The latest Q1 FY2026 release extends that pattern by holding revenue roughly flat year-over-year while further improving gross margin and profitability metrics.
Market Pulse Summary
The stock surged +12.3% in the session following this news. A strong positive reaction aligns with RF Industries’ ongoing margin and profitability improvements. Q1 FY2026 delivered gross margin of 32.3%, higher operating income, and non-GAAP net income of $659,000, while revenue remained roughly flat year-over-year. Historically, earnings moves averaged 1.88%, so today’s +14.01% jump stands out and could normalize if expectations reset or execution stumbles in later quarters.
Key Terms
non-gaap financial measures financial
adjusted ebITDA financial
basis points financial
AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.
SAN DIEGO, CA / ACCESS Newswire / March 16, 2026 / RF Industries, Ltd, (NASDAQ:RFIL), a national manufacturer and marketer of interconnect products and systems, today announced financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2026 ended January 31, 2026.
First Quarter Fiscal 2026 Highlights and Operating Results:
Net sales were
$19.0 million , a1% decrease from$19.2 million year-over-year and a decrease of16% from$22.7 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 primarily due to normal seasonality.Backlog of
$14.4 million at quarter-end on first quarter bookings of$17.9 million . As of today, the backlog stands at$18.6 million .Gross profit margin was
32.3% , a 250-basis point improvement from29.8% in the prior year quarter.Operating income was
$177,000 , an improvement from operating income of$56,000 year- over-year.Consolidated net loss was
$50,000 , or$0.00 per diluted share, an improvement from a consolidated net loss of$245,000 , or$0.02 per diluted share year-over-year.Non-GAAP net income was
$659,000 , or$0.06 per diluted share, compared to non-GAAP net income of$397,000 , or$0.04 per diluted share, in the first quarter of fiscal 2025.Adjusted EBITDA was
$1.1 million , up from$867,000 year-over-year.
See "Note Regarding Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures," "Unaudited Reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP Net Income," "Unaudited Reconciliation of Net Income to Adjusted EBITDA" and the description of bookings and backlog below for additional information.
Management Commentary
"Our first quarter results demonstrated continued progress in strengthening the profitability and operating discipline of RF Industries while overcoming the normal seasonality. Net sales in the first quarter were
"I'm extremely pleased with our team's strong execution on our strategic plan to diversify our customer base and end markets, while staying laser-focused on increasing profitability. When I look at our roster of customers, I believe we are gaining traction with many new and well-known names both in and beyond our traditional markets. If we successfully continue to move into new verticals - wireline, cable, aerospace, and datacenters - our opportunity set should expand significantly. Furthermore, I believe that our higher value solutions are grabbing attention and showing momentum across several end markets and applications. Following a landmark fiscal 2025, our team is even more excited about 2026. We feel confident that we can execute against our strategic priorities, and similar to 2025, with the significant increase in our backlog, we expect revenue growth to accelerate in the back half of the year," concluded Dawson.
Conference Call and Webcast
RF Industries will host a conference call and live webcast today, March 16, 2026, at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time (1:30 p.m. Pacific Time) to discuss its fiscal first quarter 2026 financial results. To access the live call, dial 877-545-0523 (US and Canada) or 973-528-0016 (International) and give the participant access code 381953. A live audio webcast of the call will also be available on the Investor Relations section of RFI's website at www.rfindustries.com and will be archived for replay.
About RF Industries
Connecting the next generation with tomorrow's technology, RF Industries designs and manufactures a broad range of interconnect products across diversified, growing markets, including wireless/wireline telecom, data communications and industrial. The Company's products include high-performance components used in commercial applications such as RF connectors and adapters, RF passives including dividers, directional couplers and filters, coaxial cables, data cables, wire harnesses, fiber optic cables, custom cabling, energy-efficient cooling systems and integrated small cell enclosures. The Company is headquartered in San Diego, California with additional operations in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey. Please visit the RF Industries website at www.rfindustries.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, with respect to future events. Forward-looking statements include, among others, statements concerning our expectations about profitability, revenues, industry trends, markets and any growth trajectory thereof, demand for our products, backlog, financial goals, growth opportunities and the expected benefits and desirability of our products, in each case which are subject to a number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: our cash and liquidity needs; our ability to continue as a going concern; non-compliance with terms and covenants in our credit facility; changes in the telecommunications industry and materialization and timing of expected network buildouts; timing and breadth of new products; our ability to realize increased sales; successfully integrating new products and teams; our ability to execute on our go-to-market strategies and channel models; our reliance on certain distributors and customers for a significant portion of anticipated revenues; the impact of existing and additional future tariffs imposed by U.S. and foreign nations; our ability to expand our OEM relationships; our ability to continue to deliver newly designed and custom fiber optic and cabling products to principal customers; our ability to maintain strong margins and diversify our customer base; our ability to initiate operating efficiencies, cost savings and expense reductions; our ability to address the changing needs of the market and capitalize on new market opportunities; our ability to add value to our customer's needs; the success of any product launches; and our ability to increase revenue, gross margins or obtain profitability in a timely manner. Further discussion of these and other potential risks and uncertainties may be found in the Company's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov) including our Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. All forward-looking statements are based upon information available to the Company on the date they are published, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or new information after the date of this release.
Note Regarding Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
To supplement our unaudited condensed financial statements presented in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), this earnings release and the accompanying tables and the related earnings conference call contain certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization (Adjusted EBITDA), non-GAAP net income (loss) and non-GAAP earnings (loss) per share, basic and diluted (non-GAAP EPS).
We believe these financial measures provide useful information to investors with which to analyze our operating trends and performance by excluding certain non-cash and other one-time expenses that we believe are not indicative of our operating results.
In computing Adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP net income (loss) and non-GAAP EPS, we exclude stock-based compensation expense, which represents non-cash charges for the fair value of stock options and other non-cash awards granted to employees, non-cash and other one-time charges, severance, amortization expense and provision from income taxes. For Adjusted EBITDA, we also exclude depreciation and interest expense. Because of varying available valuation methodologies, subjective assumptions, and the variety of equity instruments that can impact a company's non-cash operating expenses, we believe that providing non-GAAP financial measures that exclude non-cash expense and non-recurring costs and expenses allows for meaningful comparisons between our core business operating results and those of other companies, as well as provides us with an important tool for financial and operational decision-making and for evaluating our own core business operating results over different periods of time.
Our Adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP net income (loss) and non-GAAP EPS measures may not provide information that is directly comparable to that provided by other companies in our industry, as other companies in our industry may calculate non-GAAP financial results differently, particularly related to non-recurring, unusual items. Our Adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP net income (loss) and non-GAAP EPS are not measurements of financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to operating or net income or as an indication of operating performance or any other measure of performance derived in accordance with GAAP. We do not consider these non-GAAP measures to be a substitute for, or superior to, the information provided by GAAP financial results. Non-GAAP financial measures are subject to limitations and should be read only in conjunction with the Company's consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. We believe that these non-GAAP measures have limitations in that they do not reflect all of the amounts associated with our GAAP results of operations. We compensate for the limitations of non-GAAP financial measures by relying upon GAAP results to gain a complete picture of our performance. A reconciliation of specific adjustments to GAAP results is provided in the last two tables at the end of this press release.
In addition, we have included order bookings and backlog in this earnings release. Bookings represent new orders that have been received inclusive of any modification or cancellation of previous orders. Backlog represents orders that have been received where revenue has not been recognized as of the specified date. We believe both Bookings and Backlog are indicators of future revenues that the Company expects to generate based on orders that management believes to be firm.
RF Industries Contact: Peter Yin SVP and CFO (858) 549-6340 |
IR Contact: Donni Case Financial Profiles, Inc. (310) 622-8224 |
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SOURCE: RF Industries
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
FAQ
What were RF Industries (RFIL) first quarter fiscal 2026 net sales and how do they compare?
How did RFIL gross margin and profitability change in Q1 FY2026?
What is RF Industries' backlog at the end of Q1 FY2026 and current backlog update?
Did RF Industries report GAAP or non-GAAP profitability for Q1 FY2026 and what were the figures?
When and how can investors access RF Industries' Q1 FY2026 earnings call and webcast?
