Titan Machinery Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
May 22, 2025

There are 9 speakers on the call.

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the Titan Machinery First Quarter Fiscal twenty twenty six Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the call over to your host, Mr.

Operator

Jeff Sonick with ICR. Thank you. You may begin.

Speaker 1

Thank you. Welcome to the Titan Machinery first quarter fiscal twenty twenty six Earnings Conference Call. On the call today from the company are Brian Knutson, President and Chief Executive Officer and Bo Larson, Chief Financial Officer. By now, everyone should have access to the earnings release for the fiscal first quarter ended 04/30/2025, which is also available on Titan's Investor Relations website at ir.titanmachinery.com. In addition, we're providing a supplemental presentation to accompany today's prepared remarks along with webcast and replay information, which can also be found on Titan's IR website within the Events and Presentations section.

Speaker 1

We would also like to remind everyone that the prepared remarks contain forward looking statements and management may make additional forward looking statements in response to your questions. The statements do not guarantee future performance and therefore undue reliance should not be placed upon them. These forward looking statements are based on management's current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including those identified in the forward looking statements section of today's earnings release and the company's filings with the SEC to include the Risk Factors section of Titan's most recently filed annual report on Form 10 ks and quarterly reports on Form 10 Q. These risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward looking statements. Except as may be required by applicable law, Titan assumes no obligation to update any forward looking statements that may be made in today's release or call.

Speaker 1

Please note that during today's call, we may discuss non GAAP financial measures, including results on an adjusted basis. We believe these adjusted financial measures can facilitate a more complete analysis and greater transparency into Titan's ongoing financial performance, particularly when comparing underlying results from period to period. We've included reconciliations of these non GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures in today's release and supplemental presentation. At the conclusion of our prepared remarks, we will open the call to take your questions. And with that, I'd now like to turn the call over to the company's President and CEO, Brian Knutson.

Speaker 1

Brian, please go ahead.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Jeff, and good morning to everyone on the call. I'll start today by covering our performance for the quarter, followed by an update on our strategic initiatives and operational focus points for the year. I'll then discuss the current market environment and performance across each of our operating segments before turning the call over to Bo for his financial review and comments on our fiscal twenty twenty six modeling assumptions. Our first quarter results demonstrated our ability to advance our short term goals in a challenging market environment. And while headwinds persist across the agricultural sector, our team remains focused on continuing execute upon our initiative to optimize inventory and navigate through the trough of the cycle.

Speaker 2

We continue to anticipate a very subdued retail environment given the ongoing likelihood of weak farmer profitability with government support programs remaining an important, but still very much undefined variable. While challenges persist in the marketplace, our team's relentless focus on disciplined execution of our inventory initiatives and our customer care strategy is allowing us to manage key variables of the business that will improve our position as we navigate this cycle. With that, I will now transition to our current inventory position. As you can see on our balance sheet, total inventories were $1,100,000,000 as of 04/30/2025, essentially flat compared to fiscal twenty twenty five year end. This is very much in line with our previously communicated expectations as we've been receiving pre sold units from the factory for delivery to customers in the first half of the year, while simultaneously taking in trades as we deliver those new units to customers.

Speaker 2

Overall, I'm quite pleased with our inventory progress, which has significantly improved our overall position over the last three quarters. Our customer care initiative remains a key focal point for us, with parts and service providing a stable foundation even as equipment sales face cyclical pressure. This stability is critical in environments such as this, as parts and service will make up about a quarter of our total revenue mix, but well over half of our gross profit dollars this year. We are leveraging our scale and service capacity across our footprint, which is helping us maintain strong customer engagement. CNH recently validated these efforts by recognizing tight machinery with two of their top dealer awards, both centered around superior customer service, which is something that we take great pride in.

Speaker 2

In our domestic agriculture segment, while industry equipment demand remained subdued, the first quarter revenue was stronger than initially expected due to the timing of pre sold equipment deliveries. On our last call, we mentioned that Q1 domestic ag could be down 40% to 45%, but noted that high volumes of presales could significantly impact results. Indeed, we received and delivered a substantial amount of presold equipment in Q1, which includes a pull forward of revenue we had in our plan for the second quarter. In the near term, we are still working through our backlog of pre sold units. However, the back half of the year appears challenging with lower visibility and currently sluggish order activity.

Speaker 2

Farmers remain in a wait and see mode with near term sentiments hinging on commodity prices, moisture levels and the potential of government farm aid. We are encouraging OEM partners to enhance programming for Q3 and Q4 to help stimulate demand in this environment. But absent that, it will remain challenging in the near term. It is helpful that spring planting across our domestic footprint has gone relatively well for our customers. However, we have received below average precipitation in much of our footprint.

Speaker 2

So timely rains throughout the growing season will remain critical. Before turning to construction, I'd also like to welcome the team from Farmers Implement and Irrigation. We closed on this two store acquisition on May 15, and it allows us to expand our New Holland presence in the productive Eastern South Dakota region. In our Construction segment, performance was largely in line with our expectations and we anticipate that to continue throughout the year. Revenue showed modest growth over the prior year period, reflecting relative stability in this segment despite broader economic uncertainty as infrastructure projects continue to provide a base level of demand.

Speaker 2

However, as we experienced in domestic ag, we are seeing customers take a more cautious approach to capital expenditures given interest rate concerns and broader economic uncertainty. Our European segment was a bright spot, particularly in Romania, where EU stimulus funds have increased buying activity, which we expect will extend through the September. While we anticipate a lift, the degree to which was hard to determine. However, it is clear this support will be meaningful for our operations in Romania. Our business in Ukraine is also continuing to drive growth despite the ongoing conflict with Russia.

Speaker 2

It has been impressive what our team is able to accomplish given those circumstances. Planting conditions across our European footprint are off to a good start and industry volumes in Europe are expected to be more stable than in The United States. In our Australia segment, we're navigating through market conditions similar to our domestic Ag segment. Additionally, the normalization of self propelled sprayer deliveries that we discussed last quarter is playing out as expected. With this segment transitioning from working through nearly three years of delayed order backlog to selling in line with subdued retail demand.

Speaker 2

New order activity is modestly weaker than we had anticipated due to dry conditions combined with low commodity prices and as a result, we are revising down our full year revenue expectations as Bo will discuss further. Sowing is well underway in Australia's winter crop season, but as previously mentioned, conditions are currently quite dry in much of our footprint and thus precipitation is very much needed to initiate crop development. In closing, while we are operating in a down market, the progress we've made on our inventory reduction and optimization initiatives reinforces our belief that we'll be well positioned by fiscal year end. Our confidence stems from the disciplined execution throughout our organization, the continued success of our parts and service businesses and the progress we've made in positioning Titan to manage through this phase of the cycle. I want to express my sincere gratitude to our entire team for their tremendous focus and dedication during this more challenging period.

Speaker 2

Their ability to execute while maintaining exceptional customer service has been a key differentiator for us. Consequently, we remain steadfast in emerging from this period as a stronger company and delivering long term value to our shareholders. With that, I will turn the call over to Bo for his financial review.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Brian, and good morning, everyone. Starting with our consolidated results for the fiscal twenty twenty six first quarter. Total revenue was $594,300,000 compared to $628,700,000 in the prior year period, reflecting a 5.5% decrease in same store sales driven by the factors that Brian discussed earlier. Gross profit for the first quarter was $90,900,000 compared to $121,800,000 in the prior year period and gross profit margin was 15.3%. These decreases were primarily driven by lower equipment margins, particularly in our domestic ag segment, resulting from our continued efforts to manage inventory to targeted levels.

Speaker 3

Operating expenses were $96,400,000 for the first quarter of fiscal twenty twenty six compared to $99,200,000 in the prior year period. The year over year decrease of 2.8% was driven by lower variable expenses associated with the year over year decline in revenue and profitability. Floorplan and other interest expense was $11,100,000 as compared to $9,500,000 in the prior year period. However, on a sequential basis, floor plan and other interest expense decreased 15.3%, reflecting our continued efforts to reduce interest bearing inventory over the past few quarters. Floorplan interest expense is expected to continue to decline as we make additional progress on inventory reduction and mix optimization, and this is building toward a more meaningful decrease in floorplan interest expense next fiscal year.

Speaker 3

Net loss for the first quarter of fiscal twenty twenty six was $13,200,000 or $0.58 per diluted share compared to last year's first quarter net income of $9,400,000 or $0.41 per diluted share. Now turning to a brief overview of our segment results for the first quarter. Our Agriculture segment realized a same store sales decrease of 14.1% to $384,400,000 and benefited from a pull forward of pre sold equipment deliveries as Brian already mentioned. Agriculture segment pretax loss was $12,800,000 compared to pre tax income of $13,000,000 in the first quarter of the prior year, resulting from softer retail demand and continued efforts to manage inventory to targeted levels. Both of which impacted equipment margins, although to a lesser degree than the more intense margin contraction we experienced in the fourth quarter of last year.

Speaker 3

In our Construction segment, same store sales increased 0.9% to $72,100,000 As Brian mentioned, we continue to see relative stability in this segment despite broader macro uncertainty. Pretax loss was $4,200,000 compared to pretax income of 300,000 in the first quarter of the prior year. In our European segment, sales increased 44.2% to $93,900,000 which reflects a same store sales increase of 44%, partially offset by a slight negative foreign currency impact. On a constant currency basis, revenue increased 47.5% and was led by Romania, which was bolstered by EU stimulus programs. Pretax income for the segment was $4,700,000 compared to pretax income of $1,400,000 in the first quarter of last year.

Speaker 3

In our Australia segment, same store sales decreased 1% to $44,000,000 which included a 4.6% negative foreign currency impact. On a constant currency basis, revenue increased $1,600,000 or 3.6%. Despite these results, retail demand was somewhat softer than we had anticipated and we expect that that incremental softness will continue throughout the rest of the year. Additionally, the quarterly comparables get more challenging in this segment as we progress through the year, as last year was bolstered by nearly three years' worth of Sprayer backlog. Pretax loss was $600,000 compared to pretax loss of $500,000 in the first quarter of last year.

Speaker 3

Now on to our balance sheet and inventory position. We had cash of $22,000,000 and an adjusted debt to tangible net worth ratio of 1.8 as of 04/30/2025, which is well below our bank covenant of 3.5 times. Regarding inventory, in the first quarter, we reduced our equipment inventory by approximately $13,000,000 sequentially to $913,000,000 bringing our cumulative equipment inventory reduction to approximately $4.00 $6,000,000 from peak levels in Q2 of the prior year. This was consistent with our expectations at the beginning of the year. The $100,000,000 of additional equipment inventory reductions we discussed last quarter remains our target, with most of that reduction expected to come in the second half of this fiscal year.

Speaker 3

We continue to maintain strong corporate oversight and controls around inventory management, working to stay ahead of the aging curve created by the heavy influx of equipment shipments as supply chains normalized post pandemic. Throughout this process, we continue to optimize our inventory composition by reducing aged inventory while building toward an optimal mix that better aligns with customer demand, which will have the added benefit of further reducing floorplan interest expense. With that, I'll finish by commenting on our fiscal twenty twenty six full year guidance, which we are reiterating from an adjusted loss per diluted share perspective, but modifying in terms of revenue modeling assumptions for our international segments. Starting with our top line assumptions. For domestic agriculture segment, we continue to expect revenue to be down in the range of 20% to 25%.

Speaker 3

North America large ag industry volume is still expected to be down approximately 30% year over year, which aligns with the midpoint of our expectations for cash crop new equipment revenue. Our parts and service business continued to perform well and we expect flattish revenue in these areas. For the construction segment, we are maintaining our expectations to be in the range of down 5% to down 10%. The federal infrastructure bill continues to provide healthy support for industry fundamentals, but near term economic uncertainty is impacting construction activity. We are updating revenue assumptions for our international segments based on localized dynamics.

Speaker 3

Our European segment is now expected to be up 23% to up 28%. This improved outlook is led by the aforementioned strength in Romania. For our Australia segment, we are updating our expected revenue to be down 20 to down 25%, as market conditions remain challenging and farmer sentiment is lower given dry conditions across much of our footprint. From a margin perspective, our fiscal twenty twenty six assumptions for consolidated full year equipment margin are to be approximately 8%. Now turning to the Ag segment specifically.

Speaker 3

In the first quarter, equipment margins came in lower than expected at 3.3%. And we expect that the Ag segment will have similar equipment margins in the second quarter. However, we expect their margins will improve in the back half of the year as we optimize our inventory mix and work toward our year end targets. We are pleased with the progress we are making on this important initiative and we are prioritizing this proactive approach to reducing used equipment levels. Consistent with our prior expectations, operating expenses are expected to decrease year over year on an absolute basis, which is expected to translate to approximately 17% of sales due to the lower revenue base we are forecasting as compared to the prior year.

Speaker 3

In summary, while we are making some refinements to Europe and Australia's revenue assumptions, we remain on track with our expectations for adjusted diluted loss per share in the range of $1.25 to $2 We remain focused on ensuring we're well positioned heading into fiscal twenty twenty seven, where we expect to drive toward more normalized levels of profitability relative to the demand environment at that time. This concludes our prepared comments.

Operator

Thank you. At this time, we'll be conducting a question and answer session. Our first question comes from the line of Liam Burke with B. Riley Securities. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 4

Thank you. Good morning, Brian. Good morning, Bob.

Speaker 3

Morning.

Speaker 4

I know the agricultural environment is tough, weather is bad and at least the I know government subsidies do not support equipment sales, but is there any positive outlook on the agricultural sector? Are seeing any positive moves here or is it still just continues to be tough?

Speaker 2

Yes. There has been some of the government payments that have started to come through. So if you look at traditionally, there would be about $10,000,000,000 is the traditional level of government payment which is at this point what has been approved. Some of our growers are starting to see those checks Liam. So that is helping provide some stability.

Speaker 2

Also as different trade negotiations are going on and we see more deals get done here that will further help as well. Recent rains we've received here in the Upper Midwest have also helped with sentiment and that will help with crop development. Australia is at a critical point. There is some rain in the forecast there so that could help. But again, if you look at the USDA net farm income projections that they came out with earlier in the year, those were really heavily predicated around the government subsidies and so that remaining what they have projected to be up to an additional 30 some billion dollars is still very much in unknown.

Speaker 2

And so where that falls in whether it's 10,000,000,000 or 45,000,000,000 here or where in between is really going to have an impact this year frankly.

Speaker 4

Great. Fair enough. And on the construction side, there seems to be another area that the sector in general is cautious because of all the macro headwinds and uncertainties. But I would expect that construction would be a little more optimistic in terms of end markets potential. It seems to be just as challenging as agriculture.

Speaker 2

It is certainly more positive. We've been talking with a lot of our contractor customers, the start to the year was a little bit slower, but their backlog of work, they're starting to get projects. It is starting to get filled up for them. Their attitudes are becoming more positive. It's certainly not what it was the past two years, that's for sure.

Speaker 2

It's definitely very heavily dependent on a rate environment. So any positive movement we did see in interest rates, even just a slightest bit would certainly help there as well. And again, any stability around trade talks and general broader economy would help as well. But we definitely see more stability in the construction environment right now.

Speaker 3

Yes. Mean, reiterating the same thing just for some perspective, right? Construction is coming off of some really good years and for us record years and we're talking about kind of a modest step back off of that given some of the uncertainty in the higher interest rate environment. You compare that to ag where we're really talking about trough level and kind of historically low industry volumes, quite a bit different outlook, I would say. So yeah, overall down slightly.

Speaker 3

But putting that in perspective, again, coming off of those highs, a much different spot for construction than ag.

Speaker 4

Great. Thank you very much.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Ted Jackson with Northland Securities. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 5

Thanks. I wanted to circle back into, first of all, in some of the government support. So the USDA is looking for an additional $37,000,000,000 and the $1,000,000,000 has been put out. What kind of programs is the USDA looking to have happen? How do they get funded?

Speaker 5

How do we follow that as analysts? Would be a question.

Speaker 3

So they are putting specifics behind this, and you can find that on the USDA web page. And they have a timeline for the rest of the year. A lot of the additional payments coming out this year are specific to natural disaster type events that actually happened in 2023 and 2024. So specific to droughts in supporting livestock industry and then specific to other dry areas or wildfires supporting the ag industry. Kind of what they need to do is go state by state who qualifies, how much money is going to be allocated in that region, how much gets allocated to an individual grower.

Speaker 3

So all of that remains to be seen. But if you want to look at that time line, it's available. There are a lot of specifics out there. So I would say it's pretty structured and we're all going to wait and see how this plays out and how much of that ultimately flows to customers that are on our footprint.

Speaker 2

Yes. And Ted, main one that has really happened so far for the grain growers has been is what they call eCAP for the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program. And that was just under $10,000,000,000 which is again in line with what the annual traditional level would be. And so, we'll remain to be watching here on the rest of the year but you know a lot of times what that does is that certainly at normal yield levels that these prices would essentially get them close to a break even for the average grower or just help mitigate their loss. So in general that's why you're hearing us and deer and CNHL saying that you know that won't by itself drive equipment demand or equipment purchasing.

Speaker 2

They'll typically use those dollars to pay down debt and again just to fight another year if you will. But that said, know again anything incremental beyond that will help and they can't defer that income so there is a point here where it does start to help with demand and help allow them to update some much needed machinery updates.

Speaker 5

Thanks. Number two, when you go into your commentary, you're actually using the word trough and instead of decline. Is there something to be read in that? Do you feel that at this point we're kind of knocking along the bottom of the cycle? I mean I'm not talking for a turnaround but that more or less that there's more, I don't know, maybe predictability, stability is probably too much of a word, but predictability or stability with regards to the ag markets in The US?

Speaker 3

Yes. I mean, I guess what we would say about that is certainly not trying to call this specific year or specific quarter as being the bottom. But if you're just looking at history, right, and specifically going back through the year February, with large ag expected to be down 30% year over year, that really puts us about 36% below the average from 2024 back to the year February and just a little bit below the previous low point, which was that 2016, '20 '17 time period. So it certainly aligns with it is at or slightly below the trough of the last couple of decades, which gives some support to the fact that we're somewhere near that and operating toward the bottom of the cycle here. Again, whether that changes in the next couple of quarters or next year, we're not making that call.

Speaker 3

But that's kind of what we're alluding to, right? We're comparing that to history, seeing that we are at those similar levels and not necessarily making the call on when it turns upward from here.

Speaker 5

Okay. I got a couple more, but I'm gonna step aside and I'll jump back in line if they don't get asked. Thanks.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Ted.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Mig Dobre with Baird. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 6

Good morning. Thank you for taking the question. I want to go back to discussing inventory and it encouraging to see additional progress this quarter, especially on the use side. So I guess I'm curious to get an update from you gentlemen in terms of regionally how you think about inventories. Mentioned that for your Europe business, you expect inventories to remain flattish.

Speaker 6

Maybe give us a little insight on what's going on with Australia. And then as you think about the North American footprint, are there particular areas where you still need to work this down? I mean, there specific product lines or either regions or states where maybe you have a little more wood to chop than others?

Speaker 3

Yeah. So just to clarify a couple of points. And that $100,000,000 target, I would say, is certainly a minimum that we look to achieve. Certainly, looking to do better than that, but we're at expectations through Q1. So let's get another three months in and see what we can do before we would revise that.

Speaker 3

And what I would say from that 100,000,000 painting it a little broadly here, CE was in pretty good shape and really within a range overall, certainly some optimization, but not really I wouldn't prescribe any of that $100,000,000 decrease to them. Australia also, I mean, you're talking single digits probably in terms of the target. And then really, mostly, it would be about 60% ag and then 40% in Europe. So we're certainly expecting to see and driving a decrease in inventory in Europe this year and expecting that to unfold as we work through the rest of the year. Now within those, from an ag perspective, I would say that most of what we prescribe on there is focused on reducing used inventory levels and optimization across new and used.

Speaker 3

So you're asking areas that you need to focus on. We still have an aging of seasonal products that we got a large quantity at the same time, kind of post pandemic normalizations. We need to work through those so that we can dedicate more of that balance sheet to the high horsepower tractors, for example. So that's the optimization that we're talking about. On the Europe side, they do a lot less used business than on the ag side.

Speaker 3

So there's not a whole lot there, and it's more about reducing the overall level and also working on that optimization. So yeah, I guess I'd pause there to see if you had a follow-up.

Speaker 6

No, that's very helpful. I want to talk a little bit about Europe. The increase in revenue guidance, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around that in terms of what is happening in Romania and how big Romania could be in order to generate this sort of swing. So guess I'd like more detail there. And I'm also curious how you think about margin.

Speaker 6

I mean, margin here was 5% in Q1. And if you're raising the guidance to this extent, how do you think about the rest

Speaker 5

of the year?

Speaker 3

Yes. So first off, from some more perspective for Romania, it represents about half of our business in Europe. So it is pretty substantial. And last year, given the significant of the droughts, we actually saw our Europe business sorry, our Romanian business decreased 34% year over year. And that was most of the decrease for the whole Europe segment.

Speaker 3

So from a because of those droughts, and country essentially got cut in half, I mean a significant drop, right? So what we're alluding to with the European Union funds is some European Union funds dedicated to Romania Subsubvention funds specifically to support the industry. It's a broader piece, but as it relates to our business, initially, was about EUR 150,000,000 dedicated to providing essentially assistance for farmers to buy certain types of equipment. So that's helping us drive significant increase in the interest and buying of certain types of equipment, maybe a little bit in terms of from an inventory perspective. It doesn't necessarily help us address all areas of inventory and certainly we need to order some more to keep up with that demand as orders are coming in.

Speaker 3

But that's why you're seeing the swing from saying flat to up five to up 23 to 28. It's really getting Romania kind of swinging back to where it was and actually growing from about two years ago, given the significance of these funds and the opportunity it's providing for growers in the region.

Speaker 6

And the margin?

Speaker 3

Yes. So from that also is helpful from an equipment margin perspective in Europe. We talked about overall for the year consolidated equipment margin being 8%. For Europe, expecting about 15.5%. They have historically quite a bit higher margin than The U.

Speaker 3

S. Side. So I would say strength in margin on the Europe side, but a little weakness in margin on the domestic ag side. So domestic ag, you saw the 3.3%, expecting something similar in Q2 and then improving from there. In terms of overall priorities for us, what I'd just take the opportunity to reiterate is we've got confidence in executing the plan and bringing inventory down and thus that $100,000,000 being a minimum and looking to build off of that.

Speaker 3

And that is the first priority, right? So in terms of actions we're taking incrementally, it proposes some potential compression on margin domestically. But on the Europe side, this is beneficial and we're seeing that helpful.

Speaker 6

Okay. Last question. So on your domestic ag business, again, I'm trying to figure out exactly how to get to your same store sales guidance given timing of shipments. So can you help us out in terms of what Q2 looks like relative to the back half? And if we are seeing pretty sustained pressure on the back half, it looks to me like your guidance implies, what gets the margin to be better than this negative 3% in the back half?

Speaker 6

Like what has to happen in order for you to get there? Thank you.

Speaker 3

Yes. So a lot of it comes down to discipline on our side and ordering activity. We're mostly focused on any orders we're placing our presales. So the pressure that all came through last year and ramped up as we progressed through the year was because we had a bunch of stock inventory available that's interest bearing, right? And so we're working through that and we've made really good progress on that.

Speaker 3

And we're going to continue to make progress we did in Q1, we'll continue to in Q2, Q3 from there. So by the time we get to Q4, we're going to be in a drastically different position in terms of inventory health year over year, which helps us with that margin improvement. So but it's to me, absolutely, I agree that it's a challenging backdrop. The benefit is the significantly less order volume we have coming in and specifically all of that being presold and just the progress we've made and we'll continue to make on inventory optimization. Because right now, right, in order to make that progress, we certainly are getting more aggressive with internal programs and promotions to get that progress done.

Speaker 3

We're as we achieve that, there's less of that that we have to do in the back half and setting us up as we exit FY 'twenty six to really operate at more of a normalized margin relative to the point of the cycle that we're in.

Speaker 6

Okay. But just to clarify, just for Q2, same store sales in agriculture, should we be thinking down '25, down more, this the timing versus Q1 versus Q2 of That's what I'm looking to clarify.

Speaker 3

Yes. And just to start with also in terms of same store. So the acquisition that we just did in Brookings and Watertown, we're really excited about. But in the press release, we had mentioned last year, was $20,000,000 in sales. This year, obviously, they're reflecting the market that we are.

Speaker 3

So it's not really when you're looking at growth numbers, it's not really blurring the lines on same store, just to clarify that for you. And then in terms of what we're expecting, going into the second quarter, we still have some backlog we're executing on. And certainly, as we look at the back half of the year, the next couple of months are going to be really important in terms of what that order writing activity is. But that said, sort of as a base case, I've got from an equipment perspective, Q2, Q3, Q4, each being down about 30% year over year for domestic ag. And then you mix in your parts and service that's more flattish.

Speaker 3

That's what I would prescribe for you. So then if you really I'm zooming back out and I'll talk on a consolidated basis. Last year, we were more 45%, forty six % of our total revenue was in the first half of the year. This year is going to be closer to 50% because of exactly what you're alluding to, sort of the presales in the first half of the year and then we're looking at and projecting forward more challenging order activity in the back half of the year.

Speaker 6

Very helpful. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Ben Klieve with Lake Street Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 7

Thanks for taking my questions and congratulations on a nice start to the fiscal year here. First, I want to ask about your comments regarding hopeful initiatives from OEM partners on kind of stimulating demand in second half of the year. I'm wondering if you can talk a bit about this from the perspective of kind of specifically what you would most like to see, the degree to which you have these embedded within your guidance and then your the degree of confidence you have that these will come to pass?

Speaker 2

Sure. Good morning, Ben. Yes, so first of all, we're looking at another year of weak farmer profitability as we mentioned and uncertainty on exports with our global trading partners and as we see those continue to evolve and as I mentioned watching moisture levels and crop development so all that will further determine farmer sentiment and net farm income. As it currently sits, you know the net farm income as we mentioned is very challenging. So that's where the OEMs those discussions happen and looking to pull many different levers, whether it's through financing programs, additional incentives and what have you.

Speaker 2

So we'll continue to a lot of the front half of the year is already baked as we've been talking about a lot of those pre sales coming in and you heard Bo talk about that. But so we're really looking at back half of the year and as we get into order boards for next year here. And there's been a lot of price increases that have happened with the equipment post COVID here or even over the last ten years. And then there's been a lot of improvements and a lot of technology advancements with the equipment as well that really are driving that ROI on the equipment. So how the OEMs look to pull those different levers to keep their factory set levels you know that that work for them and also from a dealer perspective you know to keep our sales up and keep you know the fleet to a certain level of aging as well out there.

Speaker 2

As we are at as Bo mentioned twenty year trough levels here in demand, The further we go through the cycle at these levels will continue to age the fleet and continue to increase replacement demand even as you go farther. So we'll continue to work with them on just various incentives to help stimulate demand, help bridge what is currently a gap for growers as you look at their net farm income levels compared to what the certain payments or cash flow levels of the equipment are in the trade prices right now. So various levers and tools will pull and look to team up together with the OEMs to bridge that gap right now.

Speaker 3

And in terms of you asked the question, what's embedded in the guidance, I would say kind of a consistency with what we've seen from our strategic OEM partners over the going on fifty year relationship. We try to provide as much clarity and transparency to them as in terms of what we're seeing. And right now, the pinch point is weak farmer profitability along with softer used values, creating a gap in that boot or the cash price they need to bring and working with the OEMs to find a way to make those deals that work for the grower, the OEM, and ourselves.

Speaker 7

Got it. Got it. I appreciate that from both of you. And then I guess I have a follow-up to this, maybe more for you, Bo, around these initiatives. I mean, it would seem to be that if this does come to pass, it would be an overwhelming positive for you.

Speaker 7

But I'm wondering if you can outline if there's any kind of resulting margin compression that you would see need to lean into the floor plan payable, excuse me, in a more material manner, offsetting effect that those kind of initiatives would provide?

Speaker 3

Well, to the extent that there's further support there, again, for a perspective, right, we're talking about historically low equipment margins for our self in domestic ag. So to the extent that there's more support there, helps support the view that we have or potentially a little bit upside in terms of where revenue could be. It could improve margins coming up off of really the floor of where we've been, but still well below normals that we should be operating at. So progress in that direction. And then, yes, absolutely, as we free up cash flow, one of our main capital allocations is going towards interest bearing debt.

Speaker 3

So that could help pay that down faster. Overall, again, the priority is inventory reduction and we're doing what we need to. And just working with our partners on support so that we can all get there as efficiently as possible.

Speaker 7

Got it. Very good. Well, appreciate the color. Congratulations again. Good start to the year.

Speaker 7

I'll get back in queue.

Speaker 3

Thanks,

Operator

you. Our next question comes from the line of Steve Dyer with Craig Hallum Capital Group. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 8

Hey, thanks. This is Matthew Robb on for Steve. Two questions on parts and service here. Firstly, are we still expecting a slight increase year over year in the service gross margin? And then secondly, Bo, you noted last quarter traffic was a little bit slower to start the year.

Speaker 8

Any update on how the quarter trended? And expectations for traffic through year end? Thanks.

Speaker 4

No, no, that's fine.

Speaker 3

Yes. So from a margin perspective, similar levels, slightly positive levels. That still remains the expectation. In terms of what unfolded in the first quarter, I recall talking about it, we were expecting parts and service to be down mid to single digits in Q1. Same store growth last year Q1 was almost 20%, it was like 18.9%.

Speaker 3

So that was part of what was going into it. We ended up down low single digits. So certainly within the realm or maybe even on the better side of what our expectations were there. And still expecting kind of a flattish viewpoint there in a world where equipment is down 30%. To us, that's a real positive in just how sustainable that parts and service can be as long as it takes a ton of work.

Speaker 3

So it's not a given at all. But everything that we put behind it to be able to maintain sort of a flattish view there when equipment is down 30, hats off to the team on the great job that they do to execute. A lot of work to still get done this year to make that happen. But that's an important part of our business. It's I think we already talked about that, but a quarter of our revenue, upwards of 60% of the gross profit dollars this year.

Speaker 3

You can see why we talk about it so much, care strategy is one of our number one strategic objectives and why it will be critically important going forward as we continue to move the business in the right direction.

Speaker 8

That's great. Thanks guys.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our time allowed for questions. I'll turn the floor back to Mr. Knutson for any final comments.

Speaker 2

Thank you for your interest in Titan and we look forward to updating you with our progress on our next call. And again, I just want to thank all of our employees for their execution and their efforts and have a great day.

Operator

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

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Key Takeaways

  • We optimized our inventory at $1.1 billion, flat versus last year-end, achieving a cumulative $106 million equipment reduction and targeting at least another $100 million this fiscal year to further lower floorplan interest expense.
  • Domestic agricultural equipment demand remains subdued, with same-store ag sales down 14.1% in Q1 and full-year ag revenue now forecast to decline 20%–25% amid weak farmer profitability and uncertain government support.
  • Our parts and service business—about 25% of revenue but over 50% of gross profit—delivered stable Q1 results and is expected to post flattish revenue for fiscal ’26, highlighting its role as a earnings buffer.
  • European operations posted a 44% revenue increase in Q1, led by EU stimulus in Romania, prompting an upgraded full-year Europe guidance of +23%–28% and boosting segment pretax income to $4.7 million.
  • Australian revenue fell 1% in Q1 (same-store) and is now projected down 20%–25% for the year, as dry conditions, low commodity prices and the end of a large sprayer backlog weigh on new orders.
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Earnings Conference Call
Titan Machinery Q1 2026
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