Astec Industries Q4 2025 Earnings Results & Report

Astec Industries EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $1.06
• Consensus EPS: $0.74
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$0.32
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A
• EPS Beat Rate: 5 of last 8 quarters

Astec Industries Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $400.60 million
• Expected Revenue: $374.21 million
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$26.39 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) (NASDAQ: ASTE) designs, engineers, manufactures and services equipment used in the construction of infrastructure and the processing of aggregates. Its products support road building, asphalt production, concrete production, aggregate processing and related industrial applications.

The company’s product portfolio includes asphalt plants and related equipment, concrete plants, crushers, screens, feeders, material-handling systems, thermal-processing equipment and road-building machinery. Astec also provides replacement parts, equipment upgrades and aftermarket services to help customers maintain and improve their operations.

Founded in 1972 and headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Astec operates through manufacturing and distribution activities serving customers in the United States and international markets. Its equipment is used by highway and road contractors, aggregate producers, ready-mix concrete businesses, government agencies and other industrial customers.

Astec Industries Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Astec reported a record fourth quarter with $400.6 million in net sales and full-year Adjusted EBITDA of $140.7 million (upper end of guidance), and provided 2026 Adjusted EBITDA guidance of $170M–$190M.
• Positive Sentiment: Backlog grew to $514 million (up 14.4% sequential, 22.5% YoY) with a consolidated book-to-bill of 116%, while parts sales—high-margin, recurring revenue—rose 19.7% in Q4 and represented 30.7% of 2025 net sales.
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic acquisitions (TerraSource and CWMF, together representing >$200M in annual revenue) are being integrated and expected to be accretive in 2026, with TerraSource fill-rate and cross-selling efforts progressing.
• Negative Sentiment: Demand remains uneven—forestry and mobile paving equipment were challenged and backlogs in those product lines are still at the lower end of historical ranges, and longer-term upside depends on timely renewal of the U.S. surface transportation reauthorization (current bill expires Sept 30, 2026).
• Positive Sentiment: Balance sheet and liquidity are strong with $70M cash, $244.7M available credit (total liquidity $314.7M) and net debt/Adjusted EBITDA around 2x, providing capacity to fund organic investments (CapEx guide $40M–$50M) and further M&A.

Presentation

[Operator]

Hello, welcome to the Astec Industries fourth quarter and full year 2025 earnings call. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. It is my pleasure to introduce your host, Steve Anderson, Senior Vice President of Administration and Investor Relations. Mr. Anderson, you may begin.

[Steve Anderson, Senior VP of Administration and Investor Relations at Astec Industries]

Thank you, and good morning. Joining me on today's call are Jaco van der Merwe, our Chief Executive Officer, and Brian Harris, our Chief Financial Officer. In just a moment, I'll turn the call over to Jaco to provide his comments, and then Brian will summarize our financial results. For your convenience, a copy of our press release and the presentation have been posted on the website under the Investor Relations tab at www.astecindustries.com. Turning to slide two. I'll remind you that our discussion this morning may contain forward-looking statements that relate to the future performance of the company, and these statements are intended to qualify for the safe harbor liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Such statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions.

[Steve Anderson, Senior VP of Administration and Investor Relations at Astec Industries]

Factors that could influence our results are highlighted in today's financial news release, and others are contained in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. As usual, we ask that you familiarize yourself with those factors. In an effort to provide investors with additional information regarding the company's results, the company refers to various US GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures, which management believes provide useful information to investors. These non-GAAP measures have no standardized meaning prescribed by US GAAP and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to the calculation of similar measures for other companies. Management does not intend these items to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the related GAAP measures. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results are included in our news release in the appendix of our slide presentation.

[Steve Anderson, Senior VP of Administration and Investor Relations at Astec Industries]

Now, turning to slide three, I will turn the call over to Jaco.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

Thank you, Steve Anderson. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. We were pleased to report strong fourth quarter and full year results that shows the benefits of our focus on consistency, profitability, and growth. I would like to thank our Astec team members for their dedication and hard work that produced a successful year in 2025. On slide four, we highlight our fourth quarter and full year performance. For the quarter, we achieved record fourth quarter net sales of $400.6 million. Full year net sales increased 8.1% due to a combination of organic and inorganic growth. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was a solid $44.7 million. This yielded an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 11.2%. Adjusted EBITDA of $140.7 million for the year was at the upper end of our guidance range.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

The full year Adjusted EBITDA margin was 10%, which was a 140 basis point increase over the prior year. We are optimistic about 2026 due to our progress on internal initiatives, positive customer sentiment, and the stability provided by federal funding for infrastructure in the United States. Based on expected organic and inorganic contributions, our full year 2026 Adjusted EBITDA guidance range is $170 million-$190 million. We continue to generate positive free cash flow, which allows us to fund both organic and inorganic growth. In 2025, we saw healthy demand for asphalt plants and concrete plants within the Infrastructure Solutions segment, while forestry and mobile paving equipment were challenged. During the fourth quarter, we saw an increase in the backlogs for forestry and mobile paving equipment, though they remain at the lower end of historical ranges.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

The Material Solutions segment demonstrated anticipated recovery late in the year with a combination of organic and inorganic growth. Federal funding, healthy state and local budgets, and the construction of data centers are expected to drive multiyear demand in the Material Solutions and Infrastructure Solutions segments in 2026. Parts sales increased 19.7% versus the fourth quarter prior year. For the year, parts sales totaled $432.7 million, representing an 11.5% increase over the prior year and 30.7% of total net sales in 2025. As previously stated, growing our parts and service business continues to be a priority. We were pleased to show an increase in backlog to $514 million.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

This represented sequential year-over-year growth of 14.4% and 22.5%, respectively, through a combination of organic and inorganic activity. On slide five, we highlight the acquisitions of TerraSource and CWMF, that collectively represent over $200 million of annual revenue acquired by Astec. As part of the TerraSource integration, we will share their new brand designs at CONEXPO. The new designs are consistent with existing Astec products and incorporate our name and logo with the TerraSource legacy flagship brands, including Gundlach, Jeffrey Rader, Pennsylvania Crusher, and Elgin. Our joint teams are busy expanding the parts sales force, coordinating sales channels, and cross-selling strategies, pursuing new product development, and assessing opportunities for optimal factory use. We anticipate benefits from these actions will be realized in 2026.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

On January 1, 2026, we were excited to welcome the skilled and dedicated employees of CWMF to the Astec family. As a reminder, CWMF is a highly respected manufacturer of portable and stationary asphalt plant equipment and parts, primarily concentrated in the Midwest, South Central, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. Our organizations are a strong cultural fit, and we expect CWMF to be accretive from day one. Slide six provide detail on the state of the U.S. infrastructure and aggregate industries. Astec benefits from strong road construction and aggregate markets in the United States. As you may know, in 2022, Congress approved a five-year, $347.5 billion infrastructure investment bill. Funds committed within the bill totaled $248 billion or 71% through November 30, 2025.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

These highway and bridge formula funds support over 111,000 new projects, and construction increased over the prior year. Although the existing five-year bill is set to expire on September 30th, 2026, Congress recently reached an agreement on transportation spending legislation for the remainder of fiscal year 2026, and now plans to turn their attention to securing an on-time renewal of a robust, long-term surface transportation reauthorization. Investments in highways, bridges, and street construction also supports the U.S. aggregate industry, as aggregates are used in asphalt, concrete, and as base material. In addition to expected increases in federal funds for roads and bridge construction, 2026 state transportation budgets anticipate growth as well. Data centers and the aggregates and the infrastructure necessary to support them are also expected to drive multiyear demand.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

In an October 2025 study by Thompson Research Group, aggregate quarries within a 30-mile truck haul distance of a major data center construction project saw the demand for aggregate tonnage that nearly doubled that of pre-construction levels. Overall, a healthy compound annual rate of 3.41% is expected for the U.S. aggregate markets through 2033. These industry trends provide advantages for Astec, a company specializing in the Rock to Road sector. Ongoing infrastructure enhancements contribute to sustained demand for our equipment, parts, and digital solutions. Our established reputation in aggregates, as well as road and bridge construction, underpins consistent growth. On slide seven, we show fourth quarter implied orders, which were up $46 million or 11% from the prior quarter in 2024. The Infrastructure Solutions segment showed a 31% increase, while our Material Solutions segment declined slightly by 6.8%.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

We were pleased with our overall order intake as our book-to-bill ratio was 116% on a consolidated basis. The book-to-bill ratios for the Infrastructure Solutions and Material Solutions segments were 115% and 117%, respectively. Moving to slide eight. We are pleased to report that our backlog grew to $514 million, an increase on a sequential and year-over-year basis by 14.4% and 22.5%, respectively. The backlog in our Infrastructure Solutions segment reflects a combination of strong order activity for asphalt and concrete plants, partially offset by softer demand for mobile and forestry equipment.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

We are especially pleased with increased backlog in our Material Solutions segment, which grew $105.8 million or 92.7% over the prior year, fourth quarter, from organic and inorganic contributions, and $29.9 million or 15.7% sequentially. As a reminder, backlog represents the dollar value of firm orders with executed contracts. Backlog is also a function of lead times, and we continue to focus on increasing our manufacturing velocity to fulfill customer orders as soon as possible. Now I will turn the call over to our Chief Financial Officer, Brian Harris.

[Brian Harris, CFO at Astec Industries]

Thank you, Jaco, and good morning. Next, I will cover our fourth quarter consolidated results, details by segment, liquidity and leverage, along with some 2026 outlook detail. Turning to our financial performance for the quarter and the full year, as represented on slide 10, we achieved record fourth quarter sales driven by heightened demand for both capital equipment and aftermarket parts. Adjusted EBITDA and margins increased due to strong volume, favorable pricing, and product mix. For the fourth quarter, adjusted earnings per share were $1.06. For the full year, net sales grew 8.1%, which was attributable to incremental net sales from the acquired TerraSource business, as well as positive organic volume and mix, coupled with favorable pricing.

[Brian Harris, CFO at Astec Industries]

As Jaco mentioned, we were pleased to report an Adjusted EBITDA of $140.7 million, which was at the high end of our guidance range. Both segments experienced growth as Adjusted EBITDA margin on a consolidated basis expanded by 140 basis points to 10%. Adjusted earnings per share for the full year ending 2025 were $3.33, representing a 28.6% increase over the prior year. On slide 11, we show the Infrastructure Solutions segment, which generated fourth quarter net sales of $223.6 million. This measured to a strong prior year comparison of $248.8 million, as solid demand for asphalt and concrete plant sales were offset by softness for mobile paving and forestry equipment. Aftermarket part sales were relatively flat, albeit at healthy levels.

[Brian Harris, CFO at Astec Industries]

Q4 delivered an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 15.8%. That compared to an exceptional prior year Q4 EBITDA margin of 21.3%. For the year, net sales increased $20 million or 2.4%. Segment operating Adjusted EBITDA was $134.3 million for 2025, compared to $121.5 million for 2024, for an increase of $12.8 million or 10.5%. Full year Adjusted EBITDA margin grew 120 basis points to 15.7%, compared to 14.5% in 2024. The Material Solutions segment is shown on slide 12. Net sales and segment operating Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter increased substantially over the same period in 2024.

[Brian Harris, CFO at Astec Industries]

Increases were primarily due to the impact of net favorable volume and mix from inorganic and organic operations, coupled with favorable pricing. Adjusted EBITDA margin for the quarter increased 530 basis points to 11.8%. For the year, net sales increased 18.2% to $553 million over the prior year, and Adjusted EBITDA grew 49.5% to $55.6 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin in 2025 reached 10.1%, compared to 8% in 2024, for an increase of 210 basis points. As shown on slide 13, our balance sheet remains strong, supported by substantial liquidity.

[Brian Harris, CFO at Astec Industries]

At quarter end, we had $70 million in cash and cash equivalents, along with $244.7 million of available credit, resulting in total liquidity of $314.7 million. Net debt to Adjusted EBITDA of approximately 2x is well within our target range of 1.5x to 2.5x. This provides us with the capacity for continued organic and inorganic growth. For our 2026 outlook, you should take into account the following anticipated full year ranges: Adjusted EBITDA of $170 million-$190 million. An effective tax rate between 25% and 28%. Capital expenditures of $40 million-$50 million. Depreciation and amortization of $55 million-$65 million, and a quarterly range for adjusted SG&A of $70 million-$80 million.

[Brian Harris, CFO at Astec Industries]

I will now hand the call back to Jaco.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

Thank you, Brian. Moving to slide 14, please mark your calendars to visit us at the 2026 CONEXPO-CON/AGG trade show in Las Vegas from March 3rd through the 7th. Our display will be located in the central hall in Booth C30236, where we will showcase several new products. We will also demonstrate our existing new Signal digital platform and extended reality offerings. These products are all available for sale and will have a positive impact on organic growth. We hope to see you there. Slide 15 provides an overview of our key investment highlights. We are proud of Astec's long-standing reputation as a trusted source of globally recognized brands and premium solutions for our customers. Our team is highly engaged with customers. Based on recent interaction, customers have a favorable outlook about ongoing construction market activity.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

We are glad to see our dedication to operational excellence is producing strong results. We expect to realize additional benefits moving forward. Efforts within our manufacturing and procurement are enhancing efficiency. We are seeing continued improvement in Adjusted EBITDA. Our growth is supported by several promising opportunities, including growing our recurring aftermarket parts business, which remains a top priority for the Astec team. Advancing our robust pipeline of innovative new products, many of which will be on display at CONEXPO....Having a consistent multi-year federal and state funding for interstate and highway projects within our core U.S. market. Exploring expansion possibilities in both established and emerging international markets. Pursuing inorganic growth with our demonstrated disciplined and focused approach to strategic acquisitions. As Brian mentioned, our strong balance sheet provides flexibility to fund our growth initiatives and manage leverage effectively. With that, operator, we are ready for questions.

[Operator]

At this time, if you would like to ask a question, press star, then 1 on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, simply press star 1 again. We will pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Steve Ferazani with Sidoti. Please go ahead.

[Steve Ferazani, Senior Equity Analyst at Sidoti]

Good morning, Brian. Appreciate all the detail on the call. Obviously, positively surprised by the strong fourth quarter revenue. I know you were facing a challenging comp, and then really surprised by the strong backlog in 4Q, the orders, as well as the guide. I want to dig into some of those pieces. As far as what you're seeing in Material Solutions, this looks like that's where you really significantly beat me on the top line this quarter, but I'm assuming that's what's contributing to the strong guide, given the orders. What started to turn that around, Jaco? I know we went through several quarters where it just remained soft. You had pointed before to, higher interest rates as they came down, that could help, as well as, all of those products were underused.

[Steve Ferazani, Senior Equity Analyst at Sidoti]

Some of the smaller customers weren't ready to buy, it was coming, and now we see it's coming. Even if we back out TerraSource, we see you saw it. On the organic side, can you talk about what's turned that market so quickly?

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

Yeah. Hey, good morning, Steve. You know, we definitely saw a good order intake on both businesses, you know, the legacy MS and TSG business. I will say TSG also came through really strong during the fourth quarter. You know, we got the results that we were looking for when we did the business. I will say, you know, we talked a lot about, you know, the state of inventory in our dealer network. We have seen and spoke to our dealers just here recently. They have very healthy backlog situations now. They have very healthy inventory. You know, for a while, they didn't necessarily have the right inventory. We worked through all of that.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

Their rental utilization is really strong, you know, obviously some of those inventory started to convert and hence the bookings on our side. You know, we have also seen a very positive development around data centers that is affecting this business. You know, we see multiple of those super large projects coming through, you know, our team is very well positioned to enjoy some of that business, and I know our dealers are highly engaged with these large projects. Yeah, we are also excited about this. I think our team is ready to take advantage of this, hence, you know, the output that we provided for 2026.

[Steve Ferazani, Senior Equity Analyst at Sidoti]

Okay. Flipping over to Infrastructure Solutions, that backlog actually was ahead of where we were thinking as well, just because our expectation was as you enter the last year of the current highway funding bill, maybe you'd see a slowdown in concrete and asphalt plant orders. That doesn't seem to be happening.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

Yeah, no, you're right, Steve. We're happy with how the year ended. You know, obviously, we had a very strong comp versus the prior year, but.

[Steve Ferazani, Senior Equity Analyst at Sidoti]

Yeah

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

... bookings stayed pretty strong, and, you know, I'm happy to say here in the first couple of weeks of the year, both MS and the IS business, you know, the order intake has been strong as well.

[Steve Ferazani, Senior Equity Analyst at Sidoti]

Yeah, you are, you're a little bit closer to this. Any updates on what you think highway funding might move forward this year, and are there any concerns on your end if it slowed down?

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

Yeah. Yeah, you know, a couple of things on that. We were at the National Asphalt Pavement Association just a couple of weeks ago, you know, we got an update there from our government affairs teams, you know, they believe that conversations are on track. You know, that we will hear something about an infrastructure bill here in the next couple of months. You know, on a positive note, as we mentioned in our prepared remarks, is that, you know, funding for 2026 was actually approved by Congress. You know, overall, I think our customers is in a good space. We know that most of them have very good backlogs for the year.

[Steve Ferazani, Senior Equity Analyst at Sidoti]

Yep.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

You know, I think our customers are very focused on the long-term, possibilities of U.S. infrastructure, and, you know, even if the bill doesn't get renewed on time, you know, we feel that there is good momentum, the need for infrastructure is there. I think our customers are looking beyond just, you know, the bill year at the end of the year. Of course, if we do get a bill, I think it will be very positive for us and for our customers.

[Steve Ferazani, Senior Equity Analyst at Sidoti]

Got it. That's helpful. I wanna turn to the guidance, which is certainly on EBITDA, well above where we were. I'm trying to think about, you know, Jaco, since you've taken over, you've tried to improve production efficiencies. I know you've made investments in the plants. You've been growing parts sales, which are higher margin. I'm trying to think of how much of this growth is driven straight by top line, or how much you think this is on margin beyond just the margin improvement generated by higher throughput.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

Yeah. Steve, I mean, if you look at the walk from, you know, from 2025 to 2026, you know, there's obviously a couple of things that plays a role there. you know, we have a full year TSG.

[Steve Ferazani, Senior Equity Analyst at Sidoti]

Yeah.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

You know, CWMF, which will basically be with us for the full year. We, you know, we built some synergies in there for those two deals, and, you know, we feel pretty good about, you know, our progress around synergies. You know, obviously, these synergies take a while to work through, you know, the inventory that we already have. You know, we do see, you know, some organic growth for this year, and, obviously, we bake some of that into the, into the number. You know, if we get a highway bill or a new infrastructure bill, you know, we could probably go to the higher end of the range.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

You know, we felt that that range is something that we feel, you know, makes sense, you know, this early on in the year.

[Steve Ferazani, Senior Equity Analyst at Sidoti]

You haven't talked that much about the numbers around. I know CWMF is much smaller. Can you talk about what that contribution is to your range in 2026? As a follow-up, just how we should read through what your M&A strategy sort of is with TerraSource and now CWMF.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

Yeah. you know, on CWMF, obviously, we disclosed the, you know, the sales that they have, and, you know, we haven't shared exactly what their profitability is. you know, Steve, we did mention that it's accretive from day one.

[Steve Ferazani, Senior Equity Analyst at Sidoti]

Yeah.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

We are very happy with where they fit, their margin profile fit in with the rest of our asphalt business. You know, you can do that math a little bit.

[Steve Ferazani, Senior Equity Analyst at Sidoti]

Yeah.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

Overall, you know, we feel that they will be accretive day one. From an acquisition point of view, I mean, obviously, we have good momentum right now. I will say, you know, our team have done a fantastic job with teeing these two deals up. The integration it's been going really well. You know, we have the team available to continue to go down this path. You know, our liquidity is in a strong position right now. We're gonna continue to look, you know, there's a lot of opportunities for us still to grow, both in the U.S. and internationally. Yeah, we're excited about where we are.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

We're excited about the firepower we have available, and, you know, hopefully, we'll find similar companies like TSG and CWMF to add to the team.

[Steve Ferazani, Senior Equity Analyst at Sidoti]

Great. Thanks so much, Jaco.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

Thank you, Steve.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Steven Ramsey with Thompson Research Group. Please go ahead.

[Steve Ramsey, Senior Equity Analyst at Thompson Research Group]

Hi, good morning, everyone.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

Hi, morning, Steven.

[Brian Harris, CFO at Astec Industries]

Morning, Steve.

[Steve Ramsey, Senior Equity Analyst at Thompson Research Group]

Yeah. Wanted to start with the maybe kinda continue the CWMF topic for a minute, the improvement potential that you can bring to that business or how both businesses can benefit from each other. Seeing that it's accretive day one, if you could talk to their parts contribution and maybe where Astec can help on that front?

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

Yeah. No, absolutely. You know, When I, when I look at the CWMF business, you know, the first thing is, you know, the owners, Kami and Travis, they've done a fantastic job with this business. They've created a great culture, and that culture fits in so well with Astec. You know, it is amazing to me, just how fast our teams have come together here. Obviously, we know this business in and out, and, you know, the discussions between our teams around working together, integrating sales structures, synergies, has gone as good as what we could have imagined. You know, this business and, you know, the, the previous owners, they've done a fantastic job creating a very nice manufacturing facility with good capabilities.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

You know, we see opportunities to use that facility and grow the output together with the rest of our Astec asphalt teams. From a parts point of view, their parts mix is a little bit lower than what we have on our traditional asphalt business, Steve, so there's a big opportunity there. You know, to grow that, we're gonna do the same thing with them to make sure we have great parts availability. You know, we'll give our customers the support that they deserve, and they're used to, you know, from a legacy Astec point of view. So yeah, we excited about this. You know, this buy will give us, you know, much more than just another asphalt product line.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

It will give us manufacturing capability, it brings a great team to the table. Yeah, I, you know, we feel very confident about what this will look like in a couple of years.

[Steve Ramsey, Senior Equity Analyst at Thompson Research Group]

Excellent. Then sticking to acquisition, recent acquisitions, for TerraSource, can you talk about the progress with this business? Good to see margin improvement in the Materials segment. Can you talk about the improving fill rates within TerraSource? I know that was a focal point. Can you talk about where it is now versus where it was when you closed the deal?

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

Yeah. No, you know, Steve, obviously, we're still pretty early in that improvement cycle. One thing that I will say is that, you know, our teams have done all the calculations. We know exactly what we need to do and, you know, what is the inventory that we need to put on the shelf. That process is going and, you know, I will say, within the next 3 to 6 months, we're gonna be very close to where we want them to be, and, you know, we know that that will have a positive influence on the business. Good, good interaction, good buy-in from the team. You know, they're running with this, and obviously the Astec team just supports them.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

You know, the other thing that we're making sure of is as we bring this inventory in, you know, we make sure that we take advantage of the synergy opportunities that we have, so that, you know, we can bring that inventory in at the levels that we can buy for in our legacy Astec business. Yeah, we're excited about that. You know, overall, you know, the performance for TerraSource for the six months we've owned them have been in line with our expectations. I will say here in the last couple of weeks, we've made significant improvements in the integration of the team.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

just yesterday, I listened to our engineering team talking about the products that we're gonna have at CONEXPO, and, I mean, this just fits in so well with the Astec business. We excited about what they're gonna bring to the table in the future.

[Steve Ramsey, Senior Equity Analyst at Thompson Research Group]

Okay, that's great. On the Material Solutions segment, you pointed out, obviously, infrastructure activity and data centers. Can you talk a little bit more on data centers and how your equipment is being deployed there? How much of your data center growth is following customers versus intentional efforts on your part? Then maybe one other thing on data centers is, ballpark, how if you can gauge it, how much data center exposure you have?

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

We, you know, we actually, we actually tried to calculate that a little bit, because, you know, I will say the majority of the crushing and screening that's gonna be needed to get these data centers built will be done by companies that we already do business with. It's not that you will see a huge amount of new startups popping up. You know, these are customers that we have relationships with. They are close to our dealers and, you know, we're taking advantage of historical relationships. You know, we've seen quite a few, you know, large projects that's coming our way, and, you know, we're gonna try to take advantage as, you know, as much as we can.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

You know, we are adding capacity in our facilities, again, to make sure we can take advantage of this. Steve, you know, I think we're well positioned. Exactly how much it will contribute, you know, we haven't got to a number that we feel comfortable yet, but, you know, we can just see what is in our quoting pipeline and, you know, we feel that, you know, this business will be strong and support our EBITDA guidance range for the year.

[Steve Ramsey, Senior Equity Analyst at Thompson Research Group]

Okay, that's excellent. To clarify, the demand for data centers is it being filled through dealers primarily, or is there any direct business?

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

Yeah, no, most of that is through dealers. You know, our crushing and screening product line goes through dealers. You know, obviously, there's concrete needed there as well. That goes through a dealer structure. You know, obviously, any asphalt that is done, you know, around data centers that, you know, that we sell directly to customers. Once again, they, you know, a lot of our existing customers are involved in that construction.

[Steve Ramsey, Senior Equity Analyst at Thompson Research Group]

Okay, that's helpful. One thing I wanted to make sure of with the EBITDA guidance, do you expect margin expansion in both segments?

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

Yeah. You know, Steven, we've been talking about growing our margins, you know, 0.7% to 1.5% a year. You know, on average, if you go and look at the last 3 years, I think we've successfully done that. I mean, it's our aim to build on our consistency and continue to try to achieve those improvements year-over-year. You know, we won't do our job if we don't do that again this year. Obviously, there's a lot of work to be done to achieve that, but, you know, I think we've shown that we can do it. You know, the team is ready to go and execute this year. We know how to do it.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

We know that we have the opportunities, now it's just to us to go and execute.

[Steve Ramsey, Senior Equity Analyst at Thompson Research Group]

Excellent. Last quick one for me, CONEXPO, a big event that clearly doesn't happen every year. Can you talk about, in the past, if this helps sales in the coming quarters to a degree, as you roll out new products or highlight improvements to existing products? And is there any scenario where CONEXPO is a needle mover enough to shift the guidance or go to the high end?

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

Yeah. Yeah, you know, these big shows, you can always question, is it delivering, you know, a good return on investment? I will just say we are very excited about this CONEXPO. Basically, every product that we have on display is either new or substantially upgraded. We are going to launch our Signal digital platform there, that I'm very excited about. Steven, you know, I will say, are we gonna walk away there with $100 million in new orders? Probably not. You know, will this send a signal to the market and to our customers that Astec is strong, we are unified under our brands. We will have TerraSource on display. You know, our CWMF team will be part of us.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

I think we're gonna show really strong and, you know, it's gonna give our customer confidence and, you know, I'll be honest with you, I think it's gonna give our own team members, you know, a boost just to see how well, you know, we show up now as, you know... We're still a relatively small player in the market. Yeah, I'm excited. Hopefully, we'll see you there next week, and hopefully we'll have great attendance as well.

[Steve Ramsey, Senior Equity Analyst at Thompson Research Group]

Yep, I'll be there. Looking forward to it. Thank you.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of David MacGregor with Longbow Research. Please go ahead.

[David MacGregor, President at Longbow Research]

Yes, good morning, everyone, and, congratulations on the strong results.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

Hey, morning, David.

[Brian Harris, CFO at Astec Industries]

Morning, David.

[David MacGregor, President at Longbow Research]

Good morning. I wanted to begin by just maybe picking up on your last point there with regard to rolling out the digital platform at CONEXPO. Maybe you could just talk about kind of progress on building out digital solutions generally. I know this is something you've been doing a lot of work on, but I guess the goal is ultimately to make Astec easier to buy from. Just how should we think about this as a revenue growth facilitator in 2026?

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

Yeah, no, David, I mean, that's a great question, and, you know, if I look at, if I look at the state of our industry and some of the larger players and where we want to take this business, you know, the world is gonna look at, you know, basically what I call dumb iron, and how do we make this dumb iron more productive and more reliable? That's one of the things that we want to achieve with our digital platform. I mean, we want to give our customers great visibility around how their equipment is performing. You know, are they getting the utilization of their equipment? Then most importantly, is how do we help our customers to ensure that their equipment runs all the time?

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

You know, our digital platform is gonna help them to do that. You know, we see various opportunities coming out of that, you know, driving parts business and, you know, increasing our service offerings. You know, it will help us to grow that parts and service business in the future. You know, there's a big opportunity here. I will say we're just scratching the surface on what this business can become. You know, if you go to CONEXPO, you will see how this is now integrated, you know, in every piece of equipment.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

you know, I hate to use, you know, the AI term here, but, you know, our teams are doing really good things to start to bring more and more, you know, opportunities that we can help our customers, you know, using the data to make better decisions. you know, we have multiple large customers now that's standardizing on our platform, and they're gonna be the beneficiaries of this. I know they're all looking forward to next week because they're gonna see the full capability, and, you know, we're excited. I think it's gonna be great for us long term.

[David MacGregor, President at Longbow Research]

It's exciting. The second question for me, you mentioned in your prepared remarks that you were seeing a modest positive inflection in orders within the forestry business. I just wanted to maybe get you to talk about that a little bit further and what you think you're seeing there and the extent to which you may expect some follow-through.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, the forestry business was an interesting one the last 12, 18 months. You know, we've owned the Peterson business now for, I think, 12, 13 years, and, you know, this down cycle was probably the worst we've seen since we've owned it. You know, a couple of things there, you know, the paper and pulp industry is a little bit in turmoil. Then, you know, thank goodness, the U.S. didn't have much storm damage last year, but obviously, you know, that typically drives quite a bit of business for us. I am, however, you know, happy to say that, you know, the last couple of weeks, we've actually seen some decent order intake there.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

You know, that's a business that traditionally, when it was running at full cylinders, you know, it made really good profits. If that comes back, you know, it will, it will add to our profitability, and obviously, we bake some of that in already in the EBITDA outlook.

[David MacGregor, President at Longbow Research]

Okay, good. Thank you for that detail. I wanted to get you to talk a little bit about the parts business in 2026 as well. I know that you've put a lot of work into strategic inventory investments and expanding the service support. How should we think about the drivers here in 2026? What changes, if anything, in terms of how you go after that business?

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

Yeah. Yeah, you know, a couple of things there. We, you know, we're continuously looking at the way we go to market. You know, one of the platforms that you will see at CONEXPO is what we call MyAstec. That's a digital platform that we've created, starting for asphalt plants, where we're creating a digital twin for our customers that makes the ordering so much easier. That platform is rolled out. We've just started to now introduce that to the concrete plant side of the business. You know, we're really trying to find ways to make it easier for our customers to do business with us. That's one thing. The second thing is, you know, we are continuously strengthening our presence in the market.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

With CWMF on board now, you know, we got some parts sales guys from them. We've broken up our territories a little bit, so now we have even more feet on the street for parts, you know, on asphalt side. Of course, you know, the TSG side, big opportunity there. You know, these guys, when we bought them, they basically, you know, were in the, I will say, the second or third innings of reviving these historical, strong brands, and we are enabling them, you know, focusing on full rate. We're adding salespeople to go after that parts business. David, obviously, you know, these things take time.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

You know, the actions of last year will pay off this year, and, you know, the actions we're putting in place now will play out well later in the year and into next year.

[David MacGregor, President at Longbow Research]

Got it. Last question for me is maybe for Brian, just on working capital in the model for 26 and how we should be thinking about source versus use. I guess within that, I know that on the equipment side, you've seen, you know, people ordering on shorter lead times. Does that give you the ability to fund growth in parts inventory with maybe a little less equipment inventory?

[Brian Harris, CFO at Astec Industries]

Yeah. Thanks, Dave. Thanks for the question. Yeah, working capital continues to be an area of focus for us. Obviously, the better cash flow that we can generate, the more ability we have to grow. I think in 2026, we're going to see further opportunities to improve our working capital management. It's always a little bit tricky to judge exactly where you'll be at the year-end. You know, we shift a lot of inventory, but sometimes it goes into receivables in the short term, so year-end forecasting can be a little challenging. Overall, I do see opportunities for continued improvement. Of course, we're going to drive cash through increased operating earnings as well. Then we've got... You'll see a guide on our capital expenditure, $40 million-$50 million.

[Brian Harris, CFO at Astec Industries]

Next year, we got a lot of good projects in our plants for operational improvement, improved quality, and automation. We'll be reinvesting some of that free cash flow back into the business. Overall, I think working capital should improve slightly.

[David MacGregor, President at Longbow Research]

Okay.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

David, maybe one other comment, just to add to that. You know, a lot of our ETO business, we don't have finished goods inventory, you know, it's the real opportunity is strengthening that parts availability. You hit the head on the nail or the nail on the head there by saying that, you know, we want to make sure we drive that. You know, on the TSG side, we've done the calculations, and yes, it will take $2 million or so of inventory, but it's not that it's gonna be a, you know, a double-digit number that we need to add to fix that. It's, you know, it's doable within a fairly decent investment.

[David MacGregor, President at Longbow Research]

Great. Thanks. Congratulations again on all the progress. Look forward to catching up with you next week.

[Jaco van der Merwe, CEO at Astec Industries]

Thank you.

[Operator]

That concludes the Q&A session. Now I'll turn the call over to Steve Anderson, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations.

[Steve Anderson, Senior VP of Administration and Investor Relations at Astec Industries]

All right. Thank you. We appreciate your participation in our conference call this morning, and thank you for your interest in Astec. As today's news release states, this conference call has been recorded. A replay of the conference call will be available through March 11th, 2026, and an archive webcast will be available for 90 days. The transcript will be available under the Investor Relations section of the Astec Industries website within the next five business days. This concludes our call, but we're happy to connect later if there are additional questions. Thank you all, and have a good day.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

Participants

Executives

• Steve Anderson, Senior VP of Administration and Investor Relations
• Jaco van der Merwe, CEO
• Brian Harris, CFO

Analysts

• Steve Ferazani, Senior Equity Analyst at Sidoti
• Steve Ramsey, Senior Equity Analyst at Thompson Research Group
• David MacGregor, President at Longbow Research