Standex International Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
May 1, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Sales rose 8.1% to $224.6M (6.5% organic) with new product sales up ~40% to $18.7M and management saying new products should add ~300 basis points to 2026 growth.
  • Positive Sentiment: Electronics hit a record $119.7M with a 29.3% adjusted operating margin, a 1.14 book‑to‑bill and two months of >$50M orders, signaling strong backlog into FY2027.
  • Positive Sentiment: The Engineering Technologies segment is being renamed Standex Aerospace and Defense after a 33.7% revenue increase (20.8% organic), driven by space commercialization and missile work that could scale with government procurement.
  • Positive Sentiment: Management completed the Federal Industries divestiture (~$70M), used proceeds to pay down ~$62M of debt, cut net leverage to 1.9x and reports roughly $191M of available liquidity to fund M&A or investments.
  • Negative Sentiment: Scientific revenue declined 1.7% (impacted by NIH cuts) and Engraving & Hydraulics remain lower‑margin; company expects near‑term margin pressure from growth investments, higher medical costs and increased variable compensation.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Standex International Q3 2026
00:00 / 00:00

Transcript Sections

Skip to Participants
Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Standex International Fiscal Third Quarter 2026 financial results conference call. At this time, note that all participant lines are in the listen only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. Also note that this call is being recorded on Friday, May 1st, 2026. I would like to turn the conference over to Christopher Howe, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Christopher Howe
Christopher Howe
Director of Investor Relations at Standex International

Thank you, operator, and good morning. Please note that the presentation accompanying management's remarks can be found on the investor relations portion of the company's website at www.standex.com. Please refer to Standex's safe harbor statement on slide two. Matters that Standex management will discuss on today's conference call include predictions, estimates, expectations, and other forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. You should refer to Standex's most recent annual report on Form 10-K, as well as other SEC filings and public announcements for a detailed list of risk factors. In addition, I'd like to remind you that today's discussion will include references to the non-GAAP measures of EBIT, which is earnings before interest and taxes; adjusted EBIT; EBITDA, which is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization; adjusted EBITDA; EBITDA margin; and adjusted EBITDA margin.

Christopher Howe
Christopher Howe
Director of Investor Relations at Standex International

We will also refer to other non-GAAP measures, including adjusted net income, adjusted operating income, adjusted net income from continuing operations, adjusted earnings per share, adjusted operating margin, pre-operating cash flow, and pro forma net debt to EBITDA. Adjusted measures exclude the impact of restructuring, purchase accounting, amortization from acquired intangible assets, acquisition-related expenses, and one-time items. These non-GAAP financial measures are intended to serve as a complement to results provided in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. Standex believes that such information provides an additional measurement and consistent historical comparison of the company's financial performance. On the call today is Standex's Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, David Dunbar, and Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, Ademir Sarcevic.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Thank you, Chris. Good morning, and welcome to our fiscal third quarter 2026 conference call. This quarter provides another strong proof point that our strategy, shifting toward faster-growing end markets and increasing new product development, is working. We delivered top-line sales growth of 8%, including organic growth of 6.5%. Our sales into fast-growing end markets are now above 30% of our total, and new products are expected to add 300 basis points of growth to our 2026 sales results. It is also exciting to see how the mix of our businesses has evolved. Today, Electronics and our Engineering Technologies business generate about 70% of sales and nearly 80% of total segment profits, both built around custom-engineered solutions for attractive secular markets. That mix shift is what we set out to achieve.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Our engineering technology segment has effectively repositioned itself as a vital partner for space, defense, and aviation customers. We are renaming the segment Standex Aerospace & Defense. Looking ahead, demand remains healthy. Company-wide book-to-bill was 1.05, and electronics delivered 1.14, setting us up well as we move into the fourth quarter. I would like to thank our employees, our executives, and the board of directors for their efforts and continued dedication and support that drove our solid fiscal third quarter 2026 results. Let's look at the results beginning on slide three. In the third quarter, sales increased 8.1% year-on-year to $224.6 million, including 6.5% organic growth. Electronics grew 6.8% organically.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

New product sales grew approximately 40% to approximately $18.7 million. Sales into fast growth markets were approximately $69 million, more than 30% of total sales. We are pleased with the momentum in the business reflected in an overall book-to-bill ratio of 1.05 and within electronics of 1.14. Adjusted operating margin of 19.7% was up 30 basis points year-on-year. On March 6, we completed the divestiture of Federal Industries at an enterprise value of approximately $70 million. This is in line with our portfolio simplification strategy, allowing us to focus our management and capital resources more on fast growth markets and new product launches. We used the proceeds to pay down about $62 million of debt, reducing net leverage to 1.9x.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Beginning this quarter, we will report under four operating segments: Electronics, Aerospace & Defense, Scientific, and Engraving and Hydraulics. The Hydraulics business has been combined with the Engraving business under the Engraving and Hydraulics segment. This divestiture continues a decade of deliberate portfolio shaping toward higher growth, higher margin businesses. In 2014, we operated 16 businesses. Today, we're down to five. Following the Amran-Narayan acquisition, Electronics represents more than half of Standex, helping drive the performance you see today. O=ur original fiscal year 2026 sales outlook included a full-year contribution from Federal Industries. Even after the Federal divestiture, we still expect fiscal 2026 revenue to increase by about $100 million versus 2025, supported by momentum in new products and fast growth markets, especially in Electronics and Aerospace & Defense. I'm pleased with the momentum that we are building in launching new products.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

We expect to launch more than 15 new products this fiscal year on top of 16 new products last fiscal year. We expect new product sales pro forma for the Federal divestiture to grow by $24 million-$64 million, adding nearly 300 basis points of organic growth in the year. Our sales into the fast-growing markets such as space, defense, and grid are expected to increase to approximately $270 million, constituting about 30% of our total sales. On a sequential basis, we expect slightly higher revenue driven by higher contributions from fast growth end markets and new product sales, and slightly to moderately higher adjusted operating margin due to higher volume and pricing and productivity initiatives, partially offset by growth investments.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

On a year-over-year basis, in fiscal fourth quarter, 2026, we expect slightly to moderately higher revenue driven by mid-to-high single-digit organic growth from growing backlog in fast growth markets and increased new product sales, partially offset by the revenue impact from the Federal divestiture. We expect slightly lower adjusted operating margin as organic growth and realization of productivity actions are more than offset by growth investments in capacity expansions, higher medical costs, and increased variable compensation expenses. I will now turn the call over to Ademir to discuss our financial performance in greater detail.

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

Thank you, David, and good morning, everyone. Let's turn to slide four, third quarter 2026 summary. On a consolidated basis, total revenue increased approximately 8.1% year-on-year to $224.6 million. This reflected organic growth of 6.5%, 0.2% benefit from acquisitions, and 1.4% benefit from foreign currency. Third quarter 2026 adjusted operating margin increased 30 basis points year-on-year to 19.7%. Adjusted earnings per share increased 13.5% year-on-year to $2.21. Net cash provided by operating activities was $9 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2026, compared to $9.6 million a year ago. Capital expenditures were $2.7 million, compared to $6.1 million a year ago.

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

As a result, we generated fiscal third quarter free cash flow of $6.3 million, compared to $3.5 million a year ago. Now please turn to slide five. I will begin to discuss our segment performance and outlook, beginning with Electronics and Aerospace & Defense. Electronics revenue increased 7.6% year-on-year to a record $119.7 million, driven by organic growth of 6.8% and 0.8% benefit from foreign currency. Organic growth was driven by sales into fast growth markets and increased new product sales. Adjusted operating margin of 29.3% in fiscal third quarter 2026 decreased 50 basis points year-on-year due to growth investments, partially offset by higher volume, pricing initiatives, and product mix.

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

Our book-to-bill in fiscal third quarter was 1.14, with orders of approximately $136 million. This marks the seventh consecutive quarter with a book-to-bill near or above 1. This consistent streak of book-to-bill around 1 targeted capacity expansion within grid and acceleration in new product sales adds durability to our growth. Our monthly orders for over $50 million in both March and April, further indicating robust demand and a runway to a strong fiscal 2027 performance as these orders convert into sales. Sequentially, in fiscal fourth quarter 2026, we expect slightly to moderately higher revenue, reflecting higher sales into fast growth end markets and increased new product sales. We expect slightly higher adjusted operating margin, primarily due to higher revenue, partially offset by continued growth investments. On a year-on-year basis, we expect high single-digits organic growth.

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

Aerospace & Defense revenue increased 33.7% to $36.6 million, driven by organic growth of 20.8%, 12.2% benefit from recent McStarlite acquisition, and 0.7% benefit from foreign currency. Organic growth was driven by increased project activity in the commercialization of space end market. Adjusted operating margin of 18% decreased 60 basis points year-on-year, primarily due to project mix. Sequentially, we expect slightly to moderately higher revenue due to growth in new product sales and more favorable project timing. We expect slightly to moderately higher adjusted operating margin due to higher volume and realization of productivity initiatives. On a year-on-year basis, we expect double digits organic growth. Now please turn to slide six for a discussion of the Scientific and Engraving and Hydraulics segment.

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

Scientific revenue decreased 1.7% to $18 million, primarily due to organic decline from lower demand from academic and research institutions affected by NIH cuts. Adjusted operating margin of 21.9% decreased 70 basis points year-on-year due to lower sales. Sequentially, we expect slightly higher revenue and similar adjusted operating margin due to product mix. Engraving and Hydraulics revenue increased 2.2% to $44.8 million, driven by 4% benefit from foreign currency, partially offset by organic decline of 1.8%. The organic decline was driven by general market weakness for hydraulic cylinders. Adjusted operating margin of 14.3% in fiscal third quarter 2026 increased 210 basis points year-on-year due to higher sales and realization of previously executed restructuring actions.

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

In our next fiscal quarter, on a sequential basis, we expect slightly lower revenue and similar to slightly higher adjusted operating margin from realization of restructuring actions and productivity initiatives. Please turn to slide seven for a summary of Standex's liquidity statistics and capitalization structure. Our current available liquidity is approximately $191 million. At the end of the third quarter, Standex had net debt of $369.1 million, compared to net debt of $470.4 million at the end of fiscal third quarter 2025. Our net leverage ratio currently stands at 1.9%. We paid down our debt by approximately $62 million during the fiscal third quarter 2026. In fiscal fourth quarter 2026, we expect interest expense between $6.8 million and $7 million.

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

Standex's long-term debt at the end of fiscal third quarter 2026 was $472.8 million. Cash and cash equivalents totals $103.7 million. We declared our 247th quarterly consecutive cash dividend of $0.34 per share and approximately 6.3% increase year-on-year. In fiscal 2026, we expect capital expenditures between $27 million and $30 million. I will now turn the call over to David for concluding remarks.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Thank you, Ademir. Please turn to slide eight. To summarize, I am very pleased to see the continued organic growth in the third quarter with a book-to-bill ratio of 1.05 when adjusted for the Federal divestiture. Organic growth was driven by our Electronics and Aerospace & Defense segments, which grew 6.8% and 20.8% respectively. We will continue to align our organic and inorganic growth investments around secular end markets and new products that expand our presence and deepen our customer relationships. Our acquisition strategy will continue to focus on businesses with accretive margins, exposure to fast growth markets, and delivery of custom solutions. With the divestiture of Federal Industries, we have realigned our company around four operating segments. We expect fiscal 2026 sales to increase approximately $100 million over fiscal 2025 with margin expansion.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

While we remain on course, we will provide an update to our long-term targets on the next earnings call considering the changing portfolio composition with the Federal Industries divestiture. We will now open the line for questions.

Operator

Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, if you do have any questions, please press star one on your telephone keypad. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. If you should wish to decline from the polling process, please press star followed by two. If you're using a speakerphone, you will need to lift the handset first before pressing any keys. Thank you. Just one moment, please, for our first question. First, we will hear from Chris Moore at CJS Securities. Please go ahead, Chris.

Chris Moore
Chris Moore
Analyst at CJS Securities

Hey, good morning, guys. Thanks for taking a couple.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Good morning.

Chris Moore
Chris Moore
Analyst at CJS Securities

Good morning. Maybe we can start on the on the defense opportunity. You've talked about, you know, providing missile nose cone solutions, including nose cones for interceptors, tactical missiles, as well as development hypersonics. Maybe can you just give us a sense for the scale of that opportunity? You know, what kinda orders look like? Are there long lead times? Just, you know, any thoughts there would be, you know, really helpful.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Yeah. There, we're talking about within the Engineering Technologies. We serve defense in the magnetics business, in Electronics, and in Engineering Technologies. The Engineering Technologies business provides nose cones out of their Wisconsin facility. About, you know, 15% of the Engineering Technologies or Aerospace & Defense segment is defense. Most of that is missiles. There is an opportunity to significantly increase that in the coming years. We have had discussions with customers and actually with the Under Secretary of the Department of Defense, asking if we are able to ramp, and they gave us different scenarios. These upper scenarios really kinda depend on the government procurement process, passing orders from multiyear commitments to us. We have received some orders, so we expect a nice increase in those sales in 2027, potentially greater if they can unlock the procurement process.

Chris Moore
Chris Moore
Analyst at CJS Securities

Got it. I appreciate that. Maybe just switch gears to Amran-Narayan. Just in terms of the Croatian facility, trying to understand where you are in terms of construction and then, you know, just in terms of creating the infrastructure, you know, for full market penetration there. What's a reasonable timeframe and, you know, are the competitive dynamics, you know, much different in Europe than you see in the U.S.?

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Yeah. That, there's a lot in that question. You know.

Chris Moore
Chris Moore
Analyst at CJS Securities

Yes.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

We had no presence in Croatia with that business before. There was no footprint in Europe. We now have the Croatia site. It is operating. We made our first products a few weeks ago. We have customers visiting this month and next to qualify the site. We have external auditors to achieve various certifications, including ISO certifications that we expect in June. Shipments are beginning at a kind of a slow rate. We'll begin to ramp much more quickly after those June audits are complete. We're still confident that our longer-term expectation of at least $60 million in, you know, three to five years is reasonable, based on the commitments we have from our current European customers.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

We are also now building a sales, a commercial organization in Europe, so we can understand your third question, which is what about the competitive dynamics there? There is certainly more opportunity than we see. You know, it's a larger market than North America. It's a much larger market than India. We believe that once we're on the ground with our sales team, with the site there, we will be able to answer that third question for you and figure out what we need to do to take that $60 million expectation higher.

Chris Moore
Chris Moore
Analyst at CJS Securities

Just a quick follow. It's probably we're a couple of years before you're really accelerating in Europe?

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

You know, we ship into Europe from India now. Some of those shipments will begin to come from Europe. We'll continue to ship from India. In our FY 2027, we think upper single-digit million shipment number is kind of a reasonable expectation. There is upside to that. How it ramps beyond that, I guess we'll have to report in the coming year or so. There certainly is upside because the market is there, and we have the footprint and are building the capacity to grow beyond that.

Chris Moore
Chris Moore
Analyst at CJS Securities

Fair enough. I'll leave it there. I appreciate it, guys.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Thanks, Chris.

Operator

Next question will be from Matt Koranda at Roth Capital Partners. Please go ahead, Matt.

Matt Koranda
Matt Koranda
Analyst at Roth Capital Partners

Hey, guys. Good morning. I guess I just wanted to.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Good morning.

Matt Koranda
Matt Koranda
Analyst at Roth Capital Partners

With the Electronic segment and the order flow. Looks like it's up north of 75% year-on-year. Wanted to hear a little bit about the drivers of the strength in order flow between grid and the core magnetics and sensing solutions business.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

The growth, I may have to add, Matt, about the 75%. I don't see the 75% math. We had a great book-to-bill 1.14 on growing sales. We're seeing strong order flow in our core switches business, which for us is a good indication that general industry, certainly in Asia, is picking up. You know, that in the quarter we were, the sales were up over 20% in switches. Relays are strong. Our sales in the grid were up about 20% with the book-to-bill of about 1.1 or something. It's a very strong order flow there. And again, it's kind of a tale of two cities. In the industrial world, space, defense, grid, aviation, those businesses are all growing, you know, double digits. General industry in North America and Europe is still fairly slow. As I said before, general industry in Asia looks like it has really picked up.

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

Yeah. If I can just add to that, Matt, you know, as we said in our prepared remarks, we had two2 consecutive months of orders over $50 million for Electronics, which has never happened before. You know, some of that is clearly the strength we had seen and continue to see in the grid space and some of these fast-growing end markets. Also it's, to David's point, an indication that the general industrial markets are stabilizing, and we are kind of turning the corner. Now, it takes us, you know, a little time to convert those orders into sales, but it makes us pretty bullish about what we're gonna see in FY 2027 in terms of, you know, top-line performance. Again, assuming there is no, you know, significant macroeconomic or geopolitical challenges.

Matt Koranda
Matt Koranda
Analyst at Roth Capital Partners

Yeah. That's helpful, guys. Thank you. I guess for my second question, wanted to ask a portfolio question. It seems like now that you're under two turns of leverage, you got plenty of capacity to deploy incremental dollars to M&A. Just wanted to hear the latest on the funnel and how you guys are thinking about add-ons to kind of the core segments as you as you sort of have more capacity at this point in time.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Yeah. Well, Matt, well, we like the position we're in now. You know, We are delighted with the integration of the Amran-Narayan of the grid business and how that continues to perform. With a leverage under two now, you know, we're building sizable powder. If you look at the makeup of our business now, 70% of our sales come from Engineered Components and Engineering Technologies and Electronics, and those are the businesses that serve these fast-growing markets with customized products. That's the universe where we will explore opportunities. In our funnel, we always have a number of kind of family-owned businesses that are similar to or privately owned businesses similar to acquisitions we've made, you know, over the, over the decades at Standex.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

With the grid acquisition, that has also opened up opportunities for us to look at related products to solve bigger problems and become an even more important partner to our customers. In a switchgear, in addition to the instrument transformer, there are other products that support the metering and the electrical quality measures of, you know, of the switchgear itself. On the Electronic side, there are a lot of opportunities around components and modules. I think we've mentioned in the past, every time a customer works with us with, say, for a reed switch-based sensor, a switch or a relay, they are also working with, you know, other suppliers on other components for that same product that are customized to some extent, whether it's capacitors or filters or something like this.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

That really opens the aperture for us to explore wider opportunities. For that, you know, we're in discussions with a number of third parties to help us identify targets. We have an existing funnel. We're working at expanding the funnel with these new opportunities as we, you know, fully explore opportunities to expand these engineered components businesses.

Matt Koranda
Matt Koranda
Analyst at Roth Capital Partners

Thank you, guys.

Operator

Next question will be from Ross Sparenblek at William Blair. Please go ahead, Ross. Could you unmute your line, please, Ross?

Ross Sparenblek
Ross Sparenblek
Analyst at William Blair

Sorry. Yeah. I was on mute there. Good morning, gentlemen.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Morning.

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

Hey, Ross.

Ross Sparenblek
Ross Sparenblek
Analyst at William Blair

Maybe just a level set on the top-line guide. Are we taking out the first three quarters of Federal, kind of $25 million, or are we leaving that in there and just taking the fourth quarter?

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

Oh, the Federal is out in the fourth quarter guide.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Yeah.

Ross Sparenblek
Ross Sparenblek
Analyst at William Blair

Just the fourth. Okay. You guys said grid was up 20% year-over-year, so that implies what? Like a $160 run rate? Pretty healthy growth.

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

Yes.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yeah.

Ross Sparenblek
Ross Sparenblek
Analyst at William Blair

You guys said what? book-to-bill of 1.1.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Right.

Ross Sparenblek
Ross Sparenblek
Analyst at William Blair

That means core organic growth, book-to-bill's probably at 1.15, up nearly 20%. Definitely seeing some momentum.

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

You got your math right.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Yep.

Ross Sparenblek
Ross Sparenblek
Analyst at William Blair

That's what I get paid for. Can you give any updates on India and the progress you've seen with rolling out Lean there and driving that capacity?

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Well, I tell you, we had just a few weeks ago, if Vineet's here with us today, he was in India a few weeks ago with a very large team for a global grid capacity expansion Kaizen. We have an extensive plan to look at global demand, a roll-up from customers around the world by product family. We have a site in Texas, a site in India, a site in Croatia now. We're producing in Mexico on our Mexico site, and we're looking at our global capacity expansion. Our, our we do have assumptions that within India, simply with Lean, there was another, call it, 15%+ capacity expansion, from Lean, which fuels us, in addition to Mexico and Croatia through this year.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

As you know, we have the Texas site coming on next year. Your question was about India. We have a good handle on the initial, you know, there's unexploited Lean opportunities that are 15%+ capacity.

Ross Sparenblek
Ross Sparenblek
Analyst at William Blair

Okay. Maybe if I could squeeze one more. Can you just remind us really quick of the growth investments within Electronics, just the size and the cadence?

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Um.

Ross Sparenblek
Ross Sparenblek
Analyst at William Blair

A couple million bucks a quarter.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Yeah.

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

Yes. you know, if you kind of break it down by parts, Ross, you know, most of our growth investments are coming in the grid business. Obviously, there's some investments we've put into Croatia. That probably, you know, it's about call it, you know, 30, 40 basis points if you think about from a margin standpoint of impact right now because, you know, obviously you're not shipping as products yet out of Croatia. you know, as David mentioned, and as you know, you know, we're expanding capacity in Houston and Mexico. you know, you have to, you know, hire some people and get some of that rolling before we can, you know, before those sites operational. You know, that's probably another, I would probably tell you know, 50, 60 basis points of those investments as well, you know, kind of the on a, from a run rate basis standpoint.

Ross Sparenblek
Ross Sparenblek
Analyst at William Blair

Okay. There's no Section 232 issues, though. There was some, you know, one-off stipulation regarding grid. I didn't fully dig into the details. It just seems like given the growth in Amran, those margins should have been maybe a little bit higher as stated in Electronics.

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

Yeah. Look, we think we're gonna continue to expand margins in Electronics, you know, especially, you know, as you know, as you kind of think about where we are growing is our fast growth end markets where we are most profitable. We do expect we're gonna, you know, clip that 30% in our adjusted operating margin in the near future.

Ross Sparenblek
Ross Sparenblek
Analyst at William Blair

Perfect. All right. Well, thanks a lot, guys.

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

Thanks, Ross.

Operator

Next question will be from Mike Shlisky at D.A. Davidson. Please go ahead, Mike.

Mike Shlisky
Mike Shlisky
Analyst at D.A. Davidson

Yes. Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions.

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

Morning, Mike.

Mike Shlisky
Mike Shlisky
Analyst at D.A. Davidson

Speaking of operating margins, just looking at the results, pretty clear that Engraving and Hydraulics are now kind of the lowest of the four. I guess those are kind of like two different businesses. Can you comment on your plans for those businesses if you're, you know, always trying to hone it a little bit better and a little bit higher, you know, year after year. Is there a potential that those are kind of next to go, I'd say, after Federal?

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

You know, as you know, they're strong businesses in their sectors. They're not burning platforms in that sense. It's kind of a question of timing to find the best opportunities for those businesses. Within Engraving, we have some pretty interesting growth initiatives going on. We talked about making these specialized parts, functional textures. Those are ramping up. The businesses themselves are fundamentally sound. We have some profit improvement projects in both of them. You look at our history, where we've invested in acquisitions. We love the engineered components businesses. You will likely see more of that. We have some very good businesses that, you know, Hydraulics and Engraving that could be fit somewhere else and, well, we continue to monitor the situation, and we'll make the right decision at the right time.

Mike Shlisky
Mike Shlisky
Analyst at D.A. Davidson

Okay. Okay. In Aerospace, given the organic growth you're seeing now and something's got quite a few opportunities ahead of you, do you see a need to expand capacities there, on a greenfield basis?

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

In the Aerospace & Defense segment, is that your question, Mike?

Mike Shlisky
Mike Shlisky
Analyst at D.A. Davidson

Yes.

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

Not from a greenfield standpoint, at least not in the near term. You know, we have a bit of a capacity in our sites, obviously, you know, as the business continues to grow, at some point we might have to look at, you know, additional space, no immediate plans as of right now. We feel we can service.

Mike Shlisky
Mike Shlisky
Analyst at D.A. Davidson

Great.

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

What's coming our way in the near term.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Yeah, I guess the one caveat to that is we mentioned the missile programs. If these missile orders do appear for some of these higher scenarios, then.

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

That's correct.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Expand footprint.

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

That's correct.

Mike Shlisky
Mike Shlisky
Analyst at D.A. Davidson

Okay. Got it. Got it.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

I'm sorry, we would only do that with a long-term commitment from the customer. We'd certainly communicate that in a future quarter.

Mike Shlisky
Mike Shlisky
Analyst at D.A. Davidson

Right. I'd imagine you'd have an ROI threshold to meet there, and it wouldn't be any different than you would for Amran or anything else.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Right. Right.

Mike Shlisky
Mike Shlisky
Analyst at D.A. Davidson

Um.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Exactly.

Mike Shlisky
Mike Shlisky
Analyst at D.A. Davidson

Great. I know it sounds like you're not looking to give us too much guidance yet on fiscal 2027, but can you at least comment on the new product menu for 2027? Do you have as many rolling out next year as you had this year, given what's in the pipeline? Can you at least expect a halfway decent year from that part of the growth plan?

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Yeah, if you just step back and think our general growth model, we think we've got these fast growth markets that continue to grow upper teens, 20% a year. That's like 6 points of growth from that. Our new products, we still expect that to add 300 basis points of growth. Whatever happens with general industries may be a tailwind to that. Just as a high level, you know, I would be thinking in that zone for 2027. In terms of the need here, so in terms of numbers of products in 2027.

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

Yeah. Yeah. Definitely, Mike. I think we think the momentum will continue. Actually, it might even increase because as we are adding, our funnel is increasing internally of new product ideas.

Mike Shlisky
Mike Shlisky
Analyst at D.A. Davidson

Outstanding. I'll leave it there. Thank you.

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

Okay. Thanks, Mike.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, a reminder to please press star one should you have any questions. Thank you. Next, we will hear from Gary Prestopino at Barrington. Please go ahead, Gary.

Gary Prestopino
Gary Prestopino
Analyst at Barrington

Thanks. Good morning, everyone.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Gary.

Gary Prestopino
Gary Prestopino
Analyst at Barrington

In your new segment breakdown, the other category, is that legacy Federal before the divestiture? What exactly is in there?

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Yeah, that is.

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

That's.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

That's right.

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

That's legacy. That's all it is.

Gary Prestopino
Gary Prestopino
Analyst at Barrington

Okay. That's all it is.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Yeah.

Gary Prestopino
Gary Prestopino
Analyst at Barrington

Okay. With the sale of Federal, was the corporate expense associated with Federal, does that come out of the equation? I noticed, like, your corporate expense was about $8.6 million this quarter, a step down from last quarter, which was abnormally high. As we're modeling, what kind of number should we be looking at for that corporate expense number?

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

Yeah, Gary, it's Ademir. I mean, we don't really allocate a lot of corporate costs, so there's not no corporate cost that would go away with Federal. I mean, what's really driving the reduction in the corporate cost for this quarter is, you know, it's some of it is we got slightly lower medical costs versus some of the prior quarters. There was some, you know, adjustment to the bonus payouts, that's basically it. We do assume that, you know, going forward, kind of, you know, $9 million-$10 million run rate is probably the right number.

Gary Prestopino
Gary Prestopino
Analyst at Barrington

Okay. Just in terms of your tax rate, because I noticed it was down, I think, this quarter, and obviously a lot of moving parts with the numbers with the sale of Federal, but for Q4, is it looking like it'll be about 24%?

Ademir Sarcevic
CFO and Treasurer at Standex International

Yeah, 24%-25% is kind of what I would, what I would tell you is a good estimate.

Gary Prestopino
Gary Prestopino
Analyst at Barrington

Okay. Then just last question, in terms of what's your growth in electronics. I mean, is it all across the board in grid, replacement of grid, data centers, or where are you starting to see abnormal growth?

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Did you say abnormal growth?

Gary Prestopino
Gary Prestopino
Analyst at Barrington

Right. Yeah. You know.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Yeah.

Gary Prestopino
Gary Prestopino
Analyst at Barrington

Growth in excess of what you, what you were thinking in terms of.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Yeah.

Gary Prestopino
Gary Prestopino
Analyst at Barrington

Expectation.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

Yeah. The growth driver is certainly grid, defense. There is a defense component in Electronics. Like I mentioned it earlier, our sales of bare switches, reed switches, was up 20% year-on-year. Those go everywhere. It's a sign of kind of general industry strength, primarily in Asia. Our relay sales are strong, driven by kind of test and measurement equipment, similar drivers to the grid, serving data centers and the equipment that go into data centers. Now, another way to look at it, we have three businesses in there. As you know, we've got what we used to call magnetics, our Edge business, which is really a North American business.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

That was down in the quarter year-on-year, largely due to some execution issues. Their book-to-bill was very strong. The Detect, the SST business, which is where the switches and sensors are, you know, was up upper single digits. That includes the switch business I talked about before. Grid, of course, which we talked about. Kind of that triangulates into your growth question from a couple different angles.

Gary Prestopino
Gary Prestopino
Analyst at Barrington

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

At this time, Mr. Dunbar, we have no other questions registered. Please proceed, sir.

David Dunbar
David Dunbar
Chairman, President, and CEO at Standex International

All right. Thank you. Appreciate everybody connecting today on this call. We always enjoy reporting on our progress at Standex. Thank you also to our employees and shareholders for your continued support and contributions. I look forward to speaking with you again in our fiscal fourth quarter call.

Operator

Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, this does indeed conclude your conference call for today. Once again, thank you for attending. At this time, we ask that you please disconnect your lines. Have a good weekend.

Executives
    • Christopher Howe
      Christopher Howe
      Director of Investor Relations
    • David Dunbar
      David Dunbar
      Chairman, President, and CEO
Analysts
Powered by Quartr