Nortech Systems Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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August 12, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Revenue and margins improved: Second-quarter sales rose 9.3% year over year to $33.5 million, while gross margin expanded to 17% from 15.8%, supported by higher production and better manufacturing-cost absorption.
  • Positive Sentiment: Backlog reached record levels: The 90-day shipment backlog increased 25.8% year over year to $33.4 million, and total backlog rose 19.8% to $93.8 million, led by aerospace and defense and medical imaging orders.
  • Positive Sentiment: Nortech returned to profitability on a year-to-date basis, reporting $670,000 in operating income and $282,000 in net income for the first six months, compared with an operating loss and net loss in the prior-year period. Management also said its facilities have capacity to support growth without significant near-term capital expenditures.
  • Negative Sentiment: Cash flow and working capital remain concerns: Operating activities used $2.4 million in the first half, with substantial cash tied up in receivables, contract assets, and inventory; cash was $1.7 million against $7.6 million of revolver borrowings and $3.6 million of remaining availability.
  • Negative Sentiment: Higher incentive and stock-based compensation increased operating expenses and pressured second-quarter operating income despite stronger gross profit. Industrial and aerospace and defense sales also declined during the quarter, while tariff recovery timing and amounts remain uncertain and no recoveries have yet been recognized.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Nortech Systems Q2 2026
00:00 / 00:00

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Operator

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Nortech Systems Incorporated second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. With me on the line today are Jay Miller, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Andrew LaFrence, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Finance. All lines have been placed on a listen-only mode, and the call will be open for questions and comments following the management presentation. At this time, it is my pleasure to turn the call over to Andy LaFrence.

Andrew LaFrence
Andrew LaFrence
CFO and SVP of Finance at Nortech Systems

Thank you, Jenny, and welcome everyone. Jay will begin today's call with a review of our operations, recent developments, and business outlook. I will then review Nortech's second-quarter financial results before turning the call back to Jay for closing comments. After that, we will open up the line for questions. Before we continue, please note statements made during this call may be forward-looking statements regarding expected net sales, operating results, future plans, opportunities, and other company expectations. These estimates, plans, and other forward-looking statements involve unknown and known risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in this call. These risks, including those detailed in our most recent SEC filings, may be amended or supplemented.

Andrew LaFrence
Andrew LaFrence
CFO and SVP of Finance at Nortech Systems

The statements made during this conference call are based upon information known by Nortech as of the date and time of this call, and we assume no obligation to update the information in today's call. You can find Nortech's complete safe harbor statements in our SEC filings. With that, I will turn it over to Jay for his opening comments. Jay?

Jay Miller
Jay Miller
President and CEO at Nortech Systems

Thank you, Andy, and good afternoon, everyone. We appreciate you joining us. The second quarter reflected continued execution across the business, with net sales increasing 9.3% year-over-year to $33.5 million, gross margin improving to 17%, and operating income of $623,000. Our results benefited from higher revenue levels, improved manufacturing cost absorption from increased production activity, and continued progress following the restructuring initiatives in late 2024 and early 2025. These improvements were partially offset by higher incentive compensation expense in 2026. Backlog remains one of the clearest and best forward-looking indicators that our strategy is gaining traction. As of June 30, 2026, our 90-day shipment backlog was $33.4 million, up 6.3% from the beginning of the quarter and up 25.8% from June 30 of 2025.

Jay Miller
Jay Miller
President and CEO at Nortech Systems

Our total order backlog as of June 30, 2026, was $93.8 million, up 3.4% from the beginning of the quarter and up 19.8% compared with the same period last year. Year-over-year growth in total backlog was primarily driven by an increase in Aerospace and Defense and Medical Imaging orders. This progress reflects stronger customer engagement, successful program transfers, and the value of our manufacturing footprint across the U.S., Mexico, and China. We continue to see strong quoting activity as customers evaluate nearshore manufacturing strategies for North America and Asia. We believe our North American footprint positions us well with our Monterrey, Mexico, Maquiladora operations and Minnesota facilities operating within the framework of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. While the tariff environment remains somewhat uncertain, we are actively monitoring developments, and the picture is getting clearer.

Jay Miller
Jay Miller
President and CEO at Nortech Systems

We are pursuing reimbursement and recovery of previously paid IEEPA-related tariffs, and while we are confident we are making important progress, the timing and amount of any recoveries remain uncertain, and no amounts have been recognized as of June 30, 2026. We remain proactive in monitoring trade policy, geopolitical uncertainty, and supply chain risk. In June 2026, we strengthened our supply chain leadership with the addition of a new vice president of supply chain. This leadership addition comes at an important time as selected component constraints, longer lead times, allocation pressures, and price volatility continue to affect many OEMs and EMS providers. We are working closely with customers and suppliers to plan ahead, secure critical materials, and protect production continuity. Next, I'll turn it over to Andy for a more in-depth look at our financial results. Andy?

Andrew LaFrence
Andrew LaFrence
CFO and SVP of Finance at Nortech Systems

Thank you, Jay. I will provide a brief overview of Nortech's financial performance for the second quarter ended June 30, 2026. Additional details are available in our Form 8-K earnings release and Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this afternoon. As we have discussed previously, quarterly results can be influenced by the timing of customer shipments, production schedules, and working capital movements. While those factors persist, our execution and longer-term strategies are gaining traction as we move through 2026, consistent with Jay's comments earlier in the call. Net sales for the second quarter of 2026 were $33.5 million, an increase of $2.9 million or 9.3% compared with $30.7 million in the second quarter of 2025.

Andrew LaFrence
Andrew LaFrence
CFO and SVP of Finance at Nortech Systems

Growth was led by the Medical Device market, where sales increased 36% year-over-year, primarily due to higher customer demand from existing customers and continued ramp-up in new programs. Medical Imaging sales increased 12.2%, driven by higher customer demand, supported in part by increased revenues from a stocking program with a key customer that provides product availability to enable shorter lead times. Industrial sales decreased 4.7%, reflecting customer inventory adjustments and temporary production disruptions associated with the transfer of manufacturing activities to Monterrey, Mexico, partially offset by growth in China. Aerospace and Defense sales decreased 12.8% in the quarter, primarily due to reduced demand from one customer who is reducing post-COVID inventory levels. However, year-to-date, Aerospace and Defense sales increased 8.7% compared with the prior-year period, benefiting from higher production volumes associated with completed transfers to our Bemidji location.

Andrew LaFrence
Andrew LaFrence
CFO and SVP of Finance at Nortech Systems

Gross profit totaled $5.7 million, compared with $4.8 million in the prior-year period, and gross margin improved to 17%, up 120 basis points compared with 15.8% last year. The improvement was primarily attributable to higher revenue levels and improved manufacturing cost absorption resulting from increased production activity, partially offset by unfavorable sales mix. Total operating expenses were $5.1 million in the second quarter of 2026, compared with $4.1 million in the prior year period. The increase in operating expenses was primarily attributable to higher incentive compensation accruals in 2026. For the three and six months ended June 30, 2026, incentive compensation expenses were $402,000 and $647,000, respectively, compared with a reversal of expense of $131,000 during the second quarter of 2025, resulting in no management incentive compensation recorded in the first half of 2025.

Andrew LaFrence
Andrew LaFrence
CFO and SVP of Finance at Nortech Systems

In summary, incentive compensation expense in the second quarter and year-to-date periods in 2026 were $533,000 and $647,000 higher than in the respective 2025 periods. As a result, we reported second-quarter operating income of $623,000, compared with operating income of $742,000 in the prior-year period. For the first six months of 2026, operating income was $670,000, compared with an operating loss of $871,000 in the same prior-year period, reflecting higher gross profit associated with increased revenue and improved operating leverage, offset by higher management incentive compensation, together with the absence of a $266,000 restructuring charge recorded in the first quarter of 2025. Net interest expense was $197,000, compared with $257,000 last year during the quarter, driven by lower average borrowings and reduced interest costs following the transition to our new financing arrangements.

Andrew LaFrence
Andrew LaFrence
CFO and SVP of Finance at Nortech Systems

We reported second-quarter net income of $316,000, or $0.11 per diluted share, compared with net income of $313,000 or $0.12 per diluted share in the second quarter of 2025. For the first six months of 2026, net income was $282,000, or $0.09 per share, compared with a net loss of $1 million or $0.36 per share in the same prior period. Cash used in operating activities was $2.4 million in the first six months of 2026, compared with $2.8 million in the prior year period. Cash used by accounts receivable and contract assets was $4.5 million, largely due to the timing of customer shipments and related cash collections, and an increase in our contract assets to support future customer shipments. Cash used by inventory was $3.5 million, reflecting purchases of materials needed to support the growing backlog.

Andrew LaFrence
Andrew LaFrence
CFO and SVP of Finance at Nortech Systems

These uses of cash were partially offset by $2.1 million of cash provided by changes in accounts payable, primarily related to the timing of cash payments. At quarter-end, cash and restricted cash totaled $1.7 million. Under our Associated Bank facility, the revolving credit facility balance was $7.6 million, and we had $3.6 million of unused availability as of June 30, 2026. For the remainder of the year, with support of our recently hired vice president of supply chain, we are very focused on reducing investments in inventory and generating cash from reductions in working capital. While year-over-year revenue growth, improved gross margins, positive year-to-date operating income, and a more flexible capital structure, we believe that Nortech is well-positioned to continue building momentum throughout the year. With that, I will turn it back to Jay for his closing remarks. Jay?

Jay Miller
Jay Miller
President and CEO at Nortech Systems

Thanks, Andy. Before we open the call to your questions, I want to highlight once again three related areas that together serve our customers and help advance Nortech's corporate stewardship. Nortech's engineering expertise, product innovation focus, and sustainability plans. As for our engineering expertise, we have a dedicated engineering services team focused on optimizing manufacturability, serviceability, supply chain risk mitigation, and cost efficiency for our customers. Our three-tier cost structure across the U.S., Mexico, and China allows us to quickly adapt our global engineering resources to fit our customers' changing needs. A core element of our long-term strategy is innovation. Nortech's engineering capabilities and research and development activities are focused on helping customers solve complex connectivity challenges with technologies that are ruggedized, lighter, faster, more sustainable, and more affordable. We see important customer priorities shaping demand.

Jay Miller
Jay Miller
President and CEO at Nortech Systems

First, these customers need ruggedized solutions that perform reliably in harsh environments, particularly in Aerospace and Defense applications. Nortech's fiber optic technologies have been tested to withstand twisting, bending, and torquing while maintaining data integrity and high-speed data transfer. While we continue to support legacy defense programs, we are also seeing growing interest in next-generation applications that utilize ruggedized fiber optics, MT and 38999 connectors, and wearable technology. Second, customers need better ways to capture, transmit, and use system performance data. Nortech's Digital Diagnostic Xtreme and Sky IoT technology platforms integrate digital diagnostics with fiber-optic cables to generate real-time cable and system performance data, helping customers improve visibility and transition from preventative to predictive maintenance strategies. Third, customers are seeking lighter, more sustainable technologies that reduce complexity while improving system performance. This is where we see significant opportunity for Nortech's Power over Fiber technology.

Jay Miller
Jay Miller
President and CEO at Nortech Systems

By transmitting both power and data through optical fiber, Power over Fiber can reduce overall cable weight, eliminate the need for certain local power sources, and provide immunity to electromagnetic interference in demanding applications. These advantages are particularly valuable in Medical Devices, Imaging systems, Aerospace, Defense, and satellite applications, where reliability, weight reduction, and EMI immunity are critical. As copper costs continue to rise and system architecture becomes more demanding, we believe Power over Fiber is well-positioned to support the next generation of connected technologies. More and more often today, that data is being evaluated and analyzed using human intelligence as well as combined artificial and human intelligence for improved performance and data management for our customers and for their customers. For Nortech, we see AI capabilities as a clear opportunity to streamline and improve our processes, make our employees more productive, and serve our customers better.

Jay Miller
Jay Miller
President and CEO at Nortech Systems

To put a finer point on it, we are allocating resources and dedicating time to continue to build the AI skills of our employees in all functions to make better products, of course, but also to make us all more productive. With our intellectual property on fiber optic and digital technologies, Nortech is well-positioned for projected future demand for fiber products. When compared with traditional copper, fiber optics offer dramatic environmental benefits during both production and operations, including improved energy efficiency and less material usage, while significantly decreasing the carbon footprint of the complex cables we manufacture. We're also taking a forward-looking stance on materials, shifting focus from copper to fiber optics to mitigate cost pressures and align with our long-term strategy to produce ruggedized, lighter, faster, more sustainable, and more affordable technology.

Jay Miller
Jay Miller
President and CEO at Nortech Systems

In closing, we are excited about technological developments across all of our markets and expect them to support our continued sales momentum in 2026 and beyond, aided by stabilization in the supply chain and customer orders. As we wrap up our prepared remarks, let me summarize the key takeaways from today's call. First, we are realizing operational and financial benefits from the restructuring activities completed in 2024 and early 2025. Second, we remain optimistic about our positioning in the nearshoring landscape and continue to see strong customer interest in our North American and Asian manufacturing footprint. Third, Nortech's backlog remains strong, with both 90-day shipment backlog and total order backlog up significantly year-over-year. Finally, we continue to invest in people, technology, innovation, supply chain capabilities, and regulatory expertise to better serve our customers and position Nortech for future growth.

Jay Miller
Jay Miller
President and CEO at Nortech Systems

We believe the direction of the business is positive and has never been better. Our backlog is stronger, commercial activity remains healthy, operating execution is improving, and our team is focused on converting these opportunities into sustainable growth and long-term value for our customers, employees, and shareholders. Now we will open the call for your questions. Jenny, please open the lines.

Operator

Thank you very much. We are now opening the floor for questions. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your phone keypad now. A confirmation tone will indicate that your line is in the queue. You may press star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For any participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before you press the keys. Please wait a moment whilst we poll for questions. Thank you. From Even Discovery BFT. Sergi, your line is live.

Analyst at Even Discovery BFT

Hi, guys. Thanks for taking our questions. I think I have heard that most of the OpEx growth was one-off during the quarter. Is that correct?

Andrew LaFrence
Andrew LaFrence
CFO and SVP of Finance at Nortech Systems

I'm sorry, we didn't quite hear that.

Analyst at Even Discovery BFT

Yeah.

Andrew LaFrence
Andrew LaFrence
CFO and SVP of Finance at Nortech Systems

Most of the OpEx growth for the quarter, it was really revolving around incentive compensation. There was two pieces there related to we had incentive compensation, and then we also had increased stock-based compensation. The combination of those two really drove the majority of the increase in terms of operating expenses during the quarter, year-over-year.

Analyst at Even Discovery BFT

All right. I'm wondering if you are seeing any opportunity related to the data center build-outs. It sounds like your products should be very useful within the data center. Is that correct?

Jay Miller
Jay Miller
President and CEO at Nortech Systems

We're pursuing a number of opportunities. I wouldn't say we've closed a lot of business there, but we're pursuing a number of opportunities in that space, where they are looking for custom, complex cable capabilities, especially fiber optics, in pretty demanding environments. It fits us extremely well, and we feel like we're quite well-positioned there. We're looking at a number of things. I wouldn't say we've gained a lot of traction there yet, but we're certainly taking a hard look, and we've had a number of conversations.

Analyst at Even Discovery BFT

All right. That's helpful. Next question is if you can provide some color on the level of capacity utilization at the company.

Andrew LaFrence
Andrew LaFrence
CFO and SVP of Finance at Nortech Systems

Yeah, we generally, Sergi, do not provide forward-looking or current capacity. What we have said in the past is that we do have the ability, with our footprint, to significantly expand without any additional CapEx, significant CapEx or facilities at this point in time. If you look at our facilities, we've got four in Minnesota, one in Monterrey, and one in Suzhou, China. All those have the ability to continue to grow for several years without needing additional space. We can also continue to focus on adding shifts to many of those facilities to increase our capacity. Right now we have plenty of capacity. I would say we have plenty of capacity to continue to grow.

Analyst at Even Discovery BFT

All right. That's also very helpful. Our last question is if you believe that the gross margin has level for expansion as the company grows.

Andrew LaFrence
Andrew LaFrence
CFO and SVP of Finance at Nortech Systems

Yeah, if you look at the gross margin, if you look at the gross margin for the first six months of the year, that's actually a record for the company. We do believe, one of the comments we made, not only in our comments but in the 10-Q, was that there was some unfavorable mix. If you look at some of our mix attributes out there, we think there are opportunities to continue to expand, and we do think there's a lot of leverage at the plants. We continue to look for opportunities with our current clientele and new clients that are coming in to expand that margin profile through more leverage of our current fixed cost structure. Yes, we do believe that we have the ability to continue to expand margins.

Analyst at Even Discovery BFT

All right. Maybe one more related to data center, because I'm wondering if your go-to-market strategy is you are looking for any partners, or you are going alone. Can you maybe explain a bit more about that?

Jay Miller
Jay Miller
President and CEO at Nortech Systems

Yeah. Our business development, I will say this, our business development team, which is very, very good and getting better and better every day and doing a great job in the market of winning more and more business. Right now, they're doing an amazing job. In this space, they're looking for a number of different angles to try to get into that space, whether it's directly with the people building the data centers or whether it's partnering. But that's as much detail as we can go into at this point. Thank you for the questions.

Analyst at Even Discovery BFT

All right. Thank you. Have a great day.

Operator

Thank you very much. Just a reminder, if there's any remaining questions, you can still join the queue now by pressing star one on your phone keypad. Okay, we appear to have no further questions in the queue, so I will now hand the call back over to Jay Miller for any closing comments.

Jay Miller
Jay Miller
President and CEO at Nortech Systems

Thank you again, Jenny, and thanks to everyone for joining us today. We are encouraged by the progress we are making and confident in the opportunities ahead. We look forward to speaking with you when we report our third quarter 2026 results. Again, thank you and goodbye.

Operator

Thank you very much. This does conclude today's conference call. You may disconnect your phone lines at this time and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation.

Executives
    • Andrew LaFrence
      Andrew LaFrence
      CFO and SVP of Finance
    • Jay Miller
      Jay Miller
      President and CEO
Analysts
    • Analyst at Even Discovery BFT
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