Karat Packaging Q2 2026 Earnings Report

Karat Packaging EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $1.48
• Consensus EPS: $0.47
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$1.01
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Karat Packaging Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $136.30 million
• Expected Revenue: $135.46 million
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$840.00 thousand
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Karat Packaging Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q2 2026
• Date: 8/6/2026
• Time: After Market Closes
• Conference Call Date: Thursday, August 6, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 5:00PM ET

Karat Packaging (NASDAQ:KRT) Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: KRT) is a U.S.-based provider of premium packaging solutions for consumer goods and industrial products. The company specializes in the design, manufacture and delivery of high-quality litho-laminated folding cartons, tubes and flexible packaging. Karat Packaging operates an integrated production model that combines prepress, printing, converting and finishing capabilities to support the branding and shelf-appeal needs of its customers.

The company serves a diverse range of end markets, including food and beverage, confectionery, health and beauty, pharmaceuticals, specialty chemicals and promotional packaging. Karat Packaging delivers both standard and custom packaging formats, offering features such as spot or full-coverage high-definition printing, embossing, soft-touch coatings and barrier linings. By managing the full production cycle in-house, the company aims to achieve tighter quality control, faster turnaround times and greater cost efficiencies.

With multiple manufacturing facilities strategically located across the United States, Karat Packaging supports a national customer base that includes major consumer packaged goods companies, regional brands and growing direct-to-consumer enterprises. The company’s focus on technical expertise and collaborative design ensures that packaging solutions meet evolving regulatory requirements and sustainability objectives, while maintaining visual impact on retail shelves and e-commerce platforms.

Karat Packaging Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Record sales and strong online growth: Second-quarter net sales rose 9.9% year over year to $136.3 million, while online sales increased 23.6%; management said July online sales growth accelerated to more than 37% and reiterated its $100 million full-year online revenue target.
• Positive Sentiment: Underlying profitability remained solid despite higher costs. Excluding the $25.8 million IEEPA tariff refund, gross margin was 37.7%, supported by sourcing diversification, potential lower ocean freight, and favorable currency movements.
• Positive Sentiment: Growth investments and customer wins are expanding the platform: Karat added four chain accounts and is finalizing a 47,000-square-foot Orlando distribution center expected to open in the third quarter, improving Southeast fulfillment and e-commerce delivery times.
• Neutral Sentiment: Management expects continued top-line growth but sharply lower margins after the tariff benefit fades. Third-quarter revenue is projected to grow at a low-double-digit rate, with gross margin of 35%–37% and adjusted EBITDA margin of 9%–11%; full-year guidance calls for gross margin in the low 40% range and adjusted EBITDA margin around the mid-teens.
• Negative Sentiment: Operating expenses remain a pressure point. Shipping and transportation, salaries and benefits, online platform costs, and marketing expenses all increased, prompting initiatives to use Karat’s internal fleet and improve labor efficiency.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good day, welcome to the Karat Packaging second quarter 2026 financial results conference call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on a touch-tone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Roger Pondel. Please go ahead.

[Roger Pondel, Investor Relations Representative at PondelWilkinson]

Good afternoon, everyone, welcome to Karat Packaging's 2026 second quarter conference call. I'm Roger Pondel with PondelWilkinson, Karat Packaging's investor relations firm. It will be my pleasure momentarily to introduce the company's Chief Executive Officer, Alan Yu, and his Chief Financial Officer, Jian Guo. Before I turn the call over to Alan, I want to remind our listeners that today's call may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to numerous conditions, many of which are beyond the company's control, including those set forth in the Risk Factors section of the company's most recent Form 10-K, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and copies of which are available on the sec.gov website at www.sec.gov, along with other company filings made with the SEC from time to time.

[Roger Pondel, Investor Relations Representative at PondelWilkinson]

Actual results could differ materially from these forward-looking statements, Karat Packaging undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required by law. Please also note that during this call, we will be discussing adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, adjusted diluted earnings per share, and free cash flow, which are non-GAAP financial measures as defined by SEC Regulation G. A reconciliation of the most directly comparable GAAP measures to the non-GAAP financial measures is included in today's press release, which is now posted on the company's website. With that, I will turn the call over to CEO Alan Yu. Alan?

[Alan Yu, CEO at Karat Packaging]

Thank you, Roger. Good afternoon, everyone. We delivered record quarterly net sales of more than $136 million, reflecting the strength of our customers' demand and accelerated momentum in our online business growth. During the quarter, our sales pipeline expanded, adding four new chain accounts, which further broadened our market reach and created additional opportunities for future revenue growth. We continue to experience encouraging momentum across our business, highlighted by the strong performance of our online channel, where net sales increased 23.6% year-over-year. Our eco-friendly product portfolio also continued to gain traction, benefiting from the continued expansion of SKUs and growth in the paper-based categories. As a result, eco-friendly products represented 33.8% of total sales during the quarter, compared with 31.8% in the prior year period.

[Alan Yu, CEO at Karat Packaging]

Our results also benefited from IEEPA tariff refunds, which refers higher tariff costs absorbed in the prior periods and further contributed to the strong reported profitabilities. While we were pleased to capture this benefit in the quarter, our focus remains on the fundamental drivers of the business and sustaining strong long-term financial performances. To support our long-term growth strategy, we are currently finalizing a lease for a 47,000 square foot warehouse for a new distribution center in Orlando, Florida, which we expect to be operational by the third quarter of this year. The new facility is expected to enhance Karat's ability to better service customers throughout the Southeast, improve fulfillment capability for our growing e-commerce business, reduce delivery time, and provide additional infrastructure to support future growth. At the same time, we remain focused on driving operational excellence.

[Alan Yu, CEO at Karat Packaging]

We are continuing to execute initiatives designed to enhance efficiency across the organizations while carefully managing costs, aiming to support sustainable profitabilities and position the company for continued success. During this quarter, we achieved gross margin of 56.6%, including the benefit from the IEEPA tariff refund of 1,890 basis points. Despite higher product costs and ocean freight rates, the performance underscores the strength of our sourcing capabilities. Our sourcing diversification initiatives continues to deliver tangible benefits, strengthening Karat's competitive advantage through reliable product availability and cost competitiveness. In the second quarter, domestic purchase increased to nearly 20% of total sourcing, while importing from Taiwan represented 46%, China represented 11%, and sourcing from Indonesia, Singapore, and South America represented an aggregate of 12%.

[Alan Yu, CEO at Karat Packaging]

Overall, we are pleased with the progress we are making with the expanding sales pipeline, new customer wins, strong e-commerce growth, and a continued focus on the operational discipline. We believe Karat is well-positioned to advance profitability and long-term growth. I will now turn the call over to Jian Guo, our Chief Financial Officer, to discuss the company financial results in greater detail. Jian?

[Jian Guo, CFO at Karat Packaging]

Thank you, Alan. I'll begin with a summary of our second quarter performance, followed by an update on our guidance. Net sales for the 2026 second quarter increased to $136.3 million, up 9.9% from $124.0 million in the prior year quarter. The increase primarily reflected $13.1 million in volume growth and product mix, and a $0.4 million favorable impact from pricing, partially offset by a decrease of $1.1 million in shipping and logistics revenue. Sales to channel accounts and distributors, our biggest sales channel, were up by 9.0% in the 2026 second quarter. Online sales, as Alan discussed earlier, rose 23.6% over the prior year quarter, and sales to the retail channel declined 23.4% from the 2025 second quarter, primarily from the decrease in shipping and logistics revenue.

[Jian Guo, CFO at Karat Packaging]

Cost of goods sold for the 2026 second quarter, including the benefit of $25.8 million from IEEPA tariff refunds, decreased 21.0% to $59.1 million from $74.9 million in the prior year quarter. This benefit was partially offset by higher product costs of $6.9 million and increased import costs of $3.5 million, including an 8.9% increase in average container rates and a 4.3% increase in the number of containers imported versus the prior year quarter. Gross profit for the 2026 second quarter increased to $77.2 million from $49.1 million in the prior year quarter. Gross margin increased to 56.6% in the second quarter of 2026 from 39.6% a year ago, reflecting a 1,890 basis point contribution from IEEPA tariff refunds.

[Jian Guo, CFO at Karat Packaging]

Product costs represented 49.2% of net sales, up from 48.5% in the prior year quarter, while import costs increased to 11.1% of net sales from 9.5%, primarily to freight and import related expenses. Operating expenses in the 2026 second quarter increased to $39.6 million from $32.6 million last year. The increase was primarily driven by higher shipping and transportation costs of $3.1 million, along with increases in online platform of $0.6 million and marketing expenses of $0.5 million. We also incurred higher costs of $1.1 million in salaries and benefits, while bad debt expense and warehouse expenses increased by $0.6 million and $0.4 million, respectively. Additionally, the second quarter included a $0.1 million loss on the disposal of machinery, compared with a $0.3 million gain recognized in the prior year quarter from routine asset disposals.

[Jian Guo, CFO at Karat Packaging]

Operating income in the 2026 second quarter increased 127.2% to $37.6 million from $16.6 million in the prior year quarter. Other income net for the 2026 second quarter was $1.4 million, compared to other expenses net of $2.0 million in the prior year quarter. The year-over-year improvement was primarily driven by significantly lower foreign currency transaction losses, which were $0.1 million in the current quarter, compared with $2.9 million in the same period last year. In addition, interest income increased by $0.5 million, reflecting $0.9 million of interest income associated with IEEPA tariff refund, partially offset by a $0.4 million decline in interest income earned on investments in certificates of deposit. Net income for the 2026 second quarter increased 168.3% to $29.6 million from $11.1 million for the prior year quarter.

[Jian Guo, CFO at Karat Packaging]

Net income margin was 21.8% in the 2026 second quarter, reflecting the benefit from IEEPA tariff refunds of 1,480 basis points versus 8.9% last year. Net income attributable to Karat for the 2026 second quarter was $29.3 million or $1.46 per diluted share, reflecting the benefit from IEEPA tariff refunds of $1 per diluted share, compared with $10.9 million, or $0.54 per diluted share in the prior year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA for the 2026 second quarter rose to $41.6 million, reflecting the benefit from IEEPA tariff refunds of $25.8 million from $17.7 million for the prior year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 30.5%, reflecting the benefit from IEEPA tariff refunds of 1,890 basis points compared with 14.3% for the 2025 second quarter.

[Jian Guo, CFO at Karat Packaging]

Adjusted diluted earnings per common share increased to $1.48 for the 2026 second quarter, reflecting the benefit from IEEPA tariff refunds of $1 per diluted share from $0.57 per share in the comparable prior year period. As of June 30th, 2026, we had working capital of $110.8 million and $42 million in financial liquidity, with another $15.7 million in short-term investments. During the second quarter, we generated operating cash flow of $33.2 million and free cash flow of $31.8 million, both of which reflected the benefit from IEEPA tariff refunds received of $25.2 million during the second quarter of 2026. We paid out a regular quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share to shareholders on May 28th, 2026. During the second quarter, we repurchased 73,510 shares of our common stock for a total of $2 million under our share repurchase program.

[Jian Guo, CFO at Karat Packaging]

As of June 30th, approximately $10 million remained available under the program. On August 4th, 2026, our board of directors approved an increase of regular quarterly dividend to $0.47 per share, payable on August 28th, 2026, to stockholders of record as of August 21st, 2026. Let me provide an update to our guidance. For the 2026 third quarter, we expect net sales to grow in the low double-digit range from the prior year quarter. We expect gross margin for the 2026 third quarter to be within 35%-37% and adjusted EBITDA margin to be within 9%-11%, both including insignificant IEEPA tariff refunds anticipated during the quarter. For full year 2026, we expect net sales to grow in the low double-digit range over the prior year.

[Jian Guo, CFO at Karat Packaging]

With more clarity around the IEEPA tariff refunds process, we now expect gross margin for the full year 2026 to be in the low 40% and adjusted EBITDA margin to be approximately mid-teens, both including IEEPA tariff refunds recorded during the first half of 2026. As Alan mentioned earlier, we are experiencing what we believe is accelerated growth in our sales pipeline, reflecting Karat's strong market position and ongoing initiatives to gain market share. Looking ahead, we expect to continue driving top-line growth, sustaining healthy gross margins through our diverse go-to-market strategy and reduced tariffs. We're also confident that the actions we're taking to manage operating costs will further improve operating leverage and drive sustainable profitability. Alan and I now will be happy to answer your questions. I'll turn the call back to the operator.

[Operator]

We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your touch tone phone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star then two. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. The first question today comes from Michael Francis with William Blair. Please go ahead.

[Michael Francis, Analyst at William Blair]

Hi, Alan, Jian. Good quarter. This is Mike on for Ryan here. I want to start on the SG&A. That seemed to be the big surprise for us in the quarter to the downside. You mentioned you have some actions that you're taking to improve that. Can you talk a bit more about, A, what surprised you there, and then, B, what you're doing to offset some of the higher costs?

[Jian Guo, CFO at Karat Packaging]

Yeah, sure. Let me start, then Alan, please feel free to add some additional colors there. In terms of the SG&A, I know you mentioned some surprises. I think really the way that we think about it is just consistent with the trend that we are observing just with the microenvironment, right? Just the biggest item that we are focusing on for the third quarter as far as the cost management is really the shipping cost. Shipping cost, a lot of the orders that we ship out to the customers, we utilize the third-party carriers. We partner with our third-party carriers. That's an area that we're focusing on in the third quarter to try to manage the cost. Just to give you a high-level idea. The second quarter, in terms of the offline shipping cost, in total, we incurred about $6.1 million.

[Jian Guo, CFO at Karat Packaging]

On a year-over-year basis, I'm sorry, sequential, that's a $1.4 million increase right there. That's one area that in the third quarter, really, we're focusing on utilizing our internal fleet to try to minimize, to get more efficiency out of the offline shipping cost to the customers by, as I mentioned, utilizing the internal fleet. We're delivering local orders to our local customers, with our own employees, and we're also performing the inter-warehouse inventory transfers with some of our internal fleet as well. That's the biggest area. Another area is we're continuing to try to get savings on the online order as well, online order delivery cost. The shipping cost is one area that we talked about previously on the call is, we have a service agreement with one of the carriers.

[Jian Guo, CFO at Karat Packaging]

That's one area that we're continuing to focus on in terms of realizing cost savings. That's the biggest kind of in terms of the offline and online shipping costs, really. I think it's probably fairly consistent with some of the other companies just as we approach, as we're thinking about the overall higher oil, the gas price there. One other area that we're focusing on in the third quarter is our salary and benefit expenses. That's really to utilize our labor force more efficiently. Those are the two biggest areas I would call out.

[Michael Francis, Analyst at William Blair]

Okay.

[Alan Yu, CEO at Karat Packaging]

I want to add a little bit color to that, what Jian just mentioned. Giving an example, second quarter was the highest fuel cost that we ever seen in the past year due to the crisis in the Middle East. In the third quarter, we are actually seeing the cost coming down in the third quarter already. Like for instance, we were paying $5.40 per gallon diesel gas. In the third quarter, we're looking at around four something. 25% discount on the diesel gas alone. On the carrier fuel surcharge also, we're seeing a declining rate from second quarter to third quarters. This is where we're seeing now more of decline in not only on the ocean freight declines and also as well as the shipping, all because of oil prices.

[Alan Yu, CEO at Karat Packaging]

Everyone knows that the second quarter oil price was the highest ever, it started to drop in July. We'll see if it's continue to drop or even at this point, it is still lower than the second quarter.

[Michael Francis, Analyst at William Blair]

Okay. Yeah, that's not surprising. I figured that was the case. Then, to the positive, your online sales are continuing to trend quite well. What drove the strength there? Then across the categories, should we expect the similar growth trajectory in the second half that we saw in the first?

[Alan Yu, CEO at Karat Packaging]

Well, let me add to this online growth. During our last quarter earning call, I mentioned that our target for this year's online revenue, it's $100 million. As we see July's number, we were looking at the second quarter, we're looking at 24%, 25%, I think the online growth year-over-year. Just in July, we're seeing Amazon growth around 49% year-over-year growth, just in Amazon. Our overall online sales growth in July, in the month of July, we just finished the number. We're at 37%+, just the online sales growth. Right now, I can confidently say that $100 million is on track for this year's revenue goal, just for online. Definitely, it may be higher, but I'm not sure how much higher. We're still pushing even more online sales right now. That's where we are.

[Michael Francis, Analyst at William Blair]

Okay. That's good to hear. One last one from me. Florida DC coming online, you continue to sort of add capacity there. Do you still think you have any sort of gaps in your current coverage where you could add more DCs and sellers, and if so, where?

[Alan Yu, CEO at Karat Packaging]

Well, Orlando, Florida, basically we're finalizing the agreement, that's going to help because that is our fourth largest online customer base. We have been shipping from South Carolina and Houston into Orlando. Once we have the Orlando DC ready, our customer can receive their product next day, if not the following day, instead of waiting three to five days. That will definitely improve our sales number online in just the Southeast area, which is our fourth largest. Now, the other area that we're seeing that we might need some support, definitely it would be in the Colorado area, which can support the Utah area. We're still looking at that because anything shipping to Colorado is actually more into Texas. That's what we see. Currently we're shipping to Colorado from Texas into Colorado, which is two to three days for online.

[Alan Yu, CEO at Karat Packaging]

Of course, we have been looking to the North America area, the Vancouver, Toronto. These are the area we have been trying to figure how we can get the logistic part of it issues resolved, because we do see a very wide-open market in that part of the segment, which is North America.

[Michael Francis, Analyst at William Blair]

Okay. That's all understood. I'll pass it on.

[Alan Yu, CEO at Karat Packaging]

Thank you.

[Operator]

The next question comes from Ryan Meyers with Lake Street. Please go ahead.

[Ryan Meyers, Analyst at Lake Street]

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. If we exclude the tariff refund during the quarter, I'm just curious, how would you characterize just the underlying gross margin and performance of the business? Was it relatively as you expected?

[Jian Guo, CFO at Karat Packaging]

Let me start. Then Alan, please feel free to add colors on there as well. Hi, Ryan. That's a great question. As we reported, our gross margin is 56.6% for the quarter. If you do the math, if you exclude the contribution, our gross margin without the refund, the tariff refund, would have been 37.7%, which I think is still really strong. We're talking about close to 40% gross margin. I think we talked about the underlying drivers, right? Our sourcing diversification, our sourcing capabilities. I think we do expect to continue to navigate this environment really well with the pricing dynamics, with the sourcing, the changing kind of the trade landscape. We did provide a guidance for the third quarter gross margin to continue to be in the high 30s, so 35%-37%.

[Jian Guo, CFO at Karat Packaging]

Does that answer your question? Alan has any additional color.

[Alan Yu, CEO at Karat Packaging]

Yeah, Ryan, I want to add something to this. During the second quarter, we did see our, like Jian mentioned, the 37.7%. In the third quarter, we're seeing a stronger U.S. dollar versus other currency in Asia, especially against Taiwan dollars. Last year, if you saw, the second quarter, we had a $2.9 million currency loss due to the currency devaluation of U.S. dollars against Taiwan dollars. Now we're seeing a strong tailwind, which is the currency gain. We're seeing one of the highest gain in the third quarter that we're looking at as we stay at the same current level right now. There's going to be some pretty positive things in the third quarter, like the ocean freight. There might be some reduction in ocean freight because we're about to ending the peak season.

[Alan Yu, CEO at Karat Packaging]

It might not be a lot, but it's definitely going to help. I think everything helps in terms of helping that gross margin, also we're looking at not only on that part, we're looking at into the savings in terms of operating expense as well.

[Ryan Meyers, Analyst at Lake Street]

Got it. No, that's great to hear. That's awesome. Then lastly, you mentioned in the press release that you guys added four new chain accounts during the quarter. How should we think about the timing and potential contribution from those wins?

[Alan Yu, CEO at Karat Packaging]

We're thinking about the fourth quarter.

[Ryan Meyers, Analyst at Lake Street]

Okay. Got it. That's good to know.

[Alan Yu, CEO at Karat Packaging]

We start to ship the product. Yes, it takes us two to three months to ramp up the inventory and then we promise the customers fourth quarter we'll start shipping the product.

[Ryan Meyers, Analyst at Lake Street]

Okay. Got it. No, that's helpful. Thanks for taking my questions.

[Alan Yu, CEO at Karat Packaging]

Thank you, Ryan.

[Operator]

This concludes our question and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Alan Yu for any closing remarks.

[Alan Yu, CEO at Karat Packaging]

Thank you, operator, and thank you to everyone for joining us today. Karat is built on a strong business foundation, and we are encouraged by the positive momentum across our business. We remain focused on executing our growth strategy and look forward to keeping you updated on our continued progress. Have a nice day, everyone. Thank you. Bye-bye.

[Operator]

The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

Participants

Executives

• Alan Yu, CEO
• Jian Guo, CFO

Analysts

• Roger Pondel, Investor Relations Representative at PondelWilkinson
• Michael Francis, Analyst at William Blair
• Ryan Meyers, Analyst at Lake Street