Cimpress Touts AI Tailwind, Elevated Products as It Reaffirms 2026 Growth Outlook

Key Points

• Cimpress reaffirmed its fiscal 2026 outlook, expecting 9% to 10% reported revenue growth and at least $465 million in adjusted EBITDA, while also reiterating its longer-term fiscal 2028 target of at least $600 million in adjusted EBITDA.
• The company said future growth will be driven increasingly by “elevated products” such as packaging, apparel, signage, and other more complex custom items, rather than relying mainly on traditional business cards and other basic print products.
• Management said AI should be a net tailwind, helping with design, marketing, personalization and engineering efficiency, and noted recent cost savings already include some benefits from AI-driven initiatives.

Cimpress NASDAQ: CMPR told investors at Needham Research’s 21st TMT Consumer Conference that it expects continued growth from its web-to-print mass customization model, newer product categories and efficiency initiatives across manufacturing, marketing and operating expenses.

Meredith Burns, Cimpress vice president of investor relations, described the company as the “leader in web-to-print mass customization,” serving millions of small and medium-sized businesses with custom print, promotional and brand-building products. Burns said many of Cimpress’ customers need professional-quality materials in smaller quantities and at budgets that differ from large corporate buyers.

Burns said Cimpress estimates its addressable market in North America, Europe and Australia at about $100 billion, focused on small and medium quantities of customized products rather than large-scale commercial printing for major corporations. She said the company began in small-format marketing materials such as business cards, postcards and flyers, but has expanded into signage, promotional products, apparel, gifts, packaging and labels.

Fiscal 2026 Outlook Reiterated After Recent Increase

Burns said Cimpress recently raised its fiscal 2026 outlook in its April 29 earnings announcement. The company expects reported revenue growth of 9% to 10%, with benefits from currency and acquisitions. Organic constant-currency growth is expected to be 4% to 5%.

For profitability, Cimpress expects at least $87 million of net income and at least $465 million of adjusted EBITDA for the fiscal year ending in June. The company also forecast operating cash flow of approximately $298 million to $303 million and adjusted free cash flow of $130 million to $135 million.

Looking further ahead, Burns reiterated Cimpress’ framework for fiscal 2028, calling for at least $600 million of adjusted EBITDA. She said that, assuming a roughly 45% adjusted free cash flow conversion rate, that level of EBITDA would imply about $270 million of adjusted free cash flow.

Company Sees Growth From “Elevated Products”

Burns said Cimpress’ future growth is increasingly tied to what the company calls “elevated products,” including packaging, booklets, catalogs, magazines, drinkware, apparel, custom wrapping paper, signage and stickers. These products are more complex to produce or design, but she said customers value them highly.

Vistaprint remains Cimpress’ largest brand and represents a little more than half of revenue, Burns said. She noted that Vistaprint is still known for business cards, but said that category is not where the company expects most future growth to come from.

Burns said the company has invested heavily in technology modernization over the past several years, particularly at Vistaprint and in its mass customization platform. Those investments, she said, have enabled Cimpress to launch products more quickly, improve customer experience and better connect its businesses across manufacturing and fulfillment.

She also highlighted customer economics within Vistaprint, saying the top 20% of customers by variable gross profit generated about $750 million of variable gross profit, while the top 2% generated a little under $300 million. Burns said the top 2% of Vistaprint customers generate roughly the same amount of total variable gross profit as the bottom 80%.

Manufacturing and Shared Services Are Key Focus Areas

Burns said Cimpress continues to focus on manufacturing and supply chain excellence as a core competitive advantage. She said the company is increasingly connecting its businesses through its mass customization platform, allowing it to optimize production across a broader regional footprint rather than only within individual plants or production cells.

The company has been increasing fulfillment between Cimpress businesses, where one brand fulfills or procures products for another. Burns said that generated an additional $15 million of variable gross profit in the form of cost-of-goods-sold reductions last year and remains small relative to total COGS, but is growing more quickly since the company connected its businesses to the platform.

Cimpress is also bringing Vistaprint, National Pen and BuildASign closer together to share more capabilities in manufacturing, marketing and engineering. Burns said the goal is to improve efficiency and make it easier to launch new products quickly and cost-effectively.

Balance Sheet, Acquisitions and Leverage Targets

Burns said Cimpress has a strong balance sheet and liquidity position. She noted that the company launched a refinancing of its Term Loan B earlier in the day, describing it as an opportunistic effort related to notes maturing in 2028 and aimed at extending maturity.

The company’s leverage policy is to target net leverage at or below approximately 2.5 times trailing 12-month EBITDA, though Burns said Cimpress may increase leverage to about 3 times for investments with attractive expected returns and a clear path to deleveraging. Cimpress expects to end the current fiscal year at about 3 times leverage and exit fiscal 2027 at 2.5 times or below. If it reaches its fiscal 2028 minimum target, Burns said the company could delever meaningfully below 2 times by the end of that year, subject to capital allocation decisions.

Burns also discussed recent tuck-in acquisitions and a definitive agreement announced the previous day to acquire SAXOPRINT and viaprinto from CEWE. She said the deal is expected to close in the first half of Cimpress’ fiscal 2027, pending regulatory approvals. Burns said SAXOPRINT brings state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities in Germany, and Cimpress plans to send more volume from other businesses to that facility.

AI Expected to Be a Net Tailwind

During the question-and-answer portion, Needham analyst Stefanos Crist asked about the effects of artificial intelligence on the business. Burns said she did not intend to suggest AI would be a net headwind, adding that Cimpress views AI as a net tailwind.

Burns said AI could disrupt parts of Cimpress’ offering, particularly design, because many customers are not professional designers. However, she said easier design tools could strengthen Cimpress’ core value proposition of putting customer designs on physical products and delivering them at scale.

She said Cimpress is already using generative AI in marketing to create campaigns, render product scenes and reduce the time and resources required for merchandising. Burns also said the company is using AI to begin personalizing customer experiences across ads, email and websites, while engineers are applying AI to product development, testing and quality assurance.

Burns said AI will contribute to efficiency savings that support Cimpress’ fiscal 2028 adjusted EBITDA target, though the company has not provided a specific amount tied to AI. She added that some of the $11 million in recently implemented annualized cost reductions came from areas where Cimpress is seeing benefits from applying AI.

About Cimpress NASDAQ: CMPR

Cimpress NV is a global leader in mass customization and web-to-print services, offering businesses and consumers an online platform to design, order and personalize printed marketing materials and promotional products. As the parent company of Vistaprint and a portfolio of regional print service providers, Cimpress leverages proprietary technology to connect millions of small- and medium-sized customers with a network of manufacturing facilities around the world. Its product range spans business cards, brochures, signage, labels, apparel, packaging and a variety of bespoke merchandise.

The company traces its roots to Vistaprint, founded in 1995 by Robert W.

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