Oct 22, 2026 earnings call — Record quarter, raised guidance and org changes
Company raised adjusted EBITDA guidance to approximately $720 million for the full year.
Revenue $1.0B (est $1.0B) · EPS $0.50 (est $0.48)
Key quotes
"Activity accelerated across our supply chain in support of the ongoing AI infrastructure built out."
"Progress evidenced by the two customer qualification milestones we achieved in the third quarter."
"Our Electronics business units, in addition to our Specialties businesses, will now report into Matt Liebowitz, who is assuming the role of Chief Operating Officer of Element Solutions."
Analyst Q&A 10
circuit board growth and margins
Q (Mike Harrison · Seaport Research Partners): He asked how Circuitry Solutions sees content expanding into multilayer, more complex boards and whether any market factors could slow that growth. He also asked how sustainable the strong incremental margins are and what drives them.
A: Management said the data center market is driving most of the growth, producing very complex multi-layer boards where ESI has strong capabilities and has outperformed the market. They said incremental margins are strong after stripping incentive accruals, driven by higher-end product mix, and they expect that margin strength to continue into next year.
"Overall, that market is growing, or accelerating, and that's despite the fact that the consumer electronics market is quite soft at the moment." — Ben Gliklich (CEO)
leadership change and cash use
Q (John McNulty · BMO): He asked what drove the leadership changes for Electronics and why now. He also asked how management will prioritize cash use going forward between M&A and buybacks.
A: Management said the Electronics business has matured with best practices and added leaders, so splitting into more autonomous, faster business units is a logical next step to better serve customers. On capital allocation, they said their framework is unchanged, they remain opportunistic for M&A or buybacks, and their stronger-than-expected balance sheet lets them be on the offensive.
"We're in a really strong position from a portfolio perspective that there's nothing we need to own." — Ben Gliklich (CEO)
Kuprion expansion and EFC drivers
Q (Josh Spector · UBS): He asked what CapEx is being accelerated at Kuprion and the milestones and timing for expansion sites. He also asked what drove the sequential acceleration in the EFC business.
A: Management said Kuprion achieved two qualification milestones in the quarter and those customers qualified ActiveCopper for high-volume manufacturing, with first site producing in Fremont and second and third sites underway. For EFC, they said the business is lumpier with big orders tied to launches, core semiconductor and electrical infrastructure are growing, and they are adding capacity in 2026 into 2027 to meet strong customer pull.
"Those are two customers, really high-tech, leading-edge customers, who have qualified ActiveCopper for their high-volume manufacturing." — Ben Gliklich (CEO)
plating on glass opportunity
Q (John Roberts · Mizuho): He asked how ESI is positioned for plating circuitry on glass cores and whether ActiveCopper plays a role. He also asked when first introduction might occur.
A: Management said they are working with new materials and have solutions for plating on glass through glass vias, and ActiveCopper is a leading candidate to address that need. They said glass cores have been delayed before and are not a near-term material volume driver, but could become substantial in a three- to five-year medium-term horizon.
"ActiveCopper is also one of the leading candidates to solve that problem for the supply chain." — Ben Gliklich (CEO)
Micromax and M&A strategy
Q (Chris Parkinson · Wolfe): He asked how volumes and price/mix for Micromax and Semi are trending into year-end and how management separates volume versus mix effects. He also asked whether M&A targets would be new pillars or augment existing Electronics assets.
A: Management said demand has not diminished, Q4 is off to a solid start, and growth on the electronic side has been driven primarily by volume except Micromax where higher-value volume is rising and some lower-value automotive volume is down. On M&A, they said criteria are unchanged: they look to buy high-quality Electronics assets that are better inside ESI, add capabilities or consolidate markets, and create synergies, but such assets are not common.
"By and large, with the exception of metal price volatility in all of our businesses, the growth has come from volume primarily." — Ben Gliklich (CEO)
Q4 guide and Micromax impact
Q (Fabian Jimenez · BofA): He asked if Q4 guide implies about $175-$176 million and whether the step down is from Micromax giving back silver-driven pricing or conservatism.
A: Management said the implied Q4 number around $175-$176 million is reasonable and that sequential Q3-to-Q4 softness is typical seasonally. They said the guide reflects seasonally fewer operating days and some conservatism, not a structural demand or pricing change.
"It is really just operating days in some of the businesses that tend to shut down as we get to the holiday season, and a little bit of conservatism." — Carey Dorman (CFO)
Electronics outlook and Specialties breakdown
Q (Pete Osterland · Truist): He asked for visibility on Electronics momentum into 2027 and whether strength is broad beyond AI infrastructure. He also asked how pricing and volumes broke down in Industrial Specialty this quarter and near-term volume expectations.
A: Management said they see no evidence of demand erosion and expect trends from Q4 to carry into Q1 and into 2027, with the market more AI-driven than consumer-driven and customer order forecasts accelerating. For Specialties, they said pricing added about 3%–4% of revenue, volumes were overall flat, automotive was slightly positive while general industrial construction declined, and they expect similar patterns into Q4.
"So first, on the price-cost dynamic there, we took pricing that drove about 3% or 3%-4% of revenue growth." — Carey Dorman (CFO)
data center exposure and outage impact
Q (John Tanwanteng · CJS): He asked whether ESI will keep outperforming data center end markets or if that spread will change. He also asked how much the energy customer outage affected results and the timing of recovery.
A: Management said their long-term baseline is to outperform end markets by about 1–2 points and they are outperforming today, but conservatively they commit to about 2% outperformance; because their near-term driver is data center boards, outperformance should continue. They said the outage was a few million dollar revenue impact in the quarter, the customer is back online, and they expect to resume selling most likely in Q4 with full recovery by Q1 next year.
"As we mentioned, again, in our prepared remarks, that customer is already back online and working through product that they had of ours." — Carey Dorman (CFO)
where in growth cycle and packaging demand
Q (Aleksey Yefremov · Barclays): He asked whether ESI is early, mid, or late in the current growth cycle and how Advanced Packaging and HDI server board growth looked this quarter.
A: Management said innovation and customer capacity ramps are accelerating, leading-edge technologies remain a small percentage of total volume but where investment is focused, and sustaining current growth requires continued capacity investments over several years. They added advanced packaging sales outpaced overall business growth this quarter and said HDI server board applications are growing north of 20% given Circuitry up 16% while consumer is down.
"Leading-edge technologies are still representing a rather small percentage of overall volume, and that's where the investment is going, and we should participate disproportionately in those leading-edge applications." — Ben Gliklich (CEO)
outlook into 2028
Q (Laurence Alexander · Jefferies): He asked if 2028 could be more difficult than 2027 or if acceleration into 2028 is likely based on customer investments and ESI's own plans.
A: Management said if customers invest capital as planned, the business should continue to accelerate into 2028 and Kuprion will enhance that outcome, but they cautioned order forecasts can change and they are not prepared to give a firm view on 2028 demand today. They said they are comfortable outlining strong momentum exiting 2026 and into 2027, which is a firmer outlook.
"For us, that is enhanced by Kuprion, which should be a much, much bigger business by then." — Ben Gliklich (CEO)