Latest news with #buildingmaterials
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
GMS Q1 Deep Dive: Cost Cuts Cushion Sales Decline Amid Challenging Construction Markets
Building materials distributor GMS (NYSE:GMS) reported Q1 CY2025 results exceeding the market's revenue expectations , but sales fell by 5.6% year on year to $1.33 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $1.29 per share was 15.9% above analysts' consensus estimates. Is now the time to buy GMS? Find out in our full research report (it's free). Revenue: $1.33 billion vs analyst estimates of $1.30 billion (5.6% year-on-year decline, 2.9% beat) Adjusted EPS: $1.29 vs analyst estimates of $1.11 (15.9% beat) Adjusted EBITDA: $109.8 million vs analyst estimates of $104.5 million (8.2% margin, 5.1% beat) Operating Margin: 4.5%, down from 7.1% in the same quarter last year Organic Revenue fell 9.7% year on year (5.5% in the same quarter last year) Market Capitalization: $2.81 billion GMS delivered better-than-expected results for the first quarter, with revenue and non-GAAP earnings per share surpassing Wall Street estimates despite a year-over-year sales decline. Management attributed the quarter's performance to strong execution on cost reduction initiatives and share gains in the single-family residential segment, partially offsetting broader market headwinds. CEO John Turner emphasized that, 'cash flow generation continues to demonstrate our operational through this down cycle,' highlighting the company's ability to maintain financial flexibility and service levels even as both residential and commercial construction activity remained soft. Looking forward, GMS's outlook is shaped by ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, high interest rates, and subdued demand across key construction markets. Management expects near-term conditions to remain challenging, especially in multifamily and commercial segments, but is cautiously optimistic about potential stabilization and recovery in single-family housing. Turner stated, 'we are cautiously optimistic that we are nearing the bottom of the cycle,' while noting that cost savings, digital investments, and a streamlined operating structure should position the company to capitalize on future demand recovery. Management pointed to a combination of operational adjustments, successful cost actions, and selective market share gains as key factors behind the quarter's resilience, even as end-market weakness persisted. Cost reductions drive margin stability: GMS implemented $25 million in annualized cost savings during the quarter, mainly through workforce reductions and operational streamlining, bringing its total for the year to $55 million. Management expects these actions to lower operating expenses further in the next quarter. Single-family share gains: The company reported relative strength in the single-family residential segment, gaining share with large homebuilders by leveraging its national scale and service proposition. Turner noted that, 'we picked up some share gain recently… our acquisition track record here has been pretty good too.' Ceilings and complementary products growth: Unlike core wallboard and steel framing, ceilings and complementary products saw volume improvement, supported by recent acquisitions and a focus on higher-value architectural specialties. This diversification helped partially offset declines in other product categories. Delayed pricing actions: Wallboard manufacturer price increases were implemented later than expected, resulting in only modest pricing benefits for the quarter. Management continues to work with customers to realize additional pricing in the coming months, acknowledging ongoing uncertainty around the success of these efforts. Digital and operational efficiency investments: GMS maintained investment in digital platforms, automation, and data standardization, which have contributed to improved efficiency and enabled the company to deliver cost savings without sacrificing service quality. Turner highlighted advancements in the company's customer portal and upcoming AI-enabled order automation as areas of progress. Management expects continued pressure from high interest rates and subdued construction activity, but sees potential for margin improvement as cost savings and digital initiatives take full effect. Macroeconomic headwinds persist: Elevated interest rates and tight lending standards are expected to keep both residential and commercial construction activity muted in the near term. Management noted that homebuyers and developers remain cautious, delaying projects and reducing demand for core building products. Cost actions support future margins: The full benefit of recent cost reductions, including operational streamlining and back-office consolidation, is anticipated to be realized in the next quarter. Management believes this leaner cost structure positions the company to improve margins as volumes recover, with the potential for annual EBITDA margins to return to a 10–12% range over time. Digital and product mix initiatives: Investments in e-commerce, automation, and expansion of complementary products are expected to drive operational efficiency and margin accretion. Management sees growth opportunities in tools, fasteners, insulation, and exterior finishes, aiming for these categories to outpace core product growth. In the coming quarters, the StockStory team will be watching (1) whether GMS can fully realize the cost savings and efficiency gains from its operational streamlining, (2) signs of stabilization or recovery in single-family and multifamily construction activity, and (3) the company's ability to execute on pricing initiatives and expand its complementary products portfolio. The pace of interest rate changes and macroeconomic sentiment will also be critical factors for demand. GMS currently trades at $81.71, up from $73.12 just before the earnings. In the wake of this quarter, is it a buy or sell? See for yourself in our full research report (it's free). Market indices reached historic highs following Donald Trump's presidential victory in November 2024, but the outlook for 2025 is clouded by new trade policies that could impact business confidence and growth. While this has caused many investors to adopt a "fearful" wait-and-see approach, we're leaning into our best ideas that can grow regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate. Take advantage of Mr. Market by checking out our Top 9 Market-Beating Stocks. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025). Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-small-cap company Comfort Systems (+782% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
GMS (GMS) Shares Skyrocket, What You Need To Know
Shares of building materials distributor GMS (NYSE:GMS) jumped 12.8% in the morning session after the company reported strong first quarter 2025 (fiscal Q4) results which beat Wall Street's sales, operating income, and earnings per share estimates. The results were encouraging even as management noted, "ongoing challenging interest rate environment and general market uncertainty continues to be a headwind for the business, contributing to reduced levels of activity in each of our major end markets." Despite this, the business recorded volume growth in Ceilings and Complementary Products, with improved pricing in all major product categories except for Steel Framing, suggesting the softness might be temporary. Also, the company reiterated the focus on driving shareholder value as it continued to optimize costs, repurchase shares, and invest in new businesses to drive growth. Overall, this was an encouraging result amid broader market challenges. Is now the time to buy GMS? Access our full analysis report here, it's free. GMS's shares are not very volatile and have only had 7 moves greater than 5% over the last year. Moves this big are rare for GMS and indicate this news significantly impacted the market's perception of the business. GMS is down 2.7% since the beginning of the year, and at $82.03 per share, it is trading 21% below its 52-week high of $103.84 from November 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of GMS's shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $3,568. Today's young investors likely haven't read the timeless lessons in Gorilla Game: Picking Winners In High Technology because it was written more than 20 years ago when Microsoft and Apple were first establishing their supremacy. But if we apply the same principles, then enterprise software stocks leveraging their own generative AI capabilities may well be the Gorillas of the future. So, in that spirit, we are excited to present our Special Free Report on a profitable, fast-growing enterprise software stock that is already riding the automation wave and looking to catch the generative AI next.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Parker: Calgary firm Carbon Upcycling turns industrial waste into valuable cement products
Calgary-based Carbon Upcycling is making great strides in its mission to convert carbon emissions and industrial waste byproducts into valuable, local materials for low-carbon cement production. Its groundbreaking technology offers a productive solution for CO2 emissions and industrial waste materials by upcycling them into low-carbon supplementary cement products. In the few years since it was launched in 2015, the company has attracted the interest of a large number of major cement companies and has forged a strategic partnership with TITAN Group, one of the world's leading international businesses in the building and infrastructure materials industry. The companies entered a memorandum of agreement earlier this month to explore the commercial development of Carbon Upcycling's technology for producing local, low-carbon building materials. The collaboration builds on TITAN's earlier investment in the Calgary company and underscores both companies' shared commitment to accelerating the decarbonization of the building materials industry. 'Expanding the scope of our partnership with Carbon Upcycling from investment to project exploration aims to scale up production of innovative, high-performance cementitious solutions in line with our Green Growth Strategy 2026,' says Leonidas Canellopoulos, chief sustainability and innovation officer of TITAN Group. 'This initiative not only highlights the importance of localized production but also serves as an important model for integrating low-carbon solutions into mainstream industrial processes.' The scientist with the vision of an inclusive, equitable world where carbon is a sustainable resource — shaping the future of humanity — is Apoorv Sinha, co-founder and CEO of Carbon Upcycling. Born in Baha, a small province in the northeast area of India, he was brought up in Kuwait where his father had moved the family to work in the oil and gas industry. Sinha's education took him to the U.S., where he earned his chemical engineering degree at Georgia Institute of Technology. He says he was attracted to Calgary as an energy hub with a reputation for innovation — a good place to build a business. In 2014, along with a couple of friends, they entered an Emissions Reduction Alberta challenge for the most innovative technologies that would convert CO2 emissions into valuable products. The result was a $500,000 grant that kick-started the launch of Carbon Upcycling the following year, and the opportunity to work with researchers at the University of Calgary as well as others in university labs in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. Sinha says the research has focused on the use of local waste materials — ash, slag and clay-based tailings — that are found everywhere and can be chemically activated into a fine powder to be blended into cement. Burnco has become a valuable Calgary partner using the product from two Carbon Upcycle demonstration plants in the southeast area of the city, enabling it to reduce imported additives by using a local product. Sinha and his team have kept up an aggressive momentum that has attracted a number of global partnerships with industry, academia and communities. Three of the world's largest cement manufacturers (TITAN, CRH and Cemex) have invested in the company, and following a $32.4-million Series A financing round in June 2023, private investments have reached $70 million. Another large investment is expected to be announced in the coming weeks. Currently a first-of-its-kind commercial facility is under construction at the Ash Grove cement plant in Mississauga, Ont., that will be able to use local feedstock from steel plants. Carbon Upcycling has blossomed into a strong Canadian tech company built and commercialized in Canada, able to attract huge investments that will be beneficial to the local Calgary economy. It employs around 40 people here, consisting mainly of engineers, research and development, and operations, plus others in the U.S., Mexico, Belgium, Denmark and Germany — important since countries have different standards that locals are better to interpret. To date, the company has secured 13 patents and filed for another 93 to protect its technology around the world. While the G7 summit is being held at Kananaskis, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture is holding its agriculture and food security forum at Olds College with the theme of cultivating tomorrow's agriculture today. The 250 invited delegates will be at the forum and an additional 1,000 guests will attend online. David Parker appears regularly in the Herald. Read his columns online at He can be reached at 403-830-4622.
Globe and Mail
11-06-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
BuildDirect Retains Market-Making Services
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 11, 2025) - Technologies Inc. (TSXV: BILD) (" BuildDirect" or the " Company") a leading omnichannel building material retailer, today announced that the Company, subject to regulatory approval, retained Venture Liquidity Providers Inc. ("VLP") to execute its market-making service to provide assistance in maintaining an orderly trading market for the common shares of the Company. The market-making service will be undertaken by VLP through a registered broker, W.D. Latimer Co. Ltd., in compliance with the applicable policies of the TSX Venture Exchange and other applicable laws. For its services, the Company has agreed to pay VLP CAD$5,000 per month. The agreement may be terminated at any time by the Company or VLP. The Company and VLP act at arm's length, and VLP has no present interest, directly or indirectly, in the Company or its securities. The finances and the shares required for the market-making service are provided by W.D. Latimer. The fee paid by the Company to VLP is for services only. VLP is a specialized consulting firm based in Toronto providing a variety of services focused on TSXV-listed issuers. About BuildDirect BuildDirect (TSXV: BILD) is an expanding omnichannel building materials retailer, specializing in Pro Centers-strategic distribution hubs designed to serve professional contractors and trades. The Company is actively scaling its footprint through a combination of organic growth and strategic acquisitions, driving efficiency and market expansion. For more information, visit Forward-Looking Information: This press release contains statements which constitute "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"), including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company with respect to future business activities and operating performance. Forward-looking statements are often identified by the words "may", "would", "could", "should", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" or similar expressions. These statements reflect management's current beliefs and expectations and are based on information currently available to management as at the date hereof. Forward-looking statements involve significant risk, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Among those factors are changes in consumer spending, availability of mortgage financing and consumer credit, changes in the housing market, changes in trade policies, tariffs or other applicable laws and regulations both locally and in foreign jurisdictions, availability and cost of goods from suppliers, fuel prices and other energy costs, interest rate and currency fluctuations and changes in general economic, business and political conditions. These forward-looking statements may be affected by risks and uncertainties in the business of the Company and general market conditions. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. These factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this press release reflect the Company's expectations, estimates or projections concerning future results or events based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made, the Company cannot assure readers that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. There may be other risks, uncertainties and factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended and such changes could be material. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release, and BuildDirect assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
The Independent
09-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Building materials firm Lords Group buys rival CMO in rescue deal
Building materials firm Lords Group has snapped up online rival CMO in a rescue deal. London-listed firm Lords said it acquired the 'trade and assets' of CMO for around £1.8 million as part of a pre-pack administration. The deal will secure the future of around 120 workers at Plymouth-based CMO, who will join the wider Lords group. CMO, which was founded in 2008 as Construction Materials Online, sells more than 140,000 products to trade professionals and households through a raft of specialist superstore-branded company was listed on London's AIM junior stock market until February, when it delisted in order to help preserve funds. The firms highlighted that the deal will not include the Tiles business previously owned by CMO. Dean Murray, chief executive of CMO, said: 'The acquisition marks a new and exciting chapter for CMO. 'We have built a strong, digitally-led business over the past 15 years, and in Lords, we have found a partner that not only understands our model but shares our ambition. 'I am incredibly proud of what the CMO team has achieved and excited about what is next.' Shanker Patel, chief executive of Lords, said: 'We are delighted to welcome CMO into the Lords family. 'CMO brings a well-established digital platform, strong customer reach, and a specialist product-led approach that complements our own. 'This partnership allows us to blend traditional merchanting strengths with cutting-edge digital capabilities. 'We are also mindful of the impact of the pre-pack administration process on affected parties and are committed to conducting the transition with respect.'
