EL7.AI
StocksMedium•29 October 2026•
4 min read

Quad’s stock falls 18.55% after adjusted EPS misses despite annual growth

Key Facts

1Quad shares fell 18.55% to $7.656, from a previous close of $9.40.
2Adjusted EPS was $0.35 versus a forecast of $0.38, a shortfall of $0.03 per share.
3Revenue was $586.7 million versus an estimate of $583.37 million, exceeding it by about $3.33 million.
4Net income was $6 million and diluted EPS was $0.11, compared with $10 million and $0.21 a year earlier.

Quad shares fell 18.55% to $7.656, from a previous close of $9.40, according to Investing.com’s coverage on Oct. 29. The move followed the company’s announcement on Oct. 28 of results for the third quarter ended Sept. 30. Adjusted earnings per share were $0.35, missing Wall Street’s estimate of $0.38 by $0.03 per share. Revenue, by contrast, slightly exceeded estimates, reaching $586.7 million versus the expected $583.37 million. Investing.com reported the stock’s decline following the results, without establishing that the earnings miss was the direct or sole cause of the move.

Year over year, the results showed a mixed picture across profitability measures. Net income was $6 million, and diluted earnings per share were $0.11, compared with net income of $10 million and diluted EPS of $0.21 in the third quarter of 2025. The company attributed the decline mainly to higher restructuring, impairment and transaction charges. Adjusted diluted EPS, however, rose to $0.35 from $0.31 a year earlier, an increase of 13%. The adjusted profitability measure was therefore above its year-earlier level, despite missing analysts’ quarterly estimate.

Adjusted EBITDA fell to $51 million in the third quarter from $53 million in the same period of 2025. The company said the decline was mainly due to sales mix. In the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2026, net sales were $1.7 billion, down 2% from the comparable period. Excluding the 1% impact of the sale of the European operations, the sales decline narrowed to 1%. On a prior-year basis, the company had reported net sales of $2.4 billion in 2025 versus $2.7 billion in 2024, with a 4.8% decline excluding the impact of the sale of the European operations.

Management says customers are increasingly using more than one solution from Quad, supporting new business growth and strengthening its position as an integrated marketing experience provider. In that context, the company launched “Direct” as a full-service direct marketing agency, bringing together audience intelligence, pre-market creative validation, production and measurement in one solution. Chief Executive Joel Quadracci said customers “are increasingly engaging with multiple Quad solutions, supporting new business growth and strengthening our position as an integrated marketing experience company.” The company places these initiatives within its efforts to expand the range of services offered to existing and new clients. Sales mix remains a factor the company cited in explaining the quarterly decline in adjusted EBITDA.

Quad raised the midpoint of its guidance for the annual change in adjusted sales from a 3% decline to a 2% decline, while maintaining its forecast for a decline of between 1% and 3% in 2026. It also narrowed its ranges for adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow within their original ranges, forecasting adjusted EBITDA of between $185 million and $195 million and free cash flow of between $45 million and $55 million. Chief Financial Officer Tony Staniak said the improved sales guidance reflects momentum among new and existing clients and represents progress toward the goal of reaching an inflection point to sales growth in 2028. The company added that it is monitoring macroeconomic uncertainty and will continue to treat costs as variable, improve capacity utilization and manage labor to mitigate the effects of higher costs and structural declines in large-scale print.

Net debt was $422 million on Sept. 30, 2026, compared with $308 million on Dec. 31, 2025, and $465 million on Sept. 30, 2025. The company said net debt, after removing the impact of seasonality, declined by $43 million, or 9%, year over year. Quad repurchased 1.0 million Class A shares during 2026, bringing total repurchases since the program began in 2022 to 8.4 million shares, equivalent to about 15% of the shares outstanding on March 31, 2022. It also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share, payable on Dec. 4 to shareholders of record on Nov. 17. The company had scheduled a call and live webcast to discuss the results for Oct. 29 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.