BOSTON, May 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cabot Corporation (NYSE: CBT) today announced results for its second quarter fiscal year 2026.

Second Quarter Highlights

• Second Quarter Diluted EPS of $1.27 and Adjusted EPS of $1.61
• Reinforcement Materials segment EBIT of $93 million and Performance Chemicals segment EBIT of $59 million
• Battery Materials momentum continues, supported by strong execution, growing battery energy storage systems (BESS) and electric vehiclerelated demand, providing meaningful EBITDA contribution
• Announced an increase in the quarterly dividend of 5%, raising the annualized dividend from $1.80 to $1.89
• Pursuing asset optimization across our global plant network with an intention to close manufacturing operations in South America and Europe, subject to local consultation processes 
  
  

Sean Keohane, Cabot President and Chief Executive Officer commented: “I am pleased with our strong execution during the quarter as we continued to operate at a high level in a challenging environment, delivering Adjusted EPS of $1.61 and resulting in a solid first half of the fiscal year. Our results reflect disciplined execution across the organization, particularly in commercial and operational excellence. Performance Chemicals segment EBIT increased 18% year-over-year supported by continued strong momentum in our battery materials product line and higher volumes in our specialty carbons product line. Reinforcement Materials segment EBIT declined 29% year-over-year, as 3% higher volumes were more than offset by lower gross profit per ton. Overall, I am encouraged by our team’s performance as we navigate dynamic market conditions.”

Keohane continued, “As we continue to optimize our asset footprint, the Company intends to target capacity rationalization at facilities in South America and Europe, subject to local consultation processes. These actions are intended to better align production with demand conditions and enable a more efficient manufacturing network to meet our customer supply needs. We expect these actions will generate annualized fixed cost savings of approximately $22 million once fully implemented.”

Keohane continued, “We continued to generate strong operating cash flow that enabled us to invest in capital expenditures and return cash to shareholders. Our balance sheet remains strong with available liquidity of $1.3 billion and a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 1.5 times as of March 31, 2026. I am pleased with the solid cash flow performance and our strong balance sheet, which enable us to continue to deliver on our capital allocation priorities.”

Financial Detail
For the second quarter of fiscal 2026, net income attributable to Cabot Corporation was $68 million ($1.27 per common share). Net income reflects an after-tax per share charge from certain items of $0.34. Adjusted EPS for the second quarter of fiscal 2026 was $1.61 per share.

Segment Results

Reinforcement Materials – Second quarter fiscal 2026 EBIT in Reinforcement Materials decreased by $38 million compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2025. The decrease in EBIT was largely driven by lower gross profit per ton, primarily due to lower pricing and product mix in our calendar year 2026 tire customer agreements and from increased competitive intensity in Asia Pacific. Volumes increased by 3% in the second quarter of fiscal 2026 as compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2025 driven by higher volumes across all regions.

Global and regional volume changes for Reinforcement Materials for the second quarter of fiscal 2026 as compared to the same quarter of the prior year are set forth in the table below:

Performance Chemicals – Second quarter fiscal 2026 EBIT in Performance Chemicals increased by $9 million compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2025 primarily due to higher gross profit per ton. The higher gross profit per ton was primarily due to a favorable product mix and optimization efforts. In addition, volumes increased in our battery materials and specialty carbons product lines in the second quarter of fiscal 2026 as compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2025.

Cash Performance– The Company ended the second quarter of fiscal 2026 with a cash balance of $252 million. During the second quarter of fiscal 2026, cash flows from operating activities were a source of $77 million. Capital expenditures for the second quarter of fiscal 2026 were $45 million. Additional uses of cash during the second quarter included $24 million for the payment of dividends and $49 million for share repurchases.

Taxes – During the second quarter of fiscal 2026, the Company recorded a tax expense of $44 million with an effective tax rate of 37%, which included an $8 million charge for discrete and certain tax items. The operating rate was 28% in the second quarter of fiscal 2026 and we expect our operating tax rate for fiscal 2026 to be in the range of 27% to 29%.

Outlook
Commenting on the outlook for the Company, Keohane said, “As we look ahead to the remainder of fiscal 2026, we are reaffirming our Adjusted EPS guidance for the full year to be in the range of $6.00 to $6.50 per share. Our outlook incorporates our best view of the impacts to our businesses from the conflict in the Middle East and the uncertainty it creates. While we expect near term demand to remain stable, we are cautious of potential changes in demand levels towards the end of the fiscal year due to disruptions from the Middle East crisis. In addition, we expect to maintain our margins with price increases to offset higher input costs across both segments.”

Keohane continued, “We have delivered a solid first half of the fiscal year and executed well against the financial commitments we made in a difficult demand environment. I am confident in our team’s agility and discipline to navigate the current volatile environment. To further strengthen our competitive position, we will continue to pursue actions across our network in commercial excellence, cost management, and the asset rationalizations previously mentioned.”

Keohane concluded, “We remain focused on disciplined operational execution and maintaining financial flexibility as we navigate an uncertain macro environment. Supported by a strong balance sheet and ample liquidity, I believe we are well positioned to manage near-term pressures, including elevated energy costs and geopolitical uncertainty. I believe the actions we are taking today will strengthen the company and support our strategy for long-term value creation.”

Earnings Call
The Company will host a conference call with industry analysts at 8:00 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, May 6, 2026. The call can be accessed through Cabot’s investor relations website at http://investor.cabot-corp.com

About Cabot Corporation
Cabot Corporation (NYSE: CBT) is a global specialty chemicals and performance materials company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The company is a leading provider of reinforcing carbons, specialty carbons, battery materials, engineered elastomer composites, inkjet colorants, masterbatches and conductive compounds, fumed metal oxides and aerogel. For more information on Cabot, please visit the company’s website at cabotcorp.com. The Company regularly posts important information on its website and encourages investors and potential investors to consult the Cabot website regularly.

Forward-Looking Statements – This earnings release contains forward-looking statements. All statements that address expectations or projections about the future, including with respect to our expectations for our performance in fiscal year 2026, including our expectations for Adjusted EPS for fiscal 2026, our expectations for capital allocation and operating cash flow for fiscal 2026, our expectations for asset rationalizations and anticipated benefits we expect to achieve including for cost savings from those actions, our expected operating tax rate for fiscal 2026, and our assumptions underlying those expectations are forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties, potentially inaccurate assumptions, and other factors, some of which are beyond our control and difficult to predict. If known or unknown risks materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove inaccurate, our actual results could differ materially from past results and from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, industry capacity utilization and competition from other specialty chemical companies; safety, health and environmental requirements and related constraints imposed on our business; regulatory and financial risks related to climate change developments; volatility in the price and availability of energy and raw materials, including with respect to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and conflict in the Middle East; a significant adverse change in a customer relationship or the failure of a customer to perform its obligations under agreements with us; failure to achieve growth expectations from new products, applications and technology developments; failure to realize benefits from acquisitions, alliances, or joint ventures or achieve our portfolio management objectives; unanticipated delays in, or increased cost of site development projects; negative or uncertain worldwide or regional economic conditions and market opportunities, including from trade relations, global health matters or geo-political conflicts; litigation or legal proceedings; interest rates, tax rates, currency exchange controls, tariffs and fluctuations in foreign currency rates; and the accuracy of the assumptions we used in establishing reserves for our share of liability for respirator claims. These factors are discussed more fully in the reports we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), particularly under the heading “Risk Factors” in our annual report on Form 10-K for our fiscal year ended September 30, 2025, which are filed with the SEC at www.sec.gov. We assume no obligation to provide revisions to any forward-looking statements should circumstances change, except as otherwise required by securities and other applicable laws.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
To supplement Cabot’s consolidated financial statements presented on a generally accepted accounting principle (“GAAP”) basis, the preceding discussion of our results and the accompanying financial tables report Adjusted EPS, Adjusted EBITDA, our operating tax rate, Free Cash Flow and Discretionary Free Cash Flow, all of which are non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP financial measures are not computed in accordance with, or as an alternative to, GAAP, and the definitions of these measures may not be comparable to those used by other companies. Reconciliations of Adjusted EPS to net income (loss) per share attributable to Cabot Corporation, the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure, Adjusted EBITDA to Income (loss) from operations before income taxes and equity in earnings of affiliated companies, the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure of each such non-GAAP measure, operating tax rate to effective tax rate, the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure and Free Cash Flow and Discretionary Free Cash Flow to Cash flow provided by (used in) operating activities, the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure, are provided in the tables titled “Cabot Corporation Certain Items and Reconciliation of Adjusted EPS and Operating Tax Rate” and “Cabot Corporation Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”

Management believes these non-GAAP measures provide investors with greater transparency to the information used by Cabot management in its financial and operational decision-making, allow investors to see Cabot’s results through the eyes of management, and better enable Cabot’s investors to understand Cabot’s operating performance and financial condition.

Adjusted EPS. In calculating Adjusted EPS, we exclude from our net income (loss) attributable to Cabot Corporation items of expense and income that management does not consider representative of the Company’s business operations. Accordingly, reporting earnings on an adjusted basis supplements the GAAP measure of performance and provides additional information related to the underlying performance of the business. For example, certain of the items we exclude are items that we are required by GAAP to recognize in one period that relate to activities extending over several periods or relate to single events that management considers to be unusual and infrequent, although not necessarily non-recurring. We refer to these items as “certain items.” Management believes excluding these items facilitates operating performance comparisons from period to period by eliminating differences caused by the existence and timing of certain expense and income items that would not otherwise be apparent on a GAAP basis and evaluates the Company’s operating performance without the impact of these costs or benefits. Management also uses Adjusted EPS as a key measure in evaluating management performance for incentive compensation purposes.

The items of income and expense that we exclude from our calculations of Adjusted EPS but that are included in our GAAP net income (loss) per share, as applicable in a particular reporting period, include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Global restructuring activities, which include costs or benefits associated with cost reduction initiatives or plant closures and are primarily related to (i) employee termination costs, (ii) asset impairment charges associated with restructuring actions, (iii) costs to close facilities, including environmental costs and contract termination penalties, and (iv) gains realized on the sale of land or equipment associated with restructured plants or locations.
• Legal and environmental matters and reserves, which consist of costs or benefits for matters typically related to former businesses or that are otherwise incurred outside of the ordinary course of business.
• Acquisition and integration-related charges, which include transaction costs, redundant costs incurred during the period of integration, and costs associated with transitioning certain management and business processes to Cabot’s processes.
• Employee benefit plan settlements, which consist of either charges or benefits associated with the termination of a pension plan
• Argentina controlled currency devaluation loss related to the foreign exchange loss from government-controlled currency devaluations on our net monetary assets denominated in the Argentine peso and investment losses related to the utilization of government bond programs established for the settlement of certain foreign payables.
  

Cabot does not provide an expected GAAP EPS range or reconciliation of the Adjusted EPS range with an expected GAAP EPS range because, without unreasonable effort, we are unable to predict with reasonable certainty the matters we would allocate to “certain items,” including unusual gains and losses, costs associated with future restructurings, acquisition-related expenses and litigation outcomes. These items are uncertain, depend on various factors, and could have a material impact on GAAP EPS in future periods.

Adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA reflects Income (loss) from operations before income taxes and equity in earnings of affiliated companies adjusted for certain items, interest expense, depreciation and amortization, equity in earnings of affiliated companies, and unallocated corporate costs, which include unallocated corporate overhead expenses such as certain corporate salaries and headquarters expenses, plus costs related to corporate projects and initiatives.

Free Cash Flow. To calculate “Free Cash Flow” we deduct Additions to property, plant and equipment from cash flow provided by (used in) operating activities.

Discretionary Free Cash Flow. To calculate “Discretionary Free Cash Flow” we deduct sustaining and compliance capital expenditures and changes in Net Working Capital from cash flow provided by (used in) operating activities.

Operating Tax Rate. Our “operating tax rate” is calculated based upon management's forecast of the annual operating tax rate for the fiscal year applied to adjusted pre-tax earnings. The operating tax rate excludes income tax (expense) benefit on certain items, discrete tax items and, on a quarterly basis the timing of losses in certain jurisdictions. The income tax (expense) benefit on certain items is determined using the applicable rates in the taxing jurisdictions in which the certain items occurred and includes both current and deferred income tax (expense) benefit based on the nature of the certain items. Discrete tax items include, but are not limited to, changes in valuation allowance, uncertain tax positions, and other tax items, such as the tax impact of legislative changes and tax accruals on historic earnings due to changes in indefinite reinvestment assertions. Management believes that this non-GAAP financial measure is useful supplemental information because it helps our investors compare our tax rate year to year on a consistent basis and to understand what our tax rate on current operations would be without the impact of these items.

Cabot does not provide a forward-looking reconciliation of the operating tax rate range with an effective tax rate range because, without unreasonable effort, we are unable to predict with reasonable certainty the matters we would allocate to “certain items,” including unusual gains and losses, costs associated with future restructurings, acquisition-related expenses and litigation outcomes. These items are uncertain, depend on various factors, and could have a material impact on the effective tax rate in future periods.

Explanation of Terms Used

Product Mix. The term “product mix” refers to the mix of types and grade of products sold or the mix of geographic regions where products are sold, and the positive or negative impact this has on the revenue or profitability of the business or segment.

Net Working Capital. The term “net working capital” includes accounts receivable, inventory and accounts payable and accrued expenses.

Investor Contact: Robert Rist
(617) 342-6374