Wabash National Q2 Earnings Call Highlights

Wabash National reported $417 million in second-quarter revenue, but posted an adjusted net loss of $21.6 million, or $0.53 per share, and negative adjusted EBITDA of $9 million. Gross margin improved to 4.1% as the company began recovering from severe market and cost pressures. Backlog rose 14% sequentially to $956 million, signaling that customers may be shifting from delaying purchases to replacing aging fleets. Management expects dry-van demand to lead a recovery, with market conditions supporting 135,000 to 145,000 replacement-level units. Wabash strengthened its liquidity through a $150 million convertible-notes issuance and plans for a revolving credit facility of up to $300 million. It forecast third-quarter revenue of $440 million to $460 million and expects pricing actions to support improving margins and positive EBITDA in the second half of 2026.

Wabash National NYSE: WNC reported second-quarter revenue of $417 million, above the expectations it provided on its first-quarter earnings call, as the trailer manufacturer said freight-market indicators and its order backlog pointed to an emerging recovery in replacement demand. The company posted an adjusted net loss attributable to common shareholders of $21.6 million, or $0.53 per diluted share, and adjusted EBITDA of negative $9 million. Adjusted gross margin returned to positive territory at 4.1% of sales, while adjusted operating margin was negative 5.6%.

Chief Executive Officer Brent Yeagy said the company is seeing a combination of supply-side changes, federal safety-focused enforcement and improving carrier economics that could support increased trailer replacement spending. He cited strengthening spot and contract rates, higher tender rejection rates and improving manufacturing and logistics indicators.

Wabash ended the quarter with backlog of $956 million, up 14% sequentially. Yeagy said the increase marked the first time in the company’s history that backlog grew during the second quarter, a period when backlog would typically decline. “That tells us that the customers are beginning to move from deferral to committed demand as they work to stop the three years of fleet aging,” Yeagy said. The company opened its order book for 2027 production in late June, earlier than customary, in response to customer requests for greater visibility into delivery timing and pricing. Yeagy said customers have followed through with active quoting, negotiations and deal closings, while dealer activity has also begun earlier than in the past two years.

Management said dry-van demand is expected to be the primary driver of a broader trailer-market recovery. Yeagy said Wabash sees market conditions supporting demand for 135,000 to 145,000 dry vans, which he characterized as a replacement-level environment. During the quarter, Wabash shipped 8,292 new trailers and 1,380 truck bodies. Chief Financial Officer Pat Keslin said truck-body volumes were in line with expectations, with the second quarter expected to be the low point of the year. The company expects a moderate sequential improvement in truck-body demand during the second half, though it expects that recovery to lag the dry-van business.

Management said margins remain pressured by material costs that have not yet been fully recovered through pricing. Keslin said the company’s second-quarter adjusted results excluded costs associated with idling its Little Falls and Goshen facilities. Yeagy said pricing has improved since the middle of the second quarter, but much of the higher-priced business will flow through the income statement later in the year and into 2027.