Hyster-Yale Materials Handling's (NYSE:HY) Q4 CY2025 Sales Beat Estimates

Lift truck and material handling solutions manufacturer Hyster-Yale Materials Handling (NYSE:HY) announced better-than-expected revenue in Q4 CY2025, but sales fell by 13.5% year on year to $923.2 million. Its non-GAAP loss of $2.06 per share was 67.5% below analysts’ consensus estimates.

Is now the time to buy Hyster-Yale Materials Handling? Find out by accessing our full research report, it’s free.

Company Overview

Playing a significant role in the development of the hydraulic lift truck, Hyster-Yale (NYSE:HY) designs, manufactures, and sells materials handling equipment to various sectors.

Revenue Growth

A company’s long-term sales performance is one signal of its overall quality. Any business can have short-term success, but a top-tier one grows for years. Regrettably, Hyster-Yale Materials Handling’s sales grew at a mediocre 6% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. This fell short of our benchmark for the industrials sector and is a poor baseline for our analysis.

We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within industrials, a half-decade historical view may miss cycles, industry trends, or a company capitalizing on catalysts such as a new contract win or a successful product line. Hyster-Yale Materials Handling’s performance shows it grew in the past but relinquished its gains over the last two years, as its revenue fell by 4.3% annually.

This quarter, Hyster-Yale Materials Handling’s revenue fell by 13.5% year on year to $923.2 million but beat Wall Street’s estimates by 0.7%.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to decline by 2.3% over the next 12 months. While this projection is better than its two-year trend, it’s hard to get excited about a company that is struggling with demand.

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Operating Margin

Operating margin is a key measure of profitability. Think of it as net income - the bottom line - excluding the impact of taxes and interest on debt, which are less connected to business fundamentals.

Hyster-Yale Materials Handling was profitable over the last five years but held back by its large cost base. Its average operating margin of 1.7% was weak for an industrials business. This result isn’t too surprising given its low gross margin as a starting point.

On the plus side, Hyster-Yale Materials Handling’s operating margin rose by 3.2 percentage points over the last five years, as its sales growth gave it operating leverage.

This quarter, Hyster-Yale Materials Handling generated an operating margin profit margin of negative 4%, down 8.9 percentage points year on year. Since Hyster-Yale Materials Handling’s operating margin decreased more than its gross margin, we can assume it was less efficient because expenses such as marketing, R&D, and administrative overhead increased.

Earnings Per Share

Revenue trends explain a company’s historical growth, but the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) points to the profitability of that growth – for example, a company could inflate its sales through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.

Sadly for Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, its EPS declined by 25.5% annually over the last five years while its revenue grew by 6%. However, its operating margin actually improved during this time, telling us that non-fundamental factors such as interest expenses and taxes affected its ultimate earnings.

Diving into the nuances of Hyster-Yale Materials Handling’s earnings can give us a better understanding of its performance. A five-year view shows Hyster-Yale Materials Handling has diluted its shareholders, growing its share count by 5.5%. This dilution overshadowed its increased operational efficiency and has led to lower per share earnings. Taxes and interest expenses can also affect EPS but don’t tell us as much about a company’s fundamentals.

Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a more recent period because it can provide insight into an emerging theme or development for the business.

For Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, its two-year annual EPS declines of 52.9% show it’s continued to underperform. These results were bad no matter how you slice the data.

In Q4, Hyster-Yale Materials Handling reported adjusted EPS of negative $2.06, down from $1.47 in the same quarter last year. This print missed analysts’ estimates. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Hyster-Yale Materials Handling to improve its earnings losses. Analysts forecast its full-year EPS of negative $2.46 will advance to negative $0.83.

Key Takeaways from Hyster-Yale Materials Handling’s Q4 Results

It was good to see Hyster-Yale Materials Handling narrowly top analysts’ revenue expectations this quarter. On the other hand, its EPS missed. Overall, this quarter could have been better. The stock traded down 3.3% to $37.21 immediately after reporting.

Hyster-Yale Materials Handling underperformed this quarter, but does that create an opportunity to invest right now? If you’re making that decision, you should consider the bigger picture of valuation, business qualities, as well as the latest earnings. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).