Malibu Boats Stock Falls. Earnings Weren’t Enough for Investors.

The 2025 Malibu M230. Coming into Thursday trading, shares of Malibu Boats were down 13% year to date. (Courtesy Malibu Boats, Inc.)

Key Points

• Malibu Boats reported adjusted first-quarter earnings of 15 cents per share on sales of $194.7 million, exceeding analyst expectations.
• The company maintained its fiscal year 2026 guidance, projecting sales to be flat to down mid-single digits year over year.
• Malibu Boats’ fiscal year 2026 sales are projected at about $785 million, a decrease from $1.4 billion in fiscal 2023.

Shares of Malibu Boats were higher initially after the company reported better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results and left its full-year financial guidance unchanged.

Gains didn’t last as shares slid with the overall market throughout the day.

Thursday, the maker of Cobalt, Malibu, and other brands announced adjusted quarterly earnings per share of 15 cents from sales of $194.7 million. Wall Street was looking for EPS of 7 cents from sales of $182.1 million.

Malibu stock was up more than 5% in premarket trading, but was down 13% at the close. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1% and 0.2%, respectively.

It’s been a tough year for investors. Coming into Thursday trading, Malibu stock was down 13% year to date and 23% over the past 12 months.

Shares dropped 17% after the company reported fiscal fourth-quarter EPS of 42 cents in August. Wall Street was looking for 46 cents.

It was an earnings miss, but management’s financial guidance was the bigger problem. For fiscal year 2026, the 12 months through June, Malibu management said they expect sales to be “flat to down mid-single digits.” That implies 2026 sales of about $790 million. Wall Street was looking for closer to $915 million, leaving a gap of $125 million, or 14% of the analysts’ consensus call.

The company still expects sales to be flat to down mid-single digits year-over-year. Guidance for profit margins on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization is a range of 8% to 9%.

Wall Street projects a sales decline of about 3% and Ebitda profit margins of about 8.7%.

Things look as expected. Analysts project fiscal year 2026 sales of about $785 million, according to FactSet. That is down from sales of $1.4 billion in fiscal 2023, when sales of leisure products soared after Covid-19. Companies, such as Malibu, are working through the aftermath of that period.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com