The operating result was much stronger than the headline loss suggests, but the market’s likely EPS benchmark was missed. Calumet produced $159.3 million of quarterly Adjusted EBITDA versus $55.1 million a year earlier, led by Specialty Products and Solutions. However, reported EPS was a $1.09 loss versus published estimates around a $0.23–$0.35 loss, making the GAAP result materially worse than expected despite the operating improvement.
| Metric | Q2 2026 | Q2 2025 / expectation |
|---|---|---|
| Sales | $1,445.1M | $1,026.6M prior year |
| Net loss | $(95.9)M | $(147.9)M prior year |
| Basic EPS | $(1.09) | $(1.70) prior year; published consensus roughly $(0.23)–$(0.35) |
| Adjusted EBITDA | $159.3M | $55.1M prior year |
| Adjusted EBITDA with Tax Attributes | $175.2M | $76.5M prior year |
| Operating cash flow, six months | $6.1M | $(31.1)M prior year |
Specialty Products and Solutions delivered the genuine beat. Segment Adjusted EBITDA more than doubled to $161.7 million from $66.8 million, while its margin expanded to 16.0% from 10.6%, helped by tight specialty-product supply and strong execution. This is the core reason the quarter was operationally better than the headline EPS result implies (Specialty Products and Solutions segment results; Non-GAAP Reconciliations).
The other businesses did not provide the same momentum. Performance Brands’ Adjusted EBITDA fell to $6.3 million from $13.5 million as feedstock costs rose faster than price increases, including a $7.3 million LIFO impact. Montana/Renewables improved to $26.6 million of Adjusted EBITDA with Tax Attributes from $16.3 million, but renewable-fuels production fell to 7,011 barrels per day from 12,044 during the prior-year quarter because of the turnaround and MaxSAF expansion (Segment results; Facility production volume).
The balance-sheet picture remains the main offset to the operating rebound. Six-month operating cash flow was only $6.1 million despite $186.9 million of Adjusted EBITDA, while cash and restricted cash declined to $149.8 million from $205.1 million at year-end. Current RINs obligations rose to $480.2 million from $169.3 million, total debt increased to $2.259 billion from $2.234 billion, and stockholders’ equity fell to negative $1.137 billion (Balance Sheet; Cash Flow statement). The July disclosure of $115 million of debt retirement and repayment of the $15.5 million Montana terminal financing is constructive, but it occurred after quarter-end and does not erase the underlying cash-conversion pressure (Debt retirement and financing actions).
Net read: better operations, worse-than-expected reported earnings, and still-heavy financing needs. The quarter confirms that the specialties platform can generate substantial earnings in a favorable margin environment, but the result does not yet show that those earnings are translating cleanly into cash or materially reducing leverage. That combination makes the filing slightly negative versus expectations overall, despite the clear SPS operating improvement.
Read the original 8-K on SEC EDGAR ↗