Utz Brands, Inc. (UTZ) · Nov 6, 2026 · Earnings
Miss — Adj. EPS $0.10 vs ~$0.23 consensus; revenue $369.2M vs ~$384.6M consensus
Utz’s Q3 earnings missed expectations sharply as inflation and weaker volumes compressed margins, while its Intersnack take-private deal moves toward a November 13 vote.
Utz is a branded salty-snacks company in the final stretch of a planned Intersnack take-private, with the shareholder vote scheduled for November 13, 2026; that deal was already public, so this filing’s real new information is operating performance.
The quarter missed the market’s basic earnings bar by a wide margin. Adjusted diluted EPS was $0.10 versus a published consensus of roughly $0.23, while revenue was $369.2 million versus roughly $384.6 million expected. The miss was not just deal-related accounting: sales fell 2.3% as volume/mix declined 5.2%, and adjusted EBITDA fell 30.3% to $42.0 million.
| Q3 2026 | Q3 2025 | Consensus | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net sales (Financial Highlights) | $369.2M (-2.3%) | $377.8M | $384.6M |
| Adjusted EPS (Financial Highlights) | $0.10 (-56.5%) | $0.23 | ~$0.23 |
| Adjusted EBITDA (Financial Highlights) | $42.0M (-30.3%) | $60.3M | |
| Adjusted EBITDA margin (Financial Highlights) | 11.4% (-460 bps) | 16.0% | |
| Adjusted free cash flow (Cash Flow) | $(15.5)M | $27.8M |
The core branded business was resilient on revenue, but not on volume or profitability. Branded salty-snacks sales rose only 0.3%, below the broader salty-snack category’s 1.1% retail-sales growth, while company retail volumes fell 3.3% against a 0.1% category increase. Pricing contributed 2.9%, but it did not offset weaker volumes and supply-chain inflation. 〔0〕
The biggest deterioration is margin conversion, not headline sales. Adjusted gross margin dropped 530 basis points to 27.2%, which management attributed to supply-chain cost inflation, channel mix and lower volumes. Adjusted SG&A was lower, but that savings was overwhelmed by the gross-margin pressure. 〔1〕
Cash generation also weakened materially while leverage remains elevated. Operating cash flow was negative $5.4 million for the first 39 weeks, adjusted free cash flow was negative $42.1 million, and net leverage stood at 3.9x. Cash fell to $70.1 million from $120.4 million at year-end, even as gross debt reached $885.5 million. These figures matter less to the public-equity story if the deal closes, but they show the business entering the transaction under pressure rather than demonstrating a clean recovery.
The take-private deal limits the forward operating read-through. Utz withdrew its 2026 outlook and will not hold a conference call because the transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter. 〔2〕 The buyout was already known; the fresh development is that the underlying quarter came in well below the prior operating trajectory and consensus expectations.
Bottom line: This is a clearly weak operating quarter: the branded business roughly held sales, but inflation and lost volume caused a sharp earnings, margin and cash-flow setback. The pending buyout makes the result less consequential for public-market valuation, not less negative for the business itself.
Stockholder vote on Intersnack transaction, November 13
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