Atkore, Prysmian Quarterly Results – Impact of Commodity Pricing

Atkore

The Harvey, Illinois headquartered manufacturer of electrical products for commercial, industrial, data center, telecommunications, and solar applications, announced its 3Q 2025 results on August 5.  Atkore net sales were down -10.6% year-over-year.

The decrease in net sales was primarily attributed to decreased average selling prices across the Company’s products of $100.5 million and the impact of divestitures in fiscal 2025 of $4.2 million, partially offset by increased sales volume of $15.4 million. investors.atkore.com

Gross profit decreased by $107.6 million, or 38.5%, quarter and gross margin decreased to 23.4%.  Gross profit decreased primarily due to declines in average selling prices of $100.5 million and increased freight costs of $4.2 million.

Shares took a beating and declined 26%, and the CEO, William Waltz, announced his retirement.

Results by business segment starting with Electrical, where net sales decreased by 14.0%, to $521.3 million for the third quarter.  The decrease in net sales is primarily attributed to decreased average selling prices of $92.2 million and the impact of divestitures in fiscal 2025 of $4.2 million, partially offset by increased sales volume of $9.5 million.

For the Safety and Infrastructure segment, net sales decreased by 1.4%, during the third quarter, The decrease was primarily attributed to lower selling prices of $8.3 million partially offset by higher sales volume of $5.9 million.  Profitability increased slightly due to increases associated with the construction business and cable management and metal framing products in North America.

Key product are trends provide an outlook for the remainder of 2025 and highlight anticipated growth rates, primarily in the low single digits.

Atkore maintained the midpoint of its guidance estimate for fiscal year 2025.

Despite earnings in line with expectations, shareholders raised some issues during the conference call, primarily around profit declines and margin pressures, especially in the Electrical Segment, raising concerns about the sustainability of past profit levels. Overall, gross profit dropped 38.5% and adjusted EBITDA fell more than 50%, while net income for the quarter was down 65% from the prior year.  The unpredictability of further tariff changes creates continued risks for margins.

Finally, Atkore acknowledged “mixed” market conditions in non-residential construction, with the Dodge Momentum Index signaling weaker forward planning activity and subdued demand in several key verticals.  Although data center and solar markets are relative bright spots, overall non-residential construction sentiment weighed on the sales outlook.

CEO Bill Waltz retirement announcement, triggering additional uncertainty about leadership continuity and execution of strategic priorities. While a transition plan is in place, analysts and shareholders are closely watching for any operational disruption during this period.

Prysmian

The Milan, Italy headquartered multinational specializing in the production of electrical cables and systems for the energy and telecommunications sectors, notably in the US with the acquisition of Encore Wire, reported 1H 2025 earnings on July 31, 2025.

Encore Wire is reported under Prysmian Group’s Electrification segment, specifically consolidated within the Industrial & Construction business area of this segment. Encore Wire has been fully consolidated in this segment starting from Q3 2024. Approximately 20% of Prysmian’s revenue is from the US, through Encore.  Given Prysmian’s global revenue of about $19.5 billion (TTM as of early 2025), estimated US revenues would be in the range of roughly $4 billion.

The chart below provides the global figures (in Euros) for Prysmian’s Industrial & Construction business area.  Electrification had a solid Q2, with I&C margin improvements to 14.1% from 10.6% in the prior year 2Q.

In 1H25, Revenues reached €9,654 million, with a 4.0% organic growth and reflect the inclusion of  Encore Wire.  The Industrial & Construction business area, organic growth was negative 2.2% globally for 1H.

Based on the strong performance in the first half of the year, together with the contribution from Channell (which was fully consolidated as of June 1 2025), Prysmian upgraded its guidance for FY25 for EBITDA and free cash flow, despite headwinds arising from changes in the EUR/USD exchange rate in respect to that of February 2025.

While the company does not provide US details, it is clear that the Electrification segment slight decline is a concern as it was probably driven by Encore and the uncertainty over the 50% copper tariffs, which is increasing uncertainty.  While Prysmian benefits from vertical integration shielding it from direct tariff impacts, broader tariff and trade war concerns create caution.

In addition, the company paused plans for further U.S. expansion amidst trade uncertainty and tariff issues on copper, which can be interpreted as reduced growth ambition or increased risk, despite the strategic rationale to preserve liquidity and flexibility in light of the ongoing tariff situation.