DAKTRONICS INC /SD/ — Call Transcript 2026

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Daktronics third quarter fiscal year 2026 financial results conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you'll need to press star 11 on your telephone. If your question has been answered and you'd like to remove yourself from the queue, simply press star 11 again. As a reminder, today's program is being recorded. Now I'd like to introduce your host for today's program, Lindsay Vetter. Please go ahead. Thank you, Jonathan. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for participating in our third quarter earnings conference call. During today's presentation, we will make forward-looking statements reflecting our expectations and plans about our future financial performance and future business opportunities. These forward-looking statements reflect the company's expectations or beliefs about future events based on information currently available to us. Of course, actual results could differ. Please refer to slide 2 of the presentation that accompanies today's call, our press release, and our SEC filings for information on risk factors, uncertainties, and expectations that could cause actual results to differ materially from these expectations. During this presentation, we will also refer to non-GAAP financial measures. You can find the reconciliation of each non-GAAP measure to the most directly comparable GAAP measure in the appendix to the company's presentation slides, which may be found on the investor relations page of our website at www.daktronics.com. Our earnings release for the 2026 third quarter, which was furnished to the SEC on Form 8-K this morning, also contains certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, as well as a discussion of certain limitations when using non-GAAP financial measures, are included in the earnings release, which has been posted separately to the investor relations page of our website. I'll turn the call over to Brad Wiemann, Interim President and CEO through the third quarter for his review. Well, good morning, everyone, and welcome to our call. Thank you for joining our 3rd quarter fiscal 2026 call. I'm joined on the call by Howard Atkins, board member and acting Chief Financial Officer, along with Ramesh Jayaraman, CEO and President, who is officially in the role as of February 1st. We will review our fiscal 2026 3rd quarter, which ended on January 31st, 2026, along with the results and accomplishments, and then take your questions. Turning to our slide presentation on slide 3. Here are the key messages for the 3rd quarter. The team delivered another quarter of solid results, driving revenue growth of 21.6% year-over-year, despite the effectively shorter work period due to the 3 major holidays, as well as adverse weather conditions throughout the quarter. Our manufacturing team did a superb job in officially converting the order book we have built over the past few quarters. During the quarter, we progressed with several large-scale installations, including five Major League Baseball stadiums, such as the Seattle Mariners, as well as the University of Illinois football video scoring system. Orders in the quarter were once again over $200 million. Our sales and marketing team secured large orders in our Live Events segment. Our Transportation segment had a record order quarter with a good uptake in airport and intelligent transportation system projects. With new order growth in the quarter at 7.6%, our product and services backlog grew to $342 million coming into Q4 and is 25% higher than it was this time last year. In December, we announced our acquisition of the intellectual property and the absorption of associated engineering teams from X Display Company or XDC, expanding our Micro LED and micro integrated circuit capabilities. XDC advances our high-resolution, narrow pixel pitch product offerings and provides us a cost-effective pathway to service small volume display opportunities with medium-sized display solutions. While the Supreme Court decision on reciprocal tariffs is now known, the market outcome with respect to refunds is likely to be highly uncertain for the foreseeable future. Turning to slide 4. In our Live Events business, as I mentioned, we won another Major League Baseball project in the quarter, making us 6 for 6 on large Major League Baseball projects in fiscal 2026. Additionally, we won several other stadium and arena display enhancements as customers continue to expand their digital display footprint throughout their venues. We continue to enhance our product and service offerings to align with customer needs, such as our narrow pixel pitch product line, advanced control system capabilities to engage fans, and improve seamless control and management of display content from anywhere, giving venue operators greater flexibility and control over their digital assets. Pictured here is the Seattle Mariners project. In our commercial business, on-premise advertising business remains strong. Customers continued to successfully transition to next-generation field type products, which was supported by a large order from a national customer. In our out-of-home business, we added several new customers this quarter, but we're down overall due to purchase delays from a key account, which we expect to recover in the fourth quarter. Our pipeline of opportunities continues to expand with independent billboard operators as more and more customers recognize our value proposition based on brand strength, image quality, reliability, service responsiveness, and reputation for innovation with the release of our new billboard products. In our outdoor spectacular segment, we booked a large order in Times Square, and we grew our pipeline of projects. We also expanded our indoor business, sold through audiovisual integrator channels through our offerings of narrow pixel pitch Chip on Board products. Pictured here is the Miami Beach Convention Center. Transportation business orders for both intelligent transportation systems and aviation were up a record 130% from last year. We secured a very significant project with one of the top five airports in the US, along with new orders from Caltrans in California. Pictured here is a rendering of that top five airport win. In international, after a great order year in the third quarter of 2025, our international business was down from last year. However, we secured sizable orders from two stadium customers in Spain and Australia as they are expanding their systems. We also see a strong uptake in indoor solutions across multiple markets, especially government entities, through growing our audiovisual integrator channel partners. Pictured here is an indoor video display at the United Arab Emirates University. High school park and recreation continues to have a solid year with third quarter order growth of 13.4% over last year. We have expanded our presence among the 30-some thousand high schools in the US and continue to win projects by leveraging our position in the communities we serve and enhancing our differentiating financial service offerings through Daktronics Sports Marketing. We expect continued strong uptake in our leading solutions and adoption of professional services, particularly in high school curriculum development and Dak Classroom service offerings. Pictured here is Marathon High School in Florida. Turning to slide 5. Key product releases. Our commitment to innovation continues to differentiate us as a value provider among our customers. In the third quarter, we introduced our next generation indoor video solution for high school arenas, as well as a next generation Digital Audio Facade for outdoor audio solutions. For the remainder of fiscal 2026, we have 2 additional product launches planned. Our next generation LED street furniture, as well as, specialized large digit fuel price system offerings, which expands our product line for high-rise signage for long distance visibility. The photos here show an example of our indoor narrow pixel pitch at Cardinal High School in Eldon, Iowa, and our new Digital Audio Facade installed at Dallas Independent School District in Dallas, Texas. Turning to slide 6. Our plan to achieve a sustainably higher profit growth for the company remains on track in the third quarter. Here's an update of the third quarter on initiatives and progress. The strategic price adjustments we have implemented align with our value selling approach. The development of our software-as-a-service initiative augments how we serve the market, developing recurring revenue subscription models, and simplifying our customer engagement. We are digitizing most aspects of our business to make it easier and faster for customers to do business with us and to improve internal operating efficiency and are actively applying artificial intelligence to improve productivity throughout the company. I will now turn it over to Howard Atkins, our acting Chief Financial Officer, to review our financials. Howard? Thank you, Brad, good day, everyone. Thank you for your interest in Daktronics. The Daktronics team produced another solid quarter in the third quarter. We anticipated the usual seasonal pattern with fewer days to complete order bookings and to fulfill revenue, and also typical adverse weather conditions that did prevail in the quarter. Because this was anticipated, we took steps in the field and in our manufacturing management to continue the year-over-year growth that we've now produced over each of the last four quarters. As Brad mentioned, orders grew about 8%. Remember, last year in the third quarter, we booked a $30 million stadium order. This year in Q3, we also had a number of larger orders, including one stadium order on the last day of the quarter, but the single largest deal in the third quarter of this year was $13 million. Importantly, our orders have now been relatively broad-based at or over $200 million in each of the last five quarters, including a record Transportation order in the third quarter. As orders have grown, so has revenue, which at $182 million in the quarter grew more than 20% year-over-year, mostly due to efficient order conversion by our manufacturing teams during the quarter, which included working more than one shift at times to fulfill the extra order flow around the holidays. Gross profit margin in the quarter was essentially flat to the year ago quarter at 24%, reflecting a variety of factors. One, the benefit of operating leverage as revenue rose year-over-year relative to fixed costs in our cost of goods sold. Secondly, the efficiencies we've achieved up and down the supply chain as a result of the business transformation initiatives that have been undertaken in the last year. Thirdly, mix on new business was a little bit better in the third quarter than previously. These margin benefits were offset by the fact that the backlog fulfillment in the quarter was largely from the lower margin Live Events business line. More importantly, last year did not contain any reciprocal tariff or any other of the newer tariffs that were only introduced late in the fourth quarter of 2025. We had an extra $6 million, for example, of total tariff expense in the third quarter of this year. The sequential gross profit margin declined from 27% to 24%. The main factor there was fixed cost operating leverage again, which, as previously described, when revenue is going up, it typically goes up faster than our fixed costs and gross profit margin, COGS, and on the way down, it just has the opposite effect. Revenue declines a little faster than the fixed cost side of cost of goods sold. Daktronics' third quarter 2026 net income after tax was $3 million or $0.06 per fully diluted share. This quarter included non-recurring expenses related to management transition and acquisition expenses of $1.6 million, or adjusted net income of $4.6 million. Last year's third quarter net loss of $17.2 million included a $14 million fair value adjustment on the convertible note that has since been converted, also contained $3.6 million of consultant-related expenses associated with the business transformation initiatives and corporate governance matters that pertained last year. Adjusted net income a year ago, therefore, was about a half a million dollars, we're up quite substantially from there. After removing the non-recurring expenses and non-cash benefit, our third quarter 2026 net income rose significantly on an adjusted basis. Since we have solid earnings, we're able, starting this year, to take advantage of the new tax laws permitting accelerated depreciation for R&D and other expenses. On a pre-tax basis, operating income for the quarter was $1.9 million compared with an operating loss of $3.6 million in the third quarter of 2025. In addition to the non-recurring items, the company incurred a $400,000 expense for the first time as it absorbed the expert developers that Brad mentioned before from XDC. The impact of the intellectual property adjustments on the Daktronics balance sheet was negligible. We had a small gain offset by a write-down of the remaining loan that we had to XDC from Daktronics. Negligible balance sheet impact and about $400,000 impact on expenses, operating expenses for the one month that we absorbed so far the new team. segment revenue. This table, if you remember, shows at the business line level, over a period of time last year and then sequential quarters as well, the percentage of our revenue coming from each of our business lines and the margin most currently they were earning on each of those businesses. It also shows, as I said, gross profit margin earned in the third quarter, to give you some sense of how business mix is impacting our revenue. As indicated a couple of times, most of our revenue growth this past year has derived from the fulfillment of Live Events projects, which typically are lower margin projects, so that's what's coming through on the revenue line We did have a small amount of revenue in the quarter coming through some new orders, but as Brad alluded to before, this quarter in particular, we had a little bit of a skewing towards the back end of the quarter in terms of the new order growth. As a result, the revenue contribution from that will land in the fourth quarter as opposed to the third quarter. Again, most of the revenue coming through in the third quarter was from backlog fulfillment. I should mention that in Live Events, the fulfillment that we have is heavily engineered with higher dependence on indirect installation costs. Next slide shows you our segment product backlog. Last quarter, we highlighted for you again that most of the revenue coming through from the backlog was Live Events. The product backlogs stood at $342 million at the end of the third quarter, continue to be up 25% from a year ago. Particularly with the recent major wins, our backlog remains high and remains weighted towards Live Events. We're now starting to convert the major projects that we have talked about over the past couple of quarters, which will be a feature of our revenue growth in the fourth quarter and into the early quarters of fiscal 2027. This gives us, as you would imagine, a multi-quarter runway on our revenue, and a more predictable growth pattern, and a stronger revenue recurrence over the next couple of quarters. The combination of a high backlog, as I've just alluded to, coming into the fourth quarter with what we are seeing as a good pipeline, already in the fourth quarter with autumn momentum sets us up well, for good top and bottom line finish to the year. Let me now move to the next slide and talk about our balance sheet, which, as you may remember, has been potentially strengthened over the last three or four quarters. This slide shows you how we are managing working capital and capital allocation. First, our inventory levels have moderated relative to revenue over the past several quarters of manufacturing. Doing a really good job officially managing inventory. This is one of the initiatives that we undertook on the business transformation project started last year. This reflects, again, better alignment and improving efficiency in our working capital management. During the first 9 months of the year, we repurchased approximately 1.3 million shares of common stock at a volume-weighted average price of $17.6. That leaves us with about $17 million worth of open share repurchase authority. Since the company reinstituted its share repurchase program in late 2024, the company's repurchased 3.36 million shares of stock at a VWAP of about 15% or 15.5%. We ended the quarter with a cash balance of $144 million, an increase of 13% from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025. We continue to run a relatively strong cash balance even with the share repurchase activity. We potentially are keeping a very strong balance sheet to give us the resiliency and the adaptability to continue to generate strong returns for our shareholders going forward as we use cash and capital with the company for shareholder benefit. We have converted our commercial bank backup credit line from an asset-based facility to a cash flow facility, reducing its cost, providing the company with additional financing flexibility if necessary. We of course have no borrowings under the company's bank line of credit and none are contemplated at this point in time. We now turn the floor over to Ramesh. Thank you, Howard, and good morning, everyone. It's an exciting time to officially join and serve as Daktronics' CEO. I'm honored to lead a great company at this pivotal time and to work with a talented team that has accomplished a great deal in strengthening a resilient platform for sustainable and profitable growth. As we move to the next slide, I wanna start by thanking Brad Wiemann, who presented earlier today, who has served very capably as the interim President and CEO. Brad has been instrumental in my onboarding, and we have completed a smooth transition and handover of the CEO role. Brad will stay with Daktronics as Executive Vice President and Advisor, and I will continue to rely on his knowledge and judgment as we move forward. Thank you again, Brad. Moving to the next slide. My first priority as I joined February 1st officially, was to come up to speed quickly. I've been on a learning journey, what I call as a look, listen, learn tour. As I settle into Brookings, South Dakota, to be closer to the team and to our business, it has been an absolute warm welcome by the past management, the team, and the community as a whole. I've had a chance to travel both domestically and internationally, visiting sites in bidding as well as completed stage to understand our offerings, meet our customers and suppliers, including at a global trade show. In addition, have spent time in some of our factories and repair centers to look at the operational excellence work that's in progress, and with our frontline, our sales and field service technicians. In addition, spend time on reviewing plans for our talent development as we look at the growth that we are planning ahead. This journey continues to teach me as we continue defining our strategies, all with an intent of being a market-led, technology-driven, and customer-focused difference maker in the AV market space. Turning to the next slide. I have to say, as I get around the company, I've been personally able to witness firsthand the dedication, the focus, and the drive of our team members and the results they can produce as you just saw Q3 results. We are entering into the final quarter of the year with very strong momentum, strong end market demand, and a strong backlog tailwind. We are driving towards a strong finish of fiscal 26 through efficient revenue conversion and expense and productivity management to deliver strong results and continued cash flow generation. We're in parallel, also formulating our next strategic steps from a customer-led and market-first perspective with the lens on growth. Developing products, services, and solutions that extend our competitive lead and building a lens on operational excellence to optimize the profitability and cash generation we deliver. I would like to personally invite you all to our Investor Day on April ninth at the Nasdaq MarketSite, where the leadership team and I will present our joint plans to drive the next phase of Daktronics' growth. We will offer updates on our vertical market growth opportunities, execution initiatives, innovation priorities, as well as our capital allocation and financial frameworks. We look forward to having you join us. With that, we'll turn the call over for your questions. Operator? Certainly. As a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, if you do have a question at this time, please press star one one on your telephone. Our first question comes from the line of Aaron Spychalla from Craig-Hallum Capital Group. Your question, please. Yeah. Hi, Ramesh, Brad, and Howard. Thanks for taking the questions. You know, maybe first for me on the win rates. You know, they've been really impressive on the large scale side of Live Events. You know, you talked about 6 for 6. Can you just talk about how that pipeline is shaping up here as seasons, you know, kinda wrap up in the next few months? Just maybe how would you characterize win rates across the overall business versus historical? Hey, good morning, Aaron. This is Brad. Yeah, we won another Major League Baseball project, which is excellent. Our pipeline continues to be robust, strong going into this next year. We're happy about that. Of course, you've seen our backlog. We have a nice backlog in the business. We have the college university side. We've talked about that in the past, and some of the headwinds that are in that market but are being worked out. That's really around the NIL money that's being spent on coaches and players. We think that all gets worked out. As you saw, we had the university or the Illinois project that we worked out, largest football stadium build that we had. There's others in the pipeline, we're excited that opportunity still exists. Pipeline overall looks good. Win rate, of course, as you mentioned, we were 6 of 6 this last year, so we're excited about that. That's partly to play with one of our competitors taking a little bit of a back seat in the marketplace this last year, which we've talked about before. Is that helpful, Craig? I'm also able to add to it from my perspective. I mean, I think we've got a strong wins in Live Events, as Brad just mentioned. Our high school market, our Transportation market, they also continue to be strong. I think it's important to kind of have the fact that as we look at our growth, we are looking with the balanced portfolio and the appropriate portfolio management as we kind of move ahead to gain market share. As Brad earlier mentioned, we had a massive win in Transportation, that was, we just announced. Really, as you look at our high school markets, they continue to be strong, just driven by this change from scoreboards to video. I think we see that trend continuing to be strong in the marketplace. I would say it's balanced overall as we try and look at our growth story, just going through the quarters as they do in terms of how high schools spend and the college, you know, and the football or the NFL or NBA teams kind of spend. That's what we're going. Thanks. I appreciate the color on that. Maybe, you know, on the commercial market, I know you've been making inroads, you know, expanding the reseller and integrator channel. Just maybe, you know, an update there. It seems like demand trends are pretty good in that market as well. Yeah, they continue to remain strong. I talked about our on-premise as well as our both spectaculars and out-of-home market. Those are still looking promising. The overall buying position of out-of-home customers that's in the advertising segment is strong. I did mention one customer that's pulled back a little bit in the third quarter. That's one of our national customers. We believe that recovers this next quarter. Nothing concerning there. Our products that we're bringing to the marketplace for the on-premise segment continue to help us to win projects there so that we're seeing growth from that side of it. On the spectacular side, we had a nice win in Times Square, as I mentioned, but the exciting part for me is the audiovisual integrator space that we continue to see growth in, and that's on our indoor product lines, which is really a big part of our overall growth strategy. Just I mean, on that, you know, kind of reseller and integrator channel, I mean, maybe an update on just kinda efforts there, you know, where you are in kind of that journey? Yeah. On the reseller side, we've been in that business for some time, and we, you know, continue. We have salespeople all across the US. Continue to work and develop sales channel partners and to promote, you know, more of our products through that channel. That's going well. The AV integrator is a newer area for us, and we are seeing continued growth. I think I can't quite go back to the numbers 'cause I don't have them top of mind, but we're seeing continued growth expansion in that space in both in terms of number of integrators, number of orders, and the number of quotes. The pipeline continues to grow, and that's really aligning around our indoor product lines and this Chip on Board offering that we that's really doing quite well for us. That's helping us both in the AV space as well as some of these large projects, which we mentioned across Transportation, airports and other things.Overall, we're going to continue to invest in that area to expand our presence in that particular market space or through that channel partner of AV integrators. Thanks for the color there. Maybe one last question on margins. You know, I know you highlighted the tariff impact, so excluding that and another good quarter, maybe just talk, you know, what inning you think you're in from these operational initiatives and just trying to understand, you know, where margins can go from here and any thoughts kinda more broadly on, you know, any like oil impact and just kinda what's going on macro-wise, what that, you know, could mean for the supply chain if anything. On the first issue, Aaron, in terms of where we are, you know, we've either started or well on the way on, you know, the vast bulk of the initiatives that sort of came out of the project we did last year. All of what we've either started or are in the process of completing has either been built into or is about to be built into our, you know, regular strategic planning process. That's how we're embracing everything and sort of tracking to make sure that everything gets completed going forward. I would say, you know, from a starting and along the way point of view, we're well into the game. In terms of the realization of the benefit, you know, I'd also say we're a year into the, you know, to the effort at this point. You know, again, we're more than a third to a half into the actual realization of the benefit. Again, the important thing is, you know, we're taking what we've done and now building it into a sort of more comprehensive strategic plan because the world changes and there's more things that we, you know, are thinking of doing for sure about strategically and operational efficiency things as well. We'll continue to talk about that, and we'll have some detail around that at the Investor Day. As far as the geopolitical situation in the world, we're monitoring it. You know, there is risk out there, and a lot of uncertainty. Obviously, the uncertainty level has gone up. As we've described in the past, you know, we intentionally keep things in the company reasonably adaptable, and as the world changes, we'll adapt to the world. We have a, you know, great manufacturing network that allows us to do that. We have a team that works well together to make sure that it happens effectively. Being adaptable and resilient here is really important. Also having the cash resilience is important. That's kind of where we're how we're trying to deal with the uncertainty. Great. Thanks for taking the questions, and looking forward to the Investor Day. I will turn it over. Thank you. As a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, if you do have a question at this time, please press star one one on your telephone. Our next question comes from the line of Anja Soderstrom from Sidoti. Your question please. Hi, thank you for taking my question. I have some follow-ups and then I have some other questions. It's on your gross margin. You also mentioned it was due to revenue mix and the Live Events being softer. Given Live Events is a big part of your backlog, how should we think about the impact of that going forward? Anja, there is a table in the presentation which shows you as of the end of the quarter, the revenue mix of revenue in the backlog, so you can see actually the number. We try to give you what might be left of the revenue after the fourth quarter is finished. We have, you know, somewhat of a hint, if you will, if not a calculation of what you might expect coming through from the backlog and how Live Events might impact that. The point that we would make about the revenue or the GP margin declining sequentially, again, has to do with the fact that in our gross profit margin, the cost of goods sold side of the margin does have some fixed cost in it. When revenue is going up, we get the benefit of that on the gross profit margin. When revenue's going down, as it did seasonally in the third quarter, the opposite effect happens. We'll have more to say about that as well to help you understand that, in the, at the Investor Day. Okay. Thank you. Then in terms of the Mexico facility, is that on track? Would that have any sort of impact on the margins? I'm sorry, Anja, say again, please. The Mexico facility, is that on track to be up and running in April? Would that potentially have an impact on the growth margin as well? Not a significant impact on the growth margin or overall, you know, capital expenses, you know, have been capitalized, and we're leasing the facility there. Your question about being on track, yes, it is. We expect to be up and operating in the first quarter, of FY 2027, so this coming next fiscal year. That's all progressing well and expect to be fully operational certainly by the second quarter. Okay. Thank you. Then you mentioned the delay from a key account in the commercial. What gives you a confidence that that is temporary? Do you expect maybe that shortfall in the third quarter to be made up in the fourth quarter or? Yeah. What I'm referencing there without naming, you know, the account itself, but there was an acquisition made in this past year, so that they're going through that acquisition phase. We expect that to fully, you know, be in place and in order to continue to come in, coming in the fourth quarter. Nothing new there. We'll certainly keep you apprised if something changes, but we don't expect that to be the case. Okay, great. Thank you. Just as we have entered 2026, how, with everything that's going on and uncertainty, have you felt that the sentiment among your customers has changed at all or? Yeah. We work in big projects, you know, large projects that are well capitalized and have been moving along. The opportunities that are out there, we're not foreseeing any reduction. Now I'm speaking of the US market, which is the majority of our business, right? We get to the international side of it. We do, you know, some business throughout the Middle East and, you know, Australia, of course, and in Europe. We'll see how that plays out. Overall, I think the sentiment is projects are moving forward. They're funded. We're part of a larger overall project, we're typically on the back end of the project. Those are usually well-funded and moving forward. We're not expecting anything to be delayed at this point. Okay. Thank you. In terms of M&A, what can we expect there? What are you looking at there? How is the market for M&A? You know, as we've said in the past, Anja, and we continue to believe there are opportunities to do tokens and fill-ins in each of our businesses. We're obviously looking at that. The author's message I would give you on that is just our flexibility. Again, we've got a strong cash position. We, as you know, from everything that we do, we're return-focused. We're not gonna do anything that doesn't make sense strategically, doesn't have industrial logic to it, but also it's gotta meet our, you know, financial return criteria, and we have to be able to integrate properly. Those are important characteristics. You know, along the strategic path, there inevitably will be some opportunities for us. I think to add to Howard, you know, this is part of our strategic consideration. Clearly, as Howard mentioned, the industrial logic has to make sense. As we look at it through all phases, whether it be product, verticals or geographies, this is something we are, you know, we are considering actively on a daily basis, just given our cash position. But you know, at this stage, we don't have anyone that we could go and say we're right behind. It is clear that, you know, once one of these comes to fruition, we will be able to talk about it with history. Okay, great. Thank you. That was all for me. All right. Thanks, Anja. Thank you. This does conclude the question and answer session of today's program. I'd like to hand the program back to Ramesh ready for the remarks. Thank you. Again, thank you everyone for participating. Thank you for joining our call today. We will be appearing, as I mentioned, at the Investor Day on April ninth, but also at the ROTH Conference in March, and we look forward to seeing you there. We clearly look forward to speaking with you all on our fourth quarter call. Thank you again and just have a great day. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect. Good day.

Speaker 6: Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Daktronics third quarter fiscal year 2026 financial results conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you'll need to press star 11 on your telephone. If your question has been answered and you'd like to remove yourself from the queue, simply press star 11 again. As a reminder, today's program is being recorded. Now I'd like to introduce your host for today's program, Lindsay Vetter. Please go ahead. Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Daktronics third quarter fiscal year 2026 financial results conference call. thank you for standing by and welcome to the daktronics third quarter fiscal year 2026 financial results conference call At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. at this time all participants are in listen-only mode After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. after the speaker's presentation there will be a question-and-answer session To ask a question during the session, you'll need to press star 11 on your telephone. to ask a question during the session you'll need to press star 11 on your telephone If your question has been answered and you'd like to remove yourself from the queue, simply press star 11 again. if your question has been answered and you'd like to remove yourself from the queue simply press star 11 again As a reminder, today's program is being recorded. as a reminder today's program is being recorded Now I'd like to introduce your host for today's program, Lindsay Vetter. now i'd like to introduce your host for today's program lindsay vetter Please go ahead. please go ahead

Speaker 5: Thank you, Jonathan. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for participating in our third quarter earnings conference call. During today's presentation, we will make forward-looking statements reflecting our expectations and plans about our future financial performance and future business opportunities. These forward-looking statements reflect the company's expectations or beliefs about future events based on information currently available to us. Of course, actual results could differ. Please refer to slide 2 of the presentation that accompanies today's call, our press release, and our SEC filings for information on risk factors, uncertainties, and expectations that could cause actual results to differ materially from these expectations. During this presentation, we will also refer to non-GAAP financial measures. Thank you, Jonathan. thank you jonathan Good morning, everyone. good morning everyone Thank you for participating in our third quarter earnings conference call. thank you for participating in our third quarter earnings conference call During today's presentation, we will make forward-looking statements reflecting our expectations and plans about our future financial performance and future business opportunities. during today's presentation we will make forward-looking statements reflecting our expectations and plans about our future financial performance and future business opportunities These forward-looking statements reflect the company's expectations or beliefs about future events based on information currently available to us. these forward-looking statements reflect the company's expectations or beliefs about future events based on information currently available to us Of course, actual results could differ. of course actual results could differ Please refer to slide 2 of the presentation that accompanies today's call, our press release, and our SEC filings for information on risk factors, uncertainties, and expectations that could cause actual results to differ materially from these expectations. please refer to slide 2 of the presentation that accompanies today's call our press release and our sec filings for information on risk factors uncertainties and expectations that could cause actual results to differ materially from these expectations During this presentation, we will also refer to non-GAAP financial measures. during this presentation we will also refer to non-gaap financial measures You can find the reconciliation of each non-GAAP measure to the most directly comparable GAAP measure in the appendix to the company's presentation slides, which may be found on the investor relations page of our website at www.daktronics.com. Our earnings release for the 2026 third quarter, which was furnished to the SEC on Form 8-K this morning, also contains certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, as well as a discussion of certain limitations when using non-GAAP financial measures, are included in the earnings release, which has been posted separately to the investor relations page of our website. I'll turn the call over to Brad Wiemann, Interim President and CEO through the third quarter for his review. You can find the reconciliation of each non-GAAP measure to the most directly comparable GAAP measure in the appendix to the company's presentation slides, which may be found on the investor relations page of our website at www.daktronics.com. you can find the reconciliation of each non-gaap measure to the most directly comparable gaap measure in the appendix to the company's presentation slides which may be found on the investor relations page of our website at www.daktronics.com Our earnings release for the 2026 third quarter, which was furnished to the SEC on Form 8-K this morning, also contains certain non-GAAP financial measures. our earnings release for the 2026 third quarter which was furnished to the sec on form 8-k this morning also contains certain non-gaap financial measures Reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, as well as a discussion of certain limitations when using non-GAAP financial measures, are included in the earnings release, which has been posted separately to the investor relations page of our website. reconciliation of these non-gaap financial measures to the most directly comparable gaap financial measures as well as a discussion of certain limitations when using non-gaap financial measures are included in the earnings release which has been posted separately to the investor relations page of our website I'll turn the call over to Brad Wiemann, Interim President and CEO through the third quarter for his review. i'll turn the call over to brad wiemann interim president and ceo through the third quarter for his review

Speaker 3: Well, good morning, everyone, and welcome to our call. Thank you for joining our 3rd quarter fiscal 2026 call. I'm joined on the call by Howard Atkins, board member and acting Chief Financial Officer, along with Ramesh Jayaraman, CEO and President, who is officially in the role as of February 1st. We will review our fiscal 2026 3rd quarter, which ended on January 31st, 2026, along with the results and accomplishments, and then take your questions. Turning to our slide presentation on slide 3. Here are the key messages for the 3rd quarter. The team delivered another quarter of solid results, driving revenue growth of 21.6% year-over-year, despite the effectively shorter work period due to the 3 major holidays, as well as adverse weather conditions throughout the quarter. Well, good morning, everyone, and welcome to our call. well good morning everyone and welcome to our call Thank you for joining our 3rd quarter fiscal 2026 call. thank you for joining our 3rd quarter fiscal 2026 call I'm joined on the call by Howard Atkins, board member and acting Chief Financial Officer, along with Ramesh Jayaraman, CEO and President, who is officially in the role as of February 1st. i'm joined on the call by howard atkins board member and acting chief financial officer along with ramesh jayaraman ceo and president who is officially in the role as of february 1st We will review our fiscal 2026 3rd quarter, which ended on January 31st, 2026, along with the results and accomplishments, and then take your questions. we will review our fiscal 2026 3rd quarter which ended on january 31st 2026 along with the results and accomplishments and then take your questions Turning to our slide presentation on slide 3. turning to our slide presentation on slide 3 Here are the key messages for the 3rd quarter. here are the key messages for the 3rd quarter The team delivered another quarter of solid results, driving revenue growth of 21.6% year-over-year, despite the effectively shorter work period due to the 3 major holidays, as well as adverse weather conditions throughout the quarter. the team delivered another quarter of solid results driving revenue growth of 21.6% year-over-year despite the effectively shorter work period due to the 3 major holidays as well as adverse weather conditions throughout the quarter Our manufacturing team did a superb job in officially converting the order book we have built over the past few quarters. During the quarter, we progressed with several large-scale installations, including five Major League Baseball stadiums, such as the Seattle Mariners, as well as the University of Illinois football video scoring system. Orders in the quarter were once again over $200 million. Our sales and marketing team secured large orders in our Live Events segment. Our Transportation segment had a record order quarter with a good uptake in airport and intelligent transportation system projects. With new order growth in the quarter at 7.6%, our product and services backlog grew to $342 million coming into Q4 and is 25% higher than it was this time last year. Our manufacturing team did a superb job in officially converting the order book we have built over the past few quarters. our manufacturing team did a superb job in officially converting the order book we have built over the past few quarters During the quarter, we progressed with several large-scale installations, including five Major League Baseball stadiums, such as the Seattle Mariners, as well as the University of Illinois football video scoring system. during the quarter we progressed with several large-scale installations including five major league baseball stadiums such as the seattle mariners as well as the university of illinois football video scoring system Orders in the quarter were once again over $200 million. orders in the quarter were once again over $200 million Our sales and marketing team secured large orders in our Live Events segment. our sales and marketing team secured large orders in our live events segment Our Transportation segment had a record order quarter with a good uptake in airport and intelligent transportation system projects. our transportation segment had a record order quarter with a good uptake in airport and intelligent transportation system projects With new order growth in the quarter at 7.6%, our product and services backlog grew to $342 million coming into Q4 and is 25% higher than it was this time last year. with new order growth in the quarter at 7.6% our product and services backlog grew to $342 million coming into q4 and is 25% higher than it was this time last year In December, we announced our acquisition of the intellectual property and the absorption of associated engineering teams from X Display Company or XDC, expanding our Micro LED and micro integrated circuit capabilities. XDC advances our high-resolution, narrow pixel pitch product offerings and provides us a cost-effective pathway to service small volume display opportunities with medium-sized display solutions. While the Supreme Court decision on reciprocal tariffs is now known, the market outcome with respect to refunds is likely to be highly uncertain for the foreseeable future. Turning to slide 4. In our Live Events business, as I mentioned, we won another Major League Baseball project in the quarter, making us 6 for 6 on large Major League Baseball projects in fiscal 2026. Additionally, we won several other stadium and arena display enhancements as customers continue to expand their digital display footprint throughout their venues. In December, we announced our acquisition of the intellectual property and the absorption of associated engineering teams from X Display Company or XDC, expanding our Micro LED and micro integrated circuit capabilities. in december we announced our acquisition of the intellectual property and the absorption of associated engineering teams from x display company or xdc expanding our micro led and micro integrated circuit capabilities XDC advances our high-resolution, narrow pixel pitch product offerings and provides us a cost-effective pathway to service small volume display opportunities with medium-sized display solutions. xdc advances our high-resolution narrow pixel pitch product offerings and provides us a cost-effective pathway to service small volume display opportunities with medium-sized display solutions While the Supreme Court decision on reciprocal tariffs is now known, the market outcome with respect to refunds is likely to be highly uncertain for the foreseeable future. while the supreme court decision on reciprocal tariffs is now known the market outcome with respect to refunds is likely to be highly uncertain for the foreseeable future Turning to slide 4. turning to slide 4 In our Live Events business, as I mentioned, we won another Major League Baseball project in the quarter, making us 6 for 6 on large Major League Baseball projects in fiscal 2026. in our live events business as i mentioned we won another major league baseball project in the quarter making us 6 for 6 on large major league baseball projects in fiscal 2026 Additionally, we won several other stadium and arena display enhancements as customers continue to expand their digital display footprint throughout their venues. additionally we won several other stadium and arena display enhancements as customers continue to expand their digital display footprint throughout their venues We continue to enhance our product and service offerings to align with customer needs, such as our narrow pixel pitch product line, advanced control system capabilities to engage fans, and improve seamless control and management of display content from anywhere, giving venue operators greater flexibility and control over their digital assets. Pictured here is the Seattle Mariners project. In our commercial business, on-premise advertising business remains strong. Customers continued to successfully transition to next-generation field type products, which was supported by a large order from a national customer. In our out-of-home business, we added several new customers this quarter, but we're down overall due to purchase delays from a key account, which we expect to recover in the fourth quarter. We continue to enhance our product and service offerings to align with customer needs, such as our narrow pixel pitch product line, advanced control system capabilities to engage fans, and improve seamless control and management of display content from anywhere, giving venue operators greater flexibility and control over their digital assets. we continue to enhance our product and service offerings to align with customer needs such as our narrow pixel pitch product line advanced control system capabilities to engage fans and improve seamless control and management of display content from anywhere giving venue operators greater flexibility and control over their digital assets Pictured here is the Seattle Mariners project. pictured here is the seattle mariners project In our commercial business, on-premise advertising business remains strong. in our commercial business on-premise advertising business remains strong Customers continued to successfully transition to next-generation field type products, which was supported by a large order from a national customer. In our out-of-home business, we added several new customers this quarter, but we're down overall due to purchase delays from a key account, which we expect to recover in the fourth quarter. customers continued to successfully transition to next-generation field type products which was supported by a large order from a national customer. in our out-of-home business we added several new customers this quarter but we're down overall due to purchase delays from a key account which we expect to recover in the fourth quarter Our pipeline of opportunities continues to expand with independent billboard operators as more and more customers recognize our value proposition based on brand strength, image quality, reliability, service responsiveness, and reputation for innovation with the release of our new billboard products. In our outdoor spectacular segment, we booked a large order in Times Square, and we grew our pipeline of projects. We also expanded our indoor business, sold through audiovisual integrator channels through our offerings of narrow pixel pitch Chip on Board products. Pictured here is the Miami Beach Convention Center. Transportation business orders for both intelligent transportation systems and aviation were up a record 130% from last year. We secured a very significant project with one of the top five airports in the US, along with new orders from Caltrans in California. Our pipeline of opportunities continues to expand with independent billboard operators as more and more customers recognize our value proposition based on brand strength, image quality, reliability, service responsiveness, and reputation for innovation with the release of our new billboard products. our pipeline of opportunities continues to expand with independent billboard operators as more and more customers recognize our value proposition based on brand strength image quality reliability service responsiveness and reputation for innovation with the release of our new billboard products In our outdoor spectacular segment, we booked a large order in Times Square, and we grew our pipeline of projects. in our outdoor spectacular segment we booked a large order in times square and we grew our pipeline of projects We also expanded our indoor business, sold through audiovisual integrator channels through our offerings of narrow pixel pitch Chip on Board products. we also expanded our indoor business sold through audiovisual integrator channels through our offerings of narrow pixel pitch chip on board products Pictured here is the Miami Beach Convention Center. pictured here is the miami beach convention center Transportation business orders for both intelligent transportation systems and aviation were up a record 130% from last year. transportation business orders for both intelligent transportation systems and aviation were up a record 130% from last year We secured a very significant project with one of the top five airports in the US, along with new orders from Caltrans in California. we secured a very significant project with one of the top five airports in the us along with new orders from caltrans in california Pictured here is a rendering of that top five airport win. In international, after a great order year in the third quarter of 2025, our international business was down from last year. However, we secured sizable orders from two stadium customers in Spain and Australia as they are expanding their systems. We also see a strong uptake in indoor solutions across multiple markets, especially government entities, through growing our audiovisual integrator channel partners. Pictured here is an indoor video display at the United Arab Emirates University. High school park and recreation continues to have a solid year with third quarter order growth of 13.4% over last year. Pictured here is a rendering of that top five airport win. pictured here is a rendering of that top five airport win In international, after a great order year in the third quarter of 2025, our international business was down from last year. in international after a great order year in the third quarter of 2025 our international business was down from last year However, we secured sizable orders from two stadium customers in Spain and Australia as they are expanding their systems. however we secured sizable orders from two stadium customers in spain and australia as they are expanding their systems We also see a strong uptake in indoor solutions across multiple markets, especially government entities, through growing our audiovisual integrator channel partners. we also see a strong uptake in indoor solutions across multiple markets especially government entities through growing our audiovisual integrator channel partners Pictured here is an indoor video display at the United Arab Emirates University. pictured here is an indoor video display at the united arab emirates university High school park and recreation continues to have a solid year with third quarter order growth of 13.4% over last year. high school park and recreation continues to have a solid year with third quarter order growth of 13.4% over last year We have expanded our presence among the 30-some thousand high schools in the US and continue to win projects by leveraging our position in the communities we serve and enhancing our differentiating financial service offerings through Daktronics Sports Marketing. We expect continued strong uptake in our leading solutions and adoption of professional services, particularly in high school curriculum development and Dak Classroom service offerings. Pictured here is Marathon High School in Florida. Turning to slide 5. Key product releases. Our commitment to innovation continues to differentiate us as a value provider among our customers. In the third quarter, we introduced our next generation indoor video solution for high school arenas, as well as a next generation Digital Audio Facade for outdoor audio solutions. For the remainder of fiscal 2026, we have 2 additional product launches planned. We have expanded our presence among the 30-some thousand high schools in the US and continue to win projects by leveraging our position in the communities we serve and enhancing our differentiating financial service offerings through Daktronics Sports Marketing. we have expanded our presence among the 30-some thousand high schools in the us and continue to win projects by leveraging our position in the communities we serve and enhancing our differentiating financial service offerings through daktronics sports marketing We expect continued strong uptake in our leading solutions and adoption of professional services, particularly in high school curriculum development and Dak Classroom service offerings. we expect continued strong uptake in our leading solutions and adoption of professional services particularly in high school curriculum development and dak classroom service offerings Pictured here is Marathon High School in Florida. pictured here is marathon high school in florida Turning to slide 5. turning to slide 5 Key product releases. key product releases Our commitment to innovation continues to differentiate us as a value provider among our customers. our commitment to innovation continues to differentiate us as a value provider among our customers In the third quarter, we introduced our next generation indoor video solution for high school arenas, as well as a next generation Digital Audio Facade for outdoor audio solutions. in the third quarter we introduced our next generation indoor video solution for high school arenas as well as a next generation digital audio facade for outdoor audio solutions For the remainder of fiscal 2026, we have 2 additional product launches planned. for the remainder of fiscal 2026 we have 2 additional product launches planned Our next generation LED street furniture, as well as, specialized large digit fuel price system offerings, which expands our product line for high-rise signage for long distance visibility. The photos here show an example of our indoor narrow pixel pitch at Cardinal High School in Eldon, Iowa, and our new Digital Audio Facade installed at Dallas Independent School District in Dallas, Texas. Turning to slide 6. Our plan to achieve a sustainably higher profit growth for the company remains on track in the third quarter. Here's an update of the third quarter on initiatives and progress. The strategic price adjustments we have implemented align with our value selling approach. The development of our software-as-a-service initiative augments how we serve the market, developing recurring revenue subscription models, and simplifying our customer engagement. Our next generation LED street furniture, as well as, specialized large digit fuel price system offerings, which expands our product line for high-rise signage for long distance visibility. our next generation led street furniture as well as specialized large digit fuel price system offerings which expands our product line for high-rise signage for long distance visibility The photos here show an example of our indoor narrow pixel pitch at Cardinal High School in Eldon, Iowa, and our new Digital Audio Facade installed at Dallas Independent School District in Dallas, Texas. the photos here show an example of our indoor narrow pixel pitch at cardinal high school in eldon iowa and our new digital audio facade installed at dallas independent school district in dallas texas Turning to slide 6. turning to slide 6 Our plan to achieve a sustainably higher profit growth for the company remains on track in the third quarter. our plan to achieve a sustainably higher profit growth for the company remains on track in the third quarter Here's an update of the third quarter on initiatives and progress. here's an update of the third quarter on initiatives and progress The strategic price adjustments we have implemented align with our value selling approach. the strategic price adjustments we have implemented align with our value selling approach The development of our software-as-a-service initiative augments how we serve the market, developing recurring revenue subscription models, and simplifying our customer engagement. the development of our software-as-a-service initiative augments how we serve the market developing recurring revenue subscription models and simplifying our customer engagement We are digitizing most aspects of our business to make it easier and faster for customers to do business with us and to improve internal operating efficiency and are actively applying artificial intelligence to improve productivity throughout the company. I will now turn it over to Howard Atkins, our acting Chief Financial Officer, to review our financials. Howard? We are digitizing most aspects of our business to make it easier and faster for customers to do business with us and to improve internal operating efficiency and are actively applying artificial intelligence to improve productivity throughout the company. we are digitizing most aspects of our business to make it easier and faster for customers to do business with us and to improve internal operating efficiency and are actively applying artificial intelligence to improve productivity throughout the company I will now turn it over to Howard Atkins, our acting Chief Financial Officer, to review our financials. i will now turn it over to howard atkins our acting chief financial officer to review our financials Howard? howard

Speaker 4: Thank you, Brad, good day, everyone. Thank you for your interest in Daktronics. The Daktronics team produced another solid quarter in the third quarter. We anticipated the usual seasonal pattern with fewer days to complete order bookings and to fulfill revenue, and also typical adverse weather conditions that did prevail in the quarter. Because this was anticipated, we took steps in the field and in our manufacturing management to continue the year-over-year growth that we've now produced over each of the last four quarters. As Brad mentioned, orders grew about 8%. Remember, last year in the third quarter, we booked a $30 million stadium order. Thank you, Brad, good day, everyone. thank you brad good day everyone Thank you for your interest in Daktronics. thank you for your interest in daktronics The Daktronics team produced another solid quarter in the third quarter. the daktronics team produced another solid quarter in the third quarter We anticipated the usual seasonal pattern with fewer days to complete order bookings and to fulfill revenue, and also typical adverse weather conditions that did prevail in the quarter. we anticipated the usual seasonal pattern with fewer days to complete order bookings and to fulfill revenue and also typical adverse weather conditions that did prevail in the quarter Because this was anticipated, we took steps in the field and in our manufacturing management to continue the year-over-year growth that we've now produced over each of the last four quarters. because this was anticipated we took steps in the field and in our manufacturing management to continue the year-over-year growth that we've now produced over each of the last four quarters As Brad mentioned, orders grew about 8%. as brad mentioned orders grew about 8% Remember, last year in the third quarter, we booked a $30 million stadium order. remember last year in the third quarter we booked a $30 million stadium order This year in Q3, we also had a number of larger orders, including one stadium order on the last day of the quarter, but the single largest deal in the third quarter of this year was $13 million. Importantly, our orders have now been relatively broad-based at or over $200 million in each of the last five quarters, including a record Transportation order in the third quarter. As orders have grown, so has revenue, which at $182 million in the quarter grew more than 20% year-over-year, mostly due to efficient order conversion by our manufacturing teams during the quarter, which included working more than one shift at times to fulfill the extra order flow around the holidays. This year in Q3, we also had a number of larger orders, including one stadium order on the last day of the quarter, but the single largest deal in the third quarter of this year was $13 million. this year in q3 we also had a number of larger orders including one stadium order on the last day of the quarter but the single largest deal in the third quarter of this year was $13 million Importantly, our orders have now been relatively broad-based at or over $200 million in each of the last five quarters, including a record Transportation order in the third quarter. As orders have grown, so has revenue, which at $182 million in the quarter grew more than 20% year-over-year, mostly due to efficient order conversion by our manufacturing teams during the quarter, which included working more than one shift at times to fulfill the extra order flow around the holidays. importantly our orders have now been relatively broad-based at or over $200 million in each of the last five quarters including a record transportation order in the third quarter. as orders have grown so has revenue which at $182 million in the quarter grew more than 20% year-over-year mostly due to efficient order conversion by our manufacturing teams during the quarter which included working more than one shift at times to fulfill the extra order flow around the holidays Gross profit margin in the quarter was essentially flat to the year ago quarter at 24%, reflecting a variety of factors. One, the benefit of operating leverage as revenue rose year-over-year relative to fixed costs in our cost of goods sold. Secondly, the efficiencies we've achieved up and down the supply chain as a result of the business transformation initiatives that have been undertaken in the last year. Thirdly, mix on new business was a little bit better in the third quarter than previously. These margin benefits were offset by the fact that the backlog fulfillment in the quarter was largely from the lower margin Live Events business line. More importantly, last year did not contain any reciprocal tariff or any other of the newer tariffs that were only introduced late in the fourth quarter of 2025. Gross profit margin in the quarter was essentially flat to the year ago quarter at 24%, reflecting a variety of factors. gross profit margin in the quarter was essentially flat to the year ago quarter at 24% reflecting a variety of factors One, the benefit of operating leverage as revenue rose year-over-year relative to fixed costs in our cost of goods sold. one the benefit of operating leverage as revenue rose year-over-year relative to fixed costs in our cost of goods sold Secondly, the efficiencies we've achieved up and down the supply chain as a result of the business transformation initiatives that have been undertaken in the last year. secondly the efficiencies we've achieved up and down the supply chain as a result of the business transformation initiatives that have been undertaken in the last year Thirdly, mix on new business was a little bit better in the third quarter than previously. thirdly mix on new business was a little bit better in the third quarter than previously These margin benefits were offset by the fact that the backlog fulfillment in the quarter was largely from the lower margin Live Events business line. these margin benefits were offset by the fact that the backlog fulfillment in the quarter was largely from the lower margin live events business line More importantly, last year did not contain any reciprocal tariff or any other of the newer tariffs that were only introduced late in the fourth quarter of 2025. more importantly last year did not contain any reciprocal tariff or any other of the newer tariffs that were only introduced late in the fourth quarter of 2025 We had an extra $6 million, for example, of total tariff expense in the third quarter of this year. The sequential gross profit margin declined from 27% to 24%. The main factor there was fixed cost operating leverage again, which, as previously described, when revenue is going up, it typically goes up faster than our fixed costs and gross profit margin, COGS, and on the way down, it just has the opposite effect. Revenue declines a little faster than the fixed cost side of cost of goods sold. Daktronics' third quarter 2026 net income after tax was $3 million or $0.06 per fully diluted share. We had an extra $6 million, for example, of total tariff expense in the third quarter of this year. we had an extra $6 million for example of total tariff expense in the third quarter of this year The sequential gross profit margin declined from 27% to 24%. the sequential gross profit margin declined from 27% to 24% The main factor there was fixed cost operating leverage again, which, as previously described, when revenue is going up, it typically goes up faster than our fixed costs and gross profit margin, COGS, and on the way down, it just has the opposite effect. the main factor there was fixed cost operating leverage again which as previously described when revenue is going up it typically goes up faster than our fixed costs and gross profit margin cogs and on the way down it just has the opposite effect Revenue declines a little faster than the fixed cost side of cost of goods sold. revenue declines a little faster than the fixed cost side of cost of goods sold Daktronics' third quarter 2026 net income after tax was $3 million or $0.06 per fully diluted share. daktronics' third quarter 2026 net income after tax was $3 million or $0.06 per fully diluted share This quarter included non-recurring expenses related to management transition and acquisition expenses of $1.6 million, or adjusted net income of $4.6 million. Last year's third quarter net loss of $17.2 million included a $14 million fair value adjustment on the convertible note that has since been converted, also contained $3.6 million of consultant-related expenses associated with the business transformation initiatives and corporate governance matters that pertained last year. Adjusted net income a year ago, therefore, was about a half a million dollars, we're up quite substantially from there. After removing the non-recurring expenses and non-cash benefit, our third quarter 2026 net income rose significantly on an adjusted basis. Since we have solid earnings, we're able, starting this year, to take advantage of the new tax laws permitting accelerated depreciation for R&D and other expenses. This quarter included non-recurring expenses related to management transition and acquisition expenses of $1.6 million, or adjusted net income of $4.6 million. this quarter included non-recurring expenses related to management transition and acquisition expenses of $1.6 million or adjusted net income of $4.6 million Last year's third quarter net loss of $17.2 million included a $14 million fair value adjustment on the convertible note that has since been converted, also contained $3.6 million of consultant-related expenses associated with the business transformation initiatives and corporate governance matters that pertained last year. last year's third quarter net loss of $17.2 million included a $14 million fair value adjustment on the convertible note that has since been converted also contained $3.6 million of consultant-related expenses associated with the business transformation initiatives and corporate governance matters that pertained last year Adjusted net income a year ago, therefore, was about a half a million dollars, we're up quite substantially from there. adjusted net income a year ago therefore was about a half a million dollars we're up quite substantially from there After removing the non-recurring expenses and non-cash benefit, our third quarter 2026 net income rose significantly on an adjusted basis. after removing the non-recurring expenses and non-cash benefit our third quarter 2026 net income rose significantly on an adjusted basis Since we have solid earnings, we're able, starting this year, to take advantage of the new tax laws permitting accelerated depreciation for R&D and other expenses. since we have solid earnings we're able starting this year to take advantage of the new tax laws permitting accelerated depreciation for r&d and other expenses On a pre-tax basis, operating income for the quarter was $1.9 million compared with an operating loss of $3.6 million in the third quarter of 2025. In addition to the non-recurring items, the company incurred a $400,000 expense for the first time as it absorbed the expert developers that Brad mentioned before from XDC. The impact of the intellectual property adjustments on the Daktronics balance sheet was negligible. We had a small gain offset by a write-down of the remaining loan that we had to XDC from Daktronics. Negligible balance sheet impact and about $400,000 impact on expenses, operating expenses for the one month that we absorbed so far the new team. On a pre-tax basis, operating income for the quarter was $1.9 million compared with an operating loss of $3.6 million in the third quarter of 2025. on a pre-tax basis operating income for the quarter was $1.9 million compared with an operating loss of $3.6 million in the third quarter of 2025 In addition to the non-recurring items, the company incurred a $400,000 expense for the first time as it absorbed the expert developers that Brad mentioned before from XDC. in addition to the non-recurring items the company incurred a $400,000 expense for the first time as it absorbed the expert developers that brad mentioned before from xdc The impact of the intellectual property adjustments on the Daktronics balance sheet was negligible. the impact of the intellectual property adjustments on the daktronics balance sheet was negligible We had a small gain offset by a write-down of the remaining loan that we had to XDC from Daktronics. we had a small gain offset by a write-down of the remaining loan that we had to xdc from daktronics Negligible balance sheet impact and about $400,000 impact on expenses, operating expenses for the one month that we absorbed so far the new team. negligible balance sheet impact and about $400,000 impact on expenses operating expenses for the one month that we absorbed so far the new team segment revenue. This table, if you remember, shows at the business line level, over a period of time last year and then sequential quarters as well, the percentage of our revenue coming from each of our business lines and the margin most currently they were earning on each of those businesses. It also shows, as I said, gross profit margin earned in the third quarter, to give you some sense of how business mix is impacting our revenue. As indicated a couple of times, most of our revenue growth this past year has derived from the fulfillment of Live Events projects, which typically are lower margin projects, so that's what's coming through on the revenue line segment revenue. segment revenue This table, if you remember, shows at the business line level, over a period of time last year and then sequential quarters as well, the percentage of our revenue coming from each of our business lines and the margin most currently they were earning on each of those businesses. this table if you remember shows at the business line level over a period of time last year and then sequential quarters as well the percentage of our revenue coming from each of our business lines and the margin most currently they were earning on each of those businesses It also shows, as I said, gross profit margin earned in the third quarter, to give you some sense of how business mix is impacting our revenue. it also shows as i said gross profit margin earned in the third quarter to give you some sense of how business mix is impacting our revenue As indicated a couple of times, most of our revenue growth this past year has derived from the fulfillment of Live Events projects, which typically are lower margin projects, so that's what's coming through on the revenue line as indicated a couple of times most of our revenue growth this past year has derived from the fulfillment of live events projects which typically are lower margin projects so that's what's coming through on the revenue line We did have a small amount of revenue in the quarter coming through some new orders, but as Brad alluded to before, this quarter in particular, we had a little bit of a skewing towards the back end of the quarter in terms of the new order growth. As a result, the revenue contribution from that will land in the fourth quarter as opposed to the third quarter. Again, most of the revenue coming through in the third quarter was from backlog fulfillment. I should mention that in Live Events, the fulfillment that we have is heavily engineered with higher dependence on indirect installation costs. Next slide shows you our segment product backlog. We did have a small amount of revenue in the quarter coming through some new orders, but as Brad alluded to before, this quarter in particular, we had a little bit of a skewing towards the back end of the quarter in terms of the new order growth. we did have a small amount of revenue in the quarter coming through some new orders but as brad alluded to before this quarter in particular we had a little bit of a skewing towards the back end of the quarter in terms of the new order growth As a result, the revenue contribution from that will land in the fourth quarter as opposed to the third quarter. as a result the revenue contribution from that will land in the fourth quarter as opposed to the third quarter Again, most of the revenue coming through in the third quarter was from backlog fulfillment. again most of the revenue coming through in the third quarter was from backlog fulfillment I should mention that in Live Events, the fulfillment that we have is heavily engineered with higher dependence on indirect installation costs. i should mention that in live events the fulfillment that we have is heavily engineered with higher dependence on indirect installation costs Next slide shows you our segment product backlog. next slide shows you our segment product backlog Last quarter, we highlighted for you again that most of the revenue coming through from the backlog was Live Events. The product backlogs stood at $342 million at the end of the third quarter, continue to be up 25% from a year ago. Particularly with the recent major wins, our backlog remains high and remains weighted towards Live Events. We're now starting to convert the major projects that we have talked about over the past couple of quarters, which will be a feature of our revenue growth in the fourth quarter and into the early quarters of fiscal 2027. Last quarter, we highlighted for you again that most of the revenue coming through from the backlog was Live Events. last quarter we highlighted for you again that most of the revenue coming through from the backlog was live events The product backlogs stood at $342 million at the end of the third quarter, continue to be up 25% from a year ago. the product backlogs stood at $342 million at the end of the third quarter continue to be up 25% from a year ago Particularly with the recent major wins, our backlog remains high and remains weighted towards Live Events. particularly with the recent major wins our backlog remains high and remains weighted towards live events We're now starting to convert the major projects that we have talked about over the past couple of quarters, which will be a feature of our revenue growth in the fourth quarter and into the early quarters of fiscal 2027. we're now starting to convert the major projects that we have talked about over the past couple of quarters which will be a feature of our revenue growth in the fourth quarter and into the early quarters of fiscal 2027 This gives us, as you would imagine, a multi-quarter runway on our revenue, and a more predictable growth pattern, and a stronger revenue recurrence over the next couple of quarters. The combination of a high backlog, as I've just alluded to, coming into the fourth quarter with what we are seeing as a good pipeline, already in the fourth quarter with autumn momentum sets us up well, for good top and bottom line finish to the year. Let me now move to the next slide and talk about our balance sheet, which, as you may remember, has been potentially strengthened over the last three or four quarters. This slide shows you how we are managing working capital and capital allocation. This gives us, as you would imagine, a multi-quarter runway on our revenue, and a more predictable growth pattern, and a stronger revenue recurrence over the next couple of quarters. this gives us as you would imagine a multi-quarter runway on our revenue and a more predictable growth pattern and a stronger revenue recurrence over the next couple of quarters The combination of a high backlog, as I've just alluded to, coming into the fourth quarter with what we are seeing as a good pipeline, already in the fourth quarter with autumn momentum sets us up well, for good top and bottom line finish to the year. the combination of a high backlog as i've just alluded to coming into the fourth quarter with what we are seeing as a good pipeline already in the fourth quarter with autumn momentum sets us up well for good top and bottom line finish to the year Let me now move to the next slide and talk about our balance sheet, which, as you may remember, has been potentially strengthened over the last three or four quarters. let me now move to the next slide and talk about our balance sheet which as you may remember has been potentially strengthened over the last three or four quarters This slide shows you how we are managing working capital and capital allocation. this slide shows you how we are managing working capital and capital allocation First, our inventory levels have moderated relative to revenue over the past several quarters of manufacturing. Doing a really good job officially managing inventory. This is one of the initiatives that we undertook on the business transformation project started last year. This reflects, again, better alignment and improving efficiency in our working capital management. During the first 9 months of the year, we repurchased approximately 1.3 million shares of common stock at a volume-weighted average price of $17.6. That leaves us with about $17 million worth of open share repurchase authority. Since the company reinstituted its share repurchase program in late 2024, the company's repurchased 3.36 million shares of stock at a VWAP of about 15% or 15.5%. First, our inventory levels have moderated relative to revenue over the past several quarters of manufacturing. first our inventory levels have moderated relative to revenue over the past several quarters of manufacturing Doing a really good job officially managing inventory. doing a really good job officially managing inventory This is one of the initiatives that we undertook on the business transformation project started last year. this is one of the initiatives that we undertook on the business transformation project started last year This reflects, again, better alignment and improving efficiency in our working capital management. this reflects again better alignment and improving efficiency in our working capital management During the first 9 months of the year, we repurchased approximately 1.3 million shares of common stock at a volume-weighted average price of $17.6. during the first 9 months of the year we repurchased approximately 1.3 million shares of common stock at a volume-weighted average price of $17.6 That leaves us with about $17 million worth of open share repurchase authority. that leaves us with about $17 million worth of open share repurchase authority Since the company reinstituted its share repurchase program in late 2024, the company's repurchased 3.36 million shares of stock at a VWAP of about 15% or 15.5%. since the company reinstituted its share repurchase program in late 2024 the company's repurchased 3.36 million shares of stock at a vwap of about 15% or 15.5% We ended the quarter with a cash balance of $144 million, an increase of 13% from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025. We continue to run a relatively strong cash balance even with the share repurchase activity. We potentially are keeping a very strong balance sheet to give us the resiliency and the adaptability to continue to generate strong returns for our shareholders going forward as we use cash and capital with the company for shareholder benefit. We have converted our commercial bank backup credit line from an asset-based facility to a cash flow facility, reducing its cost, providing the company with additional financing flexibility if necessary. We ended the quarter with a cash balance of $144 million, an increase of 13% from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025. we ended the quarter with a cash balance of $144 million an increase of 13% from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 We continue to run a relatively strong cash balance even with the share repurchase activity. we continue to run a relatively strong cash balance even with the share repurchase activity We potentially are keeping a very strong balance sheet to give us the resiliency and the adaptability to continue to generate strong returns for our shareholders going forward as we use cash and capital with the company for shareholder benefit. we potentially are keeping a very strong balance sheet to give us the resiliency and the adaptability to continue to generate strong returns for our shareholders going forward as we use cash and capital with the company for shareholder benefit We have converted our commercial bank backup credit line from an asset-based facility to a cash flow facility, reducing its cost, providing the company with additional financing flexibility if necessary. we have converted our commercial bank backup credit line from an asset-based facility to a cash flow facility reducing its cost providing the company with additional financing flexibility if necessary We of course have no borrowings under the company's bank line of credit and none are contemplated at this point in time. We now turn the floor over to Ramesh. We of course have no borrowings under the company's bank line of credit and none are contemplated at this point in time. we of course have no borrowings under the company's bank line of credit and none are contemplated at this point in time We now turn the floor over to Ramesh. we now turn the floor over to ramesh

Speaker 7: Thank you, Howard, and good morning, everyone. It's an exciting time to officially join and serve as Daktronics' CEO. I'm honored to lead a great company at this pivotal time and to work with a talented team that has accomplished a great deal in strengthening a resilient platform for sustainable and profitable growth. As we move to the next slide, I wanna start by thanking Brad Wiemann, who presented earlier today, who has served very capably as the interim President and CEO. Brad has been instrumental in my onboarding, and we have completed a smooth transition and handover of the CEO role. Brad will stay with Daktronics as Executive Vice President and Advisor, and I will continue to rely on his knowledge and judgment as we move forward. Thank you again, Brad. Moving to the next slide. Thank you, Howard, and good morning, everyone. thank you howard and good morning everyone It's an exciting time to officially join and serve as Daktronics' CEO. it's an exciting time to officially join and serve as daktronics' ceo I'm honored to lead a great company at this pivotal time and to work with a talented team that has accomplished a great deal in strengthening a resilient platform for sustainable and profitable growth. i'm honored to lead a great company at this pivotal time and to work with a talented team that has accomplished a great deal in strengthening a resilient platform for sustainable and profitable growth As we move to the next slide, I wanna start by thanking Brad Wiemann, who presented earlier today, who has served very capably as the interim President and CEO. as we move to the next slide i wanna start by thanking brad wiemann who presented earlier today who has served very capably as the interim president and ceo Brad has been instrumental in my onboarding, and we have completed a smooth transition and handover of the CEO role. brad has been instrumental in my onboarding and we have completed a smooth transition and handover of the ceo role Brad will stay with Daktronics as Executive Vice President and Advisor, and I will continue to rely on his knowledge and judgment as we move forward. brad will stay with daktronics as executive vice president and advisor and i will continue to rely on his knowledge and judgment as we move forward Thank you again, Brad. thank you again brad Moving to the next slide. moving to the next slide My first priority as I joined February 1st officially, was to come up to speed quickly. I've been on a learning journey, what I call as a look, listen, learn tour. As I settle into Brookings, South Dakota, to be closer to the team and to our business, it has been an absolute warm welcome by the past management, the team, and the community as a whole. I've had a chance to travel both domestically and internationally, visiting sites in bidding as well as completed stage to understand our offerings, meet our customers and suppliers, including at a global trade show. In addition, have spent time in some of our factories and repair centers to look at the operational excellence work that's in progress, and with our frontline, our sales and field service technicians. My first priority as I joined February 1st officially, was to come up to speed quickly. my first priority as i joined february 1st officially was to come up to speed quickly I've been on a learning journey, what I call as a look, listen, learn tour. i've been on a learning journey what i call as a look listen learn tour As I settle into Brookings, South Dakota, to be closer to the team and to our business, it has been an absolute warm welcome by the past management, the team, and the community as a whole. as i settle into brookings south dakota to be closer to the team and to our business it has been an absolute warm welcome by the past management the team and the community as a whole I've had a chance to travel both domestically and internationally, visiting sites in bidding as well as completed stage to understand our offerings, meet our customers and suppliers, including at a global trade show. i've had a chance to travel both domestically and internationally visiting sites in bidding as well as completed stage to understand our offerings meet our customers and suppliers including at a global trade show In addition, have spent time in some of our factories and repair centers to look at the operational excellence work that's in progress, and with our frontline, our sales and field service technicians. in addition have spent time in some of our factories and repair centers to look at the operational excellence work that's in progress and with our frontline our sales and field service technicians In addition, spend time on reviewing plans for our talent development as we look at the growth that we are planning ahead. This journey continues to teach me as we continue defining our strategies, all with an intent of being a market-led, technology-driven, and customer-focused difference maker in the AV market space. Turning to the next slide. I have to say, as I get around the company, I've been personally able to witness firsthand the dedication, the focus, and the drive of our team members and the results they can produce as you just saw Q3 results. We are entering into the final quarter of the year with very strong momentum, strong end market demand, and a strong backlog tailwind. We are driving towards a strong finish of fiscal 26 through efficient revenue conversion and expense and productivity management to deliver strong results and continued cash flow generation. In addition, spend time on reviewing plans for our talent development as we look at the growth that we are planning ahead. in addition spend time on reviewing plans for our talent development as we look at the growth that we are planning ahead This journey continues to teach me as we continue defining our strategies, all with an intent of being a market-led, technology-driven, and customer-focused difference maker in the AV market space. this journey continues to teach me as we continue defining our strategies all with an intent of being a market-led technology-driven and customer-focused difference maker in the av market space Turning to the next slide. turning to the next slide I have to say, as I get around the company, I've been personally able to witness firsthand the dedication, the focus, and the drive of our team members and the results they can produce as you just saw Q3 results. i have to say as i get around the company i've been personally able to witness firsthand the dedication the focus and the drive of our team members and the results they can produce as you just saw q3 results We are entering into the final quarter of the year with very strong momentum, strong end market demand, and a strong backlog tailwind. We are driving towards a strong finish of fiscal 26 through efficient revenue conversion and expense and productivity management to deliver strong results and continued cash flow generation. we are entering into the final quarter of the year with very strong momentum strong end market demand and a strong backlog tailwind. we are driving towards a strong finish of fiscal 26 through efficient revenue conversion and expense and productivity management to deliver strong results and continued cash flow generation We're in parallel, also formulating our next strategic steps from a customer-led and market-first perspective with the lens on growth. Developing products, services, and solutions that extend our competitive lead and building a lens on operational excellence to optimize the profitability and cash generation we deliver. I would like to personally invite you all to our Investor Day on April ninth at the Nasdaq MarketSite, where the leadership team and I will present our joint plans to drive the next phase of Daktronics' growth. We will offer updates on our vertical market growth opportunities, execution initiatives, innovation priorities, as well as our capital allocation and financial frameworks. We look forward to having you join us. With that, we'll turn the call over for your questions. Operator? We're in parallel, also formulating our next strategic steps from a customer-led and market-first perspective with the lens on growth. we're in parallel also formulating our next strategic steps from a customer-led and market-first perspective with the lens on growth Developing products, services, and solutions that extend our competitive lead and building a lens on operational excellence to optimize the profitability and cash generation we deliver. developing products services and solutions that extend our competitive lead and building a lens on operational excellence to optimize the profitability and cash generation we deliver I would like to personally invite you all to our Investor Day on April ninth at the Nasdaq MarketSite , where the leadership team and I will present our joint plans to drive the next phase of Daktronics' growth. i would like to personally invite you all to our investor day on april ninth at the nasdaq marketsite where the leadership team and i will present our joint plans to drive the next phase of daktronics' growth We will offer updates on our vertical market growth opportunities, execution initiatives, innovation priorities, as well as our capital allocation and financial frameworks. we will offer updates on our vertical market growth opportunities execution initiatives innovation priorities as well as our capital allocation and financial frameworks We look forward to having you join us. we look forward to having you join us With that, we'll turn the call over for your questions. with that we'll turn the call over for your questions Operator? operator

Speaker 6: Certainly. As a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, if you do have a question at this time, please press star one one on your telephone. Our first question comes from the line of Aaron Spychalla from Craig-Hallum Capital Group. Your question, please. Certainly. certainly As a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, if you do have a question at this time, please press star one one on your telephone. as a reminder ladies and gentlemen if you do have a question at this time please press star one one on your telephone Our first question comes from the line of Aaron Spychalla from Craig-Hallum Capital Group. our first question comes from the line of aaron spychalla from craig-hallum capital group Your question, please. your question please

Speaker 1: Yeah. Hi, Ramesh, Brad, and Howard. Thanks for taking the questions. You know, maybe first for me on the win rates. You know, they've been really impressive on the large scale side of Live Events. You know, you talked about 6 for 6. Can you just talk about how that pipeline is shaping up here as seasons, you know, kinda wrap up in the next few months? Just maybe how would you characterize win rates across the overall business versus historical? Yeah. yeah Hi, Ramesh, Brad, and Howard. hi ramesh brad and howard Thanks for taking the questions. thanks for taking the questions You know, maybe first for me on the win rates. you know maybe first for me on the win rates You know, they've been really impressive on the large scale side of Live Events. you know they've been really impressive on the large scale side of live events You know, you talked about 6 for 6. you know you talked about 6 for 6 Can you just talk about how that pipeline is shaping up here as seasons, you know, kinda wrap up in the next few months? can you just talk about how that pipeline is shaping up here as seasons you know kinda wrap up in the next few months Just maybe how would you characterize win rates across the overall business versus historical? just maybe how would you characterize win rates across the overall business versus historical

Speaker 3: Hey, good morning, Aaron. This is Brad. Yeah, we won another Major League Baseball project, which is excellent. Our pipeline continues to be robust, strong going into this next year. We're happy about that. Of course, you've seen our backlog. We have a nice backlog in the business. We have the college university side. We've talked about that in the past, and some of the headwinds that are in that market but are being worked out. That's really around the NIL money that's being spent on coaches and players. We think that all gets worked out. As you saw, we had the university or the Illinois project that we worked out, largest football stadium build that we had. Hey, good morning, Aaron. hey good morning aaron This is Brad. this is brad Yeah, we won another Major League Baseball project, which is excellent. yeah we won another major league baseball project which is excellent Our pipeline continues to be robust, strong going into this next year. our pipeline continues to be robust strong going into this next year We're happy about that. we're happy about that Of course, you've seen our backlog. of course you've seen our backlog We have a nice backlog in the business. we have a nice backlog in the business We have the college university side. we have the college university side We've talked about that in the past, and some of the headwinds that are in that market but are being worked out. we've talked about that in the past and some of the headwinds that are in that market but are being worked out That's really around the NIL money that's being spent on coaches and players. that's really around the nil money that's being spent on coaches and players We think that all gets worked out. we think that all gets worked out As you saw, we had the university or the Illinois project that we worked out, largest football stadium build that we had. as you saw we had the university or the illinois project that we worked out largest football stadium build that we had There's others in the pipeline, we're excited that opportunity still exists. Pipeline overall looks good. Win rate, of course, as you mentioned, we were 6 of 6 this last year, so we're excited about that. That's partly to play with one of our competitors taking a little bit of a back seat in the marketplace this last year, which we've talked about before. Is that helpful, Craig? There's others in the pipeline, we're excited that opportunity still exists. there's others in the pipeline we're excited that opportunity still exists Pipeline overall looks good. pipeline overall looks good Win rate, of course, as you mentioned, we were 6 of 6 this last year, so we're excited about that. win rate of course as you mentioned we were 6 of 6 this last year so we're excited about that That's partly to play with one of our competitors taking a little bit of a back seat in the marketplace this last year, which we've talked about before. that's partly to play with one of our competitors taking a little bit of a back seat in the marketplace this last year which we've talked about before Is that helpful, Craig? is that helpful craig

Speaker 7: I'm also able to add to it from my perspective. I mean, I think we've got a strong wins in Live Events, as Brad just mentioned. Our high school market, our Transportation market, they also continue to be strong. I think it's important to kind of have the fact that as we look at our growth, we are looking with the balanced portfolio and the appropriate portfolio management as we kind of move ahead to gain market share. As Brad earlier mentioned, we had a massive win in Transportation, that was, we just announced. Really, as you look at our high school markets, they continue to be strong, just driven by this change from scoreboards to video. I think we see that trend continuing to be strong in the marketplace. I'm also able to add to it from my perspective. i'm also able to add to it from my perspective I mean, I think we've got a strong wins in Live Events, as Brad just mentioned. i mean i think we've got a strong wins in live events as brad just mentioned Our high school market, our Transportation market, they also continue to be strong. our high school market our transportation market they also continue to be strong I think it's important to kind of have the fact that as we look at our growth, we are looking with the balanced portfolio and the appropriate portfolio management as we kind of move ahead to gain market share. i think it's important to kind of have the fact that as we look at our growth we are looking with the balanced portfolio and the appropriate portfolio management as we kind of move ahead to gain market share As Brad earlier mentioned, we had a massive win in Transportation, that was, we just announced. as brad earlier mentioned we had a massive win in transportation that was we just announced Really, as you look at our high school markets, they continue to be strong, just driven by this change from scoreboards to video. really as you look at our high school markets they continue to be strong just driven by this change from scoreboards to video I think we see that trend continuing to be strong in the marketplace. i think we see that trend continuing to be strong in the marketplace I would say it's balanced overall as we try and look at our growth story, just going through the quarters as they do in terms of how high schools spend and the college, you know, and the football or the NFL or NBA teams kind of spend. That's what we're going. I would say it's balanced overall as we try and look at our growth story, just going through the quarters as they do in terms of how high schools spend and the college, you know, and the football or the NFL or NBA teams kind of spend. i would say it's balanced overall as we try and look at our growth story just going through the quarters as they do in terms of how high schools spend and the college you know and the football or the nfl or nba teams kind of spend That's what we're going. that's what we're going

Speaker 1: Thanks. I appreciate the color on that. Maybe, you know, on the commercial market, I know you've been making inroads, you know, expanding the reseller and integrator channel. Just maybe, you know, an update there. It seems like demand trends are pretty good in that market as well. Thanks. thanks I appreciate the color on that. i appreciate the color on that Maybe, you know, on the commercial market, I know you've been making inroads, you know, expanding the reseller and integrator channel. maybe you know on the commercial market i know you've been making inroads you know expanding the reseller and integrator channel Just maybe, you know, an update there. just maybe you know an update there It seems like demand trends are pretty good in that market as well. it seems like demand trends are pretty good in that market as well

Speaker 3: Yeah, they continue to remain strong. I talked about our on-premise as well as our both spectaculars and out-of-home market. Those are still looking promising. The overall buying position of out-of-home customers that's in the advertising segment is strong. I did mention one customer that's pulled back a little bit in the third quarter. That's one of our national customers. We believe that recovers this next quarter. Nothing concerning there. Our products that we're bringing to the marketplace for the on-premise segment continue to help us to win projects there so that we're seeing growth from that side of it. Yeah, they continue to remain strong. yeah they continue to remain strong I talked about our on-premise as well as our both spectaculars and out-of-home market. i talked about our on-premise as well as our both spectaculars and out-of-home market Those are still looking promising. those are still looking promising The overall buying position of out-of-home customers that's in the advertising segment is strong. the overall buying position of out-of-home customers that's in the advertising segment is strong I did mention one customer that's pulled back a little bit in the third quarter. i did mention one customer that's pulled back a little bit in the third quarter That's one of our national customers. that's one of our national customers We believe that recovers this next quarter. we believe that recovers this next quarter Nothing concerning there. nothing concerning there Our products that we're bringing to the marketplace for the on-premise segment continue to help us to win projects there so that we're seeing growth from that side of it. our products that we're bringing to the marketplace for the on-premise segment continue to help us to win projects there so that we're seeing growth from that side of it On the spectacular side, we had a nice win in Times Square, as I mentioned, but the exciting part for me is the audiovisual integrator space that we continue to see growth in, and that's on our indoor product lines, which is really a big part of our overall growth strategy. On the spectacular side, we had a nice win in Times Square, as I mentioned, but the exciting part for me is the audiovisual integrator space that we continue to see growth in, and that's on our indoor product lines, which is really a big part of our overall growth strategy. on the spectacular side we had a nice win in times square as i mentioned but the exciting part for me is the audiovisual integrator space that we continue to see growth in and that's on our indoor product lines which is really a big part of our overall growth strategy

Speaker 1: Just I mean, on that, you know, kind of reseller and integrator channel, I mean, maybe an update on just kinda efforts there, you know, where you are in kind of that journey? Just I mean, on that, you know, kind of reseller and integrator channel, I mean, maybe an update on just kinda efforts there, you know, where you are in kind of that journey? just i mean on that you know kind of reseller and integrator channel i mean maybe an update on just kinda efforts there you know where you are in kind of that journey

Speaker 3: Yeah. On the reseller side, we've been in that business for some time, and we, you know, continue. We have salespeople all across the US. Continue to work and develop sales channel partners and to promote, you know, more of our products through that channel. That's going well. The AV integrator is a newer area for us, and we are seeing continued growth. I think I can't quite go back to the numbers 'cause I don't have them top of mind, but we're seeing continued growth expansion in that space in both in terms of number of integrators, number of orders, and the number of quotes. Yeah. yeah On the reseller side, we've been in that business for some time, and we, you know, continue. on the reseller side we've been in that business for some time and we you know continue We have salespeople all across the US. we have salespeople all across the us Continue to work and develop sales channel partners and to promote, you know, more of our products through that channel. continue to work and develop sales channel partners and to promote you know more of our products through that channel That's going well. that's going well The AV integrator is a newer area for us, and we are seeing continued growth. the av integrator is a newer area for us and we are seeing continued growth I think I can't quite go back to the numbers 'cause I don't have them top of mind, but we're seeing continued growth expansion in that space in both in terms of number of integrators, number of orders, and the number of quotes. i think i can't quite go back to the numbers 'cause i don't have them top of mind but we're seeing continued growth expansion in that space in both in terms of number of integrators number of orders and the number of quotes The pipeline continues to grow, and that's really aligning around our indoor product lines and this Chip on Board offering that we that's really doing quite well for us. That's helping us both in the AV space as well as some of these large projects, which we mentioned across Transportation, airports and other things.Overall, we're going to continue to invest in that area to expand our presence in that particular market space or through that channel partner of AV integrators. The pipeline continues to grow, and that's really aligning around our indoor product lines and this Chip on Board offering that we that's really doing quite well for us. the pipeline continues to grow and that's really aligning around our indoor product lines and this chip on board offering that we that's really doing quite well for us That's helping us both in the AV space as well as some of these large projects, which we mentioned across Transportation, airports and other things. that's helping us both in the av space as well as some of these large projects which we mentioned across transportation airports and other things Overall, we're going to continue to invest in that area to expand our presence in that particular market space or through that channel partner of AV integrators. overall we're going to continue to invest in that area to expand our presence in that particular market space or through that channel partner of av integrators

Speaker 1: Thanks for the color there. Maybe one last question on margins. You know, I know you highlighted the tariff impact, so excluding that and another good quarter, maybe just talk, you know, what inning you think you're in from these operational initiatives and just trying to understand, you know, where margins can go from here and any thoughts kinda more broadly on, you know, any like oil impact and just kinda what's going on macro-wise, what that, you know, could mean for the supply chain if anything. Thanks for the color there. thanks for the color there Maybe one last question on margins. maybe one last question on margins You know, I know you highlighted the tariff impact, so excluding that and another good quarter, maybe just talk, you know, what inning you think you're in from these operational initiatives and just trying to understand, you know, where margins can go from here and any thoughts kinda more broadly on, you know, any like oil impact and just kinda what's going on macro-wise, what that, you know, could mean for the supply chain if anything. you know i know you highlighted the tariff impact so excluding that and another good quarter maybe just talk you know what inning you think you're in from these operational initiatives and just trying to understand you know where margins can go from here and any thoughts kinda more broadly on you know any like oil impact and just kinda what's going on macro-wise what that you know could mean for the supply chain if anything

Speaker 4: On the first issue, Aaron, in terms of where we are, you know, we've either started or well on the way on, you know, the vast bulk of the initiatives that sort of came out of the project we did last year. All of what we've either started or are in the process of completing has either been built into or is about to be built into our, you know, regular strategic planning process. That's how we're embracing everything and sort of tracking to make sure that everything gets completed going forward. I would say, you know, from a starting and along the way point of view, we're well into the game. On the first issue, Aaron, in terms of where we are, you know, we've either started or well on the way on, you know, the vast bulk of the initiatives that sort of came out of the project we did last year. on the first issue aaron in terms of where we are you know we've either started or well on the way on you know the vast bulk of the initiatives that sort of came out of the project we did last year All of what we've either started or are in the process of completing has either been built into or is about to be built into our, you know, regular strategic planning process. all of what we've either started or are in the process of completing has either been built into or is about to be built into our you know regular strategic planning process That's how we're embracing everything and sort of tracking to make sure that everything gets completed going forward. that's how we're embracing everything and sort of tracking to make sure that everything gets completed going forward I would say, you know, from a starting and along the way point of view, we're well into the game. i would say you know from a starting and along the way point of view we're well into the game In terms of the realization of the benefit, you know, I'd also say we're a year into the, you know, to the effort at this point. You know, again, we're more than a third to a half into the actual realization of the benefit. Again, the important thing is, you know, we're taking what we've done and now building it into a sort of more comprehensive strategic plan because the world changes and there's more things that we, you know, are thinking of doing for sure about strategically and operational efficiency things as well. We'll continue to talk about that, and we'll have some detail around that at the Investor Day. As far as the geopolitical situation in the world, we're monitoring it. In terms of the realization of the benefit, you know, I'd also say we're a year into the, you know, to the effort at this point. in terms of the realization of the benefit you know i'd also say we're a year into the you know to the effort at this point You know, again, we're more than a third to a half into the actual realization of the benefit. you know again we're more than a third to a half into the actual realization of the benefit Again, the important thing is, you know, we're taking what we've done and now building it into a sort of more comprehensive strategic plan because the world changes and there's more things that we, you know, are thinking of doing for sure about strategically and operational efficiency things as well. again the important thing is you know we're taking what we've done and now building it into a sort of more comprehensive strategic plan because the world changes and there's more things that we you know are thinking of doing for sure about strategically and operational efficiency things as well We'll continue to talk about that, and we'll have some detail around that at the Investor Day. we'll continue to talk about that and we'll have some detail around that at the investor day As far as the geopolitical situation in the world, we're monitoring it. as far as the geopolitical situation in the world we're monitoring it You know, there is risk out there, and a lot of uncertainty. Obviously, the uncertainty level has gone up. As we've described in the past, you know, we intentionally keep things in the company reasonably adaptable, and as the world changes, we'll adapt to the world. We have a, you know, great manufacturing network that allows us to do that. We have a team that works well together to make sure that it happens effectively. Being adaptable and resilient here is really important. Also having the cash resilience is important. That's kind of where we're how we're trying to deal with the uncertainty. You know, there is risk out there, and a lot of uncertainty. you know there is risk out there and a lot of uncertainty Obviously, the uncertainty level has gone up. obviously the uncertainty level has gone up As we've described in the past, you know, we intentionally keep things in the company reasonably adaptable, and as the world changes, we'll adapt to the world. as we've described in the past you know we intentionally keep things in the company reasonably adaptable and as the world changes we'll adapt to the world We have a, you know, great manufacturing network that allows us to do that. we have a you know great manufacturing network that allows us to do that We have a team that works well together to make sure that it happens effectively. we have a team that works well together to make sure that it happens effectively Being adaptable and resilient here is really important. being adaptable and resilient here is really important Also having the cash resilience is important. also having the cash resilience is important That's kind of where we're how we're trying to deal with the uncertainty. that's kind of where we're how we're trying to deal with the uncertainty

Speaker 1: Great. Thanks for taking the questions, and looking forward to the Investor Day. I will turn it over. Great. great Thanks for taking the questions, and looking forward to the Investor Day. thanks for taking the questions and looking forward to the investor day I will turn it over. i will turn it over

Speaker 6: Thank you. As a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, if you do have a question at this time, please press star one one on your telephone. Our next question comes from the line of Anja Soderstrom from Sidoti. Your question please. Thank you. thank you As a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, if you do have a question at this time, please press star one one on your telephone. as a reminder ladies and gentlemen if you do have a question at this time please press star one one on your telephone Our next question comes from the line of Anja Soderstrom from Sidoti. our next question comes from the line of anja soderstrom from sidoti Your question please. your question please

Speaker 2: Hi, thank you for taking my question. I have some follow-ups and then I have some other questions. It's on your gross margin. You also mentioned it was due to revenue mix and the Live Events being softer. Given Live Events is a big part of your backlog, how should we think about the impact of that going forward? Hi, thank you for taking my question. hi thank you for taking my question I have some follow-ups and then I have some other questions. i have some follow-ups and then i have some other questions It's on your gross margin. it's on your gross margin You also mentioned it was due to revenue mix and the Live Events being softer. you also mentioned it was due to revenue mix and the live events being softer Given Live Events is a big part of your backlog, how should we think about the impact of that going forward? given live events is a big part of your backlog how should we think about the impact of that going forward

Speaker 4: Anja, there is a table in the presentation which shows you as of the end of the quarter, the revenue mix of revenue in the backlog, so you can see actually the number. We try to give you what might be left of the revenue after the fourth quarter is finished. We have, you know, somewhat of a hint, if you will, if not a calculation of what you might expect coming through from the backlog and how Live Events might impact that. The point that we would make about the revenue or the GP margin declining sequentially, again, has to do with the fact that in our gross profit margin, the cost of goods sold side of the margin does have some fixed cost in it. Anja, there is a table in the presentation which shows you as of the end of the quarter, the revenue mix of revenue in the backlog, so you can see actually the number. anja there is a table in the presentation which shows you as of the end of the quarter the revenue mix of revenue in the backlog so you can see actually the number We try to give you what might be left of the revenue after the fourth quarter is finished. we try to give you what might be left of the revenue after the fourth quarter is finished We have, you know, somewhat of a hint, if you will, if not a calculation of what you might expect coming through from the backlog and how Live Events might impact that. we have you know somewhat of a hint if you will if not a calculation of what you might expect coming through from the backlog and how live events might impact that The point that we would make about the revenue or the GP margin declining sequentially, again, has to do with the fact that in our gross profit margin, the cost of goods sold side of the margin does have some fixed cost in it. the point that we would make about the revenue or the gp margin declining sequentially again has to do with the fact that in our gross profit margin the cost of goods sold side of the margin does have some fixed cost in it When revenue is going up, we get the benefit of that on the gross profit margin. When revenue's going down, as it did seasonally in the third quarter, the opposite effect happens. We'll have more to say about that as well to help you understand that, in the, at the Investor Day. When revenue is going up, we get the benefit of that on the gross profit margin. when revenue is going up we get the benefit of that on the gross profit margin When revenue's going down, as it did seasonally in the third quarter, the opposite effect happens. when revenue's going down as it did seasonally in the third quarter the opposite effect happens We'll have more to say about that as well to help you understand that, in the, at the Investor Day. we'll have more to say about that as well to help you understand that in the at the investor day

Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. Then in terms of the Mexico facility, is that on track? Would that have any sort of impact on the margins? Okay. okay Thank you. thank you Then in terms of the Mexico facility, is that on track? then in terms of the mexico facility is that on track Would that have any sort of impact on the margins? would that have any sort of impact on the margins

Speaker 3: I'm sorry, Anja, say again, please. I'm sorry, Anja, say again, please. i'm sorry anja say again please

Speaker 2: The Mexico facility, is that on track to be up and running in April? Would that potentially have an impact on the growth margin as well? The Mexico facility, is that on track to be up and running in April? the mexico facility is that on track to be up and running in april Would that potentially have an impact on the growth margin as well? would that potentially have an impact on the growth margin as well

Speaker 3: Not a significant impact on the growth margin or overall, you know, capital expenses, you know, have been capitalized, and we're leasing the facility there. Your question about being on track, yes, it is. We expect to be up and operating in the first quarter, of FY 2027, so this coming next fiscal year. That's all progressing well and expect to be fully operational certainly by the second quarter. Not a significant impact on the growth margin or overall, you know, capital expenses, you know, have been capitalized, and we're leasing the facility there. not a significant impact on the growth margin or overall you know capital expenses you know have been capitalized and we're leasing the facility there Your question about being on track, yes, it is. your question about being on track yes it is We expect to be up and operating in the first quarter, of FY 2027, so this coming next fiscal year. we expect to be up and operating in the first quarter of fy 2027 so this coming next fiscal year That's all progressing well and expect to be fully operational certainly by the second quarter. that's all progressing well and expect to be fully operational certainly by the second quarter

Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. Then you mentioned the delay from a key account in the commercial. What gives you a confidence that that is temporary? Do you expect maybe that shortfall in the third quarter to be made up in the fourth quarter or? Okay. okay Thank you. thank you Then you mentioned the delay from a key account in the commercial. then you mentioned the delay from a key account in the commercial What gives you a confidence that that is temporary? what gives you a confidence that that is temporary Do you expect maybe that shortfall in the third quarter to be made up in the fourth quarter or? do you expect maybe that shortfall in the third quarter to be made up in the fourth quarter or

Speaker 3: Yeah. What I'm referencing there without naming, you know, the account itself, but there was an acquisition made in this past year, so that they're going through that acquisition phase. We expect that to fully, you know, be in place and in order to continue to come in, coming in the fourth quarter. Nothing new there. We'll certainly keep you apprised if something changes, but we don't expect that to be the case. Yeah. yeah What I'm referencing there without naming, you know, the account itself, but there was an acquisition made in this past year, so that they're going through that acquisition phase. what i'm referencing there without naming you know the account itself but there was an acquisition made in this past year so that they're going through that acquisition phase We expect that to fully, you know, be in place and in order to continue to come in, coming in the fourth quarter. we expect that to fully you know be in place and in order to continue to come in coming in the fourth quarter Nothing new there. nothing new there We'll certainly keep you apprised if something changes, but we don't expect that to be the case. we'll certainly keep you apprised if something changes but we don't expect that to be the case

Speaker 2: Okay, great. Thank you. Just as we have entered 2026, how, with everything that's going on and uncertainty, have you felt that the sentiment among your customers has changed at all or? Okay, great. okay great Thank you. thank you Just as we have entered 2026, how, with everything that's going on and uncertainty, have you felt that the sentiment among your customers has changed at all or? just as we have entered 2026 how with everything that's going on and uncertainty have you felt that the sentiment among your customers has changed at all or

Speaker 3: Yeah. We work in big projects, you know, large projects that are well capitalized and have been moving along. The opportunities that are out there, we're not foreseeing any reduction. Now I'm speaking of the US market, which is the majority of our business, right? We get to the international side of it. We do, you know, some business throughout the Middle East and, you know, Australia, of course, and in Europe. We'll see how that plays out. Overall, I think the sentiment is projects are moving forward. They're funded. We're part of a larger overall project, we're typically on the back end of the project. Those are usually well-funded and moving forward. We're not expecting anything to be delayed at this point. Yeah. yeah We work in big projects, you know, large projects that are well capitalized and have been moving along. we work in big projects you know large projects that are well capitalized and have been moving along The opportunities that are out there, we're not foreseeing any reduction. the opportunities that are out there we're not foreseeing any reduction Now I'm speaking of the US market, which is the majority of our business, right? now i'm speaking of the us market which is the majority of our business right We get to the international side of it. we get to the international side of it We do, you know, some business throughout the Middle East and, you know, Australia, of course, and in Europe. we do you know some business throughout the middle east and you know australia of course and in europe We'll see how that plays out. we'll see how that plays out Overall, I think the sentiment is projects are moving forward. overall i think the sentiment is projects are moving forward They're funded. they're funded We're part of a larger overall project, we're typically on the back end of the project. we're part of a larger overall project we're typically on the back end of the project Those are usually well-funded and moving forward. those are usually well-funded and moving forward We're not expecting anything to be delayed at this point. we're not expecting anything to be delayed at this point

Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. In terms of M&A, what can we expect there? What are you looking at there? How is the market for M&A? Okay. okay Thank you. thank you In terms of M&A, what can we expect there? in terms of m&a what can we expect there What are you looking at there? what are you looking at there How is the market for M&A? how is the market for m&a

Speaker 4: You know, as we've said in the past, Anja, and we continue to believe there are opportunities to do tokens and fill-ins in each of our businesses. We're obviously looking at that. The author's message I would give you on that is just our flexibility. Again, we've got a strong cash position. We, as you know, from everything that we do, we're return-focused. We're not gonna do anything that doesn't make sense strategically, doesn't have industrial logic to it, but also it's gotta meet our, you know, financial return criteria, and we have to be able to integrate properly. Those are important characteristics. You know, along the strategic path, there inevitably will be some opportunities for us. You know, as we've said in the past, Anja, and we continue to believe there are opportunities to do tokens and fill-ins in each of our businesses. you know as we've said in the past anja and we continue to believe there are opportunities to do tokens and fill-ins in each of our businesses We're obviously looking at that. we're obviously looking at that The author's message I would give you on that is just our flexibility. the author's message i would give you on that is just our flexibility Again, we've got a strong cash position. again we've got a strong cash position We, as you know, from everything that we do, we're return-focused. we as you know from everything that we do we're return-focused We're not gonna do anything that doesn't make sense strategically, doesn't have industrial logic to it, but also it's gotta meet our, you know, financial return criteria, and we have to be able to integrate properly. we're not gonna do anything that doesn't make sense strategically doesn't have industrial logic to it but also it's gotta meet our you know financial return criteria and we have to be able to integrate properly Those are important characteristics. those are important characteristics You know, along the strategic path, there inevitably will be some opportunities for us. you know along the strategic path there inevitably will be some opportunities for us

Speaker 7: I think to add to Howard, you know, this is part of our strategic consideration. Clearly, as Howard mentioned, the industrial logic has to make sense. As we look at it through all phases, whether it be product, verticals or geographies, this is something we are, you know, we are considering actively on a daily basis, just given our cash position. But you know, at this stage, we don't have anyone that we could go and say we're right behind. It is clear that, you know, once one of these comes to fruition, we will be able to talk about it with history. I think to add to Howard, you know, this is part of our strategic consideration. i think to add to howard you know this is part of our strategic consideration Clearly, as Howard mentioned, the industrial logic has to make sense. clearly as howard mentioned the industrial logic has to make sense As we look at it through all phases, whether it be product, verticals or geographies, this is something we are, you know, we are considering actively on a daily basis, just given our cash position. as we look at it through all phases whether it be product verticals or geographies this is something we are you know we are considering actively on a daily basis just given our cash position But you know, at this stage, we don't have anyone that we could go and say we're right behind. but you know at this stage we don't have anyone that we could go and say we're right behind It is clear that, you know, once one of these comes to fruition, we will be able to talk about it with history. it is clear that you know once one of these comes to fruition we will be able to talk about it with history

Speaker 2: Okay, great. Thank you. That was all for me. Okay, great. okay great Thank you. thank you That was all for me. that was all for me

Speaker 3: All right. Thanks, Anja. All right. all right Thanks, Anja. thanks anja

Speaker 6: Thank you. This does conclude the question and answer session of today's program. I'd like to hand the program back to Ramesh ready for the remarks. Thank you. thank you This does conclude the question and answer session of today's program. this does conclude the question and answer session of today's program I'd like to hand the program back to Ramesh ready for the remarks. i'd like to hand the program back to ramesh ready for the remarks

Speaker 7: Thank you. Again, thank you everyone for participating. Thank you for joining our call today. We will be appearing, as I mentioned, at the Investor Day on April ninth, but also at the ROTH Conference in March, and we look forward to seeing you there. We clearly look forward to speaking with you all on our fourth quarter call. Thank you again and just have a great day. Thank you. Thank you. thank you Again, thank you everyone for participating. again thank you everyone for participating Thank you for joining our call today. thank you for joining our call today We will be appearing, as I mentioned, at the Investor Day on April ninth, but also at the ROTH Conference in March, and we look forward to seeing you there. we will be appearing as i mentioned at the investor day on april ninth but also at the roth conference in march and we look forward to seeing you there We clearly look forward to speaking with you all on our fourth quarter call. we clearly look forward to speaking with you all on our fourth quarter call Thank you again and just have a great day. thank you again and just have a great day Thank you. thank you

Speaker 6: Thank you. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect. Good day. Thank you. thank you Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your participation in today's conference. thank you ladies and gentlemen for your participation in today's conference This does conclude the program. this does conclude the program You may now disconnect. you may now disconnect Good day. good day