RBC Bearings Lifts Sales as Industrial Growth Accelerates
Gross margin expanded 2.9 percentage points to 47.7% in the fiscal first quarter.
RBC Bearings Incorporated (RBC), the precision bearings maker, increased fiscal first-quarter sales 19.2% from a year earlier, extending an acceleration that began in recent quarters.
Sales reached $519.5 million, compared with $518.0 million in the preceding quarter. Growth accelerated from 18.3% in the fiscal fourth quarter and 7.3% in the year-earlier period. Diluted earnings rose 47.5% to $3.20 a share, while adjusted earnings increased 36.6% to $3.88 a share.
Aerospace and defense remained the main growth engine, with sales rising 36.9%. That pace eased from 41.2% in the preceding quarter, while industrial sales growth accelerated to 8.4% from 5.5%, continuing a four-quarter improvement from 0.7%.
VACCO, the aerospace and defense business acquired in July 2025, contributed $34.4 million of sales, up from $30.0 million in the preceding quarter and $24.7 million three quarters earlier.
Profit growth outpaced sales as GAAP operating margin widened to 27.1% from 23.2% a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA margin climbed to 34.9% from 32.5%, after remaining between 31.9% and 32.6% during the intervening quarters.
For the fiscal second quarter, RBC expects sales of $505 million to $515 million, representing year-over-year growth of 10.9% to 13.1% and a sequential decline of roughly 0.9% to 2.8%. The company projects gross margin of 45.5% to 45.75%, about two percentage points below the first-quarter level.
Interest expense fell to $10.1 million from $12.2 million, primarily because of continued debt reduction. Backlog held at $2.3 billion from the preceding quarter and remained more than double its year-earlier level.