Cadre Holdings Sales Jump 32% as Backlog, EBITDA Margin Surge
Cadre Holdings posted second-quarter net sales of $207.1 million, up 32% from a year earlier, and raised its full-year guidance for the second straight quarter.
Cadre Holdings (CDRE) reported second-quarter net sales of $207.1 million, up 32% from $157.1 million a year earlier, an acceleration from the 19% growth the safety-equipment maker posted in the first quarter. Its Safariland unit was named ballistic panel provider on a five-year, $61 million FBI contract awarded to Predictive Ballistics, a deal not mentioned in either of the prior two quarterly releases.
The quarter marked a reversal from earlier in the year, when gross margin had compressed sharply. Gross profit rose 36% to $87.1 million, and gross margin expanded to 42.1% from 40.9%, in contrast to the first quarter's 440-basis-point margin decline to 38.7%. Adjusted EBITDA margin expanded to 20.3% from 13.6% in the first quarter and from 17.2% a year earlier, with Adjusted EBITDA dollars roughly doubling sequentially to $42.0 million from $21.1 million.
Net income moved the other direction. Second-quarter net income fell to $11.4 million from $12.2 million a year earlier, and six-month net income dropped to $13.4 million from $21.5 million, due to higher contingent consideration expense, higher compensation expense and adverse foreign-exchange effects that offset the gross-profit gains.
Orders backlog reached a record $368 million, the second consecutive quarterly record after the $355 million reported at the end of the first quarter. Cadre's Distribution segment, which had flagged softer agency demand for hard goods as a headwind in both the first-quarter and full-year 2025 releases, recovered to normal demand levels in the second quarter. Segment gross margins moved in opposite directions by product line: the Product segment's margin rose to 42.6% from 41.7% in the quarter even as its six-month margin slipped to 41.5% from 42.9%, while Distribution segment margin declined both in the quarter, to 22.8% from 23.1%, and over six months, to 21.4% from 22.3%.
Cadre raised its full-year 2026 guidance for the second straight quarter, to net sales of $749 million to $769 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $139 million to $144 million, up from the prior range of $736 million to $758 million in sales and $136 million to $141 million in EBITDA that the company had already raised once from its original Q4 2025 guide. Nuclear-segment backlog, a newly broken-out figure, rose $13 million year to date.
The stronger growth and margin trajectory came alongside a heavier balance sheet. Net debt more than doubled sequentially to $320.3 million at June 30 from $184.4 million at December 31, driven by the acquisition of Alien Gear Holsters, completed through a bankruptcy auction on April 7, and by higher term-loan borrowings; cash fell to $54.0 million from $122.9 million. Capital expenditures more than doubled year over year, to $3.3 million in the quarter and $6.4 million for the first six months.
Cadre declared its 19th consecutive quarterly dividend of $0.10 a share, matching the amount paid in each of the prior two quarters.