Calumet's Specialty Products Shortage Drives EBITDA Surge
Calumet posted Adjusted EBITDA with Tax Attributes of $175.2 million in the second quarter, more than triple the prior quarter's total as a global specialty products shortage lifted its largest segment.
Calumet (CLMT) reported second-quarter Adjusted EBITDA with Tax Attributes of $175.2 million, up from $50.1 million in the first quarter of 2026 and $76.5 million a year earlier. The specialty products and solutions maker's net loss narrowed to $(95.9) million from $(317.0) million in the prior quarter and $(147.9) million in the year-ago period.
The swing traced almost entirely to the company's Specialty Products and Solutions segment, where Adjusted EBITDA jumped to $161.7 million from $44.3 million in the first quarter and more than doubled from $66.8 million a year earlier. The gain resulted from a global specialty products shortage paired with commercial execution that let the segment capture wider margins, and segment facility production rose to 62,903 barrels per day from 55,704 a year earlier.
Sales for the quarter reached $1,445.1 million, up about 41% from $1,026.6 million in the second quarter of 2025, and gross profit swung to a positive $18.3 million from a loss of $(43.6) million a year earlier. The reversal in gross profit lines up with the SPS segment's outsized contribution and marks a sharper trajectory shift than the sequential EBITDA gain alone suggests.
Not every segment moved in the same direction. Performance Brands Adjusted EBITDA fell to $6.3 million from $13.5 million a year earlier and from $12.6 million in the first quarter, as a lag between rising feedstock costs and price increases, plus a $7.3 million LIFO impact from escalating feedstock costs, offset record quarterly TruFuel sales volumes. The segment's results show that even as specialty products tightened supply chains in Calumet's favor elsewhere, cost pass-through timing worked against its branded consumer business.
Montana Renewables Adjusted EBITDA with Tax Attributes rose to $26.6 million from $10.2 million in the first quarter and $16.3 million a year earlier, as the segment resumed operations in early May 2026 following a turnaround and completed the first phase of its MaxSAF 150 expansion. That marks progress from the first-quarter release, when MaxSAF 150 operations had just restarted after a turnaround that began in March. The outage still weighed on volumes: renewable fuels production at the Montana Renewables facility fell to 7,011 barrels per day from 12,044 a year earlier, a roughly 42% decline. Corporate costs improved modestly, with Adjusted EBITDA of $(19.4) million versus $(20.1) million a year earlier.
Calumet also disclosed $115 million of debt retirement completed in July 2026, redeeming $100 million of 9.75% senior notes due 2028 at 102.438% of face value and fully repaying and terminating a $15.5 million Montana terminal asset financing arrangement. The move, not flagged in the first-quarter or fourth-quarter 2025 releases, follows the quarter's earnings rebound and trims near-term debt maturities as the Montana Renewables expansion continues to ramp.