Materion Corporation (NYSE:MTRN) rose over 2% in premarket trading Thursday after posting stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue and announcing a $65 million customer-backed investment to expand beryllium capacity for U.S. defense programs, despite a modest earnings shortfall.
The advanced materials supplier reported adjusted earnings of $1.53 per share, slightly below analyst estimates of $1.60. Revenue, however, reached $489.7 million, comfortably above the $462.28 million consensus forecast.
Value-added sales — which exclude pass-through metal costs — totaled $253.9 million, representing 7% organic growth year over year when excluding precision clad strip from the prior-year comparison.
Results were partially affected by a previously disclosed quality issue involving a major precision clad strip customer. That impact was offset by strong contributions from other segments. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $57.0 million, equating to 22.5% of value-added sales.
“I am very proud of our team for delivering strong results in the fourth quarter despite the intense focus placed on addressing a previously announced quality event,” said Jugal Vijayvargiya, President & CEO of Materion. “While working diligently to resolve the issue, the rest of our business performed very well, with Electronic Materials and Precision Optics driving double digit top and bottom-line growth.”
For full-year 2025, Materion generated adjusted earnings of $5.44 per share on net sales of $1.79 billion. Adjusted EBITDA margin reached 20.7%, marking the fifth straight year of margin expansion.
Looking ahead, the company forecast fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings between $6.00 and $6.50 per share, implying roughly 15% growth at the midpoint. Management expects mid-single-digit revenue growth and further margin improvement as it advances toward its medium-term adjusted EBITDA margin target of 23%.
The newly announced $65 million investment from a leading defense prime contractor will fund additional beryllium capacity to support U.S. inventory replenishment and capability expansion, reinforcing Materion’s strategic position in defense-related markets.