Updates full-year 2026 financial guidance, improving Net Sales range

Provided $23 million of returns to shareholders year-to-date

SUSSEX, Wis., Oct. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Quad/Graphics, Inc. (NYSE: QUAD) ("Quad" or the "Company"), a marketing experience company that solves complex marketing challenges for its clients, today reported results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2026.

Recent Highlights

- Realized Net Sales of $587 million in the third quarter of 2026, consistent with $588 million in the third quarter of 2025.

- Recognized Net Earnings of $6 million and $0.11 Diluted Earnings Per Share in the third quarter of 2026, compared to Net Earnings of $10 million and $0.21 Diluted Earnings Per Share in 2025.

- Reported Non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA of $51 million in the third quarter of 2026, compared to $53 million in 2025.

- Achieved $0.35 Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share in the third quarter of 2026, an increase of 13% from $0.31 per share in 2025.

- Announced Direct, Quad's newly branded full-service direct marketing agency, which provides integrated audience intelligence, pre-market creative validation, production and measurement solutions.

- Accelerated growth of In-Store Connect by signing the in-store retail network's first national retailer with screens to launch across 30 Florida stores this winter.

- Repurchased 1.0 million shares of Quad Class A common stock in 2026, bringing total repurchases to 8.4 million shares since commencing buybacks in 2022, representing approximately 15% of Quad's March 31, 2022, outstanding shares.

- Declared quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share payable December 4, 2026.

- Updates full-year 2026 financial guidance:

- Improves midpoint of Adjusted Annual Net Sales Change guidance range from -3% to -2%.

- Narrows Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow guidance within original ranges.

- Maintains year-end 2026 Net Debt Leverage Ratio guidance at approximately 1.5x while providing shareholder returns and investing in growth and automation initiatives.

Joel Quadracci, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Quad, said: "Clients are increasingly engaging multiple Quad solutions, supporting new-business growth and advancing our position as an integrated marketing experience company. By connecting our clients with a broader range of capabilities, we are deepening relationships, increasing our share of client marketing spend and creating more durable revenue opportunities. We have seen this with multiple retailers, including Wakefern and Chedraui USA's Smart & Final banner, which have recently expanded their relationship with Quad beyond print to In-Store Connect and Rise media services.

"We also continue to build differentiated capabilities in areas where clients are seeking more connected and measurable marketing solutions. Through Direct, our recently branded full-service direct marketing agency, we are helping clients improve marketing performance by combining audience intelligence, pre-market creative validation, production and measurement into a single connected solution. In our in-store business, we continue to help clients rapidly scale their brand activations across retailers while introducing them to additional Quad capabilities. During the quarter, In-Store Connect reached an important milestone with the signing of the network's first national retailer. With thousands of stores across the U.S., this relationship creates a significant opportunity to expand the scale and reach of our retail media network, benefiting both participating consumer brands and our retail partners.

"At the same time, we continue to strengthen our platform operating model through automation, AI-enabled tools and disciplined cost management. These initiatives are helping drive increased productivity, strengthen margins and support our commitment to deliver strong full-year financial performance."

Added Tony Staniak, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Quad: "As a reflection of our sales momentum with new and existing clients, we are improving the range of our full-year 2026 Adjusted Annual Net Sales Change guidance, demonstrating continued advancement from the previous 2026 guidance and the 4.8% decline we reported for full-year 2025 when adjusting for the divestiture of our European operations effective February 2025. Our Adjusted Annual Net Sales Change guidance improvement represents another meaningful measure of progress toward our goal of achieving an inflection to Net Sales growth in 2028. We are also narrowing full-year Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow within our original guidance ranges, and we expect to achieve a low Net Debt Leverage Ratio of 1.5x at year-end 2026. We are closely monitoring uncertainties in the macroeconomic environment and will continue our disciplined approach to how we manage all aspects of our business, including treating all costs as variable, optimizing capacity utilization and maintaining strong labor management to mitigate the impact of rising costs on our business and our clients. These initiatives continue to fuel strong manufacturing operations and drive productivity gains to help offset secular declines in large-scale print. They also support our balanced capital allocation strategy, including $23 million of capital returned to shareholders year-to-date through $15 million of cash dividends and $8 million of share repurchases. Our next quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share is payable December 4, 2026, and we expect to remain opportunistic in terms of future share repurchases."

Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results

- Net Sales were $587 million in the third quarter of 2026, consistent with the same period in 2025. Higher logistics sales were offset by lower large-scale print volumes and lower agency solutions sales.

- Net Earnings were $6 million, or $0.11 Diluted Earnings Per Share, in the third quarter of 2026 compared to $10 million, or $0.21 Diluted Earnings Per Share, in the third quarter of 2025. The decrease was primarily due to increased restructuring, impairment and transaction-related charges, net, partially offset by lower income tax expense, lower selling, general and administrative expenses, lower interest expense and lower depreciation and amortization. Diluted Earnings Per Share were also lower primarily due to the decrease in Net Earnings.

- Adjusted EBITDA was $51 million in the third quarter of 2026, compared to $53 million in the same period in 2025. The decrease was primarily due to the mix of Net Sales.

- Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share was $0.35 in the third quarter of 2026, as compared to $0.31 in the third quarter of 2025, an increase of 13%.

Year-to-Date 2026 Financial Results

- Net Sales were $1.7 billion in the nine months ended September 30, 2026, a decrease of 2% compared to the same period in 2025. Excluding the 1% impact of the divestiture of the Company's European operations, Net Sales declined 1%. The decline in Net Sales was primarily due to lower large-scale print volumes and lower agency solutions sales, partially offset by higher logistics sales and higher paper sales.

- Net Earnings were $15 million, or $0.31 Diluted Earnings Per Share, in the nine months ended September 30, 2026, compared to Net Earnings of $16 million, or $0.32 Diluted Earnings Per Share, in the same period in 2025. The decrease was primarily due to increased restructuring, impairment and transaction-related charges, net, partially offset by lower interest expense, lower selling, general and administrative expenses, lower depreciation and amortization and lower income tax expense. Diluted Earnings Per Share were also lower due to the decrease in Net Earnings.

- Adjusted EBITDA was $138 million in the nine months ended September 30, 2026, as compared to $141 million in the same period in 2025. The decrease was primarily due to the impact of lower Net Sales as well as the mix of Net Sales, partially offset by lower selling, general and administrative expenses.

- Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share was $0.84 in the nine months ended September 30, 2026, as compared to $0.65 in the same period in 2025, an increase of 29%.

- Net Cash Used in Operating Activities was $62 million in the nine months ended September 30, 2026, compared to $50 million in the same period in 2025. Free Cash Flow was negative $100 million in 2026, compared to negative $87 million in 2025. As a reminder, the Company historically generates most of its Free Cash Flow in the fourth quarter of the year.

- Net Debt was $422 million at September 30, 2026, as compared to $308 million at December 31, 2025, and $465 million at September 30, 2025. Compared to December 31, 2025, Net Debt increased primarily due to negative $100 million in Free Cash Flow and the payment of cash dividends and share repurchases, partially offset by proceeds from the sale of property, plant and equipment in Peru. When removing seasonality, Net Debt decreased $43 million or 9%.

Dividend

Quad's next quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share will be payable on December 4, 2026, to shareholders of record as of November 17, 2026.

Updated Full-Year 2026 Guidance

The Company updates its full-year 2026 financial guidance as follows:

Conference Call and Webcast Information

Quad will hold a live webcast and conference call to discuss the results on Thursday, October 29, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Those wishing to participate via the webcast should access the call through the investor relations section of Quad's website at quad.com/investor-relations. Those wishing to participate via telephone may dial in at 877-328-5508 (USA) or 412-317-5424 (International). Participants may pre-register for the conference call at https://dpregister.com/sreg/10211867/104daeb5330.

The webcast replay will be available through the investor relations section of Quad's website.