ESLT Elbit Systems Ltd.

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Elbit Systems Ltd. Q2 F2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Tuesday, August 11, 2026

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Operator
Conference Call Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to LB Systems' second quarter 2026 results conference call. All participants are at present in listen-only mode. Following management's formal presentation, instructions will be given for the question and answer session. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand over the call to Daniella Finn, LB Systems' VP, Investor Relations. Daniella, please go ahead.
Daniella Finn
VP, Investor Relations
Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone, and welcome to our second quarter 2026 earnings call. On the call with me today are Butzi Machlis, President and CEO, Kobi Kagan, CFO, and myself, Daniella Finn. Before we begin, I would like to point out that the safe harbor statement in the company's press release issued earlier today also refers to the contents of this conference call. I would like to remind all listeners that the conference call today may contain forward-looking statements regarding the company and its subsidiary's business. Actual future results may differ materially from those forward-looking statements. As usual, we will provide you with both GAAP financial data as well as certain supplemental non-GAAP information. We believe that this non-GAAP information provides additional transparency to better understand the performance of the ongoing business. You can find all the detailed GAAP financial data as well as the non-GAAP information and the reconciliation in today's press release. Toby will begin by discussing the financial results, followed by Budsi, who will elaborate on the main events during quarter and beyond. We will then turn the call over to a Q&A session. With that, I would like to now turn the call over to Koby. Koby, please go ahead.
Kobi Kagan
CFO
Thank you, Daniella. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. We're pleased to report another strong quarter delivering double-digit growth in revenues, backlog, operating profits, and EPS. Our profitability margins, growth operating the net, continue to expand, surpassing our internal targets. Building on the strong momentum we have established over the past several quarters, we continue to win important new business and expand our backlog to a record of $32 billion. Taking a closer look into the second quarter results, second quarter revenues increased by 15.9% to $2,287,000,000 compared to $1,973,000,000 in the second quarter of 2025. We note the sequential revenue growth continues. For the second quarter of 2026, Europe contributed 25% of revenues, North America 20%, Asia Pacific 14%, and Israel contributed 37% of revenues following inventory replenishments on the back of the recent conflict with Iran that ended at the beginning of April. Europe and Asia continue to be meaningful growth engines. In terms of quarterly revenues by segment, C4I and cyber revenues increased by 11% in the second quarter of 2026, as compared to the second quarter of 2025, mainly due to sales of radio systems and command and control systems sales in Europe. ISTAR and EW revenues increased by 22%, mainly due to increased sales of airborne and land high-power laser, electronic warfare, and maritime systems in Asia-Pacific. Land revenues increased by 32%, mainly to ammunition and munition sales in Israel. Army systems of America revenues increased by 17%, mainly due to one-time favorable project mix during the quarter, and the increase in sales of night vision systems Maritim Systems and Electronic Systems. Aerospace revenues decreased by 8% in the second quarter of 2026, mainly due to a one-time unfavorable project mix and lower sales of training and simulation systems in Europe, partially offset by the increase in UAV sales in Israel. Gap gross margin in the second quarter of 2026 was 25.3% of revenues, compared to 24% in the second quarter of 2025. Non-GAAP gross margin for the second quarter was 25.6% compared to the second quarter of 2025 at 24.4%. We are pleased with the continued expansion of gross margins. GAAP operating income in the second quarter was $218.8 million or 9.6% of revenues as compared to $157.8 million or 8% of revenues in the second quarter of 2025, a 1.6% increase. Non-GAAP operating income was $237.5 million or 10.4% of revenues in the second quarter of 2026 as compared to $175.1 million or 8.9% of revenues in the second quarter of 2025, a 1.5% increase. With this margin expansion, we have surpassed our internal targets for operating margins. On March 31, 2026, the Knesset enacted the law for the encouragement of research and development. This newly introduced R&D law applies to qualifying R&D expenditures incurred at the beginning of the tax year starting January 1, 2026. This law is meant to encourage R&D efforts in Israel. We increased our R&D spent in the first half of the year by about $70 million, of which about half was funded by the new incentive law and the other half from company resources to support the future growth of the company, at the same time maintaining the margin expansion. The operating expense breakdown for the second quarter of 2026 was as follows. Net R&D expenses were $159.1 million or 7% of revenues as compared to $129.7 million or 6.6% of revenues in 2025. We remain committed to investing in new next-generation technologies and advanced AI capabilities that expand our solutions portfolio, support our customers' evolving mission requirements, and reinforced Elbit leadership position in key markets for years to come. Marketing and selling expenses were $103.2 million or 4.5% of revenues in the second quarter of 2026 as compared to $91.5 million or 4.6% of revenues in 2025. G&A expenses were $97.9 million or 4.3% of revenues in the second quarter of 2026 as compared to $93.9 million or 4.8% of revenues in the same period last year. Financial expenses were $22 million in the second quarter of 2026 as compared to $31.2 million in the second quarter of 2025. The decrease in financial expenses net in the second quarter of 2026 was mainly due to the reduction in the average debt during the quarter. Taxes on income were $32.7 million in the second quarter of 2026 as compared to $7.1 million in the second quarter of 2025. The higher tax expense in the second quarter of 2026 was mainly driven by the implementation of the OECD Pillar 2 Global Minimum Tax Rules. The effective tax rate in the second quarter of 2026 was 16.4% compared to 5.6% in the second quarter of 2025. Gap diluted EPS for the second quarter of 2026 was $3.61, up 34% as compared to $2.69 in the second quarter of 2025. Our non-gap diluted EPS was $4.14 in the second quarter of 2026, up 28% as compared to $3.23 in the second quarter of 2025. Our backlog of June 30, 2026 stood at $32 billion, with the increase during the quarter driven predominantly by orders from international customers, mainly from Europe. Approximately 73% of the current backlog was generated from outside of Israel. Approximately 42% of the backlog at the end of June is scheduled to be performed during the remainder of 2026 and in 2027, while the rest is scheduled to be performed during 2028 and beyond. New business and the quarterly backlog increase provide us with good visibility into future sales growth. The cash flow in the second quarter of 2026 was affected by the increase in net income and a strong increase in contract liabilities. At the end of the second quarter of 2026, we delivered $150 million of free cash flow, as compared to the $71 million free cash flow generated at the end of the second quarter of 2025. Cash conversion remained strong at 86% for the quarter, reflecting the quality of our earning and disciplined working capital management. I will now turn the call over to Mr. Machlis, Albitz, President and CEO, Buzi, please go ahead.
Butzi Machlis
President and CEO
Thank you, Kobi. Following another quarter of strong financial performance, as Kobi just outlined, we continue to convert market demand into growth, booking substantial new orders and increasing our backlog to a record of $32 billion. I am very proud of the consistent execution and business momentum demonstrated across our organizations. In the U.S., Elbit System of America received multiple awards from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection valued at approximately $370 million. These awards reflect the continued confidence in our ability to deliver advanced operationally proven solutions that enhance situational awareness and support critical national security missions. The U.S. Army has used a $212 million order for continuous production of ENVGB systems for the U.S. Army. Notably, the Army has historically split production for ENVGB systems among multiple vendors. Knight Visioning Capabilities. We also expanded our UAS footprint in the U.S. with the Army, selecting our SOH Group 2 unmanned aerial systems. SOH provide tactical units with rapidly deployable autonomous capability for reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition, and other mission-critical operations. As I mentioned in the last call, during the quarter we were awarded A landmark of 1.4 billion USD contracts for European customers for a comprehensive military modularization program spanning multiple domains. The program includes advanced airborne, land, communication, electronic warfare, and autonomous capabilities further validating the strengths and breadth of our portfolio. We also announced The formal award of approximately $750 million for Pulse in Greece. This significant program further strengthens Pulse's position as the leading rocket artillery solution in Europe and reflects the growing international demand for advanced precision-fired capabilities. In Sweden, we successfully completed one of Europe's largest Digitalized Land Force Network. Over a two-week field exercise, our solution seamlessly connected soldiers, vehicles, and command posts in a unified network, enabling real-time situation awareness and decision-making across all levels of command. The demonstration highlighted the strength of our NATO interoperable C4I and communication portfolio as its ability to support modern In Israel, Elbit was awarded a contract by the Israeli Ministry of Defense to develop an extended range capability for the IDF S-35. This program is expected to enhance the aircraft's operational capabilities. Air Launch Munitions. These awards reflect the continued demand for precision strike capabilities and our role in supporting the operational needs of the Israeli Air Force. Elbit secured a $250 million contract to modernize a fleet of main battle tanks for an international customer. The program includes This award further reinforced our leadership in tech modernization and our ability to deliver integrated solutions that enhance platform effectiveness, serverability, and operational effectiveness. Since the beginning of the year, Elbit has made three bolt-on acquisitions. The acquisition expanded our multi-domain autonomy portfolio and enhanced our ability to deliver advanced robotics and man-on-man teaming solutions. As we reported last quarter, Elbit and KNDS, and other partners to establish Europulse in Germany, a joint venture that will market the Pulse rocket artillery system to European customers. The venture combines Elbit battle-proven launcher technology with Candia's strong European footprint and advanced fire control capabilities. We further expanded our partnership with DEAL Defense Combining combat-proven precision strike capabilities, advanced autonomy, and flexible deployment across multiple platforms, SkyStriker addresses growing demands for next-generation strike solutions while supporting sovereign defense capabilities and three major European exhibitions. We showcased our latest operational proven solution. Interest from customers, partners and investors alike was exceptionally strong, particularly around local defense capabilities We are honored to be recognized as the leading defense integrator in Israel. Behind every milestone we achieve and every innovation we deliver stands an exceptional team of employees whose talent, dedication and sense of purpose continue to shape Elbit's future. I am deeply grateful to their commitment and contribution every day. Following an outstanding first half of the year, Elbit is operating from a position of strength. Supported by record demands and robust backlog, continued innovation, and the dedication of our global team, we remain focused on executing our growth strategy and creating long-term value for our customers, shareholders,
Operator
Conference Call Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time we will begin the question and answer session. If you have a question, please press star 1. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star 2. If you are using speaker equipment, kindly leave the answer before pressing the numbers. Your questions will be pulled and the order will be received. Please stand by while we pull for your questions. The first question. Good morning guys and thank you so much for the time.
Unknown
Analyst
Lots of good stuff going on. Maybe if you could just talk about, you know, just to start off, how do you think about your revenue growth profile given the backlog growth up 6% and others sequentially and just Everything you're seeing in terms of the growth, but also the news cycle discussing a potential ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran. How do you think about both medium-term growth and profile of the company as you see continued demand in Europe and demand in the U.S. as well?
Butzi Machlis
President and CEO
We see a growing demand for our portfolio in Europe as well as in the U.S. And actually, as you see, our backlog has grown quite drastically during the last quarter. And it is mainly outside of Israel, mainly in Europe and in Israel. And what we are looking into our funnel I see many more opportunities for the company in Europe as well as in the US, but also in Asia Pacific and in our region. The funnel is very big and I believe that you will continue to see growth in our backlog in the coming quarters. Making a lot of effort and talking about opportunities, one of the big advantages that we have is that we have a very wide portfolio. We do EW, we do UAVs, we do command and control, we do guided munition, and many, many more, simulation and many, many more. And we have many and we are very advanced with this portfolio. On the other hand, we are local and we are in a position to transfer the IP and the technology to our partners and to our subsidiaries in Europe, in U.S. and elsewhere. And by doing so, we are able to support the local economies. We are part of the local ecosystem in each country. And that's a very unique business model that we have. We are making right now a big effort to convert the huge backlog which will continue to grow In order to do so, we have increased our capital investment to about $300 million. We are building new production facilities. We are investing in robotics, in AI, and we are improving our productivity and our ability to deliver. The backlog is to convert the backlog into revenue growth. and into profit and cash. And I believe that this momentum will yield in the near future. Our new production facility in the south part of Israel is operational already. We have inaugurated several facilities abroad as well. So I believe that we are in a very good position to meet the growing demand that we see in the markets, backlog wise and revenue wise.
Kobi Kagan
CFO
Sheila, good morning. And this is Kobi. And to add on Bootsy's answer, in terms of numbers, we see 34% year-over-year growth in our backlog, while revenue increased 16%. That speaks to our extended visibility to the future and our resilience, of resilient growth in our revenue, and of course of transformation, of converging those revenues to earnings and cash, as Bootsy mentioned.
Operator
Conference Call Operator
The next question is from Omri Afroni of Oppenheimer. Please go ahead.
Omri Afroni
Analyst, Oppenheimer & Co.
Hey guys, thanks for taking my call and congrats on the good results. I have one question and one follow-up. The first one, I was wondering what are you seeing from the maritime domain that has a lot of investments from especially the U.S. but other nations as well. I was wondering how do you see the sector developing worldwide and for Elbit specifically? And that's the first one. And the follow-up is what is the high-power laser specifically that is sold? Not specifically, but what is the demand that is going to Asia Pacific and from which region you think the demand is going to be the highest? The U.S., Israel, or other parts of the world? Thanks.
Butzi Machlis
President and CEO
With regards to the maritime domain, that's for sure a growth engine for the company. We have several activities in the maritime domain, and we are growing our portfolio. First we have EW, and our naval EW is very famous and very advanced. Just to remind all of us, we won the This is the future Naval EW in the UK, and we are in the process of delivering systems to the UK Navy. And this is true not just for the UK, it is true also for many customers in Europe, as well as in other continents. So you can see our Naval EW actually, I believe that the most advanced Naval EW is available right now in the market. Talking about Sonoboys, we have in the U.S. Spartan, who is an Elbit System of America subsidiary. They are one out of two suppliers of Sonoboys to the U.S. Navy, as well as to other international customers. And this activity is growing for the company. There is a growing demand for Sonoboys all over the world, and especially in the U.S. We have unmanned ships, unmanned USVs which are operational already here in Israel as well as by other customers which are being used to eliminate, to allocate and to eliminate mines and also to allocate submarines and such USVs can include also Weapons, different types of weapons, and we have short-range and long-range missiles which can be launched from unmanned or four-man ships which are already operational by several nations. We have GTI in Canada. They are very famous with their sonars. They are selling sonars to many customers in Europe, in the Far East, in other places as well. and this company is growing fast. They have a unique and very effective solution for this market. We are also dealing with upgrading ships. We have maritime radar, electro-optics, remote weapon stations, communications and many more. So all together we are growing our position in the maritime domain. It's a growing segment for Albit. It is growing rapidly and it will continue to grow in the future. Talking about high-power lasers, first we are delivering already high-power laser sources for the Israeli program. We are meeting our schedule and we expect additional orders to come for Israel. And we see, together with Rafael, we see a new partner for that. We continue our development of airborne solutions. Just to remind again all of us, Elbit was selected as the prime contractor for airborne high-power lasers. And it was recently announced that we are under contract to develop high-power lasers for the Israeli Air Force helicopters as well as for our jet aircrafts. Different types of solutions and we are very advanced with the development and the helicopter solution will be operational in a relatively short period of time and we are in the middle of the development of the airborne high power laser pod for fighter aircraft. This solution was exposed in the exhibitions which took place in Europe Last month in Germany, in Gila Germany, also in France, in the UK, and in Paris. And there is a huge interest for that. I'm not aware of any solution like this which is available in the market. There is a huge interest for our hyper-laser technology, and especially for the urban solution. And it is coming from all different continents, not just from Europe. Other nations are looking to integrate these solutions into the blockchain. So I believe it's a growth engine for the company and there is a huge potential for us in this domain. And hyper-laser is just part of it. We invest quite a lot in other technologies in the domain of energy weapons.
Omri Afroni
Analyst, Oppenheimer & Co.
Thank you very much.
Operator
Conference Call Operator
If there are any additional questions, please press Star 1. If you wish to cancel your request, please press Star 2. Please stand by, we'll report for more questions. The next question is from Shayla Caliuglo of Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Shayla Caliuglo
Analyst, Jefferies
Back for more. I wanted to ask on Elbit Systems America, it was great seeing them down in Texas. and specifically, you know, good growth in the quarter of 17%. Can you talk about the one-time favorable project mix there and maybe as a follow-up to that, can you talk about how we should see the night vision systems business grow given your recent order and any update on the howitzer program?
Butzi Machlis
President and CEO
We are expanding in the U.S. and also in the U.S. we have many activities. We are quite famous with our avionics activities in the U.S. I'm sure we all remember that many U.S. platforms are having our avionics and our helmets for the U.S. market as well as for the international market. We are expanding also our night vision capabilities in the U.S. As Esmone mentioned here, we are the sole supplier of ENTGB, and that is a decision that was taken by the Army recently. Our sonoboi maritime activity is growing as well. We are also providing active protection systems under GD to the U.S. Bradley fleet and to other partners as well. This quarter, a very prestigious position with a board of protection to bring our technologies, our sensors, our integrated system to the U.S. market, different types of technologies which are already operational here and in other countries as well. And we continue to invest also in other areas in the U.S. to expand our position. We are Enhancing our footprint in the U.S., we are recruiting more people, we are bringing more technologies from Israel to the U.S., and we are improving and enhancing our position in the U.S. market as the local provider of advanced solutions to the U.S. users. The U.S. market is very important for us. I'm very proud of our activity in the U.S. market, and I believe it will continue to grow. as it grew this quarter, but it will continue to grow for sure.
Operator
Conference Call Operator
The next question is from Christine Lewag of Morgan Stanley. Please, go ahead.
Christine Lewag
Analyst, Morgan Stanley
Hey, good morning, Bootsy, Coby, and Daniella. I guess good afternoon for you guys. I want to dive a little bit deeper on the backlog again and the conversion to revenue. I mean, with your backlog at record levels, some customers have to wait several years to receive their products. And historically, you guys have been very disciplined about CapEx and focused on making sure capacity investments are supported by long-term demand. But I guess, you know, with the current environment, with geopolitical risk elevated, customers really want to focus on securing supply. Have you seen a change in their willingness to fund CapEx directly in order to add capacity and shorten delivery times. And, you know, the rationale for this question is we're seeing this in other constrained parts of the aerospace and defense supply chain like casings and forgings where customers are willing to fund capacity to secure access, and this capacity spend is different from pricing. And to be clear, you know, this is really more on the customer-funded CapEx. I guess, you know, is this something you're discussing with customers Could it allow Elbit to accelerate capacity expansion, convert backlogs to revenue sooner, and still maintain your discipline on capex?
Kobi Kagan
CFO
Thank you, Christine. Good morning to you. It was lovely seeing you in London. So to the question, we decided to increase our capex investment from $220 million to $300 million. You see that in our CAPEX investment, the first half of the year, which was above $150 million. And this is out of our own dime. As to customers willing to participate in CAPEX investment, we have two different types of that. There is matching, where customers are willing to match our investment, and we see that now in the market, which we didn't see in the past. and even we see now for customers who wants to bring technology and to transfer technology to their own territory, they're willing to finance the whole capacity, the whole factory that we need to bring up and this is a new trend in the market where customers are actually paying for the capex and that means that beyond the $300 million that we put from our own line, there's additional amounts of money that is that are funded by our customers. And this is a predominant, very significant change in the market that happened in the last two, three years.
Christine Lewag
Analyst, Morgan Stanley
And Toby, would you quantify if these were to materialize, how much of that revenue could you convert faster, or how much of that backlog could you convert faster to revenue?
Kobi Kagan
CFO
What we see now is 34% increase in backlog while revenue increased 16%. And actually we went back and we looked back from 2022 each year, we see that each year from 2022 we see that the backlog increased by over, sometimes even double the cadence of the growth in revenues. That means that our visibility now is dramatically better and you see also the accelerated pace of revenue growth where we have been in 24, 14%, 25, 15% and we see now this year as again meetings again of revenue growth for the three year in a row which gives us a lot of confidence in our ability to do this in the future.
Christine Lewag
Analyst, Morgan Stanley
Great, super helpful. And if I could switch topics to autonomous systems. Looking at your portfolio, historically you've got your three layers. You've got your autonomous platforms, the autonomy software layer, and the sensors network that let these pieces work together. As autonomy becomes more important in the battlefield, how do you envision your role in that system? Do you aim to continue to provide more of that integrated approach, or are you also willing to We are one of the uniqueness of Elbit is that we are vertical.
Butzi Machlis
President and CEO
We own the technology from the product level to a system level to a system solution. And we are open to discuss with our customers the right offering for their specific needs. Some customers are buying products from us, and some customers are buying infrastructure from us. Some other customers are buying systems, and other customers are buying systems solutions. We are open for everything. and to continue what Kobi just mentioned, we again, we are very unique by our willingness to share our technologies and our IP from Israel to our partners and to our subsidiaries worldwide. And this gives us a huge advantage because we are able to support local economies and customers because of that are willing to invest Supporting us, building local facilities, production and development facilities in many countries to support their economies. That's a huge advantage. And many, many customers are willing to pay and finance this investment. And it's also important for us from security of supply. We are trying to have several production lines for each product and for each system in order to make sure that we will always be able to deliver the solution and the products to our customers.
Christine Lewag
Analyst, Morgan Stanley
Great. Super helpful. Well, thank you very much.
Butzi Machlis
President and CEO
Thank you.
Operator
Conference Call Operator
There are no further questions at this time. Before I ask Mr. Machlis to go ahead with his closing statement, I would like to remind participants that a replay of this call will be available two hours after the conference ends. In the U.S., please call 1-888-782-4291. In Israel, please call 03925-5900. And internationally, please call 9723-925-5900. A replay of the call will also be available at the company's website, www.elbitsystems.com. Mr. Machlis, would you like to make a concluding statement?
Butzi Machlis
President and CEO
Thank you to everyone who joined us today for your continued interest and support. Have a good day and goodbye.
Operator
Conference Call Operator
Thank you. This concludes the Elbit Systems Ltd. Second Quarter 2026 Results Conference Call. Thank you for your participation. You may go ahead and disconnect.