Mueller Q3: Sales Up 32% to $1.42B, EPS $1.00; Copper Squeezes Margins
MLI sits 16% above its 52-week low of $49.51.
Summary
Mueller's Q3 sales rose 32% to $1.42 billion, but gross margin fell to 25.5% from 31.5%, leaving EPS at $1.00 versus $0.94. The company holds $1.45 billion of cash against just $5.2 million of debt and extended its buyback authorization to July 2028.
Key Events · Earnings and Guidance · MLI
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Q3 Sales Up 32%, EPS $1.00
Net sales of $1.42 billion versus $1.08 billion a year ago; diluted EPS $1.00 versus $0.94. Nine-month EPS reached $3.21 on sales of $4.04 billion.
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Gross Margin Falls to 25.5%
Cost of goods sold rose to 74.5% of sales from 68.5% as higher copper prices passed through at thinner spreads; operating income grew only 2% to $281.6 million.
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Balance Sheet Nearly Debt-Free
$1.45 billion of cash and short-term investments against $5.2 million of total debt, 0.1% of capitalization, with a 4.4-to-1 current ratio and $72.6 million undrawn on the revolver.
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Buyback Extended to July 2028
$278.3 million of stock repurchased in the first nine months; the board extended the 80-million-share authorization, leaving 37.5 million shares available.
Analysis · MLI · Manufacturing
The headline numbers were already out on October 20, but the full 10-Q shows where the quality sits. Sales jumped 32% to $1.42 billion on higher copper pass-through prices and volume, yet gross margin fell to 25.5% from 31.5% — the company is selling more metal at a thinner spread, so operating income grew only 2% to $281.6 million. What cushions that is the balance sheet: $1.45 billion of cash against $5.2 million of total debt, and $278 million of stock bought back in nine months. The repurchase authorization was extended to July 2028 with 37.5 million shares still available, which supports per-share results while spreads stay compressed.
How filings like this one have moved
In the 30 days to Oct 21, 2026, 28.9% of the 1511 measured filings Wiseek scored 7 moved their stock by 5% or more by the next session's close. The median move was -0.54%. These are measured outcomes after filings of this importance, not a forecast for this one.
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At the time of this filing, MLI was trading at $57.54 on NYSE in the Manufacturing sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $12.7B. The 52-week trading range was $49.51 to $71.12. This filing was assessed with neutral market sentiment and an importance score of 7 out of 10.