Earnings call transcript: PACCAR Q3 2025 results show revenue beat, EPS miss

Published 21/10/2025, 18:22
 Earnings call transcript: PACCAR Q3 2025 results show revenue beat, EPS miss

PACCAR Inc, a $52.27 billion market cap machinery giant with a "GOOD" financial health score according to InvestingPro, reported its Q3 2025 earnings, revealing a mixed financial performance. The company posted revenues of $6.7 billion, surpassing forecast expectations of $6.18 billion, marking a 7.93% surprise. However, earnings per share (EPS) came in at $1.12, missing the forecasted $1.16 by 3.45%. Following these announcements, PACCAR’s stock experienced a 0.71% decline in pre-market trading, despite an overall increase of 1.97% in the regular session, closing at $97.48.

[Get access to 10+ additional InvestingPro Tips for PACCAR, including valuable insights about the company’s financial health and market position.]

Key Takeaways

  • PACCAR’s Q3 revenue exceeded expectations by nearly 8%.
  • EPS fell short of forecasts, potentially affecting investor sentiment.
  • Stock showed mixed reactions, with a slight pre-market dip.
  • Continued investment in R&D and alternative powertrains.
  • Strong performance in the PACCAR Parts division.

Company Performance

PACCAR demonstrated robust revenue growth, particularly in its parts division, which achieved record quarterly revenues of $1.72 billion. Trading at a P/E ratio of 17.06 and maintaining dividend payments for 55 consecutive years, the company shows strong fundamentals despite current challenges. The EPS miss suggests rising costs and pricing pressures, with year-over-year pricing down 1.3% and costs up 4.6%. The company’s net income for the quarter was $590 million, reflecting its ability to maintain profitability amidst these challenges.

Financial Highlights

  • Revenue: $6.7 billion, up from forecasted $6.18 billion.
  • EPS: $1.12, compared to the forecast of $1.16.
  • Net Income: $590 million.
  • PACCAR Parts revenue: $1.72 billion.
  • Gross Margins: 12.5% for Truck, Parts, and Other segments.

Earnings vs. Forecast

PACCAR’s actual EPS of $1.12 fell short of the anticipated $1.16, marking a negative surprise of 3.45%. This miss contrasts with the company’s historical trend of meeting or exceeding EPS expectations, potentially raising concerns about cost management. Conversely, the revenue beat of 7.93% underscores strong sales performance, particularly in its parts business.

Market Reaction

In pre-market trading, PACCAR’s stock price dipped by 0.71%, reflecting investor concerns over the EPS miss. However, the stock rebounded during the regular session, gaining 1.97% to close at $97.48. According to InvestingPro’s Fair Value analysis, the stock appears overvalued at current levels. Analyst targets range from $86 to $131, with a consensus recommendation of 2.42. The stock remains below its 52-week high of $118.81 but above the 52-week low of $84.65.

[Discover more overvalued stocks and make informed investment decisions with our comprehensive Most Overvalued list.]

Outlook & Guidance

Looking ahead, PACCAR anticipates delivering 32,000 trucks in Q4, with a positive outlook on market recovery in 2026. The company is investing heavily in R&D, with expenditures projected between $450 million and $465 million for 2025, focusing on clean diesel and alternative powertrains. PACCAR’s guidance for future quarters indicates potential earnings growth, supported by market stabilization.

Executive Commentary

CEO R. Preston Feight emphasized PACCAR’s commitment to U.S. manufacturing, stating, "We are proud to produce over 90% of our U.S.-sold trucks in Texas, Ohio, and Washington." Executive VP Kevin Baney highlighted the success of the parts division, noting, "The parts team is doing a great job providing tailored programs." These comments underline the company’s strategic focus on domestic production and parts business expansion.

Risks and Challenges

  • Rising costs and pricing pressures could impact future profitability.
  • Uncertainty around EPA emissions standards may affect market dynamics.
  • Potential supply chain disruptions could challenge delivery targets.
  • Competitive pressures in the truck market could affect margins.
  • Economic fluctuations may influence demand in key markets.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts questioned PACCAR’s ability to manage cost pressures and its strategy for navigating potential EPA regulatory changes. The company expressed confidence in gaining market share and highlighted the strength of its parts business as a growth driver. Concerns about supply chain stability and market conditions were also addressed, with management optimistic about future opportunities.

Full transcript - PACCAR Inc (PCAR) Q3 2025:

Conference Moderator: Good morning and welcome to PACCAR’s third quarter 2025 earnings conference call. All lines will be in listen and learning mode until the question and answer session. Today’s call is being recorded, and if anyone has an objection, they should disconnect at this time. Now, I’d like to introduce Mr. Ken Hastings, PACCAR’s Director of Investor Relations. Mr. Hastings, please go ahead.

Ken Hastings, Director of Investor Relations, PACCAR: Good morning. We would like to welcome those listening by phone and those on the webcast. My name is Ken Hastings, PACCAR’s Director of Investor Relations, and joining me this morning are R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Baney, Executive Vice President, and Brice Poplawski, Chief Financial Officer. As with prior conference calls, we ask that any members of the media on the line participate in a listen-only mode. Certain information presented today will be forward-looking and involve risks and uncertainties that may affect expected results. For additional information, please see our SEC filings at the Investor Relations page at paccar.com. I would now like to introduce R. Preston Feight.

R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR: Thank you, Ken. Good morning, everyone. Kevin, Brice, Ken, and I will update you on our good third quarter financial results and business highlights. I’d like to start by thanking our wonderful employees who deliver PACCAR’s high-quality trucks and transportation solutions to our customers all around the world. I’m especially appreciative of their efforts in these dynamic market conditions. PACCAR delivered good revenues and net income in the third quarter of 2025. Peterbilt, Kenworth, and DAF Trucks contributed to the good results. PACCAR Parts and PACCAR Financial Services continued to deliver excellent performance and strong profits. PACCAR achieved revenues of $6.7 billion and net income of $590 million. PACCAR Parts achieved record quarterly revenues of $1.72 billion and excellent quarterly pre-tax income of $410 million. Parts revenue grew 4% in the quarter compared to the same period last year.

PACCAR Financial also had a very good quarter, achieving pre-tax income of $126 million. We estimate this year’s U.S. and Canadian Class 8 market to be in a range of 238,000 to 245,000 trucks, and next year to be in a range of 230,000 to 270,000. Customer demand in the less than truckload and vocational segments is good. The truckload market continues to have uncertainty. Next year’s U.S. and Canadian truck market could be higher than this year as we realize clarity around tariffs, emissions policy, and potential improvements in the freight market. In Europe, the DAF XF truck was honored as the Fleet Truck of the Year in the UK due to its best-in-class fuel efficiency and driver comfort. We project this year’s European above 16-ton market to be in a range of 275,000 to 295,000 vehicles.

The 2026 market is expected to be in the range of 270,000 to 300,000. We estimate this year’s South American above 16-ton truck market to be in the range of 95,000 to 105,000 vehicles and in a similar range next year. PACCAR’s premium trucks are performing well for customers in South America, especially in the important Brazilian market. PACCAR delivered 31,900 trucks during the third quarter and anticipates delivering around 32,000 in the fourth quarter. More production days in Europe will be offset by fewer production days due to normal holidays in North America. PACCAR’s truck, parts, and other gross margins were 12.5% in the third quarter. Margins were affected by the August steel and aluminum tariff increases and the tariff costs on trucks that were built in the United States. Looking ahead, fourth quarter margins could be around 12% as tariffs peak in October.

However, the new Section 232 tariffs on medium and heavy trucks that will become effective November 1 will be good for PACCAR’s customers as it will reduce tariff costs and bring clarity to the market. PACCAR is proud to produce over 90% of its U.S.-sold trucks in Texas, Ohio, and Washington. We look forward to improving market conditions, tariff costs that will begin to reduce as we head towards the end of the year, and PACCAR’s continued strong performance. Kevin Baney will now provide an update on PACCAR Parts, PACCAR Financial Services, and other business highlights. Kevin?

Kevin Baney, Executive Vice President, PACCAR: Thank you, Preston. PACCAR Parts achieved gross margins of 29.5% and record third quarter revenue of $1.72 billion. Third quarter parts sales grew by a healthy 4% compared to the same period last year, with similar growth expected in the fourth quarter. PACCAR Parts continues to grow by investing in capacity and services. PACCAR Parts is focused on delivering the right part to the right place at the right time to provide industry-leading support for our customers. PACCAR Parts will open a new 180,000 square foot parts distribution center in Calgary next year to bring faster delivery times to dealers and customers in the region. PACCAR will be opening a new engine remanufacturing center in Columbus, Mississippi, next year to provide our customers with high-quality rebuilt engines. PACCAR Financial Services’ pre-tax income was a robust $126 million, 18% growth over the $107 million reported a year earlier.

This reflects the high-quality portfolio in improving used truck results. PACCAR Financial operates 13 used truck centers around the world to support the sale of premium Kenworth, Peterbilt, and DAF used trucks. PACCAR is building another used truck center in Warsaw, Poland, which will open this year. PACCAR used trucks sell at a premium. Similar to PACCAR Parts, PACCAR Financial provides steady foundational profitability during all phases of the business cycle. This year’s capital expenditures are projected to be between $750 and $775 million, and research and development expenses will be $450 to $465 million. Next year, we estimate the company will invest $725 to $775 million in capital projects and $450 to $500 million in research and development expenses. Key technology and innovation investments include next-generation clean diesel and alternative powertrains, advanced driver assistance systems, and integrated connected vehicle services.

PACCAR is also investing in its truck and engine factories to support long-term growth as well as our customers’ and dealers’ success. PACCAR’s industry-leading trucks, expanding parts business, best-in-class financial services, and advanced technology strategy position the company for an excellent future. We are pleased to answer your questions.

Conference Moderator: Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star followed by two. When preparing to ask your question, please ensure your device is unmuted locally. First question comes from Rob Wertheimer with Malleus Research. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR: Thank you. Good morning. I had a couple of questions around Section 232 tariffs. I guess that’s no surprise, but I wonder if you’re able to give any thoughts on whether it improves your competitive position or not, given production of some of your competitors, but then given, you know, perhaps they have exemptions. How does the rebate, how and when does the rebate flow through financials? Thank you.

Ken Hastings, Director of Investor Relations, PACCAR: Hey, Rob. I kind of thought we might hear some questions around Section 232 tariffs. As you’re aware, it came out Friday afternoon, late afternoon here, and we’ve been spending a lot of time with it. We said in the commentary that Section 232 tariffs will be good for our customers, for PACCAR’s customers. It’ll be good for the fact that we manufacture our trucks in Texas, Ohio, and Washington, and it should improve our competitive position as we look forward into next year. It will take a little bit of time for it to fully implement. As we shared, tariffs are really peaking for us in the fourth quarter, in October, the fourth quarter. As Section 232 tariffs implement November 1, there’s kind of a qualifying period for the components that are involved in it. It’ll become gradually more and more effective throughout the quarter.

Probably by the time we get to the first part of the year, we should have great stability around it. All feels very good and should help our competitive position.

R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR: That’s helpful. Thanks. How do you think about pricing? You know, there’s been a lot of uncertainty. I don’t think you immediately hit your customers with some of the tariff-led price increases. Now that there’s clarity, do price increases start to offset that in the new year or any commentary around that? I’ll stop. Thank you.

Ken Hastings, Director of Investor Relations, PACCAR: As we think about it, we think about it as a competitive world out there, and we don’t operate alone in it. We feel very good about the trucks that we’re producing right now, the best trucks we’ve ever produced in our history, best fuel economy, best reliability, great engine performance. We’re happy with how that’s going. I think that our customers appreciate the stability in the market right now with how emissions haven’t changed in a while. The trucks they’re getting are moneymakers for them. As we kind of think about pricing through the year of next year, I think that there will be some opportunities for us as the year progresses. We said that the less than truckload market remains good. The vocational market remains good. I think the truckload sector has been in a tough spot for, gosh, 30 months plus.

I think that they are using the equipment. That bodes well for the fact that they’ll get back onto replacement cycles. As they get back onto replacement cycles, it’s going to create demand in the market, which is obviously good for pricing.

R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR: Thank you.

Ken Hastings, Director of Investor Relations, PACCAR: You bet.

Conference Moderator: We now turn to David Raso with Evercore ISI. Your line is open. Please go ahead, David, your line is open.

I apologize. Thank you for the time. I was curious, underpinning the North American growth outlook, I was just curious, you mentioned last quarter about some bonus depreciation order potential. Just curious, what are you hearing from the customer base to underpin that growth? I know you mentioned replacement demand and so forth, but just curious the conversations that you’re having when it comes to any sense of timing and when you think your orders will start to reflect the ability to grow in 2026.

R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR: Hey, Brice, why don’t you offer some comments just on how that looks, and then I’ll come at that from a customer standpoint?

Kevin Baney, Executive Vice President, PACCAR: Sure. Our price, we expect to continue to grow. We’ll benefit from the effects of the tariff, of course, and our pricing competitiveness. We believe that the big beautiful bill, as we said in the third quarter, is going to provide incentives. We have programs around encouraging our customers to take advantage of that 100% bonus depreciation. We think that will help spur some demand here in the fourth quarter.

R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR: Yeah, and then David, what we’re getting from customers is it’s very mixed from a customer standpoint, right? If your operating conditions are positive, like in the vocational market or the LTL market, I think you’re looking to take advantage of that. Those are customers that are ordering for the fourth quarter. There’s obviously in the truckload sector some people that are still finding challenges there, so they’re less likely to take advantage of it now. I think there’s this growing sense of the momentum has to pick up in terms of truck orders because 2026 will have, as the law is written right now, a 35 mg NOx standard. I think as trucks age, a 35 mg NOx standard is in front of them. Now they have clarity of tariffs. There’s a lot of reasons for people to start to think about allocating their capital to truck purchases.

I wanted to follow up on the NOx issue. We know where the current situation is, but obviously there’s thought that it might be changed. Is there a deadline of some kind that you feel like the EPA has to communicate what exactly is happening for 2027 when it comes to your supply chain and so forth, just so we have a sense of timing? It was obviously the general assumption out there that they’re not going to keep the current, you know, regulation going to 0.35.

Yeah, I don’t know how that assumption’s been formed by people. From our standpoint, we approach this in saying we are prepared for the EPA’s 35 mg NOx standard. We’ve got our teams working great on it with some new products that are coming out in support of it. We’re ready to go with it. That is the law, right? Our best approach is the law is the law until the law changes. As time passes, it makes it harder and harder to change the standard back to 200 mg. Could happen though, right? I think that we are very comfortable supporting a 200 mg standard as well because we have products that are available today that can support the 200 mg standard. We are all sensitive to the fact that as more time passes, it puts additional burden on the supply base.

I think PACCAR has a great relationship with our suppliers and we could handle that change. If that’s what’s best for the industry, then we will align clearly with that.

Lastly, the cadence of the clarification on the deliveries for the fourth quarter being roughly flat, any color you can provide geographically, sequentially would be great. Thank you.

Yeah, I think we said in the commentary that the fourth quarter North America has more holidays in it. You can kind of think of North American holidays being taking away some of the volume. Europe is less holidays, so you kind of see a shift there into European volume for the fourth quarter. Somebody will ask this, but we’re roughly 60% to 70% full in our order book for the fourth quarter. That kind of lets us indicate how the quarter’s filling in. That’s how we got to our similar quantities of deliveries for the fourth quarter.

Thank you very much.

You bet, David. Thanks for your commentaries.

Conference Moderator: We now turn to Jeffrey Kauffman with Vertical Research Partners. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Jeffrey Kauffman, Analyst, Vertical Research Partners: Thank you very much. I just want to focus on a follow-up, I guess, on Rob’s question on Section 232 tariffs. I know everybody’s still figuring this out, but in terms of the rebate amount, how is that going to compare when you’re at full speed versus what you’re costing out on the tariffs on parts and steel and aluminum? You mentioned that that’s going to ramp up through the fourth quarter. I guess, is that more a rebate to the customer that lowers the price to the customer? Is that a rebate to the company? How do those economics flow?

R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR: I mean, the way we can keep it in simple terms so we don’t turn this into a primer on the Section 232 tariffs because it’s really complicated. I would say that the Section 232 fact sheets out there are really good. I applaud Commerce and the White House for putting out a clear document that’s helpful in articulating what the game plan is and why the game plan is useful. To keep it at the highest level, I would say that as parts qualify into Section 232 tariffs, that’s when we expect we can apply the rebate to them. If parts are coming out of Mexico and it’s deemed to be acceptable to be part of Section 232 tariffs, you let them know that it becomes acceptable or not acceptable. That’s why you start to realize a reduced tariff cost as you head through the quarter.

Obviously, the effective date is November 1, but it’ll take time for those parts to be qualified. That’s why we indicated that it could take through till the first of the year to see the full benefit and impact of that.

Jeffrey Kauffman, Analyst, Vertical Research Partners: In the first part of that question, when this is fully ramped up, how will that approximately net against the incremental tariff costs you’re facing?

R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR: Yeah, it’s going to bring it down. We haven’t netted out a specific number. Obviously, it’s going to be something that we started the tariff discussion saying, "Hey, we’re in this together with our customers and our suppliers and our dealers." That’ll be the same situation we face as we move forward. Hopefully, some benefit to everybody in terms of our dealers, our customers, PACCAR, our suppliers. Everybody should have kind of some positive momentum out of this. The quantification of it remains to be seen.

Jeffrey Kauffman, Analyst, Vertical Research Partners: All right. Congratulations and thank you.

R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR: You bet. Thank you, Jeff.

Conference Moderator: Our next question comes from Michael Feniger with Bank of America. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thanks. Thanks, gentlemen, for taking my question. Preston, I know this has been getting a lot of attention on Section 232. Just to be clear, so we have some understanding, do you believe with the adjustments in the Section 232 implementation we saw, do you believe PACCAR now has a clear cost advantage as a U.S. manufacturer, or does this just even the playing field on the cost side with your peers when we saw there was a disadvantage, obviously early in the year? Does this just even it out, or do you feel like it gives you a clear cost advantage as a major U.S. manufacturer for the U.S. market?

R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR: Michael, that’s a great question. I appreciate you highlighting the fact that our team did a really good job for the past several months dealing with the cost disadvantage, an unintended cost disadvantage. The fact that our market share is 30.3% for Peterbilt and Kenworth right now is just a credit to the teams at those divisions and to the manufacturing teams and pretty much everybody in PACCAR that operated from that tough position. As we look forward, we, of course, don’t know what our competitors’ cost structure is. It’s really hard to estimate that and probably should avoid doing so. What I would rather do is say that I think it helps PACCAR significantly, and that should be good for our customers and PACCAR. I think it gives us a competitive leg up from where we’ve been.

Thank you, Preston. Just my second question to squeeze it in. There’s been commentary on parts, that parts, there’s been some deferrals there. I know you hit your, what you guys were forecasting at 4%. Just, you know, what are you seeing underlying on the parts side? Can parts margins, do you think, start to expand in 2026 on a year-over-year basis? What do we need to see in the market for us to kind of see that start to expand on a year-over-year and to get parts moving? I know the underlying market’s been a bit challenging there.

Kevin Baney, Executive Vice President, PACCAR: Yeah, Mike, this is Kevin. I’ll take that one. Similar to truck, the parts business was definitely impacted by tariffs, as you know, as well as the overall soft truck market. Price did cover cost. When we look at the margin impact, it was really a mix shift. We saw that a shift in proprietary versus all makes and also a little bit of region impact by fewer days in Europe. I’ll just reinforce, there’s still tremendous opportunity for growth. The parts team did a great job providing parts and programs to provide excellent customer service during a soft market. Really nice job with the revenue growth. We continue to invest in distribution. Our dealers are continuing to invest in locations and service capacity. We see there’s definitely opportunity for future growth.

R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR: You know, everything Kevin said is just 100% right. You have the opportunity that Section 232 tariffs are also advantageous to components, so that’ll help us in a price cost looking forward.

Perfect. Thank you.

Conference Moderator: We now turn to Angel Castillo with Morgan Stanley. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. I was hoping we could just go back to the tariff discussion a little bit more. You had mentioned, I think, in 3Q that was a $75 million headwind. With tariff headwinds kind of peaking out here in October and the ramp up in the rebates, can you just quantify for us exactly how much of a tariff headwind you anticipate to be baked into the fourth quarter? As you look at the gross profit margin moving from 12.5% to 12%, is that entirely due to tariff ramp up or are there any other factors there that we should consider?

R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR: I would think mostly about tariff ramp up. As we said, and you just articulated, right, October doesn’t have any reduction. It’s kind of a peak tariff for us in that first part of fourth quarter. We’re still understanding what the cadence is going to be for how the tariffs feather off for us through the course of November, December. That’s the single biggest impact right now. I think, you know, as we look at it, you go from a 75 third quarter, we saw that on-slate to increase in the fourth quarter. With the Section 232 tariffs, we see that coming down. By the time we get to the December timeframe, January timeframe, we’ll start to see improvement, marked improvement we anticipate.

That’s very helpful. As we think about next year, I understand that EPA’s 35 mg NOx standard, there’s still a lot of uncertainty around that. I guess in terms of your outlook for North America or for yours in Canada, are you assuming any kind of pre-buy still related to EPA’s 35 mg NOx standard in that?

We gave a 230 to 270 market, and the reason we gave that significant range is because I think there’s some uncertainty in how quick the truckload sector recovers. Is it, you know, sometime in the first quarter to take a little bit? I think we also are anticipating that the EPA’s 35 mg NOx standard is what’s going to be there, and if it changes, that would obviously take away some pre-buy. That would put us more towards the 230, 240, 250 side of that category versus if the 35 mg standard stays in place, it’s more like the 250, 260, 270, and maybe even higher. We kind of see that as being a significant factor in how the market shapes up next year, and we’ll look forward to clarity when it happens. In the meantime, the clarity is 35 mg.

Very helpful. Thank you.

You bet.

Conference Moderator: We now turn to Tim Fine with Raymond James. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Right. Thank you. Good morning. I was just following up on the comment earlier with respect to the parts business pricing covered variable costs. I perhaps missed it, but did you give a comment just with respect to pricing that you realized in the truck business in the third quarter, and then maybe your expectations for the fourth?

Kevin Baney, Executive Vice President, PACCAR: Sure. For the third quarter compared to last year’s third quarter, our pricing was down 1.3% and the costs were up 4.6% for a negative 5.9% there. Tariffs played a big role in that number.

R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR: Sequentially, it was 1.6. I think what we think is favorability should start to be achieved as we move forward.

Got it. Okay. Preston, maybe just, you know, as I think about, you know, potential early indicators of maybe a bottoming, I think historically we would look at what the behavior and what the, you know, the lease and rental customers are doing and seeing in their business. You have a good lens into that just given the PACCAR Leasing. I’m just curious what you’re seeing in that business with respect to utilization. You would agree that that could be an important thing to watch as a potential turning point. Thank you.

Yeah, it’s a good question. I think that utilization is a key factor. For PACCAR Leasing, it’s healthy right now. I think that they’re starting to see these places of opportunity, and we’ll watch that closely along with all the other indicators, right? Certainly, as you well understand, there are many, many things that go into the make of a truck market. That’s one of them, and utilization is healthy.

Thanks for the time.

Yeah, you bet. Have a good day.

Conference Moderator: Our next question comes from Jamie Cook with Truist. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Jamie Cook, Analyst, Truist: Hi, good morning. Two questions. One, Preston, can you just speak to, you know, since Section 232 has been announced, obviously, I’m sure you’ve had a lot of conversations with your customers. You know, what are they saying to you in terms of like potential incremental market share? I’m just wondering, as you think about your plants in Denton and Chillicothe, like just, you know, capacity you have or where market share could go until you’d have to think about your investment. I’m assuming you have a lot of runway for market share, but just sort of some thoughts there.

I guess my second question, I mean, it sounds like you think the 12% gross margin in the fourth quarter, like that should be, you know, the trough for margins for PACCAR, or even assuming a flat market next year, just with the benefit from Section 232 and, you know, tariffs mitigating and potentially the market being flat to up next year. It sounds like, I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but you can probably grow earnings next year. I’ll let you chew on that and see if I can get any reaction out of you.

R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR: Oh, Jamie, you’re fun. Let’s do the first question, which is, you said, do we think we can gain share and how do we think about capacity in our factories? One of the things I’m really pleased with our manufacturing team over the last couple of years is we’ve made these big investments into the factories so that we have capacity to handle what ends up happening as quarterly swings in build. We talk about full years, but things really happen over a couple of quarters of max build rates. We’re aware of that. We’ve made the investments in paint facilities and automatic vehicles to move parts around inside the truck plants. Great work with our suppliers and their investments in the capacity that they have. We feel like we can gain share and we feel like we have the capacity to support gaining share in the coming timeframe.

Mentioned it earlier in the call, right? We invested in products. We have the newest and best-performing products in the industry. We’ve invested in our operations teams. We have the best manufacturing capacities, highest quality products with plenty of capacity to handle share growth. I feel really well positioned as we head to next year. That does lead to your second question, I guess, of saying if 12% is the plus or minus now, what are you thinking next year is going to be? Or even the fourth quarter phasing. I would say, as we said, with tariffs peaking in October, we do think that the cadence through the quarter on a month-by-month basis will be positive trending. We anticipate that being true through next year, right? If the market was at a midpoint 250, we feel like that bodes well for our earnings growth and our margin growth.

Jamie Cook, Analyst, Truist: Very helpful. Thank you and congratulations.

R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR: Thank you. Have a great day.

Conference Moderator: Our next question comes from Tami Zakaria with J.P. Morgan. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Tami Zakaria, Analyst, J.P. Morgan: Hi, good morning. Thank you so much. Apologies, but one more question on Section 232. It seems like the 3.75% value of the truck to offset tariffs extends through 2030, which gives some time to plan ahead. How are you thinking about your parts and component sourcing with that timeline in mind? Do you plan to expand footprint, bring stuff here in the U.S.? Any thoughts on how you’re thinking about that 2030 timeline?

R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR: I think that we feel very good about the supply base and how they’ve positioned right now. We do think that there’ll probably be some reflection in the coming weeks for people to think about where their production setups are and where they’re going to position themselves. I think it’s a little bit too early to be commenting on what they’re going to actually do in terms of where they might adjust capacity into the different markets since it’s just a few days old. We are starting those conversations and look forward to working with our suppliers as we figure out where they’re going to position component growth.

Tami Zakaria, Analyst, J.P. Morgan: Got it. If I could ask one more, I think you have this huge advantage of building over 90% of trucks here versus some of your peers, you know, they make elsewhere. This seems like a huge advantage. When you think about this offset and the pricing you’ve taken, is there any plan to give back any of this pricing as some of these tariff headwinds are offset in order to gain share for the long term? Is that sort of a strategy you might consider?

R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR: Tammy, you’re really smart and you ask great questions, and you can understand how we think about margin, price, market share, and it’s not an either-or thing, right? You’re always, as a company, trying to provide great trucks, great transportation solutions for your customer, and then be paid fairly for them. Nothing is different in the environment we’re in today than that, right? We want to keep providing these great trucks and transportation solutions. As we do that, we think our customers are happy to pay us fairly for them. As cost goes down, that should bring some benefit to them, and that should bring some market share opportunity to us, we hope.

Tami Zakaria, Analyst, J.P. Morgan: Understood. Thank you.

R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR: You’re welcome.

Conference Moderator: We now turn to Charles Dillard with Bernstein. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, guys. On an industry level, how are you thinking about the supply-demand balance of trucks actually in the fleet? How much excess capacity is out there? How long does it take to clear? Is this embedded in your 2026 industry outlook?

R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR: That’s a really interesting question. It’s really hard to give you anything specific, Chad. If we think about it right now, there’s sufficient capacity that’s sitting out there in the industry right now at the current build rates. You can understand that clearly. The question really remains, how quickly does the market adjust? Where does it adjust from? When do people start to think that 35 mg is what’s going to happen in the EPA’s 35 mg NOx standard? When do our customers in the truckload sector, which represent 40% of the market, start to feel some confidence that they’re able to get rates? I think it’s really hard to handicap what that’s going to be, the timing for that. It’s been a long, tough period for the truckload carriers. At some point, that equipment has to be replaced. I think they’re starting to feel that need.

I think there’ll be some lift there. It’ll probably start gradually, and then it’ll accelerate as the year goes on and people define their needs. The capacity exists for us in our factories and with our suppliers who are working closely with them to make sure we can build the trucks our customers want. We think it could be a pretty good-looking 2026.

Got it. On that same line, you’re talking about how customers are keeping the trucks a little bit longer. Any early thoughts on the parts business as we think about 2026? How should we think about the growth profile for that business?

Kevin Baney, Executive Vice President, PACCAR: Yeah, Chad, this is Kevin. We think about it the same way we have. The truck park has been at elevated levels over the years, and that creates tremendous growth opportunity for us. I already mentioned the continued investments we’re making. The parts team is doing a great job providing tailored programs. We’re leveraging AI to get smarter about providing our right part to the right place at the right time. We see next year as just a continuation of the great work the team’s done.

Kevin Baney, Executive Vice President, PACCAR: Yeah, if I could just add on top of that, the fact that the retail market in the U.S. is still negative is an overhang. At some point, that will turn. We’re growing in a market that is negative, which is a really good tribute to our group and to PACCAR Parts. We think that provides a lot of opportunity for us in the next year.

Great. Thank you.

R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR: Thank you, Chad.

Conference Moderator: Our next question comes from Kyle Menges with Citigroup. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR: Thanks for taking the question. I was hoping if you could just talk a little bit about demand you’re seeing maybe just into the first half of next year and contextualizing that with your order book so far for the fourth quarter, 60% to 70% full. I guess how would that compare to a, you know, quote-unquote, "normal" fill rate at this point in the year for the fourth quarter and how that’s informing your views of demand into the first half next year? It’d be helpful to hear your comments on inventory and any need for destocking. I think in particular in the vocational market, at least the industry data suggests inventories are really high. It would be helpful to hear your thoughts there on any need for destocking in that market. Thank you.

Yeah, I think we feel like from an inventory standpoint, the industry is in a position where it’s like four months of industry inventory. That’s down from 4.2 months the last time we spoke in July. It’s improving from an industry standpoint and from a Kenworth Peterbilt standpoint. We are at 2.8 months, which is a very healthy level for us. We feel quite good about that. It doesn’t feel like we obviously have a high vocational share, market leaders in the vocational segment. That says we have more inventory getting bodies on it. 2.8 months for us feels really healthy, which kind of leads back to your first question about order intake and what’s the market doing. We don’t have an excess amount of inventory. We’re 60% to 70% full.

We’ll head into what typically in late October, November, we get into capital allocation for the major truckload carriers, and we’ll get a look at what their buying plans are for the year. Those discussions are always ongoing, but they really kind of begin to cement up in the fourth quarter. We look forward to having those conversations with them. I think that we’ll see the first half start to fill in reasonably well now that we have clarity around tariffs as people get their hands around with the laws of 35 milligrams and appreciate that it really is a good time to buy trucks for them and probably the right time for them to buy trucks so they can keep their fleet age where they want it. Got it. Thank you.

Just to follow up on an earlier question, it does sound like with Section 232 and the rebates that you’ll see, it sounds like you might be passing some of those savings on to the customer. Curious how that might look. Is that simplistically just taking off the existing tariff surcharges, which I think were around $3,500 to $4,000 per truck in Class 8? Is it just kind of simplistically taking those surcharges off? How should we be thinking about that? What we’ve said before is the tariffs still peaked in October, and they’re going to come down from there in a process through the fourth quarter. We are looking at that.

I think that our intention is to get away from a tariff discussion with customers now that we have stability, and we can just integrate into pricing and discuss the price of these great trucks for the customer and get away from the tariff statement now that we have stability. That’ll be helpful to everybody inside of our customers’ base, to not have to think about what we had to, for instance, $3,500 to $4,000 of tariff surcharges. We can move away from that kind of discussion, just getting to truck pricing again since there’s clarity and stability. Helpful. Thank you. You bet.

Conference Moderator: As another reminder, if you’d like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad now. We now turn to Avi Jaroslawicz with UBS. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Hi. Thank you. I think you said the order books for Q4 are about 60% to 70% full. Is that pretty uniform by region, or are there any that are notably off of that point?

R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR: Yeah, that’s a great question. It is actually pretty uniform by region right now. We’ve seen the European market have strong order intake, and we’re seeing that 67% full there as well as in North America.

Okay. If I can follow that up, assuming that we don’t hear anything new from the NOx rules, when are customers telling you that they might start pre-buying? Could that be in the first half, or is anybody saying that they would expect to do that in the first half, or would that really be more a second-half story?

You know, I think they’re buying decisions. These are really smart people, our customers, and they’re thinking about all the inputs, not just the one. I think it has a heavy influence on them to contemplate the EPA’s 35 mg NOx standard and whether or not they need to think about pulling ahead. They’re also looking at their fundamentals of freight and rates. They’re looking at, is there stable in an operating environment, which the Commerce Department and the White House did a great job of providing for them now. I think all of those are their factors. I kind of think that they will start to really have a lot of interest here in the fourth quarter of what their 2026 buying plan is, and probably by the time we’re in the first quarter, they’re going to be needing to react to it if it stays at 35.

Okay, appreciate it. Thank you.

You bet. Have a good day.

Conference Moderator: We now turn to Scott Group with Wolfe Research. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR: Hey, guys. This is Cole on for Scott. Just back to Section 232 a little bit. I heard earlier in the call you mentioned that pricing increased 1.6% sequentially in the quarter and that momentum should kind of continue. In the same breath, you’re kind of talking to the fact that you want to help out your customer. Maybe help situate us there. Are the tariff surcharges effectively going to go away, but core pricing should continue to move higher? Just any way to help us wrap our head around that would be. Yeah, I think that, you know, it’s a great question, actually. It’s an interesting dynamic right now. Surcharges really only exist at moments of inflection where there’s some unique factor sitting into there. Hence the reason for the surcharges that we had. That point of inflection is now passed and we have stability.

It allows us to probably get rid of the tariff surcharge and go back to normal pricing discussions with our customers. Obviously, providing premium trucks and transportation solutions allows us to make sure that we have fair pricing to them, good for them, good for us. Obviously, as we see costs change, should be somewhat favorable. We both should benefit from it. We see that as a great opportunity for PACCAR and our customers to have a strong finish to the year and an even stronger 2026. Yep. Last quarter, you mentioned that 3Q gross margins would be, I think the math was roughly 14% excluding tariff costs.

Is that a good way to think about 1Q as we hit run rate as rebates kind of offset some of the tariff costs, or is there any other way to think about how margins should build through 4Q and into 1Q when we hit run rate? Yeah, I think we actually said around 13%. What we’ve said is tariffs peaking in the fourth quarter, declining throughout the fourth quarter will allow us to see growth as we get into, say, the December timeframe and then continued improvement into the first quarter of 2026. Okay. Thanks, guys. I’ll turn it back. Yeah, you bet.

Conference Moderator: There are no other questions in the queue at this time. Are there any additional remarks from the company?

R. Preston Feight, Chief Executive Officer, PACCAR: I’d like to thank everyone for joining the call, and thank you.

Conference Moderator: Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes PACCAR’s earnings call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers
© 2007-2025 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.