Quick Verdict
Taylor Devices reported EPS of $0.14 and revenue of $7.30 million for Q1 FY2027, missing published analyst estimates. Shares fell 10.05% on October 2. Earnings weakened as delayed backlog conversion and unfavorable sales mix pressured margins, although record orders and stronger operating cash flow offered some financial resilience.
About Taylor Devices
Taylor Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: TAYD) is a specialty industrial manufacturer founded in 1955 and headquartered in North Tonawanda, New York. The company designs, develops, manufactures, and markets shock absorption, rate control, and energy storage devices used in vehicles, machinery, equipment, and structures. Its products include seismic dampers, compact shock absorbers, and industrial buffers, serving aerospace and defense, structural construction, and industrial customers.fi
The company has 135 employees, according to its published stock profile. At the October 2 closing price of $54.97, its reported market capitalization was approximately $177.55 million, with a trailing price-to-earnings ratio of 26.47. The same profile lists no dividend, while the quarterly filing states that no dividend provision is planned for the fiscal year.
For investors, the central issue this quarter is whether Taylor Devices can convert its record order backlog into revenue while restoring profitability after a sharp decline in sales and gross margin.
Top Financial Highlights
- Revenue: $7,300,239, down 26.40% from $9,918,350 a year earlier
- Net income: $456,933, down 79.14% from $2,190,084.
- Basic and diluted EPS: $0.14, compared with $0.70 in Q1 FY2026.
- Gross profit: Approximately $2.159 million, versus $4.439 million a year earlier.
- Gross margin: Approximately 30%, down from 45%, a deterioration of 15 percentage points using the filing’s rounded figures.
- Operating income: $38,454, down 98.3% year over year.
- Operating cash flow: $7,786,539, compared with $483,628 a year earlier.
- Cash and cash equivalents: $3,600,212 as of August 31, 2026
- Short-term investments: $45,478,228, held separately from cash and cash equivalents.
- Firm order backlog: $55.2 million, a company record, compared with $52.8 million at fiscal year-end and $27.9 million a year earlier.
- Aerospace and defense customer sales declined 17% year over year; the retrieved filing text did not provide a reliably extractable current-quarter dollar total for this customer group.
- Structural customer sales declined 49% year over year; a verified current-quarter dollar total was not available in the retrieved text.
- Industrial customer sales increased 8% year over year; a verified current-quarter dollar total was not available in the retrieved text.
- Research and development spending: Approximately $152,000, up from $81,000; SG&A declined to approximately $1.968 million from $2.113 million.
- Next-quarter guidance: No numerical revenue or EPS guidance was provided in the announcement. Management expects most backlog outside the separately scheduled $19.0 million multiyear order to convert during FY2027, with the remaining portion expected in FY2028.
Beat or Miss?
Taylor Devices missed the estimates published by MarketBeat. These estimates come from a third-party earnings service, not the company’s release; the retrieved evidence does not establish how many analysts contributed to the consensus.
| Metric | Reported | Difference/Analysis |
| Revenue | $7.300 million | Versus $13.10 million estimated; approximately $5.800 million, or 44.27%, below expectations. |
| EPS | $0.14 | Versus $0.92 estimated; $0.78, or 84.78%, below expectations. |
| Net income | $456,933 | Estimate: N/A; down 79.14% year over year. |
| Gross margin | Approximately 30% | Estimate: N/A; versus approximately 45% a year earlier. |
| Operating cash flow | $7.787 million | Estimate: N/A; versus $0.484 million a year earlier. |
Management attributed weaker revenue to the timing of orders received late in FY2026’s fourth quarter, which pushed associated sales recognition beyond Q1 FY2027. Lower sales volume, unfavorable product mix, and new-product development efforts then pressured quarterly profitability.
What Leadership Is Saying
CEO Tim Sopko emphasized continued investment and growth strategy:
“As our FY27 continues, we remain focused on our growth strategies supported by our continued investments in our Team, technologies (R&D) and facilities.”
On financial performance, Sopko said:
“This lower sales volume in turn negatively impacted our FY27 Q1 profitability with product sales mix, including new product development efforts, further challenging our margin performance in the quarter.”
A CFO quote was not included in the earnings announcement. The second quotation is therefore explicitly attributed to the CEO rather than presented as an unsupported CFO statement.
Historical Performance
Taylor Devices’ Q1 FY2027 covers the three months ended August 31, 2026; Q1 FY2026 covers the comparable period ended August 31, 2025. Expense figures below use the filing’s rounded management-discussion figures, and percentage changes are calculated from the displayed amounts.
| Category | Q1 FY2027 | Q1 FY2026 | Change (%) |
| Revenue | $7,300,239 | $9,918,350 | −26.40% |
| Net income | $456,933 | $2,190,084 | −79.14% |
| SG&A expenses | Approximately $1,968,000 | Approximately $2,113,000 | −6.86% |
| R&D expenses | Approximately $152,000 | Approximately $81,000 | 87.65% |
| EPS | $0.14 | $0.70 | −80.00% |
| Gross margin | Approximately 30% | Approximately 45% | −15 percentage points |
(Sources: Company earnings announcement and quarterly filing.)
Competitor historical performance
Moog Inc. (NYSE: MOG.A and MOG.B) provides a broader motion-control peer benchmark because it supplies aerospace, defense, and industrial markets. It is not a like-for-like substitute for Taylor Devices: its scale, product portfolio, and fiscal reporting periods differ substantially. Moog’s latest quarterly results used for this comparison were Q3 FY2026, announced July 31, covering the quarter ended June 27, 2026—not Taylor Devices’ August-ended quarter.
| Category | Moog Q3 FY2026 | Moog Q3 FY2025 | Change (%) |
| Revenue | $1,116.545 million | $969.582 million | 15.16% |
| Net income | $152.025 million | $58.486 million | 159.93% |
| SG&A expenses | $150.989 million | $139.748 million | 8.04% |
(Source: Moog’s quarterly earnings release; changes calculated from reported figures)
Moog’s net-income growth benefited from income-tax benefits, tariff-refund claims, and business performance. Its results therefore should not be used to conclude that Taylor Devices’ earnings decline reflects only competitive underperformance.
How the Market React?
Taylor Devices shares closed at $54.97 on October 2, down $6.14, or 10.05%, from the previous close of $61.11; this was the regular-session reaction, not an after-hours move. The earnings-day trading range was $48.60–$55.38, with volume of 152,796 shares. MarketBeat subsequently showed a rebound to $58.78 on October 5, up 6.93% from the October 2 close, although still below the pre-announcement closing price.
The initial reaction was negative, consistent with the earnings miss, while record backlog and stronger cash generation provided counterbalancing positives in the report.
