Quanex Building Products CORP (NX)

Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements based on our current assumptions, expectations, estimates and projections about our business and the homebuilding industry, and therefore, it should be read in conjunction with our accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes as of April 30, 2026, and for the three and six months ended April 30, 2026 and 2025, included elsewhere herein. Actual results could differ from our expectations due to several factors which include, but are not limited to: the impact of market price and demand for our products, economic and competitive conditions, capital expenditures, new technology, regulatory changes and other uncertainties. For additional information pertaining to our business, including risk factors which should be considered before investing in our common stock, refer to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2025.

Our Business

We are a leading manufacturer and component supplier to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the building products industry, including window, door, solar, refrigeration, custom mixing, building access, and cabinetry markets. The majority of these components can be categorized as window and door components and kitchen and bath cabinet components. Examples of window and door components include energy-efficient flexible insulating glass spacers, extruded vinyl profiles, window and door screens, precision-formed metal and wood products, window and door seals, and window and door hardware. In addition, we provide certain other components and products, which include solar panel sealants, trim moldings, vinyl decking, water retention barriers, conservatory roof components, and commercial access solutions. We use cost-effective production processes and engineering expertise to provide our customers with specialized products for their specific applications. We believe these capabilities provide us with unique competitive advantages. We serve a primary customer base in North America and the U.K., and also serve customers in international markets through our operating locations in the U.K., Germany, Mexico, Canada, and Italy, as well as through sales and marketing efforts in other countries.

We continue to invest in organic growth initiatives and we intend to continue evaluating business acquisitions that allow us to expand our existing fenestration and cabinet component footprint, enhance our product offerings, provide new complementary technology, enhance our leadership position within the markets we serve, and expand into new markets or service lines. We have disposed of non-core businesses in the past, and continue to evaluate our business portfolio to ensure that we are investing in markets where we believe there is potential future growth.

In connection with the Tyman acquisition, we re-evaluated our reportable segment presentation during the third quarter of 2025 and adjusted our segment structure to better align our business operations. As a result, we now report three reportable segments: Hardware Solutions, Extruded Solutions, and Custom Solutions.

Our Hardware Solutions segment manufactures engineered window and door hardware, screens, and other fenestration components primarily serving the residential and light-commercial building markets. The majority of segment revenue is generated in North America, and as such, domestic housing starts and R&R activity remain the primary demand drivers. Long-term secular trends, including a structural undersupply of U.S. housing, an aging housing stock, and increasing home equity, are expected to support sustained demand for window and door replacement. Internationally, the segment serves a broad customer base of OEMs and distributors across Europe and Asia, where government incentives for energy efficiency and renovation activity are expected to support steady replacement demand over the medium term.

Our Extruded Solutions segment manufactures insulating glass spacers, vinyl and composite profiles, and sealing solutions used in the fabrication of windows, doors, conservatories, roofs, and related building applications. This segment operates across North America and Europe, and its results are influenced by housing starts, energy-efficiency standards, and renovation activity in those regions. In the U.S., demand for insulating-glass spacers and vinyl profiles is supported by increasing adoption of high-performance window systems that improve thermal performance. In the U.K. our vinyl business serves window fabricators and distributors with a broad offering of vinyl extrusions, decking, and roofing systems. The European market continues to benefit from government-sponsored retrofit programs and EU directives targeting energy efficiency and sustainability in existing building stock.

Our Custom Solutions segment delivers a diverse range of engineered product solutions across wood, metal, and elastomeric materials that serve residential, commercial, and industrial end markets. The segment’s portfolio includes interior building components, specialty access systems, and custom-formulated compounds designed for highly technical applications. Demand for these products is driven by overall levels of construction and remodeling activity, as well as broader trends in manufacturing, infrastructure investment, and industrial production. The segment’s ability to offer customized, high-performance solutions tailored to specific customer requirements positions it to participate in both residential and commercial growth cycles, while providing diversification beyond traditional fenestration markets.

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We continue to maintain a grouping called Unallocated Corporate & Other, which includes transaction expenses, stock-based compensation, long-term incentive awards based on the performance of our common stock and other factors, certain severance and legal costs not deemed to be allocable to all segments, depreciation of corporate assets, interest expense, other, net, income taxes and inter-segment eliminations, and executive incentive compensation and medical expense fluctuations relative to planned costs as determined during the annual planning process. Other corporate general and administrative costs have been allocated to the reportable business segments, based upon each segment’s relative operating activity.

Recent Transactions and Events

We are monitoring evolving U.S. and global tariff and trade policies, including court decisions invalidating certain tariffs. We are assessing the potential impact of these decisions and other trade policy developments on our operations, supply chain and cost structure and continue to work with our suppliers and customers to mitigate potential impacts on our business. We are also monitoring ongoing geopolitical tensions and conflicts in various regions of the world, including the situations in Ukraine and the Middle East, which may contribute to volatility in global markets, supply chains, commodity pricing and foreign currency exchange rates. The extent and duration of current and potential tariff measures and geopolitical developments, and the resulting impact on general economic conditions and our operations, remain uncertain and depend on various factors, including negotiations between the U.S. and affected countries, responses by other governments, potential exemptions, and the availability and cost of alternative sources of supply.

Market Overview and Outlook

We believe the primary drivers of our operating results continue to be North American residential remodeling and replacement (R&R) and new home construction activity. In the U.K. and Continental Europe, our operating results are primarily influenced by repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI) and residential renovation activity, as well as new construction activity. We believe that housing starts and window shipments are indicators of activity levels in the homebuilding and window industries, and we use this data, as published by or derived from third-party sources, to evaluate the market. We have historically evaluated the market using data from the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) with regard to housing starts and R&R activity, and published reports by Ducker Worldwide, LLC (Ducker), a consulting and research firm, with regard to window shipments in the U.S.

In April 2026, the NAHB forecasted calendar-year housing starts to be approximately 1.3 million in calendar-years 2026 and 2027 and 1.4 million in calendar-year 2028. In May 2026, the Ducker forecast indicated that total window shipments are expected to decrease 3.1% in calendar-year 2026 and 1.3% in calendar-year 2027.

Our business is seasonal, as inclement weather during the winter months tends to slow construction and installation activity for exterior building products.

We are impacted by regulation of energy standards. Although the U.S. government has been less aggressively pursuing higher energy efficiency standards in recent years, other countries have implemented higher energy efficiency standards which should bode well for our fenestration-related businesses in these markets, particularly our warm-edge spacer products, window and door seals and tilt ‘n’ turn micro-ventilation products.

Several commodities in our business are subject to pricing fluctuations, including polyvinyl resin (PVC), titanium dioxide (TiO2), petroleum products, stainless steel, zinc, aluminum and wood. For the majority of our customers and critical suppliers, we have price adjusters in place which effectively share the base pass-through price changes for our primary commodities with our customers commensurate with the market at large. Our long-term exposure to these price fluctuations is somewhat mitigated due to the contractual component of the adjuster program. However, these adjusters are not in place with all customers and for all commodities, and there is a level of exposure to such volatility due to the lag associated with the timing of price updates in accordance with our customer agreements, particularly with regard to hardwoods. In addition, some of these commodities are in high demand, particularly in Europe, which can affect the cost of the raw materials, a portion of which we may not be able to fully recover.

The global economy remains uncertain due to currency devaluations, political unrest, geopolitical tensions and conflicts, terror threats, and the political landscape in the U.S. These and other macro-economic factors have impacted the global financial markets, which may have contributed to significant changes in foreign currencies. We continue to monitor our exposure to changes in exchange rates.

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Results of Operations

Three Months Ended April 30, 2026 Compared to Three Months Ended April 30, 2025

This table sets forth our condensed consolidated results of operations for the three-month periods ended April 30, 2026 and 2025.

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Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

The following discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements based on our current assumptions, expectations, estimates and projections about our business and the homebuilding industry, and therefore, it should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto, as well as our “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” discussed elsewhere within this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Actual results could differ from our expectations due to several factors which include, but are not limited to: the impact of market price and demand for our products, economic and competitive conditions, capital expenditures, new technology, regulatory changes and other uncertainties. For a listing of potential risks and uncertainties which impact our business and industry, see “Item 1A. Risk Factors.” Unless otherwise required by law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available or other events occur in the future.

Our Business

We are a leading manufacturer and component supplier to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the building products industry, including window, door, solar, refrigeration, custom mixing, building access, and cabinetry markets. The majority of these components can be categorized as window and door components and kitchen and bath cabinet components. Examples of window and door components include energy-efficient flexible insulating glass spacers, extruded vinyl profiles, window and door screens, precision-formed metal and wood products, window and door seals, and window and door hardware. In addition, we provide certain other components and products, which include solar panel sealants, trim moldings, vinyl decking, water retention barriers, conservatory roof components, and commercial access solutions. We use cost-effective production processes and engineering expertise to provide our customers with specialized products for their specific applications. We believe these capabilities provide us with unique competitive advantages. We serve a primary customer base in North America and the U.K., and also serve customers in international markets through our operating locations in the U.K., Germany, Mexico, Canada, and Italy, as well as through sales and marketing efforts in other countries.

We continue to invest in organic growth initiatives and we intend to continue evaluating business acquisitions that allow us to expand our existing fenestration and cabinet component footprint, enhance our product offerings, provide new complementary technology, enhance our leadership position within the markets we serve, and expand into new markets or service lines. We have disposed of non-core businesses in the past, and continue to evaluate our business portfolio to ensure that we are investing in markets where we believe there is potential future growth.

On August 1, 2024, we completed the acquisition of Tyman plc (the “Tyman Acquisition”), a company incorporated in England and Wales (“Tyman”). The aggregate consideration due pursuant to the Tyman Acquisition at closing comprised 14,139,477 newly issued Quanex common shares (“New Quanex Shares”) and cash consideration of approximately $504.1 million (being the Pound Sterling amount of cash consideration of £392.2 million in respect of all of the Tyman Shares converted to U.S. Dollars at an exchange rate of 1.2855). New Quanex Shares issued in connection with the Tyman Acquisition on the New York Stock Exchange took effect on August 2, 2024 and Tyman’s shares on the London Stock Exchange were canceled.

In connection with the Tyman acquisition, we re-evaluated our reportable segment presentation during the third quarter of 2025 and adjusted our segment structure to better align our business operations. As a result, we now report three reportable segments: Hardware Solutions, which provides window and door hardware and screens; Extruded Solutions, which supplies insulating glass spacers, vinyl window and door profiles, seals, and weatherstripping; and Custom Solutions, which provides wood, mixing, and building access solutions. We continue to maintain a grouping called Unallocated Corporate & Other, which includes transaction expenses, stock-based compensation, long-term incentive awards based on the performance of our common stock and other factors, certain severance and legal costs not deemed to be allocable to all segments, depreciation of corporate assets, interest expense, other, net, income taxes and inter-segment eliminations, and executive incentive compensation and medical expense fluctuations relative to planned costs as determined during the annual planning process. Other corporate general and administrative costs have been allocated to the reportable business segments, based upon each segment’s relative operating activity. The accounting policies of our operating segments are the same as those used to prepare our accompanying consolidated financial statements. Corporate general and administrative expenses allocated during the years ended October 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023 were $40.3 million, $27.3 million, and $23.5 million, respectively.

On November 1, 2022, we entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement with LMI (the “LMI Acquisition”) and the equity owners of LMI, Lauren International, Ltd. and Meteor-US-Beteiligungs GMBH whereby we acquired substantially all of the operating assets comprising LMI’s polymer mixing and rubber compound production business and also assumed certain liabilities. LMI is included within our Custom Solutions reportable segment. As consideration for the LMI Acquisition, we paid $91.3 million in cash utilizing funds borrowed under our Credit Facility.

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Recent Transactions and Events

We restructured our reportable segments during the third quarter of 2025, which triggered the requirement to assess our goodwill for potential impairment. The testing of our goodwill resulted in a goodwill impairment of $302.3 million, in significant part driven by the prolonged decline in our stock price through the testing date as a result of weaker consumer confidence and high levels of uncertainty across the industry. Of the goodwill impairment amount recorded in the third quarter, $44.8 million relates to tax-deductible goodwill, the remaining charge was not deductible for tax purposes and no deferred tax asset was recognized. For additional discussion of our goodwill, see Note 7, “Goodwill and Intangibles.” For additional information and discussion of changes in reporting units and a summary of the change in the carrying amount of goodwill by segment, see Note 17, “Segment Information.”

We are monitoring the rapidly evolving tariff and global trade policies and we are working with our suppliers to mitigate potential impacts on our business. The extent and duration of the tariffs and the resulting impact on general economic conditions on our business are uncertain and depend on various factors, such as negotiations between the U.S. and affected countries, the responses of other countries or regions, exemptions that may be granted, availability and cost of alternative sources of supply and demand for our products in affected markets. While the tariff situation remains fluid, we generally expect to pass along costs associated with tariffs to our customers through contractual or pricing mechanisms.

U.S. and global markets are experiencing volatility and disruption following the escalation of geopolitical tensions, including the ongoing military conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. Although the length and impact of these ongoing military conflicts remain unpredictable, the conflicts can continue to lead to market or operational disruptions, including significant volatility in commodity prices, credit and capital markets, as well as supply chain interruptions.

Geopolitical tensions and their impacts on the global economy, including inflation and the price of raw materials, supply chain disruptions, and the volatility in interest rates including home mortgage rates, are unpredictable and there may be developments outside our control requiring us to adjust our operating plan.

Market Overview and Outlook

We believe the primary drivers of our operating results continue to be North American residential remodeling and replacement (R&R) and new home construction activity. We believe that housing starts and window shipments are indicators of activity levels in the homebuilding and window industries, and we use this data, as published by or derived from third-party sources, to evaluate the market. We have historically evaluated the market using data from the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) with regard to housing starts and R&R activity, and published reports by Ducker Worldwide, LLC (Ducker), a consulting and research firm, with regard to window shipments in the U.S.

In November 2025, the NAHB forecasted calendar-year housing starts (excluding manufactured units) to be 1.4 million in the 2025, 1.3 million in the 2026, and 1.4 million in the 2027 calendar-years. The November 2025 Ducker forecast indicated that window shipments in the R&R market are expected to decrease approximately 5.2% and 1.9% in the calendar-years ended 2025 and 2026, respectively, and window shipments in the new construction market are expected to decrease 5.0% and 0.8% in the calendar-years ended 2025 and 2026, respectively, resulting in overall window shipment decline of 5.1% in 2025 and 1.4% in 2026. Derived from reports published by Ducker, overall window shipments decreased 3.9%, new construction activity decreased 5.3% and R&R replacement decreased 2.6%, respectively, for the trailing twelve months ended September 30, 2025.

Our Hardware Solutions segment manufactures engineered window and door hardware, screens, and other fenestration components primarily serving the residential and light-commercial building markets. The majority of segment revenue is generated in North America, and as such, domestic housing starts and R&R activity remain the primary demand drivers. Long-term secular trends, including a structural undersupply of U.S. housing, an aging housing stock, and increasing home equity, are expected to support sustained demand for window and door replacement. Internationally, the segment serves a broad customer base of OEMs and distributors across Europe and Asia, where government incentives for energy efficiency and renovation activity are expected to support steady replacement demand over the medium term.

Our Extruded Solutions segment manufactures insulating-glass spacers, vinyl and composite profiles, and sealing solutions used in the fabrication of windows, doors, conservatories, roofs, and related building applications. This segment operates across North America and Europe, and its results are influenced by housing starts, energy-efficiency standards, and renovation activity in those regions. In the U.S., demand for insulating-glass spacers and vinyl profiles is supported by increasing adoption of high-performance window systems that improve thermal performance. In the U.K. and continental Europe, our vinyl business serves window fabricators and distributors with a broad offering of vinyl extrusions, decking, and

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roofing systems. The European market continues to benefit from government-sponsored retrofit programs and EU directives targeting energy efficiency and sustainability in existing building stock.

Our Custom Solutions segment delivers a diverse range of engineered product solutions across wood, metal, and elastomeric materials that serve residential, commercial, and industrial end markets. The segment’s portfolio includes interior building components, specialty access systems, and custom-formulated compounds designed for highly tec

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