What Happened?

Shares of building products company Quanex (NYSE: NX) jumped 8.4% in the afternoon session after it reported strong third-quarter results that significantly beat analyst expectations for both earnings and revenue. 

The company posted an adjusted profit of $0.83 per share, easily surpassing the consensus estimate of $0.52. Revenue for the quarter came in at $489.8 million, which was flat year on year but topped forecasts of $469.3 million. In addition to the strong results, management provided a positive update on its recent Tyman acquisition, noting that its integration was "substantially complete." The company now expects to realize approximately $45 million in cost synergies over time, which is higher than its initial projection of $30 million.

Is now the time to buy Quanex? Access our full analysis report here.

What Is The Market Telling Us

Quanex’s shares are very volatile and have had 29 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 1 day ago when the stock gained 3.3% on the news that investor anticipation built ahead of the company's fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings results. The building products company was scheduled to release its financial report after the market closed. Analysts had projected that Quanex's revenue would decline by 4.6% year-on-year to approximately $469.3 million. Meanwhile, expectations for adjusted earnings were set around $0.51 to $0.52 per share. The upward movement in the stock price suggested that investors were positioning themselves with a hopeful outlook before the official numbers became public.

Quanex is down 29.8% since the beginning of the year, and at $16.52 per share, it is trading 42.9% below its 52-week high of $28.91 from December 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Quanex’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $757.80.

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