Healthcare Services Group 2026 Q3 Earnings Call

Please go ahead. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to HCSG's third quarter 2026 earnings call.

With me today are Matt McKee, our Chief Communications Officer, and Vikas Singh, our Chief Financial Officer. Earlier this morning, we released our third quarter results and plan on filing our 10-Q by the end of the week. Today, in my opening remarks, I'll discuss our Q3 highlights, share our perspective on the general business environment, and discuss our outlook for Q4 and 2027. Matt will then provide a more detailed discussion on our Q3 results, and Vikas will provide an update on our liquidity position and capital allocation progression. We will then open up the call for Q&A. With that overview, I'd like to now discuss our Q3 highlights. Our strong third quarter results reflect the underlying strength of our business fundamentals and disciplined operational execution.

New client wins and high retention rates drove our Q3 top-line growth, our ninth sequential revenue increase over the past 10 quarters, and our field-based team's operational excellence led to high-quality service outcomes and consistent margins. The acquisition of NEXDINE Hospitality on October 6 represents a significant milestone as it expands our footprint in the senior living and hospitality-driven markets and deepens our service capabilities across our family of brands. NEXDINE is expected to contribute over $150 million in annual revenue at comparable margins and be immediately accretive to earnings. We are thrilled to partner with our NEXDINE colleagues in their next phase of growth and innovation. On October 14, the Bankruptcy Court approved the sale of Genesis to 101 West State Street.

The outcome of the Genesis restructuring creates stronger, healthier HCSG client facilities, provides balance sheet clarity for our stakeholders, and enables future expansion opportunities with a growth-oriented client partner. Our current estimated recovery of pre-petition claims is $6.1 million. There remains a substantially higher potential upper-range recovery subject to certain variables and contingencies, the resolutions of which are not known and cannot be reasonably estimated at this time. I'd like to now share our perspective on the general business environment. Overall industry fundamentals continue to gain strength, highlighted by the multi-decade demographic tailwind that is now beginning to work its way into the broader senior care environments. In 2026, the first of the baby boomers are turning 80, and by the year 2030, all 70 million-plus boomers will be over the age of 65, with the oldest being in their mid-80s.

We expect the demand and opportunities for senior care service providers in the health and hospitality space, especially for those with compelling value propositions, durable business models, and market-leading positions to only increase in the months and years ahead. Beyond our core industry trends, we continue to monitor the broader macro landscape, including sustained volatility in energy and supply markets. Our role as financial stewards for our clients remains our highest priority in this environment, and the depth of our longstanding vendor partnerships provides the critical visibility to pivot sourcing and mitigate direct exposure. Ultimately, our enhanced contractual frameworks allow us to pass through unavoidable cost increases, ensuring we are preserving our margins while continuing to deliver market-leading service.

Looking ahead to Q4 in 2027, the organic growth inflection we planned for and are now delivering sets the stage for fourth quarter revenue in the range of $535 million to $545 million. We expect to carry that positive momentum into 2027 and are raising our 2027 revenue growth outlook from the mid-single digits to low double digits. The strong demand for our services, our expanded operational expertise, and extraordinary team members give us great confidence in our growth trajectory across healthcare, senior living, and campus environments. With the industry at the beginning of a multi-decade demographic tailwind, our unified health and hospitality platform strategically positions us to fulfill our vision and drive sustained long-term value creation for our shareholders. With those introductory comments, I'll turn the call over to Matt.

Thanks, Ted, and good morning, everyone. Revenue was reported at $479.6 million. Segment revenues and margins for Environmental Services were reported at $217.2 million and 13.3%. Segment revenues and margins for Dietary Services were reported at $262.4 million and 8.7%. As Ted mentioned in his remarks, we are expecting Q4 revenue in the $535 million to $545 million range and low double-digit revenue growth in 2027. Cost of services was reported at $399.2 million or 83.2%. Cost of services benefited from strong service execution and lower bad debt expense. Our goal is to manage the cost of services in the 86% range. SG&A was reported at $48.5 million. After adjusting for the $600,000 decrease in deferred compensation, SG&A was $49.1 million or 10.2%. Our goal is to manage SG&A in the 9.5%-10.5% range with the longer-term goal of managing these costs into the 8.5%-9.5% range.

Our effective tax rate was reported at 26.2%, and we expect our 2026 effective tax rate to be approximately 25%. Net income and diluted earnings per share were reported at $24.9 million and $0.36 per share. I'd now like to turn the call over to Vikas.

Thank you, Matt, and good morning, everyone. Starting with our liquidity and cash flows, our primary sources of liquidity are cash flows from operating activities, cash and cash equivalents, and our revolving credit facility. Cash flow from operations was reported at $30.2 million. After adjusting for the $9.5 million decrease in the payroll accrual, cash flow from operations was $20.7 million. As of the end of the third quarter, we had cash and marketable securities of $204.3 million and an unutilized $300 million credit facility. We continue to execute on our capital allocation priorities across organic growth, M&A, and share repurchases. Our approach continues to be grounded in discipline, and our balance sheet provides us the flexibility to pursue all of these priorities in tandem.

With regards to share repurchases, we announced plans in February 2026 to further accelerate the pace of our share buybacks and target $75 million of our common stock over 12 months. In the third quarter, we repurchased $11.7 million of our common stock, bringing our year-to-date total to $56.6 million. We now have 7.7 million shares remaining under our share repurchase authorization. With that, we will conclude our opening remarks and open up the call for Q&A.