DCH: Takeaways from Post-Earnings Call with CFO Chris May

Research evidence excerpt

DCH: Takeaways from Post-Earnings Call with CFO Chris May

ent with typical seasonality (Q1

is historically a working capital drag from inventory and receivables build, AllPricedvaluesas ofin priorUSD unlesstradingotherwiseday's marketnoted.close, EST (unless otherwise noted).

with improvement in subsequent quarters), and DCH noted FCF is currently

trending above the midpoint of guidance. Other FCF items include 1) cash

acquisition costs are largely paid out in Q2 (~$87M in Q1/26, ~$53M

remaining); 2) restructuring ($36M in Q1/26), could be flat in Q2 before

stepping down materially in H2/26 as DWL's discrete restructuring projects

wind down; and 3) synergy integration costs (~$8M in Q1/26) could ramp in

subsequent quarters. From a debt maturity perspective, DCH has ~$125M

due in 2028 and minimal maturities until 2029. Once leverage reaches the

2.5x target, mgmt indicated free cash flow would pivot toward shareholder-

friendly capital allocation (e.g., buybacks and dividends).

Synergy capture in the early innings, but the trajectory is compelling.

DCH achieved $5M in synergies in Q1/26 and expects to exit the year at

a $100M run-rate, with $50–75M captured on a cumulative basis by year-

end '26. The three buckets include purchasing (50%), SG&A (30%), and

operations (20%). On the SG&A side, duplicate public company costs such

as dual management teams and redundant finance and legal departments

represent the most straightforward wins and are likely front-loaded. The

purchasing bucket, which is the largest, benefits from the combined entity's

scale and vertical integration strengths: legacy DCH, one of the largest

steel forgers among auto suppliers, previously bought from DWL, and DWL

previously purchased metal powder from legacy DCH – both of which can