USLM Misses Estimates for Third Straight Quarter
United States Lime & Minerals posted its third consecutive EPS miss in Q2 2026 even as revenue grew 8.3% to $99.1 million — a split between top-line momentum and bottom-line disappointment that has ye
USLM Misses Estimates for Third Straight Quarter
NEW YORK, September 20 —
United States Lime & Minerals, Inc. (USLM) has now missed EPS estimates in three consecutive quarters, raising a question the 19.9x forward multiple has not yet answered: whether a lime-and-limestone producer with immaculate finances is hitting a cost-cycle air pocket or quietly repricing its earnings power downward. Revenue grew 8.3% to $99.1 million in Q2, but the top line is carrying a valuation that the bottom line keeps failing to justify.
- Q2 EPS of $1.20 missed the $1.30 consensus by 7.7%, the third straight shortfall after misses of 6.2% and 11.7% in prior quarters.
- Zero debt, $400 million cash, and 55.3% gross margins, a balance sheet that insulates but does not explain the earnings drift.
- Wall Street consensus target of $132 implies 16% upside from $113.50, even as insider selling and a $9.1% short interest signal divided conviction.
Three Misses, One Intact Multiple
A single miss can be noise; three in a row at a specialty materials company is a pattern demanding explanation. USLM manufactures quicklime, hydrated lime, pulverized limestone, and lime slurry from open-pit quarries and an underground mine, selling to municipal water-treatment plants, steel producers, road-construction contractors, and poultry producers, a deliberately unglamorous, pricing-power business. Four quarters ago it beat EPS by 12.5%. Since then, the shortfalls have been 6.2%, 11.7%, and 7.7%, a deteriorating sequence that the stock, trading at 19.9x forward earnings, has absorbed with surprising equanimity. Trailing TTM EPS is $4.66 against a share price of $113.50, a multiple that embeds an earnings recovery the recent record has not yet earned.
The Selling Pattern the Purchase Obscures
On September 9, director Antoine M. Doumet sold 20,000 shares at $110.00 per share for $2.2 million in proceeds. That same day, Candou Holdings Ltd., a 10% shareholder, purchased exactly 20,000 shares at the same price, also totaling $2.2 million. Net insider exposure was unchanged in dollar terms. But symmetry is not neutrality: a director monetizing at a price 14% below the consensus target, while a major holder absorbs the shares rather than the open market, is a transaction that describes two different views of the same stock. Insiders collectively own 62.6% of shares outstanding, meaning the float is thin and the stakes in any earnings inflection are concentrated.
| Ticker | Mkt cap | Fwd P/E | 52-wk |
|---|---|---|---|
| USLM | $3.3B | 19.9x | -12.9% |
| UTMD | $235M | n/a | +16.9% |
| HWKN | $2.6B | 24.4x | -29.0% |
| UFPT | $2.1B | 23.3x | +41.5% |
| WINA | $1.0B | 23.6x | -43.6% |
| PLPC | $2.0B | n/a | +99.9% |
What Would Break the Thesis
USLM's case for a quality premium rests on $400 million of net cash, $163 million in trailing operating cash flow, and gross margins above 55%, a cost structure that should widen, not compress, in a normal pricing environment. The bear case is simpler: three consecutive misses against a 19.9x multiple and 9.1% short interest means the stock cannot afford another disappointment. The specific number to watch is EPS relative to the $1.30 consensus; a fourth miss would likely force a multiple re-rating that the balance sheet strength alone cannot prevent. Run the free United States Lime & Minerals, Inc. deep-dive → for the latest fundamentals as the next quarter approaches.
Current fundamentals, valuation and filing history for United States Lime & Minerals, Inc. (USLM) are tracked on its Basis Report page.
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United States Lime & Minerals posted its third consecutive EPS miss in Q2 2026 even as revenue grew 8.3% to $99.1 million — a split between top-line momentum and bottom-line disappointment that has yet to unwind a 19.9x forward earnings multiple or deter a director from selling $2.2 million in shares last week.