Hamilton Beach reported that a $36.5 million International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariff refund helped boost gross margin in the second quarter, and the company provided an update on AI initiatives intended to improve its digital commerce visibility.
Net income was $33.7 million, or $2.49 per diluted share, versus $4.5 million, or 33 cents per diluted share, in the year-previous quarter. Total revenue was $142.6 million versus $127.8 million in the year-before period. The revenue increase was driven primarily by higher volumes in the Hamilton Beach U.S. consumer business, the company noted. That increase reflected recovery from the 2025 second quarter, when retailers paused buying to assess inventory levels and price increases arising from the tariffs imposed in April 2025, according to Hamilton Beach.
Operating profit was $43.2 million versus $5.9 million in the year-prior quarter.
Hamilton Beach reiterated its outlook for revenue growth for the fiscal year based on first-half results, which it expects to approach the mid-single-digit range in 2026, including a partial offset from the expiration of the company’s Bartesian cocktail maker licensing agreement at 2025’s end. The company’s income outlook has improved excluding the benefit from IEEPA tariff refunds, Hamilton Beach noted. It anticipates a high-single-digit decline in operating profit on a percentage basis versus the previous estimate of low-teens, inclusive of an incremental $6 million in planned advertising spend in 2026 to support strategic growth initiatives and $6 million in accelerated depreciation associated with the company’s legacy ERP system.
In a conference call, R. Scott Tidey, Hamilton Beach president and CEO, said, “We are pleased to report a solid second quarter, highlighted by meaningful improvement in our underlying operating performance, even before considering a significant one-time tariff refund we received during the quarter. Net sales increased low double digits, driven primarily by the recovery of U.S. consumer volumes that we lost in the second quarter of last year. As you will recall, several retailers paused purchasing to reevaluate their inventory levels in response to the tariff environment at that time. We also experienced a nice improvement in gross margin. In Q2, we again benefited from our foreign trade zone, selling inventory that wasn’t subject to additional tariff charges, in addition to other tariff mitigation actions, including diversifying our sourcing strategy and selectively raising prices.”
The resulting margin expansion, Tidey said, “more than offset increased investments in marketing and some non-operational expenses to deliver higher operating profit than a year ago. Our reported results benefited from refunds following the U.S. Supreme Court’s February ruling on IEEPA tariffs. We are very pleased to have received these funds, especially after the amount of work and cost we incurred after they were implemented in April of 2025. Our current plan is to reinvest a portion of these proceeds back into the business to help drive long-term growth.”
In addition to the IEEPA refund initiative, Tidey commented on Hamilton Beach’s digital development.
“We’re advancing three coordinated initiatives to make sure Hamilton Beach stays discoverable and preferred as consumers’ shopping shifts to AI-driven search,” he said. “First, we’re scaling AI-optimized content across our catalog with a 500 SKU content build underway to structure our products for discovery on leading AI platforms. Second, we’re piloting paid AI advertising as a new growth channel, running a controlled three-month test on ChatGPT’s newly launched ad platform to inform a scale decision ahead of the fourth quarter. Third, we’re building the measurement infrastructure to give us product-level visibility into how AI platforms recommend us versus our competitors so we can turn this investment into a measurable driver of revenue.”
In commenting on the financial results, Tidey said Hamilton Beach turned in a solid second quarter, with improving underlying performance and gross margins in line with expectations. Net sales increased low double digits as the company made up for last year’s tariff-associated lost revenue volumes, while its duty mitigation supported healthy gross margins. As for use of the IEEPA refunds, he said the company intends to reinvest in additional programs to drive increased awareness for Hamilton Beach brands and demand for the company’s product offering.
”We feel good about our momentum heading into the second half of the year, ” Tidey said, “and believe our business is well positioned to deliver continued gains and increased shareholder value over the long term.”
