Building products manufacturer JELD-WEN (NYSE: JELD) reported revenue ahead of Wall Street’s expectations in Q4 CY2025, but sales fell by 10.5% year on year to $802 million. On the other hand, the company’s full-year revenue guidance of $3.03 billion at the midpoint came in 2.4% below analysts’ estimates. Its GAAP loss of $0.47 per share was 60% below analysts’ consensus estimates.

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"Fourth-quarter results came in at the high end of our expectations, reflecting disciplined execution and a clear focus on operational and cost rigor," said Chief Executive Officer William J. Christensen.

Company Overview

Founded in the 1960s as a general wood-making company, JELD-WEN (NYSE: JELD) manufactures doors, windows, and other related building products.

Revenue Growth

Examining a company’s long-term performance can provide clues about its quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but many enduring ones grow for years. JELD-WEN’s demand was weak over the last five years as its sales fell at a 5.4% annual rate. This wasn’t a great result and suggests it’s a low quality business.

Long-term growth is the most important, but within industrials, a half-decade historical view may miss new industry trends or demand cycles. JELD-WEN’s recent performance shows its demand remained suppressed as its revenue has declined by 13.6% annually over the last two years.

We can better understand the company’s sales dynamics by analyzing its organic revenue, which strips out one-time events like acquisitions and currency fluctuations that don’t accurately reflect its fundamentals. Over the last two years, JELD-WEN’s organic revenue averaged 11.9% year-on-year declines. Because this number is better than its two-year revenue growth, we can see that some mixture of divestitures and foreign exchange rates dampened its headline results.

This quarter, JELD-WEN’s revenue fell by 10.5% year on year to $802 million but beat Wall Street’s estimates by 7.6%.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to decline by 3.5% over the next 12 months. While this projection is better than its two-year trend, it’s hard to get excited about a company that is struggling with demand.

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Operating Margin

Operating margin is one of the best measures of profitability because it tells us how much money a company takes home after procuring and manufacturing its products, marketing and selling those products, and most importantly, keeping them relevant through research and development.

JELD-WEN was roughly breakeven when averaging the last five years of quarterly operating profits, one of the worst outcomes in the industrials sector. This result isn’t too surprising given its low gross margin as a starting point.

Looking at the trend in its profitability, JELD-WEN’s operating margin decreased by 18.6 percentage points over the last five years. JELD-WEN’s performance was poor no matter how you look at it - it shows that costs were rising and it couldn’t pass them onto its customers.

JELD-WEN’s operating margin was negative 1.8% this quarter. The company's consistent lack of profits raise a flag.

Earnings Per Share

Revenue trends explain a company’s historical growth, but the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) points to the profitability of that growth – for example, a company could inflate its sales through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.

Sadly for JELD-WEN, its EPS declined by 58.7% annually over the last five years, more than its revenue. This tells us the company struggled because its fixed cost base made it difficult to adjust to shrinking demand.

Diving into the nuances of JELD-WEN’s earnings can give us a better understanding of its performance. As we mentioned earlier, JELD-WEN’s operating margin expanded this quarter but declined by 18.6 percentage points over the last five years. This was the most relevant factor (aside from the revenue impact) behind its lower earnings; interest expenses and taxes can also affect EPS but don’t tell us as much about a company’s fundamentals.

Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a shorter period to see if we are missing a change in the business.

For JELD-WEN, its two-year annual EPS declines of 247% show it’s continued to underperform. These results were bad no matter how you slice the data.

In Q4, JELD-WEN reported EPS of negative $0.47, up from negative $0.81 in the same quarter last year. Despite growing year on year, this print missed analysts’ estimates. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects JELD-WEN to improve its earnings losses. Analysts forecast its full-year EPS of negative $7.27 will advance to negative $0.14.

Key Takeaways from JELD-WEN’s Q4 Results

We liked that JELD-WEN beat analysts’ EBITDA expectations this quarter on better-than-expected revenue. On the other hand, its full-year EBITDA guidance missed. Overall, this quarter was mixed, and the guidance could weigh on shares. The stock remained flat at $2.10 immediately after reporting.

Is JELD-WEN an attractive investment opportunity right now? The latest quarter does matter, but not nearly as much as longer-term fundamentals and valuation, when deciding if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).