AAON (NASDAQ:AAON) reported fourth-quarter net income of $32 million on Monday, falling short of Wall Street expectations as the company absorbed significant costs related to its rapid capacity expansion.
The Tulsa, Oklahoma-based manufacturer posted earnings of 39 cents per share, trailing the 45-cent consensus estimate from analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.
Despite the earnings miss, revenue for the quarter surged 42.5% to $424.2 million, comfortably beating analyst projections.
The top-line growth was primarily powered by the company’s BASX-branded data center equipment, which saw sales skyrocket 138.8% year-over-year.
For the full year 2025, AAON reported total revenue of $1.44 billion and a net profit of $107.6 million, or $1.29 per share.
The divergence between record sales and lower-than-expected profits was largely attributed to margin compression.
Gross margin for the quarter softened to 25.9% as the company navigated unabsorbed fixed costs at its new Memphis, Tennessee facility and continued disruptions from a multi-year ERP system rollout.
AAON’s year-end backlog represents a 110.9% increase over 2024, with data center-related orders leading the surge.
Looking ahead, the company introduced 2026 guidance forecasting revenue growth of 18% to 20%.
Management expects gross margins to rebound to a range of 29% to 31% as capacity utilization improves and the Memphis facility reaches optimal efficiency.