Americold lifts 2026 outlook as cold-storage margins rebound

Americold Realty Trust raised its full-year earnings forecast for the second consecutive time Thursday, lifting its 2026 AFFO guidance to $1.31–$1.33 per share from a prior range of $1.26–$1.32, as the cold-storage operator's warehouse performance improved for multiple quarters in a row.

The headline profit figure tells only part of the story. The Atlanta-based company (NYSE: COLD) reported net income of $683.4 million, or $2.38 per diluted share, for the quarter ended Sept. 30 — a dramatic swing from a loss of $11.4 million, or 4 cents per share, a year earlier. The turnaround hinged on a one-time item: a $714.1 million after-tax gain from contributing real estate assets to a joint venture with EQT, not a comparable jump in recurring earnings.

What did the operating business actually deliver?

Revenue rose 4.2% to $691.6 million from $663.7 million. Adjusted funds from operations came in at $101.3 million, essentially flat against $100.7 million a year ago, with AFFO per diluted share unchanged at 35 cents.

Core EBITDA climbed 7.5% to $159.4 million, and the corresponding margin expanded to 23% from 22.3% — evidence that occupancy, throughput volumes and pricing are moving in the right direction while overhead shrinks.

Chief Executive Rob Chambers credited the quarter's operating improvement to gains in occupancy, the volume of goods moving through facilities and pricing, alongside lower selling, general and administrative costs.

"While the operating environment remains challenging, our efforts are yielding visible results, and we have seen a multi-quarter improvement in key metrics across the business," Chambers said in a statement.

How strong was the warehouse segment?

Same-store revenue in the global warehouse segment increased 5.7%, or 4.9% excluding currency movements. Same-store net operating income rose 6%, and the same-store services margin expanded to 15.9% from 13.6% — a 2.3-percentage-point gain in a business where margin points move slowly.

Revenue growth also drew support from higher transportation services revenue, favorable currency movements and $13.1 million in joint-venture management fees and reimbursed costs. Those gains were partially offset by the transfer of warehouse properties into the EQT partnership.

Why does the EQT deal matter so much?

The transaction, which closed Aug. 31, sits at the center of both the reported profit surge and Americold's deleveraging. The company said the deal enabled it to cut outstanding debt by $1.15 billion and lowered its net leverage ratio by a full turn.

Americold retained a 30% stake in the partnership, which owns 12 temperature-controlled warehouse facilities in North America, and continues to serve as day-to-day property manager. Chambers said the arrangement also establishes a development partner for future growth opportunities — a capital-light path to expansion that shifts some funding burden away from Americold's own balance sheet.

At quarter-end, Americold carried roughly $3.3 billion in net debt against $950.4 million in liquidity. Net debt stood at about 6.2 times pro forma core EBITDA, or approximately 6.3 times on a measure that includes its proportionate share of partially owned entities.

What remains mixed in the numbers?

Despite the outsized reported net income, the recurring earnings picture was uneven. AFFO per share held steady while core funds from operations declined to $66.9 million, or 23 cents per diluted share, from $81.7 million, or 29 cents per share, a year earlier — a drop of roughly one-fifth that underscores how gradual the operating recovery still is.

For shippers and forwarders dependent on temperature-controlled capacity, the takeaway is a stabilizing warehouse network backed by a stronger balance sheet: Americold's core cold-storage business is improving on occupancy, volume and pricing, and its second straight guidance increase signals management expects that momentum to carry into 2026, even if per-share recurring earnings have yet to follow.