Mistras Q2 EBITDA Hits Record $25.8M; TransAct Underlying Sales Rise 8%

For investors parsing Q2 earnings, two small-cap industrials delivered margin expansion and recurring-revenue momentum. Mistras is shifting toward higher-margin aerospace and defense work, while TransAct is building a 22,000-unit installed base for BOHA! that keeps monetizing through software and consumables. The numbers matter because both firms are managing tariff and oil-and-gas cyclical headwinds while promising more predictable revenue.

Second-quarter 2026 reports from Mistras Group (NYSE:MG) and TransAct Technologies (NASDAQ:TACT) highlight how two small-cap industrial companies are using product mix shifts and recurring revenue to offset cyclical and regulatory headwinds. Mistras generated $193 million in revenue, up 4.2% year over year and its fourth straight quarter of growth, while adjusted EBITDA rose 7% to a record $25.8 million for a second quarter. The adjusted EBITDA margin widened 30 basis points to 13.3%. CEO Natalia Shuman attributed the gains to Vision 2030 diversification into aerospace and defense, infrastructure, and power, which more than offset an $8.5 million, or 8.2%, decline in oil and gas revenue. Excluding exited 2025 programs and 2026 turnaround activity, core oil and gas revenue actually rose 1%, but Shuman said most first-half deferrals are expected to be pushed out further. TransAct, meanwhile, reported net sales of $13.9 million, essentially flat with $13.8 million a year ago, but management said a February U.S. Supreme Court ruling invalidating certain import tariffs forced approximately $1 million in customer refunds and a $600,000 cost-of-goods-sold adjustment. Without that tariff noise, second-quarter sales would have been approximately $14.9 million, an 8% increase. Adjusted EBITDA was $514,000 versus $478,000 a year earlier, and the company raised its full-year adjusted EBITDA outlook to a range of $1.5 million to $2 million.

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Adjusted EBITDA was $514,000 versus $478,000 a year earlier, and the company raised its full-year adjusted EBITDA outlook to a range of $1.5 million to $2 million.

These results matter for the market because they show two different approaches to the same problem: reducing dependence on volatile, lower-margin industrial work. Mistras is spending on in-lab testing capacity in Houston and Los Angeles, adding automation and equipment to support complex aerospace manufacturing workflows, which management says could nearly triple in-lab testing capacity over time. Aerospace, infrastructure, and power are higher-margin, longer-cycle end markets, and the 28% aggregate growth in strategic end markets supports the strategy. TransAct is building an installed base of BOHA! food service platform units. It sold 1,900 BOHA! units in Q2, taking first-half unit sales to 3,270 and ending the quarter with nearly 22,000 online units, up about 33% year over year. That installed base drives recurring software, service, and consumable label revenue, which rose 13% to $3.4 million; software revenue alone rose 47%. CEO John Dillon described demand from customers upgrading older AccuDate and Terminal One systems as a multiyear conversion opportunity.

The tariff issue at TransAct is more than a one-time accounting item. The estimated $1 million revenue refund and $600,000 COGS benefit trace to a February Supreme Court ruling, and the second-quarter adjusted EBITDA included a $400,000 aggregate tariff-related impact. The company lost sequential momentum: adjusted EBITDA fell from $1.4 million in Q1 to $514,000 in Q2, and first-half adjusted EBITDA of approximately $1.9 million means the full-year guidance of $1.5 million to $2 million leaves almost no room for second-half EBITDA. Investors should ask whether this is conservative guidance, investment timing, or continued tariff and seasonal pressure. The raised guidance is positive in tone but the implied H2 range is much thinner than the H1 result.

At Mistras, the oil and gas book remains a drag. The $8.5 million decline, after excluding exited 2025 programs and 2026 turnaround activity, becomes a 1% increase, which means the headline decline is partly self-inflicted portfolio cleanup rather than pure demand destruction. Still, Shuman's comment that a majority of deferred oil and gas maintenance and project activity seen in the first half is expected to be pushed out further is a caution flag. Offsetting that, the company's strategic end markets grew 28% and the facility investments suggest management expects multiyear aerospace demand. The record Q2 adjusted EBITDA and margin expansion support the pivot, but investors will watch whether oil and gas deferrals stabilize in Q3 and Q4 as currently expected.