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Home » Distribution Industry News » QXO Reports First-Quarter Loss as Beacon Deal Closes

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  • Published on: May 12, 2025

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Distribution Industry News

QXO Reports First-Quarter Loss as Beacon Deal Closes

QXO Inc. reported a net loss in the first quarter of 2025 as the company ramps up leadership hiring and digital infrastructure investments following the close of its $11 billion acquisition of Beacon Roofing Supply. While revenue fell 6.4% year over year to $13.5 million, the company beat Wall Street expectations on both earnings and revenue, signaling early investor confidence in its aggressive transformation plan.

QXO posted a net income of $8.8 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, compared to $138,000 a year earlier, primarily by $56.6 million in interest income from its $5.1 billion in cash and equivalents.

“This was always going to be a transition quarter,” said Brad Jacobs, chairman and chief executive officer of QXO. “We completed the Beacon acquisition and immediately began executing our strategy. It’s about applying our proven playbook to a highly fragmented industry—and building a next-generation distribution model that is digital-first and data-driven.”

Revenue from QXO’s software products segment totaled $3.5 million, up 1.1% from $3.48 million a year ago. Service and other revenue declined 8.8% to $9.99 million, down from $10.96 million in the first quarter of 2024. Total revenue of $13.51 million exceeded analyst estimates by $1.51 million, according to financial data from Seeking Alpha.

Operating expenses surged to $44.7 million, compared with $5.4 million in the prior year period. That increase included $20.3 million in share-based compensation and $9.8 million in transaction-related and integration costs from the Beacon acquisition. Selling, general and administrative expenses reached $44.4 million as QXO added senior executives and invested heavily in building out its digital infrastructure and operational systems.

QXO CEO Brad Jacobs

“We’ve brought in world-class leadership to position QXO for scale, and that shows up in our near-term cost structure,” Jacobs said. “But these are foundational investments. We’re not building a legacy distributor—we’re creating a $50 billion technology-enabled platform for the future of building products.”

Analysts acknowledged the steep costs but expressed confidence in Jacobs’ ability to execute. “These results are noisy but not surprising,” said Rob Mason, equity analyst at Raymond James. “Brad Jacobs has a history of building multi-billion-dollar logistics platforms. QXO is his next major build-out—and unlike past ventures, this one is starting with software and digital systems.”

Deutsche Bank analyst Amit Jain said the market is focused less on QXO’s short-term losses and more on its ability to integrate Beacon effectively and prove the strength of its software strategy. “QXO is still in its initial stages. The execution risk is real, but the long-term value is tied to how well they blend physical scale with digital capability,” Jain said.

Jacobs made clear that technology is at the core of QXO’s approach. “We’re not just acquiring warehouses and trucks—we’re building a unified tech stack that connects procurement, inventory, analytics, and customer experience. That’s where the margin and the customer loyalty will come from,” he said.

The company is targeting $50 billion in annual revenue within the next decade through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions. With the Beacon transaction, QXO is now the largest publicly traded distributor of roofing, waterproofing, and complementary building materials in the United States. It plans to expand across additional verticals within the broader $800 billion building products distribution industry.

“We have more than $5 billion in liquidity, which gives us the flexibility to act when the right opportunities emerge,” said Mark Manduca, QXO’s chief financial officer. “But we will remain disciplined, focused on value creation, and committed to high return on invested capital.”

Jason English, analyst at Barclays, said the next few quarters will be critical for QXO. “There’s a lot of promise here, but investors will be looking for measurable integration milestones and evidence that the digital model can deliver the operating leverage they’re forecasting,” he said.

Jacobs remained confident. “We didn’t take this public to run a traditional distributor,” he said. “We’re here to redefine what’s possible in this space—and we’ve only just begun.”

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