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Here are 1-3 brief analogies for Quad/Graphics (QUAD):

• Think FedEx or UPS, but for marketing materials: they design, print, and deliver large volumes of catalogs, magazines, and direct mail.
• A Publicis Groupe or WPP (major advertising agencies) that also owns and operates massive commercial printing and distribution facilities.
• An Amazon Web Services (AWS) for physical marketing and publishing: they provide the infrastructure and services to create, print, and distribute large-scale communications.

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• Print Production: Large-scale printing of magazines, catalogs, direct mail, books, and other commercial products.
• Creative Services: Design, photography, video production, and content creation for various marketing channels.
• Media Planning & Buying: Strategic planning, placement, and optimization of advertising across print, digital, and other media.
• Data & Analytics: Services providing customer insights, personalization strategies, and performance measurement for marketing campaigns.
• Logistics & Distribution: Optimization of postal logistics, supply chain management, and delivery services for printed materials and products.
• In-Store Marketing & Packaging: Solutions including point-of-purchase displays, signage, and custom packaging design and production.

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Quad/Graphics (symbol: QUAD) primarily sells its services to **other companies (B2B)**.

The company serves a diverse range of businesses across numerous industries. As disclosed in their recent SEC filings (Form 10-K), no single customer accounted for more than 10% of their net sales in the past three fiscal years. Therefore, specific "major customer" companies by name are not publicly identified due to the company's broad and diversified client base.

Instead, Quad/Graphics serves a broad spectrum of clients within the following categories of industries:

• Retail
• Publishing
• Financial services
• Insurance
• Healthcare
• Food
• Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG)
• Automotive
• Travel
• Various agencies and direct marketers

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Joel Quadracci, Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer

Joel Quadracci leads Quad as Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, continuing a tradition of family leadership for the company founded by his father, Harry V. Quadracci, in 1971. He officially joined Quad/Graphics in 1991, progressing through various sales and strategy roles before becoming President & CEO in 2006, and then Chairman, President & CEO in 2010. Quadracci significantly transformed the company in 2010 through the acquisition of Worldcolor, which made Quad/Graphics the second-largest print and media services provider in North America and simultaneously took the company public. Under his leadership, Quad also expanded geographically into Asia through a partnership with ManipalTech in 2012, and he directed other key acquisitions, including three plants in Mexico from Transcontinental in 2011 and Vertis in 2013. His focus is on evolving Quad into a marketing experience company.

Tony Staniak, Chief Financial Officer

Tony Staniak assumed the role of Chief Financial Officer in January 2022, having been promoted from Vice President of Financial Planning and Advanced Analytics. He joined Quad in 2009 as Director of External Reporting. Staniak was instrumental in preparing Quad for its public listing in 2010 and developed the company's SEC reporting functions. His prior roles at Quad include Director of Internal Audit, Financial Controller, and Chief Accounting Officer. Before joining Quad, he served as the CFO of Sagence, a data consulting firm, and began his career at Arthur Andersen.

David Honan, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer

David Honan is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, a position he has held since January 2022. Prior to this role, Honan served as Quad's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. He joined Quad in 2009 and is recognized for developing the company's sophisticated public-company finance and accounting functions, and for leading the design of its capital structure and corporate development activities during Quad's transformation into a marketing experience company. Honan's experience before Quad includes executive-level positions at Newell Brands and as Vice President, General Manager at Journal Community Publishing Group. He began his career as a CPA at Arthur Andersen.

Jennifer J. Kent, Executive Vice President of Administration and General Counsel

Jennifer J. Kent holds the position of Executive Vice President of Administration and General Counsel at Quad/Graphics.

Eric N. Ashworth, Executive Vice President, Product Solutions & Market Strategy

Eric N. Ashworth serves as the Executive Vice President of Product Solutions & Market Strategy for Quad/Graphics.

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The key risks to Quad/Graphics' business are primarily driven by the evolving media landscape and broader economic factors.

1. Declining Demand for Traditional Print Services: Quad/Graphics, historically a printing company, faces a significant challenge from the ongoing decline in demand for traditional printed materials. This is largely due to the accelerated shift to digital alternatives, overcapacity within the printing industry, and increasing postal costs. This trend results in lower print volumes, downward pricing pressures, and has led to facility closures and layoffs. While the company is actively transforming into a "Marketing Experience" (MX) provider, its reliance on traditional printing services remains a weakness.
2. Macroeconomic Challenges and Cost Pressures: The company is susceptible to various macroeconomic factors that directly impact its operational costs and profitability. These include inflationary cost pressures, rising interest rates, and fluctuations in the cost and availability of critical raw materials such as paper and ink. The printing industry is capital-intensive, and managing these high operational costs amidst declining print volumes can be challenging, leading to lower margins.
3. Debt Levels and Interest Rate Risk: Quad/Graphics carries a notable amount of debt on its balance sheet, which exposes it to interest rate risk, especially given its variable rate debt obligations. While the company has made efforts to reduce its debt, high interest expenses can significantly impact its net income and overall financial health, making further debt reduction challenging and potentially limiting investment in strategic initiatives.

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The rapid advancement and widespread adoption of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools pose a clear emerging threat to Quad/Graphics, particularly to its integrated marketing solutions segment which includes creative development, content generation, and data analytics.

Generative AI platforms (e.g., large language models for text, text-to-image generators) can significantly automate and accelerate tasks traditionally performed by human creatives and analysts. This could lead to:

• **Disruption of Creative Services:** Clients may increasingly leverage AI internally or through specialized, leaner AI-first agencies for generating ad copy, imagery, and design concepts for both digital and print media, potentially reducing demand for Quad's creative development services.
• **Commoditization of Content:** The ease and speed of AI-generated content could drive down the perceived value and pricing for content creation, putting pressure on Quad's margins for these services.
• **Shift in Data Analytics:** AI can rapidly process and derive insights from vast datasets. While Quad can integrate AI, its widespread accessibility could empower clients to perform more sophisticated data analysis in-house or with more agile tech-focused partners, eroding Quad's value proposition in data strategy and insights.

This threat is analogous to the historical examples given, representing a new technological paradigm that can fundamentally alter how services are produced and delivered within the marketing and advertising industry, potentially disrupting established service providers like Quad/Graphics.

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Quad/Graphics (symbol: QUAD) operates in various addressable markets for its integrated marketing and print solutions. The market sizes for their main products and services are identified below, along with the relevant geographical regions:

Print Solutions

• Commercial Printing:
  • Global market size was estimated at between USD 489.53 billion (2023) and USD 774.46 billion (2024), with projections to reach between USD 590.21 billion (2032) and USD 940.54 billion (2030).
  • North American market is projected to reach USD 166.8 billion by 2031 and USD 256.72 billion by 2030, growing from USD 241.02 billion in 2025. The U.S. captured 78.42% of the North America commercial printing market in 2024.
• Direct Mail:
  • The global direct mail advertising market size was valued at approximately USD 11.87 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow to USD 16.66 billion by 2033. The direct mail industry is projected to reach a market value of $73.57 billion by 2026 (Global).
  • American marketers invested over $39 billion in direct mail in 2023 (U.S.).
• Catalogs (Print and Digital):
  • The global catalog market was worth USD 122.51 billion in 2024 and is estimated to reach USD 651.34 billion by 2033 (Global). Another estimate projects the global catalogue market size at $58.20 billion in 2020, projected to reach $335.62 billion by 2030.
  • North America dominated the catalog market in 2024, capturing 33.2% of the global market share.
• Packaging:
  • Within the North American commercial printing market, packaging led with 52.24% of total revenue in 2024. Globally, the packaging segment dominated the commercial printing market in 2024, accounting for 54.2% of the global revenue.

Marketing Solutions

• Marketing Technology (MarTech):
  • The North America marketing technology market size was estimated at USD 130.8 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 20.1% from 2024 to 2030. North America is expected to dominate the global marketing technology market, holding a 33.5% share in 2025.
• Digital Marketing Software:
  • The North America Digital Marketing Software Market would achieve a market value of $85,519.9 million by 2031, growing at an 18.5% CAGR during the forecast period (2024-2031). In 2023, North America held a dominant market position, capturing over a 41.3% share with revenues amounting to USD 27.8 billion.
• Marketing Automation Software:
  • The North America Marketing Automation Software Market was valued at USD 2.11 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 5.5 billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 10% from 2026 to 2032 (North America).
• Printing Services (Managed Print Services, Cloud Printing, etc.):
  • The global printing services market size was valued at USD 21.67 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach USD 46.11 billion by 2032 (Global). North America dominated the printing services market with a share of 49.26% in 2024.

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Quad/Graphics (QUAD) anticipates future revenue growth over the next 2-3 years to be driven by several strategic initiatives, even as the company navigates a broader industry shift.

The key drivers include:

• Expansion into Tech-Enabled Marketing Services and AI-Driven Personalization: Quad/Graphics is making targeted investments in AI-powered tools, data intelligence services, and its proprietary household-based data stack. This includes a collaboration with Google Cloud to develop next-generation, AI-driven marketing solutions, aiming to enhance audience targeting and content personalization for clients.
• Growth in Targeted Print Offerings: The company is seeing momentum in specific print segments such as direct mail, packaging, and in-store marketing. Direct mail has been relaunched with scalable, data-backed strategies, and both packaging and in-store marketing have shown notable increases. Quad's "In-Store Connect" retail media network is a particular focus in this area.
• Revenue Diversification through Integrated Marketing Solutions: Quad is strategically transforming into a "marketing experience" (MX) company, providing a comprehensive suite of integrated solutions spanning creative, production, and media services. This approach aims to simplify marketing complexities for brands, drive diversification of revenue and clients, and is a foundational element of the company's long-term goal to return to net sales growth by 2028. This includes offerings like Household Fusion and At-Home Connect.

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Share Repurchases

• Quad/Graphics has repurchased a total of 7.4 million shares since commencing buybacks in 2022, representing approximately 13% of its March 31, 2022, outstanding shares.
• Year-to-date 2025, the company returned $19 million of capital to shareholders, which included $8 million in share repurchases.
• As of December 31, 2023, approximately $77.5 million remained available under a $100 million share repurchase program authorized in July 2018.

Outbound Investments

• In 2025, Quad/Graphics acquired the co-mailing assets of Enru for an estimated total purchase price of $27.0 million, with a cash outlay of $16.3 million year-to-date.
• The company acquired DART Innovation, an AI-based digital solutions provider for retail businesses, in February 2024.
• In February 2020, Quad/Graphics acquired Apple Tree Group, a strategic and creative agency specializing in point-of-sale advertising innovation.

Capital Expenditures

• Capital expenditures for the full year 2025 are expected to be between $50 million and $55 million, a reduction from the previous guidance of $65 million to $75 million.
• Year-to-date September 30, 2025, capital expenditures amounted to $36.5 million.
• The primary focus of capital expenditures includes targeted investments in AI-powered tools, data and audience intelligence services, and the In-Store Connect retail media network to strengthen its marketing experience capabilities.