Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Our common stock is currently quoted on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “BLBD.” At November 19, 2025, there were 65 holders of record of the Company’s common stock. Management of the Company believes that there are in excess of 26,000 beneficial holders of our common stock.
Dividends
We have not paid any dividends on our common stock to date. It is our present intention to retain any earnings for use in our business operations and, accordingly we do not anticipate that the Board of Directors will declare any dividends in the foreseeable future on our common stock. In addition, certain of our loan agreements restrict the payment of dividends.
Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
The following table provides information for all equity compensation plans at September 27, 2025, under which the equity securities of the Company were authorized for issuance:
Plan Category (1) (a) Number of Securities to be Issued Upon Exercise of Outstanding Options, Warrants, and Rights (b) Weighted Average Exercise Price of Outstanding Options, Warrants and Rights (c) Number of Securities Remaining Available for Future Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans (excluding
securities
reflected in
column (a)) (2)
Equity compensation plans approved by security holders 116,624 $ 16.20 293,304
(1) There are no equity compensation plans not approved by stockholders.
(2) Securities available for future issuance may take the form of non-qualified stock options, incentive stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock, restricted stock units, performance shares, performance units, incentive bonus awards, other cash-based awards, and/or other stock-based awards.
Performance Graph
The following performance graph and related information is not deemed to be “soliciting material” or to be “filed” with the SEC or subject to Regulation 14A or 14C under the Exchange Act, or to the liabilities of Section 18 of the Exchange Act, and will not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any filing under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, except to the extent the Company specifically incorporates it by reference into such a filing. The SEC requires the Company to include a line graph presentation comparing cumulative five year common stock returns with a broad-based stock index and either a nationally recognized industry index or an index of peer companies selected by the Company. The Company has chosen to use the Russell 3000 Index as the broad-based index. The following stock performance graph compares the total stockholder return of an investment of $100 in cash from October 3, 2020 through September 27, 2025.
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Cumulative Total Return
October 3,
2020 October 2,
2021 October 1,
2022 September 30,
2023 September 28,
2024 September 27,
2025
Blue Bird Corporation 100 177 69 177 402 481
Russell 3000 100 132 106 125 166 192
Peer Group 100 147 96 128 154 223
(1) Peer Group
Astec Industries Inc. Commercial Vehicle Group Inc. Douglas Dynamics, Inc.
Federal Signal Corp. NFI Group Inc. Rev Group Inc.
Thor Industries Inc. Wabash National Corp
Other than Lion Electric Company, which had its common stock delisted from the New York and Toronto Stock Exchanges during the early months of calendar year 2025, Blue Bird was and is the only publicly traded school bus company. As such, our peer group is not constructed on a line-of-business basis. Given our business model and brand recognition, we believe that the specialty vehicle OEMs and branded industrial companies that we have selected represent the most comparable publicly traded companies to Blue Bird. While Lion Electric Company was included within Blue Bird's peer group, it is not included in the chart above given that its common stock was publicly traded only from May 2021 to February 2025. Additionally, NFI Group Inc. is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canadian Dollars. The hypothetical investment in NFI Group Inc. assumes investing $100 U.S. Dollars to acquire shares on October 3, 2020. The value of such shares at each of the above dates is then translated from Canadian Dollars to U.S. Dollars for inclusion in the peer group index.
Issuer Repurchase of Equity Securities
On January 31, 2024, the Board of Directors of the Company authorized and approved a share repurchase program for up to $60 million of outstanding shares of the Company’s common stock over a period of 24 months, expiring January 31, 2026. On August 5, 2025, the Board of Directors of the Company authorized and approved a second share repurchase program for up to $100 million of
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outstanding shares of the Company’s common stock, expiring January 1, 2028. Under both share repurchase programs, the Company may repurchase shares through open market purchases, privately negotiated transactions, accelerated share repurchase transactions, block purchases or otherwise in accordance with applicable federal securities laws, including Rule 10b-18 of the Exchange Act.
The Board of Directors also authorized the Company to enter into written trading plans pursuant to Rule 10b5-1 under the Exchange Act. Adopting a trading plan that satisfies the conditions of Rule 10b5-1 allows a company to repurchase its shares at times when it might otherwise be prevented from doing so due to self-imposed trading blackout periods or pursuant to insider trading laws. The Company may from time to time enter into Rule 10b5-1 trading plans to facilitate the repurchase of its common stock pursuant to its share repurchase program.
The timing, manner, price, and number of shares to be repurchased will be at the discretion of Company management. The repurchase program does not obligate Blue Bird to acquire any specific amount of securities and can be modified or terminated at any time without notice. Repurchases under this program are expected to be funded from one or a combination of existing cash balances, future free cash flow, or indebtedness.
Share repurchase activity under the share repurchase programs, on a trade date basis, for each fiscal month in the quarter ended September 27, 2025, was as follows:
Period by fiscal month Total number of shares repurchased
Average price paid per share (in dollars) (1)
Total number of shares repurchased as part of publicly announced plans or programs (2)
Approximate dollar value of shares that may yet be purchased under the plans or programs (in millions)
June 29 - July 26, 2025 3,302 $ 42.02 3,302 $ 10.9
July 27 - August 23, 2025 8,684 43.01 8,684 110.6
August 24 - September 27, 2025 401 55.03 401 110.5
Total 12,387 12,387
(1) Average price paid per share includes costs associated with the repurchases, except for the cost of any associated excise tax.
(2) All share repurchases were made under the $60.0 million repurchase program approved on January 31, 2024 and announced on February 1, 2024 that expires on January 31, 2026.
Item 6. [Reserved]