By Paul R. La Monica
It was only a matter of time before QXO, the building-supplies company led by serial acquirer Brad Jacobs, unveiled another deal.
QXO said Wednesday that it had agreed to buy Kodiak Building Partners, a distributor of lumber, windows, doors, and other construction supplies, from private-equity firm Court Square Capital Partners for $2.25 billion. Investors cheered the deal, which the company said is a bet on a comeback for the housing market.
QXO's stock, which was already up more than 20% this year before the Kodiak announcement, rose nearly another 13% in early trading. The stock has now shot up 35% so far in 2026.
The acquisition isn't a surprise. Jacobs, QXO's chairman and CEO, has a history of rolling up fragmented businesses. He has applied the strategy with other public companies he has run, most notably United Waste Systems, which was eventually bought by Waste Management; the construction-equipment provider United Rentals; and XPO, a logistics company.
QXO was formed in 2024 following an investment in the publicly traded software company SilverSun Technologies by a private-equity firm run by Jacobs. The company, renamed QXO, still owns the software business but its main focus is now on building supplies.
A Barron's stock pick in August, QXO entered the sector last year with an $11 billion deal to buy Beacon Roofing Supply. Jacobs has made it no secret that he was looking to make more acquisitions.
The plan was to create a one-stop shop for building supplies, all while cutting costs to boost profits. Jacobs doubled down on that theme Wednesday.
"We'll be able to deliver more value to customers across our combined base by cross-selling products and support services, and with a greater presence in key markets," he said in a news release. "And we expect the integration to accelerate margin expansion."
QXO is likely not done. It made an offer last year to buy drywall and ceiling distributor GMS, but walked away after being outbid by SRS Distribution, a subsidiary of Home Depot. And it launched an unsuccessful attempt to buy French electrical components maker Rexel in 2024. Jacobs seems to have a long list of takeover targets.
QXO has also quickly built a war chest to fund more deals, raising about $3 billion through offerings of convertible perpetual preferred stock to an investment group led by the private-equity company Apollo Global Management and Temasek, the sovereign-wealth fund of Singapore.
Jacobs said in Wednesday's press release that the company's "acquisition pipeline remains very active" and that QXO has "plenty of dry powder."
QXO's shopping spree is also an encouraging sign about the economy. A QXO spokesman told Barron's in an email that "the housing cycle is currently in a trough and QXO believes it's buying at the bottom."
The Federal Reserve's interest-rate cuts from last year, combined with recent readings showing that the job market and manufacturing sector remain resilient, could lead to a so-called Goldilocks economy that could spur more home-building and demand for houses.
That should be great news for home builders, construction materials suppliers, and retailers such as Home Depot and Lowe's. It is a big reason why two prominent housing-related exchange-traded funds that own many of those stocks, the State Street SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF and iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF, are both up 16% this year.
QXO has come along for the ride. And Wall Street remains bullish on Jacobs and his M&A strategy. All 16 analysts that cover the stock have it rated a Buy. Their average price target of $32.13 is more than 20% above the current number.
Write to Paul R. La Monica at paul.lamonica@barrons.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 11, 2026 11:34 ET (16:34 GMT)
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