Vertiv Lifts 2026 Forecast as Orders More Than Double

Orders at Vertiv more than doubled in the third quarter, as the maker of power and cooling equipment for data centres reported a 61% jump in sales and raised its forecast for the year by $650m. The Ohio company, whose results release went out on 28 October, now expects net sales of $14.45bn to $14.85bn in 2026.

Vertiv, based in Westerville, Ohio, sells power, cooling and IT infrastructure for data centres, communication networks and industrial sites in more than 130 countries. The same figures appear in the Form 8-K it filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on the same morning.

In brief

Net sales rose 61% to $4,313m in the quarter to 30 September; organic orders grew “more than 100%”.
Adjusted operating margin rose 2.9 percentage points to 25.2%; diluted earnings per share rose 91% to $1.95.
Vertiv now forecasts 2026 net sales of $14,450m to $14,850m and adjusted diluted EPS of $7.10 to $7.20.

Sales up 61%, with the Americas up 75%

Net sales in the three months to 30 September were $4,313m, up $1,637m on a year earlier. Vertiv says 55 percentage points of the growth was organic and about 6 points came from acquisitions. The Americas grew 75% (66% organic) to $2,989m, Asia-Pacific 50% (48% organic) to $779m, and Europe, the Middle East and Africa 23% (19% organic) to $545m.

Operating profit rose 90% to $984m, and adjusted operating profit 83% to $1,087m. The adjusted operating margin was 25.2%, up 290 basis points, which Vertiv puts down to higher volumes and factory productivity, “partially offset by mix impacts and continued growth investments”. Net income was $764.5m, against $398.5m a year earlier. Diluted earnings per share rose 91% to $1.95, and adjusted diluted EPS 78% to $2.21.

Operating cash flow rose 64% to $794m and adjusted free cash flow 50% to $652m, held back by working capital and higher capital spending. Liquidity rose to $6.2bn and the company says it has net cash. It still plans to spend about 4% of revenue on capital expenditure this year.

The balance sheet shows how much work is lined up. Inventories stood at $3,288m on 30 September, against $1,457m at the end of 2025. Deferred revenue, which records payments received before goods or services are delivered, was $4,121m, up from $1,815m.

On 27 October, the day before the results, Vertiv said on X that it had completed its purchase of UtilityInnovation Group, which makes microgrid and behind-the-meter power systems for data centres.

The forecast for the rest of 2026

Vertiv raised every main line of its full-year guidance. It now expects:

net sales of $14,450m to $14,850m, with organic growth of 37% to 39%;
adjusted operating profit of $3,475m to $3,555m, a margin of 23.5% to 24.5%;
adjusted diluted EPS of $7.10 to $7.20, with a $7.15 midpoint that would be 70% above 2025;
adjusted free cash flow of $2,600m to $2,800m.

For the fourth quarter, it forecasts net sales of $4,313m to $4,513m, organic growth of 49% to 51%, and adjusted diluted EPS of $2.22 to $2.28.

“We are in the middle of the largest infrastructure buildout and it’s accelerating,” said Giordano Albertazzi, the chief executive. “We’re compressing new product development cycles from years to months.” Executive chairman Dave Cote added: “We are in an industry where the more technology changes, the better it is for us.”

Orders, stock and prepayments point beyond 2026

The quarter’s most telling number is the one Vertiv did not put a value on. Sales grew 61%; organic orders grew by more than 100%. When orders outrun shipments by that margin, customers are booking capacity well ahead of delivery, and most of that work will be billed after this year ends. Vertiv gives no backlog figure, so the size of the gap cannot be measured, only inferred.

The balance sheet supports that reading. Inventories have more than doubled since December and deferred revenue has risen by about $2.3bn. Customers are paying in advance for equipment that has not yet shipped, and Vertiv is stocking parts to build it. That is a sign of tight supply rather than slack demand. It also locks up cash, which is why free cash flow grew more slowly than profit.

Liquid cooling is moving from pilot projects, such as Vertiv’s 30 MW direct-to-chip deployment in India, to factory-built AI halls such as Nvidia’s DSX POD. Specialists are crowding in too: Acuity has agreed to buy leak-detection maker Parameter for $675m. The UtilityInnovation Group deal takes Vertiv further into on-site power, a market that grows when campuses cannot wait for a grid connection. A slowdown in AI spending would show up first in orders, not sales.

Vertiv’s management was due to discuss the results on a call at 11am Eastern Time (3pm GMT) on 28 October. Its fourth-quarter results will show how much of the forecast it delivers.