Celestica earnings: third quarter 2026

Celestica, which builds networking and computing equipment for big cloud companies, roughly doubled its adjusted profit per share. It came in well above its own forecast and raised its outlook for 2026. It also gave a first forecast for 2027 that would almost double sales again. The catch is cash: heavy spending on equipment and stock means it now expects less free cash this year, and a large share sale has added new shares. ¹

Against what analysts expected

Adjusted earnings per share of $3.30, and $3.26 under standard accounting, were both above the $2.89 that analysts expected on average, according to Nasdaq's earnings calendar. ¹²

The strong points

• Adjusted earnings per share, the company's own measure that leaves out certain items, were $3.30, more than double a year ago and above the top of its own forecast range. ¹
• Its largest business, which sells equipment for networks and cloud data centres, more than doubled its sales to $4.87 billion and earned more on each dollar of them. ¹

The weak points

• Celestica now expects free cash flow of $460 million this year, down from the $600 million it forecast before. ¹
• Free cash flow, the cash left after running the business and investing in it, was only about a third of the quarter's profit, because spending on equipment soared. ¹
• A share sale raised $3.39 billion, which makes the company far stronger financially but also means the profit is now split across more shares. ¹

What the company expects

• In its first forecast for 2027, Celestica expects sales of $40.0 billion, almost double what it expects for this year. ¹
• It raised its forecast for 2026 sales to $21.0 billion from $20.5 billion, and it also raised its forecast for adjusted profit per share. ¹

Our verdict on the quarter

A very strong report. Profit per share doubled and came in above every forecast, and the company raised its outlook for this year and expects sales to almost double again in 2027. The one soft spot is cash: it expects less free cash this year as it spends ahead of that growth.

The results as published

• The results release itself
• The filing it came with (SEC)

Notes

1. Celestica's results release, 26 October 2026: sec.gov. ↩
2. Nasdaq's earnings calendar, 26 October 2026. ↩