NOK

- Graco shares fell 15% on Thursday after its third-quarter adjusted EPS and revenue missed estimates and its fourth-quarter revenue outlook came in below consensus. - Half of Graco's 8% sales growth came from acquisitions, and adjusted operating earnings rose just 1% because higher product costs used up its price increases. - TTM Technologies, Lam Research and Nokia also fell sharply on Thursday despite beating estimates, while Snap-on fell far less than Graco on bigger misses. - Incoming organic orders rose 7% in the quarter, and the fourth-quarter report will show whether costs or demand matter more. Graco (GGG:NYSE) shares sank 15% on Thursday. Its third-quarter results came out after Wednesday's close, missed estimates, and came with a light fourth-quarter outlook. That's a rough reception for record third-quarter sales. "Graco delivered a solid quarter, with broad-based performance across our businesses and geographies," said President and CEO Mark Sheahan. Wall Street wanted more than solid. - Adjusted EPS: $0.81, up 5% from a year ago but below the $0.84 consensus - Revenue: $586.4 million, up 8%, against $590.6 million expected - Fourth-quarter revenue guidance: $610 million to $640 million, against a $642.4 million consensus The third-quarter misses were small. But even the top of that guide falls short of the consensus, and its midpoint is about 3% light. Only half of that 8% sales growth was organic. Acquisitions added the other 4 points. And adjusted operating earnings rose just 1%, to $160.9 million, as Graco's price increases did little more than cover higher product costs. That's unusual for Graco. Its operating margin stayed between 26.1% and 27.5% every year from fiscal 2021 to fiscal 2025. It was a rough day for reports that didn't clear a high bar: - TTM Technologies (TTMI:NASDAQ) closed down 27.7% despite beating estimates on record revenue. The midpoint of its fourth-quarter EPS guidance matched consensus, while its revenue midpoint came in slightly below. - Lam Research (LRCX:NASDAQ) closed down 11.8% after a record quarter, with supply constraints holding its guidance to roughly in line with expectations. - Nokia (NOK) closed down 14.8% after keeping its full-year operating-profit outlook and cutting its free-cash-flow conversion assumption to 35% to 55%, from 55% to 75%. - Snap-on (SNA:NYSE) closed down 3.4% after missing revenue and EPS estimates, with organic sales down 2.8%. Graco's day looks more like Snap-on's than the rest. TTM, Lam and Nokia beat quarterly expectations and fell on their outlooks, while Graco and Snap-on missed. Snap-on's misses were bigger, though, and its stock fell just 3.4%. Graco's below-consensus fourth-quarter guidance may help explain its larger decline. See the full breakdown of Buy, Hold, and Sell ratings on Graco, along with Wall Street's revenue and earnings estimates, all in one place. More than 500,000 investors use TIKR to research stocks like this one. See Graco's Analyst Ratings Going into the report, Graco traded at 23x forward earnings. That was below its 26x five-year average and not far above its 21x low from June 2022… After Thursday's drop, it's just under 20x, below even that low (on estimates that may yet fall). A 15% drop for an outlook about 3% light is more than this quarter deserves, especially with incoming organic orders up 7% in the quarter. I think the sell-off has gone too far. Of course, if product costs keep outrunning price, those estimates will come down and the multiple won't look so cheap. The fourth-quarter report, likely in late January, is the one to watch. TIKR lets you forecast the future price of any stock in less than a minute. Just enter a few assumptions into TIKR's valuation model and see what Graco could be worth. Start from Wall Street consensus estimates, or adjust the inputs to reflect your own view of the business. It's free to use. Value Graco for free

Nokia closed Q3 2026 earnings with a clean headline. Net sales reached €5,154m and comparable operating profit landed at €605m, backed by an 11.7% operating margin. The share price told a different story in the run-up. The stock had fallen about 20% over the past month and about 11% over the past week into the release. The core focus today is on margins. Management is placing strong emphasis on AI and cloud networking growth, while gross margin stayed broadly stable and operating profitability improved. That mix creates a clear test of whether the latest 1 day move in Nokia is driven by emotion or by evidence. Like the margin story at Nokia but uneasy about the recent price slide into these results? Check out the list of solid balance sheet and fundamentals stocks (205 results). - Revenue (Q3 2026 vs Q3 2025): €5,154m vs. €4,828m (up about 7%) - Net Income (Excl. Extra Items, Q3 2026 vs Q3 2025): €173m vs. €78m (up about 122%) - Basic EPS (Q3 2026 vs Q3 2025): €0.030668 vs. €0.014442 (up about 112%) - Comparable Operating Margin (Q3 2026): 11.7% (expansion of about 2.2 percentage points vs. prior year, supported by operating leverage) Nokia just lifted its AI networking growth outlook into 2027. Ask Charlie what makes Nokia's AI networking growth target believable. The bullish story says Nokia can turn visible AI demand into a richer mix of high capacity networking and recurring software, with better profitability as scale builds. "Acceleration of private and cloud based networking use cases for enterprises is now reflected in Nokia Oyj's AI & Cloud customer net sales rising 105% year on year and deeper partnerships with platforms such as Google Cloud and Microsoft Fabric. These developments can support growth in recurring software and services revenue and improve operating margins over time." Q3 keeps that thesis alive. AI & cloud net sales more than doubled and orders of €1.5b arrived. Network Infrastructure margin reached 10% and group comparable margin hit 11.7%, helped by restructuring and Infinera synergies. The main worry is that Nokia's AI funnel might be rich on paper yet slow to turn into cash if supply, capex heavy working capital and hyperscaler dependence all bite at once. "Optical and semiconductor supply constraints, including lead times of roughly 12 to 18 months on many optical products, may prevent Nokia Oyj from turning its current AI and cloud order book into shipped product on the timelines analysts expect. This would cap Network Infrastructure revenue and delay the earnings contribution from higher margin optical and IP equipment." Recent numbers back that caution. Management plans about €400m extra working capital to support constrained supply, Q3 free cash flow was a €99m outflow and 7 day and 30 day share returns fell 11% and 20% respectively, showing investor concern about timing and cash conversion. One Narrative has put a figure on that disagreement. → See the Narrative with its higher Fair Value, assumptions and all. Nokia Oyj shows how margin progress and share price pressure can move in different directions. The real opportunity could sit in companies where fundamentals shift before valuations catch up. - Company 1 - 41% below our estimate - expands device recycling and recommerce volumes as trade in subsidies and sustainable consumption policies steer users into refurbishment channels. - Company 2 - 42% below our estimate - ramps new rolling capacity that shifts more sales into higher value aluminum products tied to thermal systems and specialty packaging. - Company 3 - 43% below our estimate - sells sonar and connectivity hardware that slots into autonomous vessels and upgraded truck tolling units as older networks close. Three companies from the same screener. Open every one of the 195 undervalued companies on it → This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include NOKIA.HE. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email [email protected]

Nokia Oyj NOK emphasized accelerating AI infrastructure demand, improving operating leverage and capacity expansion during its third-quarter 2026 earnings call. Management outlined stronger growth expectations for Optical and IP Networks in 2027 while acknowledging supply constraints and near-term profitability pressures. Nokia's third-quarter 2026 comparable profit from continuing operations was $0.10 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.08. Net sales of $5.93 billion also surpassed the consensus estimate of $5.80 billion. Management maintained its full-year operating profit outlook despite increased restructuring and working capital requirements. Nokia Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Nokia Corporation Quote President and CEO Justin Hotard highlighted AI and cloud as Nokia's fastest-growing customer segment, with sales increasing 123% year over year and representing 12% of group revenues. Gross order intake climbed 118% to €1.5 billion. IP Networks revenues grew 43%, while Optical Networks expanded 18%, reflecting hyperscaler demand and increasing investment in data center connectivity. Hotard expects combined Optical and IP Networks growth of 25-30% in 2027. During discussions with Raymond James, he emphasized that demand extends beyond 2027, although the company's formal projection covers next year. Hotard acknowledged that demand continues to exceed supply across Optical and IP Networks. Shipments of 800-gig coherent pluggables more than doubled sequentially, supported by design wins involving 29 customers. Nokia's San Jose indium phosphide manufacturing facility remains scheduled to begin production before year-end. Management reported completing 90% of process development, with production yields and output becoming important milestones during 2027. Responding to BNP Paribas, Hotard described the planned Chandler manufacturing facility as a longer-term capacity investment targeting a 2029 timeframe. Its production capabilities will depend on emerging customer requirements. Chief financial officer Marco Wiren attributed Network Infrastructure's gross margin decline to product mix and initial costs associated with ramping AI-focused IP products. Segment gross margin fell 150 basis points to 41.2%. During questioning from Danske Bank, Wiren characterized these pressures as temporary, expecting improvement in the fourth quarter as production volumes increase and pricing discipline supports profitability. Comparable group operating margin nevertheless expanded 220 basis points to 11.7%. Management emphasized that scaling AI infrastructure revenues should generate additional operating leverage despite near-term manufacturing costs. Wiren reported negative free cash flow of €99 million, reflecting restructuring payments, higher receivables and inventory accumulation. Management plans an additional €400 million working capital investment during 2026 to secure supplies and support anticipated growth next year. Consequently, Nokia lowered its free cash flow conversion assumption to 35-55%. Restructuring charges are now expected to reach approximately €1.1 billion, with associated cash outflows of €800-€900 million. Accelerated restructuring and integration efforts aim to establish a more efficient operating cost structure. Mobile Infrastructure sales increased 5%, supported by 10% growth in Radio Networks. However, management clarified that some deliveries originally expected in the fourth quarter occurred earlier. Responding to DNB Carnegie, Hotard rejected the characterization of these deliveries as customer prebuying. He reiterated that Nokia does not anticipate an imminent broader telecom investment cycle. Management expects the overall telecom market to remain broadly flat. Hotard also highlighted increasing component costs and supply shortages, while Wiren emphasized ongoing mitigation through commercial discipline and operational improvements. Management maintained its 2026 comparable operating profit outlook of €2.1 billion to €2.6 billion, expecting performance above the midpoint. Fourth-quarter revenues are projected to increase sequentially by 20-24%. Hotard emphasized continued portfolio simplification and the Infinera integration, with €200 million in synergies targeted by year-end, one year ahead of schedule. The overarching message centered on converting AI-driven demand into profitable growth while addressing capacity limitations, working capital pressures and restructuring requirements. NOK currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), indicating a neutral near-term earnings estimate revision outlook. Its Value Score of B reflects favorable valuation characteristics, while its Momentum Score of A indicates strong price momentum. However, its Growth Score of F signals comparatively weak growth characteristics. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. The stock's VGM Score of C reflects a mixed overall assessment across value, growth and momentum. Although favorable individual scores highlight certain strengths, the combined ratings fall short of the highest-ranked Zacks combinations. The Zacks Rank remains subject to change as analysts revise earnings estimates following the latest quarterly results. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Nokia Corporation (NOK) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Release Date: October 22, 2026 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. - Net sales grew 9% year-over-year in Q3 2026, with operating margin expanding 220 basis points to 11.7%. - AI and Cloud segment net sales surged 123% year-over-year, representing 12% of total group net sales, with order intake up 118% to EUR1.5 billion. - IP networks grew 43% year-over-year, driven by AI and cloud demand, with strong order momentum converting into revenue. - Optical networks grew 18% year-over-year, with demand exceeding supply and 800G coherent pluggables shipment volumes more than doubling sequentially. - Infinera integration largely complete, on track to achieve EUR200 million synergy target by end of 2026, one year ahead of schedule. - Free cash flow was negative EUR99 million in Q3 2026, impacted by restructuring payments and working capital buildup. - Network infrastructure gross margin declined 150 basis points to 41.2% due to product mix and ramp-up costs for new AI and cloud products. - Fixed networks net sales declined 22% year-over-year, reflecting portfolio actions to prioritize higher-margin products. - Supply chain constraints and component price increases are pressuring mobile infrastructure, with broader impact across leading-edge nodes and memory. - Restructuring charges expected to be approximately EUR1.1 billion in 2026, with cash outflows of EUR800-900 million, weighing on near-term profitability. - Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Signs with NOK. - Is NOK fairly valued? Test your thesis with our free DCF calculator. Q: Can you give an update on the six-inch indium phosphide ramp in San Jose? How are yields progressing, and how many more milestones remain before you have high confidence in the ramp? A: CEO Justin Hotard said Fab 2 is the six-inch indium phosphide facility (versus three-inch wafers at Fab 1), and Nokia is pleased with progress: 90% of process development is complete and the fab is moving to 24/7 operations. The key milestone is entering production by year-end, followed by a production ramp through 2027, with volume and yield the metrics to watch. He indicated another update would likely come in January. Q: How do you see the optical and IP routing market shaping up over the next two years, and where is demand coming from beyond telcos? A: CEO Justin Hotard said demand spans front-end networking, data center interconnect and scale-across, with scale-across today mostly an optical play while the others are a balance of optical and IP. He noted telcos are increasingly investing in connectivity for East-West traffic (DCI, long haul), and while Nokia started from a low base in IP, order strength from AI and cloud customers should continue. He guided IP and optical combined to grow 25% to 30% in 2027 and said optical could be a bigger contributor as supply capacity, including Fab 2, builds out. Q: With roughly EUR5 billion of AI and cloud orders booked over the last five quarters, what portion is for 12-month delivery versus long-term deals, and when does AI and cloud become margin-neutral or accretive? A: CEO Justin Hotard said the majority of orders are within a 12-month timeframe, with some extending beyond but still largely within 2027; the constraint is supply, not demand. CFO Marco Kovarin said AI and cloud is accretive to the company and operating margin, but IP networks is starting from low volumes, so profitability improves as volumes scale; he expects Q4 gross margin to be better than Q3. Q: Can you unpack the network infrastructure gross margin dynamics 43% in the first half versus 41% now and what should we expect in Q4? A: CFO Marco Kovarin said new product ramps, especially in IP networks for AI and cloud customers, take time to reach the right cost base, and he believes the dilution is temporary with gross margin improving in Q4. He noted AI and cloud brings strong incremental gross profit and is accretive to operating margin. CEO Justin Hotard added that the fixed networks decline was driven by reduced ONT volume business that was dilutive rather than loss-making and that scaling optical and IP should drive a healthier margin profile over time. Q: Are customers pre-buying radio networks given cost inflation, and what is your view on the mobile infrastructure market into Q4 and 2027? A: CEO Justin Hotard said he does not see pre-buying and, given supply constraints, Nokia could not pre-supply a large bubble anyway. He expects more stable forecasting but no imminent investment cycle, with the market broadly flat, though pricing is expected to rise given cost inflation. CFO Marco Kovarin said the Q3 pull-forward from Q4 in radio was projects proceeding faster than expected, not pre-buying, and the traditional telco market should remain flattish with pockets of growth in IP and optical. Q: How would you describe the expected operating leverage on the 2027 optical and IP growth, and are there larger incremental OpEx needs to enable it? A: CFO Marco Kovarin said product mix affects gross margin but Nokia sees improvement in network infrastructure, with mitigation actions and operating leverage across the group helping offset component cost increases. Capacity investments are made where long-term shareholder value can be created, decided on a running basis rather than once a year. CEO Justin Hotard added that operating leverage is starting to show in Q3 but is partly masked by portfolio moves and restructuring, and the shift to tracking above the midpoint of the profit range signals improving profitability. Q: Can you update us on the Chandler fab acquisition what will it focus on, and how are you working with customers to support so much manufacturing capacity? A: CEO Justin Hotard said Nokia's optical building blocks give flexibility, and rising bandwidth demand plus power efficiency is enabling earlier co-innovation with customers, evidenced by products announced at OFC for 2027 release. The Chandler facility acquired from NXP is being positioned for flexibility to support demand, with a 2029 timeframe solution, and can be monetized through indium phosphide manufacturing. Near-term execution focus is 100% on getting Fab 2 running and hitting yield and output targets. Q: With restructuring accelerated to approximately EUR1.1 billion, when should we see the results on profitability, and will it taper off next year? A: CFO Marco Kovarin said the China integration is being accelerated from up to three years to 1224 months, delivering savings and synergies faster, aligned with restructuring costs, as market share for a Western company in China is limited. The 20232026 program is being finalized at the top of its EUR800 million to EUR1.2 billion range, and further streamlining announced in Q2 includes consolidating locations in Europe and elsewhere. The benefits span the whole company, not just mobile infrastructure, and also help mitigate component cost increases. Q: Are you expanding the number of hyperscaler customers in IP networks, and will IP be a bigger share of AI and cloud orders and sales through 2027 and 2028? A: CEO Justin Hotard said he thinks about the business design win by design win rather than customer by customer, since each win is effectively its own product revenue stream and life cycle. Given the 2027 outlook and the order book momentum in Q2 and Q3, he feels very good about long-term potential, and customer feedback indicates Nokia is competitive in design work, supporting continued investment. Q: Given the operating leverage now visible in network infrastructure, can you reach the top end of your EBIT guidance for the year? A: CEO Justin Hotard said operating leverage takes a few quarters to work out and Nokia is not yet the lean operating machine he wants, though the team has moved faster than expected on portfolio clarity. CFO Marco Kovarin noted the full-year guidance range is unchanged, with wording adjusted, and investors should factor in different linearity in mobile infrastructure given the Q4-to-Q3 revenue movement; he said the For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

Nokia Corporation NOK reported strong third-quarter 2026 results, with both the top and bottom lines beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Comparable earnings increased year over year, while revenues rose 10%, driven by robust growth in IP Networks and Optical Networks, supported by accelerating AI & Cloud demand. The company's earnings beat the consensus estimate by 29.45%, while revenues surpassed expectations by 2.22%. AI & Cloud net sales surged 123% on a constant currency basis, with order intake reaching €1.5 billion during the quarter. Nokia Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Nokia Corporation Quote Nokia reported a net profit of €156 million ($179.5 million) or €0.03 per share in the third quarter compared with €80 million or €0.01 per share in the year-ago quarter. Higher restructuring and integration costs weighed on reported operating profitability despite revenue growth. Comparable profit from continuing operations was €498 million ($573.1 million) or €0.09 (10 cents) per share, up from €334 million or €0.06 per share in the prior-year quarter. The bottom line beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 8 cents. Quarterly net sales were €5.15 billion ($5.93 billion), up 10% from €4.70 billion in the year-ago quarter. On a constant currency basis, revenues grew 9%, primarily driven by strong AI & Cloud demand and growth in Network Infrastructure. Revenues surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.8 billion. Net sales from Network Infrastructure totaled €2.16 billion ($2.48 billion), increasing 17% year over year. On a constant currency basis, IP Networks recorded 43% growth, supported by strong AI & Cloud demand and increased sales to telecom providers. Optical Networks grew 18%, driven by AI & Cloud and telecom provider demand, particularly in the Americas. Meanwhile, Fixed Networks declined 22%, reflecting the company's continued focus on higher-margin offerings. Mobile Infrastructure generated revenues of €2.9 billion ($3.34 billion), up 5% year over year. Radio Networks grew 10% on a constant currency basis, partly benefiting from revenue acceleration from the fourth quarter. Technology Standards increased 8%, supported by licensing agreements, while Core Software declined 13% due to softness in certain applications and server infrastructure supply constraints. Portfolio Businesses recorded revenues of €96 million ($110.5 million), down 2% on a constant currency basis. However, profitability improved, supported by Site Implementation and Outside Plant. Region-wise, net sales from the EMEA region increased 12% year over year to €2.15 billion ($2.48 billion), supported by growth across Network Infrastructure and Mobile Infrastructure. Revenues in the APAC region increased 7% to €1.17 billion ($1.35 billion), while the Americas generated €1.83 billion ($2.11 billion), up 9% year over year. Growth in the Americas was supported by strong demand for IP Networks and Optical Networks. In the September quarter, comparable gross margin was 44.6%, down 20 basis points from 44.8% in the year-ago quarter, primarily due to product mix. Reported gross margin declined 220 basis points to 42.2%, reflecting higher restructuring costs. Comparable operating profit increased 35% year over year to €605 million ($696.2 million). Comparable operating margin expanded 220 basis points to 11.7%, benefiting from revenue growth and operating efficiencies. Reported operating profit declined to €196 million from €252 million, primarily reflecting accelerated restructuring charges. During the September quarter, Nokia generated €95 million ($109.3 million) in net cash from operating activities compared with €597 million in the year-ago period. Free cash flow was negative €99 million ($113.9 million), reflecting working capital outflows, restructuring-related cash payments and capital expenditures. As of Sept. 30, 2026, the company had €4.05 billion ($4.66 billion) in cash and cash equivalents, with long-term interest-bearing liabilities of €1.87 billion ($2.15 billion). Net cash and interest-bearing financial investments totaled €2.58 billion, down from €2.78 billion at the end of the preceding quarter. For 2026, Nokia maintained its comparable operating profit outlook of €2.1-€2.6 billion. Free cash flow conversion is now projected at 35-55% of comparable operating profit, down from 55-75%, reflecting additional working capital investments and accelerated restructuring. Capital expenditures are estimated at €750-€850 million. The company continues to expect Network Infrastructure net sales growth of 12-14% in 2026 on a constant currency and portfolio basis. Its updated assumptions indicate that combined IP Networks and Optical Networks growth will exceed the previous 18-20% expectation. Nokia also anticipates 20-24% sequential net sales growth in the fourth quarter, supported by seasonal demand. Nokia currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). HubSpot HUBS currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). It delivered an earnings surprise of 4.97% in the trailing four quarters. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. HubSpot continues to witness rising adoption among larger customers as businesses consolidate marketing, sales and service workflows on a unified AI-enabled platform. Management expects platform consolidation and AI adoption trends to remain key long-term growth drivers. Ubiquiti Inc. UI has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. In the last reported quarter, it delivered an earnings surprise of 22.021%. Ubiquiti spends significantly on research and development activities for developing innovative products and state-of-the-art technology to expand its addressable market and remain at the cutting edge of networking technology. The company believes its new product pipeline will help it increase average selling prices for high-performance, best-value products, thus raising the top line. Ubiquiti is witnessing healthy traction in the Enterprise Technology segment. Corning Incorporated GLW currently carries a Zacks Rank #2. It delivered an earnings surprise of 2.41% in the trailing four quarters. Corning's competitive strength lies in its focus on innovation. The growing adoption of innovative optical connectivity products for generative AI applications is expected to be a key growth driver in its Optical Communication segment. Some of its businesses stand to benefit from government regulations. For example, the fiber optic business is a direct beneficiary of the government-mandated bridging of the digital divide across the United States. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Nokia Corporation (NOK) : Free Stock Analysis Report Corning Incorporated (GLW) : Free Stock Analysis Report HubSpot, Inc. (HUBS) : Free Stock Analysis Report Ubiquiti Inc. (UI) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

- Interested in Nokia Corporation? Here are five stocks we like better. - Strong AI and cloud momentum drove Nokia's growth: Q3 net sales increased 9% on a constant-currency basis, while comparable operating margin expanded to 11.7%. Network Infrastructure sales rose 15%, with IP Networks up 43% and Optical Networks up 18%. - Nokia raised its growth expectations for its optical and IP businesses, citing demand that exceeds supply, major hyperscaler design wins and accelerating orders from AI and cloud customers. It expects these businesses to grow 25% to 30% combined in 2027. - Nokia maintained its full-year operating-profit guidance and expects fourth-quarter sales to rise 20% to 24% sequentially. However, free cash flow was negative €99 million in Q3, and the company plans an additional €400 million investment in working capital to support anticipated growth. - These 3 Stocks Under $20 Have Wall Street Looking Past the Share Price Nokia (NYSE:NOK) reported third-quarter 2026 net sales growth of 9% on a constant-currency basis and said comparable operating margin expanded 220 basis points to 11.7%, as demand tied to artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure lifted its Network Infrastructure business. President and CEO Justin Hotard said AI & Cloud was the company's largest growth engine during the quarter. Net sales in the customer segment rose 123% year over year and accounted for 12% of group sales, while order intake increased 118% to €1.5 billion. → Aurora Rejects Curaleaf's Higher Bid, But the Takeover Fight Isn't Over - The New Nokia: A Bullish Upgrade Ignites This Big AI Bet "Growth is accelerating in the areas where we have chosen to focus and invest," Hotard said, adding that the company is beginning to see stronger operating leverage from its strategy. Network Infrastructure sales rose 15% in the quarter, supported by growth in Optical Networks and IP Networks. Optical Networks revenue increased 18%, while IP Networks revenue climbed 43% as earlier design wins began converting into sales. → Could Quantinuum's Breakthrough Make Its Sell-Off a Bargain? - More Than Just Brains: The AI Revolution's Nervous System Hotard said Nokia continues to see demand exceeding supply in both businesses. The company now expects Optical Networks and IP Networks to grow somewhat above its prior 18% to 20% full-year assumption. For 2027, Nokia expects the businesses to grow 25% to 30% on a combined basis. The company cited demand spanning front-end networking, data-center interconnect and broader network connectivity. It also said telecom operators are investing in transport and connectivity infrastructure to support AI and cloud customers. - Shipments of 800G coherent pluggables more than doubled sequentially. - Nokia said it has secured design wins for the technology with 29 customers. - Its Multi-Rail optical technology has secured three design wins, with the first customer receiving initial volumes. - IP Networks added two hyperscaler design wins, including a next-generation data-center gateway win. → IonQ's Bold Expansion Could Leave Shareholders Paying the Price Hotard said the company also won telecom contracts for edge and core routing, IP aggregation and 5G backhaul in Japan, Europe and the U.S. He said Nokia's AI & Cloud order book is largely intended for delivery within 12 months, though some orders extend beyond that period and largely into 2027. Network Infrastructure gross margin declined 150 basis points to 41.2%, which CFO Marco Wirén attributed to product mix and costs associated with ramping new AI and cloud products, particularly in IP Networks. Wirén said the company expects gross margin in the segment to improve in the fourth quarter. Mobile Infrastructure sales rose 5% in the third quarter. Radio Networks revenue increased 10%, aided in part by contract deliveries that moved from the fourth quarter into the third. Core Software sales declined 13% as Nokia de-emphasized certain applications, while some operators delayed projects because of supply constraints involving server infrastructure. Technology Standards sales grew 8%, supported by new licensing agreements and recognition of catch-up revenue. However, Wirén said Nokia expects slower licensing deal activity and lower revenue in the fourth quarter than in recent quarters. Mobile Infrastructure gross margin was broadly stable at 47.5%. The segment benefited from higher Radio Networks revenue, operating efficiency and a larger contribution from Technology Standards, Nokia said. Hotard said the company does not see broad customer pre-buying in mobile networks, nor does it expect an imminent investment cycle. Nokia continues to expect the traditional telecom market to remain broadly flat, although it sees pockets of opportunity in IP and optical networking. He said component constraints and cost increases have become more widespread, affecting leading-edge semiconductor nodes, memory, source materials and printed circuit boards. Customers are increasingly providing Nokia with longer-term visibility into their plans, he said. Nokia highlighted progress in AI-RAN, its effort with NVIDIA to deploy AI-native radio software on NVIDIA's Aerial RAN Computer platform. T-Mobile recently completed its first live voice call over AI-RAN in a production network, while Elisa ran voice, mobile data and AI workloads simultaneously on the platform in its commercial network, according to Nokia. Hotard said Nokia has demonstrated spectral-efficiency gains of more than 20% in live environments and is working toward a 100% improvement target in 2028. The company said 19 customers are now working with it on AI-RAN. In manufacturing, Nokia's San Jose six-inch indium phosphide facility remains on track to start production before year-end. Hotard said 90% of process development and process recipes have been completed, with 24/7 operations expected to begin by the end of October. The company expects production to continue ramping during 2027. Nokia also said it completed the sale of its fixed wireless access business to Inseego and signed an agreement to sell its enterprise campus edge business to AURELIUS. Comparable operating profit was €605 million in the third quarter, while gross profit totaled €2.3 billion and gross margin was largely stable at 44.6%. Financial income and expenses benefited from positive venture-fund revaluations, supporting net profit and earnings per share. Free cash flow was negative €99 million, reflecting restructuring payments and increased working capital, including higher receivables and inventory as growth accelerated. Nokia ended the quarter with net cash of €2.6 billion. The company now plans to invest an additional €400 million in working capital relative to its expectations at the start of the year, given demand and anticipated 2027 growth. It expects 2026 free-cash-flow conversion of 35% to 55%. Nokia maintained its comparable operating-profit guidance and said it was tracking above the midpoint of its outlook range. For the fourth quarter, it expects sequential net sales growth of 20% to 24%, though it said third-quarter deliveries pulled forward from the fourth quarter will reduce normal Mobile Infrastructure seasonality. The company expects approximately €1.1 billion in restructuring charges in 2026 and restructuring-related cash outflows of €800 million to €900 million. Nokia said its Infinera integration is largely complete and remains on track to deliver €200 million in synergies by year-end, one year earlier than previously planned. Nokia Oyj is a Finland-based technology company that provides communications networking equipment, software and related services to telecommunications operators, enterprises, governments and other organizations worldwide. Its offerings support fixed and mobile broadband, optical and IP networks, data centers, cloud environments and private wireless communications. The company's business activities include mobile network infrastructure, network automation and management software, fiber and broadband access, optical networking, routing, data-center networking, and cloud and network services. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. The article "Nokia Q3 Earnings Call Highlights" was originally published by MarketBeat. View MarketBeat's top stocks for October 2026.

Image source: The Motley Fool. Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026 - Head of Investor Relations-David Mulholland - President and Chief Executive Officer-Justin Hotard - Chief Financial Officer-Marco Wiren David Mulholland: Hello, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Nokia's Third Quarter 2026 Results Call. I'm David Mulholland, Head of Investor Relations. Today with me is Justin Hotard, our President and CEO; along with Marco Wiren, our CFO. Before we get started, a quick disclaimer. During this call, we will be making forward-looking statements regarding our future business and financial performance and these statements are predictions that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may, therefore, differ materially from the results we currently expect. Factors that could cause such differences can be both external as well as internal operating factors. We have identified such risks in the Risk Factors section of our annual report on Form 20-F, which is available on our Investor Relations website. Within today's presentation, references to growth rates will be on a constant currency basis, and other financial items will be based on our comparable reporting. Please note that our Q3 report and a presentation that accompanies this call are published on our Investor Relations website. The report includes both reported and comparable financial results and reconciliation between the 2. In terms of the agenda for today, Justin will go through the strategic highlights and then Marco will go through our financial performance before we move to the Q&A. With that, let me hand over to Justin. Justin Hotard: Thank you, David, and hello, everyone. Team Nokia continues to deliver on our commitments and execute on our strategy. Growth is accelerating in the areas where we have chosen to focus and invest. That growth is also beginning to translate into stronger operating leverage. In Q3, we grew net sales by 9% and expanded operating margin by 220 basis points to 11.7%. AI and cloud was again our largest growth engine, with earlier design wins converting into revenue in IP Networks and showing continued strength in Optical Networks. Mobile Infrastructure grew in the quarter as our focus remains on profitability and improving return on invested capital. Technology Standards continues to execute its strategy and licensing. We are tracking to deliver above the midpoint of our full year outlook. Before Marco takes you through the financial performance in more detail, I will give you an update on the progress that we are making against our strategic priorities. In AI and cloud, net sales grew 123% year-over-year and represented 12% of total group net sales in the quarter. Order intake was strong again, up 118% year-over-year to EUR 1.5 billion gross. Demand from AI and cloud drove IP Networks to grow 43% year-over-year as previously announced design wins began to convert into revenue. Optical Networks grew 18%, and still contributed the majority of our revenue in this customer segment. However, IP Networks is now playing a more prominent role. In both businesses, we continue to see demand that exceeds supply. The market continues to develop with demand accelerating across all segments, including scale across front-end networking and data center interconnect. Further, we also see demand extending into our telco customer base as they invest to support demand from AI and cloud customers. Optical Networks and IP Networks are now on track to grow somewhat above the 18% to 20% assumption we provided for the full year. For 2027, we now expect these businesses to grow between 25% and 30% on a combined basis, reflecting the strength of the underlying market and our position to capture that demand. The build-out of AI infrastructure is driving demand across Optical and IP Networks. Demand for our 800 gig coherent pluggables continues to accelerate, with shipment volumes increasing more than twofold sequentially. We're securing orders from both hyperscalers and major telcos. We now have design wins with 29 customers. We are also investing in our next-generation optical roadmap, developed in close collaboration with our hyperscale customers. In line systems, an important growth area where we have historically had less share, we are making meaningful progress. During this quarter, we secured a significant win with a large hyperscaler. Our multi-rail technology launched this past March delivers 25% higher density than competing solutions in the market and has secured 3 design wins with the first customer now receiving initial volumes. IP Networks momentum remains strong. We secured 2 additional hyperscaler design wins including an important next-generation data center gateway win. We also secured significant telco wins across edge and core routing, IP aggregation and 5G backhaul in Japan, Europe and the United States. Customers are modernizing their networks to support growing AI traffic. With demand for intelligence becoming more distributed and localized, this creates more data centers in more locations, which requires more connectivity to deliver services with the latency, performance, security and locality demanded by AI workloads. That means more AI compute in more places requiring more optical and IP capacity to connect them. For inference and workloads, security, trust and sovereignty are foundational for operators. We are the market leader in telco edge routing, and we have a rich optical portfolio, which uniquely positions us to deliver solutions to meet this market need. An example of this is helping our customer, Zayo, a major Internet backbone provider in the U.S., to create an architecture and service blueprint for connecting distributed inference across data centers for multiple partners. We're also seeing encouraging traction in out-of-band management, leveraging our passive optical technology from our Fixed Networks business. Out-of-band management provides data centers with an independent optical lifeline to critical IT infrastructure if the production network becomes unavailable. Compared with traditional Ethernet-based architectures, our solution can reduce energy consumption by 50%, reduce points of failure and improve network resilience through separation from the production network. We announced our first design win last quarter and are now actively engaged with additional customers. In addition, in our core Fixed Networks business, we are focused on growing our optical line terminal business through continued innovation and differentiation while we bring greater discipline to our customer premises equipment business. In optical line terminals, we continue to lead the market with approximately 45% port share globally, excluding China. Last week, we announced an industry-first 16-port line card that supports 10 gig, 25 gig and 50 gig PON on every port. SoftBank completed Japan's first commercial implementation of this new solution, demonstrating that GPON, 10 gig XGS-PON and 50 gig PON can coexist on the same fiber. It gives them the opportunity to invest in higher-speed capacity as demand grows without requiring replacement of equipment. SoftBank is one of several customers in Japan moving from its legacy EPON-based to this technology, creating a new serviceable market for our portfolio. With AI RAN, we are transforming the radio network into a platform for physical AI. This is critical for emerging applications such as autonomous mobility, industrial automation robotics and augmented reality. The technology industry has a long history of moving workloads from proprietary silicon to general-purpose computing platforms. For example, over the past decade, we have seen this happen in data storage and in mobile core networks. RAN is entering the same transition driven by the unique requirements of serving intelligence. We are positioning Nokia to lead this shift in partnership with NVIDIA. Nokia's AI-native anyRAN software running on NVIDIA's Aerial RAN Computer provides a software-defined foundation for integrating AI-powered radio functions that improve network capacity and performance. This means our customers can adopt new capabilities as their needs evolve, including a software upgrade path to 6G. This past weekend, T-Mobile completed their first live voice call over AI RAN in its production network. In addition, Elisa yesterday announced that they have run voice, mobile data and AI workloads simultaneously on the same AI RAN platform in their commercial network. Together, these milestones show that AI RAN is nearing commercial deployment. In live environments, we've already demonstrated spectral efficiency gains of more than 20%, increasing capacity and improving network economics against our roadmap of 100% improvement in spectral efficiency gains in 2028. Our general-purpose approach allows new applications and services to be built on the network. At our Radio World event in September with our partners DeepSig, ZaiNar and Cohere, we showcased real-time sensing of the physical world to enable precise network-based location capabilities using only existing wireless infrastructure. This creates the potential for new telco services and a path to monetize AI. Accelerated computing moves radio networks beyond the architecture that the industry has deployed since 3G. Our customers are telling us we're on the right track and engagement is accelerating with 19 customers from around the world now working with us. Alongside our progress in AI and cloud and AI-native networks, we're working more closely with customers to shape the next generation of network technology. That collaboration is translating into meaningful wins. Our partnership with Google in support of the EUR 13 billion investment in Finland is a great example of this. It shows how our Optical and IP Networks will help to connect the next generation of AI infrastructure within and between data centers. We are also making progress with our Nokia Defense incubation unit. Last month, we announced a strategic partnership with ICEYE to build secure, sovereign low-Earth orbit satellite communication systems for governments and defense clients. Alongside these efforts, we continue to execute our focused capital initiatives, investing for growth and simplifying our portfolio. In optical manufacturing, our new San Jose fab remains on track to start production before the end of the year. We've completed 90% of the process development and the process recipes and expect 24/7 operations to begin by the end of this month. At the same time, we've completed the sale of our fixed wireless access business to Inseego and signed an agreement to sell our enterprise campus edge business to AURELIUS. Finally, we remain focused on delivering sustainable returns. In Q3, operating margin expanded by 220 basis points, and we are delivering on our cost savings commitments. We are accelerating restructuring in Europe, and expect the integration work in China to be 90% complete by the end of the year. The Infinera integration is largely complete, and we are on track to achieve the EUR 200 million synergy target by the end of this year, 1 year ahead of schedule. These actions taken together provide a more durable operating cost base for the company. In closing, growth is accelerating, operating leverage is becoming more visible and our investments are strengthening Nokia's position in the technology transitions that are reshaping connectivity in the AI supercycle. We remain focused on delivering our full year commitments and building the foundation for sustained growth and long-term value creation for our customers and shareholders. With that, I'll turn it over to Marco to take you through the financial performance in more detail. Marco Wiren: Thank you, Justin, and hello from my side as well. We had a strong quarter 3. Net sales grew by 9%, supported by both Network Infrastructure and Mobile Infrastructure. Gross profit was EUR 2.3 billion, and gross margin was largely stable at 44.6%. The improvement in Mobile Infrastructure gross margin was offset by product mix in Network Infrastructure and the costs associated with ramping new products. Operating profit was EUR 605 million, and operating margin increased 220 basis points to 11.7%. The improvement mainly reflected higher sales and continued operating leverage across the group. Financial income and expenses benefited from positive venture fund revaluations during the quarter. This supported both net profit and earnings per share. Free cash flow was negative EUR 99 million. We ended quarter 3 with a net cash position of EUR 2.6 billion, maintaining both a strong balance sheet and financial flexibility. Looking now at Network Infrastructure. Net sales grew 15% in the quarter, reflecting continued positive momentum across Optical Networks and IP Networks. Optical Networks grew 18%, and the growth was supported by continued demand from AI and cloud customers. But we also saw healthy demand from telco customers investing in transport infrastructure. IP Networks grew 43% and the strong order momentum we saw in the second quarter is now translating into a significant acceleration in revenue growth. Fixed Networks declined 22%, reflecting the portfolio actions we are taking to prioritize higher-margin products. Sales of our optical line terminal products were stable with the underlying business remaining healthy. Gross margin declined 150 basis points to 41.2%. And this was mainly driven by product mix and the ramp-up of new products for AI and cloud customers in IP Networks. We currently expect gross margin to improve in the fourth quarter. Operating margin increased 230 basis points to 10%. The improvement was mainly driven by operating leverage as revenue increased. Turning now to Mobile Infrastructure, where net sales grew 5% in the quarter, and Radio Networks grew 10%, benefiting from some contract deliveries moving from the fourth quarter into the third quarter. Core Software declined 13% as we deemphasize certain applications, and we also saw some operators delay projects due to the supply chain constraints for server infrastructure. Technology Standards grew 8%, supported by the signing of several licensing agreements and the recognition of some catch-up net sales during the quarter. We have seen a strong performance in the business year-to-date in signing new deals. In quarter 4, we expect slower deal activity and therefore, a lower revenue level than what we have seen in the last few quarters. MI gross margin was 47.5%, largely stable compared with the previous year. The quarter benefited from acceleration of revenue from quarter 4 into quarter 3 in Radio Networks, operating efficiency and higher contribution from Technology Standards. Operating profit increased, reflecting higher gross profit and lower SG&A expenses. This was partially offset by other operating income, which had benefited from a positive hedging impact in the third quarter of 2025. Turning to sales by customer segment. AI and cloud was again the fastest-growing segment with net sales increasing 123% year-on-year. Sales to telecom customers were stable while Mission-Critical Enterprise grew 7% and technology licensing grew 8%. As you heard from Justin, we are confident in the growth potential for AI and cloud given our backlog and pipeline. At the same time, our expectations for a stable telecom market remain largely unchanged with some pockets of growth in IP and optical driven by data center connectivity. Turning to restructuring and integration costs. As part of our strategy, we drive long-term operating leverage and to ensure we are investing our resources in the areas that drive the greatest long-term growth opportunities for Nokia, we have further accelerated some of our restructuring actions. We are focused on simplifying our processes, streamlining our operations and consolidating locations. We're also driving a faster integration of our China operations as Justin mentioned. We now expect restructuring charges of approximately EUR 1.1 billion in 2026, and restructuring and associated cash outflows will now be between EUR 800 million and EUR 900 million. Turning now to cash flow. Free cash flow was negative EUR 99 million in the third quarter. Cash generation was impacted by restructuring payments and a further buildup in working capital. This included higher receivables and inventory as growth accelerates. Given the strength of the demand opportunity and the growth we now expect in 2027, we plan to invest an additional EUR 400 million in working capital compared to our expectations at the start of the year. As a result, we now expect free cash flow conversion for 2026 to be between 35% and 55%. While this outcome is partly due to acceleration in growth, we continue to focus strongly on cash flow and ensuring we can accelerate our cash conversion as some of the working capital pressures ease. Finally, turning to our outlook. There is no change to our comparable operating profit guidance. We continue to track above the midpoint of our comparable operating profit guidance range. The strength of the performance we saw in quarter 3 reflected some pull-forward from quarter 4 as we work to improve linearity. Looking at the fourth quarter specifically, we currently assume a sequential increase in net sales of between 20% and 24%, although the pull-forward will dampen the normal seasonality we would see in Mobile Infrastructure. Overall, quarter 3 was a solid quarter, and we remain focused on both capturing growth and driving the operational rigor required to maximize the long-term value creation potential of the company. With that, let me hand back to David for Q&A. David Mulholland: Thank you, Justin and Marco. As usual, for the Q&A session, as a courtesy to others in the queue, could you please limit yourself to one question and only a brief follow-up. Jenny, could you please give the instructions? Operator: [Operator Instructions] I'll now hand back to David Mulholland, Head of Investor Relations for the Q&A. David Mulholland: Thanks, Jenny. We'll take our first question today from Rob Sanders from Deutsche Bank. Robert Sanders: Maybe if you could just give an update around your 6-inch ramp in indium phosphide, how are yields progressing? Are you confident of the ramp as you go into next year? And how many more milestones do you need to cross before getting really high conviction on that ramp? Justin Hotard: Yes. Thanks, Rob. So I think I touched on this a little bit. Fab 2 is our 6-inch indium phosphide fab. Fab 1 is 3-inch wafers. And in that regard, we're very pleased with the ramp. I touched on this in my comments, 90% of the process development is done moving into 24/7 operations. Obviously, the key milestone is seeing us enter production by year-end, and then continuing to see production ramp through the year next year. So we've got a set of milestones that start to move into obviously, the volume and yield and those are the things we'll be watching. But obviously, we'll probably -- we'll give you another update in January, but we're quite pleased with the progress and obviously touched on it today. Did you have a quick follow-up, Rob? Robert Sanders: Maybe if you could just address the opportunity in satellite in North America just given recent market developments. Justin Hotard: Yes. Two things on that one, Rob. I guess one is our focus in the partnership with ICEYE is going after sovereign communication networks. And these are really networks, particularly what we see in Europe initially, is networks that are being upgraded from legacy SATCOMs that's been deployed. And I think the way I think about those are 2G or 3G wireless communication SATCOM solutions that need to be upgraded, one, to get to modern technology to meet the demands today for SATCOM. But two, to also provide the capabilities for the future. And so that's a big focus for us on this initial partnership with ICEYE. Beyond that, look, I think there's a lot of discussion in the U.S. about SATCOM. I think we've been really clear that with the amount of connectivity demand coming from physical AI, we think connectivity is going to grow. Demand for connectivity is going to grow. Demand for persistent connectivity is going to grow, and we think satellite is going to be a part of the solution. So the work that we're doing is looking at how we enable that. And that's a key part of why we're also investing in AI RAN because AI RAN provides spectral efficiency that will also be necessary to support that increasing demand. David Mulholland: We'll take our next question from Simon Leopold from Raymond James. Simon Leopold: I'll ask both upfront. The first one is you've talked about the order patterns of the IP and Optical together. I appreciate if maybe you could double-click and drill down on the IP, the routing and switching in particular, and help us gain a better understanding of where you are in terms of expansion in verticals beyond the telcos. It sounded like that's got better. I'd like to make sure I understand that. And just I'll give you the follow-up right now to hopefully help out. One of your competitors has offered a forecast for the optical business growing on the order of 30% in each of the next 2 years. Now I appreciate Nokia's customer base is somewhat different. But how do you see this particular market shaping up over that kind of time frame? Justin Hotard: Thanks for the question. So first of all, on the order patterns and sales funnel, I would say 2 things on this. One is what we're seeing, and I touched on this again a little bit in my comments, is that the demand is in 3 areas for optical and IP routing and switching. And it's really in these areas around front-end networking, data center interconnect and then obviously, scale across. Scale across for us today, is much more of an optical play. The others are much more around -- much more a balance of optical and IP. What we're seeing rapidly evolve, and you can't -- you don't really see it in the quarter because there's some other moving parts with what we're doing with deemphasizing nonprofitable parts of our ONT business, a little bit of the discipline we're getting in the portfolio that Marco talked about in Core. When you look underneath our numbers, what you do see is more investment by the telcos also in providing effectively connectivity for east-west traffic. And this is data center interconnect, long haul, et cetera. And that investment continues to come. Obviously, we're watching the CapEx guides very closely as you guys are from our customers. But we're quite optimistic that, that's going to be a place where they're going to deploy capital and see a very attractive return. Because despite a lot of the sentiment in the market, the demand for connectivity in AI and cloud is massive and it's insatiable. And it's driven by the fact that if compute is constrained, connectivity becomes another way to maximize the access to the assets or the utilization of the compute assets. And so that's -- hopefully, it gives you a little bit more color, but we're seeing -- obviously, we started from a lower base. We talked about this a little bit last quarter, lower base on IP. And now we're seeing more of that come through in revenue. We expect to continue to see order strength in IP Networks as we go forward from AI and cloud customers. And then in Optical Networks, we're continuing to see that demand on both ends. And again, we're very supply constrained. And then as you think about the growth, I mean, maybe just to go to that one for a minute, look, we're providing a view of IP and optical combined of 25% to 30%. I would just say that our view right now is that as we build momentum in our portfolio, we build out our supply capacity, including the investments we talked about in Fab 2, we have some optimism that optical can be a bigger contributor to that growth. And look, for me, I think the only other thing I'll say about '27 versus '27 and '28, I think this is the third time I've given you an update on our growth assumptions since November, since the CMD last year. I want to give you a concrete view of '27. Rest assured, we see a very durable market here. We wouldn't be investing at the pace and the scale that we are or in the portfolio if we didn't, and that extends well beyond '27. David Mulholland: We'll take our next question from Artem Beletski from SEB. Artem Beletski: I would like to ask about highlighted several design wins that you have received in the quarter, so related to multi-rail, pluggables and also IP in particular. Is it fair to assume that momentum is strengthening what you see on that front? And hence, we should be assuming that these wins should be converted into orders, let's say, maybe even later on this year. And just in terms of multi-rail 800 gig pluggables as we are still in early phase of this product ramp-up, how do you see you have been managing compared to competition on that one? Justin Hotard: Yes. Two things I would say. Obviously, if you look at our assumption around growth this year that we've updated and then what we're saying about growth next year. And then just the order momentum we've had in the year. I think it's fair to say we're quite confident that things are moving forward. Things are accelerating, and we continue to build momentum. Obviously, as I said in Q2, we had a huge intake in Q2, and we said at that point, we thought this would be a little bit lumpy. But when I look at it, I look at what we see in the pipeline in the funnel, what I continue to see is tremendous demand. And as I said just now with Simon's question, our focus is on investing to meet that demand. Then in terms of pluggables and multi-rail or just the broader line system market that we play in. This is a place where we were, I'd say, very transparently, we were underpenetrated, right, both as Nokia and Infinera, it's been something as we've come together, the team has done a great job of doubling down on in terms of getting the portfolio right and now building the capacity. And it takes a little bit of time to show up. I'm probably one of the least patient people for seeing that show up, but it does take a little bit of time to show up. And I'm really pleased with the way this team has come together as one company, one team, to build the portfolio and ramp production. But that doesn't mean that we don't have more to do. And as I said before, we're not demand constrained today. So if we could ship more, we would certainly do it. Artem Beletski: Just a quick follow-up. Related to IP Networks and nice growth acceleration in the quarter to more than 40%. Do you think that such growth pace would be maintained short term? Or are you already starting to be constrained on that front? Justin Hotard: Yes. I mean I think we feel pretty good about the assumption we shared in the update, and I'll kind of let you guys work through the math. But again, on IP Networks, we're starting from a pretty low base. And as I just touched on in Simon's question, as we think about '27, we -- right now, what we see is Optical contributing a little bit more. But that's not to say there's not more potential out there for us in IP. It's just what we see today. David Mulholland: We'll take our next question from Daniel Djurberg from Handelsbanken. Daniel Djurberg: I just wanted to ask a little bit. You mentioned that you saw some increased demand from -- on investments from CSPs on AI traffic. And you also saw a strong Mobile Infrastructure and especially, radio demand or revenue in the quarter with Japan, EMEA being strong, partly perhaps pre-buying. But can you give us some more insight into this? And we should expect this strength to continue into '27? Or if it is a trend with some investments on the back of the AI demand? Justin Hotard: Yes. I mean, I would say -- I think I made some comments on the AI and cloud demand that's driving telco. I mean, obviously, a fair amount of that is in the U.S. because it's tied to where the data center investment is and it's driving interconnect. But it's -- it's not just limited to that. We're seeing investment in subsea, in AI and cloud that also means that players in subsea or more what you might consider more traditional service provider players in subsea are investing. Obviously, that doesn't have the density that things like scale across or even DCI have. But as we talked about, too, I think this is going to be a place where we expect to see more investment. I touched on the work we're doing with Zayo, who's one of the operators in this space. On the other side, on mobile, look, I would just say the following on mobile. I think we touched on this, Marco referenced in his comments. The trend right now, all of the things we're seeing in demand in AI and cloud is putting pressure on the supply chain. That supply chain is -- that's driving impacts, as we've talked about previously for mobile. And it's not just pricing. Obviously, commercial terms and costs are going -- are increasing. We're addressing that through greater commercial discipline, as we talked about. But it's also a concern around supply and visibility. And so the conversation that I have with customers is around forward visibility, give us line of sight of your plans over the next 12 to 18 months. Give us early visibility so that we can plan. Some customers take that and say, if you've got availability, I'll take it, and you saw a little bit of that acceleration, others are working with us to just give us better visibility. That is a shift from certainly where we were when I started in this role just 18 months ago, where there was a bit more of a, I would call it, more of a normalized hand-to-mouth ordering cycle with something like 6-month lead times. So that dialogue we're having with our customers. And obviously, I think we've got some great partners and customers in telco, and they're working with us around that. And I think that's what we're going to have to continue to do. It's a bit of a different -- a lot of people talk about the supply constraints in '21, but that was very narrow, very targeted in some ways to some specific nodes. This is much more broad-based, touches all the leading-edge nodes, touches memory, also touches some of the sourced materials, PCBs, et cetera. And it's not just a shortage. It's also a structural cost increase that we're seeing in the supply chain. Daniel Djurberg: Okay. So can I just have a follow-up on that, and it will be on your Nordic peer commented about gross margin headwinds in '27 based on the constraints and the price increases that is harder to work around. Is that your view as well with regards to radio again, perhaps? Justin Hotard: Do you want to take that one, Marco? Marco Wiren: Yes, I can take. Yes. Just like Justin alluded as well, that there are broad-based constraints when it comes to supply and price increases, we see that as well and that's why we are working on different fields to try to mitigate those impacts for us as well and try to secure that we can deliver for those demands that our customers have. And just like Justin said, the telco side is quite aware of this now, are getting more and more aware that lead times are slipping when it comes to component supplies and prices are increasing. David Mulholland: We'll take our next question from Sami Sarkamies from Danske Bank. Sami Sarkamies: Can you still try to unpack the gross margin dynamics we're seeing at Network Infrastructure. You were at a 43% level in the first half of the year, now at 41%, even though you probably benefited from lower ONT volumes. How material a headwind are you seeing from new products? And what would you be thinking about Q4 when you had 45% last year? Marco Wiren: Yes. Thank you, Sami. I would say that it's always when you have new products, we're ramping up, it takes some time before you get the right cost base and profitability on those. And that's why we saw also in quarter 3 now specifically, on the IP Networks side, that we have this situation. We believe that this dilution that we've seen is temporary. And also that in quarter 4, we should see improvement in the gross margin levels and AI and cloud bring very strong incremental gross profit and is accretive to operating margin as well. And we believe this is a very good business for us going forward. And then your comment on ONT, we are working through throughout the whole year now to prune the portfolio and basically securing that our portfolio and offerings going forward are the best suitable for us, and that's why we are taking down those low-margin customer premises equipment offerings. But because of some longer-term contracts, which are working throughout the year. So it takes this throughout this year to be able to do that. And then -- that's why it takes some time before you can see the impact as well. Justin Hotard: And Sami, I would just maybe make 2 comments on this as well. I mean one is, if you look at the Fixed Networks business in Q3, effectively, the decline was the reduction in ONT volume. And then obviously, the growth was -- the growth came across Optical and IP, but there's also a bit of a -- it's a bit of an addition, subtraction, it doesn't move the margins that much because we're not talking about business that was loss-making, right? We were talking about business that was dilutive to our profitability. So I think it's a little bit of that probably in addition to what Marco highlighted that it doesn't move the needle as much as we would like. But I think over time, as we scale what we're building in IP Networks and obviously continue to scale in Optical and as Marco said, play through the transformation that the team is driving in Fixed Networks. I think that's where you'll start to see the healthier margin profile. Marco Wiren: And also, remember that size-wise, Fixed Networks is much smaller than Optical and IP, and the ONT business and customer premises business is even smaller. David Mulholland: We'll take our next question from Richard Kramer, Arete. Richard Kramer: Justin, you just mentioned visibility. You've given a roughly EUR 5 billion AI and cloud order book in the last 5 quarters, but we don't know the timing. So could you maybe shed some light on roughly what portion of those orders are for 12-month delivery versus long-term deals? And when, given Marco's comments about near-term dilution, do you expect that AI and cloud, which is now 12% of sales, translate into neutral or even accretive margins. Is that a 2027 event? Or is that further down the road? Justin Hotard: So why don't I take the first part and Marco, you can take the second. So in terms of the growth that we see in the order book and what we're -- what we continue to see is the majority of orders are -- majority of orders we've seen are kind of in a 12-month time frame. There's some portion that are moving outside of 12 months, but I would say still largely within '27. So the demand -- and again, the constraint here isn't demand, it's supply. So some of this is obviously -- I think our customers would take more if we could deliver it faster, obviously, was implicit in my comment. But for now, the way I would think about it is we have a lot of backlog toward building toward '27. Marco Wiren: Yes. And when it comes to profitability, as I said, we definitely believe this is accretive for the company, and this is why we're investing in this as well and believe that this is value creating for our shareholders also. It's always so that especially if you look at IP now that I mentioned specifically for quarter 3, we are starting from quite low levels. So it takes some time before we get that volume up. And when we get the volumes up, then, of course, get more operating leverage as well and with profitability. So that's why you saw a little bit lower margins. But as I said, we expect quarter 4 to be better than quarter 3. David Mulholland: We'll take our next question from Emil Immonen from DNB Carnegie. Emil Immonen: Maybe to touch a bit still on Mobile Infrastructure where -- especially, Radio Networks, you're seeing quite good sales. Just wondering if your customers are seeing cost inflation? Are they then doing a lot of prebuying now? Or what's your view on that market going into, well, Q4 and then 2027? Justin Hotard: Yes. Emil, it's a good question. I don't see people prebuying. And the reality is, given the constraints, I don't think we can pre-supply. If there was a huge bubble, I think, one, I think we would all know about it because you'd see it in the numbers. Two, given the supply constraints, it's not like we can just respond and support it. But what we do anticipate is that we're going to see more stable forecasting. I think the other thing that I don't see is I don't see an imminent investment cycle. I think the market continues to be flat as we look ahead, and we've been pretty vocal and transparent about this. And I think that's consistent with what others see. You may have a certain market that drives demand up or down. We've talked about certain markets where things slide and that will continue. But overall, we expect the market to be flat. However, we expect -- given the cost inflation, we expect pricing to go up. Marco Wiren: Yes. And there are some pockets of opportunities. As I mentioned earlier, IP and Optical side on the telco side. But the broader telco, we expect to be quite a flattish market. And also back to your comment about pre-buying, the quarter 3 movements that we had from quarter 4, specifically on the radio side, I would say that it's not pre-buying. It's just that sometimes projects are proceeding faster than expected. And that's why we were able to deliver and conclude those deliveries already in quarter 3 instead of quarter 4. David Mulholland: We'll take our next question from Felix Henriksson from Nordea. Felix Henriksson: I appreciate the initial guide for optical and IP growth for 2027. But how would you describe the expected operating leverage on that growth? I know we discussed about gross margin already a little bit, but are there any larger incremental OpEx needs to enable this growth going into next year? Marco Wiren: Yes. Thank you. I can take that one. And of course, the product mix has an impact on gross margin. And what we -- as I said earlier, we definitely see improvement in NI. And when it comes to all the different mitigation actions we are doing and focusing on not only in NI, but the whole group, is to secure that we are getting the operating leverage and mitigating potential cost increases on the component side, we definitely believe that we have opportunities for all parts of the company to improve profitability going forward. Also, when it comes to the capacity investments, we invest in those areas where we believe that we can create shareholder value in the long term. And if those opportunities occur, we will definitely take those opportunities and invest in those. And this is something that we do actually throughout the whole year of the capital allocation decisions. So it's not a once-per-year decision. This is the ongoing running discussions that we have on a weekly basis basically that where should we allocate our resources and capital and we make those decisions on a running basis basically. Justin Hotard: Maybe, Emil, can I add one comment to Felix's question. So a couple of things. One is, we touched on the fact that we're starting to see operating leverage in Q3. And again, just to remind you, if you look at where we are, this operating leverage that we're starting to see is also hidden by the fact that we've got a bunch of these portfolio moves. The ones that we've talked about quite openly in portfolio businesses, but also the -- and obviously, the ONT one we were talking about earlier with Sami, but also the continued cleanup of some of the areas where we're focusing on profitability even inside Core Networks and in Radio Networks. And so that hides this a little bit in the short term as we make those decisions. But also if you look back where we're highlighting the operating leverage in the quarter, and we're also saying we're now moving to above the midpoint of the range, which is a signal up from where we were last quarter because we see that -- we're starting to see that potential improved profitability, and that's a sign from the set of actions we're taking, both in cleaning up the portfolio as well as some of the more formal restructuring elements we've talked about. David Mulholland: We'll take our next question from Jakob Bluestone from BNP Paribas. Jakob Bluestone: A question around expansion of your fab capacity. You obviously talked about the ramp in San Jose. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the ramp at Chandler. I appreciate it hasn't closed yet, but if you can maybe share a little bit what are your plans? What will it focus on? Is it just indium phosphide? And I guess, I mean, given how much capacity you're adding, can you maybe comment on how closely are you working with your customers to support the decision to have so much manufacturing capacity sort of in the midterm? Justin Hotard: Yes. Maybe I'll start on that side and then work the other way. I would say, we talked about this a little bit at ECOC or the team, the team talked about this a little bit at ECOC because I wasn't there. So -- but one of the things that we -- as we think about is we've got a set of building blocks and capabilities in optical that give us a lot of flexibility in terms of building solutions and what's becoming more and more apparent is that optical demand, optical penetration and demand is going to continue to increase. And it's a factor of the tremendous increase in bandwidth demand that's going to touch every part of the network that we serve today. And then obviously, the power efficiency for solutions. And you look at things even like what we're doing in out-of-band management as an example of that. The reason I say that is that, that's enabling us to have earlier discussions around solutions and really co-innovate and co-develop these platforms. And if you go back to OFC, we announced products that we're going to release in '27. That's a sign of the left shift that's happening and the longer-term visibility that our customers have on the demand. The key thing there is building the fab in Chandler, the investment acquisition we're making from NXP of that facility right now is -- I'm not going to give you specific metrics. What I will tell you is we are positioning that to give us the flexibility to support the demand as it emerges. And we've talked about that being a '29 time frame solution. But we think we've got lots of different avenues to monetize that facility through indium phosphide manufacturing. And obviously, as we get closer and we complete the transition and we work on it, we'll talk more about where we are, and we'll give you similar milestones to what we're giving you on Fab 2. But in terms of near-term execution, the focus right now, 100% is on making sure we get Fab 2 up and running and supporting the growth and, of course, hitting the yield and output targets that we expect. David Mulholland: We'll take our next question from Janardan Menon from Jefferies. Janardan Menon: Two questions. One is just a follow-up on those opportunities that you're seeing in the medium term on the optical side. You have come up with some products for optical solutions inside the data center outside of your core area of scale-out, DCI, et cetera. I'm talking about things like LPO pluggable and your external laser, et cetera. I know it's very early days, but can you give us any indication of how the response to those kind of products has been from potential customers? And do you see those kind of products as being a reasonable contributor to that medium-term outlook that you talked about? And then I'll just give my second question also right away. It's again on margins. But this time, just looking at the restructuring where you are accelerating it to EUR 1.1 billion, when should we expect to start seeing the results of this on your profitability? And does this restructuring start to taper off next year and then gradually we see the effect of that on profitability? And would that be coming more on the Mobile Infrastructure side, where some of that is more focused? Or will we see some of that coming through on the NI side as well? Justin Hotard: I'll take them. I mean, I would just say on the optical side, I think I just answered the question. I mean we're not -- right now, what I will tell you is that the assumption that we provided for '27 doesn't assume anything outside of the portfolio we have and the orders we have. But of course, as I touched on, we see broader opportunity. And right now, we just want to continue to work with those customers to design the right solutions that they need. Marco Wiren: Yes. When it comes to the restructuring, if I start with the China where we basically do the integration after we acquired the remaining part of the company. And we said originally that this will take up to 3 years, but now we're actually accelerating and we're able to do that in 12 to 24 months. The whole integration, and that's why we get the savings faster as well and synergies there. But this is, of course, aligned with restructuring costs. As you know, in China, as a Western company, it's quite limited what you can capture some market share there. And that's why we are adjusting basically the company to that reality that we see. Then the other parts that we are doing, of course, we are finalizing the '23 to '26 program. And here, we have actually maximized what we set the range, we said EUR 800 million to EUR 1.2 billion, and now we are at the top of that range, what we expect to get. And in addition to that, in quarter 2, we announced that we see further opportunities to streamline the company also when it comes to securing that we consolidate locations in Europe and other parts of the world. And just securing that we continuously seek for more efficient ways of doing business we are doing. And this will definitely help, I would say, the whole company, not only MI, but of course, considering also what you've heard from other companies that said that there's component constraints and component price increases. This is one way to mitigate those also going forward. And also in addition to what we're already doing when it comes to, of course, discussing with our customers, redesigning our products and so on. So there's definitely benefits in different parts. David Mulholland: We'll take our next question and possibly last question from Sandeep Deshpande from JPMorgan. Sandeep Deshpande: I have 2 questions, if I may. Firstly, regarding IP Networks. You're talking about 2 hyperscaler design wins. You already have multiple hyperscaler design wins in the IP Networks business. Are you expanding the number of customers that you have in IP Networks and thus do you expect that through '27 and '28, IP Networks will be a bigger percentage of your orders and sales in the AI and cloud segment? And then secondly, when you look at the kind of typical Q4 revenue growth that you have, you're already seeing some operational leverage in the business in Network Infrastructure associated with the growth in Optical and IP Networks. How should we look at, I mean, your guidance for the year? I mean, can you get to the top end of that EBIT guidance that you've given, given the kind of leverage you're now seeing in this business? Justin Hotard: Okay. I think you were trying to ask a '28 question and a profit-oriented question, so either way, which I'm going to give you. So -- but look, I would just say in terms of the design wins, the way I think about it, I don't think about it at a customer-by-customer level. I think about it as a design win by design win level because each one of these is almost the magnitude of the product, each one of each design win in each customer is like its own product revenue stream and product life cycle. And so that's why you hear us talking about it that way, and that's the focus. And obviously, we're -- given the information we gave you on '27 and the ongoing demand that we saw in the order book we saw in Q3 alone on the back of what we did in Q2, we feel very good about the long-term potential of this business. And the feedback we get from the customers that we're working with is that we're quite competitive in our design work. So obviously, that gives us optimism to continue to invest. And then in terms of operating leverage. Look, my view and Marco can comment is this is something that, as you guys know, it takes a few quarters to work out. It never comes right away. There's a lot of work to get Nokia to the level of lean operating machine with the kind of different disciplined portfolio. We're not there yet. I'm incredibly proud of what the team is doing because I think they've done a great job, and they've moved faster than I thought in terms of portfolio clarity, but it doesn't mean that our work is done. And so we're going to continue to push hard and stay focused on providing that ongoing operating leverage as we drive scale because that's going to be fundamental. Marco Wiren: Yes, when it comes to the full year guidance, just like Justin said earlier, that we changed a little bit the wording on the full year guidance. But the ranges are what the ranges are that we have said as well. And just consider also that linearity, especially on the MI side, is a little bit different considering that we saw some of the movements from quarter 4 to quarter 3. So -- but I think that we have given a good, I would say, path for you to see and calculate what you expect that we will land. David Mulholland: Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call. I would like to remind you that during this call today, we have made a number of forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may, therefore, differ materially from the results currently expected. Factors that could cause such differences can be both external as well as internal operating factors. We have identified such risks in the Risk Factors section of our annual report on Form 20-F, which is available on our Investor Relations website. Thank you all for joining us. Operator: This concludes today's call. Thank you, everyone, for joining. You may now disconnect. 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While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Nokia (NOK) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript was originally published by The Motley Fool

- Carpenter Technology shares fell 22% today after first-quarter revenue of $798.2 million came in about 4% below consensus, even though EPS of $3.25 beat. - Operating income set a first-quarter record of $196.4 million, up 28%, and management kept its full-year profit outlook. - The selloff looks bigger than the miss, but Carpenter guided the second quarter flat, so it needs a much stronger back half. - TTM Technologies, Lam Research and Nokia also sank today despite beating estimates, and Forgent Power Solutions fell after announcing its CFO is leaving. Carpenter Technology (CRS:NYSE) just posted record first-quarter operating income, and its stock sank 22% today anyway. CEO Tony Thene said Carpenter "delivered another strong quarter" in its results before the bell. Investors looked at the sales line instead. For the quarter ended Sept. 30: - Revenue of $798.2 million, up 8.8% from a year ago but about 4% below the $830.7 million consensus - EPS of $3.25, ahead of the $3.03 consensus - Operating income of $196.4 million, up 28% Strip out surcharges, which pass raw-material costs on to customers, and sales grew just 5.3%. They also fell $44.9 million from the fourth quarter. Thene said on the call that the quarter was essentially at guidance, and the shortfall might come down to a single shipment that slipped past quarter-end. Operating income also landed near the low end of the $195 million to $200 million Carpenter guided for in July. For the second quarter, it expects $192 million to $197 million. Pricing and a richer mix keep fattening Carpenter's margins… The first quarter came in higher still, at nearly 25%. Wall Street also expects sales growth to speed up… That's about 12% growth this fiscal year, against 8.8% in the first quarter. At Wednesday's close, investors were paying 27x forward earnings for that growth. Today's drop takes it closer to 21x. TIKR tracks 8 analysts on Carpenter Technology. How many say "Buy"? See the full breakdown of Buy, Hold, and Sell ratings on Carpenter Technology, along with Wall Street's revenue and earnings estimates, all in one place. More than 500,000 investors use TIKR to research stocks like this one. See Carpenter Technology's Analyst Ratings Carpenter had company. TTM Technologies (TTMI:NASDAQ) sank [28%] despite a beat and record revenue, up 60%, because its fourth-quarter outlook only matched estimates. Lam Research (LRCX:NASDAQ) fell [10%] after a record quarter because its December-quarter guide only came in roughly in line. Nokia (NOK) fell [11%] as its revenue beat came with an unchanged full-year outlook and weaker cash flow expectations. And Forgent Power Solutions (FPS:NYSE) dropped [24%] after saying its CFO is stepping down. Carpenter kept its fiscal 2027 operating income outlook of $850 million to $880 million, up 21% to 25%. Thene also told analysts on the call, "My outlook on demand is stronger than it was a quarter ago." My take: a roughly 4% sales miss doesn't justify a [22%] drop when the profit outlook didn't budge. Of course, with the second quarter guided flat, Carpenter needs a much bigger back half to hit that outlook. Its next report, early next year, is the first check. TIKR lets you forecast the future price of any stock in less than a minute. Just enter a few assumptions into TIKR's valuation model and see what Carpenter Technology could be worth. Start from Wall Street consensus estimates, or adjust the inputs to reflect your own view of the business. It's free to use. Value Carpenter Technology for free

- Kaiser Aluminum shares fell 23% today after third-quarter adjusted EPS of $1.89 missed estimates and its adjusted EBITDA margin slid to 19.1% from 23.2%. - Most of that margin drop traces to a roughly $29 million swing in metal price lag from a year ago, which Kaiser expected, while conversion revenue grew 25%. - Operational problems, including a planned plant outage and start-up costs, cost about 6.4 points of margin and helped push 2026 adjusted EBITDA growth toward the low end of Kaiser's 45% to 55% range. - TTM Technologies, Lam Research and Nokia also fell sharply today on reports that only held the line, and Forgent Power Solutions sank after its CFO stepped down. Kaiser Aluminum (KALU:NASDAQ) sank 23% today after third-quarter earnings missed estimates. Most of Kaiser's margin drop comes from a swing it saw coming. The "operational challenges" are the part to watch. Adjusted EPS of $1.89 edged past last year's $1.86 but missed estimates, and its adjusted EBITDA margin slid to 19.1% from 23.2%. Chairman, President and CEO Keith Harvey blamed metal price lag, the gap between the aluminum price Kaiser pays and the market's, which flattered last year's quarter: "Despite this headwind, as well as other operational challenges that impacted third quarter margins, the business delivered meaningful underlying improvement year over year." The numbers back him up. Metal price lag added about $28 million to EBITDA a year ago and cost about $1 million this quarter, a $29 million swing. Kaiser still grew adjusted EBITDA 3% to $84 million, as conversion revenue jumped 25% to $439 million. But the operational problems cost about 6.4 points of margin: higher metal costs from using less scrap, a planned outage at its Bellwood plant, and roll coat start-up costs in packaging. Since Harvey called the lag's disappearance expected, those look like the bigger surprise. They're part of why Kaiser now sees 2026 adjusted EBITDA growth near the low end of its 45% to 55% range. TIKR tracks 5 analysts on Kaiser Aluminum. How many say "Buy"? See the full breakdown of Buy, Hold, and Sell ratings on Kaiser Aluminum, along with Wall Street's revenue and earnings estimates, all in one place. More than 500,000 investors use TIKR to research stocks like this one. See Kaiser Aluminum's Analyst Ratings Heading into the report, analysts expected Kaiser's earnings to more than double this year… A low-end finish should trim that 2026 figure. And the stock already traded at 14x forward earnings at Wednesday's close, against a five-year average of 20x… After today's drop, it's closer to 11x, below even its five-year low of 13x. Kaiser had company. TTM Technologies (TTMI:NASDAQ) fell 29% despite a record quarter, on an outlook that only matched estimates. Lam Research (LRCX:NASDAQ) dropped 11% on an in-line guide as well. My take: this selloff looks overdone. The biggest hit was expected, much of the rest came from a planned outage and start-up costs, and the stock trades below its cheapest multiple in five years. Of course, the operational problems have to clear. Fred Stephan takes over as CEO on Nov. 1, and his first report early next year will show whether they have. TIKR lets you forecast the future price of any stock in less than a minute. Just enter a few assumptions into TIKR's valuation model and see what Kaiser Aluminum could be worth. Start from Wall Street consensus estimates, or adjust the inputs to reflect your own view of the business. It's free to use. Value Kaiser Aluminum for free