Celestica third-quarter revenue rises 83% to $5.83 billion; 2027 outlook is $40.0 billion

Celestica (NYSE: CLS; TSX: CLS), the Toronto-based maker of data center hardware, reported third-quarter revenue of $5.83 billion, up 83% from a year earlier, and gave a 2027 revenue outlook of $40.0 billion, according to its earnings release of October 26.

What happened

Revenue was $5.83 billion, compared with $3.19 billion in the third quarter of 2025. The company said revenue and adjusted earnings per share, a non-GAAP measure, were above the high end of its guidance ranges of $5.25 billion to $5.55 billion and $2.88 to $3.08.

GAAP earnings per share were $3.26, against $2.31 a year earlier. Adjusted earnings per share were $3.30, against $1.58. GAAP earnings from operations were 7.9% of revenue, down from 10.2%, while adjusted operating margin, also non-GAAP, was 8.5%, up from 7.6%.

The Connectivity & Cloud Solutions segment had revenue of $4.87 billion, up 102%, with a segment margin of 8.9% against 8.3%. Within the first segment, Hardware Platform Solutions revenue was approximately $2.3 billion, up 70%. The Advanced Technology Solutions segment, which covers aerospace and defense, industrial, health technology and capital equipment businesses, had revenue of $0.96 billion, up 23%, with a margin of 6.6% against 5.5%.

Rob Mionis, Celestica's chair and chief executive, said the company is positioned "to continue to support leading hyperscalers and frontier AI labs through the ongoing AI infrastructure supercycle." The company also said it completed a public offering for aggregate gross proceeds of $3.45 billion.

The outlook

Celestica raised its 2026 outlook. It now expects revenue of $21.0 billion, up from $20.5 billion, and adjusted earnings per share of $11.55, up from $11.30. It cut its free cash flow outlook to $460 million from $600 million, which it attributed mainly to working capital investments to support faster growth in 2027. The adjusted operating margin outlook of 8.4% was unchanged.

For 2027 the company gave an initial outlook of revenue of $40.0 billion, which it described as growth of 90%, adjusted operating margin of 9.0%, adjusted earnings per share of $21.50 and capital expenditures of $1.5 billion to $2.0 billion. It said customer demand forecasts for 2028 are "meaningfully higher" than its 2027 revenue outlook.

For the fourth quarter, Celestica guided to revenue of $6.275 billion to $6.575 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $3.37 to $3.57. The fourth-quarter guidance assumes an adjusted effective tax rate, a non-GAAP measure, of approximately 20%, and 2027 guidance assumes approximately 21%.

What to watch

Celestica scheduled its third-quarter conference call and 2026 Investor and Analyst Day for October 27 at 8:00 a.m. ET. It also said it intends to file a notice with the Toronto Stock Exchange to start a new normal course issuer bid in the fourth quarter, after the current one expires on November 2, 2026. The outlooks are company forecasts and can change.