Amphenol (APH) Tops Q3 Estimates as AI Datacom Sales More Than Double

Amphenol (APH) reported third-quarter sales of $10.23 billion, up 65% year on year, beating the $9.44 billion analysts expected, according to Zacks consensus data carried by Yahoo Finance and Nasdaq.com. Adjusted earnings of 80 cents a share topped the 73-cent Zacks estimate and were up 74% from a year earlier. The results came out before the market opened on Wednesday, 28 October, and the shares rose 3.5% that day to close at $80.96, then added 1.4% on Thursday to $82.08.

Per-share figures reflect the two-for-one stock split Amphenol completed in early September. Before the split, the company had guided to adjusted earnings of $1.40 to $1.42 a share for the quarter, or 70 to 71 cents on the new share count.

What stood out

The engine is IT datacom, Amphenol’s business selling connectors, cables, and related parts into data centers. Sales there rose 117% from a year earlier, or 77% excluding acquisitions, and the market now makes up 48% of the company’s revenue, according to the release and call coverage by Yahoo Finance and TradingKey.

Orders point to more growth ahead. Amphenol booked $12.17 billion of new orders, up 99% year on year, for a book-to-bill ratio of 1.19. That means it took in $1.19 of new business for every dollar it shipped, Benzinga and Investing.com reported.

Acquisitions added to growth, but most of the gain was organic: sales rose 37% on that basis. Both sales and adjusted EPS came in above the top of the company’s own guidance, Amphenol said in the release.

The outlook

For the fourth quarter, Amphenol expects sales of $10.3 billion to $10.5 billion and adjusted earnings of 81 to 83 cents a share. At the midpoint that would be about 62% sales growth from the $6.44 billion it reported a year earlier.

The company also raised its 2026 outlook to sales of $36.9 billion to $37.1 billion and adjusted earnings of $2.82 to $2.84 a share. The forecasts exclude deals that have not closed yet. Alongside the results, Amphenol raised its quarterly dividend 20% to 15 cents a share and approved a new $4 billion, three-year share buyback.

Our take

This was a clean quarter: an 8% sales beat, a 10% profit beat, and orders running well ahead of shipments. The modest share reaction suggests investors expected strength, since the stock still sits 7.4% below its 52-week closing high of $88.62 from 6 October. Next quarter we’d watch whether book-to-bill stays above 1 and how much of IT datacom’s growth comes without help from acquisitions.