Vertiv shares fell about 17% on July 29 after second-quarter revenue missed Wall Street's estimate, even though earnings beat forecasts. CEO Giordano Albertazzi says the drop reflects timing, not weaker demand, and the company raised its full-year guidance to back that up. Wall Street trimmed price targets but mostly kept Buy ratings on the stock.
Vertiv's stock fell about 17% on July 29 after the AI infrastructure company's second-quarter revenue missed Wall Street's estimate, even though earnings beat expectations. The company posted adjusted earnings of $1.52 a share, ahead of the $1.43 analysts expected.
Where the miss came from
Revenue came in at $3.27 billion, about 3% below the $3.38 billion Wall Street projected, even as sales grew 24% from a year earlier. Vertiv had entered the report trading at about 40 times its updated full-year profit guidance, leaving little room for a shortfall. The company blamed temporary supply-chain congestion and multi-phased project execution as AI deployments grow larger and more complex.
CEO pushes back, raises guidance
Albertazzi pushed back on CNBC's Mad Money, saying: "Nothing has changed in the long term of our trajectory." Vertiv backed that argument by raising its 2026 net sales guidance to $13.8 billion-$14.2 billion, from $13.5 billion-$14 billion, and lifting adjusted earnings guidance to $6.65-$6.75 a share. The quarter's operating margin reached 22.6%, and Vertiv closed the period with $5.6 billion in liquidity.
Wall Street trims targets, keeps ratings
Analysts cut price targets after the report but largely kept their Buy ratings. Evercore ISI lowered its target to $375 from $425 while keeping an Outperform rating. Citi, Baird and Goldman Sachs also cut targets, to $358, $320 and $301 respectively.
Even after those cuts, VRT carries an average 12-month target of about $366 across 18 analysts. The stock now trades near $234, below where it started the week.
Source: TheStreet
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