Celestica pops on strong Q3 results, outlook; BNP sees catalysts ahead, including Google

What happened

Celestica shares were up 10% in early trading Tuesday after the company reported better-than-expected results and raised its outlook for 2026 and 2027. Third-quarter adjusted earnings were $3.30 per share on revenue of $5.83 billion, up 83% from a year earlier.

Confirmed

Global impact / market context

Celestica makes servers and networking gear for large AI customers, so its raised sales and profit forecasts signal more orders ahead, which supports factory spending, hiring and cash flow. BNP's $500 target implies the analyst expects these AI programs to keep lifting profit per sale and revenue.

Analyst inference

The share move shows investors are pricing in faster growth from AI hardware demand. BNP points to Google's next-generation server chips, rack-scale manufacturing for OpenAI's Jalapeño chip, and switch wins for AMD's Helios racks as catalysts supporting Celestica's upgraded 2027 outlook.

Analyst inference

What to watch

1. BNP analyst Karl Ackerman said he wants more detail on Celestica's operating profit per sale, the pace of Google server production, and the size of its programs with AI labs such as OpenAI and Anthropic. Confirmed
2. Celestica's raised 2026 outlook calls for $21 billion in revenue and $11.55 in adjusted earnings per share; watch whether later updates keep or raise those figures as new programs begin. Proposed
3. Watch whether Google's next-generation server program, OpenAI's Jalapeño rack manufacturing and AMD Helios switch orders actually convert into revenue, because those orders underpin the higher 2027 forecast. Analyst inference

Evidence

• seekingalpha.com