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Vertiv (VRT), which sells power and cooling equipment to data centers, grew its sales 61.2% from a year earlier in its fiscal third quarter, the three months ended September 30, 2026. That growth rate is the number a holder should watch, because it is likely what buyers are paying for, and management has said it does not disclose orders and will not share orders data going forward.
Where Is Vertiv’s Sales Growth Coming From?
Most of it came from the business Vertiv already owned. Organic sales, which leave out acquisitions and currency moves, grew about 55%, and acquisitions added another 6%. The Americas did the most: sales there were about $3 billion in the quarter, up 75% from a year earlier.
Management said this growth reflects the fuller use of new factory capacity and the steady delivery of its backlog, which consists of orders booked but not yet shipped. Vertiv continues to add that capacity and expects to double its chiller production capacity by the end of 2026. However, some of the latest results spilled over from the prior period. Management said $100 million to $150 million of sales delayed from the second quarter landed in the third.
Vertiv Is Growing Far Above Its Own Past
The latest quarter expanded at roughly twice the pace of the same quarter of 2025, when Vertiv’s sales grew 29.0%. Over the last three twelve-month periods, the company’s sales grew an average of 25.7% a year, compared with 6.5% for the S&P 500.
Measured over twelve months to each September, sales growth has picked up every year, though most of the latest step came from the most recent quarter alone. The pace climbed from 13.2% in the twelve months to September 2024 to 28.8% in the twelve months to September 2025, before reaching 35.3% in the twelve months to September 2026. For the fourth quarter, management expects slower growth of about 53% from a year earlier.
Growing this fast also ties up cash. In the third quarter, Vertiv’s free cash flow was $652 million, below its net income of $765 million, while in each of the four quarters before it free cash flow was higher than net income. Management said free cash flow still rose from a year earlier, but money tied up in operations and higher capital spending held it back.
What Does Vertiv’s Price Assume About That Growth?
Vertiv trades at 38.5 times its earnings over the last twelve months, compared with 21.9 for the S&P 500, so the price likely assumes the company’s growth will stay far above the market’s pace for years. The stock has already retreated, falling 28.6% from August 14 to November 12, 2026, while the S&P 500 lost 2.2%.
