--- title: "Celestica guided 2027 revenue to $40 billion, nearly double this year; the stock is less than half its high" description: "Celestica, the Toronto manufacturer assembling AI racks for Google and OpenAI programs, guided 2027 revenue to $40 billion, nearly double its raised outlook for this year. The market has cut the shares to less than half their high, and the open question is who advances the cash, the money tied up in parts and inventory, before customers pay for finished racks." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Data Center" published: 2026-11-07T15:15:15.986Z modified: 2026-11-07T15:15:15.986Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/celestica-guided-2027-revenue-to-40-billion-nearly-double-this-year-the-stock-is-less-than-half-its-high language: en keywords: "Celestica, Guidance, AI Hardware, Hyperscalers, Working Capital" --- # Celestica guided 2027 revenue to $40 billion, nearly double this year; the stock is less than half its high > Celestica, the Toronto manufacturer assembling AI racks for Google and OpenAI programs, guided 2027 revenue to $40 billion, nearly double its raised outlook for this year. The market has cut the shares to less than half their high, and the open question is who advances the cash, the money tied up in parts and inventory, before customers pay for finished racks. [Celestica](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/celestica) has promised investors a doubling, and the market has cut the stock to less than half its high. On October 26 the Toronto manufacturer, which assembles AI racks and networking gear for the giant cloud operators, [guided 2027 revenue to $40 billion](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/celestica-announces-third-quarter-2026-201700139.html), nearly double the $21 billion it now expects for this year [1]. The shares jumped 12.6% when the guide landed [2], [then fell 9.18% in Toronto on November 4](https://theinference.org/article/celestica-fell-43-from-its-peak-on-no-news-and-the-verdict-lands-monday) [3]. They opened Friday in New York at $206.77, against a 52-week high of $474.02 [4]. Analysts have not followed the price down. The consensus target still sits at $453.32, and Wall Street Zen upgraded the shares to Buy on Saturday [4]. Between that target and the traded price sits the question the report left open: a company can hold the orders and still lack the cash to build them. Who pays for the parts before the customers pay for finished racks? ## The demand is observable down to the racks Third-quarter revenue was $5.83 billion, up 83%, at an adjusted operating margin of 8.5%, a company record [1]. The hyperscaler unit, [Connectivity & Cloud Solutions, more than doubled to $4.87 billion](https://evertiq.com/news/2026-11-06-celestica-expects-revenue-to-almost-double-to-40-billion-in-2027), roughly 84% of the quarter [5]. The programs behind it are named. *Chart: **Revenue growth accelerated through 2026, from 19% year over year to 83%** Line chart of Celestica quarterly revenue across twelve quarters to Q3 2026* *Quarterly revenue, USD billions, from Celestica's SEC filings. Twelve quarters through Q3 2026. [9]* Celestica calls itself a preferred manufacturing partner for Google's data-center hardware and is expanding US capacity for systems built around the Tensor Processing Unit, [Google](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/alphabet)'s custom AI chip [2]. Separately, it is [ramping racks and circuit boards for OpenAI's Jalapeño accelerator](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/money/celestica-sees-2027-sales-nearly-doubling-to-40-billion/ar-AA2ggbMs), a chip [OpenAI](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/openai) designed with [Broadcom](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/broadcom) [2]. Chief executive Rob Mionis says customer demand forecasts for 2028 run meaningfully higher than the 2027 outlook [1]. *Chart: **Celestica's guided 2027 revenue is nearly double its raised 2026 outlook** Column chart of Celestica annual revenue, FY2023 to FY2025 reported and FY2026 to FY2027 as company outlooks* *Annual revenue, USD billions. FY2023 to FY2025 as reported in SEC filings; FY2026 and FY2027 are company outlooks issued October 26, 2026. [8][1]* ## The cash leaves before the revenue arrives A rack maker buys components months before a hyperscaler pays for finished racks, and at 90% growth that gap becomes the business [1][6]. Inventory has more than doubled since December, to $4.5 billion at the end of September [1][6]. Celestica cut its 2026 free-cash outlook to $460 million, from $600 million, and called the difference working capital, cash tied up in parts and inventory, parked ahead of the 2027 ramp [1]. The parking was funded by a $3.45 billion share sale completed in August; [we reported both the sale and the cut on October 31](https://theinference.org/article/celestica-cut-its-buyback-45-and-its-free-cash-outlook-after-selling-3-45-billion-of-stock-at-310) [1]. *Chart: **The doubling is being bought on the balance sheet: inventory more than doubled in nine months** Column chart comparing Celestica's cash, receivables and inventory at year-end 2025 versus September 30, 2026* *Selected current assets, USD billions, at December 31, 2025, and September 30, 2026, from the balance sheet in Celestica's Q3 2026 release. [1][6]* Next year gets heavier. Management told its October 27 earnings call to expect a net use of cash in 2027, with capital spending of $1.5 to $2 billion [2]. One customer was 35% of quarterly revenue, and the ten largest together were 85% [2]. Insiders sold about $24 million of stock over the past quarter, among them Mionis, who sold 23,496 shares in August at an average of $362, before the slide [4]. The doubling is being built for a handful of customers whose schedules Celestica does not control. ## What the discount is asking Nothing in the record pins the slide on any single cause. Thursday was a sector rout: [the Nasdaq 100 fell 6.4%, its worst day since 2020](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/oversold-ai-chip-stocks-nasdaq-144740381.html), after Democratic midterm wins in key data-center states stoked fears of slower AI construction [7]. The orders in this report are nonetheless documented, and the margin outlook held, which leaves the cash call as the exposure still being priced: deposits from customers arriving before components are bought, or more equity sold into a falling market. The tell will be in the next balance sheet. Customer cash arriving ahead of component orders would mean the doubling is financed by the people who ordered it. Until a filing shows that, the advancing is being done by Celestica's shareholders, and this week they marked down the price at which they will do it. ## Takeaway The orders are real and margins are at records, but the doubling rides on shareholder cash until customer deposits show up in a balance sheet. ## Sources 1. [Celestica via GlobeNewswire/Yahoo Finance, Celestica Announces Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results and Will Hold 2026 Investor and Analyst Day, 26 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/celestica-announces-third-quarter-2026-201700139.html) 2. [TheStreet via MSN, Celestica sees 2027 sales nearly doubling to $40 billion, 28 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/money/celestica-sees-2027-sales-nearly-doubling-to-40-billion/ar-AA2ggbMs) 3. [Global Banking & Finance Review, Celestica falls 9.18% in Wednesday's session, 4 November 2026](https://www.globalbankingandfinance.com/celestica-cls-to-falls-2026-11-04/) 4. [MarketBeat, Celestica (NYSE:CLS) Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen, 7 November 2026](https://www.marketbeat.com/instant-alerts/analyst-celestica-nyse-cls-raised-to-buy-at-wall-street-zen-2026-11-07/) 5. [Evertiq, Celestica expects revenue to almost double to $40 billion in 2027, 6 November 2026](https://evertiq.com/news/2026-11-06-celestica-expects-revenue-to-almost-double-to-40-billion-in-2027) 6. [Zacks via Yahoo Finance, CLS Raises 2026 Outlook as AI Demand Powers an Aggressive 2027 Ramp, 29 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/cls-raises-2026-outlook-ai-152100652.html) 7. [Investing.com via Yahoo Finance, Oversold AI and chip stocks after the Nasdaq's worst day since 2020, 6 November 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/oversold-ai-chip-stocks-nasdaq-144740381.html) 8. [Celestica, annual revenue figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 7 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001030894) 9. [Celestica, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 7 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001030894) --- Celestica guided 2027 revenue to $40 billion, nearly double this year; the stock is less than half its high — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/celestica-guided-2027-revenue-to-40-billion-nearly-double-this-year-the-stock-is-less-than-half-its-high