--- title: "Keysight's orders grew 56% on the AI buildout, and its stock still fell 8.7% in a week" description: "Keysight bills at the design and qualification stage, validating AI networks before deployment rather than after, and its fiscal third quarter already showed the wave. The stock still fell 8.7% in the week to October 15 at 47 times earnings, and November 23 decides whether the order cycle outruns the multiple." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Hardware" published: 2026-10-16T14:30:46.292Z modified: 2026-10-16T14:30:46.292Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/keysight-s-orders-grew-56-on-the-ai-buildout-and-its-stock-still-fell-8-7-in-a-week language: en keywords: "Keysight, AI Infrastructure, Networking, Hardware, Stocks" --- # Keysight's orders grew 56% on the AI buildout, and its stock still fell 8.7% in a week > Keysight bills at the design and qualification stage, validating AI networks before deployment rather than after, and its fiscal third quarter already showed the wave. The stock still fell 8.7% in the week to October 15 at 47 times earnings, and November 23 decides whether the order cycle outruns the multiple. [Keysight](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/keysight) Technologies used Open Compute Project week, the open-hardware community's annual summit in San Jose, to [launch four validation platforms in three days](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261009862016/en/Keysight-Showcases-AI-Infrastructure-Validation-Advances-Across-Scale-Up-Scale-Out-Scale-Across-Networks-to-Inference-at-2026-OCP), machines built to prove the next doubling of AI network speed before anyone deploys it [1][2][6][7]. [NVIDIA](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/nvidia), the AI chipmaker, plus [Credo](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/credo), which sells cables that link AI racks, and [Synopsys](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/synopsys), a chip-design software and silicon-IP company, put their names on the gear [1][2][6]. The market's answer landed on October 15, when the shares fell 4.3% to $342.08, an 8.7% drop for the week [4]. ## The machines that grade the fabric The centerpiece, AresONE Plus 1600GE, packs eight OSFP1600 ports, a pluggable-module standard carrying 1.6 terabits a second, into a 2U chassis, about nine centimetres of rack height, driving 12.8 terabits of line-rate traffic, which Keysight calls an industry first [1][7]. NVIDIA builds the network gear; Keysight builds [the machines that prove the gear works before it ships](https://theinference.org/article/ai-s-chokepoint-moved-to-the-test-bench-and-three-rivals-just-demonstrated-the-way-around-keysight). Gilad Shainer, NVIDIA's senior vice president of networking, said Spectrum-X AI fabrics get tested on Keysight platforms "before deployment, reducing time to market" [1]. ![Two Keysight staff beside an open rack of network test equipment with yellow optical cables at the company's OCP Global Summit 2026 booth.](https://storage.googleapis.com/theinference-public/img/0ba7d133f88468b2.jpg) *A live validation rack at Keysight's OCP Global Summit booth in San Jose, October 2026: the machines that put 1.6-terabit AI network gear through its paces before customers deploy it. (Keysight via LinkedIn)* [Credo validates its active electrical cables](https://theinference.org/article/credo-answers-nvidia-and-cisco-with-a-rival-ai-cable-spec-and-loses-7-2-on-the-day) on FITS-16CH, an error tester with 16 channels in each direction, twice the density of the old box [2]. Synopsys ran its PCIe 7.0 designs, the rack-scale interconnect that doubles to 128 gigatransfers per second, through Keysight's new protocol tester [6]. ## The orders already arrived Fiscal third-quarter revenue, for the period ended July 31, was $1.846 billion, up 36.5% from a year earlier, on filings [8][9]. [Orders grew 56% year over year, management said on the August 18 earnings call](https://www.ad-hoc-news.de/boerse/news/corporate-news/november-23-results-set-for-keysight-technologies-stock/70330627) [5]. Earnings of $3.07 a share beat the $2.48 consensus [8]. Revenue has risen every quarter since mid-2024, from $1.22 billion to $1.85 billion [9]. *Chart: **Quarterly revenue has climbed every quarter since mid-2024** Line chart of Keysight quarterly revenue rising from about $1.22 billion in early 2024 to $1.85 billion in the quarter ended July 2026, with the steepest gains in 2026 and a note that orders grew 56% in the final quarter.* *Quarterly revenue in USD billions from Keysight's SEC filings; calendar quarters shown, and the final point, Q2 '26, is fiscal Q3 2026, ended July 31, 2026. The orders figure is from the fiscal Q3 earnings call as reported by Ad-hoc-News. [9][5]* ## Priced like a winner, sold by insiders The case for the stock is orders compounding faster than revenue; the case against is a price that already assumes they keep compounding. Keysight trades at 47.1 times trailing earnings against a five-year median of 30.8, after a 68% run this year, and [GuruFocus](https://www.gurufocus.com/news/9126593/a-look-at-keysight-technologies-inc-keys-after-43-decline-gf-value-22599-vs-price-34208), a stock-analysis site, puts its model's fair value at $225.99, with the shares 51% above it [4]. Insiders sold $33.4 million of stock over 12 months and bought none; the same screen still scores the company's financial health 84 out of 100 [4]. Also on October 15, Keysight [filed the annual UK takeover-code confirmation](https://www.tradingview.com/news/reuters.com,2026-10-15:newsml_RSO1870Za:0-reg-keysight-technologs-rule-19-6-c-confirmation/) that it kept the post-offer promises made for Spirent Communications, the London-listed company its cash offer absorbed when the scheme became effective on October 15, 2025 [3]. ## What November 23 decides [Management guided fourth-quarter earnings to $3.34 to $3.40 a share](https://www.ad-hoc-news.de/boerse/news/corporate-news/keysight-technologies-stock-slips-after-insider-sale-and-strong-q3-figures/70080838), on a full year near $11.46 [8]. Results land November 23 [5]. Watch whether orders keep compounding near 56% year over year, and whether that guidance holds once the fiscal fourth quarter is booked [5][8]. The comparison stops being easy from there: the quarter that ended in January was already growing 23% [9]. *Chart: **Fiscal Q3 beat consensus by 24%, and guidance points higher still** Column chart of Keysight earnings per share: fiscal Q3 2026 consensus of $2.48, fiscal Q3 actual of $3.07, and fiscal Q4 guidance at $3.37, marked as an estimate spanning $3.34 to $3.40.* *Earnings per share in US dollars for Keysight Technologies. FQ3 '26 actual and FQ4 '26 guidance are from the company's fiscal third-quarter report as reported by Ad-hoc-News (source 8); the guide is drawn at the midpoint of the $3.34 to $3.40 range. Consensus and guidance are estimates; the actual quarter is reported. [8][5]* ## Takeaway Keysight's fiscal third quarter showed the AI validation wave arriving in orders and earnings, but at 47 times trailing earnings, with insiders selling and a harder comparison from January, November 23 decides whether the cycle outruns the multiple. ## Sources 1. [Business Wire, Keysight Expands 1.6T Ethernet Validation Across Edge Routing, High-Density Switching, and AI Workload Emulation, 13 October 2026](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261013556282/en/Keysight-Expands-1.6T-Ethernet-Validation-Across-Edge-Routing-High-Density-Switching-and-AI-Workload-Emulation) 2. [Business Wire, Keysight Expands Active and Passive 1.6T Copper Interconnect Validation for Scale-Out Data Centers, 14 October 2026](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261014439659/en/Keysight-Expands-Active-and-Passive-1.6T-Copper-Interconnect-Validation-for-Scale-Out-Data-Centers) 3. [Reuters via TradingView, REG - Keysight Technologies - Rule 19.6(C) Confirmation, 15 October 2026](https://www.tradingview.com/news/reuters.com,2026-10-15:newsml_RSO1870Za:0-reg-keysight-technologs-rule-19-6-c-confirmation/) 4. [GuruFocus, A Look at Keysight Technologies Inc (KEYS) After 4.3% Decline, 15 October 2026](https://www.gurufocus.com/news/9126593/a-look-at-keysight-technologies-inc-keys-after-43-decline-gf-value-22599-vs-price-34208) 5. [Ad-hoc-News, November 23 results set for Keysight Technologies stock, 15 October 2026](https://www.ad-hoc-news.de/boerse/news/corporate-news/november-23-results-set-for-keysight-technologies-stock/70330627) 6. [TMCnet (Keysight release), Keysight Introduces PCIe 7.0 Protocol Test Solution to Accelerate AI Infrastructure Validation, 12 October 2026](https://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2026/10/12/10461227.htm) 7. [Business Wire, Keysight Showcases AI Infrastructure Validation Advances Across Scale-Up, Scale-Out, Scale-Across Networks to Inference at 2026 OCP, 9 October 2026](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261009862016/en/Keysight-Showcases-AI-Infrastructure-Validation-Advances-Across-Scale-Up-Scale-Out-Scale-Across-Networks-to-Inference-at-2026-OCP) 8. [Ad-hoc-News, Keysight Technologies stock slips after insider sale and strong Q3 figures, 9 October 2026](https://www.ad-hoc-news.de/boerse/news/corporate-news/keysight-technologies-stock-slips-after-insider-sale-and-strong-q3-figures/70080838) 9. [Keysight, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 16 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001601046) --- Keysight's orders grew 56% on the AI buildout, and its stock still fell 8.7% in a week — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/keysight-s-orders-grew-56-on-the-ai-buildout-and-its-stock-still-fell-8-7-in-a-week