--- title: "TE Connectivity posts record quarter and guides above consensus; its stock falls anyway" description: "TE Connectivity beat on revenue and earnings and told investors fiscal first-quarter sales would clear consensus by more than $200 million, then watched the stock open 6% lower while Amphenol, which grew five times as fast, jumped 5%." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Data Center" published: 2026-10-28T14:53:14.207Z modified: 2026-10-28T14:53:14.207Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/te-connectivity-posts-record-quarter-and-guides-above-consensus-its-stock-falls-anyway language: en keywords: "TE Connectivity, Amphenol, Earnings, Data Centers, Connectors" --- # TE Connectivity posts record quarter and guides above consensus; its stock falls anyway > TE Connectivity beat on revenue and earnings and told investors fiscal first-quarter sales would clear consensus by more than $200 million, then watched the stock open 6% lower while Amphenol, which grew five times as fast, jumped 5%. ## The beat that got punished [TE Connectivity](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/te-connectivity), the Galway, Ireland-based maker of the connectors and sensors that move power and data through cars, factories and data centers, reported [record fiscal fourth-quarter results](https://www.streetinsider.com/PRNewswire/TE+Connectivity+delivers+12%25+sales+increase+and+over+20%25+EPS+growth+in+fiscal+fourth+quarter/27243743.html) today: net sales of $5.3 billion, up 12% reported and 13% organically, and adjusted earnings per share of $3.14, seven cents above the $3.07 analyst estimate [1][2]. It then [guided the fiscal first quarter of 2027 above consensus on both lines](https://www.streetinsider.com/Earnings/TE+Connectivity+%28TEL%29+Tops+Q4+EPS+by+7c%2C+Beats+on+Revenue%3B+Offers+Q1+Guidance/27243969.html), roughly $5.35 billion in sales against a $5.12 billion estimate and adjusted EPS of about $3.30 versus $2.99 expected [1][2]. The stock fell anyway. At the opening bell in New York, TE shares traded at $211.87, down 6.0%, while [Amphenol](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/amphenol), the far larger connector maker that reported its own record quarter this morning, [opened 5.0% higher at $82.08](https://247wallst.com/cards/amphenol-q3-2026-earnings-aph-01m61c9hxc1g9w4vaczr104h2r) [5]. Wall Street ended a beat-and-raise morning by paying the smaller of the two interconnect players nothing for it. ## Records in sales, orders and cash Underneath the sell-off, the quarter itself is strong. Orders hit $6.1 billion in the quarter, up 29% year over year, and $22.2 billion for fiscal 2026, up 27% [1]. Orders divided by sales gives a book-to-bill above 1.1 on this arithmetic, and it backs management's call for another year of double-digit sales growth [1]. Full-year sales reached a record $19.9 billion, adjusted operating margin held at 22%, free cash flow came in at $3.4 billion, and TE returned roughly $2.8 billion to shareholders while committing $1.6 billion to bolt-on acquisitions in optics and power filtering [1]. Reported growth also carries an $87 million deduction for tariff refunds TE expects to pass back to customers, so the underlying run rate is a touch stronger than the headline [1]. *Chart: **TE's quarterly revenue spent 2024 flat, then climbed to a record $5.3 billion** Line chart of TE Connectivity quarterly net sales in billions of dollars by fiscal quarter, from fiscal Q1 2024 ended December 2023 at $3.83 billion to fiscal Q4 2026 ended September 2026 at a record $5.31 billion.* *TE's quarterly net sales by fiscal quarter, USD billions. TE's fiscal year ends in late September, so fiscal Q4 2026 closed on September 25, 2026. Figures from SEC filings [6]; final quarter figure $5.31 billion from the earnings release [1]. [1][6]* ## Where the growth actually lives The mix inside the record is the whole story. TE's Industrial Solutions segment, where CEO Terrence Curtin says the company benefits from customers' AI investments "from inside the rack in the data center to the networking edge all the way to the energy grid," grew 26% in fiscal 2026 [1]. Its digital data networks line, the server and networking interconnect business, grew 44.2% and the energy business 40.4%, while the legacy Transportation segment grew 7.3% [1]. *Chart: **TE's AI power and data segments carry the growth; transportation runs single digits** Bars chart ranking TE Connectivity fiscal 2026 reported net sales growth by segment: digital data networks 44.2%, energy 40.4%, Industrial Solutions total 25.8%, company total 15.2%, Transportation Solutions 7.3%.* *Fiscal 2026 reported net sales growth by segment line, year over year, percent. Source: TE Connectivity fiscal 2026 earnings release, October 28, 2026 [1]. [1]* ## Amphenol's shadow The problem is what printed next to it. Amphenol, with quarterly revenue of $10.2 billion against TE's $5.3 billion, [posted sales up 65%, with orders of $12.2 billion](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/amphenol-reports-record-third-quarter-120000910.html), a 1.19:1 book-to-bill and a 29.7% adjusted operating margin against TE's 22% [4]. Amphenol's reported growth ran more than five times TE's, and its board raised the dividend 20% and approved a new $4 billion buyback the day before [4]. TE beat its estimates; the market simply repriced the gap between a company where AI is the whole engine and one where AI sits inside a diversified industrial portfolio. *Chart: **Amphenol grew more than five times as fast as TE in the September quarter, at a higher margin** Column chart comparing TE Connectivity and Amphenol on September-quarter reported sales growth, 12 percent versus 65 percent, and adjusted operating margin, 22 percent versus 29.7 percent.* *Sales growth: TE fiscal Q4 2026 (ended September 25, 2026) reported, versus Amphenol fiscal Q3 2026 (ended September 30) reported. Operating margin: TE's fiscal 2026 adjusted operating margin, versus Amphenol's fiscal Q3 adjusted operating margin. Sources: TE Connectivity earnings release [1]; Amphenol results release [4]. [1][4]* ## What to watch next The tell is the January quarter, when TE's $5.35 billion guidance meets a bar Amphenol has already set at $10.3 to $10.5 billion [1][4]. Watch whether digital data networks keeps compounding above 40% and whether TE's $22.2 billion order book converts on schedule. TE is already reshaping for the pivot: as The Inference reported on October 5, the company put 630 German jobs on a 2028 expiry date and redirected $1.4 billion into AI power ([our earlier coverage](https://theinference.org/article/te-connectivity-gives-630-german-jobs-a-2028-expiry-date-and-spends-1-4bn-on-ai-power)). Investors are pricing the AI mix shift rather than headline records, so TE now has to show the mix improving every quarter. ## Takeaway A record quarter and a guide above consensus bought TE Connectivity nothing while Amphenol's 65% AI-driven growth reset the bar; the stock now trades on the pace of TE's mix shift toward AI data and power, not on its headlines. ## Sources 1. [PRNewswire via StreetInsider, TE Connectivity delivers 12% sales increase and over 20% EPS growth in fiscal fourth quarter, 28 October 2026](https://www.streetinsider.com/PRNewswire/TE+Connectivity+delivers+12%25+sales+increase+and+over+20%25+EPS+growth+in+fiscal+fourth+quarter/27243743.html) 2. [StreetInsider, TE Connectivity (TEL) Tops Q4 EPS by 7c, Beats on Revenue; Offers Q1 Guidance, 28 October 2026](https://www.streetinsider.com/Earnings/TE+Connectivity+%28TEL%29+Tops+Q4+EPS+by+7c%2C+Beats+on+Revenue%3B+Offers+Q1+Guidance/27243969.html) 4. [Business Wire via Yahoo Finance, Amphenol Reports Record Third Quarter 2026 Results and Announces Dividend Increase and New Stock Repurchase Program, 28 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/amphenol-reports-record-third-quarter-120000910.html) 5. [24/7 Wall St., Amphenol Q3 2026: Revenue Jumps 65% as AI Demand Hits Connector Layer, 28 October 2026](https://247wallst.com/cards/amphenol-q3-2026-earnings-aph-01m61c9hxc1g9w4vaczr104h2r) 6. [TE Connectivity, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 28 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001385157) --- TE Connectivity posts record quarter and guides above consensus; its stock falls anyway — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/te-connectivity-posts-record-quarter-and-guides-above-consensus-its-stock-falls-anyway