Live Analysis: Vertiv (NYSE: VRT) Up 4% After Strong Earnings
Key Points
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Vertiv reports this morning. The stock has been on a furious rally and expectations are high with AI spending projections continuing to rise.
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Here are the numbers to watch for:
Q2 Wall Street Consensus
- Revenue: $2.356 billion
- Cash from Operations: $220.3 million
- Adjusted EPS: $.83
2025 Wall Street Consensus
- Revenue: $9.453 billion
Live Updates
Vertiv Gains Ease
Vertiv jumped past $150 per share immediately after the opening bell, but gains have eased. The stock is currently trading for $147 per share, or up about 3.5%.
Other AI infrastructure stocks like Marvell (Nasdaq: MRVL) and Credo (Nasdaq: CRDO) are also seeing strong gains today.
U.S. GDP Growth is Strong
GDP figures just came out which show the U.S. economy grew at 3% in Q2, higher than expectations. Vertiv shares are now trading up 5.3% as of 8:45 a.m. ET.
Here's What Vertiv Had to Say About Tariffs
Here’s the slide on tariffs from Vertiv’s earnings report. Really the only ‘negative’ from this earnings release was operating margins taking a hit from the impacts of tariffs.
Longer Summary of Vertiv's Earnings
VRT | Vertiv Holdings Q2’25 Earnings Highlights:
- Adj. EPS: $0.95 ✅; UP +42% YoY
- Revenue: $2.6B [✅]; UP +35% YoY
- Adj. Operating Margin: 18.5% [⚠️]; DOWN -110 bps YoY
- Net Income: $324.2M [✅]; UP +82% YoY
- Adjusted Operating Profit: $489.3M [✅]; UP +28% YoY
- Adjusted Free Cash Flow: $277M; DOWN -17% YoY
- Backlog: $8.5B; Book-to-bill ratio of ~1.2x
2025 Outlook:
- Revenue: $9.925B – $10.075B [✅]
- Projected organic sales growth of 24%, up from 18%.
- Continued investments in ER&D and manufacturing capacity to meet demand.
Q2 Segment Performance:
- AMER Revenue: $1.6B [✅]; UP +42.9% YoY
- APAC Revenue: $560.2M [✅]; UP +36.9% YoY
- EMEA Revenue: $475.6M [✅]; UP +12.5% YoY
Other Key Q2 Metrics:
- Adj. Operating Income: $489.3M; UP +28% YoY
- Adj. Operating Expenses: $395.6M; UP +8.7% YoY
- Effective Tax Rate: 23.0% (vs. 32.7% YoY)
- Liquidity: $2.5B
- Net Leverage: 0.6x
CEO Commentary:
- Giordano Albertazzi: “Vertiv’s second quarter performance demonstrates the strength of our market position and our ability to execute at scale. Our 35% sales growth and robust orders momentum reflect both strong market demand and our expanded capabilities to serve our customers’ increasingly complex infrastructure needs. We are strategically investing in capacity expansion and accelerating our innovation pipeline to capitalize on unprecedented data center growth, particularly in AI-enabled infrastructure. The announced agreement to acquire Great Lakes Data Racks & Cabinets further strengthens our position in the fast-growing data center market. As we progress on our strong growth trajectory, we are vigorously addressing some temporary margin challenges which we anticipate will be materially addressed by the end of 2025. Given our strong performance, backlog and positive outlook, we are raising our full-year adjusted diluted EPS, net sales, adjusted operating profit and adjusted free cash flow forecast, positioning Vertiv for even stronger performance in the quarters ahead.”
CFO Commentary:
- Dave Cote: “What we’re seeing in the data center industry today goes well beyond the next few years. This is a technological transformation that we believe will drive sustained long-term growth. We plan to invest resolutely and rationally, both organically and through acquisitions, to strengthen our market leadership and capitalize on this latest significant development as the digital age progresses.”
Strategic Updates:
- Vertiv announced an agreement to acquire Great Lakes Data Racks & Cabinets, enhancing its capabilities in high-density white space solutions.
Vertiv's Conference Call At 11 a.m.
It’s worth noting that Vertiv’s conference call won’t start until after the market opens, so any coments from management won’t move shares before market open.
You can sign up for the conference call here if you want to listen in.
Big news
CEO Giordano Albertazzi’s very bullish statement on Vertiv’s future prospects:
“We are strategically investing in capacity expansion and accelerating our innovation pipeline to capitalize on unprecedented data center growth, particularly in AI-enabled infrastructure.
Given our strong performance, backlog and positive outlook, we are raising our full-year adjusted diluted EPS, net sales, adjusted operating profit and adjusted free cash flow forecast, positioning Vertiv for even stronger performance in the quarters ahead.”
How Q2 stacks up to Q1
| What Changed | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue Beat Size | +$110M | +$282M |
| EPS Surprise | +$0.06 | +$0.12 |
| Margin Commentary | Constructive | Cautious |
| Orders Commentary | Strong | Accelerating |
| Guidance Action | Reaffirmed | ✅ Raised |
And a reset on FY 25 estimates going into the back half of the year. Expect analysts to follow through with ~5–7% upward revisions to full-year EPS targets.
| Metric | Old FY25 Consensus | New Company Guide | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $9.453B | $10.0B (midpoint) | ✅ |
| Adjusted EPS | $3.58 | $3.80 (midpoint) | ✅ |
Vertiv share soaring pre-market
Vertiv shares are up over 9% after an early morning earnings beat.
| Metric | Q2 2025 Actual | Q2 2025 Estimate | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $2.64B | $2.36B | ✅ |
| Adjusted EPS | $0.95 | $0.83 | ✅ |
| Cash from Operations | $323M | $220.3M | ✅ |
Vertiv also lifted its full-year 2025 guidance meaningfully across nearly every key metric:
| Metric | New FY25 Guide | Prior Guide | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $9.925B – $10.075B | $9.325B – $9.575B | ✅ Up |
| Adjusted EPS | $3.75 – $3.85 | $3.55 – $3.58 | ✅ Up |
| Adjusted Op. Profit | $1.95B – $2.03B | $1.935B (midpoint) | ✅ Up |
| Adj. Free Cash Flow | $1.375B – $1.425B | $1.3B | ✅ Up |
| Adj. Op. Margin | 19.7% – 20.3% | 20.5% | ❌ Down |
AI Infrastructure Remains the Growth Engine
Vertiv’s business is tethered to hyperscaler and enterprise AI infrastructure demand. This quarter validated that theme.
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Revenue up 35% YoY, driven by AI buildouts and stronger prefabricated system demand.
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APAC segment +37%, with management pointing to accelerating AI data center deployments in Korea and Japan.
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The new acquisition (Great Lakes Data Racks) is a strategic bet on “white space” physical infrastructure.
Vertiv Q2 Earnings Expectations
We previewed what Vertiv delivered when they reported Q1 earnings in April, now let’s look at what Wall Street expects today:
Q2 Wall Street Consensus
- Revenue: $2.356 billion
- Cash from Operations: $220.3 million
- Adjusted EPS: $.83
2025 Wall Street Consensus
- Revenue: $9.453 billion
- Adjusted EPS: $3.58
Once earnings are released, analysts will race to see whether 1.) Vertiv beat expectations for last quarter and 2.) whether the company has adjusted its guidance for 2025. Given Vertiv’s recent rally, its like shares will be negative if they merely match expectations.
Stocks that have rallied as much as Vertiv has generally need a ‘beat and raise’ where they exceed the prior quarter and raise full-year expectations. As a reminder, in Q1 Vertiv guided to full year revenue of 9.325B – $9.575B.
We expect Vertiv earnings to be released shortly before 6 a.m. ET.
Vertiv (NYSE: VRT | VRT Price Prediction) reports earnings this morning. Will its furious rally continue? We’ll be updating this live blog with updates. So simply leave this page open and news and analysis will appear throughout the morning.
I’ve long been a fan of Vertiv. In January, I named it one of the top picks that could surge from the creation of massive data center projects like Stargate. Also, I bought the stock and added it to the $500,000 Portfolio I manage for 24/7 Wall St.’s $500,000 AI Portfolio.
The stock crashed in the first quarter of the year as worries about DeepSeek limiting AI infrastructure spend dominated. In early April shares hit a low of $53 per share.
Yet, with every hyperscaler affirming (and raising) capital expenditure plans headed into 2026, Vertiv shares have rallied hard off the bottom. Headed into earnings, the company is up 140% from its April 4th close.
Let’s look at what the company reported in Q1 and Wall Street’s expectations for Q2 earnings today.
A Look Back at Vertiv’s Q1 Earnings
Here’s a look back at what Vertiv reported in the first quarter of the year:
VRT | Vertiv Holdings Co Q1’25 Earnings Highlights
- Adj. EPS: $0.64 ✅; UP +49% YoY
- Revenue: $2.036B [✅]; UP +24% YoY
- Adj. Operating Profit: $336.7M [✅]; UP +35% YoY
- Operating Profit: $290.7M [✅]; UP +43% YoY
- Net Income: $164.5M [✅
- Adjusted Free Cash Flow: $265M; UP +162% YoY
- Liquidity: $2.3B
- Net Leverage: 0.8x
2025 Outlook:
- Revenue: $9.325B – $9.575B [✅]
- Guidance reflects robust demand in the data center market, particularly driven by AI infrastructure deployments.
- Assumes current tariff rates remain constant throughout 2025, with proactive measures to mitigate impacts.
Q1 Segment Performance:
- AMER Revenue: $1.185B [✅]; UP +28.1% YoY
- APAC Revenue: $447.2M [✅]; UP +34.6% YoY
- EMEA Revenue: $403.5M [✅]; UP +5.7% YoY
Other Key Q1 Metrics:
- Adj. Operating Margin: 16.5% [✅]; UP +130 bps YoY
- Effective Tax Rate: 38.0% (vs. -54.6% YoY)
- Capital Expenditures: $36.5M; UP +2% YoY
- Cash and Cash Equivalents: $1.467B
- Accounts Receivable: $2.311B
- Inventories: $1.384B
CEO Commentary:
- Giordano Albertazzi: “Vertiv’s strong first quarter results demonstrate our continued momentum and reinforce our position for long-term sustainable growth. We continue to see accelerated scaling of AI deployments across the data center market, with strong demand signals reinforcing both our near- and long-term growth outlook. The iGenius project, which involves delivering a complete AI infrastructure solution for one of Italy’s leading AI technology companies, demonstrates our ability to rapidly deploy prefabricated AI solutions at scale. This project includes advanced cooling systems and power infrastructure specifically designed for high-density AI computing environments. Our partnership with NVIDIA and our reference designs for their GB200 and GB300 NVL72 platforms position Vertiv at the forefront of AI factory deployment at industrial scale. Assuming tariff rates on April 22, 2025 remain constant through year-end, we believe that our diverse manufacturing footprint, operational flexibility, and commercial strategies will progressively lessen the tariff impact as the year progresses. Although the tariff environment remains fluid, our goal is to significantly mitigate the effect of tariffs as we enter 2026.”
CFO Commentary:
- Dave Cote: “Vertiv’s first quarter results demonstrate how well the team is executing in an increasingly complex environment. The focus on operational excellence and high-performance culture is delivering strong results. Our operational and commercial improvements over the past three years have positioned us well to effectively manage through the tariff environment and navigate these challenges. While we’re seeing heightened demand in the market, particularly in AI infrastructure, what is most exciting is that we are still in the early stages of unlocking Vertiv’s full potential. The team’s relentless focus on execution, and ability to keep customers future-ready through this rapid market evolution, positions us well to create substantial long-term value for our shareholders as this market continues to expand and transform.”
Strategic Updates:
- Vertiv is investing in engineering research and development (ER&D) and capacity expansion to support the growing needs of the industry, particularly in AI infrastructure deployments.
Joel South covers large-cap stocks, dividend investing, and major market trends, with a focus on earnings analysis, valuation, and turning complex data into actionable insights for investors.
He brings more than 15 years of experience as an investor and financial journalist, including 12 years at The Motley Fool, where he served as an investment analyst, Bureau Chief, and later led the Fool.com investing news desk. He has also co-hosted an investing podcast and appeared across TV and radio discussing market trends.
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