Oct 27, 2026 earnings call — Grid Edge Intelligence growth and bookings strength
Itron reported Q3 revenue of $599 million and record adjusted EBITDA of $115 million.
Revenue $0.6B (est $0.6B) · EPS $1.94 (est $1.56) · Next-quarter revenue outlook $0.6B–$0.6B
Key quotes
"Grid Edge Intelligence is scaling, We have now shipped more than 19.4 million distributed intelligence enabled endpoints, expanding the installed base."
"Adjusted EBITDA of $115 million or 19.2% of revenue, are both new quarterly records for Itron."
"Total backlog was $4.3 billion at quarter end with our Outcomes and Resiliency Solutions segments our most software and services intensive segments, together represent more than 25% of the total"
Analyst Q&A 5
OpEx and Q4 bookings
Q (Noah Kaye · Oppenheimer): The analyst asked why OpEx was low as a percent of revenue and what to model for the full year. He also asked for brackets on Q4 bookings and whether Q4 revenue is a good starting point for 2027.
A: Management said the low OpEx was partly timing and a little below expectations and that Q4 OpEx is typically higher. They would not give a book-to-bill guide but said Q4 is historically the strongest bookings quarter and October is off to a nice start. They declined to guide 2027 now and said guidance will come in February.
"Q4 is typically a much higher quarter than Q3, which tends to be our low quarter." — Joan S. Hooper (CFO)
Open Way Forward and bookings
Q (Ben Kallo · Baird): The analyst asked what the Open Way Forward program actually does for utilities. He also asked whether that approach changes bookings, competitiveness, or the size/timing of deals.
A: Management said Open Way Forward is forward-backward compatibility so utilities can keep existing assets and add new functions at an affordable pace. They said regulators ask affordability questions and that the approach is a strong moat that helps incumbency. It tends to smooth bookings, making them less lumpy while the total spend over time can be the same or greater.
"It tends to make the bookings slightly less lumpy when customers go down the path of utilizing the capability we provide of forward backward compatibility." — Thomas L. Deitrich (CEO)
Gas opportunity size and timing
Q (Alfred Moore · ROTH Capital Partners): The analyst wanted scale and timing for the gas opportunity and whether it is already showing in bookings. He also asked if midterm elections could change regulatory dynamics.
A: Management said expected awards for endpoints are multiples higher than normal and that awards may come in over the next 2, 3 years with rollouts over 3, 5 years. They explained battery replacement and safety/metrology upgrades drive the opportunity but it has not yet shown up in bookings or P&L in any significant way. On regulation, they do not expect unique midterm impacts because regulation is handled mostly at the state level, though federal actions can have macro effects.
"It has not yet shown itself in the bookings in the world of the P&L in any significant way, that is still ahead of us." — Thomas L. Deitrich (CEO)
Inflation, budgets, and competition
Q (Scott Graham · Seaport Research Partners): The analyst asked how inflation is affecting electric and water utility budgets and whether next budget cycles will include more inflation. He also asked about GRIP/IIJA programs and whether competitive dynamics have changed as the company evolved.
A: Management said inflation has hit the supply chain and input components and that they have pricing mechanisms in place. They said when inflation rolls through it drives CapEx budgets up across the board into low to mid single digits and that water has inflation too, though Europe is less affected. On government programs, GRIP has been replaced by SPARC and those programs are moving forward; competition has not changed dramatically, with usual competitors plus some large tech firms and startups and more cellular growth in gas and water.
"When that rolls all the way through, it does drive CapEx budgets up across the board." — Thomas L. Deitrich (CEO)
AI use and moving into transmission
Q (Joseph Osha · Guggenheim): The analyst asked what AI deployments the company has done in resiliency (like Urbint) and how they plan to use AI going forward. He asked if anomaly detection skills could move from edge to transmission-level grid work.
A: Management said weather and asset deployment models for storm response are AI based and that worker safety and digital construction modules use AI to identify hazards and populate data for compliance. They noted forecasting and anomaly detection have used machine learning and AI for years and that they are integrating edge data with higher-level grid data as they move toward substation level next, with transmission still ahead but possible in the future.
"The weather models that we use, the asset deployment models, for storm response are AI based." — Thomas L. Deitrich (CEO)