Aug 4, 2026 earnings call — Sales beat and guidance raised
Company raised full-year sales growth outlook to 7.5% to 9.5% and set adjusted EPS midpoint at $13.15.
Revenue $2.3B (est $2.2B) · EPS $3.49 (est $3.38)
Key quotes
"The verticals seeing the strongest capital investment, including Semiconductor, Data Center and E-commerce & Warehouse tend to be more heavily weighted toward our product and software offerings."
"So we've always been calling out about 250 bps -- 200 to 250 bps of price for the full year 2026. 100 bps of that is coming from tariff-based price, 150 bps is coming from underlying price."
"New offerings such as PointMax I/O, additional PowerFlex drives and FLEXLINE motor control centers are seeing strong adoption, particularly in E-commerce & Warehouse Automation and process industries."
Analyst Q&A 8
pricing, tariffs, and Plex update
Q (Scott Davis · Melius): He wanted clarity on recent price changes: the size, timing, and whether tariff increases are separate. He also asked for an update on Plex and how that asset is performing.
A: Management said full-year price guidance is 200 to 250 bps, split as 100 bps tariff-based and 150 bps underlying. In Q3 tariff-based price was about 1% and underlying close to 0; tariff pricing is meant to create EPS neutrality and is not highly incremental. They also said Plex is part of software ARR, grew high single digits, is adding new logos, is profitable, and being integrated with MES and fleet management.
"So we've always been calling out about 250 bps -- 200 to 250 bps of price for the full year 2026." — Christian Rothe (CFO)
inflation, pricing actions, and services
Q (Andrew Obin · BofA): He asked how Rockwell sees inflation over the next 6–12 months and what structural steps they can take. He also asked why Lifecycle Services ARR and installations are not picking up more with organic growth.
A: Management said the top priority is ensuring they can ship product and that the supply chain team has kept components available. They said inflation is a growing headwind (single-digit millions in Q1, double-digit in Q2, still double-digit for the second half) but they can take price, drive productivity, and negotiate direct material costs. For services, customers are delaying projects due to cautious capital deployment, decision authority and funding constraints in some regions, and concerns about tariffs and inflation.
"This call, I'll tell you that it's still double-digit million headwind for the second half here that we're experiencing, and it's a higher number than what we had last quarter." — Christian Rothe (CFO)
orders, Auto/Life Sciences and data centers
Q (Andrew Kaplowitz · Citi): He asked whether book-to-bill remained above normal and if backlog coverage is higher going into Q4. He also asked why Automotive and Life Sciences are improving and how much Logix/data center penetration is driving growth versus end-market strength.
A: Management said book-to-bill in Q3 was inside their normal corridor and orders are in good shape. They said Automotive and Life Sciences show renewed strength with new projects and competitive wins, including MES wins in drug substance and work tied to GLP-1 drugs. On data centers, they said Rockwell participates in three areas — modular power (CUBIC), chiller power control, and Logix for central utility plant control, with Logix offering redundancy and safety that hyperscalers value.
"And so this is control of energy monitoring, it's emergency power, backup generator controls." — Blake Moret (CEO·CHAIR)
short-cycle vs large projects and margins
Q (Christopher Snyder · Morgan Stanley): He asked whether the short-cycle business can sustain recent momentum and if large capital projects can improve. He also asked about any headwinds to Q4 margins since margins were guided flat sequentially.
A: Management said growth is broad-based across verticals, not only short-cycle, with contributions from data center, Automotive, Life Sciences, consumer and energy. They said automation demand is supported by labor shortages, new product introductions, productivity and pricing actions, but inflation and tariff volatility remain headwinds. For Q4, they said sequential enterprise margin is expected to be flattish because higher volume is being offset by mix (solutions/configure-to-order) and ongoing inflation.
"So that's why we're talking about the sequential enterprise operating margin being flattish." — Christian Rothe (CFO)
price/cost headwind and Q4 setup
Q (Jeffrey Sprague · Vertical Research Partners): He asked for more detail on the price/cost headwind in Q3 and what to expect in Q4 and into 2027. He also probed whether Q4 volume will be weaker than Q3.
A: Management said price/cost was a headwind in Q3 but they expect price/cost to be positive year-over-year in Q4, even as inflation rises. They said core growth drivers in Q3 were volume first and mix second, with only a small partial offset from price/cost; sequentially volume will be a tick less and Software & Control will be flat sequentially while still up year-over-year with margin expansion.
"So when we turn to the next quarter, again, we expect it's going to -- price/cost is going to be positive for us in the year-over-year." — Christian Rothe (CFO)
Software & Control margins and verticals
Q (Andrew Buscaglia · BNP Paribas): He asked how to think about Software & Control margins into next year given tough comps and a high margin base. He also asked whether Automotive and Food & Beverage growth this quarter is real demand or easy comps.
A: Management said controller unit volumes are only now exceeding pre-COVID levels, which helps Software & Control performance, and they believe they are gaining share. They said margin expansion in the last two years was mainly driven by volume and price, but memory cost and inflation will hit the business; they cited low 30s as the full-year 2026 segment operating margin for Software & Control and see room to build. On verticals, they said Automotive growth reflects renewed project activity and standardizations, and Food & Beverage showed mid-single-digit growth even without CapEx.
"we're talking about low 30s for total segment operating margin for Software & Control for the full year 2026." — Christian Rothe (CFO)
production logistics growth and CapEx
Q (Noah Kaye · Oppenheimer): He asked for an update on production logistics and the OTTO integration and how big the growth opportunity is. He also asked about CapEx trajectory and whether spending should step up to about 4% next year.
A: Management said they are early in the production logistics growth opportunity and are building it out, with strong results in iTRAK and MagneMotion and double-digit growth expected in autonomous mobile robots; Clearpath is expected to be profitable in Q4. They said they expect to spend more CapEx next year but stay around 4% or so, with greenfield investments in New Berlin, Wisconsin flowing into 2027 and 2028, and they expect good ROIC and strong returns from these investments.
"I think to your question, we're early in the growth opportunity in production logistics, and we continue to build it out." — Blake Moret (CEO·CHAIR)
S&C Q4 margin level
Q (Joseph Ritchie · Goldman Sachs): He asked for help bridging why Software & Control margins would appear to decline sequentially into Q4 and to reconcile the math.
A: Management said they do not expect S&C margins to be in the 20s in Q4 and instead expect the segment to be in the low 30s, roughly around 33. They said the sequential math comes from inflation pressure while top-line is flat, which explains the difference.
"No, we actually are -- we're not looking at it to be in the 20s in Q4." — Christian Rothe (CFO)