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JCI
FY2026 Q3
Raised
Johnson Controls International plc earnings call
Buzzberg read
Record backlog up 32% to $21 billion
JCI delivered another strong quarter with accelerating demand and raised full-year guidance. The call was dominated by the booming data center thermal management market, with management highlighting strong order momentum, a record backlog, and new product launches (absorption chillers, CDUs) to capture more value per megawatt. Orders grew 27%, with systems up 40%, leading to a record $21B backlog (+32% YoY).
Buzzberg read Record backlog up 32% to $21 billion JCI delivered another strong quarter with accelerating demand and raised full-year guidance. The call was dominated by the booming data center thermal management market, with management highlighting strong order momentum, a record backlog, and new product launches (absorption chillers, CDUs) to capture more value per megawatt. Orders grew 27%, with systems up 40%, leading to a record $21B backlog (+32% YoY). Read full analysisCollapse analysis
JCI delivered another strong quarter with accelerating demand and raised full-year guidance. The call was dominated by the booming data center thermal management market, with management highlighting strong order momentum, a record backlog, and new product launches (absorption chillers, CDUs) to capture more value per megawatt. Orders grew 27%, with systems up 40%, leading to a record $21B backlog (+32% YoY).
- Data center demand is driving growth, and management sees the segment growing to ~1/3 of revenue over 3-5 years.
- Introduced new 'AI factory absorption chiller' reference design to reduce cooling power consumption by ~44%, adding to the toolkit for AI infrastructure.
- CDU (liquid cooling) business is now shipping, with a $1B pipeline and NVIDIA certification, marking a new growth vector.
Revenue$6.614B+8% QoQ
EPS$1.42+19% QoQ
Gross margin37.41%Reported
Operating margin14.92%Reported
6 grounded callouts
What matters now
The highest-signal changes from the call.
Guidance
FY26 EPS guidance raised to ~$5.05
AI
Data center revenue expected to be a third of company in 3-5 years
Show 3 more callouts
Innovation
Absorption chiller cuts cooling electrical demand ~44%
AI
CDU business pipeline exceeds $1 billion and shipping begins this quarter
Productivity
Business system quadrupled air handler capacity without major capex
Reported period
Actuals
| Metric | Reported | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $6.614B | +8% QoQ |
| EPS | $1.42 | +19% QoQ |
| Gross margin | 37.41% | Reported |
| Operating margin | 14.92% | Reported |
| Free cash flow | $1.501B | Reported |
| Capex | $0.095B | Reported |
Forward-looking
Forward guidance
| Metric | Period | Range | Midpoint | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EPS | FY2026 | $5.05 | $5.05 | Raised |
| EPS | FY2026 Q4 | $1.55 | $1.55 | Guided |
| Operating margin | FY2026 | 45%–50% | 47.5% | Maintained |
| Revenue | FY2026 | 8% | 8% | Raised |
| Revenue | FY2026 Q4 | 9%–10% | 9.5% | Guided |
AI, capex & demand read
Management read
Confident
Management expressed strong confidence in demand, backed by record backlog and raised guidance, and repeatedly highlighted the business system's impact on execution and productivity.
Investment and capacity
Management discussed capacity expansion in applied HVAC, noting they made physical plant investments about two years ago and are ramping in new or expanded facilities. They indicated that while the business system helps create capacity, they will also need to add new physical capacity given the growth.
all 1 named companies below
Companiesreturns since call
Partners
Partners
Joakim Weidemanis
JCI's CDU (Coolant Distribution Unit) received NVIDIA certification, a validation that could accelerate adoption and revenue for JCI's liquid cooling products in AI data centers.
Evidence
“Yeah, and we had the recent NVIDIA certification as well just a little while ago. So good progress here.”
External signals
Supply-chain alpha · 3returns since call
JCI highlights supply chain bottlenecks as a business-as-usual friction in a high-growth environment, but mitigates risk through high vertical integration in chiller subsystems.
Evidence
“We control the manufacturing and the cogs of those five subsystems. So we are more vertically integrated than some in our industry and in a high growth environment.”
JCI's security business (part of Global Products) is suffering from competitive volume pressure and falling backlog, marking it as a laggard within the portfolio.
Evidence
“We saw a bit of a decline in the American service backlog, mostly associated with the security business. It's not at all a profitability issue. It has to do really with pivoting towards growth and the dynamic of price in that market.”
JCI's CDU pipeline has grown to a billion dollars, and they are starting to ship in the current quarter, signaling a major new revenue stream that is distinct from legacy HVAC equipment.
Evidence
“We're going to start shipping actually this quarter. Most of the testing and validation is through. The pipeline for that business is well beyond the hundreds of millions and has now reached a billion dollars.”
Methodology & coverage
Management-only analysis. All 1 validated company mentions are shown. Reported actuals and forward guidance are kept separate. Public evidence is limited to eight short attributed quotes. AI-generated analysis can be incomplete or wrong; verify important claims against the original source.