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FY2026 Q2
Lowered
Aptiv PLC earnings call
Buzzberg read
First Gen 8 radar award secured.
Aptiv cut full-year 2026 guidance, citing a sharp deterioration in the domestic China auto market, program delays, and weak European luxury exports to China. The company is trying to offset this by expanding into high-growth non-auto markets like drones, robotics, and data-center power, where it announced several new awards. Lowered FY2026 revenue guidance by $300M to $12.6-12.8B, primarily due to weaker production schedules in China and program launch delays.
Buzzberg read First Gen 8 radar award secured. Aptiv cut full-year 2026 guidance, citing a sharp deterioration in the domestic China auto market, program delays, and weak European luxury exports to China. The company is trying to offset this by expanding into high-growth non-auto markets like drones, robotics, and data-center power, where it announced several new awards. Lowered FY2026 revenue guidance by $300M to $12.6-12.8B, primarily due to weaker production schedules in China and program launch delays. Read full analysisCollapse analysis
Aptiv cut full-year 2026 guidance, citing a sharp deterioration in the domestic China auto market, program delays, and weak European luxury exports to China. The company is trying to offset this by expanding into high-growth non-auto markets like drones, robotics, and data-center power, where it announced several new awards. Lowered FY2026 revenue guidance by $300M to $12.6-12.8B, primarily due to weaker production schedules in China and program launch delays.
- Secured a $500M, five-year drone award and advanced a robotics partnership, accelerating its non-auto diversification, targeting ~$300M in annual robotics/drone revenue in the next few years.
- Non-auto revenue grew 12% in Q2, double-digit growth, mitigating some of the auto weakness.
- Management explicitly admitted they were 'not conservative enough' in prior assumptions, particularly around China, and is adding a substantial element of conservatism to the second half outlook.
Revenue$3.274B-36% QoQ
EPS$1.63-5% QoQ
Gross margin23.67%Reported
Operating margin11.21%Reported
6 grounded callouts
What matters now
The highest-signal changes from the call.
Guidance
Full-year guidance reduced due to China weakness.
AI
NVIDIA partnership extended for edge AI.
Show 3 more callouts
Non-auto
First drone award worth over $500M lifetime.
Non-auto
Aptiv targets $300M robotics and drone revenues.
Buybacks
Share buybacks to reach $600M in 2026.
Reported period
Actuals
| Metric | Reported | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $3.274B | -36% QoQ |
| EPS | $1.63 | -5% QoQ |
| Gross margin | 23.67% | Reported |
| Operating margin | 11.21% | Reported |
| Free cash flow | $-0.329B | +9% QoQ |
| Capex | $0.278B | Reported |
Forward-looking
Forward guidance
| Metric | Period | Range | Midpoint | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EPS | FY2026 | $5.60–$5.80 | $5.70 | Lowered |
| Free cash flow | FY2026 | $0.625B–$0.725B | $0.675B | Lowered |
| Revenue | FY2026 | $12.6B–$12.8B | $12.7B | Lowered |
| Revenue | FY2026 Q3 | 1 | 1 | Guided |
AI, capex & demand read
Management read
Cautiously Optimisti
Management acknowledged near-term challenges and lowered guidance, yet expressed confidence in long-term opportunities from non-auto markets and continued capital returns.
Management AI read
Management discussed expanding the software partnership ecosystem with leading AI players, including NVIDIA, extending the partnership to provide production-grade software to edge AI customers. They also introduced an occupancy classification system powered by AI/ML-based computer vision software. Additionally, they highlighted investments in AI-based sensor fusion for robotics via the Robust AI a
all 9 named companies below
Companiesreturns since call
Customers
Customers
Kevin Clark
Aptiv won a Gen 8 radar award from Volvo, indicating a deepening relationship and potential for content growth on Volvo's next-generation architecture.
Evidence
“Within intelligence systems, these included Gen 8 Radar Award by Volvo Cars for its next-gen software-defined vehicle platform.”
Customers
Kevin Clark
Aptiv won a design for its perception and compute stack for Robust AI's next-gen cobot, validating its non-auto diversification strategy and entering a high-margin robotics market.
Evidence
“Robust AI selection of our intelligent perception solutions and compute, including AI and ML-based sensor fusion powered by our innovative pulse sensor for its Gen 3 Carter Cobot.”
Customers
Kevin Clark
Aptiv was recognized as Ford's supplier of the year for supply chain, reflecting strong execution and a key component of its supply chain resiliency strategy.
Evidence
“we were recently recognized as supplier of the year by Ford in the supply chain category.”
Customers
Kevin Clark
Aptiv expects a BYD export program to be delayed, mirroring broader weakness in the China domestic market that is impacting its near-term production schedules.
Evidence
“There's one program from BYD that we're confident will be launched, just was shifted, and that's an export vehicle program.”
Partners
Partners
Kevin Clark
Aptiv is leveraging its Wind River software via an NVIDIA partnership to reach edge AI customers, expanding its non-auto software TAM.
Evidence
“we extended our partnership to provide Aptis production-grade software to edge AI customers using NVIDIA Compute.”
Supply chain
Supply chain
Kevin Clark
Aptiv has won its first commercial drone award with over $500 million lifetime revenues over 5 years, signaling significant near-term growth in the drone market. — New high-margin, non-auto business is materializing more quickly than expected, with a substantial drone award that will contribute to the $300M revenue target.
Evidence
“In drones, in July we secured our first commercial award from a leading drone manufacturer with total lifetime revenues of over $500 million over a five year program.”
Supply chain
Kevin Clark
Aptiv is seeing strong non-auto momentum in energy storage and data centers, and expects rapid growth as the market transitions to 800-volt architectures. — Aptiv is leveraging automotive 800V technology into data centers and grid storage, potentially disrupting existing power infrastructure suppliers with a faster time-to-market.
Evidence
“And collaborating on an optimized power solutions for 800 volt DC architectures with a leading developer of power electronics for next-generation infrastructures, including data centers, a market where we experience strong commercial”
External signals
Supply-chain alpha · 3returns since call
Aptiv's local Chinese OEM mix is shifting quickly toward export platforms, but its revenue mix has not yet caught up, with only ~10% of China revenue on exports.
Aptiv has won its first commercial drone award with over $500 million lifetime revenues over 5 years, signaling significant near-term growth in the drone market.
Aptiv is seeing strong non-auto momentum in energy storage and data centers, and expects rapid growth as the market transitions to 800-volt architectures.
Methodology & coverage
Management-only analysis. All 9 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.