Linde PLC Q3 2026 earnings: sales and profit beat estimates, outlook raised
Linde's Q3 2026 sales and adjusted profit topped analyst estimates, and the company raised its full-year earnings outlook.
| Q3 2026 | Reported | Expected | Surprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| EPS | $4.59 | $4.56 | +0.6% |
| Revenue | $9.40B | $9.23B | +1.9% |
Key takeaways
- Both sales and adjusted profit came in slightly above what Wall Street analysts had expected for the quarter, continuing a streak of beats for the industrial gas giant.
- Growth was driven mainly by higher prices rather than higher volumes, though demand also rose in the electronics and chemicals-and-energy businesses; the Americas region was the strongest performer.
- Linde raised its full-year 2026 profit outlook, now projecting adjusted earnings per share growth of 8% to 9% for the year, a touch higher than the range it had given three months earlier.
- For the fourth quarter, the company guided to adjusted earnings per share of $4.40 to $4.50, which would mean profit growth cools somewhat compared with the third quarter’s pace.
- Linde’s margins stayed wide: over the trailing year it kept roughly 25 cents of operating profit and about 19 cents of net profit from every dollar of sales, reflecting the pricing power that comes from being one of the world’s largest suppliers of industrial gases.
- Return on equity of about 18% over the trailing year shows the company continues to generate strong profit relative to the capital shareholders have invested in it.
- Trailing-twelve-month earnings-per-share growth has been nearly flat even as the latest quarter’s adjusted profit rose, suggesting that recent gains are only now starting to offset weaker results from earlier in the past year.
Fundamentals
| Metric | Value | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 47.9% | Trailing 12 months |
| Operating margin | 25.3% | Trailing 12 months |
| Net profit margin | 19.3% | Trailing 12 months |
| Pretax margin | 25.2% | Trailing 12 months |
| EPS | $15.06 | Trailing 12 months |
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 8.2% | Trailing 12 months |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 0.8% | Trailing 12 months |
| Return on equity | 18.1% | Trailing 12 months |
Sources: company report · earnings call