TE Connectivity (TEL) Q4 2026 (USD) adj. EPS 3.14 (exp. 3.07), Revenue 5.35bln (exp. 5.29bln)

• Adj. operating margin was 22%
• Free cash flow reached USD 1.241bln
• Industrial Solutions sales +20% Y/Y to USD 2.799bln
• Transportation Solutions sales +8% Y/Y to USD 2.6bln

• Sees Q1 adj. EPS approximately 3.30 (exp. 3.01)
• Sees Q1 revenue approximately USD 5.35bln (exp. 5.14bln)
• Sees FY27 double-digit revenue growth, with organic sales growth similar to FY26's 12%

• CEO notes accelerating demand for data and power connectivity, supported by AI infrastructure investments.

Earnings of this shape, a modest in-quarter beat paired with guidance set well above consensus, have historically been the more durable variety of upside surprise: the small EPS and revenue beats matter less than the roughly ten percent gap between guided Q1 earnings and the Street, since it is the forward revision cycle rather than the trailing print that drives estimate momentum and any follow-through. The segment split is the telling detail, with Industrial Solutions, home to the data and power connectivity exposure management is crediting, growing at well over twice the pace of the Transportation book; episodes where the AI-adjacent segment outgrows the cyclical core have tended to re-rate the multiple rather than merely the numbers. TEL sits in the AI capex supply-chain cohort alongside connector and sensing peers, and those names have tended to trade as a group on customer capex and order-book commentary, making the peer read-across as relevant as the print itself. A fourth-quarter print doubles as the framing exercise for the new fiscal year, so the guided organic growth pace in line with the year just ended is the anchor for full-year modelling. The tells on the call are backlog and book-to-bill, any quantification of AI-related orders against general industrial recovery, and whether Transportation's slower growth is framed as destocking or as demand. A large free cash flow print alongside margin at the stated level supports the capital return and capacity narrative; the residual question is whether the growth framing survives any wobble in hyperscaler spending plans.