You wouldn't guess it from how its stock's been doing, but GE Vernova's third-quarter earnings report should be pretty good.
The power generation equipment provider reports earnings Wednesday morning, and Wall Street is looking for earnings per share of $4.03 from sales of $12 billion. A year ago, GE Vernova reported EPS of $1.68 from sales of $10 billion.
Earnings are expected to grow substantially, helped partly by margin expansion. Wall Street projects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (Ebitda) margins of about 14%, up six percentage points year over year.
BofA analyst Andrew Obin expects orders of $21 billion, up 44% year over year. Orders have far outpaced sales for several quarters as hyperscalers scramble for power to run AI data centers.
That demand sent shares to a 52-week high of $1,195.96 in early July. Gains have faded as AI fears -- including financing, permitting delays, and political backlash -- have risen. Through midday trading on Tuesday, shares were down 25% from their 52-week high, and down 18% since the company reported solid second-quarter earnings on July 22, underperforming the S&P 500 by about 20 percentage points.
Back then, management raised guidance. For 2026, GE Vernova expects sales of about $46 billion and Ebitda of about $6 billion. Prior guidance given in April called for sales of $45 billion and Ebitda of about $5.9 billion. It was the second consecutive quarter GE Vernova management raised its 2026 outlook.
"GE Vernova continues to be a battleground stock," says Jefferies analyst Julien Dumoulin-Smith.
Bears worry about orders peaking and service revenue from recent installations coming far in the future.
"We find both points to be short-sighted," he adds. He is focused on total backlog, which implies strong business fundamentals into the 2030s.
Dumoulin-Smith rates shares Buy and has a $1,185 price target. That isn't an out-of-consensus call. Overall, 75% of analysts covering the stock rate shares Buy, according to FactSet. The average Buy-rating ratio for S&P 500 stocks typically ranges from 55% to 60%. The average analyst price target is almost $1,200.
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