The Zhitong Finance App learned that before the US stock market on November 4, Emerson Electric (EMR.US) announced the results for the fourth quarter of the 2026 fiscal year. Financial reports showed that the company had Q4 net sales of $5.201 billion, up 7% year over year, higher than market expectations of $51.2 billion; adjusted earnings per share of $1.86, up 15% year over year, slightly higher than expectations of about $1.85; GAAP earnings per share of $1.33, up 24% year over year.
Order momentum became the biggest highlight: Q4 basic orders increased 14% year over year. CEO Lal Karsanbhai said the growth was driven by “long-term project activity in the growth vertical”, and demand in various business segments and regions was generally improving. By sector, sales of software and systems increased 14% year over year (including test and measurement +14%, control systems and software +14%); smart devices increased 5% year over year; and safety and productivity increased 2% year over year.
By region, the Americas grew 9% year on year, Asia, Africa and the Middle East increased 7% year on year, and Europe only increased 1% year on year. Profit quality improved simultaneously: the profit margin before tax was 19.2%, an increase of 360 basis points over the previous year; the adjusted segmental EBITA profit margin was 29.1%, an increase of 160 basis points.
For the full year of fiscal year 2026, the company's net sales were $18.982 billion, up 5% year over year, and adjusted earnings per share were $6.59 million, up 10% year over year, higher than the company's guidance of approximately $6.55 billion after the August increase; free cash flow for the full year was $3,535 million (+9%).
The company also gave preliminary guidance for the 2027 fiscal year: net sales and underlying sales are expected to increase by about 5%, adjusted earnings per share are about 7.25 US dollars (about +10% year over year, which is basically the same as the market's agreed expectations), and free cash flow of 3.8 billion to 3.9 billion US dollars.
In terms of capital allocation, the company announced a 7% increase in quarterly dividends to $0.595 per share, and plans to return approximately $3.8 billion to shareholders in fiscal 2027 through repurchases of approximately US$2.5 billion and dividends of approximately US$1.3 billion, which is a significant increase from about US$2.2 billion in fiscal 2026.