Melexis Sales Rise 4% to €223.7 Million in Third Quarter
Key Facts
Melexis reported sales of €223.7 million in the third quarter of 2026, up 4% year over year and 3% from the previous quarter, and said its results were in line with expectations. The company reported net profit of €31.3 million, or €0.78 per share, up 14% year over year and 2% quarter over quarter. This means describing all of the results as missing expectations does not reflect the picture for revenue and the reported result, while the gap between adjusted earnings per share and published consensus remained.
Third-quarter growth followed a weaker comparison period: in the third quarter of 2025, the company recorded sales of €215.3 million, down 13% year over year, and net profit of €27.5 million, a 46% year-over-year decline. In the first nine months of 2026, sales rose 3% to €642.9 million, but net profit fell 5% to €85.2 million, or €2.11 per share, compared with €89.9 million and €2.23 per share in the same period. These figures show sales and earnings taking different paths over the period, despite the improvement in the third-quarter result. Chief Executive Marc Biron said disciplined cost management lifted gross margin by 170 basis points year over year in the first nine months. Gross margin was 40.7% in the third quarter, while operating margin reached 18.5%.
Biron attributed the improvement in demand to customer inventories returning to normal levels and growth in automotive demand as content per vehicle increased. He said, "With customer inventories back to normal levels, automotive demand is clearly growing, driven by increased content per vehicle." The statement places the company's performance in the context of improving demand as described by management, rather than attributing results to supply-chain pressures that were not mentioned in the company's announcement. Melexis said quarterly sales growth included increases both year over year and quarter over quarter, while nine-month net profit remained below its level a year earlier. The comparison between the periods highlights the effect of the third-quarter improvement against weaker earnings for the year through the end of September.
Melexis said its sales in China reached an all-time high in the third quarter and that fourth-quarter orders point to a further increase, without disclosing the value of China sales in the information provided. It also announced a master purchase agreement with BYD and said it had launched a current sensor, its first integrated circuit to be produced under a local manufacturing model in China. The company thus links its commercial expansion in the Chinese market to the demand indicators it has observed and to the local manufacturing step. In robotics, it said its technology entered active production at customers earlier than expected, and design wins translated into production ramps during the third quarter. The company described this as a milestone in turning product designs into actual customer production.
The company reaffirmed its guidance for the second half of 2026, with sales of between €445 million and €455 million, gross margin of about 41% and operating margin of about 18%. The guidance is based on an assumed exchange rate of $1.12 per euro for the remainder of the year. Melexis also expects capital expenditure of about €40 million for full-year 2026. The company set February 3, 2027, as the date for publishing its 2026 financial-year results. Those results will provide the full-year picture against the guidance the company reaffirmed for the second half.