Stellantis lifts operating income to 256 million euros and confirms 2026 guidance

Key Facts

Stellantis kept its 2026 financial guidance unchanged after reporting third-quarter revenue of 37.611 billion euros on October 28, up 1% from the same period last year. Adjusted operating income rose to 256 million euros from 90 million a year earlier, topping the Reuters poll average of 191 million euros. The company, however, posted a net loss of 453 million euros, compared with a loss of 4.532 billion euros in the third quarter of 2025. The adjusted operating income margin was 0.7%, up 50 basis points year on year. Following the results, shares listed in Milan rose 5.8% at 09:50 GMT, after gaining 6.2% earlier in the session.

The figures reflect improved operating profitability from a year earlier, but a return to net profit has yet to materialize. The net loss narrowed from 4.532 billion euros to 453 million euros, while industrial free cash flow remained negative at 4.009 billion euros. Still, it improved by 295 million euros from the year-earlier quarter, when it was negative 4.304 billion euros. Revenue for the first nine months totaled 119.225 billion euros, up 7% from the same period in 2025. Thus, annual revenue growth and improved operating metrics came alongside a continuing net loss and cash outflows.

The company said its full-year guidance includes mid-single-digit revenue growth, an adjusted operating income margin in the low-single-digit range, and year-on-year improvement in industrial free cash flow. Stellantis also expects industrial free cash flow to turn positive in 2027. On cost control, Chief Executive Antonio Filosa said the company is targeting at least 40% of its total 6 billion euros in annual efficiency savings by the end of 2026. Reuters estimated Value Creation program savings at around 500 million euros in the fourth quarter, nearly double the amount achieved in the third quarter. Reuters quoted analysts as saying these savings represent "the only clear support for a recovery in Stellantis' adjusted operating margin."

The company expects consolidated shipments to increase in the fourth quarter compared with the third quarter, while prices remain broadly stable. It also said Value Creation program savings would accelerate to the mid-hundreds of millions of euros during the quarter, alongside the expected increase in shipments. The outlook follows a 2% year-on-year decline in consolidated shipments in the third quarter to 1.308 million units, from 1.334 million a year earlier. Shipments in the first nine months, however, rose 6% to 4.276 million units, from 4.024 million units in the year-earlier period. Shipments, pricing and savings are key metrics to watch in the company's final quarter of the year.

Revenue performance varied by region in the third quarter: revenue in Enlarged Europe grew 3%, while South American revenue also rose 3% year on year. Stellantis attributed South America's growth to stable volumes and a favorable foreign-exchange impact, while higher volumes contributed in Enlarged Europe. By contrast, North American revenue fell 3% as volumes declined because of a planned production shutdown. The company estimated full-year tariff costs at 1 billion euros and said it had incurred 600 million euros of them through the end of September. It also forecast cash outflows of around 1.6 billion euros during the year related to tariffs from the second half of 2025, of which 1.1 billion euros had been paid by the end of September 2026.

Available industrial liquidity stood at 42.7 billion euros at the end of the third quarter, equivalent to 26% of revenue for the previous twelve months. The company said this ratio was within its target liquidity range of 25% to 30%. Stellantis estimated full-year capital expenditure and research and development at 6.5% of revenue, in line with its FaSTLAne 2030 investment plan. Looking ahead, the company scheduled its FaSTLAne 2030 and Maserati event for December 10 in Modena, Italy. The date comes after its guidance that industrial free cash flow would remain negative in 2026, with a return to positive territory expected in 2027.