Emerson: No Reliable Confirmation of Dividend Increase or November 4 Financial Results
Key Facts
Emerson’s announcement of fourth-quarter and fiscal 2026 results, or of a dividend increase, could not be verified, although the company had set November 4 as the date to publish results before the market opened. In its earnings schedule announcement issued on October 14, Emerson said the management call would begin at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. The confirmed figures in the available information remain those for the third quarter of the fiscal year, not the fourth-quarter results scheduled for announcement on November 4. In the third quarter, sales rose to $4.873 billion from $4.553 billion in the comparable period, up 7% year on year. Adjusted earnings per share also increased to $1.71 from $1.52, a rise of 13%.
Third-quarter results showed an improvement in pre-tax earnings, which reached $916 million, compared with $734 million in the same period a year earlier. The pre-tax margin widened to 18.8% from 16.1%, an increase of 270 basis points. On liquidity, the company recorded operating cash flow of $1.006 billion, while free cash flow was $825 million for the quarter. CEO Lal Karsanbhai said when announcing those quarterly results that sales, margin expansion, earnings and cash flow exceeded expectations. He added that underlying orders rose 7%, supported by the software and systems segment and broad-based growth in North America and Asia.
In its August outlook, Emerson had estimated underlying sales growth of about 3.5% for fiscal 2026 and adjusted earnings per share of about $6.55. These figures are forecasts issued ahead of the annual results announcement scheduled for November 4, and do not represent actual results for the fiscal year ended September 30. For fiscal 2025, the company announced a 5% increase in its quarterly cash dividend to $0.555 per share, payable on December 10, 2025, to shareholders of record on November 14 of that year. Details of the dividend included in the announcement tied to the 2026 results, including the new dividend amount and the record and payment dates, could not be verified. The company’s shares closed at $166.39 on November 3, the session before the scheduled results announcement.