Vestas reports record quarterly earnings per share and narrows its 2026 outlook
The Danish wind turbine maker said growth in offshore wind and service drove the quarter. Order intake fell 27% in megawatts, while the combined order backlog rose to EUR 77.9bn.
Vestas Wind Systems increased its third-quarter revenue by 6% to EUR 5.68 billion and improved its operating margin, the Danish company said in its interim report on Wednesday 11 November. Earnings per share rose 21% to EUR 1.14, which the company called an all-time high.
Vestas also narrowed its outlook for the full year, keeping the midpoints of its ranges for revenue and margin. Net profit for the quarter was EUR 323 million, EUR 19 million more than a year earlier, Berlingske reported, citing the Ritzau news agency.
The quarter in numbers
EBIT before special items rose to EUR 483 million, giving a margin of 8.5%, up from 7.8% in the third quarter of 2025. Vestas said higher profitability in its Power Solutions business, which builds and installs turbines, and better operating leverage drove the improvement. Higher operating costs at a European offshore wind project weighed on the result.
Revenue growth came mainly from offshore wind and the service business, while onshore turbine sales fell, Berlingske reported. Adjusted free cash flow dropped to EUR 99 million from EUR 508 million a year earlier.
Measured against expectations, the picture was mixed. Revenue was 5.4% below the analysts' consensus of about EUR 6.0 billion compiled by the company, while adjusted EBITDA of EUR 806 million was close to the consensus of EUR 820 million, MarketScreener reported.
Fewer orders, bigger backlog
Vestas booked firm and unconditional turbine orders of 3,377 megawatts in the quarter, 27% less than a year earlier, worth EUR 4.1 billion. The company said the orders came mainly from Europe, the Middle East and Africa and from Asia Pacific, at a high average selling price.
The order backlog in Power Solutions stood at EUR 35.9 billion at the end of September. Service contracts added another EUR 42.0 billion of expected future revenue, bringing the combined backlog to EUR 77.9 billion, EUR 9.7 billion more than a year earlier.
A narrower outlook
For 2026, Vestas now expects revenue of EUR 20.5 billion to EUR 21.5 billion, compared with EUR 20 billion to EUR 22 billion before. It expects an EBIT margin before special items of 7.5% to 8.5%, compared with 7% to 9%. Total investments are now expected to be about EUR 1.0 billion, down from about EUR 1.2 billion.
The share buyback of EUR 400 million that Vestas started in August will continue until mid-December, the company said.
"We remain on track to reach the expected full-year earnings, and we narrow the outlook reflecting solid performance in the quarter and improved visibility," group president and chief executive Henrik Andersen said. He added that the first nine months of 2026 had been marked by uncertainty and elevated energy prices.
A busy day for European energy equipment
Vestas reported on the same morning as Siemens Energy, whose wind unit Siemens Gamesa reached break-even for its financial year but expects revenue to fall slightly in fiscal 2027. We cover those results in a separate report. Both companies show the same pattern: offshore projects and service contracts are carrying growth, while onshore demand in some markets is weaker.
What it means for European founders and investors
For investors, Vestas is showing steady progress on margins after several difficult years for the wind industry, but cash flow and order intake were weaker in the quarter. The large service backlog gives the company more predictable revenue than turbine sales alone.
For founders, a EUR 42 billion service backlog is a sign of how big the market for maintaining Europe's wind fleet has become. Start-ups working on inspection, predictive maintenance, grid connection or energy trading around wind farms are selling into an industry that is focused on running projects more efficiently. We looked at a related part of the energy market in our coverage of Return's EUR 835 million battery storage financing.
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