Hubbell grew Q2 2026 sales 15.3% to $1.71 billion on 10.2% organic growth led by data-center demand, but tariff-driven cost inflation and the $3.0 billion NSI acquisition pushed GAAP EPS down 0.9% to $4.52 while adjusted EPS rose 12% to $5.52.
Revenue
$1.7B
+15.3% YoY
Net income
$240M
-1.6% YoY
Diluted EPS
$4.52
-0.9% YoY
Operating margin
20.4%
Overview
Hubbell makes the hardware that moves electricity: connectors, insulators, substation gear and meters sold to power utilities (its Utility Solutions segment), and wiring devices, fittings and electrical components used inside buildings, factories and data centers (its Electrical Solutions segment).
In the second quarter of 2026 (April–June), net sales rose 15.3% to $1,711.8 million. Of that growth, 10.2 points was organic (growth from businesses Hubbell already owned a year ago, excluding currency moves), 4.8 points came from acquisitions and 0.3 points from currency. The 10-Q says organic growth came from "a high single digit percentage increase in unit volume and a mid single digit percentage increase in price."
Reported profit went the other way. Net income attributable to Hubbell fell 1.6% to $240.4 million and diluted EPS slipped to $4.52 from $4.56. The gap comes from the cost of buying NSI Industries, a roughly $3.0 billion deal that closed on June 9, 2026: more amortization (the accounting write-down of acquired intangible assets such as customer relationships), deal and integration fees, and interest on the debt used to pay for it. Excluding those items, adjusted EPS rose 12.0% to $5.52.
Key metrics
Metric
Q2 2026
Q2 2025
YoY Change
Net sales
$1,711.8M
$1,484.3M
+15.3%
Organic net sales growth
+10.2%
+2.0%
+8.2 pts
Gross margin
35.8%
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Adjusted figures exclude amortization of acquisition-related intangibles and transaction, integration and separation costs (plus a small 2025 loss on a product-line sale). Free cash flow is operating cash flow minus capital expenditures.
Takeaway: Demand is not the issue: 10.2% organic growth, led by 18.3% in Electrical Solutions on data-center and light-industrial volume. What held back the quarter is cost. Material and tariff inflation cost Hubbell more margin than price increases and productivity recovered, so adjusted operating margin still fell 50 basis points. GAAP EPS then dropped because of the NSI deal's amortization, fees and interest. That $3.0 billion purchase took net debt from $1.73 billion to $4.87 billion in six months.
Segment performance
Segment (Q2)
Net sales
YoY
Organic
Acquisitions
Op. margin (GAAP)
Adj. op. margin
Utility Solutions
$1,025.8M
+9.7%
+5.5%
+3.9%
22.8% (vs 23.3%)
25.6% (vs 25.5%)
Electrical Solutions
$686.0M
+25.1%
+18.3%
+6.5%
16.7% (vs 21.5%)
21.2% (vs 22.5%)
Utility Solutions — grid hardware growing, metering flat. Organic sales grew 5.5%, split between "a low single digit percentage increase in price realization and a low single digit increase in unit volume." The 10-Q attributes the volume to "strong substation, transmission and distribution markets." The business-group split shows where: Grid Infrastructure (poles-and-wires and substation products) rose 12.4% to $785.5 million, and part of that is the DMC Power acquisition (closed October 2025). Grid Automation (meters and related systems) rose only 1.5% to $240.3 million. For the first half, the filing says weak "advanced metering infrastructure and meter project activity" held volume back there. Adjusted segment margin was essentially flat at 25.6%. Management estimates about four points of margin gained from price, productivity, volume and acquisitions, and about four points lost to "material and other cost inflation, including tariff expense."
Electrical Solutions — the growth engine, and where margins slipped. Organic sales jumped 18.3%, with "a low double digit percentage increase due to unit volume and a mid single digit percentage increase due to price realization." The filing credits "strength in the data center, light industrial and non-residential markets." The Industrial group grew 26.9% to $410.4 million, and Electrical Products grew 22.3% to $275.6 million. Margin moved the opposite way. GAAP operating margin fell 480 basis points to 16.7%, and segment operating income actually declined 2.9% to $114.7 million. Two things drove that. First, the segment absorbed $18.1 million of transaction and integration costs (vs $0.2 million a year ago), nearly all of it tied to NSI, which joined this segment. Second, even on an adjusted basis margin fell 130 basis points to 21.2%. The 10-Q puts that at about eight points of margin lost to "material and other cost inflation, including tariff expense and higher restructuring investment," against about seven points gained from price, volume, productivity and acquisitions.
Where the acquisition growth came from
The 4.8 points of acquired growth ($71.5 million of sales) came from three deals:
NSI Industries (Electrical Solutions; electrical fittings, connectors and wire-management products) contributed about $35.4 million of sales in its first three weeks under Hubbell ownership, with operating income the filing calls "not material." That $35.4 million equals all of Electrical Solutions' acquired growth this quarter.
DMC Power (Utility Solutions; connection systems for substations and transmission lines, bought for about $827 million on October 1, 2025) and Nicor (Utility Solutions; water-meter endpoint products, about $56 million) together make up Utility Solutions' $36.1 million of acquired sales.
NSI added $1,856.0 million of intangible assets and $1,288.7 million of goodwill to the balance sheet. The intangibles are amortized over about 25 years, and that non-cash charge is why amortization rose to $39.1 million this quarter from $25.2 million. It will be larger still once NSI is on the books for a full quarter.
Below operating income: the cost of the financing
Hubbell paid for NSI with a new $900 million term loan, $1.9 billion of new senior notes and commercial paper (short-term corporate borrowing). As a result:
Total other expense rose $23.8 million to $44.9 million, mainly from $24.6 million of higher net interest expense. That includes $7.2 million of fees on a temporary "bridge" loan arranged to guarantee the deal's funding.
Total debt rose to $5,372.6 million at June 30, 2026 from $2,325.4 million at year-end 2025. Net debt (debt minus cash and investments) rose to $4,874.2 million from $1,729.1 million, and net debt to total capital went from 28% to 52%.
The effective tax rate fell to 20.3% from 22.1%. The filing cites the release of a valuation allowance and an advanced energy project tax credit. That helped GAAP net income this quarter, and it may not repeat.
Share buybacks slowed as the deal closed: $29.3 million in Q2, against $203.5 million for the first half. Operating cash flow was $249.8 million, and free cash flow was $212.8 million, down from $220.7 million.
Tariffs: a refund that isn't in these numbers yet
After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in February 2026 that tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) were invalid, Hubbell filed refund claims. After the quarter ended, it received about $30 million in IEEPA tariff refunds. Under its accounting policy, refunds are only booked once they are realized. So none of this is in Q2 results. It will reduce cost of goods sold in a later period, which could flatter the reported gross margin in Q3. Treat that as a one-time benefit, not an improvement in the underlying business.
First half 2026
For the six months, net sales rose 13.3% to $3,228.5 million (9.2% organic, 3.6% from acquisitions). Diluted EPS rose 4.6% to $7.93, and adjusted diluted EPS rose 13.7% to $9.45 from $8.31. Adjusted operating margin was 22.0%, up from 21.7%. The first quarter was the stronger margin quarter. Q2's 50-basis-point decline is the more recent trend.
Outlook
In its July 28 earnings release, management raised its full-year 2026 adjusted EPS guidance to $20.25–$20.55. It set GAAP diluted EPS guidance at $17.25–$17.55, and expects total sales growth of 16–18%, including 9–11% organic growth. The gap between GAAP and adjusted EPS is about $2.50 per share of acquisition amortization and about $0.50 of transaction, integration and separation costs. Guidance assumes an adjusted tax rate of 22.0–22.5% and about $20 million of restructuring spending. Management also expects free cash flow of about 90% of adjusted net income. CEO Gerben Bakker said "strong first half order trends provide visibility to our second half outlook."
Our read: Volume demand looks solid. The 9–11% organic guide implies the second half keeps growing at roughly first-half rates, supported by data-center and grid spending. The open question is margin. In both Q2 and the first half, cost inflation and tariffs roughly cancelled out, or slightly exceeded, what price and productivity recovered, most clearly in Electrical Solutions. That is also the segment now absorbing NSI. Three things to watch in Q3:
Whether Electrical Solutions' adjusted margin stabilizes once NSI is in for a full quarter.
How much of the roughly $30 million tariff refund shows up as a one-time gain.
How quickly Hubbell pays down the NSI debt, now that net debt is about 52% of total capital.
GAAP EPS will keep trailing adjusted EPS by about $3 a share this year because of the larger amortization base.
The full-year guidance figures come from Hubbell's July 28, 2026 earnings release (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1). All other figures are from the Q2 2026 Form 10-Q.