Rockwell Automation's fiscal Q3 2026 sales rose 8% to $2.31 billion (10% organic), led by 18% organic growth in Software & Control, lifting diluted EPS 40% to $3.65 and adjusted EPS 22% to $3.49 as management raised full-year guidance.
Revenue
$2.3B
+7.9% YoY
Net income
$408M
+38.3% YoY
Diluted EPS
$3.65
+40.4% YoY
Operating margin
20.8%
Overview
Rockwell Automation — the Milwaukee-based maker of the controllers, drives, sensors and factory software that run production lines — reported fiscal third-quarter 2026 results (the three months ended June 30, 2026; Rockwell's fiscal year ends September 30) with sales of $2,313 million, up 8% from $2,144 million a year earlier. Stripping out currency moves and the businesses it gave up when its Sensia oil-and-gas joint venture was dissolved on April 1, organic sales grew 10% — the cleaner measure of how much more the ongoing business actually sold.
Profit grew much faster than sales. Net income attributable to Rockwell rose to $408 million from $295 million (+38%) and diluted EPS to $3.65 from $2.60 (+40%). Part of that jump is one-off: an $18 million net gain on the Sensia dissolution and a tax benefit tied to it. On the company's adjusted basis, which excludes those items, EPS was $3.49, up 22% from $2.85. Management attributes the margin gain to "higher sales volume, favorable mix, and the margin benefit of the Sensia joint venture dissolution, partially offset by negative impacts of input costs exceeding price realization."
In the earnings release, CEO Blake Moret credited "continued strength in semiconductor, data center, and warehouse automation, as well as improving activity in automotive and life sciences."
*Rockwell's income statement doesn't print an "operating income" line; this is computed from its reported lines: $1,144M gross profit − $490M SG&A − $173M engineering & development = $481M (prior year: $1,046M − $498M − $170M = $378M). Enterprise operating margin is Rockwell's own non-GAAP figure, which additionally excludes items such as acquisition-intangible amortization and the Sensia gain.
Segment performance: software and controllers carried the quarter
Rockwell reports three segments. Two grew strongly; the third shrank, mostly because of the Sensia exit.
Software & Control was the standout: organic sales up 18%, sales up in every region, and segment operating earnings up 31% to $261 million. The filing attributes the 3.2-point margin gain "primarily" to "higher sales volume, partially offset by negative impact of input costs exceeding price realization." This is Rockwell's highest-margin business (roughly 35 cents of segment profit per dollar of sales), so its outsized growth lifts the whole company's margin — that's the "favorable mix" management cites.
Intelligent Devices grew 10% organically, with sales up in every region except Latin America. Segment earnings rose 19% to $216 million; margin improved on "higher sales volume, favorable currency, and favorable mix," again partly offset by costs rising faster than prices.
Lifecycle Services sales fell 12%, but 11 points of that decline is the Sensia businesses no longer being consolidated; organically it was down 2%, with North America and Europe/Middle East/Africa declining. Segment earnings were flat at $73 million, and margin rose to 15.1% on "strong project execution and the margin benefit from the Sensia joint venture dissolution" — i.e., shedding a lower-margin business mechanically raised the segment's margin.
Regions
North America — more than half of sales — grew 9% reported and 12% organic to $1,482 million. Europe/Middle East/Africa rose 7% organically, Asia Pacific 8%, while Latin America fell 3% organically (up 5% reported, helped by currency). The filing notes the U.S. manufacturing purchasing managers' index (a survey where readings above 50 signal expansion) averaged 53.3 in the June quarter, "their highest level in four years," after sitting below 50 through most of 2025.
What's behind the numbers: volume, not price
The growth in this quarter was overwhelmingly about selling more units, not charging more. Pricing contributed just 1 percentage point of the 10% organic growth in the quarter, versus 3 points over the first nine months. At the same time, the filing flags "negative impacts of input costs exceeding price realization" in every product segment — in other words, costs rose faster than Rockwell raised prices this quarter. Its outlook section names the pressure: inflation "driven by strong market demand for data centers and continued volatility related to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East," hitting "memory-related electronic components, commodities, energy, and freight costs." Margins still expanded because volume growth and mix more than covered that squeeze.
GAAP vs. adjusted: why reported EPS grew faster
Reported (GAAP) EPS grew 40% while adjusted EPS grew 22%. The gap comes from two items that flatter the GAAP number:
An $18 million net pre-tax gain on the Sensia dissolution (a $20 million gain less $2 million of transaction costs), booked in other income.
A lower GAAP tax rate — 13.2% vs. 14.3% — "primarily due to the favorable discrete tax items related to the dissolution of the Sensia joint venture."
Working the other way, the adjusted tax rate rose to 19.2% from 15.3%, "primarily due to the application of BEPS Pillar Two minimum tax rules in Singapore" (a global 15% minimum tax regime). That means the 22% adjusted EPS growth was achieved despite a roughly four-point higher tax charge — the underlying operating improvement is stronger than the adjusted EPS figure alone suggests. Enterprise operating profit, before interest and tax, grew 23% to $516 million.
Cash, capital returns and balance sheet
Operating cash flow was $724 million in the quarter and free cash flow (operating cash less capital spending) $654 million, up from $489 million, which the release attributes to higher pre-tax income. Over nine months, free cash flow was $1,099 million vs. $953 million.
Rockwell bought back about 0.3 million shares for $145 million in the quarter and about 2.0 million shares for $754 million over nine months (vs. $350 million a year earlier), with about $1.2 billion of authorization left. Diluted share count fell to 111.6 million from 113.0 million.
Commercial paper (short-term borrowing) stood at $684 million, up from $522 million at fiscal year-end. Capital spending rose to $179 million over nine months from $137 million, as Rockwell builds out a new manufacturing campus in New Berlin, Wisconsin, part of a previously announced $2 billion, five-year investment in plants, digital infrastructure and talent.
Tariff refunds are a potential upside not yet in the numbers. Following a February 2026 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Rockwell says it is entitled to refunds of tariffs paid under IEEPA and filed claims in July; as of June 30 it had "not recognized an asset related to any refunds," and says it expects to pass refunds on to qualified customers if received.
Remaining performance obligations (contracted revenue not yet recognized) were about $1,375 million, of which about $820 million is expected within 12 months.
Takeaway: Rockwell's margin expansion this quarter came from volume and mix, not pricing — pricing added just 1 point of the 10% organic growth while input costs outran price increases — and the fastest-growing segment (Software & Control, +18% organic) is also its most profitable, which is why enterprise operating profit rose 23% on 8% reported sales growth.
Outlook
Management guidance (updated August 4, 2026, for fiscal year ending September 30, 2026):
Item
Updated guidance
Prior guidance (May 5)
Reported sales
~$9.0B
~$8.9B
Reported sales growth
7.5% – 9.5%
5% – 9%
Organic sales growth
7.5% – 9.5%
5% – 9%
Diluted EPS
$12.72 – $13.02
$11.88 – $12.48
Adjusted EPS
$13.00 – $13.30
$12.50 – $13.10
Guidance excludes the divested Sensia businesses for the second half. On tariffs, the 10-Q says management is "still expecting that pricing actions will recover all tariff costs this year," and aims to offset broader cost inflation "through price and supply chain actions."
Our read: Nine-month adjusted EPS was $9.55, so the full-year range implies roughly $3.45–$3.75 for the fourth quarter — around the $3.49 just delivered at the low end. Likewise, ~$9.0 billion of sales against $6,657 million through nine months implies about $2.34 billion for the September quarter, only modestly above Q3. That looks achievable given U.S. manufacturing indicators at a four-year high and demand concentrated in data-center, semiconductor and warehouse customers. The two things to watch in the full-year results (expected in November, with the 10-K) are whether pricing catches up with memory-chip and freight inflation — if not, the price/cost drag seen in every segment this quarter would widen — and whether Lifecycle Services, down 2% organically, returns to growth once Sensia fully drops out of the comparison.
Source: Rockwell Automation Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 (filed August 4, 2026); guidance and CEO quotes from the company's Q3 FY2026 earnings release (Form 8-K Exhibit 99.1, August 4, 2026).