Adient Misses Q4 EPS at $0.52 Despite Sales Beat and Guides FY27 EBITDA to $900M-$925M

Adient (ADNT) missed fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 earnings estimates but beat on sales, and guided fiscal 2027 adjusted EBITDA to $900 million to $925 million. Adjusted EPS of $0.52 was flat from a year earlier and below the $0.65 estimate, while sales rose 1.1% to $3.73 billion, above the $3.60 billion estimate.

Q4 scorecard

By our calculation, adjusted EPS missed the estimate by 13 cents and sales beat it by about $130 million. Quarter-over-quarter changes compare with fiscal Q3 2026 adjusted EPS of $0.48 and sales of $3.93 billion. The midpoint of the fiscal 2027 adjusted EBITDA guide, $912.5 million, is about 3.2% above fiscal 2026's $884 million, and the midpoint of the sales guide, $14.9 billion, is about 2.0% below fiscal 2026's $15.2 billion.

Quarter and regional performance

• Adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA rose to $229 million from $226 million, and the margin held at 6.1%. Adjusted net income was $40 million.
• Americas. Adjusted EBITDA fell to $85 million from $111 million. The company cited engineering timing, higher input costs and premium freight from weather-related shipping delays.
• Middle East conflict. Management cited about $22 million of temporary headwinds in the quarter.
• Full year. Fiscal 2026 sales rose 4% to $15.2 billion (2% excluding currency). Adjusted EBITDA was $884 million, flat, with the margin at 5.8% versus 6.1%, and adjusted EPS was $1.87 versus $1.93.
• Full-year regions. Americas adjusted EBITDA was $399 million versus $402 million, EMEA was roughly flat at $125 million, and Asia rose $10 million to $450 million, helped by its China joint ventures.

Profit, cash flow and capital return

• GAAP result. Adient posted a net loss of $47 million, or $0.62 per diluted share, versus net income of $18 million, or $0.22, a year earlier. Restructuring and impairment costs rose to $74 million from $11 million, and net financing charges rose to $62 million from $49 million.
• Cash flow. Full-year free cash flow was $222 million versus $204 million in fiscal 2025. About $60 million came from timing benefits that management does not expect to repeat.
• Buybacks and balance sheet. Adient repurchased $100 million of shares in fiscal 2026, about 6% of shares outstanding at the start of the year, including $45 million in the fourth quarter. The board added $400 million to the repurchase authorization. Cash was $886 million and net debt about $1.5 billion at Sept. 30.

Fiscal 2027 outlook

• Guidance. Adient expects sales of $14.8 billion to $15.0 billion, adjusted EBITDA of $900 million to $925 million, and free cash flow of more than $100 million, including about $100 million of planned buybacks.
• Other items. Capital spending is expected at $300 million to $325 million, interest expense at $180 million to $185 million and cash taxes at $105 million to $115 million.
• Management view. Peter Carlin, incoming CFO, said Adient expects significant volume headwinds. S&P Global Mobility projects global vehicle production to fall about 1% in fiscal 2027, and management plans to recover from customers a Canadian tariff change that it sized at a $30 million to $70 million headwind in the Americas.

What to watch

• Volume. Whether vehicle production trends match the roughly 1% decline S&P Global Mobility projects.
• Cost recovery. Progress recovering tariff and input costs from customers.
• Leadership. Peter Carlin succeeds Mark Oswald as CFO on Nov. 16, 2026, as free cash flow steps down to more than $100 million.
• Related coverage. See our reports on McDonald's, CVS Health, Marriott and Starbucks.

Sources: Results are from Adient's Nov. 4 fiscal fourth-quarter release and earnings call. Estimates are consensus figures. The fiscal Q3 2026 comparison figures are from Adient's Q3 release. Items labeled by our calculation are our own arithmetic. This article is informational only and is not investment advice.