TE Connectivity tops second-quarter profit estimates on improved margins

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By Anshuman Tripathy

(Reuters) – TE Connectivity reported better-than-expected profit in the second quarter on Wednesday and forecast upbeat revenue for the current quarter, on the back of improved operating margin at its industrial solutions unit.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s back-and-forth tariffs have weighed on automotive and manufacturing industries, with companies having to take mitigating actions such as passing on the price hikes to the customers.

“So there are price actions where we cannot mitigate through sourcing actions, but we are going to get price recovery from our customers,” TE Connectivity CEO Terrence Curtin told Reuters.

Quarterly operating margin at its industrial solutions unit was 16.6% compared with 13.8% a year earlier.

TE Connectivity’s second-quarter sales at its transport solutions unit, which makes automotive parts and competes with the likes of Aptiv PLC, fell about 4% from a year earlier.

Curtin added he expects auto production in Europe and the United States to remain weak, and they expect Asia to continue to grow in production.

The company expects third-quarter revenue to be about $4.30 billion, compared with average analysts’ estimate of $4.12 billion according to data compiled by LSEG.

It also expects third-quarter adjusted profit per share to be about $2.06, compared with average analysts estimates of $2.03 per share according to data compiled by LSEG.

TE Connectivity’s adjusted profit was $2.10 per share for the second quarter, compared with analysts’ estimate of $1.96.

Revenue for the quarter ended March 28 was up 4% at $4.1 billion, compared with estimates of $3.97 billion.

(Reporting by Anshuman Tripathy in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)