Otis Worldwide reported third-quarter 2026 net sales of 3.914 billion dollars, up 6%, with service sales up 8% and a sequential improvement in service margin to 24.2%, while adjusted earnings per share were flat at 1.05 dollars.
Otis Worldwide reported third-quarter 2026 net sales of 3.914 billion dollars on October 28, up 6 percent from 3.690 billion dollars a year earlier, with organic sales also up 6 percent. The Farmington, Connecticut-based elevator and escalator maker said service sales rose 8 percent to 2.616 billion dollars, with organic growth of 7 percent, while new equipment sales rose 3 percent to 1.298 billion dollars.
Service was the engine of the quarter. Organic modernisation sales rose 20 percent, and the service operating profit margin improved by 100 basis points sequentially to 24.2 percent, although it was 130 basis points lower than a year earlier. New equipment growth in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific was partly offset by a drop of more than 20 percent in China. GAAP earnings per share rose 14 percent to 1.08 dollars, helped by the absence of prior-year transformation and separation costs, while adjusted earnings per share were flat at 1.05 dollars. GAAP operating profit rose 34 million dollars to 620 million dollars; adjusted operating profit slipped 6 million dollars to 626 million dollars.
Otis broadly maintained its full-year outlook, expecting net sales of 15.1 billion to 15.3 billion dollars and adjusted earnings per share of 4.01 to 4.05 dollars, with adjusted free cash flow of about 1.5 billion dollars. Operating cash flow in the quarter was 337 million dollars and adjusted free cash flow was 272 million dollars, and the company returned about 1.3 billion dollars to shareholders in the first nine months through buybacks of about 800 million dollars and dividends of about 500 million dollars. Chair, chief executive and president Judy Marks said the service growth and sequential margin improvement reinforced the company's service strategy.
The figures are the company's own, from its release and filing, and secondary coverage agrees on the headline sales, earnings and margin figures. The distinction between GAAP and adjusted results matters here: the GAAP profit rise largely reflects costs that dropped out of the comparison, while the adjusted figures show a business where service strength was offset by new-equipment margin pressure, higher tax and interest costs and unfavourable currency. Reports after the release linked a fall of more than 2 percent in Otis shares to concern about the adjusted margin, which narrowed to 16.0 percent.
The test for the rest of the year is whether modernisation demand, with orders up 10 percent at constant currency and backlog up 20 percent, can keep service margins recovering while new-equipment pricing and the China decline weigh on the other half of the business.