Amphenol shares fall as upbeat revenue growth forecast fails to impress investors

By Arnav Mishra

Jan 28 (Reuters) - Electronic gear maker Amphenol APH.N on Wednesday forecast revenue growth for the first quarter that beat Wall Street expectations, but this was not enough to cheer investors who sent the stock more than 12% down.

The maker of fiber-optic connectors and cables used in data centers has been a big beneficiary of Big Tech's push to build infrastructure to run artificial intelligence models. The stock has nearly doubled in value last year and has made a strong start to 2026 with a 23% gain in January.

But its forecast that sales would increase as much as 45% in the first quarter marked a slowdown from the 57% growth in the second quarter of 2025, even as the projection exceeded Wall Street estimates. The forecast was also lower than the fourth-quarter growth of 49%.

Following the rally in shares of data center equipment makers, investors are seeking proof that the valuations are sustainable.

"Buy-side expectations were so lofty that even these numbers didn't meet them," Morningstar analyst William Kerwin said.

For the first quarter, Amphenol expects sales between $6.9 billion and $7 billion, above analysts' average expectation of $6.53 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Adjusted profit is expected to be between 91 cents per share and 93 cents per share, above expectations of 88 cents per share.

For the quarter ended December 31, Amphenol reported adjusted earnings of 97 cents per share, beating estimates of 93 cents per share. Sales rose about 49% to $6.44 billion, also topping estimates of $6.19 billion.

Earlier this month, Amphenol completed a $10.5 billion deal to buy connectivity and cable assets from CommScope that would allow the company to benefit from rising demand for optical connectivity both within and outside data centers.