Eaton

• Net sales, Q3 2026$8,947mA record. Up 28% on a year earlier, from $6,988m: 19% organic, 8% from acquisitions and 1% from currency. Nine months: $24,929m, against $20,393m.Filed
• Segment operating profit$2,263mAgainst $1,749m a year earlier. Segment margin a record 25.3%, which the release prints as 30 basis points above the third quarter of 2025.Filed
• Net income attributable to Eaton$1,078mAgainst $1,010m a year earlier, up 7% as the 10-Q prints it. Nine months: $2,765m, against $2,955m, down 6% as the 10-Q prints it.Filed
• Diluted earnings per share$2.77Against $2.59 a year earlier, up 7%. Nine months: $7.10, against $7.54, down 6% as the 10-Q prints it.Filed
• Adjusted earnings per share$3.68Eaton's own measure, against $3.07, up 20% as the release prints it. It excludes $0.62 of intangible amortisation and $0.30 of acquisition and divestiture charges, and it excludes income of $0.01 from the restructuring program, which lowers the figure by $0.01: $2.77 + $0.62 + $0.30 − $0.01 = $3.68.Company-adjusted
• Electrical share of sales77.1%($4,172m + $2,727m) ÷ $8,947m, September quarter.Computed
• Capital expenditure as a share of sales3.1%$275m of capital expenditure ÷ $8,947m of net sales, September quarter. A year earlier capital expenditure was $178m. Nine months: $721m, against $527m.Computed
• Operating cash flow$1,310mIn the September quarter, from the earnings-release reconciliation. The release does not print the year-ago quarter. Nine months: $2,943m, against $2,507m.Filed
• Free cash flow$1,034mEaton's own measure. The reconciliation prints operating cash flow of $1,310m and capital expenditure of $275m. Operating cash flow of $1,310m less capital expenditure of $275m is $1,035m, and the release prints free cash flow of $1,034m; it says rows may not add because of rounding. The release does not print the year-ago quarter.Company-adjusted
• Interest expense, net$198mAgainst $67m a year earlier. The 10-Q prints the increase as 196%.Filed
• Total debt$20,106mLong-term debt of $17,802m + short-term debt of $1,594m + the current portion of long-term debt of $710m, at 30 September 2026. At 31 December 2025 the same three lines were $8,758m + $1m + $1,136m = $9,895m.Computed
• Cash paid for acquisitions, first nine months$11,079m$11,079m in the nine months to 30 September 2026, on the 10-Q's cash-flow statement. Boyd Thermal was $9.55bn net of cash on 12 March 2026.Filed
• Total backlog$26.2bnAt 30 September 2026. About 72% targeted for delivery within twelve months. About $19.8bn at 31 December 2025, about 69% within twelve months, from the 2025 10-K.Filed
• Electrical Americas backlog$15,993mAt 30 September 2026, up 33% on a year earlier. Orders on a twelve-month rolling organic basis were up 39%. Book-to-bill 1.3, the 10-Q's average of the last four quarters. Electrical Global's backlog was $4,381m, up 121%.Filed

The grid end of the build, on the numbers Eaton does file: electrical sales were 77.1% of the quarter, the backlog is about $26.2bn, and both electrical segments name data centres among the end markets behind the organic growth. The number it does not file is the one that would say how much. What it filed instead is the cost of buying further into that work. Debt has more than doubled since 31 December 2025, to $20,106m, to pay for Boyd Thermal, and Mobility is to be separated and combined with Dana. The read is a larger electrical company, more levered, with the data-centre piece still unnamed in dollars.

Editorial

What would change our read

• A data-centre revenue lineA dollar figure for data centres in a filing would turn the end market Eaton names into a number a reader can track. Until then the growth is a sentence, not a line.
• The debt coming back downTotal debt was $20,106m at 30 September 2026, against $9,895m at 31 December 2025, and interest expense was $198m against $67m. Quarters in which the new debt starts to fall, and the interest with it, would show the Boyd Thermal deal being paid down out of the business.
• The Electrical Americas marginIt was 29.8%, against 30.3%, with a 250 basis point drag from higher commodity and wage inflation, a 100 basis point drag from higher costs to support growth, and a 300 basis point lift from higher sales: 250 + 100 − 300 = 50 basis points, from 30.3% to 29.8%. The release also prints the margin up 230 basis points sequentially. A quarter in which that inflation drag itself narrows would show the cost being passed on, rather than offset by the volume.