Cummins’s (NYSE:CMI) Q1 CY2026 Sales Top Estimates

Engine manufacturer Cummins (NYSE:CMI) beat Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q1 CY2026, with sales up 2.7% year on year to $8.40 billion. Its GAAP profit of $4.71 per share was 15.1% below analysts’ consensus estimates.

Is now the time to buy Cummins? Find out by accessing our full research report, it’s free.

Company Overview

With more than half of the heavy-duty truck market using its engines at one point, Cummins (NYSE:CMI) offers engines and power systems.

Revenue Growth

A company’s long-term sales performance can indicate its overall quality. Even a bad business can shine for one or two quarters, but a top-tier one grows for years. Over the last five years, Cummins grew its sales at a solid 10.2% compounded annual growth rate. Its growth beat the average industrials company and shows its offerings resonate with customers.

Long-term growth is the most important, but within industrials, a half-decade historical view may miss new industry trends or demand cycles. Cummins’s recent performance shows its demand has slowed as its revenue was flat over the last two years.

Cummins also breaks out the revenue for its most important segments, Components and Engine , which are 30.1% and 31.8% of revenue. Over the last two years, Cummins’s Components revenue (axles, brakes, drivelines) averaged 10.8% year-on-year declines while its Engine revenue (diesel and gas-powered engines) averaged 6.3% declines.

This quarter, Cummins reported modest year-on-year revenue growth of 2.7% but beat Wall Street’s estimates by 0.9%.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 8.3% over the next 12 months, an improvement versus the last two years. This projection is above average for the sector and suggests its newer products and services will catalyze better top-line performance.

WHILE YOU’RE HERE: The Next Palantir? One satellite company captures images of every point on Earth. Every single day. The Pentagon wants it. Hedge funds are using it to beat earnings. You’ve probably never heard of it.

This is what the early days of Palantir looked like before it became a $437 billion giant. Same playbook. Different technology. If you missed Palantir, you need to see this. Claim The Stock Ticker for Free HERE.

Operating Margin

Operating margin is an important measure of profitability as it shows the portion of revenue left after accounting for all core expenses – everything from the cost of goods sold to advertising and wages. It’s also useful for comparing profitability across companies with different levels of debt and tax rates because it excludes interest and taxes.

Cummins has done a decent job managing its cost base over the last five years. The company has produced an average operating margin of 9.8%, higher than the broader industrials sector.

Analyzing the trend in its profitability, Cummins’s operating margin rose by 1 percentage points over the last five years, as its sales growth gave it operating leverage.

This quarter, Cummins generated an operating margin profit margin of 11.3%, down 2.6 percentage points year on year. Since Cummins’s operating margin decreased more than its gross margin, we can assume it was less efficient because expenses such as marketing, R&D, and administrative overhead increased.

Earnings Per Share

We track the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) for the same reason as long-term revenue growth. Compared to revenue, however, EPS highlights whether a company’s growth is profitable.

Cummins’s decent 8.8% annual EPS growth over the last five years aligns with its revenue performance. This tells us its incremental sales were profitable.

Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a more recent period because it can provide insight into an emerging theme or development for the business.

Cummins’s two-year annual EPS growth of 18.8% was fantastic and topped its flat revenue.

We can take a deeper look into Cummins’s earnings quality to better understand the drivers of its performance. A two-year view shows that Cummins has repurchased its stock, shrinking its share count by 2.3%. This tells us its EPS outperformed its revenue not because of increased operational efficiency but financial engineering, as buybacks boost per share earnings.

In Q1, Cummins reported EPS of $4.71, down from $5.96 in the same quarter last year. This print missed analysts’ estimates, but we care more about long-term EPS growth than short-term movements. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Cummins’s full-year EPS of $19.26 to grow 41.9%.

Key Takeaways from Cummins’s Q1 Results

It was good to see Cummins narrowly top analysts’ revenue expectations this quarter. On the other hand, its EBITDA fell short of Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, this quarter was mixed. The stock traded up 4.5% to $686.50 immediately after reporting.

So should you invest in Cummins right now? What happened in the latest quarter matters, but not as much as longer-term business quality and valuation, when deciding whether to invest in this stock. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).