Vishay Q3 2026 Call: Record $979M Revenue, 25.5% Gross Margin and a $990M Q4 Guide

Vishay Intertechnology (NYSE: VSH) is in the news because Nasdaq/MarketBeat published a summary of its third-quarter 2026 earnings call on November 8, 2026, reporting record quarterly revenue of $979 million. The call took place on November 4, 2026. This article summarises the views expressed on that call; they are not Maz Vantage's own view.

Key takeaways

• Q3 2026 revenue was a record $979 million, above the company's $945-975 million guidance range, up 24% year over year and 10.2% sequentially on a GAAP basis (6.6% on an adjusted basis), per CFO Dave McConnell.
• Gross margin was 25.5%, more than 200 basis points above the prior quarter; EPS was $0.37 with no non-GAAP adjustments, versus $0.19 in Q2.
• Book-to-bill was 1.29 and backlog reached $2.2 billion, or 6.6 months, with some customers placing orders with forecasts of up to 18 months.
• Q4 guidance: revenue of $990 million, plus or minus $15 million, and gross margin of 26.0%, plus or minus 50 basis points.
• Full-year free cash flow is expected to be close to break-even because of capacity spending and a planned reduction of the receivables securitization program.

Bull case

• CEO Joel Smejkal said demand was robust across industrial, automotive, aerospace and defense, and AI customers. Industrial revenue rose 43% year over year and aerospace and defense rose 23%.
• Management argued that much of the growth is structural rather than cyclical. Smejkal said customers no longer list Vishay as a risk supplier in this cycle, and that distributor sell-through of Vishay units rose 57% year over year, which he credited to added capacity and deeper distributor inventory.
• Smejkal said EMS orders hit an all-time high, which he read as support for the company's lead-time strategy. He also said Vishay added more than 17,000 SKUs at distributors in the quarter.
• Pricing: Smejkal said price increases began in Q1 and more are coming in Q4. He said competitors are also passing on higher costs. The ASP contribution to growth was 2% sequentially and 4% year over year.
• Operating cash flow was $146 million and free cash flow $98 million, versus $10 million in Q2, per McConnell. Smejkal said AI revenue was about $100 million last year and the company is pushing to be near $200 million this year.

Bear case

• Analyst Christopher Glynn of Oppenheimer asked whether automotive might level off. Smejkal agreed that car counts look generally flat and said he expects automotive to be flat next quarter.
• Free cash flow for 2026 is guided to roughly zero. McConnell said full-year capex is now expected at $350-400 million, and Smejkal said some of the originally planned $400-440 million has been pushed into 2027.
• The effective tax rate remains elevated at 32.4% in Q3, and McConnell guided 30-35% for Q4.
• Several questions touched on supply tightness and customer behavior. Smejkal said customers want to build inventory but largely cannot, and that the company watches for double ordering but sees no significance so far. Smejkal also said customers dislike the price increases, though they understand them.
• Healthcare grew only 1% sequentially, and the Americas saw seasonal softness there. The "other" category was flat sequentially, with consumer and PC declines offsetting gains in power supply and telecom.

What management said

• Smejkal, on the source of growth: "a majority of this is the change of Vishay's operating approach in 3.0."
• Smejkal, on the company's positioning: "Vishay 3.0 is a different company."
• McConnell, on capital spending: "We do not have two fabs at the same time we are building."
• Smejkal, on acquisitions: "Nothing to announce yet, but that is a priority."

Risks

• Equipment lead times: capex came in below expectations because of extended equipment delivery and installation times, notably at the new 12-inch fab in Germany. Smejkal told analyst Melissa Fairbanks of Raymond James that nothing is expected to derail supply, but that back-end capacity is challenging.
• Execution on capacity: the 12-inch fab is to run engineering wafers in early 2027, with non-automotive production in the second half of 2027.
• Demand quality: Smejkal said double ordering is being watched, and mentioned shortages of PCBs, mainly in AI and somewhat in automotive, that have not been a showstopper.
• Cost inflation: McConnell cited ongoing inflationary cost pressures, offset so far by volume and pricing.
• Automotive is expected flat next quarter, and the Q4 guide includes year-end holiday closures in a 12-week quarter.

Outlook

• Q4 2026: revenue of $990 million, plus or minus $15 million; gross margin of 26.0%, plus or minus 50 basis points; depreciation about $54 million; SG&A about $157 million, plus or minus $3 million; interest expense about $6 million; tax rate 30-35%.
• Full-year capex of $350-400 million and free cash flow close to break-even.
• Smejkal said a back-end assembly initiative is moving quickly and that he hopes to announce something by year-end. McConnell said 2027 capex details will come on the next call, and that government subsidies could make net capex much lower than the current run rate.
• Management did not give 2027 revenue or margin guidance, did not quantify the split between cyclical and structural growth, and did not give specific design-win numbers. It said nothing was ready to announce on M&A. The Q4 call is scheduled for February 27.

Sources

• News: Nasdaq / MarketBeat, "What Vishay Intertechnology (VSH) Said on Its Q3 Earnings Call", November 8, 2026: https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/what-vishay-intertechnology-vsh-said-its-q3-earnings-call
• Transcript: Vishay Intertechnology Q3 2026 earnings call, November 4, 2026, retrieved via the Financial Modeling Prep earnings transcript service (symbol VSH, Q3 2026).
• Company investor relations (referenced on the call): https://ir.vishay.com