Industrials automation company Rockwell (NYSE: ROK) reported Q2 CY2026 results exceeding the market’s revenue expectations, with sales up 7.9% year on year to $2.31 billion. The company expects the full year’s revenue to be around $9 billion, close to analysts’ estimates. Its non-GAAP profit of $3.49 per share was 3.2% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

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

Company Overview

One of the first companies to address industrial automation, Rockwell Automation (NYSE: ROK) sells products that help customers extract more efficiency from their machinery.

Revenue Growth

Reviewing a company’s long-term sales performance reveals insights into its quality. Any business can have short-term success, but a top-tier one grows for years. Over the last five years, Rockwell Automation grew its sales at a tepid 5.8% compounded annual growth rate. This was below our standard for the industrials sector and is a tough starting point for our analysis.

We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within industrials, a half-decade historical view may miss cycles, industry trends, or a company capitalizing on catalysts such as a new contract win or a successful product line. Rockwell Automation’s recent performance shows its demand has slowed as its annualized revenue growth of 1% over the last two years was below its five-year trend. We’re wary when companies in the sector see decelerations in revenue growth, as it could signal changing consumer tastes aided by low switching costs.

We can dig further into the company’s sales dynamics by analyzing its organic revenue, which strips out one-time events like acquisitions and currency fluctuations that don’t accurately reflect its fundamentals. Over the last two years, Rockwell Automation’s organic revenue averaged 1.7% year-on-year growth. Because this number aligns with its two-year revenue growth, we can see the company’s core operations (not acquisitions and divestitures) drove most of its results.

This quarter, Rockwell Automation reported year-on-year revenue growth of 7.9%, and its $2.31 billion of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 2.8%.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 3.8% over the next 12 months. While this projection indicates its newer products and services will fuel better top-line performance, it is still below average for the sector.

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 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.

Rockwell Automation has been a well-oiled machine over the last five years. It demonstrated elite profitability for an industrials business, boasting an average operating margin of 17.3%. This result isn’t surprising as its high gross margin gives it a favorable starting point.

Analyzing the trend in its profitability, Rockwell Automation’s operating margin rose by 4.4 percentage points over the last five years, as its sales growth gave it operating leverage.

This quarter, Rockwell Automation generated an operating margin profit margin of 22.3%, up 4.7 percentage points year on year. Since its gross margin expanded more than its operating margin, we can infer that leverage on its cost of sales was the primary driver behind the recently higher efficiency.

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.

Rockwell Automation’s unimpressive 7.5% annual EPS growth over the last five years aligns with its revenue performance. On the bright side, this tells us its incremental sales were profitable.

Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a shorter period to see if we are missing a change in the business.

Rockwell Automation’s two-year annual EPS growth of 8.8% was decent and topped its 1% two-year revenue growth.

We can take a deeper look into Rockwell Automation’s earnings quality to better understand the drivers of its performance. Rockwell Automation’s operating margin has expanded over the last two yearswhile its share count has shrunk 2.3%. These are positive signs for shareholders because improving profitability and share buybacks turbocharge EPS growth relative to revenue growth.

In Q2, Rockwell Automation reported adjusted EPS of $3.49, up from $2.82 in the same quarter last year. This print beat analysts’ estimates by 3.2%. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Rockwell Automation’s full-year EPS to grow 10.9% from $12.88 to $14.29.

Key Takeaways from Rockwell Automation’s Q2 Results

We were impressed by how significantly Rockwell Automation blew past analysts’ organic revenue expectations this quarter. We were also glad its revenue outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, we think this was a solid quarter with some key areas of upside. The market seemed to be hoping for more, and the stock traded down 4.6% to $458.25 immediately after reporting.

So should you invest in Rockwell Automation right now? We think that the latest quarter is only one piece of the longer-term business quality puzzle. Quality, when combined with valuation, can help determine if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).