Sasha Jovanovic
4 min read
Nokia closed Q3 2026 earnings with a clean headline. Net sales reached €5,154m and comparable operating profit landed at €605m, backed by an 11.7% operating margin. The share price told a different story in the run-up. The stock had fallen about 20% over the past month and about 11% over the past week into the release.
The core focus today is on margins. Management is placing strong emphasis on AI and cloud networking growth, while gross margin stayed broadly stable and operating profitability improved. That mix creates a clear test of whether the latest 1 day move in Nokia is driven by emotion or by evidence.
Like the margin story at Nokia but uneasy about the recent price slide into these results? Check out the list of solid balance sheet and fundamentals stocks (205 results).
Q3 2026 Earnings Summary
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Revenue (Q3 2026 vs Q3 2025): €5,154m vs. €4,828m (up about 7%)
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Net Income (Excl. Extra Items, Q3 2026 vs Q3 2025): €173m vs. €78m (up about 122%)
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Basic EPS (Q3 2026 vs Q3 2025): €0.030668 vs. €0.014442 (up about 112%)
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Comparable Operating Margin (Q3 2026): 11.7% (expansion of about 2.2 percentage points vs. prior year, supported by operating leverage)
Nokia just lifted its AI networking growth outlook into 2027. Ask Charlie what makes Nokia’s AI networking growth target believable.
Nokia AI Ambition Versus Today’s Execution
The bullish story says Nokia can turn visible AI demand into a richer mix of high capacity networking and recurring software, with better profitability as scale builds.
“Acceleration of private and cloud based networking use cases for enterprises is now reflected in Nokia Oyj’s AI & Cloud customer net sales rising 105% year on year and deeper partnerships with platforms such as Google Cloud and Microsoft Fabric. These developments can support growth in recurring software and services revenue and improve operating margins over time.”
Q3 keeps that thesis alive. AI & cloud net sales more than doubled and orders of €1.5b arrived. Network Infrastructure margin reached 10% and group comparable margin hit 11.7%, helped by restructuring and Infinera synergies.
Bear Case: Supply, Cash And Customer Concentration
The main worry is that Nokia’s AI funnel might be rich on paper yet slow to turn into cash if supply, capex heavy working capital and hyperscaler dependence all bite at once.
“Optical and semiconductor supply constraints, including lead times of roughly 12 to 18 months on many optical products, may prevent Nokia Oyj from turning its current AI and cloud order book into shipped product on the timelines analysts expect. This would cap Network Infrastructure revenue and delay the earnings contribution from higher margin optical and IP equipment.”
