The safety systems supplier said adjusted EPS of $2.43 narrowly missed consensus, while revenue growth was driven by China and second-quarter operating cash flow reached a record $434 million.
Autoliv reported second-quarter 2026 net sales of $2,803 million, up 3.3%, with organic sales growth of 1.0% and adjusted operating margin improving to 9.6%. Adjusted diluted earnings per share rose 10% to $2.43, slightly below the $2.46 consensus cited in the update, while revenue was supported by more than 40% sales growth to Chinese OEMs. The company said sales outpaced the global light vehicle production market, or LVP (light vehicle production), by 1.3 percentage points as strong performance in Asia offset weaker trends in EMEA and the Americas. Operating income fell to $192 million and diluted EPS dropped 38% to $1.35, largely because of previously communicated restructuring activities in Türkiye, while adjusted operating income rose 7.3% to $270 million. Cash generation strengthened, with record second-quarter operating cash flow rising to $434 million and free operating cash flow more than doubling to $340 million, helped by underlying profitability and normalized working capital. President & CEO Mikael Bratt said demand from Chinese OEMs remained strong and noted new strategic cooperation agreements with Great Wall Motor and XPENG. The company reiterated full-year 2026 guidance for around 0% organic sales growth, around 10.5-11% adjusted operating margin and around $1.2 billion in operating cash flow, based on an assumption that LVP will decline by around 2.5%. It expects customer compensations and other mitigation efforts to have limited impact in Q3 but a significantly greater contribution in Q4.