Is Vertiv Stock’s Fall A Bargain Or A Warning?
Vertiv (VRT) stock has fallen 15% from its September 8 high. A $10,000 purchase at that high is worth about $8,500 today. A fall like that makes you want to act. It could be a cheaper way into a company that sells power and cooling equipment for data centers. It could also be a sign that something is wrong. Why are investors selling Vertiv?
Vertiv Said Some Second-Quarter Revenue Was Delayed
No single event explains the fall since September 8. An earlier fall came in July, when Vertiv reported results for the second quarter of 2026 on July 29. Management said on that day’s call that some second-quarter revenue had been delayed, and called the delays minor. Management blamed two main things: large projects built in several phases, and temporary supply chain congestion.
Management was asked on that call whether the delays would continue. Vertiv is on a learning curve with these projects and is moving along it quickly, management answered. It added that its guidance for the second half of the year does not require that progress to be perfect.
A shareholder law firm said on September 23 that the stock had dropped on disappointing second-quarter results and execution problems. Measured from its 52-week high rather than its September 8 high, Vertiv stock is down 34.6%.
How Has Vertiv Performed Post Dips Historically?
Since 2018, Vertiv stock has had ten falls of 20% or more within 30 trading days. The latest came this July and is too recent to judge. After seven of the other nine, the stock was higher twelve months later. The median result, the middle of those nine, was a gain of 92%.
If you had bought after one of those falls, you would have needed patience to collect that gain. In the median case, the stock fell another 34% after that first fall. In the worst case, it fell another 63.1%. At the median, $10,000 invested after that first fall was worth about $6,600 at its low. The stock’s highest price of the following year came after a median of 343 days, about 11 months.
| Period | Past Median Return |
|---|---|
| 1M | 10.6% |
| 3M | 19.5% |
| 6M | 26.5% |
| 12M | 92.2% |
| 30 Trading-Day Dip | VRT Subsequent Performance | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | VRT | SPY | 1Y | Peak Return |
Max Drop |
# Days to Peak |
||
| Median | 92% | 110% | -34% | 343 | ||||
| 7/29/2026 | -28% | -3% | 0% | 16 | ||||
| 2/20/2025 | -22% | 3% | 148% | 150% | -43% | 370 | ||
| 7/30/2024 | -20% | 0% | 92% | 110% | -19% | 177 | ||
| 4/6/2023 | -25% | 3% | 561% | 590% | -2% | 363 | ||
| 9/23/2022 | -22% | -12% | 257% | 301% | -3% | 343 | ||
| 5/10/2022 | -23% | -12% | 53% | 64% | -18% | 289 | ||
| 2/23/2022 | -47% | -9% | 28% | 33% | -34% | 365 | ||
| 1/21/2022 | -20% | -6% | -28% | 7% | -61% | 19 | ||
| 10/11/2021 | -21% | -3% | -50% | 24% | -63% | 25 | ||
| 3/12/2020 | -31% | -24% | 142% | 150% | -36% | 348 | ||
Vertiv’s P/E Is More Than Twice The Market’s
Vertiv’s sales are growing quickly. Revenue rose 26.2% over the past twelve months, to $11.5 billion. Operating margin, the share of sales left after operating costs, is 19.4%, up from 17.4% a year ago. Vertiv also turned 29.2% of that revenue into operating cash.
The stock is priced for that growth. Vertiv trades at 54.6 times its earnings, against 21.4 for the S&P 500. That ratio, the P/E, is the share price divided by a year’s profit per share. At more than twice the market’s P/E, buyers are paying for fast growth to continue.
In July, management forecast faster growth for the third quarter, and those results are not out yet. Vertiv guided third-quarter sales of $3.65 billion to $3.85 billion, up from $3.3 billion in the second quarter. Asked about the step-up in the second half, management pointed to faster work on complex projects, new capacity and a strong backlog. Vertiv’s next report is expected on or around October 28, 2026.
The record and the business are on the bargain side. Vertiv was higher a year after seven of nine past falls, and its sales are growing. The price is on the warning side. You would pay a P/E more than twice the market’s for a company that said some second-quarter revenue was delayed. Will third-quarter sales show that the delays were as minor as management said?
How To Act On VRT?
Now you know VRT better. And that’s our purpose: to make you informed before you invest your money. However, making a bet on a single stock carries its own risks.
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