DD · Q1 2026 Earnings

Cautious

DuPont

Reported May 5, 2026

30-second summary

DuPont opened FY2026 with $1.681B revenue (+4% YoY, +2% organic), non-GAAP EPS of $0.55 (vs. $0.48 guide, a 14.6% beat), and operating EBITDA of $414M at a 24.6% margin — all comfortably ahead of the Q1 guide set in February. Management raised the FY2026 EPS midpoint by $0.10 to $2.375 and lifted the organic growth assumption from ~3% to ~4%, but ~1 point of that is now pricing taken to offset Middle East–driven input cost inflation, meaning underlying volume growth is unchanged. The Q2 guide ($1.8B revenue, $0.59 EPS, ~3% organic) signals sequential acceleration, but the prior-year baseline ($3.26B in Q2 FY2025) is pre-spin and not comparable — the apparent YoY decline is a perimeter artifact, not a deterioration.

Headline numbers

EPS

Q1 FY2026

$0.55

Revenue

Q1 FY2026

$1.68B

+4.0% YoY

Gross margin

Q1 FY2026

35.9%

Free cash flow

Q1 FY2026

$0.13B

Key financials

Q1 FY2026

Metric	Q1 FY2026	YoY	Q4 FY2025	QoQ
Revenue	$1.68B	+4.0%	$1.69B	-0.7%
EPS	$0.55	—	$0.46	+19.6%
Gross margin	35.9%	—	35.3%	+57bps
Free cash flow	$0.13B	—	—	—

Guidance

Guidance is issued for the full year only, refreshed each quarter. Prior and new below are the same FY updated this quarter.

Actuals vs prior guidance

Metric	Period	Prior guide	Actual	Δ	Result
Revenue	Q1 FY2026	~$1.67 billion	$1.681 billion	+$0.011 billion above guide	Beat
Adjusted EPS	Q1 FY2026	$0.48 per share	$0.55 per share	+$0.07 above guide	Beat
Operating EBITDA	Q1 FY2026	~$395 million	$414 million	+$19 million above guide	Beat
Organic Sales Growth	Q1 FY2026	~2%	2.0%	in-line	Met

New guidance

Metric	Period	Guide	YoY
Revenue	Q2 FY2026	~$1.8 billion	-44.8% to -44.8% YoY
Adjusted EPS	Q2 FY2026	$0.59 per share	—
Operating EBITDA	Q2 FY2026	~$430 million	—
Organic Sales Growth	Q2 FY2026	~3%	—

Changes to prior guidance

Metric	Period	Prior guide	New guide	Δ	Result
Adjusted EPS	FY2026	$2.25 - $2.30	$2.35 - $2.40	+$0.10 at midpoint	Raised
Revenue	FY2026	$7.075 - $7.135 billion	$7.155 - $7.215 billion	+$0.080 billion at midpoint	Raised
Operating EBITDA	FY2026	$1,725 - $1,755 million	$1,730 - $1,760 million	+$5 million at midpoint	Raised
Organic Sales Growth	FY2026	~3%	~4% (including ~1% from pricing)	+1 percentage point	Raised
Operating EBITDA Growth	FY2026	6% to 8% YoY	Withdrawn — no replacement	—	Withdrawn

Segment KPIs

Q1 FY2026

Segment	Q1 FY2026	YoY
Healthcare & Water Technologies	$0.806B	+6.0%
Diversified Industrials	$0.875B	+3.0%
Healthcare & Water Technologies Organic Growth	3.0%	—
Diversified Industrials Organic Growth	~0%	—

Other KPIs

Q1 FY2026

Segment	Q1 FY2026
Operating EBITDA	$414 million
Operating EBITDA Margin	24.6%
Organic Sales Growth	2.0%
Healthcare & Water Technologies EBITDA Margin	30.3%
Diversified Industrials EBITDA Margin	22.9%
Transaction-Adjusted Free Cash Flow	$147 million

Management tone

Q3 anchor → Q4 anchor → Q1 anchor: "Post-spin offensive posture" → "Execution-driven growth with credible 2026 algorithm" → "Defensive resilience against macro and geopolitical headwinds"

The macro framing has reverted from confident to defensive in a single quarter. Last quarter management opened with execution and the 2026 algorithm; early-2026 January data was used "offensively" to validate the acceleration thesis. This quarter, the opening posture is hedged: "While we are mindful of potential macro and geopolitical headwinds, our focus on productivity, automation, and structural improvement is creating resilience in the businesses." The same operational discipline narrative is now framed as a defensive moat against external pressure rather than as the engine of growth. This is the tone DuPont last had in Q2 FY2025, before the spin closed.

The growth algorithm now relies on pricing for a quarter of the FY guide. The FY organic growth raise from ~3% to ~4% is not a volume upgrade — management explicitly attributed the entire +1pp to pricing actions taken to offset Middle East input cost inflation. "Our full year net sales guidance now assumes about 4% organic growth, including about 1% of pricing due to actions taken to fully offset higher input costs related to the Middle East conflict." Last quarter, organic growth was framed as volume-led; this quarter, ~25% of the organic growth is price pass-through. The signal is that underlying volume momentum has not strengthened — the algorithm got better-looking, the business did not.

Water has moved from "consistent performer" to a quantified geopolitical casualty. Three calls ago water was framed as a steady mid-single-digit grower; this quarter water sales were "down low to mid-single-digits percent on an organic basis as strength in industrial water and microelectronics markets were more than offset by logistics disruptions in the Middle East." The disruption was sized at $10M of unshipped Q1 revenue, fully recovered in April, but the disclosure quantifies for the first time a meaningful geopolitical concentration risk in a segment that had been treated as a defensive growth anchor.

Construction stabilization is partially walking back. Last quarter management explicitly framed construction as stabilizing with flat 2026 demand. This quarter Q2 guidance commentary references "continued softness in construction markets" as a Q2 organic growth headwind. The two-quarter narrative arc — "embedded drag" (Q3) → "stabilization" (Q4) → "continued softness" (Q1) — suggests the construction recovery management built into the FY base is at least partially slipping, with non-residential and aerospace doing the heavy lifting.

AI partnerships entered the prepared remarks for the first time. "This collaboration streamlines and accelerates the work we have been doing on connected lab infrastructure and digital innovation." The shift from internal-only innovation language to external AI partnerships signals capacity constraints in the innovation pipeline that weren't acknowledged on prior calls — and an urgency to accelerate Vitality Index contribution toward the explicit "shift the mix toward growth" intent management articulated last quarter.

Recurring themes management leaned on this quarter:

Operational resilience through productivity and automationAI and digital capabilities enabling innovation accelerationDisciplined capital allocation and shareholder returnsMargin expansion through favorable mix and cost managementRegional geopolitical impact (Middle East conflict) managed through pricingStrong innovation pipeline with elevated Vitality Index performance

Risks management surfaced:

Macro and geopolitical headwindsLogistics disruptions due to Middle East conflictConstruction market weaknessCurrency headwinds reducing expected full-year currency benefitPotential further input cost pressures

Q&A highlights

Scott Davis · Mellius Research

Status of 80-20 implementation in diversified industrials portfolio and its impact on top line; stranded costs progress

80-20 is two-thirds through initial study on four selected businesses with no full-year guidance impact expected; $30M stranded costs target with $10M expected removal in 2025 and full run-rate achievement by half-year

Four businesses selected for 80-20 implementationTwo-thirds through initial study phase$30M total stranded costs target$10M stranded costs removal expected in 2025

John McNulty · BMO Capital Markets

Water business headwinds from Middle East logistics; cost navigation and customer retention risks; operational margin drivers and productivity gains

$10M in unshipped sales from Middle East already recovered in April; water business down low-to-mid single digits in Q1 but expected mid-single digits full year; margins benefited from 50bps mix and 70bps net productivity; targeting 150-200bps three-year improvement on track

$10M sales unable to ship from Middle East in Q1, recovered in AprilWater down low-to-mid single digits in Q1, flat to slightly down excluding shipping impactExpected mid-single digit growth for water full year50 basis points margin benefit from mix

Christopher Parkinson · Wolf Research

Healthcare segment exposure balance across PPE, biopharma, med device; M&A pipeline and appetite; pricing strategy for input cost inflation

$2B healthcare sales ($1.2B Tyvek, $800M Spectrum); positioned well in med device; pipeline of accretive healthcare assets; $90M incremental cost inflation expected to be fully offset by pricing and surcharges ($25M in Q2, full run-rate in H2)

$2B total healthcare sales$1.2B Tyvek sales (healthcare packaging ~$600M, garments ~$600M)$800M Spectrum sales$90M incremental input cost inflation expected

Shigusa Katoku · JP Morgan

Margin trajectory from Q1 (strong) to Q2 (softer at ~24%); price-cost timing and inventory lag effects

Q1 to Q2 margin decline driven by 30bps price-cost headwind and 40bps mix headwind; pricing actions started April 1 with majority in May after customer notification; April order trends remained strong year-over-year

30 basis points price-cost margin headwind Q1 to Q240 basis points mix margin headwind Q1 to Q2Pricing actions started April 1, majority began May 1April order trends strong year-over-year with similar demand to March

John Roberts · Mizuho

Automotive strength during weak market quarter; sustainability of battery adhesive growth

$300M annual EV sales exposure with battery adhesives as incremental new growth; outperformance driven by battery volume growing above 20% EV market growth rate due to new OEM qualifications and multi-year pipeline

$300M annual sales into EVsBattery adhesives growing well above 20% EV market growth rateNew incremental volume from OEM qualificationsMulti-year pipeline built from recent qualifications

Answers to last quarter's watch list

Bridge from +6–8% EBITDA growth to +34–37% EPS growth — Partially addressed and quietly complicated. The FY EPS raise was attributed to "strong Q1 results and the interest income benefit from the Aramids transaction" — confirming that capital-structure tailwinds (Aramids proceeds, ASR share count) are doing meaningful work in the EPS algorithm. However, management withdrew the explicit +6% to +8% EBITDA growth framing this quarter, making the original bridge harder to triangulate. The FY EBITDA guide raised by only $5M at midpoint despite an $80M revenue raise — most of the topline raise is pass-through pricing with no EBITDA contribution.

Continue monitoring

Q1 organic growth landing at +2% with positive sequential momentum in Diversified Industrials — Q1 organic landed at +2.0%, exactly in line with the guide. Diversified Industrials organic growth was ~0% — a clear bounce off the Q4 -4% timing-reversal trough, but well below the segment's required FY trajectory of low-single-digits. April order trends were characterized as "strong year-over-year" but the Q2 organic guide of ~+3% requires acceleration that isn't yet visible in the Q1 print.

Continue monitoring

Healthcare & Water re-accelerating toward mid-single-digit growth — H&W organic growth printed +3%, still below the segment's medium-term mid-single-digit target. Adjusting for the $10M Middle East shipping disruption, underlying organic is closer to +4%. Management reaffirmed mid-single-digit full-year growth for water and disclosed a $2B healthcare run-rate. The trajectory is on-plan but not yet validating acceleration.

Continue monitoring

First concrete M&A transaction or progress on Aramid proceeds deployment — No signed M&A transaction this quarter. Aramids transaction proceeds were specified at $1.2B gross / $1.1B net, with interest income from the proceeds explicitly cited as a contributor to the FY EPS raise — suggesting management is sitting on cash rather than deploying it immediately. Christopher Parkinson's Q&A characterized the healthcare M&A pipeline as "accretive" but no deal was announced.

Continue monitoring

GICS reclassification progress — Not mentioned in the press release or on the call this quarter. The company didn't disclose any procedural update.

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Pace of remaining ~$1.5B buyback authorization — A $275M ASR was announced this morning under the existing $2B program (with $500M previously completed), leaving roughly $1.225B of remaining authorization. Aramids proceeds were referenced as generating interest income rather than as funding accelerated buybacks, which is itself a soft signal that capital deployment is being held back.

Continue monitoring

What to watch into next quarter

Whether Q2 organic growth lands at the guided ~3% with Diversified Industrials moving above flat — Q1 Diversified was ~0% organic; the Q2 guide requires both segments to accelerate. April order strength is the supporting signal, but Q2 is the validation print for the FY +4% (incl. pricing) algorithm.

Volume vs. price decomposition of organic growth — management has now embedded ~1pp of pricing into the FY guide. Watch whether underlying volume growth strengthens to ~3% by H2 (consistent with the original guide) or whether pricing must do more of the work to hold the +4% algorithm together. A widening pricing share signals weakening demand.

Healthcare & Water organic growth crossing +4% in Q2 — Adjusted for the resolved Middle East shipping disruption, Q1 underlying was ~+4%. Q2 needs to show clear progression toward the +5% segment target, particularly in water as logistics normalize.

Concrete deployment of Aramids proceeds — $1.1B net is now in the door. Whether the next quarter brings a signed healthcare M&A transaction, an incremental buyback acceleration, or continued "interest income" disclosure will be the cleanest read on capital allocation discipline.

Stranded cost removal pace — management committed to $10M of stranded cost removal in 2025 and full $30M run-rate by mid-year. Q2 should show explicit progress; any slippage signals operational execution risk.

Construction trajectory — the narrative arc shifted from "stabilization" to "continued softness" this quarter. Watch whether non-residential and aerospace can carry the segment through a slower-than-expected residential recovery, or whether the construction component of the FY guide needs trimming.

Sources

DuPont Q1 FY2026 Earnings Press Release / Schedules (8-K Ex. 99.1), filed May 5, 2026: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1666700/000166670026000029/exhibit991enrschedules-1q26.htm
DuPont Q4 FY2025 Tapebrief (prior-quarter guide baseline).

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