Vertiv VRT is benefiting from the surging global demand for AI-ready data centers, which require advanced cooling and power infrastructure to support increasingly dense and complex compute workloads. The company’s strategic investment in expanding global manufacturing capacity has been a major growth driver.
Building on this momentum, the company recently announced investments at its Tognana campus near Padua, Italy, to expand manufacturing and testing capabilities for AI-ready data center cooling systems.
The expansion is expected to double regional chiller production capacity by the end of 2026 and add a large-scale testing laboratory in early 2027 to validate chillers integrated with liquid cooling systems under high-density AI workloads. The investment strengthens Vertiv's ability to meet growing demand for AI and high-performance computing infrastructure while accelerating product development, testing and customer deployment of advanced thermal management solutions.
Vertiv’s expanding portfolio and acquisitions have been a major growth driver. The company’s acquisitions, such as PurgeRite, ThermoKey and BMarko Structures and Strategic Thermal Labs, are expected to strengthen its capabilities and market reach. In the first quarter of 2026, acquisitions contributed 4% to revenues.
Vertiv’s expanding AI data center footprint and manufacturing capacity signal further upside potential. Management raised 2026 guidance, pointing to sustained market momentum and accelerating capacity expansion. Vertiv now expects net sales of $13.5 billion to $14.0 billion, with organic net sales growth of 29% to 31% compared with 2025.
VRT Suffers From Stiff Competition
Vertiv’s AI infrastructure solutions are facing increasing competition from Super Micro Computer SMCI and Amphenol APH. Both Super Micro Computer and Amphenol are expanding their offerings to support high-density, AI-driven data center deployments.
Super Micro Computer’s expanding portfolio has been noteworthy. The company recently expanded its AI infrastructure portfolio through collaborations with AMD, Arm and NVIDIA, introducing new rack-scale platforms and data center blueprints designed to accelerate the deployment of large-scale agentic AI workloads.
Amphenol is benefiting from the surge in demand for AI infrastructure, which has become a transformative force for the company’s growth and market positioning. In the first quarter of 2026, IT datacom represented about 41% of sales and grew 81% organically year over year. This robust performance was driven by accelerating investments in AI data centers and the company’s ability to capture a significant share of this unique interconnect opportunity.
Vertiv’s Share Price Performance, Valuation, and Estimates
VRT’s shares have surged 88% year to date compared with the broader Zacks Computer & Technology sector’s 12.1% rise. The Zacks Computers - IT Services industry declined 24.8% in the same time frame.
VRT Stock's Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Vertiv stock is trading at a premium, with a trailing 12-month Price/Book of 27.55X compared with the Computer and Technology sector’s 10.24X. VRT has a Value Score of D.
VRT's Valuation
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 earnings is pegged at $6.38 per share, which has increased by a couple of pennies over the past 30 days. This indicates a 51.90% increase from the reported figure of 2025.
Vertiv Holdings Co. Price and Consensus
Vertiv Holdings Co. price-consensus-chart | Vertiv Holdings Co. Quote
Vertiv currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).