Celestica Surges 139% in 6 Months: How to Play the Stock

Celestica, Inc. CLS shares have surged 139% in the past six months compared with the  Electronics - Manufacturing Services industry’s growth of 64.9%. The stock has outperformed the Zacks Computer & Technology sector and the S&P 500 during the same time frame.

The company has also outperformed its peers like Jabil, Inc. JBL and Sanmina Corporation SANM. Shares of Jabil and Sanmina have risen 45.1% and 54.2%, respectively.

Celestica Rides on Portfolio Strength, Strategic Collaboration

Celestica’s robust portfolio offerings are driving growth in the Connectivity & Cloud Solutions segment. Strong demand in the company’s Hardware Platform Solutions business, growing transition from 400G to 800G switches, is accelerating revenue growth. Along with switches, growing AI investments are also driving demand for Celestica’s data center interconnects, edge solutions, and servers and storage-related products.
 
The company is expanding its portfolio through a combination of innovation and strategic collaboration to capitalize on this trend. It has collaborated with Broadcom to develop DS4100, a 1U 800G per port top-of-rack, leaf/spine switch designed to support high-bandwidth demands of data center networking. Leveraging AMD EPYC Embedded 9004 series processors, CLS developed the SC6100, a next-generation, 2U rackmount all-flash storage controller. Such initiatives better equip the company to gain a competitive edge against its other competitors in the Electronic Manufacturing Industry, such as Jabil, Flex and Sanmina.

Capital Discipline, Robust Inventory Management are Tailwinds

The company’s impressive growth is backed by strong capital discipline. During the second quarter, its capital expenditure was 1.1% of the revenues, well below the company’s projected 1.5-2% of the revenue range. The company intends to run its manufacturing facilities at a higher level of utilization; hence it is placing strong emphasis on boosting productivity. Only 40 basis points of its capex goes to maintenance of existing facilities, and a major part of capex goes into growth programs. 

The company is also ramping up its inventory balance. In the second quarter, its inventory balance was $1.92 billion, up from $130 million in the first quarter. Interestingly, its cash cycle days were 66 days, down sequentially from 69 days in the first quarter of 2025. A stable cash cycle, while higher inventory shows that cash is not held up unduly in excess inventory. This suggests the company is anticipating strong demand across its portfolio and that’s why it is ramping up inventory to support the higher demand.

CLS Benefits From Supply Chain Resilience

Celestica currently operates in 16 countries worldwide. Its diversified manufacturing network and resilient supply chain are paying off well to mitigate the effects of growing geopolitical unrest and tariff-related uncertainties. The company has been investing in expanding capacity and capabilities at its Richardson, U.S., Thailand and Malaysia facilities to support growing demand. It is also investing in design centers in India, Malaysia and the United States. Owing to such a strategic approach, the company was able to minimize the impact of conflict in the Middle East and Eastern Europe across its supply chain and continue to serve customers across the globe.

Estimate Revision Trend

Earnings estimates for Celestica for 2025 and 2026 have increased over the past 60 days.

Key Valuation Metric of CLS

From a valuation standpoint, CLS is currently trading at a premium compared to the industry. Going by the price/earnings ratio, the company’s shares currently trade at 33.33 forward 12-month earnings, higher than 21.56 for the industry.

End Note

Celestica’s diverse manufacturing and dynamic supply chain strategy significantly boosted its reliability among hyperscaler customers. Efficient capital management and growth-driven capex spending are positive factors. Robust portfolio offerings and collaboration with major tech giants, such as AMD and AVGO, augur well for long-term growth. Celestica is experiencing robust demand trends in the CCS segment. The growing proliferation of AI-based applications and generative AI tools across industries presents a solid growth opportunity for the company in the upcoming quarters. Owing to these factors, Celestica, which sports a Zacks Rank 1 (Strong Buy), appears to be a good investment option currently. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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