The quarter itself was genuinely strong and there is no argument about it.
Celestica reported second-quarter revenue of $4.70 billion, up 62.6 percent from $2.89 billion a year earlier. GAAP earnings per share of $3.17 against $1.82. Adjusted earnings of $2.54 against $1.39, up 82.7 percent. Adjusted operating margin of 8.2 percent against 7.4 [1]. The segments reconcile: CCS at $3.81 billion, up 84 percent, and ATS at $0.89 billion, up 8 percent [1].
Chief executive Rob Mionis said the company 'delivered very strong performance in the second quarter, achieving revenue of $4.70 billion and adjusted EPS of $2.54, each exceeding the high end of our guidance ranges' [1]. That is accurate.
With the quarter in hand, the company raised full-year guidance: revenue from $19.0 billion to $20.5 billion, adjusted EPS from $10.15 to $11.30, free cash flow from $500 million to $600 million [1].
Now do the arithmetic the release does not do for you.
First-half revenue actually booked: $4.05 billion in the first quarter plus $4.70 billion in the second, or $8.75 billion. Add the third-quarter guidance midpoint of $5.40 billion and you reach $14.15 billion [1].
The new full-year figure is $20.5 billion. The difference - the fourth quarter the guidance requires - is $6.35 billion. Against the $5.40 billion guided for the third quarter, that is a 17.6 percent sequential jump.
The same pattern holds on earnings: $4.70 of adjusted EPS realised in the first half plus a third-quarter midpoint of $2.98 leaves $3.62 implied for the fourth quarter [1].
None of this means the guidance is wrong. Fourth quarters are seasonally the largest in this business and the company has beaten its own ranges twice running. What it means is that the raise is not a statement about the year already banked. It is a statement about one quarter - and that quarter is the one nobody has any results for.
