Key points
- Nokia's Q2 2026 net sales rose 8% to 4.82 billion euros, with sales to AI and cloud customers up 105% and AI/cloud order intake hitting 2.8 billion euros.
- Comparable operating profit rose 18% to 434 million euros and comparable EPS rose 75% to 0.07 euros, both ahead of what the headline growth alone suggests.
- Reported operating profit swung to a 50 million euro loss from a 147 million euro profit a year earlier, and reported EPS came in at exactly 0.00 euros.
- The gap traces to restructuring: Nokia now expects 800 million euros in 2026 restructuring charges, including a newly announced 200 million euro program in Europe disclosed alongside earnings.
- NOK shares spiked as high as $11.17 in early Thursday trading, then reversed hard, trading back near Wednesday's $10.28 close by the US market open.
Nokia (NOK) reported Q2 2026 results before Thursday's open, and the stock did something odd with them: it jumped, then gave the whole move back. Net sales grew 8%, AI and cloud sales more than doubled, and the adjusted numbers beat across the board. The reported GAAP number tells a different story: an operating loss of €50 million and diluted EPS of exactly €0.00.
The AI and cloud number is real
Net sales came in at €4.82 billion, up 8% year over year as reported and 9% on a constant currency basis. The number CEO Justin Hotard wanted investors to see was sales to AI and cloud customers, which more than doubled, up 105% from a year ago. Order intake from that same customer base hit €2.8 billion in the quarter, and Nokia says it expects about half of those orders to convert to revenue over the next twelve months. "Demand remains strong, while supply continues to be the main industry constraint, prompting our customers to place longer-term orders," Hotard said in the earnings release.
On an adjusted basis, the quarter was strong everywhere that matters. Comparable operating profit rose 18% to €434 million. Margin on that same basis expanded 70 basis points to 9.0%, while diluted EPS rose 75% to €0.07. Nokia also just launched what it calls the industry's first commercial AI-RAN platform, aimed at squeezing more capacity out of existing 5G networks with a software path toward 6G.
Where the growth is actually coming from
Nokia now reports three segments, and almost all of the AI-driven growth sits in one of them. Network Infrastructure, the segment covering IP routing, optical networking and data center switching, is the smaller of Nokia's two main businesses by revenue but the fastest growing: net sales of €2.04 billion, up 12%, with Optical Networks up 20% and IP Networks up 16%. Operating margin in that segment expanded to 8.1% from 6.4%.
Mobile Infrastructure, the radio access network gear Nokia sells to telecom carriers, is still the bigger business at €2.68 billion in net sales, up a slower 6%. Operating profit there held flat at €310 million, but margin actually slipped, gross margin down to 49.3% from 50.0% and operating margin down to 11.6% from 12.2%. Carriers are still buying, just not at improving profitability for Nokia. The third segment, Portfolio Businesses, is being wound down: net sales of just €94 million, and Nokia disclosed alongside earnings that its Fixed Wireless Access CPE unit is being sold to Inseego, with a sale of the Enterprise Campus Edge business considered highly probable.
Why reported profit fell to a loss
The adjusted numbers don't show this part. Reported operating profit went negative. Nokia posted a €50 million loss compared with a €147 million profit in the same quarter last year, a 430 basis point swing in margin. Diluted EPS came in at exactly €0.00 per share, down from €0.02. Nokia attributes the entire gap to "a faster pace of restructuring."
That pace picked up materially this quarter. Nokia now expects €800 million in total restructuring charges for 2026, up from earlier plans. Three programs are running at once: the 2023-2026 cost-savings program, tracking toward the high end of its original €800 million to €1.2 billion target; the integration of Nokia's China joint venture, now being pulled forward to finish within two years instead of the original two to three, at a cost of €350 million; and a newly announced round of cuts primarily in Europe, expected to cost €200 million, disclosed for the first time alongside today's results.
Add a bit of accounting noise on top. Nokia reclassified its Fixed Wireless Access CPE and Enterprise Campus Edge businesses as discontinued operations this quarter, which technically revised the full-year comparable operating profit guidance range to €2.1 billion to €2.6 billion from €2.0 billion to €2.5 billion. Nokia says the change is presentational, not operational, but a moving guidance range next to a reported loss is not what algorithms parsing the headline numbers tend to reward in the first few minutes of trading.
What actually happened to the stock
NOK opened Thursday's pre-market session near Wednesday's $10.28 close, then spiked as high as $11.17, an 8.7% gain, within the first half hour of trading on the headline beat. That didn't hold. Within the next hour, shares fell as low as $10.08, giving back the entire spike and then some. They settled into a range around $10.20 to $10.30 heading into the regular session, essentially flat against Wednesday's close. That reversal happened in the same stretch investors would have had time to work through the reported loss and the new restructuring charges, not just the growth headlines.
What's next
Nokia's own guidance calls for comparable operating profit to stay near flat from Q2 into Q3, due to the timing of software revenue recognition, before a "meaningful increase" in the fourth quarter. Full-year Network Infrastructure growth is guided to 12% to 14%, with combined IP and Optical Networks expected to grow 18% to 20%. Restructuring cash outflows of €700 million to €800 million are expected to continue through the rest of the year. The board also declared a €0.04 per share dividend, payable August 6.
Sources
- Nokia Corporation Report for Q2 and Half Year 2026, July 23, 2026
- Live and historical market data for NOK, July 22 to July 23, 2026
- Our earlier coverage: this week's seven-name earnings preview and Nokia and BlackBerry's AI-multiple run-up
This is general market information, not investment advice. Always do your own research and consider speaking with a licensed financial professional before making any investment decision.
