By Dominic Chopping

Vestas Wind Systems shares slid Thursday after the Danish wind-turbine manufacturer delivered a mixed fourth-quarter report.

Shares were 6.1% lower in afternoon European trade.

The company reported adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of 580 million euros ($684.9 million) in the final quarter of last year, shy of the 597 million euros analysts had expected in a company-compiled consensus.

Revenue of 6.27 billion euros missed the 6.45 billion euros expected.

The slightly weaker-than-expected end to the year is mainly driven by lower volumes of onshore turbines, Sydbank senior analyst Jacob Pedersen writes.

"Significantly more wind turbines have been delivered in offshore wind--but clearly fewer in onshore wind in the last quarter of the year," he said in a note to clients.

However, the 2026 guidance is a positive feature and, coupled with an updated distribution policy, signals higher confidence in the future than has been seen in a long time, Pedersen added.

Vestas has guided for revenue of between 20 billion and 22 billion euros this year, with an adjusted EBIT margin of 6% to 8%. The service business is expected to generate an adjusted EBIT margin of 15.5% to 17.5%.

This compares with the 18.82 billion euros in revenue it reported for 2025, with an adjusted EBIT margin of 5.7% and a service business adjusted margin of 16.6%.

At the same time, Vestas declared a dividend of 0.74 Danish kroner (12 U.S. cents) a share and a share buyback of 150 million euros.

RBC Capital markets analyst Colin Moody said a decent 7% beat in orders during the quarter and another buyback are both positive. But the negative surprise is firmly centered on the service business.

"The 2026 [service] margin outlook seems to suggest year-on-year margin deterioration on an underlying basis," the analyst said.

Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 05, 2026 07:35 ET (12:35 GMT)

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