Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) Beats Q3 CY2025 Sales Expectations

Barchart·01/01/2026 16:24:14

Public safety technology company Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) announced better-than-expected revenue in Q3 CY2025, with sales up 7.8% year on year to $3.01 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $4.06 per share was 5.5% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

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Company Overview

Born from the company that invented the first portable handheld police radio in 1940, Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) provides mission-critical communications, video security, and command center software solutions for public safety agencies and enterprise customers.

Revenue Growth

A company’s long-term sales performance is one signal of its overall quality. Any business can experience short-term success, but top-performing ones enjoy sustained growth for years.

With $11.31 billion in revenue over the past 12 months, Motorola Solutions is larger than most business services companies and benefits from economies of scale, enabling it to gain more leverage on its fixed costs than smaller competitors. This also gives it the flexibility to offer lower prices.

As you can see below, Motorola Solutions’s sales grew at a solid 8.5% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. This is a good starting point for our analysis because it shows Motorola Solutions’s demand was higher than many business services companies.

Long-term growth is the most important, but within business services, a half-decade historical view may miss new innovations or demand cycles. Motorola Solutions’s annualized revenue growth of 7.2% over the last two years is below its five-year trend, but we still think the results suggest healthy demand.

This quarter, Motorola Solutions reported year-on-year revenue growth of 7.8%, and its $3.01 billion of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 0.6%.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 9.2% over the next 12 months, an improvement versus the last two years. This projection is particularly healthy for a company of its scale and indicates its newer products and services will catalyze better top-line performance.

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Adjusted Operating Margin

Motorola Solutions has been a well-oiled machine over the last five years. It demonstrated elite profitability for a business services business, boasting an average adjusted operating margin of 27.8%.

Analyzing the trend in its profitability, Motorola Solutions’s adjusted operating margin rose by 3.7 percentage points over the last five years, as its sales growth gave it operating leverage.

This quarter, Motorola Solutions generated an adjusted operating margin profit margin of 30.5%, in line with the same quarter last year. This indicates the company’s overall cost structure has been relatively stable.

Earnings Per Share

We track the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) for the same reason as long-term revenue growth. Compared to revenue, however, EPS highlights whether a company’s growth is profitable.

Motorola Solutions’s EPS grew at a spectacular 13.8% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years, higher than its 8.5% annualized revenue growth. This tells us the company became more profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded.

Diving into the nuances of Motorola Solutions’s earnings can give us a better understanding of its performance. As we mentioned earlier, Motorola Solutions’s adjusted operating margin was flat this quarter but expanded by 3.7 percentage points over the last five years. On top of that, its share count shrank by 3.1%. These are positive signs for shareholders because improving profitability and share buybacks turbocharge EPS growth relative to revenue growth.

Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a shorter period to see if we are missing a change in the business.

For Motorola Solutions, its two-year annual EPS growth of 12.9% is similar to its five-year trend, implying strong and stable earnings power.

In Q3, Motorola Solutions reported adjusted EPS of $4.06, up from $3.74 in the same quarter last year. This print beat analysts’ estimates by 5.5%. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Motorola Solutions’s full-year EPS of $14.85 to grow 5.9%.

Key Takeaways from Motorola Solutions’s Q3 Results

It was good to see Motorola Solutions beat analysts’ EPS expectations this quarter. We were also happy its revenue narrowly outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, this print had some key positives. The stock remained flat at $383.80 immediately after reporting.

Indeed, Motorola Solutions had a rock-solid quarterly earnings result, but is this stock a good investment here? We think that the latest quarter is only one piece of the longer-term business quality puzzle. Quality, when combined with valuation, can help determine if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it’s free for active Edge members.

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