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Will NVT's Blaine 2 Expansion Boost Its AI Data Center Growth?
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Key Takeaways
NVT plans to open its Blaine 2 liquid cooling facility in the first half of 2027 to meet rising demand.
NVT expects 2026 data center sales to exceed $2 billion, backed by a $2.5 billion backlog.
NVT plans to spend $130 million on 2026 capital expenditures, up 40%, to expand data center capacity.
nVent Electric (NVT - Free Report) is expanding its liquid cooling capacity to meet rising demand from AI data centers. The company has announced a third facility expansion in Minnesota, called Blaine 2, which will be similar in size to its existing Blaine facility and is expected to open in the first half of 2027. The expansion follows strong customer demand and growing orders for liquid cooling products.
NVT’s existing Blaine facility has effectively doubled its liquid cooling capacity and is ramping up production. However, management said the added capacity will not be enough to meet expected demand. The company is expanding production to support its growing customer base, which includes hyperscalers, neocloud providers and colocation data center operators. NVT expects its total data center sales to exceed $2 billion in 2026, more than double the prior year’s level.
Strong orders and backlog support the company’s expansion plans. NVT ended the second quarter with a backlog of $2.5 billion and reported strong orders at the start of the third quarter. Management said the company is also working with suppliers to ensure they can increase production as demand rises. For 2026, NVT expects capital expenditures of approximately $130 million, up 40% from the prior year, with much of the investment directed toward data centers, power utilities and supply chain capacity.
As AI data centers adopt more powerful chips, demand for liquid cooling and related infrastructure is expected to increase. NVT is also preparing to launch a new modular liquid cooling platform in fall 2026. The company believes its current investments will help it serve customers and support growth through 2027 and beyond. The pace at which new facilities ramp up, along with suppliers’ ability to meet demand, will be important as NVT works to keep its capacity aligned with the expanding AI data center market. The Blaine 2 expansion should help NVT add capacity to serve this demand and support its data center growth.
How Do Competitors Fare Against NVT
nVent Electric faces stiff competition from AI data center infrastructure players such as Vertiv (VRT - Free Report) and Super Micro Computer (SMCI - Free Report) .
Vertiv is also benefiting from strong AI data center spending and has a broad portfolio covering power and thermal management. VRT offers power, cooling and services as an integrated solution and is expanding its liquid-cooling capabilities through acquisitions, including Strategic Thermal Labs, which added server-side liquid cooling and cold-plate expertise. VRT expects 2026 sales of $14 billion, suggesting 37% year-over-year growth, with organic growth of 31%.
Super Micro Computer is another strong player in AI data-center infrastructure, with its business spanning servers, storage, networking and direct liquid cooling. Its data center building block solutions combine GPU and CPU servers, storage, direct liquid cooling, cooling distribution units, networking and data-center management software. SMCI is also expanding its liquid-cooling capacity and expects its manufacturing network to support more than 3,000 direct liquid-cooled racks per month. For fiscal 2027, the company expects revenues to be in the range of $65-$72 billion.
NVT's Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates
Shares of nVent Electric have jumped 39.3% year to date against the Zacks Electronics - Miscellaneous Components industry’s decline of 22.4%.
nVent Electric’s YTD Price Return Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, NVT trades at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 3.70X, higher than the industry’s average of 3.40X. NVT has a Value Score of D.
NVT’s Forward 12-Month P/S Ratio
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for nVent Electric’s 2026 and 2027 earnings per share (EPS) implies year-over-year growth of 53.1% and 23.8%, respectively. EPS estimates for 2026 and 2027 have both been revised down over the past 30 days.
View the Zacks #1 Rank List
Image: Bigstock
Will NVT's Blaine 2 Expansion Boost Its AI Data Center Growth?
Key Takeaways
nVent Electric (NVT - Free Report) is expanding its liquid cooling capacity to meet rising demand from AI data centers. The company has announced a third facility expansion in Minnesota, called Blaine 2, which will be similar in size to its existing Blaine facility and is expected to open in the first half of 2027. The expansion follows strong customer demand and growing orders for liquid cooling products.
NVT’s existing Blaine facility has effectively doubled its liquid cooling capacity and is ramping up production. However, management said the added capacity will not be enough to meet expected demand. The company is expanding production to support its growing customer base, which includes hyperscalers, neocloud providers and colocation data center operators. NVT expects its total data center sales to exceed $2 billion in 2026, more than double the prior year’s level.
Strong orders and backlog support the company’s expansion plans. NVT ended the second quarter with a backlog of $2.5 billion and reported strong orders at the start of the third quarter. Management said the company is also working with suppliers to ensure they can increase production as demand rises. For 2026, NVT expects capital expenditures of approximately $130 million, up 40% from the prior year, with much of the investment directed toward data centers, power utilities and supply chain capacity.
As AI data centers adopt more powerful chips, demand for liquid cooling and related infrastructure is expected to increase. NVT is also preparing to launch a new modular liquid cooling platform in fall 2026. The company believes its current investments will help it serve customers and support growth through 2027 and beyond. The pace at which new facilities ramp up, along with suppliers’ ability to meet demand, will be important as NVT works to keep its capacity aligned with the expanding AI data center market. The Blaine 2 expansion should help NVT add capacity to serve this demand and support its data center growth.
How Do Competitors Fare Against NVT
nVent Electric faces stiff competition from AI data center infrastructure players such as Vertiv (VRT - Free Report) and Super Micro Computer (SMCI - Free Report) .
Vertiv is also benefiting from strong AI data center spending and has a broad portfolio covering power and thermal management. VRT offers power, cooling and services as an integrated solution and is expanding its liquid-cooling capabilities through acquisitions, including Strategic Thermal Labs, which added server-side liquid cooling and cold-plate expertise. VRT expects 2026 sales of $14 billion, suggesting 37% year-over-year growth, with organic growth of 31%.
Super Micro Computer is another strong player in AI data-center infrastructure, with its business spanning servers, storage, networking and direct liquid cooling. Its data center building block solutions combine GPU and CPU servers, storage, direct liquid cooling, cooling distribution units, networking and data-center management software. SMCI is also expanding its liquid-cooling capacity and expects its manufacturing network to support more than 3,000 direct liquid-cooled racks per month. For fiscal 2027, the company expects revenues to be in the range of $65-$72 billion.
NVT's Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates
Shares of nVent Electric have jumped 39.3% year to date against the Zacks Electronics - Miscellaneous Components industry’s decline of 22.4%.
nVent Electric’s YTD Price Return Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, NVT trades at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 3.70X, higher than the industry’s average of 3.40X. NVT has a Value Score of D.
NVT’s Forward 12-Month P/S Ratio
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for nVent Electric’s 2026 and 2027 earnings per share (EPS) implies year-over-year growth of 53.1% and 23.8%, respectively. EPS estimates for 2026 and 2027 have both been revised down over the past 30 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
NVT currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.