Sanmina’s growth includes a business it didn’t own before

A manufacturer buys another factory. Next year, it reports the sales of both. The extra sales are real, but some of them belonged to a different owner last year. Copying the combined company’s growth rate into a forecast assumes that this change can happen again.

Sanmina’s November 9 results put that distinction in focus. Fiscal 2026 revenue rose 79%. Management also described double-digit growth in the core Sanmina business. Those are different comparisons, not competing descriptions of the same number. The earnings release gives the headline, but not a precise organic growth rate that we can calculate from those two statements.

Sanmina completed its purchase of ZT Systems’ data-center infrastructure manufacturing business on October 27, 2025, after the earlier fiscal year had ended. AMD kept ZT’s design and customer-enablement teams. The deal added manufacturing operations, not all of ZT. AMD’s closing announcement makes that boundary clear.

The ownership change eventually leaves the comparison

Imagine a company with $100 of annual sales. Its existing business grows 10%, to $110. On the first day of the new year, it buys a business that contributes $50 of sales over that year. Consolidated sales reach $160, a 60% increase. Growth inside the original business is still 10%.

Now suppose both businesses grow 10% in the following year, with no further purchases. Sales reach $176. The reported growth rate falls from 60% to 10%, even though the original business hasn’t slowed down. These are hypothetical figures, not estimates of Sanmina’s acquired revenue or organic growth.

A midyear purchase makes the comparison less tidy. The next year can still get a lift from including twelve months of the acquired business instead of only a few. Check the closing date and the months included before treating the next slowdown as weaker demand. Also match reporting-period lengths, currency and any businesses sold. Organic growth, meaning growth excluding acquisitions and disposals, is often adjusted for currency too; companies don’t all define it identically.

Buying growth can still create value

None of this makes acquired sales inferior. A buyer can gain customers, manufacturing capacity or expertise that would take years to build. A well-priced purchase can leave each share entitled to more future profits than the company could have earned alone.

But sales don’t pay for an acquisition. Cash left after operating costs and necessary investment does. Debt adds interest expense; issuing shares spreads future profits over more owners. Integration spending and extra inventory can consume cash before the promised benefits arrive. A larger sales total does not settle whether the price paid was worthwhile.

Before extending a fast growth rate, put the prior year’s businesses beside this year’s. Look for a comparable-scope sales bridge or pro forma figures, which show results as if the businesses had been owned over the same periods. Pro forma sales alone still do not remove currency changes or tell you what happened to margins.

Then forecast sales and profits separately. Make the acquired business’s contribution explicit, allow for its costs, and ask what happens once the extra months of ownership stop helping the comparison. In Sanmina’s analysis, compare the earnings assumptions with that operating forecast rather than carrying a headline sales percentage straight into profits. The company may keep growing strongly. Your forecast should explain why, without buying the same business twice on paper.