Motorola Solutions NYSE: MSI reported a stronger-than-expected first quarter of 2026, with record revenue, record first-quarter orders and an increased full-year outlook as demand remained solid across its public safety, enterprise security and defense markets.
Chairman and CEO Greg Brown called the quarter “an outstanding start to the year,” citing 7% revenue growth and 18% growth in Software and Services. He said the company saw growth across all three of its technologies, with particularly strong results in Command Center and Video as customers adopted cloud and hybrid offerings and AI-enabled workflows.
“Demand for Safety and Security solutions remains robust,” Brown said. Record first-quarter orders rose 38%, contributing to a record first-quarter ending backlog of $15.7 billion, up 11% from a year earlier.
Revenue Rises as Software and Services Leads Growth
Executive Vice President and CFO Jason Winkler said first-quarter revenue grew 7% and came in above guidance, with growth in both segments and all three technologies. The quarter included $60 million of foreign exchange tailwinds and $219 million from acquisitions, in line with the company’s expectations.
GAAP operating earnings were $525 million, or 19.3% of sales, down from 23% a year earlier. Winkler said the decline was driven by a $75 million non-cash charge tied to an increase in the Silvus earn-out, which he said reflected stronger performance at that business, along with higher intangible amortization.
Non-GAAP operating earnings rose 9% to $781 million, while non-GAAP operating margin expanded 50 basis points to 28.8%. Winkler said the margin improvement was driven by higher sales and improved operating leverage, partially offset by higher supply chain costs.
GAAP earnings per share declined to $2.18 from $2.53 a year earlier, primarily because of the Silvus earn-out charge. Non-GAAP EPS rose 6% to $3.37 from $3.18, driven by higher operating margins and partially offset by higher interest expense.
Segment Performance Shows Strength in Video and Command Center
In Products and Systems Integration, sales increased 1% from a year earlier, driven by growth in Video. Segment operating earnings were $386 million, or 24.8% of sales, down from 28.1% a year earlier, primarily because of unfavorable mix and higher supply chain costs, partially offset by improved operating leverage.
Winkler highlighted several wins in the segment, including $148 million in P25 device and SVX body-worn assistant orders for the U.S. federal government, a $16 million P25 device order for a U.S. state and local customer, a $14 million fixed video order for a large U.S. fitness company and a $10 million fixed video order for Duke Energy. The company also secured $78 million of Silvus orders from an unmanned systems provider in Germany, with deliveries expected over the next few quarters.
Software and Services revenue rose 18% from a year earlier, with growth across all three technologies. Segment operating earnings were $395 million, or 34.2% of sales, up from 28.7% a year ago. Winkler attributed the improvement to higher sales, favorable mix and improved operating leverage.
Software and Services wins included a $41 million five-year P25 services renewal for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, a $24 million Command Center order for Denver, Colorado, a $16 million Command Center order for Anne Arundel County in Maryland, a $10 million P25 services order for Paraíba, Brazil’s Department of Social Services, and a $9 million mobile video order for a U.S. state and local customer.
Backlog Reaches Record First-Quarter Level
Motorola Solutions ended the quarter with backlog of $15.7 billion, up $1.6 billion, or 11%, from a year earlier. Winkler said the increase was primarily driven by record first-quarter orders, marking the company’s fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit orders growth in both segments.
Sequentially, backlog declined $60 million, primarily because of revenue recognition for the U.K. Home Office, partially offset by strong demand in Video and Command Center. Products and Systems Integration backlog increased $255 million year over year, while Software and Services backlog rose $1.3 billion, driven by multi-year contracts across all three technologies and favorable foreign currency impacts.
In response to an analyst question, Brown said he felt stronger about the company’s product backlog than he did 90 days earlier, noting that he had previously expected product backlog to decline sequentially. Instead, it increased, helped by Silvus, public safety LMR and Video demand.
Silvus Drives Higher Guidance
The company raised its full-year outlook after the stronger first quarter. Motorola Solutions now expects full-year revenue of approximately $12.8 billion, up from prior guidance of $12.7 billion. It also raised its non-GAAP EPS outlook to a range of $16.87 to $16.99, compared with the prior range of $16.70 to $16.85.
Winkler said the $100 million revenue guidance increase was driven by strength from Silvus, which is now expected to generate $750 million in full-year revenue, up $75 million from the previous expectation, along with increased expectations for the core public safety business.
Brown said Silvus has exceeded expectations since Motorola Solutions closed the acquisition in August 2025. He said the company has doubled Silvus’ sales force, is seeing increased international demand and is investing more in research and development to extend the business’s technology differentiation.
Executive Vice President and COO Jack Molloy said Motorola Solutions has already increased Silvus supply capacity in California and plans to add a geographically redundant site that will bring additional capacity in 2027.
AI, Acquisitions and Supply Chain in Focus
Motorola Solutions completed two acquisitions during the quarter: Exacom and Hyper, for a total of $90 million net of cash acquired. Brown said Exacom integrates critical radio and 911 audio into digital evidence management, while Hyper adds agentic AI to 911 call handling. The company also announced plans to acquire Bell Canada’s LMR Network Services business, which it expects to close in the fourth quarter. Winkler said that business will bring approximately $100 million of recurring managed services revenue.
Brown also pointed to new Command Center launches that use the company’s AI Assist capabilities in missions and records management. Executive Vice President and CTO Mahesh Saptharishi said the company is seeing adoption of AI-enabled offerings, including Assist Dispatcher Suite with all VESTA NXT call-handling solutions sold in the quarter.
The company continues to face supply chain cost pressures. Winkler said Motorola Solutions still expects $60 million in tariff headwinds this year, primarily in the first half. He also said direct memory spending is now expected to a little more than double in 2026 from approximately $50 million last year. The company is pursuing mitigation efforts, including inventory acceleration, strategic partnerships and targeted price adjustments.
Despite those pressures, Motorola Solutions maintained its expectation for full-year operating margin expansion of 100 basis points, with improvement in both segments. The company also continues to expect approximately $3 billion of operating cash flow for the full year.
For the second quarter, Motorola Solutions expects sales growth of approximately 8.5% and non-GAAP EPS of $3.82 to $3.88.
About Motorola Solutions NYSE: MSI
Motorola Solutions, Inc is a provider of mission-critical communications and analytics solutions for public safety and commercial customers. The company designs, manufactures and supports a range of communications equipment and software aimed at enabling first responders, government agencies and enterprises to coordinate and operate reliably in high-pressure environments. Its offerings emphasize secure, resilient connectivity and situational awareness for organizations that require dependable voice, data and video communications.
Product lines include land mobile radio (LMR) systems and handheld and vehicle-mounted radios used by police, fire and emergency medical services; broadband push-to-talk and LTE-based solutions; command-and-control center software for incident management and records; and video security and analytics systems.
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