Key Highlights

● Knowles rose to $34.96 after hours on October 22.

● Revenue of $184 million beat the $172.1 million expected.

● Adjusted earnings of $0.38 a share beat the $0.36 consensus.

● Fourth-quarter revenue guidance midpoint of $185 million topped the $174.6 million projected.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) rose after the bell on Thursday, October 22, 2026, after the maker of audio and precision electronic components reported third-quarter results that beat forecasts and gave an upbeat outlook. The stock, listed on the NYSE Composite, climbed to $34.96 in after-hours trading.

A beat on both lines

Knowles reported third-quarter revenue of $184 million, well ahead of the $172.1 million analysts had expected. Adjusted earnings came to $0.38 per share, beating the $0.36 consensus.

Revenue grew strongly from a year earlier, with management saying total company revenue grew by about a fifth year over year in the quarter.

Guidance tops forecasts

The outlook was arguably the bigger story. Knowles guided for fourth-quarter revenue with a midpoint of $185 million, compared with the $174.6 million analysts had projected. Its earnings guidance midpoint of $0.41 per share was also above the $0.38 consensus.

A forecast that beats expectations on both revenue and profit tends to be welcomed by investors, because it suggests that the strength in the third quarter is not a one-off.

Knowles makes microphones, speakers and other acoustic components, as well as specialty capacitors and radio frequency filters used in medical devices, defense and industrial equipment. Its products often sit deep inside larger systems, so its results can offer a read on demand across several end markets.

Bucking a tough day for hardware

The results arrived after a punishing regular session for technology hardware. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index suffered its biggest one-day drop since June 23 after Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX)'s outlook cited supply constraints and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) reported heavy spending on artificial intelligence.

Component makers were caught in the selling. Amphenol (NYSE:APH), Corning (NYSE:GLW) and Keysight (NYSE:KEYS) all fell sharply during the session, and Vishay Intertechnology (NYSE:VSH) was among the decliners on the NYSE Composite.

The Nasdaq Composite fell 694.00 points to 26,008.86, its steepest drop since June 5, while the S&P 500 lost 93.74 points to 7,663.43, its worst day since July.

The market was more resilient than the headline indexes suggested. About two of every three S&P 500 stocks rose, according to market reports, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 11.89 points to 52,867.98. Consumer staples and health care hit record highs, and Treasuries rallied, pushing the 10-year yield back below a closely watched threshold for the first time since September 22.

Volume was heavy, too, with 18.79 billion shares changing hands across US exchanges, compared with an average of 17.19 billion over the prior 20 sessions, according to market data. Several other companies, including Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) and Comfort Systems USA (NYSE:FIX), also reported after the bell, though their shares moved lower.

Knowles Faces Friday's Open

The first question is whether Knowles holds its after-hours gain when regular trading resumes on Friday, October 23.

Investors will also look for more detail on which end markets are driving growth and how the company expects demand to hold up into 2027. The broader direction of technology hardware stocks may depend on whether the selloff in chip and AI names extends, with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) reporting results on October 28 and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) on October 29.