Data#3 Shares Hit New All-Time High on Upgraded Guidance

Data#3 shares (ASX:DTL) rallied strongly to new ATHs, as the company delivered a blockbuster guidance upgrade for the first half of FY27 that builds on what is turning out to be a breakout year for DTL bulls.

The Data#3 share price flew out of a halt at midday, hitting an all-time high of A$13.74, before profit-taking saw some of the gains trimmed by close, ultimately settling at A$12.63 for a 13.68% gain to start the month.

The session’s price action capped off a remarkable sentiment reversal across the calendar year. After a bruising first quarter that saw shares shed 26.44%, DTL has staged a powerful recovery, adding 48.12% in the second quarter and a further 12.79% in the third.

Driving DTL Shares To New Highs

The catalyst for the move was a guidance upgrade covering the first half of FY27, which management indicated will be materially ahead of prior expectations across both gross profit and pre-tax earnings.

On the gross profit line, Data#3 guided to growth of more than 15% year-on-year, taking the 1H FY27 figure to above A$165.5 million. That compares with a consensus estimate of approximately A$164.5 million, representing a beat of at least one percent. More striking was the profit before tax (PBT) upgrade, where the company guided to growth of more than 40% year-on-year, lifting 1H FY27 PBT to above A$46.9 million against a consensus expectation of A$39.1 million, a beat of more than 20%.

Several factors are driving the outperformance, with stronger-than-expected commercial activity across both the Infrastructure Solutions and Software Solutions segments a primary contributor, with a number of larger one-off client transactions materialising earlier than originally anticipated. The company also benefited from the timing of planned strategic investment expenditure, with a portion of that spend now expected to fall in the second half rather than the first. Additionally, interest income came in approximately A$1.5 million ahead of expectations, reflecting disciplined balance sheet management and the company’s strong cash generation profile.

The guidance revision carries an important structural implication for full-year modelling. Prior to the update, market consensus had assumed a second-half weighting for FY27 earnings, with 2H PBT of approximately A$49.0 million expected to exceed 1H PBT of around A$39.1 million. That assumption has now been inverted. With a meaningful portion of FY27’s profit already locked into the first half, the second half faces a higher base and the absence of the one-off and timing tailwinds that benefited 1H.

What Next

Management has indicated that a more detailed briefing will be provided at the company’s Annual General Meeting on 28 October 2026, with the full 1H FY27 financial results and interim dividend announcement scheduled for 22 February 2027.

The scale of the beat points to genuine operational momentum within Data#3’s core segments, and reinforces the broader investment thesis around durable enterprise IT spending in Australia. Cloud adoption, AI infrastructure buildout, and cybersecurity investment across government and corporate accounts have provided a supportive demand backdrop, and the company appears to be translating that demand into tangible earnings upside.

That said, a meaningful share of the 1H beat is attributable to factors that are unlikely to repeat in the second half. When the market recalibrates its full-year PBT expectations, the upgrade to 1H may be partially offset by a more conservative view of 2H, limiting the extent to which consensus full-year estimates move higher from here.

It has been a strong and sustained rebound after a difficult calendar Q1 for DTL holders, who will be eager to continue the trend through the end of the year. With the RSI stretched into overbought territory following the move (74.65), there may be some who are hesitant to load up here, particularly whilst the implications of 2H are digested.