Johnson Controls International plc

Johnson Controls International plc is a global provider of commercial building technology — heating, ventilation, and air conditioning equipment, building controls, fire detection and suppression, and integrated security systems — that generated $23.6 billion in revenue from continuing operations in fiscal 2025. Headquartered in Cork, Ireland, and employing approximately 87,000 people worldwide, the company designs, manufactures, installs, and services the physical and digital infrastructure that keeps hospitals, data centers, airports, universities, and commercial towers running at precise operating conditions.

This is a story about an old-line industrial conglomerate attempting to become something simpler and more valuable. After a decade of acquisitions and divestitures that left Johnson Controls with one of the broadest portfolios in building technology, new CEO Joakim Weidemanis — who took over in 2025 — is betting that focus, a proprietary operating system, and a generational data center build-out can turn a reliable but unremarkable compounder into something that commands a premium multiple. The company has already shed its residential HVAC business and reorganized into three regional segments, and early results are encouraging: orders grew 30% in the most recent quarter and backlog hit a record $20 billion.

The file turns on a single question: whether the data center tailwind and Weidemanis's business system transformation can lift margins and growth sustainably enough to justify the roughly 27 times forward earnings multiple the market currently assigns — or whether the cycle will peak before the cultural change takes hold.