Moody's Investors Service has reaffirmed its Ba2 corporate family rating for Garrett Motion Inc., and at the same time shifted the rating outlook to positive from stable. The rating agency also maintained the Ba2-PD probability of default rating and upheld its ratings on several funded instruments, including the Ba1 ratings on the backed senior secured term loan due 2032 and the backed senior secured revolving credit facility due 2030, along with a B1 rating on the backed senior unsecured notes maturing in 2032.
In explaining the action, Moody's pointed to Garrett Motion's operating results in 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, which outperformed the agency's expectations and produced improved credit metrics on a Moody's-adjusted basis. The company recorded net sales of $3,584 million in 2025 and reported $985 million in revenue in Q1 2026 - the latter representing a 12% increase versus the comparable quarter a year earlier.
Management also raised the top end of its full-year 2026 guidance, now targeting net sales between $3.6 billion and $3.9 billion and company-adjusted EBIT in a range of $520 million to $600 million. Moody's highlighted the margin progression at Garrett Motion: Moody's-adjusted EBIT margin rose from 12.3% in 2024 to 13.5% in 2025, and reached 14.1% on a last-twelve-month basis through Q1 2026.
Leverage has moved in a favourable direction on Moody's metrics. The firm's Moody's-adjusted gross debt to EBITDA ratio fell from 2.9x in 2024 to 2.4x for the last twelve months through Q1 2026, a decline Moody's said was supported by growing EBITDA and roughly $50 million of voluntary debt repayments made in 2025. Garrett Motion generated sizable Moody's-adjusted free cash flow of $295 million in 2025 and $299 million on an LTM Q1 2026 basis.
Moody's also noted that Garrett Motion is becoming less dependent on the traditional cyclicality of automotive production as the company grows exposure to commercial vehicle, industrial and aftermarket end-markets. Sales to commercial vehicle and industrial customers increased sharply, with Q1 2026 sales in those segments up 17% year-over-year, while aftermarket sales rose 16% in Q1 2026. The company added a second commercial vehicle E-Powertrain production award in China, and won a production award for its industrial E-Cooling compressor aimed at battery energy storage systems.
Garrett Motion's liquidity position at the end of March 2026 remained solid. The company held $142 million of unrestricted cash and retained full access to an undrawn $630 million revolving credit facility that matures in January 2030. Its funded debt profile includes a $635 million outstanding senior secured term loan due January 2032 and $800 million of 7.75% senior unsecured notes that mature in May 2032. In Q1 2026 the company returned $87 million to shareholders through share repurchases.
Takeaway - Moody's affirmed Garrett Motion's existing ratings while upgrading the outlook to positive, reflecting better-than-expected sales growth, expanding margins, falling leverage on Moody's-adjusted metrics, sustained free cash flow and a strategic shift toward more diversified end-markets.