DuPont sold a little more and booked a lot more profit.
Revenue rose 4% to $1.8 billion in the three months ended June 30, while net income jumped 142% to $143 million. Diluted earnings per share rose even faster, helped by a 2.2% reduction in diluted shares.
The less tidy part is where the earnings came from. Net margin widened to 7.9% from 3.4%, but the company says the jump was driven largely by non-cash swap accounting and a favorable foreign-exchange comparison, not by a matching surge in the operating business.
DuPont put the accounting effect plainly:
"The increase in income was primarily driven by the absence of a non-cash mark-to-market loss related to the 2022 Swaps and 2024 Swaps, as well as foreign exchange gains in 2026 compared to losses in the prior-year period."
(DuPont 10-[Q](https://jodie.ai/t/Q), Aug. 4, 2026)
That makes the 142% profit increase a poor shorthand for the 4% sales increase. The reported result is real, but part of the year-over-year comparison reflects what did not happen this time: a swap loss.
The operating figures were steadier. DuPont reported operating EBITDA of $258 million for the three months, up 4%, citing organic growth and manufacturing productivity, with growth investments offsetting some of the gain.
The company also linked lower interest expense to the 2025 Electronics Separation and changes in its capital structure:
"The decrease in interest expense from the prior year for both periods is primarily due to the changes in capital structure during 2025 as a result of the Electronics Separation, partially offset by a reduction in capitalized interest and interest expense from the interest rate swap."
DuPont 10-Q, Aug. 4, 2026
So the filing describes three separate contributors to the wider margin: operating improvement, lower financing expense, and more favorable market-accounting and foreign-exchange effects. They do not have the same durability, and the 10-Q does not turn them into one clean growth rate.
Working capital adds another wrinkle. Inventory fell 47.3%, from $2.3 billion to $1.2 billion, and DuPont said higher earnings and improvements in net working capital lifted operating cash flow. Cash still declined 5.3% to $1.7 billion. The filing does not disclose why the cash balance fell despite the working-capital improvement.
That combination matters because inventory is one of the few balance-sheet figures that moved dramatically in the period, while operating EBITDA moved in the single digits. The cash balance does not provide a simple mirror image of that improvement.
DuPont's annual record supplies some context without resolving it: revenue was $6.8 billion in 2025, up 1.9%, while net margin was negative 11.4%. The latest three months therefore sit inside a business with modest recent sales growth and unusually volatile bottom-line comparisons.
DuPont's next quarterly report will provide the next inventory balance, the clearest factual comparison for whether the $1.1 billion reduction is continuing.
The unresolved tension is simple: DuPont's operating business improved modestly, while reported profit improved dramatically for reasons that reach well below sales.
Source: DuPont's 2026 second-quarter 10-Q, filed Aug. 4, 2026.