Carvana Q3 2026 earnings: record sales, but profit per car cools
Carvana posted record quarterly vehicle sales and revenue in Q3 2026, though profit per share missed estimates; shares rose as the company raised its full-year outlook.
| Q3 2026 | Reported | Expected | Surprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| EPS | $0.39 | $0.45 | -13.0% |
| Revenue | $8.04B | $7.84B | +2.6% |
Key takeaways
- Revenue came in above Wall Street’s forecast, while earnings per share fell short of the analyst estimate — a split result where sales grew faster than bottom-line profit this quarter.
- The online used-car retailer sold 217,385 vehicles in the quarter, up about 39% from a year earlier and the first time it has sold more than 200,000 vehicles in a single quarter, a sign of how much the business has scaled up.
- Even with record overall sales, the profit Carvana makes per vehicle (once financing, fees and other add-ons are counted) slipped about 5% from a year ago, and its adjusted profitability margin — a gauge of operating performance before certain non-cash costs — eased to 10.0% of revenue from 11.3% a year earlier. In short, Carvana sold more cars but earned a little less on each one, even though fast growth still pushed total adjusted profit to a record dollar amount.
- Net income was reduced by a one-time $53 million charge from paying off higher-cost debt early, a move aimed at cutting future interest expense but one that dented this quarter’s reported profit.
- Management raised its full-year adjusted profit outlook to the top of its previously announced $2.7-to-$3.0-billion range and said it expects vehicle sales to keep rising in the current quarter, assuming market conditions stay stable.
- Carvana also said that, starting with its next quarterly report, it plans to stop issuing detailed quarterly and annual financial guidance, a change from its past practice of giving investors specific targets.
- Despite the earnings-per-share miss, Carvana shares jumped sharply the day after the report, as investors focused on the record sales volume and the more upbeat full-year guidance.
- Looking at the trailing twelve months, Carvana’s gross, operating and net profit margins point to a company that has moved from heavy losses a few years ago to steady profitability, with revenue up more than 50% from a year earlier and a high return on shareholders’ equity — a broader turnaround that continued even as this quarter’s per-vehicle economics cooled slightly.
Fundamentals
| Metric | Value | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 19.4% | Trailing 12 months |
| Operating margin | 8.9% | Trailing 12 months |
| Net profit margin | 6.3% | Trailing 12 months |
| Pretax margin | -2.2% | Trailing 12 months |
| EPS | $5.61 | Trailing 12 months |
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 54.0% | Trailing 12 months |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 40.6% | Trailing 12 months |
| Return on equity | 46.6% | Trailing 12 months |
Sources: company report · Investing.com · Yahoo Finance