Carvana posted a strong first quarter across the board — but Wall Street wasn’t impressed enough to hold the gains.
$CVNA (Carvana) #earnings are out: pic.twitter.com/qdPKULMtVp
— The Earnings Correspondent (@earnings_guy) April 29, 2026
The online used-car retailer reported Q1 revenue of $6.43 billion, up 52% from $4.2 billion a year ago and well ahead of the $6.12 billion consensus estimate. Net income came in at $405 million, up from $373 million in the same period last year.
Adjusted EBITDA reached $672 million, beating the $646 million analyst estimate. EPS landed at $1.69, up from $1.51 a year ago.
Carvana sold 187,393 vehicles at retail during the quarter — a 40% jump from a year earlier and above Wall Street’s forecast of 181,839 units.
CVNA stock jumped more than 6% in premarket trading following the Wednesday evening release, but those gains quickly evaporated. By early Thursday, the stock was trading at around $387, down roughly 3%.
Despite the top-line strength, margin metrics drew scrutiny. Adjusted EBITDA margin came in at 10.4%, down from 11.5% a year ago.
Gross profit per unit was $6,783 — just shy of Wall Street estimates and $155 below the $6,938 recorded in Q1 2025.
Higher vehicle reconditioning costs were a key drag. Lower shipping revenue and a decline in wholesale gross profit also weighed on per-unit profitability.
Wells Fargo analyst David Lantz acknowledged the pressure but struck a measured tone, noting the company is “making progress on centralizing planning and decision-making, building better tools, leveraging AI and strengthening training and workforce development.”
Carvana said it has introduced AI-integrated internal tools and improved labor training to tackle the reconditioning cost problem. “So far in Q2, we are beginning to see the impact of these efforts,” the company said.
For Q2, Carvana guided for a sequential increase in both retail units sold and adjusted EBITDA. It also reaffirmed its full-year outlook for “strong growth” in both metrics.
The company repeated its longer-term target: 3 million annual retail vehicle sales at a 13.5% adjusted EBITDA margin, to be reached sometime between 2030 and 2035.
Gordon Haskett analyst Robert Mollins called it “a solid quarter from a topline perspective,” adding that management should “sustain topline growth well above publicly traded dealership peers over the next few years.”
Before the print, Morgan Stanley flagged potential headwinds including inflation, interest rates, labor market softness, and rising fuel costs.
The used-car market has held up well regardless. With average new vehicle prices hovering around $50,000, buyers have continued turning to the pre-owned market.
CVNA stock has gained 67% over the past 12 months but remains down 6% year-to-date. Coming into earnings, it had rallied 36% over the prior month alone.
A 5-for-1 stock split, approved by the board in March, is set to make the stock more accessible to retail investors and employees.
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