Carvana Tops 200,000 Quarterly Units, Will Stop Issuing Financial Outlooks

Carvana sold more than 200,000 cars in a single quarter for the first time, the online used-car retailer said Wednesday, and it told investors it will stop issuing quarterly and annual financial outlooks after its next earnings call.

Retail units sold rose 39% to a record 217,385 in the third quarter, and revenue jumped 42% to $8.040 billion, according to the shareholder letter and press release Carvana filed with an 8-K on Wednesday. The company said the broader industry was approximately flat compared with a year earlier.

Record profit, thinner margins per car

Net income rose by $220 million to $483 million, lifting the net income margin to 6.0% from 4.7%. Diluted earnings were 39 cents per Class A share. The quarter included a $53 million loss on the early redemption of Carvana's senior secured notes due 2030, while the year-ago period was hit by $120 million tied to changes in the fair value of warrants.

GAAP operating income reached a record $714 million, but operating margin narrowed to 8.9% from 9.8%. Adjusted EBITDA rose by $163 million to a record $800 million, while adjusted EBITDA margin fell to 10.0% from 11.3%.

Total gross profit per unit fell $365 to $6,997. Carvana attributed the decline mainly to its decision to offer customers lower loan rates relative to benchmark rates and to lower wholesale profit per unit, and it estimated that elevated fuel prices and rapidly rising benchmark interest rates cost about $200 per unit in the quarter.

"In the last two years, we have doubled the number of customers we serve while continuing to lead the industry in unit economics," founder and CEO Ernie Garcia said in the release.

Outlook, then no more outlooks

For the fourth quarter, Carvana expects a sequential increase in retail units sold and full-year adjusted EBITDA in the higher end of its previously communicated range of $2.7 billion to $3.0 billion, as long as the environment remains stable.

Beginning with its fourth-quarter 2026 earnings call, the company said it does not plan to provide quarterly or annual financial outlooks and will instead focus on progress toward longer-term goals.

A shift to GAAP targets

In 2027, Carvana plans to move its primary reporting focus from non-GAAP metrics to GAAP figures such as operating income and net income. It will restate its mid-term goal as selling 3 million retail units a year at a 12.5% operating margin between 2030 and 2035, which it views as equivalent to its current 13.5% adjusted EBITDA margin target.

Building capacity

Carvana integrated retail production at two more ADESA auction sites in the quarter, bringing the total to 21, and began construction on two additional full buildouts, with three now underway and expected to begin production in 2027. The company said its footprint supports fully built-out capacity of about 1.5 million retail units a year, with real estate for 3 million.

It also recently began offering new vehicles on its website from its seven Stellantis franchise dealerships.

Sources

1. Carvana Form 8-K with third-quarter 2026 shareholder letter (Exhibit 99.1) and press release (Exhibit 99.2), filed Oct. 28, 2026 (accession 0001690820-26-000066)

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