OPLN

This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Revenue: Total revenues of $555 million, representing growth of 15%. Adjusted EBITDA: Consolidated adjusted EBITDA of $103 million, an increase of 19%. Gross Merchandise Value (GMV): Marketplace GMV grew 41% to $10.5 billion. Marketplace Adjusted EBITDA: $57 million, a 27% increase, with adjusted EBITDA margin of 13%. Finance Segment Adjusted EBITDA: $46.5 million, up 10%. Adjusted Free Cash Flow: Trailing 12-month adjusted free cash flow totaled $226 million, with a conversion rate of 62%. Dealer GMV: Grew 15% to $2.8 billion, with US dealer GMV up 58%. Commercial GMV: Increased 53% to $7.7 billion, with US commercial GMV up 69%. Auction and Related Revenues: $259 million, representing growth of 21%. Service and Other Revenues: $73 million, up 16%. Purchased Vehicle Sales: Grew 17% to $115 million. Average Receivables Managed: $2.6 billion, up 9%. Net Finance Margin: 12.8%, down 80 basis points. Annualized Provision for Credit Losses: 1.17%, a 42 basis point improvement from last year. Share Repurchases: Repurchased 602,000 shares at an average price of $36.39 in the quarter. Cash Balance: Ended the quarter with an unrestricted cash balance of $190 million. 2026 Guidance: Raised full-year 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance to a range of $385 million to $400 million. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 7 Warning Signs with OPLN. Is OPLN fairly valued? Test your thesis with our free DCF calculator. Release Date: August 04, 2026 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Openlane Inc (NYSE:OPLN) delivered strong Q2 results with consolidated revenue growth of 15% and adjusted EBITDA up 19% to $103 million, driven by robust marketplace performance. The company's marketplace segment saw significant growth, with overall vehicles sold up 27% and GMV increasing 41% to $10.5 billion, led by a 31% surge in US dealer-to-dealer volumes. Openlane Inc (NYSE:OPLN) raised its full-year 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance to $385-$400 million, reflecting strong momentum and confidence in its growth strategy. The finance segment, AFC, delivered another solid quarter with adjusted EBITDA up 10% to $46.5 million, while maintaining a low loan loss rate of 1.17%. The company's go-to-market investments are yielding positive returns, with six consecutive quarters of double-digit growth in new buyers, sellers, and unique vehicle listings in the US. Openlane Inc (NYSE:OPLN) is capitalizing on the cyclical recovery in off-lease supply, with commercial vehicle sales up 39% and a 75% increase in US open sale channel volumes. Openlane Inc (NYSE:OPLN) experienced significant margin pressure in its transportation business due to volatile and rising diesel prices, negatively impacting marketplace adjusted EBITDA margins by over 100 basis points. Elevated used vehicle values in Q2 slowed the flow of off-lease vehicles down the waterfall, temporarily stalling the expected improvement in commercial yields and mix. The company's Canadian dealer-to-dealer business saw a 15% decline in GMV, impacted by tough comparisons from tariff-related pull-forward effects in the prior year. Trailing twelve-month adjusted free cash flow conversion was 62%, below the expected 65-75% range, due to stronger-than-anticipated growth in the AFC receivable balance using approximately $45 million in cash. US commercial yields declined approximately 4 basis points to 0.63%, driven by an increase in consumer payoffs as the trend of declining lease equity temporarily stalled. Openlane Inc (NYSE:OPLN) expects US dealer growth rates to temper in the second half of 2026 due to more challenging year-over-year comparisons. Q: US dealer vehicles sold increased 31%, significantly outpacing the industry. Where are these share gains coming fromtraditional physical auctions or competing digital marketplaces?A: Peter Kelly (CEO): We view the gains as primarily coming from dealers adopting digital who previously used physical auctions. Physical auction dealer volumes in the US were slightly negative (low single-digit decline) in Q2, while ours grew 31%. We are seeing a secular shift from physical to digital, and Openlane is capturing the lion's share of that digital growth. We are leaning into additional investments to continue this trend. Q: You mentioned the impact on off-lease volumes from higher equity values. Can you quantify that impact and frame the quarter-over-quarter effect?A: Peter Kelly (CEO): Vehicle values increased substantially in Q1 and remained elevated in Q2. The equity in a typical off-lease vehicle increased by $3,000 to $4,000 between the end of Q1 and Q2, while declining by about $1,000 for a typical EV. This additional consumer equity arrested the expected decline in consumer payoffs, skewing the sales mix towards grounding dealer payoff sales rather than flowing down the waterfall. While total commercial volumes were strong (39% growth), the mix was impacted by these elevated values. Q: You are raising 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance. How much incremental expense is embedded in the revised outlook for the go-to-market investments?A: Brad Herring (CFO): We are making additional investments in the back half of the year given the strong trajectory from earlier waves. For the back half of 2026, think of a mid-single-digit range in terms of incremental expense. On an annualized basis, this will be more consistent with what we've discussed previously, in the mid-double-digits range. Q: When might the Canadian dealer-to-dealer market turn around?A: Peter Kelly (CEO): We are hopeful for improved performance in the second half of this year. We've been lapping tough comps in Q1 and Q2 driven by tariff-related pull-forward effects from last year. Our two-year growth number for dealer in Canada is still quite positive. The Canadian economy seems to be turning the corner, and my hope is that by the end of this year we are back in D2D growth mode, likely low single-digits. Q: With US dealer growth of 31% in a shrinking market, can you break down the driversnew business from go-to-market strategies, penetration with current customers, or the halo effect from the commercial/lease return business?A: Peter Kelly (CEO): The growth is roughly 50-50 between new buyers added in the last 12 months and growth with the existing cohort of buyers active for more than 12 months. On the sell side, growth with major dealer groups (Top 150) was even stronger than our headline growth. We are also leveraging the AFC network of independent dealers, with 60% now registered on Openlane. There is a long runway here, and we are not close to a finish line in terms of market share. Q: Is there a halo effect from the commercial/lease return business that gives you an advantage in winning dealer inventory?A: Peter Kelly (CEO): Yes, there is an indirect halo effect. When an OEM or captive finance company chooses us, it serves as a validation of our brand in the eyes of that franchise dealer network. It's a de facto endorsement. We don't directly connect the businesses, but it builds credibility, gives us insight into off-lease volumes, and those dealers are already set up on our system, making activation easy. We are now up to 75% of private label franchise dealers activated as buyers or sellers on the open marketplace. Q: Can you talk about the growth in SaaS and other revenue, including the repo business and the Canadian launch?A: Brad Herring (CFO) & Peter Kelly (CEO): Most of the increase was in the repo sector, driven by revamps in our repo businesses, remarketing, and software activity. The Canadian SaaS product (MyLot) is still in early stages and won't make the radar in terms of ARR yet, but we are ahead of internal projections with over 800 subscribers. The subscription includes access to the product, the Openlane Market Guide, and slightly discounted fees, aimed at creating a more predictable revenue stream and increasing share of wallet. Q: With the off-lease waterfall stalling due to higher equity, when will we see enough flow-through to pull volume away from physical and reconditioning channels into the online open sale?A: Peter Kelly (CEO): Our long-term view is unchangedconsumer payoffs will decline over time. Commercial volumes sold in the open sale were up 75% year-over-year, though from small numbers. Conversion rates are improving for many sellers. The key driver is getting the pricing equation right, not reconditioning. We have a liquid buyer base across all 48 states; any vehicle priced right will attract interest. Buyers recognize overpriced cars immediately and move on. Q: As you evaluate new dealers joining the platform, what are the top 2-3 reasons they are choosing Openlane?A: Peter Kelly (CEO): Word-of-mouth feedback from other dealers is significant, driven by our strong NPS scores. Our sales team effectively argues that dealers missing out on digital are missing significant inventory and buyer audiences. We use data to make this argument and offer low-risk trials with buy fee credits. The message resonating is: "If I'm not doing this, I'm missing out." Dealers recognize that a portion of the audience has moved digital and they need to work in both environments. Q: Does making arbitration easier risk driving more arbitrage claims, and how do you manage that?A: Peter Kelly (CEO): We want to make arbitration easy but not encourage excessive claims. We offer buyer and seller protection programs, and we use data to monitor usage. If a dealer files claims on 4 out of 10 cars, we have a conversation. The new mobile tool includes an AI layer that tells dealers if they have a legitimate claim or need more information before submitting, helping to filter out frivolous claims. Q: With your significant share gains, how do you think about competitor responsewill they ratchet up competition with promotions or aggressive pricing?A: Peter Kelly (CEO): We operate in a competitive market and For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

OPENLANE (OPLN) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.4 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.35 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.33 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +14.29%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this used and salvaged vehicle auctioneer would post earnings of $0.32 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.35, delivering a surprise of +9.38%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times. OPENLANE, which belongs to the Zacks Automotive - Original Equipment industry, posted revenues of $554.6 million for the quarter ended June 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 6.35%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $481.7 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four times over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. OPENLANE shares have added about 38.3% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 11%. While OPENLANE has outperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for OPENLANE was favorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to outperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.38 on $534.75 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $1.31 on $2.11 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year. Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Automotive - Original Equipment is currently in the bottom 27% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1. One other stock from the same industry, XPEL, Inc. (XPEL), is yet to report results for the quarter ended June 2026. The results are expected to be released on August 5. This company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.61 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +3.4%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. XPEL, Inc.'s revenues are expected to be $133.51 million, up 7.1% from the year-ago quarter. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report OPENLANE, Inc. (OPLN) : Free Stock Analysis Report XPEL, Inc. (XPEL) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Marketplace commercial vehicles sold growth of 39% YoY Marketplace dealer vehicles sold growth of 13% YoY, driven by 31% growth in US dealer vehicles sold Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of approximately $10.5 billion, representing 41% YoY growth Revenue of $555 million, representing 15% YoY growth, driven by 21% growth in auction and related fees Net income of $44 million, representing 33% YoY growth Adjusted EBITDA of $103 million, representing 19% YoY growth Cash flow from operating activities of $53 million CARMEL, Ind., Aug. 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE: OPLN), today reported its second quarter financial results for the period ended June 30, 2026. "OPENLANE's strong performance in the second quarter clearly demonstrates the powerful growth engine this company has built," said Peter Kelly, CEO of OPENLANE. "We grew consolidated revenue by 15%, delivered $103 million in Adjusted EBITDA, and increased marketplace GMV by 41% to $10.5 billion. Our commercial business is benefitting from the early stages of the off-lease inflection, and we grew US dealer volumes by over 30%, significantly outperforming the industry. I am pleased to raise OPENLANE's 2026 consolidated Adjusted EBITDA guidance and confident in our ability to continue accelerating this positive momentum." "OPENLANE remains well positioned in the market, and we are executing a strategy that is delivering results across the company," said Brad Herring, EVP and CFO of OPENLANE. "AFC continued to fuel the marketplace and contributed $46 million in Adjusted EBITDA. Our technology teams are releasing innovative features and new revenue-generating products and services. And as our 2025 go-to-market investments ramp towards full capacity, we are leaning into additional investments in 2026 based on that success." 2026 Guidance The company is updating its annual guidance to the following: Earnings guidance does not contemplate future items such as business development activities, strategic developments (such as restructurings, spin-offs or dispositions of assets or investments), contingent purchase price adjustments, significant expenses related to litigation, tax adjustments, adverse changes in the value of foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar, changes in applicable laws and regulations (including significant accounting, tax and trade matters) and intangible impairments. The timing and amounts of these items are highly variable, difficult to predict, and of a potential size that could have a substantial impact on the company's reported results for any given period. See reconciliations of the company's guidance included below. Earnings Conference Call InformationOPENLANE will be hosting an earnings conference call and webcast on Tuesday, August 4, 2026 at 8:30 a.m. ET. The conference call may be accessed by calling 1-833-634-2155 and asking to join the OPENLANE call. A live webcast will be available at the investor relations section of corporate.openlane.com. Supplemental financial information for OPENLANE's second quarter 2026 results is available at the investor relations section of corporate.openlane.com. The archive of the webcast will be available following the call at the investor relations section of corporate.openlane.com for a limited time. About OPENLANEOPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE: OPLN) makes wholesale easy by connecting the leading automotive manufacturers, dealers, rental companies, fleet operators, captive finance and lending institutions as buyers and sellers to create the most advanced digital marketplace for used vehicles. Our innovative products and services deliver a fast, fair and transparent experience that helps customers make smarter decisions and achieve better outcomes. Headquartered in Carmel, Indiana, OPENLANE has employees across the United States, Canada, Europe, Uruguay and the Philippines. For more information and the latest OPENLANE news, visit corporate.openlane.com. Forward-Looking StatementsCertain statements contained in this release include, and the company may make related oral, "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and which are subject to certain risks, trends and uncertainties. In particular, statements made that are not historical facts (including but not limited to statements regarding our growth opportunities and strategies, industry outlook, competitive position, business and investment plans and initiatives, the impact of macroeconomic conditions, tariffs and global trade policy, and 2026 financial guidance) may be forward-looking statements. Words such as "should," "may," "will," "would," "anticipate," "expect," "project," "intend," "contemplate," "plan," "believe," "seek," "estimate," "assume," "can," "could," "continue," "of the opinion," "confident," "is set," "is on track," "outlook," "target," "position," "predict," "initiative," "goal," "opportunity" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on management's current assumptions, expectations and/or beliefs, are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to substantial risks, uncertainties and changes that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results projected, expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the company's annual and quarterly periodic reports, and in the company's other filings and reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release. The company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. OPENLANE, Inc. Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Free Cash Flow, Adjusted Free Cash Flow, Operating adjusted income and Operating adjusted income per diluted share (or "Operating Adjusted EPS") as presented herein are supplemental measures of our performance and liquidity that are not required by, or presented in accordance with, generally accepted accounting principles in the United States ("GAAP"). The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for, or superior to, financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. Management believes that these measures provide investors additional meaningful methods to evaluate certain aspects of OPENLANE's results period over period and for the other reasons set forth below. EBITDA is defined as net income (loss), plus interest expense net of interest income, income tax provision (benefit), depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA is EBITDA adjusted for the items of income and expense and expected incremental revenue and cost savings as described in our senior secured credit agreement covenant calculations. Management believes that the inclusion of supplementary adjustments to EBITDA applied in presenting Adjusted EBITDA is appropriate to provide additional information to investors about one of the principal measures of performance used by our creditors. In addition, management uses EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA to evaluate our performance. Free Cash Flow is defined as net cash provided by operating activities, less purchases of property, equipment and computer software. Adjusted Free Cash Flow is Free Cash Flow adjusted for the cash portion of EBITDA addbacks to calculate Adjusted EBITDA, the net change in finance receivables held for investment and the net change in obligations collateralized by finance receivables. Management uses Adjusted Free Cash Flow to measure the funds generated in a given period that are available for capital allocation. Operating adjusted income is defined as net income (loss) adjusted for acquired amortization expense, gains/losses on sale of property or businesses, impairments to goodwill or other intangible assets and certain other non-recurring items. Amortization expense associated with acquired intangible assets is not representative of ongoing capital expenditures but has a continuing effect on our reported results. Management believes Operating adjusted income provides comparability to other companies that may not have incurred these types of non-cash expenses or that report a similar measure. Operating Adjusted EPS represents Operating adjusted income divided by weighted average diluted shares, with preferred shares treated as converted for the entire period. EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Free Cash Flow, Adjusted Free Cash Flow, Operating adjusted income and Operating Adjusted EPS have limitations as analytical tools, and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of the results as reported under GAAP. These non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. The following tables reconcile net income to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA for the periods presented: The following table reconciles net cash provided by operating activities to Free Cash Flow and Adjusted Free Cash Flow for the periods presented: The following table reconciles net income to Operating adjusted income and Operating Adjusted EPS for the periods presented: The following table reconciles net income to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA for the 2026 guidance presented: The following table reconciles net income to Operating adjusted income and Operating Adjusted EPS for the 2026 guidance presented: View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/openlane-inc-reports-second-quarter-2026-financial-results-302841797.html

Visteon (VC) came out with quarterly earnings of $1.91 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.23 per share. This compares to earnings of $2.39 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of -14.35%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this auto parts supplier would post earnings of $1.96 per share when it actually produced earnings of $1.65, delivering a surprise of -15.82%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates two times. Visteon, which belongs to the Zacks Automotive - Original Equipment industry, posted revenues of $960 million for the quarter ended June 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.32%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $969 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates three times over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. Visteon shares have added about 8.5% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 9.6%. While Visteon has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Visteon was favorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to outperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $2.36 on $929.44 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $8.67 on $3.8 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year. Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Automotive - Original Equipment is currently in the bottom 37% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1. Another stock from the same industry, OPENLANE (OPLN), has yet to report results for the quarter ended June 2026. The results are expected to be released on August 4. This used and salvaged vehicle auctioneer is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.31 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -6.1%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. OPENLANE's revenues are expected to be $521.51 million, up 8.3% from the year-ago quarter. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Visteon Corporation (VC) : Free Stock Analysis Report OPENLANE, Inc. (OPLN) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

OPENLANE’s first quarter results for 2026 surpassed Wall Street expectations, which was reflected in a positive market reaction. Management attributed the company’s strong performance primarily to robust growth in its digital marketplace, increased dealer and commercial vehicle volumes, and a favorable spring market. CEO Peter Kelly highlighted that OPENLANE’s dealer-to-dealer transactions in the U.S. grew in the upper 20% range, significantly outpacing the broader industry, while the company also benefited from higher used vehicle values and expanding network effects among buyers and sellers. Is now the time to buy OPLN? Find out in our full research report (it’s free). Revenue: $527.9 million vs analyst estimates of $492.3 million (14.7% year-on-year growth, 7.2% beat) Adjusted EPS: $0.35 vs analyst estimates of $0.30 (15.8% beat) Adjusted EBITDA: $96.7 million vs analyst estimates of $87.12 million (18.3% margin, 11% beat) Management raised its full-year Adjusted EPS guidance to $1.35 at the midpoint, a 3.1% increase EBITDA guidance for the full year is $375 million at the midpoint, above analyst estimates of $363.7 million Operating Margin: 14%, up from 11.2% in the same quarter last year Market Capitalization: $3.93 billion While we enjoy listening to the management's commentary, our favorite part of earnings calls are the analyst questions. Those are unscripted and can often highlight topics that management teams would rather avoid or topics where the answer is complicated. Here is what has caught our attention. Bob Labick (CJS Securities) asked about the ongoing impact of the new commercial customer and whether volumes would remain elevated. CEO Peter Kelly clarified the customer’s onboarding was nearly a full quarter and expects continued positive volume, but not a recurring step function each quarter. Craig Kennison (Baird) inquired about the decline in yield and the implications of the repeal of Canada’s digital service tax. CFO Brad Herring explained that yield changes were primarily due to geographic mix, and the tax repeal should add $5.5–6 million in annual savings. Jeffrey Lick (Stephens Inc.) questioned the sustainability of dealer-to-dealer outperformance and whether increased lease returns create a halo effect. Kelly confirmed network effects are compounding and that higher lease returns are attracting more franchise dealers to the platform. John Babcock (Barclays) asked about the risk that off-lease volumes stay with grounding dealers rather than flowing into OPENLANE. Kelly responded that while payoffs can influence flow, the overall trend is for more units to reach OPENLANE’s marketplace due to rising maturities. John Healy (Northcoast Research) probed the growth strategy for AFC, OPENLANE’s finance segment. Kelly emphasized a risk-managed approach, focusing on quality growth and cross-pollination between AFC and marketplace users, rather than pursuing high growth at the expense of risk discipline. In coming quarters, the StockStory team will be monitoring (1) the pace of off-lease vehicle supply recovery and its effect on transaction volumes, (2) the adoption and monetization of new AI-powered and SaaS products across U.S. and Canadian markets, and (3) the ability of OPENLANE to sustain margin expansion amid changing macroeconomic and industry conditions. Cross-segment synergies between the marketplace and finance businesses will also be a key area of focus. OPENLANE currently trades at $37.07, up from $32.06 just before the earnings. In the wake of this quarter, is it a buy or sell? See for yourself in our full research report (it’s free for active Edge members). ALSO WORTH WATCHING: Top 5 Momentum Stocks. The best time to own a great stock is when the market is finally noticing it. These aren't just high-quality businesses. Something is happening with them right now. Elite fundamentals meeting near-term momentum - both boxes checked at the same time. Find out which stocks our AI platform is flagging this week. See this week's Strong Momentum stocks - FREE. Get Our Strong Momentum Stocks for Free HERE. Stocks that have made our list include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,326% between June 2020 and June 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-small-cap company Exlservice (+354% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.

A week ago, OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:OPLN) came out with a strong set of first-quarter numbers that could potentially lead to a re-rate of the stock. The company beat forecasts, with revenue of US$528m, some 7.1% above estimates, and statutory earnings per share (EPS) coming in at US$0.35, 46% ahead of expectations. This is an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance in its report, look at what experts are forecasting for next year, and see if there has been any change to expectations for the business. With this in mind, we've gathered the latest statutory forecasts to see what the analysts are expecting for next year. AI is about to change healthcare. These 20 stocks are working on everything from early diagnostics to drug discovery. The best part - they are all under $10bn in marketcap - there is still time to get in early. After the latest results, the seven analysts covering OPENLANE are now predicting revenues of US$2.14b in 2026. If met, this would reflect a credible 6.7% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Earnings are expected to improve, with OPENLANE forecast to report a statutory profit of US$1.21 per share. In the lead-up to this report, the analysts had been modelling revenues of US$2.07b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.10 in 2026. There's been a pretty noticeable increase in sentiment, with the analysts upgrading revenues and making a nice gain to earnings per share in particular. View our latest analysis for OPENLANE With these upgrades, we're not surprised to see that the analysts have lifted their price target 12% to US$37.78per share. Fixating on a single price target can be unwise though, since the consensus target is effectively the average of analyst price targets. As a result, some investors like to look at the range of estimates to see if there are any diverging opinions on the company's valuation. The most optimistic OPENLANE analyst has a price target of US$42.00 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$31.00. Still, with such a tight range of estimates, it suggeststhe analysts have a pretty good idea of what they think the company is worth. Another way we can view these estimates is in the context of the bigger picture, such as how the forecasts stack up against past performance, and whether forecasts are more or less bullish relative to other companies in the industry. It's pretty clear that there is an expectation that OPENLANE's revenue growth will slow down substantially, with revenues to the end of 2026 expected to display 9.1% growth on an annualised basis. This is compared to a historical growth rate of 12% over the past five years. Juxtapose this against the other companies in the industry with analyst coverage, which are forecast to grow their revenues (in aggregate) 5.9% per year. So it's pretty clear that, while OPENLANE's revenue growth is expected to slow, it's still expected to grow faster than the industry itself. The biggest takeaway for us is the consensus earnings per share upgrade, which suggests a clear improvement in sentiment around OPENLANE's earnings potential next year. Pleasantly, they also upgraded their revenue estimates, and their forecasts suggest the business is expected to grow faster than the wider industry. There was also a nice increase in the price target, with the analysts clearly feeling that the intrinsic value of the business is improving. With that in mind, we wouldn't be too quick to come to a conclusion on OPENLANE. Long-term earnings power is much more important than next year's profits. We have estimates - from multiple OPENLANE analysts - going out to 2028, and you can see them free on our platform here. It is also worth noting that we have found 1 warning sign for OPENLANE that you need to take into consideration. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Image source: The Motley Fool. Tuesday, May 5, 2026 at 8:30 a.m. ET Chief Executive Officer — Peter Kelly Chief Financial Officer — Bradley Herring Peter Kelly: Thank you, Bill, and thank you, everyone, for joining the call today. I'm very pleased to report on OPENLANE's strong first quarter results and to provide you with an update on our strategy and our outlook. I'll begin with a few opening remarks, and then Brad will walk you through our financial and operational performance and our increased guidance for 2026. But before I turn to our results, I'd like to highlight that this week marks the 3-year anniversary of our rebrand to OPENLANE. As I stated at our March investor events, the rebrand was never about a new name or logo, it was about forging an entirely new company founded on a single purpose, which is to make wholesale easy so our customers can be more successful. Over the past 3 years, our investments, strategy and execution have delivered on that commitment and reinforced several key pillars of differentiation for OPENLANE, including the leading commercial off-lease solution that connects thousands of franchise dealers into our marketplace. a dealer business that is outpacing the industry and capturing meaningful market share, a high-performing finance business that is synergistic with our marketplace, an accelerating network effect of new buyers, sellers, listings and transactions and a winning culture and team that I consider to be the very best in the industry. The performance and outcomes OPENLANE is delivering are the direct result of the strategy we began executing 3 years ago. And I believe our first quarter results are further evidence to OPENLANE's strength and differentiation in the market. During the first quarter, we continued to build on OPENLANE's positive momentum, growing consolidated revenue by 15% and delivering adjusted EBITDA of $97 million, a 17% increase. We also generated $160 million in cash flow from operations. These results were led by strong performance in the marketplace business with both commercial and dealer customers and solid contributions from our finance business. In the Marketplace segment, we grew overall vehicles sold by 19%, increased gross merchandise value by 32% to $9.1 billion and delivered $52 million in adjusted EBITDA, representing a 39% increase. In our dealer-to-dealer business, we grew vehicles sold by 13%, with similar geographic dynamics to those experienced in Q4 of 2025. In the United States, OPENLANE dealer-to-dealer transactions continue to accelerate with growth in the upper 20% range. This represents a significant outperformance of the industry and a meaningful gain in market share. Our go-to-market strategy in the U.S. is working and OPENLANE's unique inventory, technology advantage and superior customer experience are expanding our dealer network and compounding our growth in transactions. In Canada, we were pleased to see some improvement in the macroeconomic and automotive retail environment. And while Canadian dealer unit sales declined versus a strong prior year comp, we did see sequential improvement over Q4 of 2025. On the commercial vehicle side, the 25% increase in vehicles sold was driven in large part by the onboarding of our latest private label customer. Even excluding that step function increase, commercial vehicle sales grew by 6% during the quarter. This reinforces that the inflection of off-lease supply has officially begun, and we expect to see year-on-year growth in off-lease volumes throughout the remainder of 2026 and beyond. Moving to our Finance segment. AFC also had a good quarter, growing average receivables managed, holding the loan loss rate to 1.6% and generating $45 million in adjusted EBITDA. Now we do believe the industry experienced a strong spring market driven by higher-than-normal tax refunds and constrained supply paired with high consumer demand, which led to high conversion rates and appreciating asset values. That said, there is no question that OPENLANE's digital operating model is resonating in the market, and I am highly encouraged by the output of our investments and our focused execution. So now let me turn to our strategy and outlook. As I mentioned at the start of the call, our strategy is delivering results, and we remain committed to advancing our three strategic priorities. First, delivering the best marketplace, expanding our depth and breadth with more buyers and more sellers and offering the most diverse commercial and dealer inventory available. Second, delivering the best technology, innovative products and services that help our customers make informed decisions and achieve better outcomes. And third, delivering the best customer experience, keeping our marketplace fast, fair and transparent, making it easy for customers to transact and making OPENLANE the most preferred marketplace. And I'll touch on each of these in a little more detail. First, in terms of offering the best marketplace, we continue to make significant gains and drove another quarter of double-digit increases in new buyers, sellers and unique vehicles listed, each of which were up over 20% in the United States. Customer anticipation for the off-lease recovery is also driving more franchise dealers from our private label programs into OPENLANE's open sale. During the quarter, we nearly doubled the number of commercial vehicles sold in this higher-margin channel versus the prior year. And on the independent dealer side, AFC new dealer registrations also increased during the quarter, each of which also presents a new dealer opportunity for OPENLANE. At the end of Q1, approximately 54% of all AFC dealers were registered with OPENLANE. From a best technology perspective, we extended our technology advantage in the first quarter with our public release of OPENLANE Intelligence. OPENLANE Intelligence unifies our human and AI-enhanced capabilities to deliver actionable insights that improve customer decision-making. We see AI as a true enabler and accelerator of our digital solutions. And during the quarter, we released several new offerings and features that leverage our AI expertise and deep data resources. In Canada, we launched our new MyLot inventory management solution. Initial interest has exceeded our expectations with hundreds of early sign-ups, and we are optimistic about the potential of this subscription-based SaaS offering. Across the U.S. and Canada, we also released our new predictive pricing feature, the only technology in the industry that provides dealers with a forward-looking 30-day, 60-day, 90-day view into the anticipated value of every dealer vehicle offered on OPENLANE. And finally, in terms of providing the best customer experience, we are also leveraging our human and AI capabilities to streamline and enhance the customer experience, improve the consistency, accuracy and speed of arbitrations and to help address dealer inquiries as quickly as possible. At the end of Q1, our transactional NPS scores across all geographies sits squarely in the excellent range with our U.S. seller NPS achieving the highest scores, indicating exceptional customer loyalty and brand satisfaction. So as we look into the remainder of 2026, while we cannot count on an industry environment as strong as Q1, there is still a lot of opportunity for OPENLANE. We are continuing to build momentum, and I'm very optimistic about our ability to execute our strategy with precision. As our 2025 go-to-market investments in dealer-to-dealer continue to ramp up towards full productivity, we remain focused on increasing market share and wallet share. As stated earlier, we expect off-lease supply to scale up throughout the year, and OPENLANE will be a primary beneficiary of this cyclical recovery. Our Canadian business is leveraging its strong market position to introduce new revenue-generating products and services. Used vehicle values significantly appreciated in Q1 and remained strong. This is a positive for the marketplace and for AFC, though any sharp decline in used vehicle values could lead to a higher risk environment for floor plan financers. And while no industry is immune to geopolitical or macroeconomic events, we have not seen a material industry impact from fuel prices, new and used vehicle affordability, chip production or any other external factors that we monitor. So just to summarize, OPENLANE remains well positioned to capture the opportunities ahead, and we're executing a strategy that is delivering results, winning customers and outpacing the industry. Because of that, I believe the key elements of our value proposition for investors remain very compelling. OPENLANE is a highly scalable digital marketplace leader focused on making wholesale easy for automotive dealers, manufacturers and commercial sellers. There is a large addressable market for our services, and OPENLANE is uniquely well positioned with commercial customers and franchise and independent dealers. Our customer surveys and third-party research indicate we are the most preferred pure-play digital marketplace in the industry. Our technology advantage is a competitive differentiator. Our floor plan finance business, AFC, is a high-performing business that is synergistic with the marketplace. We generate significant cash flow and have a strong balance sheet. And we believe our business has the capability to deliver meaningful growth, profitability and cash generation over the next several years. So with that, I will now turn the call over to Brad. Bradley Herring: Thanks, Peter. Good morning to everyone for joining us today. On behalf of our management team and all of our employees, we are very proud to report a record quarter for OPENLANE. For the quarter, we transacted more GMV, sold more vehicles, generated more revenue and produced more adjusted EBITDA than any quarter in our company's history as a digital marketplace. These results would not be possible without the tireless commitment and stellar execution of our nearly 5,000 employees that work every day to make wholesale easy for our customers. Before we dive into the financial results, I'd like to thank all of our investors and sell-side analysts that came to visit us in Fort Lauderdale for our Investor Day on March 3. During my remarks and Q&A today, I may reference selected slides we reviewed during our presentation. These slides can be found on the Investor Relations section of our website. Moving on to actual results. We reported total revenues of $528 million, which represents growth of 15%. Revenue growth in the quarter was exclusively driven by the results in the Marketplace segment, which I'll dive into more shortly. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $97 million, which represents an increase of 17%. I'll talk more about our adjusted EBITDA results within the discussions about each business segment. Consistent with previous quarters, we will be discussing adjusted free cash flow metrics on a rolling 12-month basis due to the inherent volatility in our quarterly cash flow numbers. For the trailing 12 months, our adjusted free cash flow totaled $259 million, representing an adjusted free cash flow conversion rate of 75%. The 75% conversion rate is slightly above our expected range of 65% to 70% and reflects the strong cash generation of both our marketplace and financing businesses. As you may have heard, on March 26, the Canadian Parliament enacted a bill repealing the digital service tax or DST. This action resulted in a $17.3 million reduction to our marketplace cost of services. $15.9 million of the reduction represents prior period expenses that have been removed from our current quarter adjusted EBITDA calculation, while the remaining $1.4 million is reflected as an in-quarter expense savings. Moving to the performance of our business segments, I'll start with the marketplace. In Q1, we transacted GMV totaling $9.1 billion, which represents growth of 32%. GMV growth in the dealer category was 20%, representing a 13% increase in vehicles sold and a 6% increase in average vehicle values. In the commercial category, the GMV growth of 38% was made up of a 25% increase in vehicles sold with an 11% increase in average values. Auction and related revenues were $242 million, which reflects growth of 22%. The primary driver of this growth was in the U.S. dealer category, where we saw a 38% increase in auction and related fees driven mostly by the strong vehicle sold performance that Peter mentioned earlier. In addition to the growth in vehicles sold, U.S. dealer GMV growth also included a 22% increase in average vehicle values, driven by a higher mix of sales from our large dealer group customers and an overall increase in wholesale auto prices. Exclusively due to the significant increase in average vehicle values, yields for the U.S. dealer business declined approximately 60 basis points from the 680 basis point to 700 basis point baseline range that we provided in our Investor Day materials. On a per vehicle sold basis, revenue generation in U.S. dealer improved by high single digits. Complementing our performance in the U.S. dealer business, auction and related fees in our U.S. commercial business were up 42%. GMV in the U.S. commercial business was up approximately 46% due largely to the successful launch of a returning private label customer as well as improvement in the lease return waterfall. Yields in the U.S. commercial business remained largely consistent with the baseline that we reviewed at Investor Day. SaaS and other revenues in the quarter were $68 million, which is up 1% due to increases in our subscription-based revenue streams. Rounding out the revenues in the Marketplace segment, our purchased vehicle sales grew 31% to $112 million. The variance was driven by the increase in U.S. vehicles sold as well as an increase in the average vehicle values in both U.S. and Europe. Adjusted EBITDA for the Marketplace segment was $52 million, which results in an adjusted EBITDA margin of 12%. That represents growth of 39% in adjusted EBITDA and 160 basis points of expansion in adjusted EBITDA margin. The year-over-year expansion in adjusted EBITDA margin was driven by the structural scaling effects of our digital platform and a higher mix of revenues coming from our U.S. commercial business that comes with an accretive variable contribution. In our Finance segment, the average outstanding receivables managed in the quarter was $2.4 billion, which is up 3%. Growth here was driven by a 3% increase in the average vehicle values, offset by a 1% decrease in transaction counts. Net yield for the quarter was 13.6%, which is down 30 basis points. The decrease was primarily attributable to a decrease in transaction fee yields driven by slightly lower transaction counts and increasing loan values. The Q1 provision for credit losses was 1.6%, which is consistent with our results from last quarter and 7 basis points higher than the same quarter last year. While recent performance has hovered in the mid-1% range, we continue to reiterate our targeted range of 1.5% to 2.0% for credit losses. The combination of the changes in the portfolio balance, the net yield and the loss provisions are an adjusted EBITDA for the Finance segment of $45 million, which was down 1%. With respect to capital considerations, I'll refer investors to Page 75 of the Investor Day deck where we laid out our objectives for capital deployment. To summarize that message, our first and foremost priority is to fund the organic growth of our business. That will be followed by share repurchases and finally, debt repayment. In addition to our investments in go-to-market, we repurchased 964,000 shares in the first quarter at an average price of $27.20. This represents the retirement of approximately 0.7% of our fully diluted share count that includes the assumed conversion of the remaining preferred shares. As we also mentioned in our Investor Day, we are considering debt repayment options, although investors should not expect to see any material paydowns to start until later in 2026 or early 2027. From a liquidity perspective, we ended the quarter with an unrestricted cash balance of $180 million and capacity of over $400 million on our existing revolver facilities. Moving along to our guidance. We are raising our full year expectations for adjusted EBITDA from a range of $350 million to $370 million to a range of $365 million to $385 million. The entire increase is coming from our Marketplace segment and is driven mostly by strong performances in both our U.S. dealer and U.S. commercial businesses. This revision also reflects the full year impact of the repeal of the Canadian DST that I mentioned earlier. Countering the strong performance in the marketplace, we remain cautious around downstream impact of evolving and volatile macro conditions. Sustained increases in fuel prices, the impact of rising auto prices on consumer affordability and subsequent impact on our customers and the automotive supply chain challenges are all front of mind as we look into the back half of 2026. With respect to our Finance segment, we maintain our previous guided position as the volatility and macro trends are largely offsetting the decreased likelihood of any rate cuts in 2026. To summarize, we're very pleased with our quarterly results and are proud to increase our full year 2026 projections. Our revised outlook represents strong momentum in both the dealer and commercial elements of our Marketplace segment, while at the same time reflecting on some potential challenges. We are also proud of our prudent balance between growth and risk management in our Finance segment. With that, I'll turn it over to the operator for questions. Operator: [Operator Instructions] The first question that we have comes from Bob Labick of CJS Securities. Bob Labick: Congratulations on a great start to 2026. Sure. So obviously, really strong performance on commercial volumes, and you mentioned the returning off-lease customer there. Can you tell us, was there a full impact from that customer? Meaning did you have it for the full quarter? Or do you get a little incremental benefit in Q2 as well? Just trying to figure out the kind of run rate from that and the impact kind of going forward? Peter Kelly: Yes, Bob, it launched mid-January. So it's pretty much a full quarter. But I guess, if you're doing precisely, there was an extra 2 weeks that wasn't live, but it was live for 11 weeks of the 13 weeks. Bob Labick: Okay. Great. And then kind of sticking with commercial, lots of EVs coming off lease and there's pretty significant negative equity on that side. How are they behaving in the OPENLANE auctions, EVs in general? And then similarly, how are the ICE vehicles that may still have a little bit of equity behaving? Just give us a sense as we see this divergence of off-lease coming on more EVs probably this year and more ICE next year? Peter Kelly: Yes. Thanks, Bob. Let me tackle it. I'll start with just the commercial overall, and then I'll go into the EV piece of it, if that's okay. Bob Labick: Right. Peter Kelly: So listen, really good quarter from commercial. As I said, 25% growth, a lot of growth in GMV as well. With a strong spring market, used vehicle values did go up about 7% by the end of the quarter relative to January 1. So GMV was strong. The new customer also had a premium vehicle portfolio that contributed to EV. But in addition to the sort of volume increase, we also saw an improved mix relative to a year ago. So relatively fewer payoffs across the portfolio, although payoffs remain abnormally high, but they've come down a little bit in percentage terms. And corresponding to that, an increase in sort of non-grounding and open sales, which are higher revenue, higher-margin transactions for us. So we saw an improved mix through the commercial funnel. I'm talking generally here, EV and ICE combined, okay? So listen, a lot of encouraging signs there. And again, feel really good about the setup for commercial vehicles through the balance of this year and into next year and beyond. Going specifically into EVs, yes, we certainly saw an increase in EV volumes in the first quarter. The good news is they're performing very well. Conversion rate for EVs is comparable to that for ICE vehicles. It varies a little bit by portfolio, which indicates certain sellers are adopting different strategies in terms of how to remarket them. But overall, conversion rates on EVs in our marketplace is very strong. If anything, we're seeing because of the equity situation on EVs, which is more negative, as you know, we're seeing even fewer payoffs, so almost no payoffs. So those cars are flowing deeper in the funnel. So relatively higher conversion of EVs in the nongrounding and open channels, which from a margin perspective is very good for us. So we're seeing good performance with EVs. Obviously, in the quarter as well, we saw the stuff in the Persian Gulf and oil prices, that has probably boosted EV demand at the retail level a bit. So if anything, I would say that demand has strengthened late in March and into April as well. So good positive momentum on EVs. And I think the real question is the seller has to be prepared to sort of acknowledge what the value of the car is in the marketplace as opposed to what is the residual value that they might have written on a contract 2 years or 3 years ago. But absent that, I feel really good about it. And as we're looking to the future, and again, I'll say this comment is more general. as commercial volumes are generally picking up, our commercial sellers are getting more and more interested in, okay, what techniques and plans can we put in place to maximize conversion and improve outcomes in the digital channel because it is such a fast channel. It's a low expense channel, but also a high price realization channel. So we're having very constructive discussions with many of our customers running pilots and various programs to drive adoption and drive conversion of the vehicles. Operator: The next question we have comes from Craig Kennison of Baird. Craig Kennison: I wanted to go to Slide 11, if I could, and just ask you, Brad, if you could just help us understand the yield dynamic in Q1, why it dropped and what the mix issues are that impacted that? Bradley Herring: Yes, perfect. This is Brad. I'll take that. So yes, if you look at the yield, you're talking about on the commercial side where the yield drop. So it's a mix issue. If you think about -- when we talked about at Investor Day, we talked about the different yield setup for commercial across the different geographies, and we mentioned that the U.S. range was certainly lower than Canada and Europe. So if you look at the mix in the commercial space, last year, first quarter, U.S. made up about 71-ish percent of the GMV that flew through the commercial space. Q1 of this year with the ramp-up of the new customer we talked about as well as kind of the increase just from the lease returns, now that number is north of 75%, 76%. So that's a mix issue that drove that yield down from a 1.59% to 1.43%. The yields across the different categories are relatively stable. So that means it's purely mix across the geographies that's driving that. Craig Kennison: And while I have you, Brad, could you just help us understand the full year implications of the repeal of the digital service tax? Bradley Herring: Yes. The full year impact on an annual basis is $5.5 million to $6 million. It's about $1.4 million in the first quarter is what I disclosed. That's a relatively steady run rate across the different quarters. It will kind of vary a bit with volumes. But if you use a $5.5 million to $6 million impact number for the full year, you'll be in line. Craig Kennison: And are there any offsets to that, like charges or fees you may have charged to offset that, that would also go away? Bradley Herring: No, that will just -- that will be the only impacting item. Operator: The next question we have comes from Jeff Lick of Stephens Inc. Jeffrey Lick: Congrats on a great quarter. Peter, I was wondering, as it relates to the U.S. dealer-to-dealer, you said it was in the upper 20 range, which implies a little bit of a sequential improvement from Q4, which was in the 20-ish up 20%. The market was actually down a little more in Q1 than Q4, which kind of implies your spread to market is widening. I was wondering if you could elaborate on any of that? And then does the lease return business kind of have a halo effect like some kind of symbiotic effect, synergistic effect that's helping drive that? If you could elaborate, that would be great? Peter Kelly: Yes. Jeff, I appreciate that. Listen, we were very pleased with the dealer performance in Q1. in aggregate, dealer volumes grew year-on-year by a higher number than in Q4, and that was driven by the U.S. where the year-on-year growth, as I said, increased to the upper 20s. And as you point out, that was an acceleration. So we feel really good about that. We don't have a full industry picture yet, but we do know that dealer volumes of physical declined a little in the first quarter. So it definitely looks like OPENLANE had a strong performance in terms of market share and share gains based on those results. So we feel pleased about that. It also looks like an increased portion of the industry volumes move towards digital, largely driven by our volume increase, right, based on the data we have at least right now. So listen, we feel really good about that. I think it's driven in large part by the things I've talked about on many calls, our focus on the value proposition that digital offers our customers, the speed, the ease, the access to a broader network of buyers, ultimately better outcomes for sellers and for buyers, the convenience, the peace of mind, the ability to search for vehicles and purchase vehicles without leaving your dealershipments and all those types of benefits. So we're very focused on that. Obviously, we've made go-to-market investments as well, Jeff, that continue to help drive those results. To the specific question on lease, does improving commercial volumes create a halo effect? I think it probably does. I think dealers are aware that lease volumes are going up and OPENLANE is well positioned to benefit from that. And if dealers want to get access to those units, then doing business with OPENLANE would be a wise choice. So I think we're seeing franchise dealer registrations have improved. Our ability to convert dealers from private label buyers across into our open sale have improved. So I think there is some of that for sure. I think the other thing, Jeff, is there's just a network effect, right? There's a network effect in any marketplace as that you add more buyers, your marketplace becomes more valuable for every seller on the marketplace. And as you add more sellers, more inventory, it becomes more valuable to every buyer in the marketplace. So I think there's a compounding benefit that takes place over the longer term on that dimension as well, and I think we're benefiting from that. So listen, very pleased with the results. I did also say in my remarks, it was a strong spring market. Tax refunds were relatively high. Inventory remained relatively scarce. So there was a lot of demand, conversion rates were up. I would not forecast an upper 20s growth rate for the full year in the U.S., candidly. But obviously, we're going to drive our traction in the marketplace as strongly as aggressively as we can. Jeffrey Lick: And then just a quick follow-up on commercial. Did you say in your prepared remarks, commercial was up 24.6%, call it, 25% that ex the new customer, commercial would have been up 6%, implying that the new customer was 19%? Peter Kelly: Yes. That's -- well, yes, that's what I said. Commercial is up 25-ish, excluding the new customer, up 6%. So the new customer was a pretty significant step function. And maybe one comment on that. With this new customer, we're essentially handling all of their transactions, including all payoffs. And that's not always the case. In fact, I would say the majority of our customers, that's not the case. We do it for a number of others, but we do it for this one. So this customer, we're kind of indifferent to -- we're not indifferent from an economic standpoint because the economics are different. But from a transaction count standpoint, all those transactions get processed through our platform. So it was a pretty significant volume impact, but it had some -- as Brad alluded to, some mix impact because we got a bunch of payoffs and lower revenue transactions as part of that. But still, it's very good. And by the way, all of those transactions, whether it's a payoff or not, it brings a dealer to our platform to do a transaction. And that's always going to be a good thing because that's sort of a touch point where they then can launch into other parts of our services. Jeffrey Lick: And was Q1 disproportionately high because maybe there was some bottleneck units from Q4 that flow into Q1? Or will this type of similar impact flow through for the next three quarters? Peter Kelly: It's hard to say. I don't think there was a bottlenecking, Jeff. But every customer has different quarterly profiles of their maturities based on the lease programs that they ran 2 years, 3 years ago, the incentives that they ran 2 years, 3 years ago. So it will ebb and flow, but I don't think there was a bottlenecking. So I would expect a solid positive volume impact from this customer through the rest of this year. Jeffrey Lick: And I would assume, given that this is a luxury customer, most -- a greater portion of luxury leases happen in Q4, so Q4 could be even bigger? Peter Kelly: I hadn't thought of that. It's possible. I wouldn't know. I don't know at this moment. Operator: The next question we have comes from John Babcock of Barclays. John Babcock: I guess just to quickly follow up on that last one. So it sounds like that mix impact is going to continue through the year just because of this new customer. Is that fair to say? Peter Kelly: I'd say there's a whole bunch of different things going on in the mix, and Brad touched on them. If I could kind of summarize, I'd say we're seeing -- because of the new customer, obviously, a volume impact and that customer, we're handling a lot of payoffs there. So that tends to sort of have sort of, I'll say, a somewhat negative impact on yield. Offsetting that, we're seeing cars flow deeper in the funnel, more into the nongrounding dealer and open. That has a positive impact on mix. And then we're seeing our U.S. private label volumes increase relative to all of our other commercial volumes. So there's a lot of puts and takes in there that are driving that, John. Brad, do you want to comment? Bradley Herring: Yes, John, just to add on to that. I mentioned in my comments that the yields in the U.S. commercial were flat. But to kind of peel back Peter's comment a little bit, this new customer certainly was dilutive to that. It's a higher end, higher GMV per sale transaction at a lower yield because of that mix, a little bit more concentrated at the top of the funnel related to those payoffs that we're processing. On the other side of that, you actually saw some pretty substantial yield improvement on the non-new customers as those transactions have now flowed deeper into the waterfall. So what that netted out to was a yield that was essentially around flat from what we talked about at Investor Day, but it does have those two moving components embedded in it. John Babcock: Okay. That's very helpful. And now as we think about the off-lease volumes for the year, I was just kind of curious because it seems like demand is probably going to be pretty strong for those, especially with affordability challenges, and it seems like people are more willing now to take on used vehicles than pay the higher prices for new. Are there any concerns that those off-lease volumes will stay more with the grounding dealer? Or is there any reason to think that, that will happen? Or is that not necessarily a fair assumption? Peter Kelly: It's a good question, John. I think One thing we saw in Q1 was used vehicle values went up in value. Used vehicles went up in value, right, because of the supply-demand situation you talked about. What that does is that essentially increases the equity that consumers have in their off-lease volumes. So to some extent, that could delay a little bit or could impact the sort of consumer payoff percentage, and that's something we've talked about in the past. So there's a lot of sort of give and take here. But I think fundamentally, what do we know is true? Maturities coming off lease, those are going up, okay? They're going up in the second quarter and accelerating into the third and fourth. We have seen consumer payoffs come down a little bit. They were down a little bit Q1 versus Q1 of last year. So there's more cars flowing our way, and then those cars are flowing deeper in the funnel. But market conditions do drive those things, John. And I don't know if I can predict with precision all of the puts and takes on that. But I think fundamentally, I feel very optimistic and very positive about the setup for commercial, both for the balance of this year, but also looking further out into '27 and '28. John Babcock: Okay. Very helpful. And then just last question, if you don't mind. I was just kind of curious, I mean, dealer volumes were quite strong in the first quarter. Are you able to provide any sort of sense or do you have any sense as to how those volumes have done so far in 2Q? It seems like 1Q was generally a pretty good quarter overall, at least for the used market. It seems like that market was pretty tight, but just curious to what you're seeing? Peter Kelly: Yes. Well, listen, in our industry, there's normally a spring market, we call it -- that's what we call it a spring market driven by the tax refund season. The spring market usually kind of loses a bit of steam around mid-April, and there tends to be a little bit of a fallback, but not a massive one. You could look at previous year's results to see how the quarters trend. I would say this year kind of is exhibiting sort of a similar pattern to the normal seasonal pattern, nothing abnormal. And that I'd say it's still, in my view, continues to be a pretty robust market in terms of used car demand versus supply. Operator: [Operator Instructions] The next question we have comes from Gary Prestopino of Barrington Research. Gary Prestopino: Peter, I just had a question. You said your open sales in commercial doubled in the quarter, which means things are flowing down the funnel. But given that we've just seen this turn in lease returns, were you surprised at that magnitude of what's coming outside of the franchise dealers buying these cars? And what does that indicate? Does that indicate that the franchise dealers have solid used vehicle inventory and more of this is going to flow down to the independent dealers? Peter Kelly: Yes. Good question, Gary. I wasn't massively surprised by the doubling. I was expecting high growth, 50% to 100%, somewhere in that range. It's growing off a fairly small number. So there's that impact as well. But nonetheless, it was a strong year-on-year increase as we have seen for at least a few quarters in that commercial open transaction piece. Just because they sell an open, doesn't mean they sell to an independent dealer. I want to be clear about that. Like if there's a -- let's say, for example, a Ford vehicle coming through the Ford private label, well, a Honda dealer can't buy that on the Ford private label. If a Honda dealer want to buy, they've got to wait until it gets to the open sale because they don't have access to the private label. So even though they're selling in the open, there's still a high percentage of franchise dealers buying them in that channel. They're just buying them across brand. You have the large used car retail operations, buying them there too as well as independent dealers. So it's a mix of all three customer groups that represent the buyers there. So no, I think generally, listen, pleased with how it's going. We're working with many of our commercial sellers to improve their performance and drive further conversion in the open sale channel because sellers increasingly see it as very strategic to them. It's kind of their last chance to sell the car before they start incurring significant downstream expenses for moving the vehicle, waiting a number of extra weeks before they sell the car, all that sort of stuff. So we're having very productive discussions and strategies that are helping drive that performance, and we're going to be doing more and more of that in the quarters to come. Operator: The next question we have comes from Rajat Gupta of JPMorgan. Rajat Gupta: Just to follow a couple of clarifications after that. Could you quantify the open sales units that you're seeing in commercial? Any unit number or percentage number you could throw out for the quarter? Peter Kelly: Yes. We don't comment on that number, Rajat. I would say our open sale in the U.S. skews heavily towards dealer, but commercial is an increasing percentage over time. And if I look at our year-on-year growth in the open sale in the U.S., again, we said dealer grew high 20s. Commercial grew approximately double. So from that, we can determine commercial, obviously, was a bigger percentage in Q1 this year than a year ago. But we don't release that exact number. Rajat Gupta: Understood. And just on the guidance, given the strong first quarter, if you assume normal seasonality, it would imply somewhere above the upper end of the new range. I'm curious if -- and especially in light of the off-lease picking up later this year. I'm curious, is there any conservatism baked in, in the second half with regard to new car sales or anything around the macro? Is it not right to assume normal seasonality? Just making sure we're looking at this correctly. Any color would be helpful. Peter Kelly: Yes, let me comment sort of high level, then Brad can comment on maybe specifics and then let me move. Again, listen, very pleased with Q1, a strong quarter with traction kind of across the board. But as I mentioned in our remarks, there was a strong spring market in Q1. I would say a stronger spring market this Q1 than in any of the last 2 years or 3 years for sure. And that was reflected -- that was driven, I'd say, by high tax refunds and generally inventory being somewhat constrained. It was reflected in used vehicle price appreciation and high conversion rates. So one judgment is how are those going to trend going forward? Is there going to be an above-average correction from that? I haven't seen it yet, right? But that possibility would exist. And then the other thing we're mindful of is just the geopolitical and macroeconomic impacts out there, high oil prices, potential impacts from those in the markets in which we operate. Again, I can't say we've seen any material impact from that yet, except that we're seeing increased interest in EVs. But we're one quarter in, three quarters left. I didn't want to get too far out in front of our skis on what the remaining quarters could be. I'd also say, particularly in U.S. dealers, as we get into the second half of this year, we do see tougher comps on the B2B side. We're going to be lapping some bigger quarters that we had in the second half of last year. So again, I would expect some deceleration in our dealer-to-dealer growth rate in those quarters. So anyway, we've kind of reflected all of those to the best of our judgment. I would say, notwithstanding any of that, I think there's a ton of opportunity out there for OPENLANE. I'm very pleased with how our customers are responding to our offering and the feedback we're getting and the growth in the customer base. So I really feel good about the strategy we're executing and the opportunities that offers not just for the next three quarters, but for the long term. Brad, do you want to comment? Bradley Herring: Yes. I think that's a really good summary, Peter. I think the only thing I would add, look, as the quarters play out, if things change and our view of the remaining quarters of the year changes, we'll certainly be updating that in our next quarterly discussion. Operator: The next question we have comes from John Healy of Northcoast Research. John Healy: Peter, I just wanted to ask just about the relationship between lease returns and wholesale sellout. So if we're thinking about this, I think we've all kind of penciled in a growth rate based on lease returns. But how should that lease return number impact the timing through your P&L? And let's just say, hypothetically, in a quarter, off-lease grows 25% or something like that in terms of returns. Is that going to be spread out over multiple quarters? So perhaps the volume that you guys move through your platform might be elongated. I'm just trying to think about the how we should kind of think about the returns to market and dealers and then the actual flow-through to your business in terms of a processing standpoint to make sure you get the most value for your remarketing partners. Peter Kelly: Yes. John, I guess, first of all, I'll say the equation to sort of determine what volume we actually get it is very, very complex. I don't know that it really exists because there's obviously different customers in there. They have different portfolios. Sometimes a customer will execute what's called a pull ahead. I've got these leases coming off 6 months from now, but my retail market share looks a bit weaker. I'm going to try and pull these leases ahead and get those customers to buy a new in-brand vehicle now to get my market share up on the new car side. So we see that. We also see the opposite of that, lease extensions. I've got too many cars coming back. I don't want that many. I'm going to try and push some of these out and extend those leases. So there's all these things that can happen. But I guess the net-net is, I do look at the maturity forecast in aggregate, how many leases were written 3 years ago. That's the best barometer I actually have of how many leases will be returned. And generally, John, I'd say, if anything, they tend to come back a month or 2 early. So leases that you expect to come in Q3 can sometimes come in a month or 2 or maybe 3 months ahead of that. And I generally assess that the consumer that's kind of said, okay, I know my lease is up, but I've made a decision on what the new car is that I want, and I just want to pull the trigger and get that done now. So I guess, take what does all that mean? I expect -- if we look at that maturity curve, I believe off-lease volumes in the back half of this year are up around 20% to 25%. So I'm expecting that kind of volume growth in our off-lease volumes, not without the addition of a new customer, okay? So that's the kind of math I'm looking at, and it's obviously fairly robust. But I guess we'll see what happens. John Healy: Great. That's helpful. And I just wanted to ask about the AFC business. Obviously, you guys are seeing a nice bounce in the auction business. But AFC loans kind of originated in the quarter, pretty anemic growth the last few quarters. Curious if you think that gets better? And is there a desire to really grow that business? Or are you just kind of happy keeping it about the same size that it is right now? Because I would just think with the activity and the attractiveness and the network effect in your business that you talked about on the dealer car side, I'm kind of perplexed why would it also take place on the AFC side? Peter Kelly: Yes. Well, John, listen, I think, first of all, AFC is a great, great business. It's a category leader in the space, an industry leader in terms of its risk management and loan loss rate. strong return on assets, return on equity and strong EBITDA and cash flow generation for our company. So it really is a great business. It's also synergistic with the marketplace, and it is helping us drive some of the marketplace results that we've talked about on multiple calls and we talked about at our Investor Day. So I feel really, really pleased about AFC and the performance that it's delivering and the AFC team. I'll also say we don't chase growth for growth's sake. We have a somewhat conservative view. We like managing within a risk band that we've talked about 1.5% to 2%. There's obviously a lot of customers you could take that are outside of that band, but we generally try to avoid that. We like to manage it more conservatively. But that said, it is growing. We are growing the customer base on AFC. And we're seeing something interesting start to play out now, started in the first quarter, and I think we'll see it through the balance of the year. It's not maybe yet showing up in the results. But we've been driving can we get more of these AFC dealers to register on OPENLANE? Well, so that's been successful. But now we're also seeing there's a whole bunch of independent dealers on OPENLANE that haven't registered in AFC. But they see on OPENLANE, there's an AFC floor plan that they could potentially utilize if they go register. So we're seeing that sort of cross-pollination flow back the other way. So again, I think there's growth opportunity there. It absolutely is going to be more modest. We're going to manage that business for risk, but it is a great business, and it's very synergistic in helping drive our overall results. Brad, do you want to comment? Bradley Herring: Yes. I'll just add to that, John. We've talked about it. I think at Investor Day, we've always kind of seen AFC as really a low single-digit grower for those reasons. It's about staying in that risk band that we're very comfortable with and extracting the value that AFC provides some within the AFC vertical of a segment report, but also the value that manifests itself in the marketplace. And I think that's the part. When we think about the growth in AFC, we combine those two as opposed to just looking at the segment results of AFC independently. Operator: We have a follow-up question from Rajat Gupta. Rajat Gupta: [Technical Difficulty] commercial [Technical Difficulty]. You just mentioned on the previous question that you expect 20% growth in your off-lease plus the new customer. And it looks like the new customer was 20% of units analyzing that would be like 20% plus. So am I reading that correctly, the 25% plus 20% for your commercial U.S. business this year? Peter Kelly: Rajat, I guess what I said is I think the growth in maturities is a good number to take in our underlying customer base. And I believe in the back half of this year, that is in the 20-ish percent level, maybe a bit higher. So I would expect that kind of volume in our non-new customer. And then we got the new customer in addition to that. I'm not saying that new customer is going to be 20% every quarter. They have a portfolio that has its own seasonality to it, and I don't have that in front of me right now. I will say that our initial results from that new customer in volume terms exceeded our expectations. I don't know that they'll continue to exceed our expectations every single quarter, but we were surprised by the volume they had in Q1. Bradley Herring: And also keep in mind, Rajat, that new customer was a step function in January, so that will not recur -- that element of growth will not recur to that same degree in Q1 of '27, of course. Rajat Gupta: For sure. And then just a quick question. We heard from some of your larger public customers that there are some luxury OEMs that have dialed up early lease terminations to manage captive finance losses. I'm curious if that is something you've observed? Has that benefited with just like incremental off-lease inventory recently? Just curious to get your thoughts there and how we should think about implications for OPENLANE? Peter Kelly: Yes. Well, again, that's an example, as I was saying on just a question a few moments ago. Captive finance companies can put these types of programs in place from time to time. You don't really get a lot of sort of advanced warning as to when they might happen. But early terms, that's kind of a pull-ahead program. I'm not aware of that having had a specific benefit on our volumes. But that said, the new customer we launched does have a premium portfolio and those volumes are quite strong in the first quarter. So maybe there was some aspect of a pull ahead in that or an early term offer within that. It's possible, Rajat. Operator: At this stage, that was our final question. I will now hand back to management for any closing remarks. Please go ahead. Peter Kelly: Well, thanks again, everybody, for your time this morning. We really appreciate your interest in our company and your questions here this morning. Listen, very pleased with the quarter that we had and continue to be focused on our strategy and our purpose of making wholesale easy so our customers can be more successful. I'm looking forward to reconnecting with you all in 90 days where we can talk about our second quarter results. Thank you all very much. Operator: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that then concludes today's conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines. Before you buy stock in Openlane, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Openlane wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. 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As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Openlane (OPLN) Q1 2026 Earnings Transcript was originally published by The Motley Fool

Earlier this week, digital vehicle marketplace OPENLANE reported strong first-quarter 2026 results, with consolidated revenue up about 15% and adjusted EBITDA increasing 17%, and management raised full-year guidance for both adjusted earnings and EBITDA. Management also pointed to rising vehicle volumes, market share gains, and the successful onboarding of a new private-label commercial customer as evidence of its business model’s scalability even amid macroeconomic uncertainty. We’ll now explore how OPENLANE’s raised full-year guidance and stronger-than-expected first-quarter performance may influence its existing investment narrative. Uncover the next big thing with 22 elite penny stocks that balance risk and reward. To own OPENLANE, you need to believe that a digital, data-rich marketplace can keep gaining share in wholesale vehicle remarketing while scaling profitably. The latest quarter’s outperformance and raised guidance support that thesis in the near term, but they do not remove key risks around competitive pressure and the large preferred share conversion overhang. Among recent developments, the launch of OPENLANE Intelligence in January 2026 looks especially relevant here, as the first-quarter strength and guidance raise both lean on the idea that better AI-driven condition reports and diagnostics can deepen customer adoption and reinforce the marketplace’s scalability. Yet despite the strong quarter, investors should be aware that the 2026 preferred share conversion could still... Read the full narrative on OPENLANE (it's free!) OPENLANE's narrative projects $2.4 billion revenue and $385.8 million earnings by 2029. This requires 6.7% yearly revenue growth and a $488.9 million earnings increase from -$103.1 million today. Uncover how OPENLANE's forecasts yield a $33.83 fair value, a 4% downside to its current price. Two fair value estimates from the Simply Wall St Community span roughly US$33.83 to US$95.87 per share, showing just how far apart individual views can be. Against that backdrop, OPENLANE’s reliance on continued market share gains as a key catalyst highlights why you may want to weigh several different scenarios for future performance before deciding how this stock fits in your portfolio. Explore 2 other fair value estimates on OPENLANE - why the stock might be worth just $33.83! Disagree with existing narratives? Extraordinary investment returns rarely come from following the herd, so go with your instincts. A great starting point for your OPENLANE research is our analysis highlighting 2 key rewards and 1 important warning sign that could impact your investment decision. Our free OPENLANE research report provides a comprehensive fundamental analysis summarized in a single visual - the Snowflake - making it easy to evaluate OPENLANE's overall financial health at a glance. The market won't wait. These fast-moving stocks are hot now. Grab the list before they run: AI is about to change healthcare. These 35 stocks are working on everything from early diagnostics to drug discovery. The best part - they are all under $10b in market cap - there's still time to get in early. Outshine the giants: these 19 early-stage AI stocks could fund your retirement. Find 51 companies with promising cash flow potential yet trading below their fair value. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include OPLN. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email [email protected]