Corpay, Inc. (NYSE: CPAY), the corporate payments company, today reported financial results for its first quarter ending March 31, 2026.
“Our first quarter results were outstanding, with revenue growth of 25% and adjusted net income per share growth of 29%, finishing well ahead of expectations,” said Ron Clarke, chairman and chief executive officer, Corpay, Inc. “Organic revenue growth was 11% for the fourth consecutive quarter and our strong first quarter performance gives us increased confidence in our rest of year guidance,” concluded Clarke.
Financial Results for First Quarter of 2026:
GAAP Results
- Revenues increased 25% to $1,261.0 million in the first quarter of 2026, compared with $1,005.7 million in the first quarter of 2025.
- Net income2 increased 44% to $350.1 million in the first quarter of 2026, compared with $243.2 million in the first quarter of 2025.
- Net income per diluted share2 increased 49% to $5.07 in the first quarter of 2026, compared with $3.40 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2025.
- First quarter net income and net income per diluted share attributable to Corpay include a gain on the sale of a business, which increased net income by approximately $81 million, or $1.19 of earnings per diluted share.
Non-GAAP Results1
- Organic revenue growth1 was 11% in the first quarter of 2026.
- Adjusted EBITDA1 increased 24% to $688.6 million in the first quarter of 2026, compared to $555.4 million in the first quarter of 2025.
- Adjusted net income1,2 increased 23% to $397.2 million in the first quarter of 2026, compared with $322.9 million in the first quarter of 2025.
- Adjusted net income per diluted share1,2 increased 29% to $5.80 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2026, compared with $4.51 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2025.
“Our Corporate Payments segment delivered 16% organic revenue growth, and lodging improved significantly sequentially,” said Peter Walker, chief financial officer, Corpay, Inc. “Revenue over performance had a high flow through resulting in EBITDA margins over 100 basis points higher than we expected. We repurchased 2.4 million shares for $786 million, and still exited the quarter with 2.7x leverage,” concluded Walker.
Fiscal Year 2026 Outlook:
“We are raising our full-year outlook as a result of our first quarter over-performance, the expected higher rest of year fuel prices and our first quarter fundamental trends running ahead of our expectations,” said Peter Walker.
For fiscal year 2026, Corpay, Inc.’s financial guidance1 is revised as follows:
- Total revenues between $5.250 billion and $5.330 billion;
- Net income between $1.352 billion and $1.432 billion;
- Net income per diluted share between $20.39 and $21.19;
- Adjusted net income between $1.746 billion and $1.826 billion; and
- Adjusted net income per diluted share between $26.30 and $27.10.
Corpay’s guidance assumptions are as follows:
- Weighted average U.S. fuel prices equal to $4.17 per gallon based on the April 2026 EIA short-term energy outlook;
- Fuel price spreads flat with the 2025 average;
- Foreign exchange rates unchanged from our prior guidance in February 2026;
- Interest expense between $415 million and $445 million, based on the SOFR forward curve as of April 29, 2026;
- Free cashflow is used to pay down debt;
- Approximately 67 million fully diluted shares outstanding;
- An adjusted effective tax rate of approximately 25% to 27%; and
- No impact related to material acquisitions or divestitures not closed.
Second Quarter of 2026 Outlook:
“Revenue for the second quarter of 2026 is expected to be approximately $1.295 billion at the midpoint, growing 18% year over year, and adjusted net income per diluted share is expected to be $6.55 at the midpoint, growing 28% year over year,” said Peter Walker.
As always, guidance may change in the future based on new information and therefore may not reflect actual results.
Conference Call:
The Company will host a conference call to discuss first quarter 2026 financial results today at 5:30 pm ET. Hosting the call will be Ron Clarke, chief executive officer, Peter Walker, chief financial officer and Jim Eglseder, investor relations. The conference call will be webcast live from the Company’s investor relations website at http://investor.corpay.com. The conference call can also be accessed live over the phone by dialing (800)-267-6316 or (203)-518-9783; the Conference ID is CORPAY. A replay will be available one hour after the call and can be accessed by dialing (844)-512-2921 or (412)-317-6671 for international callers; the replay conference ID is 11161333. The replay will be available through Thursday, May 21, 2026. Prior to the conference call, the Company will post supplemental financial information that will be discussed during the call and live webcast.
About Non-GAAP Financial Measures:
This press release includes non-GAAP financial measures, which are used by the Company as supplemental measures to evaluate its overall operating performance. The Company’s definitions of the non-GAAP financial measures used herein may differ from similarly titled measures used by others, including within our industry. By providing these non-GAAP financial measures, together with reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, we believe we are enhancing investors’ understanding of our business and our results of operations, as well as assisting investors in evaluating how well we are executing strategic initiatives. See the appendix for additional information regarding these non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP measure.
The Company refers to free cash flow, cash net income and adjusted net income attributable to Corpay interchangeably, a non-GAAP financial measure. Adjusted net income attributable to Corpay is calculated as net income attributable to Corpay, adjusted to eliminate (a) non-cash stock-based compensation expense related to stock-based compensation awards, (b) amortization of deferred financing costs, discounts, intangible assets, amortization of the premium recognized on the purchase of receivables and amortization attributable to the Company’s noncontrolling interest, (c) integration and deal related costs, and (d) other non-recurring items, including unusual credit losses, certain discrete tax items, the impact of business dispositions, impairment losses, asset write-offs, restructuring costs, loss on extinguishment of debt, taxes associated with stock-based compensation programs, losses and gains on foreign currency transactions, redemption value adjustment for a non-controlling interest and legal settlements and related legal fees. We adjust net income for the tax effect of adjustments using our effective income tax rate, exclusive of certain discrete tax items. We calculate adjusted net income attributable to Corpay and adjusted net income per diluted share attributable to Corpay to eliminate the effect of items that we do not consider indicative of our core operating performance.
Adjusted net income attributable to Corpay and adjusted net income per diluted share attributable to Corpay are supplemental measures of operating performance that do not represent and should not be considered as an alternative to net income, net income per diluted share or cash flow from operations, as determined by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or U.S. GAAP. We believe it is useful to exclude non-cash stock-based compensation expense from adjusted net income because non-cash equity grants made at a certain price and point in time do not necessarily reflect how our business is performing at any particular time and stock-based compensation expense is not a key measure of our core operating performance. We also believe that amortization expense can vary substantially from company to company and from period to period depending upon their financing and accounting methods, the fair value and average expected life of their acquired intangible assets, their capital structures and the method by which their assets were acquired; therefore, we have excluded amortization expense from our adjusted net income. Integration and deal related costs represent business acquisition transaction costs, professional services fees, short-term retention bonuses and system migration costs, etc., that are not indicative of the performance of the underlying business. We also believe that certain expenses, discrete tax items, gains on business disposition, recoveries (e.g. legal settlements, write-off of customer receivable, etc.), gains and losses on investments, taxes related to stock-based compensation programs and impairment losses do not necessarily reflect how our investments and business are performing. We adjust net income for the tax effect of each of these adjustments using the effective tax rate during the period, exclusive of discrete tax items.
Organic revenue growth is calculated as revenue growth in the current period adjusted for the impact of changes in the macroeconomic environment (to include fuel price, fuel price spreads and changes in foreign exchange rates) over revenue in the comparable prior period adjusted to include or remove the impact of acquisitions and/or divestitures, inclusive of changes in operational and capital structure, and non-recurring items that have occurred subsequent to that period. We believe that organic revenue growth on a macro-neutral, one-time item, and consistent acquisition/divestiture/non-recurring item basis is useful to investors for understanding the performance of Corpay.
EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest, income taxes, interest expense, net, other expense (income), depreciation and amortization, loss on extinguishment of debt, goodwill impairment, investment loss/gain and other operating, net. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as EBITDA further adjusted for stock-based compensation expense and other one-time items including certain legal expenses, restructuring costs and integration and deal related costs and other items as listed above for adjusted net income. EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin are defined as EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of revenue.
Management uses adjusted net income attributable to Corpay, adjusted net income per diluted share attributable to Corpay, organic revenue growth, EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA:
- as measurements of operating performance because they assist us in comparing our operating performance on a consistent basis;
- for planning purposes, including the preparation of our internal annual operating budget;
- to allocate resources to enhance the financial performance of our business; and
- to evaluate the performance and effectiveness of our operational strategies.
About Corpay
Corpay (NYSE: CPAY), the Corporate Payments Company, is a global S&P 500 provider of commercial cards (e.g, spend management, fleet cards, virtual cards), AP modernization solutions (e.g., invoice and payments automation) and cross-border services (mass payments, risk management solutions and global bank accounts) to businesses worldwide. Corpay solutions “keep business moving” and result in our customers better controlling business expenses, mitigating fraud, and ultimately spending less. To learn more, visit www.corpay.com
