LKQ’s (NASDAQ:LKQ) Q4 CY2025 Sales Top Estimates But Stock Drops

LKQ’s (NASDAQ:LKQ) Q4 CY2025 Sales Top Estimates But Stock Drops

Petr Huřťák

Thu, February 19, 2026 at 9:16 PM GMT+9 5 min read

In this article:

LKQ

+2.18%

Automotive parts company LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) beat Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q4 CY2025, but sales were flat year on year at $3.31 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $0.59 per share was 9.3% below analysts’ consensus estimates.

Is now the time to buy LKQ? Find out in our full research report.

LKQ (LKQ) Q4 CY2025 Highlights:

**Revenue:** $3.31 billion vs analyst estimates of $3.20 billion (flat year on year, 3.5% beat)

**Adjusted EPS:** $0.59 vs analyst expectations of $0.65 (9.3% miss)

**Adjusted EBITDA:** $321 million vs analyst estimates of $340.2 million (9.7% margin, 5.7% miss)

**Adjusted EPS guidance for the upcoming financial year 2026** is $3.05 at the midpoint, missing analyst estimates by 7.1%

**Operating Margin:** 4.6%, down from 8.2% in the same quarter last year

**Organic Revenue** fell 1.2% year on year (beat)

**Market Capitalization:** $8.50 billion

“Operational excellence remains our core focus as our teams continue to drive simplification and productivity in an uncertain demand environment. Our 2026 guidance reflects current market conditions and assumes gradual improvement as the year progresses. The strength of our operating model and culture continues to support solid free cash flow generation, and together with our strong balance sheet, positions the Company to execute on its long-term strategy and further strengthen its financial profile,” stated Rick Galloway, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Company Overview

A global distributor of vehicle parts and accessories, LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) offers its customers a comprehensive selection of high-quality, affordably priced automobile products.

Revenue Growth

Examining a company’s long-term performance can provide clues about its quality. Even a bad business can shine for one or two quarters, but a top-tier one grows for years. Over the last five years, LKQ grew its sales at a weak 3.7% compounded annual growth rate. This was below our standard for the consumer discretionary sector and is a rough starting point for our analysis.

LKQ Quarterly Revenue

Long-term growth is the most important, but within consumer discretionary, product cycles are short and revenue can be hit-driven due to rapidly changing trends and consumer preferences. LKQ’s recent performance shows its demand has slowed as its revenue was flat over the last two years.

LKQ Year-On-Year Revenue Growth

We can better understand the company’s sales dynamics by analyzing its organic revenue, which strips out one-time events like acquisitions and currency fluctuations that don’t accurately reflect its fundamentals. Over the last two years, LKQ’s organic revenue averaged 2.3% year-on-year declines. Because this number is lower than its two-year revenue growth, we can see that some mixture of acquisitions and foreign exchange rates boosted its headline results.

Story Continues  

LKQ Organic Revenue Growth

This quarter, LKQ’s $3.31 billion of revenue was flat year on year but beat Wall Street’s estimates by 3.5%.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to remain flat over the next 12 months. This projection doesn’t excite us and implies its newer products and services will not catalyze better top-line performance yet.

Software is eating the world and there is virtually no industry left that has been untouched by it. That drives increasing demand for tools helping software developers do their jobs, whether it be monitoring critical cloud infrastructure, integrating audio and video functionality, or ensuring smooth content streaming. Click here to access a free report on our 3 favorite stocks to play this generational megatrend.

Operating Margin

Operating margin is an important measure of profitability as it shows the portion of revenue left after accounting for all core expenses – everything from the cost of goods sold to advertising and wages. It’s also useful for comparing profitability across companies with different levels of debt and tax rates because it excludes interest and taxes.

LKQ’s operating margin has been trending down over the last 12 months and averaged 7.9% over the last two years. The company’s profitability was mediocre for a consumer discretionary business and shows it couldn’t pass its higher operating expenses onto its customers.

LKQ Trailing 12-Month Operating Margin (GAAP)

In Q4, LKQ generated an operating margin profit margin of 4.6%, down 3.6 percentage points year on year. This contraction shows it was less efficient because its expenses increased relative to its revenue.

Earnings Per Share

Revenue trends explain a company’s historical growth, but the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) points to the profitability of that growth – for example, a company could inflate its sales through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.

LKQ’s weak 4% annual EPS growth over the last five years aligns with its revenue performance. This tells us it maintained its per-share profitability as it expanded.

LKQ Trailing 12-Month EPS (Non-GAAP)

In Q4, LKQ reported adjusted EPS of $0.59, down from $0.80 in the same quarter last year. This print missed analysts’ estimates. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects LKQ’s full-year EPS of $3.09 to grow 6.5%.

Key Takeaways from LKQ’s Q4 Results

It was encouraging to see LKQ beat analysts’ revenue expectations this quarter. We were also happy its organic revenue was in line with Wall Street’s estimates. On the other hand, its EPS missed and its full-year EPS guidance fell short of Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, this was a weaker quarter. The stock traded down 5.1% to $31.54 immediately following the results.

LKQ may have had a tough quarter, but does that actually create an opportunity to invest right now? If you’re making that decision, you should consider the bigger picture of valuation, business qualities, as well as the latest earnings. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it’s free.

Terms and Privacy Policy

Privacy Dashboard

More Info