Upbound Group, Inc. Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results

Acima profitability improved despite lower revenue, while Brigit posted double-digit growth in revenue and paying users.

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PLANO, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Upbound Group, Inc. (the "Company" or "Upbound") (NASDAQ:UPBD) today announced results for the quarter ended September 30, 2026. The earnings release, financial tables and related materials can be found on the Company's investor relations website at https://investor.upbound.com.

Today at 9 a.m. ET, Fahmi Karam, Chief Executive Officer, and Hal Khouri, Chief Financial Officer, will host a conference call to review the Company’s financial results. Interested parties can access a live webcast of the conference call via this link (Webcast Link) or through the Company's investor relations website.

Third Quarter 2026 Highlights¹

• Consolidated Results at or Above Guided Ranges: Consolidated revenue of $1.15 billion came in at the high end of the Company’s outlook. GAAP net earnings were $34 million, up $21 million year-over-year, and GAAP diluted EPS was $0.58. Adjusted EBITDA⁶ of $123 million and non-GAAP diluted EPS⁶ of $1.01 exceeded the top of their respective guided ranges.
• Underwriting Discipline Drives Acima Profitability: Acima GAAP net earnings increased 17.3% to $74.7 million. Acima Adjusted EBITDA⁶ increased approximately 15% year-over-year to $86 million, with Adjusted EBITDA⁶ margin expanding approximately 270 basis points to 14.7%. Lease charge-off rate⁴ improved more than 100 basis points year-over-year to 8.7%. Acima revenue was $585 million, down approximately 6.5% year-over-year.
• Brigit Delivers Double-Digit Growth Across Key Metrics: Brigit revenue grew 37% year-over-year to $79 million. Paying Users² rose approximately 27% to 1.84 million, and ARPU³ increased 4.7% to $14.39. Brigit GAAP net earnings increased 93.8% to $8.9 million, and adjusted EBITDA⁶ grew 59% year-over-year to $14.7 million.
• Rent-A-Center Extends Same Store Sales Growth to Four Consecutive Quarters: Same store sales⁵ increased approximately 180 basis points year-over-year, and revenue of $459 million was essentially flat to the prior year.
• Expanding Reach and Strengthening Leadership: Acima entered an integration agreement with Boost Mobile to serve as a preferred lease-to-own solution across approximately 5,000 Boost Mobile stores nationwide. The Company also welcomed Scott Young as Chief Operating Officer and Dev Chakraborty as Head of Brigit.
• Share Repurchase: The Company intends to repurchase up to $50 million of its common stock under its existing share repurchase program, originally authorized by the Board of Directors in December 2021, with the timing and amount of any repurchases to be determined by management based on market conditions, share price, capital needs and other factors.
• Strong Cash Generation Supports Deleveraging: Net cash provided by operating activities increased by 81% to approximately $163 million, and free cash flow more than doubled year-over-year to approximately $121 million. The Company has reduced debt by more than $225 million since year-end, reducing the overall net leverage ratio.
• 2026 Outlook: Full-year consolidated revenue range narrowed to $4.68-$4.78 billion. Adjusted EBITDA⁶ range also narrowed to $510-$525 million and non-GAAP diluted EPS⁶ range narrowed to $4.15-$4.30, increasing the midpoint. For the fourth quarter of 2026, the Company expects consolidated revenue of $1.15-$1.25 billion, adjusted EBITDA⁶ of $125-$135 million, and non-GAAP diluted EPS⁶ of $1.00-$1.10.

About Upbound Group, Inc.

Upbound Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: UPBD), is a technology and data-driven leader in accessible and inclusive financial solutions that address the evolving needs and aspirations of underserved consumers. The Company’s customer-facing operating units include industry-leading brands such as Acima®, Brigit™, and Rent-A-Center® that facilitate consumer transactions across a wide range of store-based and digital channels in the United States, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Upbound Group, Inc. is headquartered in Plano, Texas. For additional information about the Company, please visit our website Upbound.com.

(1)	The selected highlights referenced herein do not provide a complete review of the Company’s results for the quarter or updated guidance and outlook. Please refer to the Company’s full earnings release and related materials, as noted in this release, for additional information.
(2)	Brigit Paying Users: Represents Brigit customers who have an active Plus or Premium account, not delinquent (not 45 days past due) on a cash advance, and made at least 1 of the last 2 subscription payments.
(3)	ARPU: Average monthly revenue per Brigit Paying User, where Brigit Paying User is defined in footnote 2 above.
(4)	Lease Charge-Offs: Represents charge-offs of the net book value of unrecoverable on-rent merchandise with lease-to-own customers who are past due. This is typically expressed as a percentage of revenues for the applicable period. For the Rent-A-Center segment, LCOs exclude Get It Now, Home Choice, and Franchise-owned Rent-A-Center locations. For the Acima segment, LCOs exclude fraudulent lease-to-own contract losses.
(5)	Same Store Sales (SSS): Same store sales generally represents revenue earned in Company-owned Rent-A-Center stores that were operated by us for 13 months or more and are reported on a constant currency basis as a percentage of total revenue earned in stores of the segment during the indicated period. The Company excludes from the same store sales base any store that receives a certain level of customer accounts from closed stores or acquisitions. The receiving store will be eligible for inclusion in the same store sales base in the 30th full month following account transfer.
(6)	Non-GAAP financial measures. See “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and reconciliation tables in the Earnings Release and below for the definitions and other information regarding our non-GAAP financial measures included in this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, among others, statements regarding our 2026 financial guidance, future same store sales expectations and other statements regarding our future outlook. Such forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "will," "expect," "intend," "could," "estimate," "predict," "continue," “maintain,” "should," "anticipate," "believe," or “confident,” or the negative thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. Such forward-looking statements are based on particular assumptions that our management has made in light of its experience and its perception of expected future developments and other factors that it believes are appropriate under the circumstances, and are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause or contribute to material and adverse differences between actual and anticipated results include, but are not limited to, (1) the general strength of the economy and other economic conditions affecting consumer preferences, spending and payment behaviors, including the availability of credit to the Company's target consumers and to other consumers, impacts from continued or renewed inflation, central bank monetary policy initiatives to address inflation concerns and a possible recession or slowdown in economic growth, (2) risks described in our full third quarter 2026 earnings release and related materials, and (3) the other risks detailed from time to time in the reports filed by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, as well as subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q or Current Reports on Form 8-K. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. Except as required by law, we are not obligated to, and do not undertake to, publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect any events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This release contains certain financial information determined by methods other than in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), including (1) Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share (net earnings or loss, as adjusted for special items (as defined below), net of taxes, divided by the number of shares of our common stock on a fully diluted basis) and (2) Adjusted EBITDA (net earnings before interest, taxes, stock-based compensation, depreciation and amortization, as adjusted for special items) on a consolidated and segment basis., (3) Free Cash Flow (net cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures and net originations and collections of customer cash advances) and (4) Net Leverage Ratio (outstanding debt less cash and cash equivalents divided by trailing twelve months Adjusted EBITDA). “Special items” refers to certain gains and charges we view as extraordinary, unusual or non-recurring in nature or which we believe do not reflect our core business activities, and, for historical items, are reported as Other Gains and Charges in our Consolidated Statements of Operations. Because of the inherent uncertainty related to these special items, management does not believe it is able to provide a meaningful forecast of the comparable GAAP measures or reconciliation to any forecasted non-GAAP measures without unreasonable effort.

These non-GAAP measures are additional tools intended to assist our management in comparing our performance on a more consistent basis for purposes of business decision-making by removing the impact of certain items management believes do not directly reflect our core operations. These measures are intended to assist management in evaluating operating performance and liquidity, comparing performance and liquidity across periods, planning and forecasting future business operations, helping determine levels of operating and capital investments and identifying and assessing additional trends potentially impacting our Company that may not be shown solely by comparisons of GAAP measures. Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA is also used as part of our incentive compensation program for our executive officers and others.

We believe these non-GAAP financial measures also provide supplemental information that is useful to investors, analysts and other external users of our consolidated financial statements in understanding our financial results and evaluating our performance and liquidity from period to period. However, non-GAAP financial measures have inherent limitations and are not substitutes for, or superior to, GAAP financial measures, and they should be read together with our consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. Further, because non-GAAP financial measures are not standardized, it may not be possible to compare such measures to the non-GAAP financial measures presented by other companies, even if they have the same or similar names.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261029681928/en/

Upbound Investor Relations:
investor.relations@upbound.com
972-624-6571

Source: Upbound Group, Inc.

Key Terms

gaap financial

GAAP, or Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, are a set of standardized rules and guidelines that companies follow when preparing their financial statements. They ensure consistency, transparency, and comparability across different companies, making it easier for investors to understand and compare financial information accurately. This helps investors make informed decisions based on trustworthy and uniform financial reports.

View in glossary

adjusted ebitda financial

Adjusted EBITDA is a way companies measure how much money they make from their core operations, like running a business, by removing certain costs or income that aren’t part of regular business activities. It helps investors see how well a company is doing without distractions from unusual expenses or gains, making it easier to compare companies or track performance over time.

non-gaap financial

Non-GAAP refers to financial measures that companies use to show their earnings or performance without including certain expenses or income that are often added back to give a different picture. It matters because it can make a company's results look better or more favorable, but it may also hide important costs, so investors need to look at both GAAP (official rules) and non-GAAP numbers to get a full understanding.

View in glossary

arpu financial

ARPU, or Average Revenue Per User, measures how much money a company earns, on average, from each of its customers over a set period. It helps investors understand how effectively a business is generating income from its customer base, similar to calculating how much each customer spends at a store. Higher ARPU often indicates stronger sales per customer and better revenue performance.