Landscaping service company BrightView (NYSE:BV) beat Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q1 CY2026, with sales up 6.1% year on year to $702.9 million. The company’s full-year revenue guidance of $2.77 billion at the midpoint came in 2% above analysts’ estimates. Its non-GAAP profit of $0.09 per share was in line with analysts’ consensus estimates.
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BrightView (BV) Q1 CY2026 Highlights:
- Revenue: $702.9 million vs analyst estimates of $645.6 million (6.1% year-on-year growth, 8.9% beat)
- Adjusted EPS: $0.09 vs analyst estimates of $0.10 (in line)
- Adjusted EBITDA: $79.1 million vs analyst estimates of $74.57 million (11.3% margin, 6.1% beat)
- The company lifted its revenue guidance for the full year to $2.77 billion at the midpoint from $2.7 billion, a 2.6% increase
- EBITDA guidance for the full year is $370 million at the midpoint, in line with analyst expectations
- Operating Margin: 2.3%, down from 3.4% in the same quarter last year
- Free Cash Flow Margin: 6.6%, down from 9.4% in the same quarter last year
- Market Capitalization: $1.09 billion
“Our second quarter fiscal 2026 results mark an important inflection point for BrightView,” said Dale Asplund, BrightView President and Chief Executive Officer.
Company Overview
An official field consultant for Major League Baseball, BrightView (NYSE:BV) offers landscaping design, development, and maintenance.
Revenue Growth
A company’s long-term sales performance is one signal of its overall 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, BrightView grew its sales at a sluggish 2.4% compounded annual growth rate. This was below our standards and is a tough starting point for our analysis.
We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within industrials, a half-decade historical view may miss cycles, industry trends, or a company capitalizing on catalysts such as a new contract win or a successful product line. BrightView’s performance shows it grew in the past but relinquished its gains over the last two years, as its revenue fell by 1.4% annually. 
This quarter, BrightView reported year-on-year revenue growth of 6.1%, and its $702.9 million of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 8.9%.
Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to remain flat over the next 12 months. While this projection indicates its newer products and services will fuel better top-line performance, it is still below the sector average.
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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.
BrightView was profitable over the last five years but held back by its large cost base. Its average operating margin of 4.1% was weak for an industrials business. This result isn’t too surprising given its low gross margin as a starting point.
On the plus side, BrightView’s operating margin rose by 1.5 percentage points over the last five years, as its sales growth gave it operating leverage.
This quarter, BrightView generated an operating margin profit margin of 2.3%, down 1.1 percentage points year on year. Since BrightView’s gross margin decreased more than its operating margin, we can assume its recent inefficiencies were driven more by weaker leverage on its cost of sales rather than increased marketing, R&D, and administrative overhead expenses.
Earnings Per Share
We track the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) for the same reason as long-term revenue growth. Compared to revenue, however, EPS highlights whether a company’s growth is profitable.
Sadly for BrightView, its EPS declined by 11.1% annually over the last five years while its revenue grew by 2.4%. We can see the difference stemmed from higher interest expenses or taxes as the company actually improved its operating margin and repurchased its shares during this time.
Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a more recent period because it can provide insight into an emerging theme or development for the business.
BrightView’s two-year annual EPS declines of 7.6% were bad and lower than its two-year revenue losses.
We can take a deeper look into BrightView’s earnings to better understand the drivers of its performance. BrightView’s operating margin has declined over the last two years. This was the most relevant factor (aside from the revenue impact) behind its lower earnings; interest expenses and taxes can also affect EPS but don’t tell us as much about a company’s fundamentals.
In Q1, BrightView reported adjusted EPS of $0.09, down from $0.23 in the same quarter last year. This print missed analysts’ estimates. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects BrightView’s full-year EPS of $0.65 to grow 16.2%.
Key Takeaways from BrightView’s Q1 Results
We were impressed by how significantly BrightView blew past analysts’ revenue expectations this quarter. We were also glad its EBITDA outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. On the other hand, its adjusted operating income missed and its EPS was in line with Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, this print was mixed but still had some key positives. The stock traded up 2% to $12.03 immediately following the results.
Is BrightView an attractive investment opportunity at the current price? What happened in the latest quarter matters, but not as much as longer-term business quality and valuation, when deciding whether to invest in this stock. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).
