Why Is Carvana Stock Down Today?

Carvana shares fell as much as 18% after its second-quarter report, even though the quarter itself set company records. The results landed on 29 July 2026, and the decline was driven by the full-year outlook rather than by anything in the quarter's own numbers.

What the company actually reported

Carvana said it sold 197,325 retail units in the quarter, up 38% from a year earlier, on total revenue of $7.376 billion, up 52%. Net income was $513 million. Adjusted EBITDA was a record $769 million, an increase of $168 million year over year, for an adjusted EBITDA margin of 10.4%. On the quarter's own terms this was the strongest set of figures the company has posted.

Why the stock fell anyway

The catalyst was guidance. Alongside the results Carvana guided full-year 2026 adjusted EBITDA to a range of $2.7 billion to $3.0 billion. That range is an increase on the prior year, but it landed below where parts of the sell side had been modelling the year, and the gap between a record quarter and a full-year number that implies slower profit expansion in the second half is what the reaction priced.

What the reaction measured

Measured against the pre-event baseline, the move was down 14.414% on the initial print, deepened to 18.018% at its low, and had recovered to 14.79% by the end of the measured window. So the headline drop and the settled drop are not the same number: the worst level was roughly three and a half points below where the reaction actually came to rest. Volume behind it rose from 3387 to 16477 across the window, so the decline was carried by real participation rather than a thin print. The move held its direction without holding its extreme, which is the profile of a re-rating rather than a liquidity air pocket.

What to watch next

The reported quarter is closed, so the live variables are second-half margin delivery against the guided range, the pace of retail unit growth from a base that has now nearly doubled in two years, and whether the guidance range is revised at the next quarterly report. Each is a disclosure with a date attached rather than a matter of opinion.