Carvana topped Wall Street’s top- and bottom-line expectations for the fourth quarter while guiding for another “strong” year in 2025.
Carvana, as it has in the past, gave a broad guidance outlook for this year that includes growth in both retail units sold and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, including sequential increases in both during the first quarter.
Shares of Carvana fell more than 10% during after-hours trading Wednesday. The stock closed at $281.82, down roughly 1%. Wall Street analysts largely attributed the drop to high investor expectations and the vague forecast for 2025.
Here’s how the company performed in the fourth quarter, compared with average estimates compiled by LSEG:
- Earnings per share: 56 cents vs. 29 cents expected
- Revenue: $3.55 billion vs. $3.31 billion expected
Revenue of $3.55 billion was up 46% from $2.42 billion in the prior-year period. Full-year 2024 revenue came in at $13.67 billion, up almost 27% from $10.77 billion in 2023.
For 2024, the Tempe, Arizona-based company reported adjusted EBITDA of $1.38 billion and net income of roughly $404 million. That includes adjusted EBITDA of $359 million and net income of $159 million during the fourth quarter. Fourth-quarter net income marks major improvement from a loss of $200 million in the same period a year earlier.
On a per-share basis, the company reported earnings of 56 cents for the December period, compared with a loss of $1 per share during the same quarter in 2023.
Both the yearly and quarterly results were records for Carvana.
Carvana said it sold 416,348 retail vehicles last year, up roughly 33% from the year before, for record total annual revenue of $13.67 billion in 2024. Its total gross profit per unit for the fourth quarter and full year was $6,671 and $6,908, respectively. Both metrics were up nearly $1,400 from 2023.
“With just ~1% market share today and many opportunities to improve and expand our offering from here, we know this is just the beginning of our journey to change the way people buy and sell cars,” Carvana CEO and co-founder Ernie Garcia said in a news release.
Shares of Carvana are up roughly 40% in 2025, adding to last year’s nearly 285% gain.
