School bus company Blue Bird (NASDAQ: BLBD) reported Q2 CY2026 results topping the market’s revenue expectations, with sales up 29.9% year on year to $517.2 million. The company expects the full year’s revenue to be around $1.75 billion, close to analysts’ estimates. Its non-GAAP profit of $1.28 per share was 1.6% below analysts’ consensus estimates.
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Blue Bird (BLBD) Q2 CY2026 Highlights:
- Revenue: $517.2 million vs analyst estimates of $498.1 million (29.9% year-on-year growth, 3.8% beat)
- Adjusted EPS: $1.28 vs analyst expectations of $1.30 (1.6% miss)
- Adjusted EBITDA: $71.38 million vs analyst estimates of $65.8 million (13.8% margin, 8.5% beat)
- The company reconfirmed its revenue guidance for the full year of $1.75 billion at the midpoint
- EBITDA guidance for the full year is $247 million at the midpoint, in line with analyst expectations
- Operating Margin: 12.1%, in line with the same quarter last year
- Free Cash Flow Margin: 4.2%, down from 13.1% in the same quarter last year
- Sales Volumes rose 42.9% year on year (14.7% in the same quarter last year)
- Market Capitalization: $2.46 billion
Company Overview
With around a century of experience, Blue Bird (NASDAQ: BLBD) is a manufacturer of school buses and complementary parts.
Revenue Growth
Examining a company’s long-term performance can provide clues about its quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but many enduring ones grow for years. Over the last five years, Blue Bird grew its sales at an incredible 15.8% compounded annual growth rate. Its growth surpassed the average industrials company and shows its offerings resonate with customers, a great starting point for our analysis.
Long-term growth is the most important, but within industrials, a half-decade historical view may miss new industry trends or demand cycles. Blue Bird’s annualized revenue growth of 11.4% over the last two years is below its five-year trend, but we still think the results suggest healthy demand. 
We can better understand the company’s revenue dynamics by analyzing its number of units sold, which reached 3,525 in the latest quarter. Over the last two years, Blue Bird’s units sold averaged 9.2% year-on-year growth. Because this number is lower than its revenue growth, we can see the company benefited from price increases. 
This quarter, Blue Bird reported robust year-on-year revenue growth of 29.9%, and its $517.2 million of revenue topped Wall Street estimates by 3.8%.
Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 21.9% over the next 12 months, an improvement versus the last two years. This projection is eye-popping and indicates its newer products and services will spur better top-line performance.
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Operating Margin
Blue Bird was profitable over the last five years but held back by its large cost base. Its average operating margin of 7.4% 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, Blue Bird’s operating margin rose by 14.5 percentage points over the last five years, as its sales growth gave it immense operating leverage.
This quarter, Blue Bird generated an operating margin profit margin of 12.1%, in line with the same quarter last year. This indicates the company’s cost structure has recently been stable.
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.
Blue Bird’s EPS grew at 44.5% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years, higher than its 15.8% annualized revenue growth. This tells us the company became more profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded.
Diving into the nuances of Blue Bird’s earnings can give us a better understanding of its performance. As we mentioned earlier, Blue Bird’s operating margin was flat this quarter but expanded by 14.5 percentage points over the last five years. This was the most relevant factor (aside from the revenue impact) behind its higher earnings; interest expenses and taxes can also affect EPS but don’t tell us as much about a company’s fundamentals.
Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a shorter period to see if we are missing a change in the business.
For Blue Bird, its two-year annual EPS growth of 16.8% was lower than its five-year trend. We still think its growth was good and hope it can accelerate in the future.
In Q2, Blue Bird reported adjusted EPS of $1.28, up from $1.19 in the same quarter last year. Despite growing year on year, this print slightly missed analysts’ estimates, but we care more about long-term adjusted EPS growth than short-term movements. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Blue Bird’s full-year EPS to grow 14.9% from $4.60 to $5.28.
Key Takeaways from Blue Bird’s Q2 Results
We were impressed by how significantly Blue Bird blew past analysts’ EBITDA expectations this quarter. We were also excited its revenue outperformed Wall Street’s estimates by a wide margin. On the other hand, its EPS missed and full-year EBITDA guidance was just in line with expectations. Overall, we think this was a mixed quarter. The stock remained flat at $76.30 immediately following the results.
Should you buy the stock or not? When making that decision, it’s important to consider its valuation, business qualities, as well as what has happened in the latest quarter. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).
