Toast Lifts 2026 Adjusted EBITDA Outlook To $840 Million-$850 Million As Its CFO Plans To Leave
Third-quarter net income rose to $169 million from $105 million, and Elena Gomez will hand the CFO job to Michael Senno on January 1, 2027.
Toast, the cloud-based restaurant software and payments company, raised its full-year adjusted EBITDA forecast to $840 million to $850 million, from $805 million to $825 million, after third-quarter net income climbed to $169 million. The company said Tuesday that President and CFO Elena Gomez is stepping away at year-end, with Michael Senno taking over the finance chief's job in 2027.
A quarter of growing profit
Net income was $169 million, against $105 million a year earlier, and diluted earnings per share rose to $0.29 from $0.16. Operating income was $165 million, up from $84 million. Revenue was $1.98 billion, up from $1.63 billion.
Adjusted EBITDA, the company's own measure that starts from net income and adds back items such as stock pay, depreciation, interest and taxes, was $240 million versus $176 million.
The business metrics grew along with it. Annualized recurring run-rate, Toast's gauge of subscription and payment-processing fees, rose 24% to $2.5 billion. Locations rose 21% to about 189,000, with about 8,500 net additions, and payment volume rose 20% to $61.8 billion.
Free cash flow for the first nine months was $426 million, compared with $430 million a year earlier. For the third quarter alone it was $181 million, up from $153 million.
The raised forecast
Toast now expects fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA of $200 million to $210 million. For the full year it also expects gross profit from subscriptions and financial technology of $2,375 million to $2,385 million, which it described as 26% growth, up from a prior 23% to 25% range.
Toast sells software, payments and restaurant-grade hardware as one system, and earns its money mainly from subscriptions and financial technology. CEO Aman Narang pointed to the new Toast IQ Team labor-management product and an expanded Toast IQ Grow, which he said move the company toward "agents that take on the work for them."
Gomez out, Senno in
Gomez told the company on October 28 that she would step away effective December 31, according to an 8-K filing. The filing says her departure was not due to any disagreement over management, policies or practices. She will stay on as a non-executive adviser through July 2, 2027.
The board named Senno, currently senior vice president of finance, as CFO effective January 1, 2027. He will receive a $460,000 base salary and a target bonus of 75% of salary. He joined Toast in 2022 after a stint in investor relations at Coupang.
Narang said Senno knows the Toast business thoroughly. Gomez called the job "the highlight of my professional career" and said she plans to take a break before her next chapter.
Toast is holding a conference call at 5:00 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday to discuss the results.
Sources
- 8-K Filing — Toast, Inc. (TOST) — SEC EDGAR
- Exhibit tost-20260930xexhibit991.htm — Toast, Inc. 8-K exhibit — SEC EDGAR
