Corpay NYSE: CPAY reported what Chairman and CEO Ron Clarke called a “blowout quarter” for the first quarter of fiscal 2026, as revenue and earnings topped the company’s expectations and prompted management to raise its full-year outlook.
The business payments company reported first-quarter revenue of $1.26 billion, up 25% from a year earlier, and cash earnings per share of $5.80, up 29%. Clarke said roughly two-thirds of the company’s $50 million revenue beat versus guidance came from stronger operating performance across the business rather than macroeconomic factors.
“For us, this Q1 was really a blowout quarter,” Clarke said. He noted that overall organic revenue growth was 11%, marking the fourth consecutive quarter at that level.
Corporate Payments Drives Growth
Corporate payments remained the company’s largest growth engine, with organic revenue up 16% in the quarter, or 18% excluding what management described as float revenue compression from lower interest rates. The segment reached 40% of total revenue in the quarter.
CFO Peter Walker said corporate payments growth exceeded the company’s expectations, supported by strong performance in cross-border payments and payables. Spend volumes in the segment increased 43% organically to $82 billion.
Walker said cross-border benefited from currency volatility, which gave Corpay’s sales team an opportunity to highlight its offerings. He also said integration work related to Alpha is progressing, with about 15% of Alpha corporate volume migrated to Corpay’s Global Tech platform and another migration wave planned for the second quarter.
Clarke said Alpha generated 17% organic revenue growth in the quarter excluding float compression. He also said Avid, Corpay’s minority investment, grew EBITDA 50% from the prior year, while Walker noted that Avid sales were up more than 20% versus the first quarter of 2025.
Vehicle payments organic revenue rose 10%, with contributions from the U.S., Europe and Brazil. Walker said higher fuel prices helped the segment and represented part of the macroeconomic benefit in the quarter. Lodging revenue was flat for the quarter, which Clarke characterized as a meaningful sequential improvement. Walker said lodging organic revenue improved 7% sequentially from the fourth quarter of 2025.
- Overall retention was 93.5%, now including the cross-border business.
- New sales, or bookings, increased 24%.
- Same-store sales were flat overall in the quarter.
Guidance Raised After First-Quarter Beat
Corpay raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to $5.29 billion at the midpoint, implying 17% revenue growth. Management said the updated outlook reflects the $50 million first-quarter revenue beat, another $50 million increase for the remainder of the year from higher fuel price expectations and stronger underlying performance, and a $75 million reduction tied to the divestiture of PayByPhone on March 31.
The company continues to expect 10% organic revenue growth for the year, which Clarke described as Corpay’s “most important measure of durability.”
Corpay also raised full-year 2026 cash EPS guidance to $26.70 at the midpoint, implying 25% growth. Clarke said the increase includes the first-quarter EPS beat of $0.35 and an additional $0.35 increase for the remainder of the year. He said a lower share count from year-to-date repurchases is expected to offset higher interest expense for the rest of the year.
For the second quarter, Walker said Corpay expects revenue of $1.295 billion at the midpoint, up 18% year over year, with organic revenue growth in the range of 9% to 11%. The company expects adjusted EPS of $6.55 at the midpoint, up 28%.
Portfolio Rotation Remains a Priority
Clarke reiterated Corpay’s five priorities for the year: rotating the portfolio toward corporate payments, increasing U.S. middle-market sales, expanding payables monetization, developing the cross-border business, and incorporating artificial intelligence into products and internal processes.
On portfolio changes, Clarke said Corpay is in the “late innings” of a non-core vehicle payments divestiture and is evaluating “a couple more businesses” for potential sale. He added that the company is examining new corporate payments acquisition opportunities.
During the question-and-answer session, Clarke declined to provide detailed information about potential transactions but said Corpay is “super late innings” on a meaningful divestiture that could be signed during the current quarter. He also said the company is looking at two or three other non-core assets and expects additional portfolio activity by year-end.
Clarke said the company’s longer-term portfolio goal is to build three global businesses: employee payments, B2B payments and cross-border payments. He said Corpay will continue to divest non-core, TAM-constrained businesses and acquire more corporate payments assets.
Balance Sheet and Buybacks
Walker said Corpay ended the quarter with a leverage ratio of 2.7 times and $1.4 billion of available borrowing capacity on its revolver. During the quarter, the company spent $786 million to repurchase 2.4 million shares, including $450 million of PayByPhone sale proceeds used to pre-purchase shares before receiving the proceeds.
The company has $1.8 billion authorized for share repurchases after its board approved another $1 billion authorization at its most recent meeting.
Walker also said Corpay received commitments to refinance its revolver and Term Loan A, upsizing the credit facility by more than $1 billion, extending maturity by five years and reducing the interest rate by 10 basis points. The company plans to use $1 billion of proceeds from the new facility to pay down part of its Term Loan B due in April 2028, though the impact was not included in guidance because the transaction was expected to close later in the month.
Management Highlights Cross-Border Opportunity
Clarke emphasized momentum in cross-border payments, saying the core business continues to perform “exceptionally well.” He said Corpay recently signed agreements with JPMorgan and BVNK to accelerate the addition of blockchain rails to its global settlement network.
In response to an analyst question, Clarke said the company is working to expand its multicurrency accounts, migrate Alpha clients to Corpay’s platform and determine how clients use blockchain-based settlement options. He said he is particularly interested in tokenized fiat currency moving over blockchain outside traditional banking hours.
Clarke also discussed Corpay’s U.S. sales strategy, saying the company is focusing more on middle-market customers rather than micro-market clients. He said middle-market accounts tend to be larger, more stable and longer-lasting, and they offer opportunities to combine fleet controls with broader commercial card and spend management products.
Looking ahead, Clarke said Corpay remains focused on growing revenue organically by 10% and increasing earnings at a faster rate through operating leverage. He said the company’s goal is to double cash EPS to $50 per share during its forecast period.
About Corpay NYSE: CPAY
Corpay NYSE: CPAY is a global payments and fintech company that provides businesses with tools to manage, move and optimize corporate spend. The company focuses on commercial payments, foreign exchange and cross-border transactions, aiming to simplify treasury operations and reduce friction in business-to-business payments through technology-driven solutions.
Its product offering includes payment processing and accounts payable automation, corporate and virtual card programs, expense management tools, and foreign-exchange hedging and execution services for international payments.
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