Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.01 EPS

Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) posted its earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported $0.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.01, reports. The company had revenue of $172.11 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.05 million. Marqeta had a negative return on equity of 4.22% and a negative net margin of 6.74%.Marqeta’s revenue was up 26.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.05) earnings per share.

Here are the key takeaways from Marqeta’s conference call:

• Q4 delivered record scale and profitability progress — $109 billion TPV (first quarter above $100B), net revenue of $172M (+27% YoY), gross profit ~ $120M (+22% YoY) and a record Adjusted EBITDA of $31M (18% margin), moving the company closer to GAAP profitability.
• Management’s 2026 guidance targets continued growth and profitability — TPV growth in the high‑20s, gross profit growth of 10–12%, net revenue +12–14%, mid‑20s Adjusted EBITDA growth, and expected modest GAAP net income of roughly $10M.
• 2026 growth is meaningfully pressured by timing of contract changes — two delayed major renewals and Block hitting a lower price tier, plus Cash App new‑issuance diversification, are expected to reduce gross profit growth by roughly 7–9 percentage points (with an additional ~1.5–2 point hit from Cash App diversification).
• Expansion in Europe and value‑added services is a strong long‑term driver — the TransactPay acquisition enables an end‑to‑end U.K./EU offering, Europe TPV has grown rapidly (2025 vs 2022), and BNPL plus value‑added services doubled in 2025 and now contribute >7% of gross profit, increasing stickiness and take‑rate.
• Capital returns and share reduction — Marqeta repurchased 84.8M shares in 2025 (avg $4.59), reducing shares outstanding by nearly 17% and leaving ~ $91M remaining on the buyback authorization.

Marqeta Stock Performance

MQ traded down $0.29 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $3.88. 4,885,903 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,880,559. The company has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -48.51 and a beta of 1.48. Marqeta has a 12-month low of $3.47 and a 12-month high of $7.04. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.98.

Trending Headlines about Marqeta

Here are the key news stories impacting Marqeta this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat estimates — Marqeta reported roughly break‑even EPS (beat consensus) and revenue of $172.11M (up ~26.7% y/y), showing continued top‑line growth. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: FY‑2026 revenue guide came in above Street consensus — Marqeta issued FY revenue guidance of roughly $699.9M–$712.4M, higher than the consensus shown by analysts. That supports the view of continued revenue acceleration. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Operational momentum: management highlighted record TPV and growth in BNPL and embedded‑finance demand on the call, indicating sustained platform usage and customer traction. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Detailed disclosures available — full earnings call transcript and slide deck give line‑by‑line metrics for investors to model customer cohorts, TPV mix and margin drivers. Read More. | Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst writeups and metric comparisons are being published today; these will help reconcile headline beats with underlying KPIs (merchant mix, TPV per customer, margins). Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley cut its price target from $6.00 to $5.00 and moved to an “equal weight” rating — a near‑term negative signal for sentiment and potential selling pressure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Q1 revenue guide came in slightly below consensus ($162.7M–$165.5M vs. ~$167.2M), which likely drove the immediate sell‑off despite the quarterly beat. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Profitability remains a concern — the company still shows a negative net margin and negative return on equity, keeping investor focus on when scale will translate to sustained GAAP profits. Read More.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on MQ shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Marqeta in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $6.00 target price for the company. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Marqeta from $5.75 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Zacks Research lowered Marqeta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Marqeta from $6.00 to $5.50 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Marqeta from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $5.22.

Insider Buying and Selling at Marqeta

In related news, Director Jason M. Gardner sold 113,366 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.00, for a total transaction of $566,830.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 303,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,517,335. This trade represents a 27.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 218,509 shares of company stock worth $1,092,545 in the last three months. 12.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Marqeta by 26.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,218,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,040,000 after purchasing an additional 1,736,796 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Marqeta by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 131,966 shares of the company’s stock valued at $627,000 after acquiring an additional 6,403 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC increased its position in Marqeta by 25.4% during the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 87,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $418,000 after acquiring an additional 17,802 shares during the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management lifted its holdings in shares of Marqeta by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 46,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,000 after acquiring an additional 6,489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Marqeta by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,927,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,157,000 after purchasing an additional 2,129,486 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

About Marqeta

Marqeta is a modern card issuing and payment processing platform that enables businesses to design, launch and manage customized payment cards. The company offers a fully programmable open API that allows clients to create virtual, physical and tokenized payment cards with real-time transaction controls and dynamic spend limits. By leveraging Marqeta’s infrastructure, companies can streamline their payment operations, reduce time to market and deliver tailored payment experiences to end consumers.

Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Oakland, California, Marqeta was established by CEO Jason Gardner with the goal of transforming traditional card issuance through cloud-native technology.