DoorDash Earnings: Growth Accelerates as Scale Funds Expansion
- 22 hours ago
- 5 min read
TL;DR
Revenue Strength: Revenue rose 38% year-over-year to $4.0 billion as Total Orders surged 32%.
Margin Trends: Adjusted EBITDA increased 38%, though margin compressed modestly amid investment.
Forward Outlook: Q1 2026 GOV guided to $31.0–$31.8 billion; Deliveroo integration and tech investments weigh near term but support 2H acceleration.
Business Overview
DoorDash operates a global local commerce marketplace connecting consumers, merchants, and independent contractors (“Dashers”). Its core business began in restaurant delivery, but it has steadily expanded into grocery, retail, and business-to-business (B2B) commerce enablement through its Commerce Platform.
The company now operates across more than 40 countries, including the United States through DoorDash, Europe through Wolt and Deliveroo, and additional international markets. Membership programs — DashPass, Wolt+, and Deliveroo Plus — play a central role in frequency and retention, with more than 35 million members exiting 2025 .
Beyond consumer delivery, DoorDash has expanded into merchant software (SevenRooms, Storefront), advertising (Smart Campaigns), and fulfillment services (DashMart Fulfillment Services), positioning itself as an integrated operating system for local commerce.
DoorDash Earnings Performance
Revenue and Marketplace Growth
Fourth quarter 2025 results reflected accelerating scale:
Total Orders: 903 million, up 32% year-over-year
Marketplace Gross Order Value (GOV): $29.7 billion, up 39% year-over-year
Revenue: $4.0 billion, up 38% year-over-year
Excluding Deliveroo, Total Orders increased 20% year-over-year, Marketplace GOV rose 25%, and revenue grew 26% — underscoring continued strength in the legacy business.
Growth was primarily driven by higher consumer counts and increased engagement, with incremental contribution from the Deliveroo acquisition .
Margins and Profitability
GAAP net income attributable to DoorDash common stockholders: $213 million, up 51% year-over-year
Adjusted EBITDA: $780 million, up 38% year-over-year
Adjusted EBITDA margin was 2.6% of Marketplace GOV, down modestly from 2.7% a year ago and 3.0% in Q3 2025 .
Contribution Profit reached $1.4 billion, representing 4.7% of Marketplace GOV , reflecting improving unit economics in grocery and international markets even as the company invests in platform modernization and new verticals.
Free Cash Flow declined to $254 million from $420 million a year ago , impacted by higher working capital tied to grocery growth, upfront payments to technology and insurance providers, and transaction costs related to Deliveroo.
Forward Guidance
For Q1 2026, management guided:
Marketplace GOV: $31.0 billion–$31.8 billion
Adjusted EBITDA: $675 million–$775 million
Full-year 2026 expectations include:
Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of Marketplace GOV to increase slightly versus 2025 (excluding Deliveroo in both periods)
Deliveroo to contribute approximately $200 million in Adjusted EBITDA for 2026
However, Q1 margins face three headwinds:
Lower near-term Deliveroo contribution versus Q4
Approximately $20 million impact from severe winter storms
Seasonally higher Dasher costs and regulatory increases
Stock-based compensation is expected to total $1.3–$1.4 billion in 2026, with depreciation and amortization of $1.1–$1.2 billion .
Risks & Opportunities
Management highlighted ongoing integration risk around Deliveroo and broader geopolitical, currency, and consumer demand volatility .
That said, the operating plan assumes continued investment in grocery, retail, international markets, autonomous delivery, and the global technology platform.
Operational Performance
DoorDash’s operational narrative centers on three themes: accelerating international growth, scaling grocery/retail, and improving unit economics.
Internationally, excluding Deliveroo, Marketplace GOV growth accelerated in Q4 relative to Q3 . Deliveroo’s Q4 Adjusted EBITDA contribution slightly exceeded management’s $45 million expectation .
In grocery and retail, more than 30% of U.S. monthly active users engaged these categories in December . Unit economics improved both year-over-year and sequentially in Q4, with management expecting the categories to turn unit-economics positive in the second half of 2026 .
“We believe these investments are the right investments, especially as we think about becoming the operating system for local commerce.” — Tony Xu, Co-founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
On global scale and integration:
“I feel really strong about our position overseas.” — Tony Xu, Co-founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Meanwhile, Chief Financial Officer Ravi Inukonda emphasized long-term margin trajectory:
“2026 EBITDA margin is gonna be up slightly compared to 2025, excluding Deliveroo.” — Ravi Inukonda, Chief Financial Officer
Consumer Demand, Pricing, and Category Dynamics
In U.S. restaurants, Q4 marked the second-highest year-over-year Marketplace GOV growth in the last fifteen quarters . Double-digit growth in new consumers and higher order rates across mature cohorts drove acceleration .
DashPass remains central to frequency. Membership expansion supports retention and profit dollars even if margin per order compresses modestly, as subscribers order more frequently.
In grocery and retail, management described strong new consumer acquisition and improving engagement among newer cohorts . Basket sizes are increasing, logistics efficiency is improving, and scale is building toward profitability.
Strategically, the company is not simply reacting to macro conditions — it is engineering demand through selection expansion, membership value, and fulfillment quality improvements.
The key takeaway: DoorDash is evolving from a restaurant delivery marketplace into a multi-category, membership-driven commerce layer with growing cross-category penetration.
Strategic Initiatives
Several long-term initiatives underpin the investment cycle:
Global Technology Platform Integration: Consolidating DoorDash, Wolt, and Deliveroo onto a unified tech stack to increase operating efficiency and innovation velocity .
Autonomous Delivery: Expanding live autonomous vehicle deliveries in select markets, with a focus on orchestration across use cases .
Merchant Services Expansion: Reservations, advertising, Smart Campaigns, and SevenRooms integration to deepen merchant relationships .
DashMart Fulfillment Services: Building physical inventory infrastructure to support same-day delivery competition .
These initiatives reflect a deliberate sequencing: scale first, then monetization expansion, then infrastructure leverage.
Capital Allocation
The balance sheet expanded materially following the Deliveroo acquisition:
Cash and cash equivalents: $4.38 billion at year-end 2025
Convertible notes: $2.7 billion
In February 2025, the board authorized a $5.0 billion share repurchase program; as of February 17, 2026, no shares had been repurchased under the authorization .
Management’s capital allocation stance remains investment-led, with buybacks optional rather than immediate.
The Bottom Line
This quarter matters for three reasons:
Acceleration at Scale: 39% Marketplace GOV growth at nearly $30 billion quarterly run-rate signals durable category expansion.
Profit Engine Intact: Despite elevated investment, Adjusted EBITDA rose 38%, and 2026 margin expansion remains intact.
Platform Consolidation: The integration of Deliveroo and migration to a unified global tech stack sets the stage for efficiency gains in 2027 and beyond.
Risks remain — consumer spending volatility, integration complexity, and regulatory exposure — but the structural thesis is clear: DoorDash is positioning itself as infrastructure, not just a marketplace.
If execution on platform integration and grocery unit economics continues, 2026 could represent an investment trough ahead of higher-margin 2H acceleration.
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