National Vision Holdings (7NV) Q3 2026 Earnings Report

The call was predominantly positive. National Vision delivered revenue growth, positive comparable-store sales, significant adjusted operating margin expansion, more than doubled adjusted EPS, strong managed-care and higher-value customer performance, improved product attachment, cost savings, solid cash generation, and plans to accelerate store growth. The principal challenges were a 5.6% traffic decline, an extended purchase cycle among lower-value cash-pay consumers, a 2.5% comparable-sales decline at Eyeglass World, expected fourth-quarter margin deceleration, and gross-margin-rate dilution. Management remained confident in its strategy and emphasized that profitability and growth investments were progressing despite the challenging consumer environment.

For fiscal 2026, National Vision expects net revenue between $2.02 billion and $2.04 billion, adjusted comparable store sales growth of approximately 2% to 3%, adjusted operating income between $119 million and $131 million, depreciation and amortization of $92 million to $93 million, adjusted operating margin expansion of approximately 110 basis points at the midpoint excluding the 50 third week, interest expense between $11 million and $13 million, an effective tax rate of approximately 30%, adjusted diluted earnings per share between $0.95 and $1.03 per share based on approximately 81 million weighted average diluted shares outstanding, and CapEx between $72 million and $74 million, including approximately 30 new America's Best and Eyeglass World stores, with net growth of 17 stores excluding the 20 military locations; the company expects approximately $10 million in annualized savings, approximately 2.5 to $3 million more Q4 investment than the original guide, and a deceleration in its adjusted operating margin rate in Q4, while fiscal 2027 new store openings are planned at approximately 50 to 55 stores, versus its long-term target of investing about 4% to 5% of revenue into CapEx each year over the 5-year period and an algorithm of approximately 50 to 150 basis points of operating margin expansion on average each year with mid single digit comps and the assumption of no deterioration in the macroeconomic environment.